2240310 1972 BMW 3.0cs

Probably need to drop the entire front subframe and replace all the bushings, especially the front strut rod ones. Maybe do this twice so as to assure reliability...:cool:
The refresh of the front end and engine compartment (about 4k miles ago) included all new suspension components. I have checked and all of them are tight and in good shape still.

The strut rod bushings are an absolute bitch, made worse by the powder coating of the sub-frame which reduced the inside diameter of the bushing holes / mounting points.
 
The strut rod bushings are an absolute bitch, made worse by the powder coating of the sub-frame which reduced the inside diameter of the bushing holes / mounting points.
I KNOW, which is why I suggested doing them twice! That that doesn't kill you makes you stronger!! :p

(In case you missed it, I was joking...)
 
I checked with Koni about rebuilding the units that I had taken off (part number was slightly different: 82P-1667 stamped as heavy turn) and they referred me to their approved re-builder. The re-builder in Sonoma CA quoted $450 per unit, plus any hard parts that might be damaged or too heavily worn. Unfortunately it just does not make sense to go that route.

Bilsteins ordered for the front, will worry about the back when I do the full tear-down. Meanwhile I pulled the driver's side (side with the problem apart and removed the strut.
 
I did reach out to Koni again this morning and this time they responded quickly. Their reply:

"Thank you for contacting us here at KONI NA. Unfortunately, the KONI Sport shocks for the BMW 3.0cs are no longer available as they have been discontinued for several years now. The old part numbers were 86 1667 for the front strut inserts, and 80 2092 for the rear shocks. "

@Breiti, did you buy them new recently? If so, were these the part numbers?
I bought them newly last year, but that source isn't available.

Breiti
 
Thanks guys, I received the Bilstein struts yesterday and started to fit today and will stick with them.

The blue books say to add 50ml of oil to the tubes to aid in heat dissipation. I did add the oil with the last set of inserts and I drained the oil and re-filled before inserting the Bilstein inserts and found that I was unable to bottom out the struts with the oil in place due to the flat bottom construction of the struts (hydro-lock). I was able to install the struts with the collar nut at the proper torque without oil in the tubes.

I imagine that strut construction has evolved sufficiently that oil is no longer needed.
 
I finally took the coupe out for a test drive with the new Billstein strut inserts. I am very pleased with the ride quality and the noise (banging on the left front) is gone.
 
Might be too late but the fan speed controller needs a little more cooling to prevent damage. This is what we did for my daughter's car.
 

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In April I had a problem while driving home from an event. I had the throttle stick partially open. It was the first issue I have had since rebuilding the engine about 4k miles ago. I “blipped” the throttle to see if that would solve the issue, but it didn’t. I shut the engine off and restarted only briefly to get around the corner into a lot…but that was to much.

What happened was one of the fasteners had come unscrewed and fallen into the rear carburetor, causing the throttle shaft to block in the open position. I had the car towed home and used the borescope to check, and sure enough the missing washer was in the cylinder.
IMG_2721.jpeg



Head off, machine shop took care of a nick in the seat and gave all the other seats a touch up to keep them alike (length) and it is finally approaching completion.

I am going to go back down the triple weber path and see if I can make that work. I had the manifold, carbs and linkage on the shelf. While waiting for the head to be finished at the very busy machine shop I spent some time soda blasting the carburetors and rebuilding them. It was a bit of a challenge as the carbs are a late Italian Weber DCOE model that has a different configuration with two “high speed tubes” that run from the carburetor top through the body terminating in the choke/venturi. The issue with these being different is that there was some damage to one of the tubes, so I sourced some brass tube of the correct ID/OD and cut to length. Removing the old part was fairly easy, getting the new one in took a little dry ice to shrink the new tube which was then tapped into place.

Installing the head went well enough, but the goal was to keep the electric heater shut off valve and, wow what a task. It was a challenge to plumb with dual Webers, triple Webers does not make the job any easier. It is a lot of hoses crammed under the carburetors.

