May. 13, 2003 - "I didn't know you were gonna kill it"

Not satisfied with the lower parts, I asked Habib to get me the strut mounts as well, which would give me 100% of the '95 M3 geometry.

I stayed with my 325 Dinan springs and Bilsteins, and picked up the Dinan sway bars to go with it, (making it a Stage 2 if anyone cares) so in one sense, I'm not totally M3, since I'm running a control arm mounted 27mm swaybar. But I couldn't justify ditching perfectly good and well-tuned matched parts just to get a strut mounted swaybar. So, I'm a wee bit heavier in the front than a real M3, as the M3 strut mounted swaybar is smaller diameter and therefore lighter.

So, he remounted my Dinan springs on the M3 hats, and I had him throw a set of stock M3 springs on the old M3 struts and shocks, (parts I'd aquired when I was going to convert to stock M3 geometry last year). That leaves me with a perfectly good set of H&R springs to sell or hang onto, since the wreck had those installed.

The rear suspension was a no-brainer, the mounts and geometry are identical, with the M3 parts being a bit beefier, and having the larger vented rotors. We checked the wheel bearings, they were fine, and the RTAB's are fine as well, showing signs of replacement sometime in the past.

So, I leave that afternoon, with visions of track time dancing through my head, and return the following afternoon to check up on them.

Wow. These guys were fast. The engines and drive trains were now out of both cars, and mine looked like, well, a boat. There was absolutely nothing underneath my car at this point but sheet metal, some wiring, and the gas tank. And this big hole where the engine was. I remember standing underneath the car, with my head sticking up through the engine bay, wondering what I'd gotten myself into.

At this point we started moving into uncharted territory...the transmission swap. We knew there would be no issues with the drive train, since, well, the engine and transmission were made for each other. But the pedals, hydraulics, and wiring took some head scratching. We all agreed that the best time to do these things were while engine and trans were out, giving us plenty of room to work.

I'd followed threads and dug up every bit of information on this board and others about the process, but nobody had done a real write-up on it. So, armed with vague information like "bypass neutral safety", "rewire backup lights", and "tap into the brake reservoir for clutch lines", we figured it out, mostly. I've posted on another thread about the process, no need to totally repeat it here, but it took some splicing, a meter, and a good set of schematics to get the job done. Nothing major, just required some ingenuity.

So, closing time at the shop, time to go home and dream about short-shifting and flywheel clatter.

The next afternoon, I drop by, and holy crap, the engine is in, they've installed the LTW flywheel, pressure plate and new clutch (old clutch was pretty chewed up, so was the pressure plate, so that made me feel good about getting the new parts).

Habib points out the fuel filter for me. Seems that in the '95, the fuel filter is located just to the left of the transmission tunnel, under a cover. On my '93, the fuel filter is mounted low, inside the engine bay, and mounted to the block. He had to do some fancy fiddling to get the new fuel filter to work with the 3.0 block, since it didn't have the mounting points, and my 325 chassis would never be able to let it be mounted the way the M3 was.
But it was in, secure, and accessible.

So at this point, they were in the process of installing the ZF tranny.

This goes a bit less than smooth, with some difficulty in getting the damn thing seated properly. the shaft didn't seem to want to seat fully into the clutch bearing. We were concerned about the TMS flywheel, the possibility of having the wrong clutch kit, etc. But with a lot of finagling and cursing in four languages later, it was installed.

Then they go to hook up the SSK linkage, and find they have some real clearance issues...less room on the left side than the right, but it goes together. Then comes the tranny mount. It won't fit. At first, we panic, thinking the '95 part won't work with the '93 auto, and start wondering where we can find a '93 manual tranny mount in a hurry, because without the mount, the job is on hold.

Habib scratches his head, then checks out the motor mounts. The right front is on backwards, angling the rear of the engine to the left. This explained the difficulty getting the transmission to seat, the clearance issues with the shifter, and why the tranny mount bracket doesn't line up.

A few minutes later, the motor mount is corrected, and the tranny mount bolts right up. Ten minutes after that, the driveshaft is up and mounted to the rear diff, and it's about closing time again.

No way I could take the car at that point, as we were still waiting on a few parts. The wrecked radiator was bad, and my 325 had a cheap aftermarket radiator on it that was showing signs of leakage, so we wanted that replaced.

The water pump in the M3 engine was STILL PLASTIC (at 72k miles, even), and showing cracks in the impeller. Worst of all, the thermostat was broken in four pieces, though all were still wedged in, and hadn't gotten sucked into the system. So, next morning the BMW metal water pump, radiator, thermostat, and aluminum thermo housing were to arrive, along with one other important part. Clips that held the pedals on the pedal bar.

At the same time, we had the Evan's Tire shop next door dismounting the fairly new Toyo Proxies FZ4 tires from my known good 10 spoke wheels, and swap them with the AVS I's from the wrecked car with a fresh inside balance.

