Winter Project

[VRSteve]

Whats the technique to preload the bush, I have tried to look in to this but could not understand the process to go through

The idea is that the bush shouldn't be under tension when the car is sitting on its wheels.

The BMW tool bolts to the RTAB cage and then holds the cage 8mm above the centre line of the axle, while the cage is held in place you bolt the cage to the RTAB, so maintaining the position.

I bolted a flat bar to the cage and just rested it level with the top of the hub nut. Its less than 8mm, but I'm running at a non standard ride height, so will be close enough.

Do you leave the hub hanging or have it rested/raised on car jack

I supported mine to keep the weight off the brake lines.

It doesn't matter if the hub is hanging or supported because you are setting the position of the bush cage relative to the axle, not to the car or anything else.

[Mangozac]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-3-Series- ... Cbuodqs4Ng

Small tip, use a jubilee clip to compress the new bush just to get it started, once it starts to seat you can take it off, assuming you are going to stick with OEM style bushes.

Put plenty of copper grease on the thread of the bush tool

Also, mark the location of the cage and bolts before you undo it, otherwise you'll get in a right mess putting it back together!!

Thanks for the tips, mate! I'm about to make up a similar tool to do mine

[VRSteve]

I got NOTHING done over the weekend due to being away (I forgot we were going)!!

Other half is working today so I took all the Christmas decorations down as quickly as I could so I'd have some time to spend in the garage before she got home.

So I put the guards back on the RTAB cages, and put all the wiring back in its clips, so thats now marked as done.

Todays job was to drop the shocks off the car.

Much like the RTABS people make a big deal of doing these because of the roof mechanism, but In honesty I had these out in about 20mins!!


Shelf and battery cover out. I managed to lose a clip so I'll put an order in with the dealer for a new one tomorrow.


Side panels out, nothing damaged!


2 crappy old shocks.
The dust cover on the drivers side shock has a big crack in it, and although the shocks don't look too bad they are really easy to compress by hand so they do need to be replaced.

The only parts I'm re-using off the old shocks are the washers either side of the top mount. Because of that I can't do any more with the shocks until the bump stops arrive at the dealers, so I suspect I'll be waiting until Wednesday or Thursday.

Other half is working next weekend, so all being well I'll have the new shocks on and the rear ARB bushes all done, and I can take it in for its MOT and full alignment.

Best laid plans etc!

[VRSteve]

Parts came in today, so I've been able to build up the rear shocks.


New top mount, gasket, reinforcement plate, tube protector, bump stop and shock(obviously) I've not torqued up the top nut yet!


Close up of the turner rebuildable rear top mounts, and the reinforcement plates.

[VRSteve]

Frustrating day with this today.

Did some research last night on the company I bought the rear drop link bushes from. Read nothing but horror stories, so decided to leave them alone for the moment.

Moving on to the rear ARB, its held on by 4x6mm allen key bolts.

The bottom 2 came out fine. The top one on the drivers side was a bit of a pig but came out in the end.
The top bolt on the drivers side just rounded off.

After a bit of swearing I removed it by bashing a socked over the top of the allen key head, and winding the bolt out. Quite relieved as access is really restricted, if I'd need to drill it I'd have had to drop the backbox, and I'd hate to drop them and have to put the standard ones back on!!



Upshot of this is I now need new bolts as I've butchered 2 of them and I can't order them until Monday.

Annoyed as I thought I'd have it all back together today.

[VRSteve]

Had the alignment done today a Station View in Dorking.

Had the alignment done to match the CSL, and its now a pleasure to drive again!

MOT had 2 advisories, slight play on a track rod end and slightly collapsed brake vac hose. I'm annoyed given the amount of money I've just spent on it, but such is.

Parts for the track rod ends (inner and outer) come to £500!!
The vac hose is a bit more reasonable, but I'm going to try and find an alternative that doesn't involve me bending over for BMW.

On the upside, I had a steering wheel wobble and I thought the discs were to blame. Seems not, and the wobble is entirely resolved, so that alone made the work worth while, and the money I saved on brakes I can now spend on track rod ends!

I have a listed of all the torque setting and part numbers I used on my first post if anyone wants them.

[TomK]

Track rod ends from lemforder (basically oem as i'msure you know) from ecp equalled about £70 irrc when I did mine. Inner track rod ends are very very unlikely to be an issue so I've been told.
Who quoted you £500. Or is that a stupid question!
ETA reread so not from a BMW dealer.... How did they price up the 500?

[VRSteve]

Track rod ends from lemforder (basically oem as i'msure you know) from ecp equalled about £70 irrc when I did mine. Inner track rod ends are very very unlikely to be an issue so I've been told.
Who quoted you £500. Or is that a stupid question!
ETA reread so not from a BMW dealer.... How did they price up the 500?

Genuine BMW parts come to £500, either through the garage or from my local dealer directly.

It was suggested that I do the inners too, as they seize up. To be fair to the garage we had this conversation post MOT and pre alignment and if they did the alignment then the inners can't be stuck!

I've never done track rod ends, is it much of a pain???

[Scooba_Steve]

Not painful enough to pay £500 for them! I had to cut one to get the boots off (they are probably adding £100+ to your quote) and get a 22mm (iirc) spanner. Both outer ends came off with a fork and persuasion from a hammer.

[VRSteve]

As TomK says lemforder inners and outers aren't expensive from ECP.

ECP being ECP only stock the inner for one side!

I'm going to have a crack at this myself, I can see this thread being extended!!!

[TomK]

As TomK says lemforder inners and outers aren't expensive from ECP.

ECP being ECP only stock the inner for one side!

I'm going to have a crack at this myself, I can see this thread being extended!!!

you'll need heat and some aggression! It's not a tricky job but a lift would help you a lot (like for most things ).
Roughly count the turns you take them off with, and replace as close as you can.
You'll obviously need another alignment afterwards really

[VRSteve]

As TomK says lemforder inners and outers aren't expensive from ECP.

ECP being ECP only stock the inner for one side!

I'm going to have a crack at this myself, I can see this thread being extended!!!

you'll need heat and some aggression! It's not a tricky job but a lift would help you a lot (like for most things ).
Roughly count the turns you take them off with, and replace as close as you can.
You'll obviously need another alignment afterwards really

A lift is something I've wanted ever since we bought this house.
I've had my eye on a mobile mid rise scissor lift for some time but every time I have the money put aside for one her indoors finds a "better" use for it.

I'll get some parts ordered up!
Thanks for the advice!

[Mangozac]

A lift is something I've wanted ever since we bought this house.
I've had my eye on a mobile mid rise scissor lift for some time but every time I have the money put aside for one her indoors finds a "better" use for it.

I picked up a used one last year and it's the greatest thing ever! I needed to build some timber ramps to drive the Zed on so it clears the lift but that was no problem. Mine lifts 1200mm, which is all the height needed to be able to do things easily but you still end up hunching over a little. We recently spent two days under it changing the rod bearings on my mate's M3!

[VRSteve]

A lift is something I've wanted ever since we bought this house.
I've had my eye on a mobile mid rise scissor lift for some time but every time I have the money put aside for one her indoors finds a "better" use for it.

I picked up a used one last year and it's the greatest thing ever! I needed to build some timber ramps to drive the Zed on so it clears the lift but that was no problem. Mine lifts 1200mm, which is all the height needed to be able to do things easily but you still end up hunching over a little. We recently spent two days under it changing the rod bearings on my mate's M3!

Excellent!!

Would you be able to tell me the make of yours???

Thanks!

[Mangozac]

It's a Radum DSLP606. Here's a couple of photos: https://goo.gl/photos/1PeC4TsU7uGTM9X6A