Sigh, strut bar issue

Originally Posted by E46Mango

Simple green, water, and a toothbrush is more than fine. Wipe dry with microfiber. If you're extra dirty or have oil stains/leaks, use a can of auto parts store degreaser.

A steam clean It would be wise on my end , Theres some crud and chunks of clay sitting In areas that In theroy shouldnt be there , I think It would def loosen all particles and clay and make the product work more effectively

Ive tried simple green or was It spray 9 , Ill give It another shot .

323, I measured from one strut tower to the other...the inside of the inside bolt closest to center of engine...at the top of the bolt...the span across the engine.

I got 3'. Now I'm curious...it's not that important.

Also, careful with the cleaning. No pressure washing or anything...and don't let Mango guilt you into cleaning your engine if you don't want to. He does that all the time and it's remarkable he doesn't get told off more often. Just ignore him.

But, if I can swing coming up to Canada for F1 this year, can you put me and a buddy up for the night and wash 'my' engine for me?

Maybe drive us to the metro and 'dance' clubs later?

What a great city you live in!

Originally Posted by dmax

323, I measured from one strut tower to the other...the inside of the inside bolt closest to center of engine...at the top of the bolt...the span across the engine.

I got 3'. Now I'm curious...it's not that important.

Also, careful with the cleaning. No pressure washing or anything...and don't let Mango guilt you into cleaning your engine if you don't want to. He does that all the time and it's remarkable he doesn't get told off more often. Just ignore him.

But, if I can swing coming up to Canada for F1 this year, can you put me and a buddy up for the night and wash 'my' engine for me?

Maybe drive us to the metro and 'dance' clubs later?

What a great city you live in!

Doug with pleasure buddy as long as youre able to accommodate me with one of the 3 Items.

1-A jersey shore girl who"s dtf
2-Need to learn the pump fist..No better then learning It from a Jersey local
3-1 greasy burger from white castle

I don't know what dtf means, but that's probably a good thing.

I'll get someone to teach me the fist pump and pass it on...

And, white castle...like 50 of them on dry ice...maybe 100 of them. No pickle is my preference. How do you like them...and how do you know of them, and also...wtf is wrong with you? (I love them myself!)

Doug from the Inner blot twards the other Inner bolt Im getting 3 feet and what looks like 5-7 inches

Originally Posted by dmax

I don't know what dtf means, but that's probably a good thing.

I'll get someone to teach me the fist pump and pass it on...

And, white castle...like 50 of them on dry ice...maybe 100 of them. No pickle is my preference. How do you like them...and how do you know of them, and also...wtf is wrong with you? (I love them myself!)

DTF Is great..

Fist pumping

Craving white castle dont ask..

Sorry 3 ft to be exact.

Oh, and I googled dtf...I'll see what I can do, though might be easier to just find someone in your fair city!

Originally Posted by dmax

Alex, note I just mentioned subframe in that thread and left...dozed off when you guys were reinforcing your off road bimmers!



I hope that's wrong or our towers are very different. It's obviously hard to explain...but from the stud top that would be facing the center of the engine on each side. I got 'just' 3' plus 1 mm. Almost exactly 3'

Not sure about that extra 5-7"

Oh, and I googled dtf...I'll see what I can do, though might be easier to just find someone in your fair city!

Its 3 to be exact went back to recheck It and I came up with 3ft on the dot..

Originally Posted by Alex323Ci

people just sandwich the plates(as you said) but there are holes there to pop rivet in place. bmw even sells the rivets

i'm sure you could weld into place for those that are completely damaged. but these work to displace some of the forces. that's why a top brace with a larger covering top is also a good idea.

the M3 strut mounts are pretty good design to help displace some of the tower forces in the M3. add that they have a strut brace is even better. but as you've seen in posted photos earlier of M3s, it's the shape of somecamber plates that cause the cracking in the M3 towers. they're not as wide and cut into the strut tower mount from underneath.

Thanks for the info Alex. For clarity, what are the reinforcement plates riveted on to?


Here is a photo of a welded reinforcement plate.

Originally Posted by Inline

Thanks for the info Alex. For clarity, what are the reinforcement plates riveted on to?
Here is a photo of a welded reinforcement plate.

The re-inforcement plate is riveted to the car's tower top(from underneath). The one in the photo has a few tact welds holding it. But you can see the unused hole for the rivet to the left of about the 12 o'clock position on the round black re-inforcement plate. *don't mix up the black area underneath with the black re-inforcement plate. The other black area looks like paint(or welding smoke) from repairing.

Are new holes drilled on the cars strut tower to facilitate the riveting? Why wouldn't just sandwiching it between the strut mount (through the strut bolts) and the strut tower not be enough to keep it in place?