[Soravia]

The wagons come with rear frame brace, the opposite of E92 / E82 / 1M frame brace. I'm also getting convertible E92 / E84 X1 frame brace parts and will combine the two.
E84 X1 comes with both the wagon brace and the convertible brace from factory, so it should work for my wagon.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=51_7640

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...54#33326777637

[Soravia]

Rear diff rear bolt is connected to a vibration absorption weight, right after the mount bushing. Not sure if I want to delete it.

[Soravia]

To remove rear drive shaft, rear and mid exhaust has to be dropped. Hard to do when clamps nuts are sized so much impact wrench tore the clamp instead of the nut.

Another way is to use 4" cutting wheel to cut into the clamp and then rip it apart using impact wrench on the seized nut.

[4 Doors]

Wow...amazing detailed work and DIY! Glad to see all of this being done. As for the front control arms/tension strut bushings: I went ahead and bought the front arms with the bushings pre-pressed but also want to replace the ball joints. Could you explain again the best way to remove the ball joints especially considering they will be pretty tight and rusted? Were you saying to remove the bushing end first and let it hang as you remove the ball joint screws? Or remove it from the ball joint first? Then the ball joint by itself?

[E91WAG3N]

Love the finned diff cover. Sub'd!

[Soravia]

Originally Posted by Igor_M5

Epic overhaul ! I'm gunna need to tackle the suspension on my xDrive E91 sometime soon too, might just follow suit !

Originally Posted by 4 Doors

Wow...amazing detailed work and DIY! Glad to see all of this being done. As for the front control arms/tension strut bushings: I went ahead and bought the front arms with the bushings pre-pressed but also want to replace the ball joints. Could you explain again the best way to remove the ball joints especially considering they will be pretty tight and rusted? Were you saying to remove the bushing end first and let it hang as you remove the ball joint screws? Or remove it from the ball joint first? Then the ball joint by itself?

On all control arms, you have to release the torque from the sub frame side of the arm so the bushing is no longer binding and putting pressure on the spindle / king pin side. Once that's done, the ball joints side where you removed the nut will release.

Except for the steering tie rod ball joint. strut pressure will keep it down. Using tool will most likely damage the rubber boot on ball joint. Wait until strut is removed, or cut the tie rod end with 4" cutting wheel like I did. I was going to replace tie rod ends anyway.

Ball joint on the spindle / king pin is held by two screws and lots of rust. Remove the screws. Make it spin side ways by tapping the ear (where screws held it down) with a big flat punch. When loosened from rust, put in liquid wrench, then hit with large punch and hammer to knock it out. Best done off the car.

Finned diff cover is 1M. I don't own that. Just example of the picture on how it's mounted vs my wagon brace. They interfere for sure so I will use washers.
Anyone can put on 1M brace to sedans. Site sponsor ECS tuning should offer a kit. I got the brace off wrecked convertible. The rest are going to be new bolts and mounting pieces.

[Soravia]

I got in a spare set of new tension strut arms I won't be using.
I'll be selling them if anyone wants, with 60 duro meter poly filled along with new rubber in bushings to last longer and tighter front end. Fits all 3 series and 1 series xi xDrive of all years. Only to USA ppl of course.
I can fill it half or all the way to brim.

[Soravia]

Up next is pressing in ECS Tuning (forum sponsor) brass caliper slide kit.
Unlike other kits, this one comes with stainless steel caliper pins so they won't corrode and seize the pads, has rubber O-ring at the ends of the brass so it keeps the lube in and debris out, and I bought it with install tool kit so there's little chance for the brass or aluminum calipers to get damaged. Install is done using hand tools.
I will be putting them on rebuilt calipers so there's no need to clean the holes the brass guides will go in. If there's rust, etc. they can deform the brass guides enough to not let the caliper pins slide.

One thing I would change from their manual is to put the lube IN the brass guides.
If you put the lube on the pins like the instructions say, the O-ring at the opening of the brass guides will just wipe them out!

https://blog.ecstuning.com/bmw-bronz...-installation/

Rear or non aluminum front calipers (The small ones)
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...003326ecs01~a/

Front Aluminum calipers, notice uneven length.
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...003326ecs02~a/

Install tool kit.
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-ecs-part...t/003326ecs03/

[Soravia]

Got the rear axles out, then rear differential, and abs wires. Just need to disconnect the rear brake hoses to drop the rear sub frame, finally.

To get rear axles out, you have to disconnect lower control arms and pry away at the rear king pin / spindle to make space to drop the axle shaft out of the hub on differential.

I used transmission jack on the control arms to counter the pressure from the rear suspension spring to pull out the bolt. The spring will not fly out if you leave the rear damper and bushing on king pin connected to the arm.

