If one boston is rare... (Passed smog today!)

Thanks Matt!

I will try to get pics tomorrow, but its supposed to snow 1-2 feet over the weekend......so not too sure about that.

Thanks Randy, I still need to do cooling system overhaul to fix fan clutch, so I probably won't smog until next week sometime.

Ok so like a good e36 owner, I went through my cooling system completely today. I replaced the thermostat housing, waterpump, fan clutch, and flushed the system. It's a good thing I did the waterpump, since when I pulled it out, the plastic impeller basically fell apart.

I also determined that I need to find a gauge cluster from an obd1 6 cylinder with around 130k miles to swap with mine.....there is no way to get the right mileage without going to the dealer (my local dealer sucks, and won't do the reset) on the obd1 clusters.

Also found out that my alarm has the older style key fob with three buttons instead of two....so if anyone needs a key fob with two buttons, I have one for 20 plus shipping

Then went and drove it like I stole it until it started to snow :devil:

I <3 my S50

Ok update time:

I seem to have developed a miss at idle since replacing the bosch plugs with NGK coppers.....wtf? Maybe small valve cover gasket leak has ruined the boots causing the plugs to not fire properly? Thoughts anyone?

Also, added a new clutch stop, and its soooo much better. The best ten bucks I have spent on either e36 so far

And this weekend I am picking up a complete sachs suspension setup with about 20k miles.....can't wait to get rid of the racelands!

Next stop.....wheel town!

Are you trying to make money off the racelands?

text me 315 398 two,eight,four,four.

I will let you know franklyn when I get the new stuff this weekend. I'm not ready to sell yet.

allan, i finally saw it....woohoo! boston with yellow fogs...yey!

Haha, yeah its boston green, but the yellows are gone...they looked like crap IMO.

I'll get some new pics up when I get the suspension this weekend

I finally get to do burn outs now!

wait...no more yellows? how bad are they?

Originally Posted by series88

wait...no more yellows? how bad are they?

They aren't too bad, I swapped them to the 325i. The light isn't as good as the white ones, I put silverstar bulbs in and it works the best in the clear lenses. I'm going to sell them with the 325i.


So tomorrow, new (used) Sachs suspensions will be going in, and i'll investigate the front sway bar.

Also, I have a fairly rythmical miss at idle that started when I replaced the bosch +2 plugs with the NGK copper two prongs. So far I have cleaned the MAF, and swapped the coils with some that I had around. I am going to replace the coil boots and clean the ICV to see if that will help. It seems like its every 2-3 revolutions, anyone have some ideas?


I think I'll just make this my official build thread since everyone else seems to have one

Well since it started when you swapped the plugs, I'd take a wild gander and say they're the problem.

Maybe the engine got used to the plugs. Unplugging battery for like 30 min?

Heard that works sometimes

Yeah, that was my guess too, I'll try to switch back to those horrible bosch plugs and see if the problem stops.

Or get proper plugs instead

What does everyone here run? I'm FI so I'm different I'm sure.

Forget the exact model, but NGK iridiums

The NGK are the right plugs (ordered them from pelican about a day after I got the car), thats why I'm confused. I'll try the boots and VCG before I swap back. There is a little oil in the plug holes, but not enough to cause a short I think

Have you tried to go beat on it for a little bit?

Might as well get all the oil out, completely out, and try again.

Have you driven it a lot since the new plugs?

Originally Posted by TnT817

Forget the exact model, but NGK iridiums

Tried the iridiums in the 325i, and I didn't care for them, its seems that they don't run as well. In older cars, iridiums tend to get carbon build up faster, and wear out faster since the surface area of the electrode is smaller than a regular copper plug. The NGK coppers are great in my 325, just don't seem happy in the my m3

Originally Posted by TnT817

Have you tried to go beat on it for a little bit?

Originally Posted by FenderBender

Might as well get all the oil out, completely out, and try again.

Have you driven it a lot since the new plugs?

Not too much, it has completely bald tires and it has been snowing alot around here. I'm in the market for some snow tires now. I think I just put the second tank in it today. Oh and I ran some concentrated techron though it to see if that would help.

I'd just buy OEM sparkies...

Are the NGK copper not oem?

What are the oem ones?

i dont know...... ithnk NGK

Haha, thats why I put them in.....from my research, the ones I have are the oem ones, but the car runs like crap at idle.

It seems to pull really well though and it doesn't miss at revs higher than idle.

Thinking about turning up the idle, but I'm not too sure how that will affect my smog passing abilities

your coils could be bad...causing the misfire...