Project Holly - a live tale of my 1996 E36 M3 Evo

[leonl]

TLG : I noticed you 'thanked' my post - you probably know this or have your regular choice of brands, but if you're like me and looking for best bang for buck, the CRC engine flush is pretty good and oil seal friendly.

Leonl : if I'm not mistaken, TLG is a purist. I doubt he'll do anything out of the ordinary like FI for the stock engine

Purists also have temptations (like me) There are times in my mind, I am thinking "I wish I have a little more power to keep up with that car just past me on the track". The "M" car usually has more than enough for most of us. I am beginning to miss my M3 now :(

 

[enthused]

I'm anal about these things. That's a lot of varnish on the insides, ever considered doing a full on engine flush?

When you buy a used car you generally don't get any true indication of how it has been treated. It looks worse than it is I guess as a function of the camera. Neither the camshaft or a cam follower have any wear when I ran my finger over them (scientific I know...)
I don't want to do a flush. I'll just run synthetic oil from here on in, and if there are cleaning abilities in running synthetic oil then the engine will clean itself after a while... :D
I've always done 5k-km oil changes anyway - seems to work as far as keeping the engines going...

Didn't expect ZTH forummers to have rebuilding or modding thread much.
This is great!
Always read MightyCarMods forums witht he rebuilding threads.
But can't get a Malaysia's insight.

Thanks for the kind words - will keep going as time permits!

The Tein & UUC came with the 2nd M3 I bought. I prefer Bilstein better, but those Tein held up pretty good. Better than the old and tired ones. UUC has the twin canister design also. One things about BMW engine is the power band is all across the RPM. So how is it coming along. What's next?

p/s: I thought your car is red? Did you painted it blue?

I think I'll go with the PSS9s eventually. The car came with AC Schnitzer lowering springs and while being a little on the soft side it suits daily driving perfectly!

Just be careful with the Contis. The side wall are prone to bulging, so do give it a regular check if using. If you have changed to RS-3, my friend's Subaru kaki are using for their track day and loving them....

Spot on - the bulged on the side pretty soon after I got them (second hand...) so I've put the R-S3s on. Amazing tyre. Quiet and grip really well, even cutting through standing water/rain! Nothing like what I was expecting. My daily commute involves DUKE, Penchala and LDP and I can confirm that they are really quite grippy. Done about 500km on them...

subscribe...keep up the work bro...nice and informative thread...

Thanks!

Good stuff LG, yours is probably the best E36 M3 I've tasted. Good luck.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk 2

Hey Tom - been a while. Lots of things have changed on the car since that drive :)

TLG : I noticed you 'thanked' my post - you probably know this or have your regular choice of brands, but if you're like me and looking for best bang for buck, the CRC engine flush is pretty good and oil seal friendly.

Leonl : if I'm not mistaken, TLG is a purist. I doubt he'll do anything out of the ordinary like FI for the stock engine

While I have used CRC engine flush before with no side effects, I just don't see the necessity on this car. Mileage is low, cams and followers have no appreciable wear, no sludge etc.
===
So after the engine bay was painted and the car started again began the labour of love to get the rest of the car painted. This was completely crazy. The car had all sorts of places where paint should not have been, and all sorts of places where paint should have been where it wasn't! LOL

I have always been picky with paint jobs - this time I went with Veng Cheong Spraying Works in Old Town PJ, and Cheong himself committed to doing a complete strip of the car to get it right. By complete strip I mean bumpers, lights, trim pieces full interior, door cards, door hinges, wheels, wiring etc.
So the journey started...
The bumpers were slwwly chipped at and sanded past the Hellrot (Red) paint, past the original Estoril Blue through to the plastic primer (which still stuck to the plastic very well and was difficult to remove!)

Each bumper took about a day or so to clean all the paint off, done cheerfully by this fellow.

Beginning the tear down - all sideglass out at this stage, sideskirts, door handles, trim, lights and so on.

Here you can see the dents in the bonnet which couldn't be removed by the paintless dent repair guys...

