Team-BHP - My project E36!

Hey guys thanks for the suggestions. The car aesthetically is perfect and just the way i wanted it. Mechanically i have been driving it around town and so far id say im happy with 60% of it. I guess with old cars you never know when something might stop functioning. For example the power steering failed as one of the bearings had come of and the power steering liquid drained out. That got fixed within a days time.

Recently on my way back i started to notice smoke from the A/C vents after which i saw the temperature needle and it was all the way to red. I stopped the car and opened the bonnet to find that the pipe leading from the radiator was leaking steam. The car was then towed away to a service station and they found large amounts of rust deposits and absolutely no coolant. The problem has been sorted and couple of other problems with the air flow meter have also been detected which eventually would have given me a headache. Altogether a bit disappointed with the mechanical work done on the car, as i have had to bring the car to the workshop every other day and is a bit nerve wrecking when you don't know what might happen next. Expecting to get the car back on Monday, will update soon.

Cheers

Just spoke to Abix, seems like the car suffered a coolant leak. The radiator has already been flushed out once, more rust only means that it has a lot of muck left inside. The AFM which came on the car was already repaired and had been all taped up, thats what causes the unstable idling, had tried to adjust it as much as possibe but i guess replacement is the way to go. Abix how many kms had u logged on since you took delivery of the car, because overheating problems do tend to crop up randomly, if it was a workmanship fault it should have overheated on the first day itself? Would also suggest a double check on the radiator fan wiring and relay, a switched off fan would cause the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by autopsyche (Post 1266929)

Just spoke to Abix, seems like the car suffered a coolant leak. The radiator has already been flushed out once, more rust only means that it has a lot of muck left inside. The AFM which came on the car was already repaired and had been all taped up, thats what causes the unstable idling, had tried to adjust it as much as possibe but i guess replacement is the way to go. Abix how many kms had u logged on since you took delivery of the car, because overheating problems do tend to crop up randomly, if it was a workmanship fault it should have overheated on the first day itself? Would also suggest a double check on the radiator fan wiring and relay, a switched off fan would cause the same.

Which means that the radiator was obviously not cleaned properly, if at all. I thought that was an area one would address for sure while re-building an engine, right ?

The engine only serviced, i wonder why the assumption of a rebuild. The radiator can always have some angry muck stuck inside which after cleaning refuses to come out. In such a case the only option is to change it. You can run a coolant flush in a radiator ten times but it wont change the situation much.

lol.... the last time i looked into an E36 engine bay i saw a clutch fan and as far as i remember it does come from the factory with a clutch fan and not a fan with wiring and relays. slipped out of your mind maybe. thought i'd tell you before you order an electric fan with a wiring relay to sort it out.

Am out of here. all the best with both your projects.

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Originally Posted by autopsyche (Post 1187074)

The dillema of the alloys never ends....

M3 Sedan Bumper, Skirts & Fender Grills, Projector Headlights, Smoked Tail Lamps, Custom Stitched Black Leatherite Interior, Full Body Refurbish and Paintjob, Engine Refurbish, All New Suspension Parts & Steering Overhaul, New Brake Rotors & Pads, New Windshield & Moldings.

Am i forgetting something?

To quote from your own post : ENGINE REFURBISH, ALL NEW SUSPENSION PARTS & STEERING OVERHAUL

The engine was re-furbished & the steering (which failed) was overhauled

Need I say more ? :Shockked:

Ok, simply to pitch in, yes the BMW 4 cyl engines of yore used clutch fans, but it's one of the easiest things to swap in the car. Almost everyone I know who kept the 1.6/1.8 mill switched to an electric fan, just because it was simpler, and they had the convenience of adding a switch in the car. Something that might just be necessary in India with our summers.

So my question is if so much money was spent, then why was this not done?

Also something I don't understand, NOT TO BLAME OR FLAME anyone!
Why is it that in all these mods and refurbs, reliability issues keep cropping up.

I do agree that even in countries with well established tuning histories there are the occational issues that crop up. But over here in India these are extremely common

Quote:

Originally Posted by accord masters (Post 1267420)

@ docg - its because in India cost cutting measure are taken a bit extra seriously and the term JUGAD comes into play in fixing cars.

it doesn't seem cost-cutting, but more like margin-hunting by the tuner which would be very common in India.

Hey guys, thanks for the inputs, haven't got the car as yet, because there were problems regarding self start which were cropping up. The mechanic told me i should have the car by tomorrow morning. Will update on how it feels.

Monty9991: Its hard to compare the two monty that one was made out to be an out and out loud tuner car, with my beemer if i had gone through a similar approach i feel id be beaten up by team bhp members and rightly so because with the BMW i wanted it to be sober which actually suits it the most. Believe you me the car still turns heads.

Scarface: Thanks, the car already has phillips HID kit on low beam and on the fog lights.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abix (Post 1269226)

Monty9991: Its hard to compare the two monty that one was made out to be an out and out loud tuner car, with my beemer if i had gone through a similar approach i feel id be beaten up by team bhp members and rightly so because with the BMW i wanted it to be sober which actually suits it the most. Believe you me the car still turns heads.

well yeah you are right. thats what i had in my mind after i posted that. you might not wanted your beemer to be loud as you already had one earlier.