Aw e92 m3 | te37sl blk2 | harrop

Some updates on the car. Morehead Speedworks in Lexingon, SC set up my car recently. Most all of the suspension had been overhauled/upgraded and needed to be properly dialed in. MSW was great and picked up my car from the house and did a full track alignment/prep and corner balance on it.

Pumped for this week I left for Georgia for a track day on 8/24 really looking forward to seeing how the car will feel on track. Yesterday, I get to the track, park the car, check in, and as soon as I crank it up trying to get ready for first session, I hear a very audible ticking noise sounding like it's coming from valvetrain/top end. Immediately shut car off -- Zero codes, oil level is fine.

I'm super worried and this disconcerting noise is freaking me out. I'm 120% bummed out I watch a few friends run for a few hours and end up babying the car back to my bros house about 90mins from the track, which I was deadly afraid of even doing, the whole time fearing this thing is going to grenade on me any moment.

Did a bunch of reading online on and found out the AC compressor pulley bearing can fail and cause the noise I was hearing. Sure enough the next morning when I look again I see the outer plate of the pulley sitting on the undertray/bumper. Outer race completely missing (I heard something fall out on the way back from the track).

Pulled the fan and got access to remove the pieces of the pulley remaining and removed the belt. Luckily the AC compressor did not seize up so internally I think it is fine. Going to replace the pulley only and have my fingers crossed for the next event late September.

Overall still bummed about this but glad it wasn't anything major.

cchen9_ wrote

Some updates on the car. Morehead Speedworks in Lexingon, SC set up my car recently. Most all of the suspension had been overhauled/upgraded and needed to be properly dialed in. MSW was great and picked up my car from the house and did a full track alignment/prep and corner balance on it.

Pumped for this week I left for Georgia for a track day on 8/24 really looking forward to seeing how the car will feel on track. Yesterday, I get to the track, park the car, check in, and as soon as I crank it up trying to get ready for first session, I hear a very audible ticking noise sounding like it's coming from valvetrain/top end. Immediately shut car off -- Zero codes, oil level is fine.

I'm super worried and this disconcerting noise is freaking me out. I'm 120% bummed out I watch a few friends run for a few hours and end up babying the car back to my bros house about 90mins from the track, which I was deadly afraid of even doing, the whole time fearing this thing is going to grenade on me any moment.

Did a bunch of reading online on and found out the AC compressor pulley bearing can fail and cause the noise I was hearing. Sure enough the next morning when I look again I see the outer plate of the pulley sitting on the undertray/bumper. Outer race completely missing (I heard something fall out on the way back from the track).

Pulled the fan and got access to remove the pieces of the pulley remaining and removed the belt. Luckily the AC compressor did not seize up so internally I think it is fine. Going to replace the pulley only and have my fingers crossed for the next event late September.

Overall still bummed about this but glad it wasn't anything major.

Yikes. Thanks for sharing. Frustrating for sure, but imagine if the A/C compressor pulley outer plate had let lose at 150+mph on the back straight at Road ATL.. Could've been like a grenade under the hood.. There'll be another track time slot coming up soon..

Got this in the other day, will be installing in a few weeks hopefully.


Took the car out to AMP last week here are some of my fav shots from the set.

I absolutely love this car <3

Are you running without spacers on the front?
265/35?

Looks awesome, is there a place online where one can find these track events track days?

Paco1M wrote

Are you running without spacers on the front?
265/35?

No spacers 275/35

2008M36MT wrote

Looks awesome, is there a place online where one can find these track events track days?

https://www.trackshaker.com/

How are you liking the Solo Motorsports custom Harrop tune so far?

This m3 is enjoying its best life with a great owner and great modifications!

DrFerry wrote

How are you liking the Solo Motorsports custom Harrop tune so far?

It has been solid. Really want to get my hands on "stage 2" haha. Motivation is a bit low right now on the car as I'm quite busy, I need to install the CF D/S once I get some free time, was debating on just taking it to a shop as it seems kind of a chore to do with 1 set of hands

Erickuokwa wrote

This m3 is enjoying its best life with a great owner and great modifications!

TY!

Alright it was pretty nice outside today so I did some preliminary removal to get started on this driveshaft install.

Dropped the exhaust. Man it was a chore to deal with the front hangers. I decided not to waste my time f'n around with the rear ones and just drop the whole bracket together. It is definitely heavy moving this exhaust with 1 set of hands. Anyone WTT their Akra for an Evolve exhaust? Lol.


Then pulled the heatshield and I have the oem d/s exposed. Ordered some new hardware from FCP waiting on that stuff to arrive. I'll probably remove the oem d/s this weekend. Contemplating on doing diff bushings while I'm under here, not sure though...

For the rear arms spherical bushing replacements-Do you mind linking me the tool and the bushings you purchased?