Having stripped the car down, the paint was slowly sanded back past the red, past any old filler, then past the Estoril. This takes quite a while and makes a terrible mess! In this shot you can also see how poorly the old clearcoat of the Hellrot paint adhered to the primer - it simply peeled off with a scraper onto the floor before the random orbital was used to remove the rest of it.

Here you can see why a full strip is necessary and where the red paint didn't get in the nooks and crannies.

Thanks for reading, keep the comments coming!

 

[DanzEterna]

bro which part in old town u got the car sprayed?

 

[leonl]

Be careful on engine flush especially some BMW engine. If I remeber correctly, BMW uses Alusil (spelling) material on for their engine to save weight. In return, I heard certain engine oil and cooler will "eat" away that material causing leaks & crack. Also, corroded the water pump impeller. Lots of horror story. Just to be safe, just synthetic oil and change it more frequent is the best insurance.

Good luck, have fun and drive safe.

 

[DanzEterna]

Be careful on engine flush especially some BMW engine. If I remeber correctly, BMW uses Alusil (spelling) material on for their engine to save weight. In return, I heard certain engine oil and cooler will "eat" away that material causing leaks & crack. Also, corroded the water pump impeller. Lots of horror story. Just to be safe, just synthetic oil and change it more frequent is the best insurance.

Good luck, have fun and drive safe.

leon, wanna ask u wats the best oil for e90? Castrol edge 5w40? or any recommended oil?

 

[leonl]

leon, wanna ask u wats the best oil for e90? Castrol edge 5w40? or any recommended oil?

Most of us here use Mobil 1 fully synthetic. For some that "loaded", they use Royal Purple. Good stuff but I think it is like $16 USD a quart. Mobil 1 is about $6 a quart. I change oil regularly, 3K miles max. I prefer to change oil after every track day, autox maybe every other autox.

Running "old" oil is like wearing dirty underwear to me :D

 

[DanzEterna]

thanks for the info.
cos Tesco is offering Castrol edge for rm149 for 4L.
so means that I will wait for mobil 1 & grab it when on promotion. do u know which viscosity is best for e90?

 

[leonl]

thanks for the info.
cos Tesco is offering Castrol edge for rm149 for 4L.
so means that I will wait for mobil 1 & grab it when on promotion. do u know which viscosity is best for e90?

I think you guys have more good choices in MY. Some of the brand here are "iffy". For example, Redline suppose to be good but heard not too good review sometimes. I just stick to one that good in general, just pick the right weight. I think MY is hot, so 5-40, 10-40 should be good unless some require thicker oil like my old VW 20-50. My Lexus uses 5-30. The rest 5-40 or 10-40.
Sounds so complicated but it is not, maybe just the way I put it.

---------- Post added at 07:22 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 07:20 PM ----------

When you buy a used car you generally don't get any true indication of how it has been treated. It looks worse than it is I guess as a function of the camera. Neither the camshaft or a cam follower have any wear when I ran my finger over them (scientific I know...)
I don't want to do a flush. I'll just run synthetic oil from here on in, and if there are cleaning abilities in running synthetic oil then the engine will clean itself after a while... :D
I've always done 5k-km oil changes anyway - seems to work as far as keeping the engines going...

Thanks for the kind words - will keep going as time permits!

I think I'll go with the PSS9s eventually. The car came with AC Schnitzer lowering springs and while being a little on the soft side it suits daily driving perfectly!


Spot on - the bulged on the side pretty soon after I got them (second hand...) so I've put the R-S3s on. Amazing tyre. Quiet and grip really well, even cutting through standing water/rain! Nothing like what I was expecting. My daily commute involves DUKE, Penchala and LDP and I can confirm that they are really quite grippy. Done about 500km on them...

Thanks!

Hey Tom - been a while. Lots of things have changed on the car since that drive :)

While I have used CRC engine flush before with no side effects, I just don't see the necessity on this car. Mileage is low, cams and followers have no appreciable wear, no sludge etc.
===
So after the engine bay was painted and the car started again began the labour of love to get the rest of the car painted. This was completely crazy. The car had all sorts of places where paint should not have been, and all sorts of places where paint should have been where it wasn't! LOL

I have always been picky with paint jobs - this time I went with Veng Cheong Spraying Works in Old Town PJ, and Cheong himself committed to doing a complete strip of the car to get it right. By complete strip I mean bumpers, lights, trim pieces full interior, door cards, door hinges, wheels, wiring etc.
So the journey started...
The bumpers were slwwly chipped at and sanded past the Hellrot (Red) paint, past the original Estoril Blue through to the plastic primer (which still stuck to the plastic very well and was difficult to remove!)