The next morning, I was at the shop bright and early, because it was the day the car was to be started.

Now, the wrecked M3 was built in 5/95, and therefore had EWS II, which as you know, has coded ignition keys, a transmitter on the ignition switch, and the car just won't start if the code isn't received. The '93 had no such gadgetry.

My dilemma was twofold. One, I had to have a working harness and DME on the 2.5 when we were done, so I could sell it. And two, I needed some way of disabling the EWS, rather than trying to retrofit the parts onto my car, no easy task.

I'd already picked up a used AA chip for the car, tuned for a HFM and 21.5# injectors, for a 506 DME, which was what came on early build '95 M3's. And as a bonus, this chip would work in the 413 DME that was in my '93, but it would not work in the DME that was in the M3. I hadn't quite figured this out when I bought the chip, so essentially, it was not going to suit my needs, though it was a nice backup, for if all else failed, I would revert to using the '93 DME and eat the loss on the engine sale.

A few calls, emails, and some thread searching, and I found a few ways to get around the EWS issue. The first involved getting a new chip burned with EWS disabled, a very clean solution, but that was a bit pricey. The second method involved, well, hacking up the wiring harness, in a method I won't disclose here.

I decided to go with the first method, and being a sucker for marketing, and wanting to keep my badge legit, I opted for Dinan. It took some wheedling by my local BMW parts guy to get a Dinan chip with EWS disabled, as they don't normally do this sort of thing. Then we had to get them to burn one for a HFM and LTW flywheel (idle bump) that was not sold by them, another little sticking point.

But my parts guy came through, and the chip arrived inside a week after me ordering it. To keep Dinan happy and to blow some more money, I had a big bore throttle body shipped with it.

The cooling system parts arrived, and the tires were mounted, but there was some bad news about the clips we needed for the clutch and brake pedal assembly. They wouldn't arrive until the next day. Not letting that stop us, we proceeded with getting the car cranked and road tested, before it went next door for an alignment. The cooling system parts were installed, wheels put on, and the car lowered.

So, giving me the keys, Habib and Hamed waited while I tried to crank the car. Turned the key, lights came on. Pushed in the clutch, and turned it to start. CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! No start. Made sure it was in neutral, released the clutch, and tried again. CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!.

Damn. My first thought was the EWS. The guys checked all the harness wiring quickly, and everything was connected fine. So, we pulled out the DME, and popped the cover. ECU chip was seated fine.

So, for a quick sanity check, and since it was sitting ten feet away, we plugged in the DME from my 2.5, complete with stock 2.5 chip. Jumped inside, turned the key..and it started. It wasn't real happy sounding, but it was idling fine.

So, either they had sent me a bad chip, or it didn't disable EWS. A call to my dealership got me connected to Dinan..who confirmed that the chip they sent me was EWS enabled Stage III, based on the part number, and furthermore, that they did not sell a 413 EWS chip disabled, contrary to what my parts guy had been told.

Crap! I could return the chip, and order a JC chip from TMS, and have it on Monday, and they guaranteed they'd disable the EWS (and for only $250!)..but that was a four..count 'em, four day wait, this being Thursday. And there was no way I was going to drive around with a modded S50 using a stock M50 chip, and my silly ass had JUST sold the AA chip and shipped it off, thinking I wouldn't need it.

Impatient me, I decided to go with plan B and keep the Dinan chip. So, after some schematic digging and armed with the black magic I'd received from some board members, we attacked the harness and did the nasty. Of course, the first wire we clipped was the wrong one, and that had to be reconnected. But the second try worked. The car started with the "proper" chip! Woo hoo!

Ok, time for the road test. Habib had the honor of that, and I stood by with a silly grin on my face as the car rolled out of the garage on its own power. It sounded great, even with the stock exhaust.

Habib rolled it out of the parking lot and onto the street, and gently drove it off, and was soon out of sight. I stood outside smoking for a couple minutes, wondering how it was going, when I heard this howling engine from the street behind the shop, some distance off. It stopped, and I didn't pay much more attention to it. A few moments later, I hear it again, this time closer, and looking in the direction of the sound, I see my girl coming down the street, Habib heavy on the throttle.

Daaaaaaaaaamn! It sounded awesome, and it was hauling ass. Habib makes the corner, and pulls back into the lot, grinning from ear to ear. He gave it a big thumbs up.

I wanted to drive it, but he talked me out of it. "She needs the alignment, you want to drive it when she's all ready, not before!"

He sold me on that, and also the fact that the clutch pedal was not connected properly. And, he wanted to get it up on the lift to check for leaks and such.

So, I left the shop, more anxious than ever, since I was THIS close. But it would have to wait until the next morning.

-to be continued