What did you do to your other car(s) today?

[tig]

Ordered a $25 scope; a little extra for a mirror that threads onto the business end -- lets you see around corners -- and a 5M cable on it. I've wanted to get a view of my driveshaft at different points to see where the driveline shudder on acceleration is coming from. The cable length ought to get me there. Maybe getting video evidence will convince the CFO that spending $400 for a rebuilt driveshaft isn't a bad idea.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L8O ... d_asin_lnk



Looks like it ships from China though, so no Prime 2-day shipping. Rats.

Just a followup from the sub-thread from a few weeks back... I got the camera and tried it out while working on my daughter's car, and it works pretty slick. Here's a sampling of what I saw peering down into #3 cylinder in her 318ti:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOQua3l0v4s

That's with the 45 degree angle mirror attached. I started the video with the camera just below the spark plug threads; you can see all four valves, then the crosshatching on the cylinder walls (I mostly wanted to see if there was any gunk left inside the cylinder after installing a Heli-Coil thread repair insert, but it was cool to see what else could be seen through it.) The mirror position isn't the greatest -- you can almost see more past the mirror than through it -- but its passable.

All in all, I think it was a decent investment, and I'll be getting some more mileage out of it soon. Not bad for $25.

I bought this one and it came today:

DreamSky Mini USB Waterproof Endoscope Inspection Camera (5M)New 6.86mm Head
For $21.99
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K0D ... =ceklog-20

I wanted to see how my head looked on the inside, so I gave it a try. Looks healthy to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0K0J7r ... e=youtu.be

[1st 5er]

I wanted to see how my head looked on the inside, so I gave it a try. Looks healthy to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0K0J7r ... e=youtu.be

Thanks for the .

[davintosh]

I wanted to see how my head looked on the inside, so I gave it a try. Looks healthy to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0K0J7r ... e=youtu.be

I dunno; maybe you should see somebody about those tonsils. And that right eyetooth... Yikes, man.

[ldsbeaker]

Have driven the 1600 five days in a row now. Wow is it fun.

[1st 5er]

Picked up the refinished product.

[slammin_e28]

Put an e31 blower motor in the e34.

That sucked.

Noticed the cabin filter was so clogged it was silly.

Replaced that.

Then somehow migrated to the dome lights that wouldn't work.

Fixed that.....kinda.

[MicahO]

More minor work on the Touring here and there. There was no wraparound gasket on the rear bumper. That backordered item finally came in and I got it on there. Also swap the 'other' dogbones - the rear swaybar links looked original and the rubber was shredded. That will quiet the rear end even further.

And in the "This car just keeps getting better" category - I swapped the TPS. The car drove nicely, though I felt like something was lacking. Maybe it was the ability to blip the throttle - rriIIP-AAAHhhh - like the e28 will do. Maybe it was perceived flat spots here and there when getting on the go-pedal. Maybe I was just being overly sensitive? But with 230K on the chassis (120K on the long block) I figured it was not a bad time to start swapping various sensors. The TPS was the last one I changed on the e28 and it led to the greatest improvements, so that's where I started here. It's not the same click-to-idle TPS found on the B35, this is the later no-click TPS found on newer engines.

It's better, tangibly. Not only is power more linear with the foot, it also seems like the pedal-squish:go-fast ratio is much improved. And the ability to embarrass the kids by giving a few rips at the throttle at the stoplight in town is greatly improved. Yes, that's the station wagon revving it's engine.

O2, CTS and ATS are on the short-list for swappage.

[wkohler]

Ugh.

[SF-535is]

Got a smog check in my e24, and it passed
Yay

[cddallara]

Got a smog check in my e24, and it passed
Yay

I need to do this with the wagon.
Curious to see how the supposedly 90k mile m52 does compared to the 210k mile m50 that was in the car last year. Yes, I'm one of the lucky Ca residents who has to smog every year...

[Mike W.]

Got a smog check in my e24, and it passed
Yay

I need to do this with the wagon.
Curious to see how the supposedly 90k mile m52 does compared to the 210k mile m50 that was in the car last year. Yes, I'm one of the lucky Ca residents who has to smog every year...

Every year? I'm of course well acquainted with the biennial smog, which I'm currently exempt from, thank you, but every year? As far as mileage it hasn't mattered much to me as long as it's running well with a good cat.

[davintosh]

Finally got around around to swapping the new-to-me-and-properly-sized front brake caliper brackets last night. There was a bit of a difference in the distance between the two mount points; correct bracket, for a 302mm diameter rotor on the right:



I also got around to putting a brake rotor retaining screw on the right-front wheel; no more fumbling to get the holes lined up when putting the wheel on!

[John SCB]

Speaking of steering wheels, the original leather wrapped wheel on my F150 was wearing thin. The new one feels better than a new M-Tech. Some say I replace stuff that doesn't need replacing. Oh well...it feels good.

Before



After

[cddallara]

Got a smog check in my e24, and it passed
Yay

I need to do this with the wagon.
Curious to see how the supposedly 90k mile m52 does compared to the 210k mile m50 that was in the car last year. Yes, I'm one of the lucky Ca residents who has to smog every year...

Every year? I'm of course well acquainted with the biennial smog, which I'm currently exempt from, thank you, but every year? As far as mileage it hasn't mattered much to me as long as it's running well with a good cat.

It's been close/failed often enough, they're trying to make me give in and scrap it.
Bwahahaha, never!!!