Each bumper took about a day or so to clean all the paint off, done cheerfully by this fellow.

Beginning the tear down - all sideglass out at this stage, sideskirts, door handles, trim, lights and so on.

Here you can see the dents in the bonnet which couldn't be removed by the paintless dent repair guys...

Having stripped the car down, the paint was slowly sanded back past the red, past any old filler, then past the Estoril. This takes quite a while and makes a terrible mess! In this shot you can also see how poorly the old clearcoat of the Hellrot paint adhered to the primer - it simply peeled off with a scraper onto the floor before the random orbital was used to remove the rest of it.

Here you can see why a full strip is necessary and where the red paint didn't get in the nooks and crannies.

Thanks for reading, keep the comments coming!

At least he looks very happy working on your car

 

[enthused]

Purists also have temptations (like me) There are times in my mind, I am thinking "I wish I have a little more power to keep up with that car just past me on the track". The "M" car usually has more than enough for most of us. I am beginning to miss my M3 now :(

There will always be something faster. We also live in an age where one can easily see 10 different R35's each day, so I've learnt to be content with a level of power that I can handle, and is safely achievable with the car...

bro which part in old town u got the car sprayed?

Veng Cheong is near the Campbell Soup factory.

Be careful on engine flush especially some BMW engine. If I remeber correctly, BMW uses Alusil (spelling) material on for their engine to save weight. In return, I heard certain engine oil and cooler will "eat" away that material causing leaks & crack. Also, corroded the water pump impeller. Lots of horror story. Just to be safe, just synthetic oil and change it more frequent is the best insurance.

Good luck, have fun and drive safe.

The M3 block is not one of those which wears away and needs liners, that being said I'm happy to just chip at it slowly using 5k-km oil changes. Will probably stick with the Liqui-Moly Race Tech that I've got in it now. RM50 per liter or so through most online sellers on ZTH/LowYat/Mudah.

Most of us here use Mobil 1 fully synthetic. For some that "loaded", they use Royal Purple. Good stuff but I think it is like $16 USD a quart. Mobil 1 is about $6 a quart. I change oil regularly, 3K miles max. I prefer to change oil after every track day, autox maybe every other autox.

Running "old" oil is like wearing dirty underwear to me :D

Interesting. I'm somewhat of a fan of performing used oil analysis - and have done quite a few on the cars over the years. One thing is that you have to stick with the same lab for testing, and its a bit of a PITA to be sending oil all the way to the states just to get a soft-link to a report. I've been using Schaeffer for the last 10 oil changes or so, and Liqui-Moly seems to look good so far, it seems I can stretch the OCI a little bit further but I think I'll just leave it as is.

I think you guys have more good choices in MY. Some of the brand here are "iffy". For example, Redline suppose to be good but heard not too good review sometimes. I just stick to one that good in general, just pick the right weight. I think MY is hot, so 5-40, 10-40 should be good unless some require thicker oil like my old VW 20-50. My Lexus uses 5-30. The rest 5-40 or 10-40.
Sounds so complicated but it is not, maybe just the way I put it.

I've tried my fair share of oils over the years with different cars and can safely say that just because it is expensive or "famous" it doesn't mean its good. Some of the cheaper oils, at least in the Malaysian market, work pretty good. Bardahl fully synthetic is one of them that looks good in a UOA, and at RM90 for a 4l bottle isn't expensive either. Some of the other oils which people tout have not been so good on my cars - Q8 etc. Besides how the UOA look theres also the problem of oil temperature. Castrol TWS seems to run a bit hot in my car, RS doesn't seem to hold oil pressure well. All sorts of stories.

At least he looks very happy working on your car

Yes - he's a cheerful fellow who doesn't seem to shy away from the long monotony of sanding and cleaning!

