The M3 is back up on jack stands and undergoing more gutting, removing the remainder of the interior in preparation for the track. In my previous post I mentioned that it looked like some water had got into the oil, well a lot of water was in the oil. The car had sat outside without a hood for a couple months, though it did have a cover on it. Apparently quite a bit of water seeped into the pan. I also got to use my fan removal wrenches I had purchased off of eBay, and they worked quite well to remove the clutch fan.
I removed the remainder of the front clip, which requires drilling out two spot welds where the core support mounts to the frame horns. I drained the radiator and cut the old coolant hoses rather than wrestling with the clamps. I ran through a dozen cans of brake cleaner to get the engine somewhat clean to continue work on. Something in the area of the power steering reservoir and charcoal canister was blowing a black oily mess all over the place.
From there I moved onto the interior. Taking out the seats, lower dash, steering wheel, and center console. The carpet runs up under the center stack, so I cut around it to remove it. Obviously it will all eventually come out, but this will do for now. The rain had soaked the carpet, which had started to mold. The good news is that it has loosened up the sound deadener to where it just peels up.
Next step is going to be removing the remainder of the dash, then the real work begins: wiring. Like any semi-modern car, the M3 is full of wires that simply aren’t necessary for track use. Air bag, stereo, dome lights, rear defrost, seat belt sensors, etc. It all has to come out, which means separating it from the necessary wires. I also need to remove the door windows and their associated mechanical bits.
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