Vlad: The Zinno '87 535is

[wkohler]

Check out the FAQ on it. Its different for the 20 pin connector.

[tig]

Duh. Thanks Chris.

Not sure how I missed this.

Motronic 1.3 used a 20-pin data connector. Ground pins 7 and 19.

[tig]

Vlad's battery has been needing replacing. As Mike in Seattle knows it could barely stand up to 5-10 minutes of playing with brake lights at a rest stop between Seattle and Portland.



I decided to go with Optima because I've had terrific luck with those on my 911.

I should have taken care of re-finishing the battery tray when I had the engine out. Apparently I got some ATF or something in there because when I pulled the battery out the amount of bare metal has increased and more paint is bubbling. I decided to take the whole thing down to bare metal and do the whole POR15 treatment.





Now waiting for the 2nd coat of POR15 to dry. Then POR15 self-etching primer and some Zinno. I may just brush the Zinno on instead of using up the rattle cans I have.

[tig]

This morning I put on the 2nd coat of POR15, let it dry for about 3 hours, and then put the primer on.



I know I'm a paint hack, but that's only because I really haven't done that much of it. It was tricky getting the rattle can down in there, but in the end I got two coats of Zinno on there and it should hold up nicely.

[leadphut]

pretty good maintenance in my book.

[tig]

[unt0uchable]

Nice work! This reminds me, I need to check out my battery tray and see how it's fared over the years..

Edit with a few questions...

How do you get your engine bay so freakin' clean? Do you steam it? Do you dismantle a lot of shit to get places most people don't care to clean? Cover up the electronics or just remove the engine harness to to get it out of the way? I'd like to do a good in depth cleaning of my engine bay but it seems like there are a lot of things in the way. Thanks for any tips!

 

Where did you buy the zinno paint that you've used? I see it's SEM but not sure where to buy the custom matched stuff. I need to touch up a few areas on the body and would like to get some as well. How well does it match up? I've got a couple of bare edges near the hood and trunk panels. I'm thinking of taping off and touching up with a few spray can coats and then wet sanding smooth to blend with the rest of the paint. I'm also going to do my rockers like you did with the black, but I see that's just SEM trim paint...thanks!

 

How well does your bluetooth mic work when cruising down the road? Do you have any quality/sound issues with it? I'd like to do something similar in my car for a hands free phone call setup.

[tig]

Nice work! This reminds me, I need to check out my battery tray and see how it's fared over the years..

Edit with a few questions...

How do you get your engine bay so freakin' clean? Do you steam it? Do you dismantle a lot of shit to get places most people don't care to clean? Cover up the electronics or just remove the engine harness to to get it out of the way? I'd like to do a good in depth cleaning of my engine bay but it seems like there are a lot of things in the way. Thanks for any tips!

 
There's really no secret. It just takes work. It is obviously better if you are starting with an engine bay that someone else kept clean, which is the case with Vlad. The PO was pretty anal about it, and I believe he had it steam cleaned before he sold it. Once I have an engine bay clean, I keep it clean: Every car wash, after the exterior is clean, but not dry, I open the hood and use a damp rag with some P21S Total Auto Wash (which is a fantastic de-greaser) and wipe everything i can reach down. Sometimes I'll use 2 or 3 damp cloths if it's particularly dirty.

To get an engine clean you just have work. Removing major components such as air filter assemblies, intake manifolds, the fan, etc... helps. As does being able to put the car up on a lift and work from the bottom. You'll get dirty and mucky no matter what. I really like P21S Total Car wash for degreasing, but have found foaming degreasers work too. So does http://www.amazon.com/Oil-Eater-AOD1G35 ... B000EALHHG. You don't want to use it on a hot engine, but having the block be warm can help. No matter what you'll be using scrub brushes. I find dish brushes like this work well: http://www.amazon.com/Casabella-Loop-3- ... B004BIKKCU.

The things that shouldn't get water in them are pretty obvious and easy to cover with plastic bags, nitrile gloves, or plug with paper towels: Fuse box, air intakes, diagnostic connector, etc... Note on electrical connections: Dialectic grease is your friend. Any time I unplug some connector I put loads of it on both the male and female sides. This keeps water out.

Lots of water to rinse, then go after it again. And again.

If I take a part off the car, I clean it. Completely. I just can't stand the thought of bolting something greasy and mucky back on.

Where did you buy the zinno paint that you've used? I see it's SEM but not sure where to buy the custom matched stuff. I need to touch up a few areas on the body and would like to get some as well. How well does it match up? I've got a couple of bare edges near the hood and trunk panels. I'm thinking of taping off and touching up with a few spray can coats and then wet sanding smooth to blend with the rest of the paint. I'm also going to do my rockers like you did with the black, but I see that's just SEM trim paint...thanks!

Westco paint supply. They looked it up in their system. I bought a pint and had them make me 4 rattle cans. The pint is still about 1/2 full. I actually don't think it matches very well from my experience painting the air dam...it looks too pink; but that could just be that I suck a painting or the fact that it's rattle can. Apparently you can get rattle cans made with nitro in them; like those Guiness cans that you pop before pouring and they do a much better job.

They can also color match from a sample, but that's not what I did for Zinno.

[/quote]

How well does your bluetooth mic work when cruising down the road? Do you have any quality/sound issues with it? I'd like to do something similar in my car for a hands free phone call setup.

It works as well as any factory BT system I've used. Even with the sunroof open. Not so much with the windows down.

I had one of these in the 911 for a while and it worked really well: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009NLTW60/ At $40, as long as you have an AUX input, it's a pretty great solution.