Thanks for the replies guys! Really appreciate it!

---------- Post added at 10:42 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 10:17 PM ----------

Sorry for the quick break in posts - I've a young son (8 months old) who I hope one day will share my enthusiasm for cars. Had to run off to give him his 7 ounces of milk so he has a full tummy to sleep through the night! :D
==
The paint job took lots of time - but I was happy to see progress being made, and dropped by every alternate day if time permitted... Here's a pic of how it was for many weeks - sanding sanding and more sanding...

Before I decided to paint the car I knew that to get it looking the way I wanted it to replacement of some the trims would be necessary - so I ordered those I felt would be necessary, but as it turned out I needed many many more bits and pieces to complete the restoration. Here's some of the trim pieces:

And more and more which were ordered as the paint job went on...

Eventually we got rid of all that horrible clearcoat and with a suitable base found, we were finally confident to give it some primer. After primer the primer dried we sprayed on a light coat of red guidecoat over the primer so we could see the effects of the sanding, and any high or low spots needing filler...

One of those things you worry about when doing a spray job like this is that the paint gets too thick in the sunroof jambs, affecting its smoothness of motion as well as wearing off any paint in the process, this was avoided here by rolled up masking tape in the gaps which would prevent the primer and paint from pooling.

We also sanded down all the old red paint in the boot!

Bumpers got some primer too (this shot before the guidecoat and puttying):

Thanks for reading guys - please keep the feedback coming!

---------- Post added at 11:00 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 10:42 PM ----------

leon, wanna ask u wats the best oil for e90? Castrol edge 5w40? or any recommended oil?

thanks for the info.
cos Tesco is offering Castrol edge for rm149 for 4L.
so means that I will wait for mobil 1 & grab it when on promotion. do u know which viscosity is best for e90?

What model is your E90? What is your current OCI? Tesco has some Mobil 1 0W40 on sale at the Kepong Menjalara Tesco outlet. Its the LL01 stuff though.

If you want something left wing, (and everyone chides me for it being too thin) one oil I have been using for ages which gives me great UOA's is the German Castrol 0w30. You can get it in Malaysia from Frankie @ MyOilStore

Hope it helps!

 

[leonl]

I am surprised to see you guys are running 0-30 or 0-40. Most of the guys here runs 0 weight if it is required from manufacturer or living up north where sometimes it is freezing.

enthused: Your car is coming along and will look and drives like or even better than when it was new :)

Please excuse the yelllow wheels, it is black now :)

 

[stupidcar]

I've tried my fair share of oils over the years with different cars and can safely say that just because it is expensive or "famous" it doesn't mean its good. Some of the cheaper oils, at least in the Malaysian market, work pretty good. Bardahl fully synthetic is one of them that looks good in a UOA, and at RM90 for a 4l bottle isn't expensive either. Some of the other oils which people tout have not been so good on my cars - Q8 etc. Besides how the UOA look theres also the problem of oil temperature. Castrol TWS seems to run a bit hot in my car, RS doesn't seem to hold oil pressure well. All sorts of stories.

Which car u used the Bardhal in? I know its used in Mercs by C&C but just curious how well Bardhal Fully Synthetic can go.
I have used the 5W-40 for 2 round in my 1.6 Campro. It seems to get dark a lot.
Still debating with my sifu whether it is cleaning my internals or just breaking down.
:(
I could get RM85 though hehe. Cheappp.

 

[enthused]

I am surprised to see you guys are running 0-30 or 0-40. Most of the guys here runs 0 weight if it is required from manufacturer or living up north where sometimes it is freezing.

enthused: Your car is coming along and will look and drives like or even better than when it was new :)

Please excuse the yelllow wheels, it is black now :)

The zero weight doesn't seem to affect the UOA...
Car looks great, though as you have guessed I am not a fan of the yellow :D

Which car u used the Bardhal in? I know its used in Mercs by C&C but just curious how well Bardhal Fully Synthetic can go.
I have used the 5W-40 for 2 round in my 1.6 Campro. It seems to get dark a lot.
Still debating with my sifu whether it is cleaning my internals or just breaking down.
:(
I could get RM85 though hehe. Cheappp.

