Hello Out There!

As some of you might already know, we are conducting some tests on our E34 suspension parts and we have been very fortunate to have members of the BMW community assisting us with this project by volunteering their individual cars are test beds.

We recently posted Cory’s Blog about her install on her BMW E34, be sure to check out that blog.  Cory did a great job installing a complete front end kit on her car – she is a girl who wrenches!  Brilliant!

Recently, Luis in Southern California also completed installed a front end kit on his BMW E34 Touring (Wagon to some).  This blog is about his experience and we will be following Luis as he accumulates miles while testing out the parts.

Let’s introduce you to our next candidate.  Luis is from Southern California, he is a very well accomplished DIY’er and a genuine BMW enthusiast.  Luis works in real estate and his car that was volunteered is a BMW E34 Touring – Silver in colour.

Luis recently completed is installation and was kind enough to share some images and notes with us.  They are great images and notes which give everyone additional insight and tips regarding this kind of work.

Here are Luis’ pictures and his notes:

“Finally got around to swapping out the control arms and steering linkage. I received one of the FCPGroton parts kits. Everything looked nice and fit very well. Zero trouble. All my old stuff came apart very easy and I had all the parts out and new parts in in about 3.5 hours. Air and a lift.”

Torn Boots – Tattered and torn.  All the boots were like this.  The oil is PB Blaster.

 

Both My sway links were bent and the boots torn –

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HF front ball joint tools. Worked perfectly and made the task easy.  Here is a picture of the ball joint separator tool in action.

Removal of the steering arm side. I removed the center link, idler arm and tie rods as a unit.

 

Pitman or idler arm separator tool ready to do its thing. (Next Pic) – It’s a tight fit, but you can fit a ratchet or a wrench.

The Idler Arm side.

 

All Out

 

Old Parts Out and About.  BTW, I did not have the 55mph shimmy… probably because the thrust arm bushings showed very little wear/damage. The steering did feel vague as all the ball joints were floppy.

Here are the Shiny new bits installed!!!

 

Remember to bend the dust shield back in place and spin the rotor to make sure it doesn’t rub.

I also installed the B&G touring specific rear springs to replace the sedan springs.

At this point I double checked everything and set off for the alignment shop.

That’s it. Car rides nice, tracks great and feels solid.

 

Hello Again -

Over the last few months, we have been talking with members of the BMW E34 community.  We have been reviewing our FCP E34 Front End Kit and seeing if there are opportunities to improve the kit.  We were fortunate to recruit some volunteers from the community who were willing to donate their cars, time and effort to help with this endeavor.  First, I would like to thank everyone in the BMW community who has contributed to this program and to the participants for volunteering and helping us to improve things for the community as a whole.

I will be introducing you to the participants and their cars and what they are doing in the program.

I am delighted to introduce our first participant – Cory Lynn.  Cory is a young lady from Norfolk, VA who works on her car.  She owns a 1993 BMW 535i and it has been modified with Vogtland springs and Bilstein Sports Shocks.  Cory drives about 1200 miles or more per month.  Cory was an ideal candidate for this program as she had installed a front end suspension kit in the past that seemed to suffer premature failure.

In order to do a side by side comparison of suspension kits, we provided Cory with a Meyle Front End Kit and we will have her accumulate up to 10 thousand miles and then inspect the kit for wear patterns.  There are other candidates in this program who will be using the FCP Kit and accumulating similar miles after which we will then inspect their kits as well.

This test will provide us with consumer side experiences with the parts, ease of installation, and help us in our goal to improve our products and services for the community.

Cory was able to document her installation and was happy to share her notes and pictures with us.

