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E34 M5 Resto Part IV – Fan Clutch Replacement

Posted on May 26, 2017 by Jeff Einhorn

About 35 minutes into my first big road trip in the M5 (i.e., more than 15 miles), it became readily apparent that the fan clutch for the belt driven cooling fan had completely seized. How did I know? I’m not psychic, and the engine stayed nice and cool, staying firmly planted a touch below the middle of the gauge. However, at 65 MPH (slightly north of 3k rpm) on the highway, the car sounded like a fan powered swamp boat, with the cooling fan always running at engine speed — instead of doing its job of automatically adjusting speed as dictated by temperature and engine speed. The clutch, which is attached to the inside of the radiator fan, had completely frozen in the “always on” position. While this is much preferable to the alternative failure method — where the fan is always off and you overheat, potentially destroying the S38

E34 M5 Resto Part II: Replacing The BMW Badges

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Jeff Einhorn

Sometime between purchasing a new project car and it arriving on a transport truck at my home, I always seem to amass a small mountain of parts — things I know based on photos or a pre-purchase inspection will obviously require replacement. And on a project such as my 1991 E34 M5, which needs no immediate substantial mechanical work, nor any significant bodywork (i.e., paint) that means tons of “instant gratification” parts ready for installation to spruce it up and get it looking fresh again. By instant gratification, I mean projects that take one hour or less to complete as a DIY. It always astounds me that people don’t take care of these things before selling a car. In the case of my M5, it wasn’t really for sale when I bought it, so it gets a pass, but there are just so many easy fixes (like the BMW badges)

A Stronger E30 Shock Mount, The Not-So-Secret To Success

Posted on May 4, 2017 by Dan Downey

The BMW rear suspension. A simple and effective design, with one weakness. The E30 shock mount. The E30 shock mount absorbs Noise Harshness and Vibration between your suspension (just the shock in this case) and the rest of the car, giving a softer place for the shock to push on then the metal chassis. These take a lot of abuse, especially on rougher roads, carrying many passengers/luggage, or when bashing your rally car down dirt roads like me. Being a rubber bushing pressed into metal, over time it will fail. Could be simply worn out, have audible “clunking” over bumps, or even: Rally on stock mounts you say? Only a matter of time before the shock frees the beast into the car. For replacement you will have the typical OE or OE+ parts. Those are great for normal driving for untold thousands of miles. But for those with lower cars,

E34 M5 Resto Part I: The Shimmy, Shake and Shuffle

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Jeff Einhorn

There can be no doubt. I have been a lifelong, dyed in the wool gearhead. Some of my earliest memories involve wrenching with my father on Austin Healeys, helping to rebuild SU carburetors on our basement workbench. And when his restorations were finished, the cars were not stored away under glass, never to be touched, but were instead used as originally intended, driven hard, maintained well, and fixed when needed. He was also never interested in cars that could easily be lost in a parking lot. Instead, everything had to be unique. Not to impress other people, I don’t think he could have cared less about what other people thought, but it gave him pleasure to be different – even if only he knew. I’ve carried these philosophies with me – and automotively speaking – they’ve taken me to some interesting places. My first car in high school was a

Engine Compression and Leakdown Testing – DIY Instructions

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Sam Williamson

If a cylinder has a compression leak, it will have lower engine compression than it should. If the compression is leaking, your engine power and efficiency will suffer. The most common cause is leaking at one of the piston rings or valves. If a seal is damaged or the cylinder is excessively worn, problems could result from lack of pressure, including low power output (especially on hills), cylinder misfires, or starting problems. The most common repairs include replacement of the exhaust valves, head gasket, and piston rings. Engine Compression Testing A compression test is used to assess the mechanical health of the engine in terms of the compression that can be held within the combustion chamber. It measures the compression that results from the pressure created by each piston as it travels from bottom dead center (BDC) to top dead center (TDC) with the valves closed. A compression test can