I use it in my 1998 SAAB. It runs quite rich (high 10s afr) and as a result the oils dilute quite easily on this car but still no substantial wear on the UOA. I run 5k-km OCIs.

Thanks for the replies guys! Gong Xi Fa Chai!

 

[Izso]

Royal purple! Best detergents in the market! Highly recommended since your OCI is so short. A little overkill if you ask me though (the 5k OCI with fully syns).

And BMW liners are the best there is for that sorta money. Any more than that and it's overkill.

Why are you guys so obsessed with the 0 weight or 5 weight? It doesn't bloody matter in Malaysian weather, but the only real difference is engine startup on cold. 0, 5 or 10 would definitely do better than 20 or single weight oils.

 

[leonl]

Royal purple! Best detergents in the market! Highly recommended since your OCI is so short. A little overkill if you ask me though (the 5k OCI with fully syns).

And BMW liners are the best there is for that sorta money. Any more than that and it's overkill.

Why are you guys so obsessed with the 0 weight or 5 weight? It doesn't bloody matter in Malaysian weather, but the only real difference is engine startup on cold. 0, 5 or 10 would definitely do better than 20 or single weight oils.

It does make a different with what weigth of oil you are running for performance & logevity of engine.
Thinner oil does gain a little of performance. Thicker oil will get a little more wear protection. Just like anything else, there are limitations. Too thin or too thick are not good. Imagine swimming in a pool of mud vs water. Many race motor uses thinner oil to gain performance but the engine will be rebuild after every race. As for most of us, we choose longevity.

 

[enthused]

Royal purple! Best detergents in the market! Highly recommended since your OCI is so short. A little overkill if you ask me though (the 5k OCI with fully syns).

And BMW liners are the best there is for that sorta money. Any more than that and it's overkill.

Why are you guys so obsessed with the 0 weight or 5 weight? It doesn't bloody matter in Malaysian weather, but the only real difference is engine startup on cold. 0, 5 or 10 would definitely do better than 20 or single weight oils.

I dunno. I've only tried two oil changes with Royal Purple but the UOA was better with German Castrol! This was on the SAAB.

It does make a different with what weigth of oil you are running for performance & logevity of engine.
Thinner oil does gain a little of performance. Thicker oil will get a little more wear protection. Just like anything else, there are limitations. Too thin or too thick are not good. Imagine swimming in a pool of mud vs water. Many race motor uses thinner oil to gain performance but the engine will be rebuild after every race. As for most of us, we choose longevity.

The one thing is that thicker oil also increases drag and engine wear sometimes particularly on a city car used over short distances where the oil doesnt get up to temperature... I'm a fan of using the thinnest oil possible which doesn't wear the engine (seen through UOA) and doesn't drop off oil pressure as it gets hot.
===
So where were we... Ah yes, the paint job!
After what was really months of sanding, primering, sanding, filling, primering, sanding, filling (you get the idea) we finally sprayed some colour on it!

At this stage I was over the moon! Considering it was off the gun and unpolished it was both pretty flat and shiny. Truth be told, I needed the encouragement as after 3 months month of seeing your car in a million pieces, you start to wonder if it will ever go back together again properly, and wonder if you have the persistence to pull through with the project.

While I was clear in my mind that I wanted the car in Estoril Blue as it came off the factory, one of those things we don't get the luxury of here in Malaysia is the same paint brand that the car was sprayed with. For this car I specified HBBody high solid clear for the bulk of the car, and the famed Glasurit 447 for the front bonnet, quarters and front and rear bumpers.

I have been using Glasurit products for a long time, but honestly the 447 while having good durability against stone chips etc doesn't shine as well as a good clear, so I wanted the sides of the car to show off all the prep work which went into it...

So then after the base colour and clearcoat had hardened for 8 hours we hit it with sandpaper again!

This is done so that the paint is absolutely flat before the final coat of clearcoat went on...

Its pretty depressing seeing the car go from red to primer to colour to shiny and then to matt all over again.... but you gotta do what you gotta do to get the result you want...

Thanks for reading! Keep the feedback coming.