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J series timing belt isn’t too difficult. Make sure you have 1/4 ratchet and short socket set. If I remember correctly there are few bolts that you are not going to have enough space to use 3/8″ tools. As usual with any Honda, that crankshaft bolt is going to give you some trouble. Even with the special tool I usually burn some shop hours trying to remove this bolt.
cannot comment on Eric’s video – I did it without watching the video. I did timing belt on several cars before this one.
That left side of camshaft appears to be getting stuck or not rotating smooth. Timing belt should not be jumping like that, something is very wrong. I am also thinking something maybe off with timing belt tensioner – when working properly, it should not have that much slack. Can you put crankshaft on TDC and verify that both cams are on time?
It would be interesting project and do it if you are doing it for your own personal enjoyment. But I think you are better off just buying manual transmission truck. It would be cheaper to buy the whole truck than trying to piece together for manual swap.
Best place to get the part is – pull your self junk yard, ebay, and http://car-part.com/
Best DIY smoke tester I’ve seen, powered by tire air pump.
Canning jar is used for burning 2 – 3 charcoals, then throw some small cardboard to get it start smoking. Pump the smoke into intake system using electric tire pump. Should take no more than $20 to make and electric air pump runs around $50 (if you don’t have this already)When working on suspension parts, anything beyond 150 ft/lb means torque it down as hard as you can with cheater bar on. Accurate torque is not required here.
Are they common? not really. But they are used. I think I used 24″ and 27″ for rotating crankshaft on few cars. 32″ and 36″ are used for pulling the axle nuts. But you can pick these up individually – you don’t have to buy them as part of set. 22″ are also frequently used in suspension parts.
pretty much what dtidman has, but add
2 – 3 ton floor jack and jack stands of many sizes. I use two to make tire rotation easier.
Vehicle ramp (sometimes easier to use ramp than jack stands)
Chain vise grip
strap vise grip
adjustable wrench set
3-4 different styles of engine oil filter wrenches
engine compression gauge
tap and die set
fuel line clamps
number of magnet pick-ups
Plumbers Blow torchI use Milwaukee M18 cordless system – pricey but gets the job done. I have tons of air tools but they sit inside of the tool box. Only air tool I use is Air Hammer – because they don’t make battery powered air hammer (yet). Then I have two large rolling tool boxes to store all the tools.
Under luxury,
I have various special tools for Honda, Volvo, BMW, Mercedes, and diesel. These are the tools that you use only once or twice because they are vehicle specific.
cylinder dial bore gauge
inside micrometer
outside micrometer
piston ring compressor
3lb brass hammer (for hitting on metals without damaging)
Reciprocating saw with metal cutting blade (saved my butt few times working on Honda suspension)
Cherry picker engine hoist (usually to support engine from top)
engine standCut a slot with heck saw, then place a flat chisel on it and hammer to turn it in counter clock direction. You can also do this with air hammer with right attachment.
Got it welded back from Midas for $150. I over paid, but didn’t have time to shop around.
The car must have aftermarket cheap quality cat. It is really rusted up to the connection point, then it looks fine afterward.
thank you
How many miles on the car? My starter on Maxima did this around 130K miles. Alternator went out not too long after that.
The ones I’ve encountered:
Behr radiator upper neck is made out of plastic. They get brittle and snaps off while driving. This is a common problem for any/all cars using behr radiator (Volvo, Mercedes, BMW). Sometimes you can reinforce the plastic neck with a metal pipe as cheap insurance. Either replace the radiator every 8 years or install an aftermarket unit.
Rear subframe clunking, making clunking sound while accelerating. Only fix is to routinly replace the rear subframe/trailing arm bushings.
Thermostat housing made out of plastic. With age, it can crack and over heat the engine.
Oil pump bottom bolt getting lose when the car pushed hard. While driving this bolt can come out and the car can lose oil pressure. Mostly seen in E36 M3. You can lower the oil pan, and retighten this bolt to the factory spec. Also use loctite or drill a hole and run a cotter pin.
Valve cover oil leak. The gasket fails due to age. The rubber gasket gets hard over time and start leaking oil – usually into the spark plug holes. only solution I found was to replace these gaskets every 50K – 100K miles.
Usually BMW complete suspension overhaul requires tie-rod (inner and outer), sway bar end links, thrust arm (your car don’t have one of these), lower control arm, Shocks (Most people use Boge or Bilstein), shock mounts, springs (if you lower your car), Rear sway bar end links (a.k.a doggie bone), and rear pitman arm (I don’t think your car have these, but I maybe wrong). Also not usually tackled at overhaul time but most people need to address rear subframe bushing problem (it makes metal clunking on hard acceleration, this also requires special tool) It has been 6 years since I worked on any E36 so this list maybe incomplete.
Usually BMW complete suspension overhaul requires tie-rod (inner and outer), sway bar end links, thrust arm (your car don’t have one of these), lower control arm, Shocks (Most people use Boge or Bilstein), shock mounts, springs (if you lower your car), Rear sway bar end links (a.k.a doggie bone), and rear pitman arm (I don’t think your car have these, but I maybe wrong). Also not usually tackled at overhaul time but most people need to address rear subframe bushing problem (it makes metal clunking on hard acceleration, this also requires special tool) It has been 6 years since I worked on any E36 so this list maybe incomplete.
Sway bars would not cause steering problem unless it separated and hitting suspension parts. Tie-rods, yes. These can cause steering problems and for BMW they are pain to replace. Rubber bushings and ball joints are part of the assembly so they cannot be pressed out. You would have to replace the parts. The outer tie-rods you can use press or threaded ball joint separation tool. For inner tie rods, you have no space so you would have to do it with pickle fork + extension or BMW special tool (not terribly expensive, I paid for $50 for mine) I did both ways and it is worth getting the tool then pulling them by pickle fork – even with proper techniques it can take couple of hours.
Sway bars would not cause steering problem unless it separated and hitting suspension parts. Tie-rods, yes. These can cause steering problems and for BMW they are pain to replace. Rubber bushings and ball joints are part of the assembly so they cannot be pressed out. You would have to replace the parts. The outer tie-rods you can use press or threaded ball joint separation tool. For inner tie rods, you have no space so you would have to do it with pickle fork + extension or BMW special tool (not terribly expensive, I paid for $50 for mine) I did both ways and it is worth getting the tool then pulling them by pickle fork – even with proper techniques it can take couple of hours.