Here is Cory’s install, and her words to accompany the pictures -

The test subject in all her glory:

The carnage:

The parts list– Upper and lower control arms, tie rod,tie rod ends, swaybar links, idler arm. Total: 10 piece kit–

My friend Shawn who so VERY kindly donated his time and manstrength because I’m frail:

Jackstands were too tall… we had to improvise:

Rusty bolts everywhere, preparing ourselves for things to get stuck:

My drifter duct tape job on my foglights… and PS fluid everywhere from my sweet leak:

Me pre-epic bruises.. unbolting tie rod ends and UCA’s and swaybar links so the UCA ball joints would be easier to get to-

 

 

Hello Out there -

I own two E34 BMW’s – a 540i Touring and a 540 6-Speed. I am an avid – sometimes crazy – enthusiasts and lately, I am becoming a good DIY’er and increasing my knowledge and skills. I thought it would be nice to share my experiences with you all about projects I work on and the results. I hope you will join me in sharing your experiences too and contribute to this blog.

These experiences also allow me to share my consumer side experiences with the community so I can be genuinely more empathetic to any issues or questions that might arise.

I did this on a weekend, and it was my first installation of part I ordered from FCP. Yes – I shop where I work.

The cooling system on my 1995 540iT was acting weird at times. It already had a new water pump, new hoses, new thermostat amongst other things – so I figured one of these items could not be the culprit. The temperature gauge was usually reading slightly to the right of Top Dead Center. Since the car had been poorly maintained prior to me acquiring it, I figured it would be a good thing to start catching up on maintenance.

I ordered a brand new radiator (Nissen), brand new fan shroud, Fan (OEM BMW), Fan Clutch (BEHR), and various bits and pieces as well as the BMW Coolant that requires dilution. All the parts were ordered from FCP.

I received my packages on time, I can tell you right now the packaging was excellent – almost overkill compared to other places I had shopped from, so I appreciated this from our warehouse guys. Also, I verified all the parts were correct and as requested.

I apologize in advance that I my camera was NOT with me when I did the actual install. I forgot it and could not delay the install any longer. Anyway, here is how it went:

I parked the car and let it cool down for about 3+ hours. Ambient temperature was around 50 – 52F.

When car was cool enough, I took out the air filter, the air filter box, the MAF and the MAF intake hose / pipe. Of course, the Acoustic engine cover came off too.

This is where I tell you that having the right tools is KEY to a successful procedure. I have a pretty comprehensive array of tools, and I also have a Water Pump Pulley Holder and a 32mm Open Wrench for the Fan clutch – this is a priceless addition to any BMW Owners’ tool kit (More to come on this later).

After all the above mentioned parts where removed, access to the fan was much easier. It took me five minutes – literally – to remove the fan with the clutch using the tools. I then removed the fan shroud which was pretty brittle. For my 540 / M60B40 – there is an additional sensor on the shroud that monitors air quality for the HVAC recycling system – that came off too.

With that off, I then removed the Lower Radiator Hose to drain the radiator. I drain as much coolant as would come out (Please remember to be kind to the environment and catch all coolant with a container). With the radiator pretty empty, I removed the upper Radiator Hose and the Coolant Overflow Hose (The smaller one on top).

The Radiator mounting clips are tricky to remove – I unfortunately broke both of mine. I had four new spares ones with me just in case. With both clips remove, the radiator slides up and out pretty easily. I knew a BMW Technician and had once asked before if I could flush my system with a hose and water – just to get out any gunk – he said it was okay, so I flushed out the system again. Nothing fancy, just stuck a hose in the expansion bottle and let water flow through till all coolant was gone.

Installation of all the new parts was simply a reversal of everything. One point to note, BEHR does not supply new bolts for the Fan Clutch, so I re-used the old ones. I diluted one gallon of the BMW (Blue) coolant and filled her up. The M60B40 takes almost two gallon… also this has a self bleeding system. The car bled coolant after the first drive, but it has since stopped and the car has now been running well and now at Dead Top Center on the temperature gauge.

IMPORTANT: Please be sure to install everything back properly. When I first started the car, the new fan started hitting on the MAF and caused a notch in the MAF now. Check and double check as the smallest thing can wreck havoc.

You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook, you can also email me at michaelo@fcpgroton.com.

Here is the Touring with the new parts installed: