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[aaronjb]

Put some air in the tyres of the rattly M3..

Topped up the water on the Omega and stuck another dishwasher tablet in there.  Wonder if the oil will ever stop coming out..

Also googled the book time for a clutch change on the SMG-II M3 - 16 hours! One DIYer said it took him 40 hours..

[05omegav6]

Two words...

Sell it

[omega3000]

Followed another silver Omega 

Did it look like it was in a hurry, and have the wheelbarrow attachments?

I did fly past a dwardling red PFL MV6 earlier....

No i would have spotted that a mile off  Bog standard silver one , and mine is gold and up on ramps 

[omegod]

Decided to break it up

[chrisgixer]

Put some air in the tyres of the rattly M3..

Topped up the water on the Omega and stuck another dishwasher tablet in there.  Wonder if the oil will ever stop coming out..

Also googled the book time for a clutch change on the SMG-II M3 - 16 hours! One DIYer said it took him 40 hours..

Ring Richard

[aaronjb]

Put some air in the tyres of the rattly M3..

Topped up the water on the Omega and stuck another dishwasher tablet in there.  Wonder if the oil will ever stop coming out..

Also googled the book time for a clutch change on the SMG-II M3 - 16 hours! One DIYer said it took him 40 hours..

Ring Richard

I did... "Can't do gearboxes or clutches" was the answer, though he did point me to an indy garage in Maidenhead they're not a BMW specialist, and there's a bunch of SMG-specific computer wizardry that requires the BMW diagnostics to do after the clutch change.  I do know another M-specialist though, so I need to call them today.

[edit] Actually I take that back, they are a BMW specialist, according to the sign on their building (ah, streetview!)

[Kevin Wood]

I did... "Can't do gearboxes or clutches" was the answer, though he did point me to an indy garage in Maidenhead they're not a BMW specialist, and there's a bunch of SMG-specific computer wizardry that requires the BMW diagnostics to do after the clutch change.  I do know another M-specialist though, so I need to call them today.

[edit] Actually I take that back, they are a BMW specialist, according to the sign on their building (ah, streetview!)

Yeah, sell it. If you can't change a simple wear item without wizardry, it smells of German engineering at its' best worst, and you don't want to get involved in that.  Trust me, I get involved with it as a job. 

[aaronjb]

  Indeed! Ok, it's not massive wizardry - you have to teach it the clutch bite point which I have the gear to do.. but the concept scares off a lot of indies.

In fact, the one I was referred to by Chris' friend Richard did that air sucking thing just now and suggested I better bring it down as they've never done an SMG, so have no idea what's under the car.

CPC up in Amersham, however, have done plenty .. although I can't get a price until he's finished dropping his kids off at school He'll probably tell me to convert it to manual and be done with the electronics, mind!


If I could physically fit in a '7' I'd be tempted to chop the M3 in for one and keep the 7 it as a purely fun/track/sunny commute car. (I put '7' in quotes of course as I couldn't afford an actual Lotus 7 )

[Kevin Wood]

If I could physically fit in a '7' I'd be tempted to chop the M3 in for one and keep the 7 it as a purely fun/track/sunny commute car. (I put '7' in quotes of course as I couldn't afford an actual Lotus 7 )

What you need is a Cobr...a'll get my coat.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Eeekkk, Sequential manual gearboxes, Andy B will love those!   

I thought BMW had moved over to the dual clutch Getrag setups? (which VW for some reason claim as thier own under the name DSG)

[aaronjb]

They did - but not until the E9x M3 .. and I can't afford one of those The E46 is basically the same as the E36 in that it's a single clutch manual box (still Getrag, but the same box as the manual car) with hydraulic actuators and a gear position sensor in place of the shift lever.

Mechanically it's not really that complex .. there's just a laundry list of stuff to remove before you can drop the tail of the engine down and slide the box off (exhaust, driveshaft, intake manifold, cooling fan, etc).

Although having done the intake manifold (took the best part of a day the first time out) I reckon I could do that part in a couple of hours, now.

If I could physically fit in a '7' I'd be tempted to chop the M3 in for one and keep the 7 it as a purely fun/track/sunny commute car. (I put '7' in quotes of course as I couldn't afford an actual Lotus 7 )

What you need is a Cobr...a'll get my coat.

I don't know what you mean.. 

[05omegav6]

Bits of this conversation seem remarkably familiar... eh Aaron

[aaronjb]

Yeah .. every other week when something drops off the M3..

Or every week if you include when something drops off the Omega..

[05omegav6]

Ah yes, but dishwasher tablets are cheaper than BMW bits, and easier to fit too

[aaronjb]

I don't know - one got stuck to my fingers last night as I tried to get it in the header tank..

Incidentally I have a new rad & sensors turning up tomorrow (hopefully), so there should be slightly less clag in the system after that.