Installing a Strut Tower Brace

The BMW 3 Series cars are well known for their agility and superb handling. However, because of the chassis design, there is a weakness in the 3 Series cars. The front shock towers are not well supported in the 3 Series chassis. In fact, they are somewhat isolated and unsupported. As a result, the towers can bend and flex under heavy cornering. This flexing can cause detrimental changes in the handling of your car, because, in general, the stiffer the chassis, the better the handling of the car. Camber strut braces are designed to maintain the distance between the shocks under heavy cornering. A bar linking the top of the shock towers ensures the towers do not bend when the chassis is flexing.

The best strut tower braces are one-piece units manufactured out of thick, welded steel pipe. These braces offer the best protection against chassis flex when installed between the two strut towers. ...

The one below although not as attractive, this brace is probably the most effective. The thick, large-diameter steel pipe directly reinforces the shock towers and requires significant forces to deflect and bend. Despite the two rather large angles in the brace, the strength of the steel pipe should compensate for the reduced rigidity. This is the type of bar which recommend if you want to install one in your car....

Oxygen Sensor

The oxygen sensor is one of the most important elements of the modern fuel injection systems. A finely tuned fuel injection system with an oxygen sensor can maintain an air/fuel ratio within a close tolerance of .02 percent. Keeping the engine at the stoichiometric level (14.6:1 air/fuel ratio) helps the engine generate the most power with the least amount of emissions.

The oxygen sensor is located in the exhaust system of the engine, and senses the oxygen content of the exhaust gases. The amount of oxygen in the exhaust varies according to the air/fuel ratio of the fuel injection system. The oxygen sensor produces a small voltage signal that is interpreted by the electronic control unit (ECU) of the fuel injection system. The ECU makes constant adjustments in fuel delivery according to the signal generated by the oxygen sensor in order to maintain the optimum air/fuel ratio.

There are a few signs that your oxygen sensor may be failing. In general, it is difficult to diagnose problems with the sensor, unless all of the other components in the fuel injection system have been checked and determined to be operating correctly. Some of the symptoms of a failed oxygen sensor system are:

Irregular idle during warm-up
Irregular idle with warm engine
Engine will not accelerate and backfires
Poor engine performance
Fuel consumption is high
Driving performance is weak
CO concentration at idle is too high or too low
Check Engine light is illuminated

In general, if the oxygen sensor is not working, the car will be running very poorly, and will also be outputting a lot of harmful emissions. On most BMWs, the engine's computer will give you a warning signal that lights up the Check Engine Lamp if the signal received by the computer is out of it's normal range...

In general, it is recommend that we should be replaced this every 30,000 miles...

reference from: http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/E36-O2_Sensor/E36-O2_Sensor.htm

Installing the Lower Cross Brace

Many E36 owners upgrade their chassis with the factory crossbrace that mounts underneath the engine. This crossbrace was installed as stock equipment on all convertibles and the 1995 LTW, a lightweight version of the M3. The convertibles received this bar to stiffen up the chassis since their chassis are naturally less stiff than coupes or sedans because they have no roof.



Installing the crossbrace on a standard E36 coupe or sedan serves a dual purpose: The crossbrace stiffens up the chassis and also protects the engine sump from road hazards.

reference from: http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/101-Projects-66-X-Brace/101-Projects-66-X-Brace.htm

M52 Engine - The heard of my 323i







M52/M52TU Straight 6 DOHC 24V with Single VANOS/Straight 6 DOHC 24V with Double VANOS. 1996-1999.


Iron Block in US, Alloy Block in Europe . 118kg 260lbs (alloy) 140kg 308lbs Used in E39 520i/523i/528i, E36 323i/328i, E38 728i, Variation of this was used in late US E36 M3. 2.0 (150bhp), 2.5 (170bhp), 2.8 (193bhp), 3.2 (240bhp) Sometimes referred to as S52US.


Engine shares more common parts with M52 than Euro S52, but is a motorsport engine.

reference from: http://www.bimmerforums.com/engine_faq/