You need the axles out, at least on the driver side to get to rear 21 mm bolt for differential rear mount. It is held by 27 mm nut against the vibration absorbing weight. Impact wrench will NOT work. Use ratchet, universal joint, 3" or 4" extension on bolt, and 27 mm wrench on the nut side.

A large pry bar is needed to pry out the flex disc aka guibo and rear half drive shaft off the input flange on differential.

You will need the parking brake line bracket bolts removed from the underside tunnel to give space to remove the front bolts on rear differential mount. I used 18 mm ratcheting wrench to get to them in limited space. You want something like a transmission jack to relieve pressure on the bolts and hold the HEAVY differential in place as the bolts are removed. Use two man lift to move the differential safely.

[Soravia]

Rust makes it hard for anything to come out. I'll be rust proofing everything that goes back in.

ABS sensor has to be knocked sideway and pried out to come out.
The parking brake had to be knocked around and punched out.
I busted one Bowden cable tip, it will be getting replaced.

Holes in the replacement spindles will get sanded down and clear coated to prevent this kind of issue coming up later.
Original spindle got fused to the drive axle by rusted out hub nut so I'll have to throw them out. $$$$ damage done by rusted out $1.49 nut.

Replace the hub nuts on your cars while you can, or you'll have to replace everything.

[Soravia]

CONFIRMED. E90 M3 rear sub frame works with all other E90 spring and damper mounted lower control arm!!
Now I don't have to buy M3 arm and damper to work with it. It would be nice but I already have Bilsteins for the rear. Rear lower forward is all the same, so I have everything M3 control arms except the rear bottom arm.

Corrosion is bad for you, especially brake line nuts. They get stuck on the line, when you twist them lose with flared nut wrench, they twist the line with them and break them. I anticipated this and bought replacement lines that are mounted to sub frame. The lines mounted to the body were broken loose using liquid wrench and propane torch. They were close to fuel tank and EVAP hose so you have to be very careful with torch. I'll apply liquid film to prevent these issues in the future.

Body had some surface rust near rear of fuel tank and took them out. Those are places where snow and salt can get trapped.

Wagon rear brace mount was the last to come out and had the most rust. I guess salt just splatters on it most. I'm brushing out the rust and applying CLR on it before rinsing out and going with Duplicolor self-etching primer, filler primer, black, clear coat, and then Duplicolor Rust Barrier gloss black rubber coat on it. It will have to go in before the rear sub frame. The bolts are virtually inaccessible without removing the rear sub frame.

[4 Doors]

Originally Posted by Soravia

I got in a spare set of new tension strut arms I won't be using.
I'll be selling them if anyone wants, with 60 duro meter poly filled along with new rubber in bushings to last longer and tighter front end. Fits all 3 series and 1 series xi xDrive of all years. Only to USA ppl of course.
I can fill it half or all the way to brim.

Two days too late! I just replaced my front control arms with bushings and ball joints yesterday. You did a lot of work recently. I give you props for taking on all of that rear ended work with rust!

[Soravia]

Most of the rear body panels had very little rust, except near the fuel tank and side rocker panel. Sub frame mounting trapped some salt and needed repaint. Now whole rear under is covered in rubber after repaint. I think the non-M E90 rear sub frame forward mounting vibration damper mat absorbs moisture and salt, creating more rust than aft mounting point without it.
M3 sub frame mounts do not have the damper foam in pic, as seen mocked up on M3 sub frame for fitment. I won't be replacing that.

[Soravia]

Pics for what needed to undo to remove rear wagon panels for rear damper install. Top plastic has tabs meant for one way install. You can try pulled towards inside as you pry upwards to help not break the tabs.

The seat back hook cover as seen in last pic goes in bottom first. The top tabs are designed to flex and bend with a pry tool to push in after the bottom hooks in.

[Soravia]

Rinsed out the dusty rear under suspension arm and rubber coated it. All new hardware will also get clear coat (Duplicolor wheel paint) to get corrosion resistance.

[Soravia]

Got the front suspension all hooked up. Still need to torque down the nuts other than front lower to spindle.

Front lower forward control arm ball joint has to be torqued down to the spindle before the axle shaft goes into the spindle hub. Axle gets in the way for T40 bit on ratchet needed to torque it down.

When that ball joint is torqued down off the vehicle, you must make sure the arm is pointed to direction it will be mounted on the car, or the ball joint boot will be twisted and torn when moved to correct direction to mount on the car.

The pic at bottom shows incorrect direction during tightening. It should be pointed close along where the axle shaft will be.