[Mike W.]

New shoes for the E39. Since I'm planning on replacing it in the not too distant future I kind of low bucked the tires. Kumho Ecsta PA31 XL, only got 77K out of the Goodyears I last put on there. If we weren't approaching what is hopefully the rainy season I could have gotten another 5 or 10K out of them. Except the insides were wearing a bit and it looks like I need an alignment. Jeez, it was only 120K ago I last did it on that car.

[TSMacNeil]

A bath, seems to collect dust in the garage.

[tig]

Tried to fix burned out tail light on my wife's 08 135i vert. Turns out it is the leds in the actual plastic housing. Frak. Asking blunt for price of a replacement. Fearful of what he's going to say. Posted a wtb ad on bimmerforums for a used one. Doubtful.

[cddallara]

Checked on battery prices for my pickup (e30 needs one too) at O'Reillys.
.
.
Since when did batteries go from ~$60-80 for a 5 year to ~$110 for a 2 year?!?

I tried to check Costco but couldn't find them. I know they're there, but tried 'car battery' 'kirkland signature', 'batteries', 'battery', etc. I R dumb I guess.

[slammin_e28]

I attached the CD changer in the e34 with the proper brackets.

Hello 1994. Good to be here and ahead of the times.

[Mike W.]

Checked on battery prices for my pickup (e30 needs one too) at O'Reillys.
.
.
Since when did batteries go from ~$60-80 for a 5 year to ~$110 for a 2 year?!?

I tried to check Costco but couldn't find them. I know they're there, but tried 'car battery' 'kirkland signature', 'batteries', 'battery', etc. I R dumb I guess.

Yeah, tell me about battery prices, I was whining about it last spring when I had to replace the one in the E36.

The E36 seemed to be cranking just a touch slower in the AM, so I checked static voltage and it was down about 12.3. Oops, time for a new volt box, ideally before I was out there with jumper cables at 5AM. Seems like the past couple of times I've had to buy one it was a Jackson more than the last one. But this time it was $115??? OK, long term prices aren't really bad considering I was paying $40-50 in the 70's for a decent battery. But enter Walmart and I enjoyed a good decade of $30-35 batteries. Then one was $50. Then one was $70. And now a buck fifteen??? Like I said, long term it's not really out of line, but it's tripled in the past 5 years or so.

[tig]

About 4 months ago we noticed the left tail light on my wife's 135i vert was intermittent.

A few weeks ago it was out completely.

I dug into it on Saturday and discovered that it's the LEDs in the actual light assembly. The entire assembly has to be replaced. $165 from Blunt; 2x that at a Stealer.

I send a mail to several salvage yards yesterday looking for a used one and tell Blunt to hold off ordering for a bit.

Last night I meet my wife for dinner and as we're leaving she gets pulled over...for having a tail light out. Her wallet is not in her purse. Thankfully the cop was kind and just gave her a warning.

[rmiddendorf]

About 4 months ago we noticed the left tail light on my wife's 135i vert was intermittent.

A few weeks ago it was out completely.

I dug into it on Saturday and discovered that it's the LEDs in the actual light assembly. The entire assembly has to be replaced. $165 from Blunt; 2x that at a Stealer.

I send a mail to several salvage yards yesterday looking for a used one and tell Blunt to hold off ordering for a bit.

Last night I meet my wife for dinner and as we're leaving she gets pulled over...for having a tail light out. Her wallet is not in her purse. Thankfully the cop was kind and just gave her a warning.

My $.02... for $165 buy the new one. My experience here with LEDs has been that its the internal electronics failing and its more likely that you'll be right back with it out again sooner than later. Unless the junkyard only wants $40. I feel that generally speaking we don't value our own time into the equation and paying more for a better part helps to insure that.

[Mike W.]

My $.02... for $165 buy the new one. My experience here with LEDs has been that its the internal electronics failing and its more likely that you'll be right back with it out again sooner than later. Unless the junkyard only wants $40. I feel that generally speaking we don't value our own time into the equation and paying more for a better part helps to insure that.

Hey, are you talking about me again!!!

[BonitaBeast]

Removed the Dinan springs on the E39 M5. I'm keeping the dinan shocks and putting back the original M5 springs to get her back to "stock" M5 ride height.

[1st 5er]

Checked on battery prices for my pickup (e30 needs one too) at O'Reillys.
.
.
Since when did batteries go from ~$60-80 for a 5 year to ~$110 for a 2 year?!?

I tried to check Costco but couldn't find them. I know they're there, but tried 'car battery' 'kirkland signature', 'batteries', 'battery', etc. I R dumb I guess.

Yeah, tell me about battery prices, I was whining about it last spring when I had to replace the one in the E36.

The E36 seemed to be cranking just a touch slower in the AM, so I checked static voltage and it was down about 12.3. Oops, time for a new volt box, ideally before I was out there with jumper cables at 5AM. Seems like the past couple of times I've had to buy one it was a Jackson more than the last one. But this time it was $115??? OK, long term prices aren't really bad considering I was paying $40-50 in the 70's for a decent battery. But enter Walmart and I enjoyed a good decade of $30-35 batteries. Then one was $50. Then one was $70. And now a buck fifteen??? Like I said, long term it's not really out of line, but it's tripled in the past 5 years or so.

I remember a subtle comment to that effect being made by a member here recently.