The E36 is fixed

Last week ended with Marc having the car torn apart. He replaced the vacuum lines and the mass airflow hoses.

Tuesday, Oct 27: we tested it and the hesitation was still present, so Marc ordered a mass airflow sensor. It came in Tuesday afternoon and went straight on the car.

Wednesday, Oct 28: we thought it was fixed — then on the test drive it started to hiccup at the end of the run. We installed a fuel pressure test port, and the car had 40–50 pounds of fuel pressure. That same day we put the passenger seat and safety harness back in, so the car is ready for next Tuesday's track day in case I can get an instructor ride-along.

Thursday, Oct 29: we ordered a set of plugs and coils and installed them in the afternoon. It still had the hesitation.

I had brought the other two instrument clusters Marc gave me with the car. Before ordering a fuel pump, we decided to swap in what we believed to be the original cluster from that car. That was it. We ran the car for about 20 minutes and it didn't hesitate once — short of the one time I got into the rev limiter. Who would have thought.

• —Marc said the instrument cluster is like the gateway to the car. I'll have to remember that.
• —Work through the cheap and likely fixes first, test after every change, and don't order the expensive part until you've ruled out what's already in the box.
• —Maybe I'll buy an extra cluster to have on hand, seeing how important it is to that car running right.

1997 BMW E36 Spec 3 — new vacuum lines, MAF hoses, mass airflow sensor, plugs and coils, a fuel pressure test port, and what we believe is its original instrument cluster. Passenger seat and harness back in.

Marc Freire with Adam Bomb Racing tore the car down and chased this with me all week.

Track day at Thunderhill West on Tuesday, November 3, with Eric Diamond — and hopefully an instructor ride-along.