IMG_3070.jpeg


It seems that I am always missing just a few bits to finish off the job. I am waiting for another carb fuel inlet (broke the last one trying to heat and bend) and new brake booster vacuum hose. Once I have those I think it will be ready for the fire-up and starting the tuning process.

IMG_3080.jpeg
IMG_3079.jpeg
 
In April I had a problem while driving home from an event. I had the throttle stick partially open. It was the first issue I have had since rebuilding the engine about 4k miles ago. I “blipped” the throttle to see if that would solve the issue, but it didn’t. I shut the engine off and restarted only briefly to get around the corner into a lot…but that was to much.

What happened was one of the fasteners had come unscrewed and fallen into the rear carburetor, causing the throttle shaft to block in the open position. I had the car towed home and used the borescope to check, and sure enough the missing washer was in the cylinder.
View attachment 222987


Head off, machine shop took care of a nick in the seat and gave all the other seats a touch up to keep them alike (length) and it is finally approaching completion.

I am going to go back down the triple weber path and see if I can make that work. I had the manifold, carbs and linkage on the shelf. While waiting for the head to be finished at the very busy machine shop I spent some time soda blasting the carburetors and rebuilding them. It was a bit of a challenge as the carbs are a late Italian Weber DCOE model that has a different configuration with two “high speed tubes” that run from the carburetor top through the body terminating in the choke/venturi. The issue with these being different is that there was some damage to one of the tubes, so I sourced some brass tube of the correct ID/OD and cut to length. Removing the old part was fairly easy, getting the new one in took a little dry ice to shrink the new tube which was then tapped into place.

Installing the head went well enough, but the goal was to keep the electric heater shut off valve and, wow what a task. It was a challenge to plumb with dual Webers, triple Webers does not make the job any easier. It is a lot of hoses crammed under the carburetors.

View attachment 222992

It seems that I am always missing just a few bits to finish off the job. I am waiting for another carb fuel inlet (broke the last one trying to heat and bend) and new brake booster vacuum hose. Once I have those I think it will be ready for the fire-up and starting the tuning process.

View attachment 222993View attachment 222994
Bummer about the washer. Inspiring to see a triple weber car.. that's where I'm headed...
 
Finally got the last fuel part that I needed to fire up the engine after the recent work. It has been more challenging than the full rebuild. The ignition timing was off enough that it did not want to start, but got that adjusted, barely. It is running but popping back through the carburetors and is overheating quickly.

I filled the cooling system using the vacuum system that I used on my modern Audi, so expected that it would have a quick cycle to get any remaining air out of the system. The thermostat was not renewed, and has been drilled to help with the purging process. As I am having challenges despite this, I suspected timing, valve clearance and lean carburetors.

I pulled the valve cover off and
re-torqued all the head bolts after having been through a few heat cycles
Waiting for the engine to sufficiently cool to re-check all the valve clearances
I brought the engine to TDC by lining up the timing mark on the flywheel and I believe that the camshaft may be slightly advanced…

I had to turn the engine over (by hand) while it was dis-assembled in order to inspect the cylinder for damage (thankfully there was none). I thought I had it lined up for assembly, but had to so a little tugging on the chain to get the camshaft bolts lined up.

I believe that the camshaft bolts need to be at 12,3,6,9 and the 12:00 looks like it might be slightly out of line. Thoughts?

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The ignition timing was off enough that it did not want to start, but got that adjusted, barely. It is running but popping back through the carburetors and is overheating quickly.
When I got my 2800cs, it was hard to start and barely ran. I replaced the points with a Pertronix and got it running but it would backfire through the carbs intermittently. It was impossible to time, the spark timing was very erratic, all over the place, thus the backfires both from the carb and tailpipe. Clearly the distributor was in need of repair, I sidestepped that issue and bought a refurbished one. Unfortunately I can't stay that cured all my issues as since then I've moved between states several times and the car restoration has been stalled. Soon though...

Backfire on startup still frame Hedwig Maui.jpgCarb Backfire.png
 
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