[tig]

Woo-hoo! I found my "paint guy" for the Euro bumper project.

He's done tons of BMWs in the area for years; he's mobile and totally willing to do the work in my garage.

Now I just need to find a partner in crime for welding & rough body work. Once that's identified I'm going to order the parts.

[cddallara]

Woo-hoo! I found my "paint guy" for the Euro bumper project.

He's done tons of BMWs in the area for years; he's mobile and totally willing to do the work in my garage.

Now I just need to find a partner in crime for welding & rough body work. Once that's identified I'm going to order the parts.

Brent?

[bkbimmer]

Not me, I'm retired!

This car is too nice for me to work on anyway, I only start with junk.

Good luck with your bumper project , Charlie. I'm glad you got someone to work with you.

[BimmerSultan]

Now I just need to find a partner in crime for welding & rough body work. Once that's identified I'm going to order the parts.

Where do you plan on getting the parts from? Many are NLA now. You'll need to find a hoarder and pay dearly to have them part with such pieces. I hope you can find them all.

[tig]

Not me, I'm retired!

This car is too nice for me to work on anyway, I only start with junk.

Good luck with your bumper project , Charlie. I'm glad you got someone to work with you.

Thanks. I hope it ends up meeting your standards!

[tig]

Now I just need to find a partner in crime for welding & rough body work. Once that's identified I'm going to order the parts.

Where do you plan on getting the parts from? Many are NLA now. You'll need to find a hoarder and pay dearly to have them part with such pieces. I hope you can find them all.

Actually I don't think any of the parts are NLA. I'm getting all new, primered, parts from Blunt.

[BimmerSultan]

Just wait til you place your order...you'll see.

[1st 5er]

Some of the pieces require a euro vin.
If Blunt don't work, hit up Ivo.

[bkbimmer]

Buying euro parts pisses me off, no rime or reason for some parts needing a vin and others not.

[bkbimmer]

Not me, I'm retired!

This car is too nice for me to work on anyway, I only start with junk.

Good luck with your bumper project , Charlie. I'm glad you got someone to work with you.

Thanks. I hope it ends up meeting your standards!

My standards don't matter, hopefully it matches yours...

[1st 5er]

Buying euro parts pisses me off, no rime or reason for some parts needing a vin and others not.

^^^ this.

[trevmmeister]

wait.. what does that mean? some euro parts require a vin? how does that even work. Just some slight elaboration is all I need... lol

[bkbimmer]

wait.. what does that mean? some euro parts require a vin? how does that even work. Just some slight elaboration is all I need... lol

I was able to order new front and rear euro bumper center pieces, rear rubber trim and the front plate filler but they needed a vin for the front rubber and other little random stuff. Really dumb if you ask me.

[Mike in Seattle]

Wow, I was able to order both front and rear rubber. rear brackets and a hardware kit thru Tischer with no problems.

[tig]

A while back someone on the forum was selling an Innovate Motorsports LM-2 wideband Air-Fuel-Ratio (AFR) meter. I already had my AEM wideband gauge and, but the LM-2 was made for logging, so I figured I'd take advantage of the discount of buying a basically new/used unit.

To keep my life simple I decided I wouldn't even bother getting it out of the box until after I had the M30B35 tuned. No need to change multiple variables at once.

Today I got the LM-2 out and installed in in Vlad in place of the AEM. The Innovate system is very different. First, it's not just a gauge, but a whole little computer with built-in logging capability. Second, it comes with a clamp on sensor for a spark plug or coil wire for RPM input.



Unlike the AEM wideband gauge you have to calibrate the O2 sensor that comes with the unit before installing. Once done, you can either run it stand-alone, using an SD card for logging, or connect it to a laptop and use the LogWorks software to both watch the inputs in real time, and to generate logs.

I had some spots in my tune I'm not happy with, so I spent some time this afternoon tweaking it and using the LM-2 to see how the changes impacted my AFR. I was really just playing around, and I didn't really have a great driving course, so I still plan on doing more tweaking, but it all works nice. I now wish I would have installed it before my dyno tune as the logging capability would have helped us see what the motor was really doing much better.

Here's a quick vid I took just showing the read-out of the LogWorks app while driving:

http://youtu.be/th6qZOhhEnQ

If you are planning on tuning an engine with something like a WAR Chip, I highly recommend you get a logging wideband like the Innovate system. They are more expensive than the simple AEM units, but the RPM sensor and the PC software make it worth it.

[tig]

Thanks to Spen I now have Vlad's new gas tank. A bit of surface rust but it should clean up fine. I gotta read up on the procedures for re-finishing the insides. I've read some of the threads on the subject, but don't really have a plan yet. I figure given how much new tanks cost, the labor will be worth it.

[2 5's and a 7]

Vlad's battery has been needing replacing. As Mike in Seattle knows it could barely stand up to 5-10 minutes of playing with brake lights at a rest stop between Seattle and Portland.



I decided to go with Optima because I've had terrific luck with those on my 911.

I should have taken care of re-finishing the battery tray when I had the engine out. Apparently I got some ATF or something in there because when I pulled the battery out the amount of bare metal has increased and more paint is bubbling. I decided to take the whole thing down to bare metal and do the whole POR15 treatment.


Your a smart guy? Seem to be that wasn't ATF.... Brake clean, battery acid etc ATF will not hurt paint...


Now waiting for the 2nd coat of POR15 to dry. Then POR15 self-etching primer and some Zinno. I may just brush the Zinno on instead of using up the rattle cans I have.