I agree our exhausts are super heavy for a 1 man job.. this tool I have helped with the dumb hangers but I still had to squeeze extremely hard to get it off

Erickuokwa wrote

For the rear arms spherical bushing replacements-Do you mind linking me the tool and the bushings you purchased?

I agree our exhausts are super heavy for a 1 man job.. this tool I have helped with the dumb hangers but I still had to squeeze extremely hard to get it off

I know this tool lol! Made me mad I never invested in getting one. The M3 hangers are pretty stiff it seems. Like on my Acura the rubber hangers are way softer, easy to pry off with some makeshift tool or even by hand, I guess it makes sense as the exhaust is WAY heavier. I ended up stacking two open end wrenches to mcgyver a pry tool but it definitely would've been easier with the proper one.

For the rear arms spherical conversion I used this tool: Bavarian Autosport ES3673971. Bushings you can get from FCP I used Meyle ones. And you'll need the conical washers there's a guy making batches right now I'm sure you can snag a set.

This thread has all the info you'll need if you haven't seen it already -- https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1781245

OEM D/S pulled out today, making some more progress lol

Pulled the diff out today to get to the bushings. Figure this will make the d/s install easier now that clearances are not super tight trying to fit it, I can pretty much just lift the diff into place is my thinking to get it buttoned up to the d/s. And I can upgrade the bushings "while im in there". Luckily the trailing arm bushing tool I had purchased worked perfectly for these so no new tools needed. All 3 successfully removed, mine look to be in great shape fwiw.

Wow it's been a long 3 months without any update and I miss driving this car.
Have been really busy these last 3 months and honestly never feel like working in the garage if its cold out.
Today was a very pleasant 70F perfect day to turn some wrenches and I worked on the D/S install some more.

Got the diff mounted up against the solid diff bushings.

Snapped a photo before she goes in.

And it's in. Hopefully finish up and test drive this weekend. All that is left is re-installing heatshields and exhaust.

cchen9_ wrote

Wow it's been a long 3 months without any update and I miss driving this car.

Solid update from the 3 month hiatus...I'm working on writing a whole bunch of posts myself...been slacking.

Got the exhaust back on yesterday and spun the wheels a bit to listen for clearance issues.

Heatshield was touching in one spot and some finagling of the heatshield gave the clearance needed.

I may heatwrap the exhaust in the future just for extra precaution.

Took it out for a spin today and had zero vibrations or any wonkiness up to 150mph. Lol.

I think next thing for this car is a Drexler LSD unit and solid subframe bushings.

Took a 8 hr round trip drive to Georgia yesterday to pick up this full Akra exhaust. Got some plans for this thing before I put it on. Crazy how light this entire system is.

Also picked up a LSD from Florian at limitedslip.de, he supplied all the required bearings/race/hardware and side flanges. Really knowledgeable guy and made ordering quite easy. Arrived from Germany to me < 1 week.

These Millway subframe bushings will be installed as well.

Awesome build so far !!

Spent the day today at a buddy's new shop. Haven't seen him in quite some time and it was nice to chat about cars and shoot the shit again. Man... having a shop is nice. I really want a lift LOL. We had a total of 4 guys working on the car, definitely fun times and made things a lot easier with the extra hands.

Mission: Rear subframe bushings and new LSD installation.
We got started at 830AM and finished around 12 hours later, with a lot of talking, breaks for food/snacks, etc. We didn't want to rush things. I took some photos while I could of certain points in the process for your viewing pleasure.

First the easy part, remove exhaust

Then we removed the differential

Started working on taking the diff apart, flanges come out first

Cover separated from case

OEM LSD removed and of course we shot off the ring gear bolts and removed the gear

New unit

Pressing the bearings on. We used a flat first then used an old bearing race to press it that last bit to seat it flush against the carrier.

New LSD ready to drop in

Installed with new side flanges & seals

Noon rolled around and the other 2 guys arrived and started with pulling the subframe out

Subframe out

So what was the most difficult IMO of this whole process was removing the original rubber bushings. The stock bushings have an aluminum lip of some sort. Breaking those off was key in getting them to press out with the tool we used, which was your typical threaded rod, nut, and receiving cup setup. We used an air hammer and chisel tip with some steady hands and it made short work of those "lips".

Because we were not working with a bare subframe, the knuckle/hub ended up being too wide to fit into the press. At about 5pm or so we had all the solid bushings pressed in and the subframe was ready to go back in the car. Gave it a good spray down with some purple power and a rinse.


Didn't take any more photos afterward as it started to get dark everything went back together as intended. Alignment really didn't feel "off" (will still be getting one soon) as all the arms stayed bolted to the subframe which was nice. Drove the car back home and will be taking it out this weekend for some twisties to break in the diff. Long ass day, I need some sleep now.