...but black, only because that's the color of my largely fully-functional BMW. Dismantling the entire intake system again thankfully gave me the opportunity to right the two shortcuts I had taken before and actually let the car run without shooting fuel everywhere. There was a small issue with a huuuge...
At around 8am, I started attacking the list of items remaining to complete the BMW. Now, around six hours later, I've just started the car. ...and noticed it's sprinkling fuel from underneath the intake manifold. This is a huge pain in my ass, and will be something I'll tackle tomorrow....
Ha ha, just kidding. This is the transmission waiting to be installed back into my 3. It just so happens that it was sitting on a huge crack in the concrete floor of my garage. In all seriousness, the transmission is a surprisingly small component. All of the guts are...
The usual wisdom goes that taking something apart is a whole lot easier than putting it back together again. For most people, this is probably true—doubly so if you're in the business of taking things apart with blunt tools or firearms or bulldozers or so forth. In contrast, I've found...
These are the six bolts that held the pressure plate onto the flywheel of my BMW. The pressure plate, as you remember, busted out a rusty shiv Sunday night and carved its metaphoric initials into the back of my hand. Not to be made any bolts' bitch, I've since removed...
I'm not going to type much because earlier today, while attempting to remove the pressure plate bolts on the BMW, I cut a huge gash in the back of my hand. I can't help but think this is some sort of retaliation....
I've mentioned already the first challenge in the Torx-riddled gauntlet that BMW assembled to thwart mechanics questing to remove ye olde transmission from the engine. The guide I'm using mentioned that I would need about a half-dozen different ratchet parts to remove these, but in the end, I was able...
Good morning, Mr. Phelps. The throwout bearing on this 1993 BMW 325is has failed. The exhaust system, driveshaft, shifter, intake manifold, and transmission had to be removed to provide access to the clutch. Now that the transmission has been removed from the car, it has become evident that the throwout...
In their wisdom, BMW has opted for Torx heads instead of nearly universally standard hexagonal heads for the bolts which hold their transmissions to their M50 series engines. I originally complained about this, but in reality, it's a huge bonus since Torx heads are nearly impossible to round. When they...
That's a guibo. It's a small (OK, slightly bigger than "small") rubber thing which attaches the transmission output shaft to the driveshaft. The idea here is that it isolates the two halves of the drivetrain from noise and sudden impacts. The guibo is also sometimes called a, "flex disc," but...
I have to commend the engineers at BMW. I've had the pleasure of extensively disassembling the lower bowels of a solid half-sozen vehicles over the years (most of which were newer than the BMW when I tore into them) and without a doubt, this BMW has held up better than...
I've got the 3 up on jackstands and I've realized how much of a pain in the ass this is going to be.The 3 sits lower than any other car I've ever owned. Even with the front subframe foisted up on my jackstands (four notches above collapsed, too) I've barely...
The throwout bearing is, in my experience, that "one damned little part" that costs about $20 to make but well over a grand to replace. It's a fairly small bearing about the size of a hockey puck, and it takes pressure exerted by the clutch fork (which is, in turn,...