[Soravia]

Bilstein B6/HD struts are shorter than OE. They will not stick out from the bottom of the spindle like OE did.
That's by design.
Wasted some time trying to see why it wasn't coming out like OE. Spindle spreader tool was not needed once the rust inside was brushed out, the strut went in smoothly.

[Soravia]

FEQ brand 31607558949 front axle shafts do not reuse the OE plastic dust shield on the shaft to front differential side. They come with metal lip instead.

Included snap ring on FEQ shafts are too loose compared to OE and can get dislodged during install and meshed into gear splines.
Remove the snap ring and replace with OE snap ring.

[Soravia]

Bentley workshop manual says use a pry tool to remove axle seal on front differential and shows a flat ply bar in the picture for removing axle shaft seals.
Flat pry tool will not work. You need the double hooked tool and put in protection padding on aluminum lip like in the picture. Comes out easily with double hooked seal removal tool. Use the more curved one under the seal lip and flatter hook as leverage point on the opposite side.
Work at two different locations about 45 to 90 degrees apart and it will come out with two tries.

[Soravia]

So far, not including heated Sport steering, reverse camera, F30 Msport wheels, tires, powder coating, power tools, etc. this BMW project car has cost me $6,200.94 + $500 shop fees, with labor on myself taking up my vacation days. All to fix up stuff that was eaten up by corrosion and 60k 9 years mileage.

That's more than half of what I paid for the car!

Planning to order Dinan camber plate kit for $140. Not sure how it will go at alignment once all said and done.
Front suspension arms are all torqued in. Eyeballed the approximate wheel hub position from pictures before (with busted strut dampers) and used a floor jack to position the hub for torquing down the control arm bushings.
Had to order replacement strut to spindle bolts since the original are rusted out really hard from salt. I'll clear coat the replacement before install.
Also ordered rear anti-sway bar links. Corrosion is worse in the rear compared to the front. Good thing I'm replacing most of the rear.

I have a plan to try and surround the rear sub frame M3 bushing tops with polyurethane. It will cut out even more flex in the rear without being harsh. Let's hope it will cure fast enough as I try to work the rear pieces.

ECS Tuning brass caliper slide pin bushings are in! They were easily pushed into the 335i aluminum front calipers. Because rebuilt calipers have bigger holes? I used the ECS Tuning install tool on the short ones. Long ones were pressed in with finger. Put in grease to keep moisture, road salt, etc out. I used Liquid film.
If you plan to powder coat the calipers, make sure to ask the shop to mask off the holes where brass bushings will go in. Extra thickness can mess up the bushings and the tight fitted pins from ECS Tuning will not go into deformed brass bushings.

OE pins require T50? To pull out and ECS Tuning pins use 7 mm hex to install. Put lube everywhere!

I like these over other brass bushings because the rubber rings keep the grease in and dust out. Pretty much maintenance free and not going to have stuck pins and pads on the brake after 10k miles.

I'll see if the brakes are consistent like my other car with 4 pot front brakes.

[Soravia]

Front suspension is complete!
ECS Tuning stainless steel braided brake lines come with a metal holder that can go into factory brake like bracket. You'll have to bend the factory bracket outer side and place the ECS Tuning metal guide piece in place before bending the bracket back into original shape.
Use the rubber foam spacers to keep the line from tangling with anything or touching chassis parts.

Started working on the rear sub frame. Got it mounted and torqued down. Put in a tiny drop of red thread locker on each to make sure it stays ��. E93 / 1M push rods are in, coated with self etching primer, paint, clear, and rubber over the bare metal from factory that gets corroded easily.
Cleaned off rust from rear anti sway bar mount rubber. The mount itself was painted and rubber coated.

[Soravia]

Replaced rear anti-sway bar end links. The originals were starting to leak?

M3 rear control arms were mounted on the sub frame. All control arms are in and now just need the spindles and axles.

Got the drive shaft in. If the rubber band for the boot between shafts slides off the boot, use a zip tie to pull down on rubber band while pushing the boot back inside the rubber band.

Ran into fitment issue with rear differential nut.
M3 sub frame has raised lip, making the original nut with built in spacer and vibration damper unable to go in due to the Wagon brace structure.
One way to fit them is to put them in place before raising the rear sub frame into place. But then they won't come out again until rear sub frame is removed.
This will not be an issue for non wagon cars.

I opted to delete the non-M vibration damper and nut. I'm using non-M rear diff bolt (for length to reach from the back) and M3 washer nut (thinner than non-M spacer nut).
non-M rear diff bolt is longer than M bolt but works the same. I'm adding spacers so the nut can be accessed and removed using a wrench. Takes about 10 M14 washers. About the length of the spacer seen in pic. The spacer itself won't go in, unless you put it on before mounting rear sub frame