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

[Mike W.]

Sold my E34 tonight.

Which one? The Touring you never seemed to like?

Yes, the touring that while it was full of niggling issues, was the best BMW I’ve ever owned. Drove it from 182k to 339k in about 7 years.

That's a lot of miles in 7 years. I took my E28 from 175 to 330K for almost the same miles, but that took 11 years. Easy or hard to sell it?

[davintosh]

I returned home yesterday from a week-long family vacation in the Black Hills. My daughter and her hubby were there with us for the whole week, and we spent a considerable amount of time in their spiffy new Tesla 3. I didn't necessarily "do" much to it, but got to spend a considerable amount of time in it, mostly as a passenger, but got to drive it a bit too. Very impressive little go-kart, that. SIL is a big electric car nerd; has driven a Prius (:roll:) for years, and they're on their second Leaf, but to him this Tesla thing is next level, and I can't disagree. It's a very capable car. Where you'd expect the electric drive to be a liability, it really isn't. The recharge thing is far less of a hindrance than I expected, with Tesla supercharger stations in some pretty unexpected places, even in a podunk state like South Dakota. I doubt I'll ever own one myself, but I am impressed with them.

[tig]

Good 'couple days wrenching. Got everything back together this afternoon and went for a quick shake-down drive. All good.

Recap of this little adventure:
- Refurbished steering wheel
- Replaced steering wheel horn hub clips
- Refurbished shift knob
- Replaced windshield wipers
- Changed oil and oil filter
- Replaced brake fluid, bled clutch slave
- New spark plugs
- New distributor and cap
- New fuel filter
- Disassembled fan & housing, removed cosmoline from fan, and scotch-bright'd housing
- Removed cosmoline from steering cross-member cover plate and repainted.
- Replaced engine bay insulation
- Cleaned the **** out of everything
- Detailed summer Fuchs; put on Yokohama Advan A048s

Spark plugs look ok. Very consistent across all 6. Def. time to replace.


No doubt that belt was done... I was living dangerously with my procrastination.


Sure glad I took pictures of the alternator before pulling it out. I stared at the whole thing forever before getting smart and looking on Pelican for a how-to...which helped immensely.


I used elbow-grease to get the cosmoline off the fan (brillo pad). I didn't like the way it looked shiny and showed scrub marks. So I did a test on the back using the soda blaster. It worked so well that I went all in. Fantastic. Protected with Gibbs.






The soda blaster didn't do squat against the staining on the housing. I had to go hard with elbow-grease and some 1000 grit sand paper. I'll be honest and admit I didn't clean up all the non-visible areas. I'm quite happy with the outcome as it still looks very 'factory' and not over-restored. I was careful to preserve the remaining CAD plating on the hub, although it's faded a bit with age.


It's a damn good things these motors are so bullet-proof because doing this sort of maintenance is a total ***** compared to my E28s. Total contortion acts required, plus so much has to be removed. In this case I had to remove even more than necessary for plugs etc... because I replaced the insulation. This required removal of the cruise control unit and the AFM and air filter assembly.











This gives me warm feels:


The wheel & knob turned out great. I still need to trim the threads on the wheel (need some small, sharp scissors) and I will probably get it fully restored in the not to distant future.


And, of course, it purrs...

[gadget73]

rebuilt the electric fan stuff on the Conti. Last time I drove it I was forced to run over a chunk of plastic wrap. Couldn't swerve, there were cars to either side. I pulled over and checked for damage, saw none, kept going. The plastic sucked up behind the grille and wound up in the electric fan. This caused high amp draw which melted the connector at the fan, the relay, and killed the relay itself. Noticed the AC performance was starting to suck, popped the hood to check pressures and found all that. The fan is hard wired now, no connector, I had spare relays and sockets. The OE Ford relay was some BS obsolete thing used on Lincoln diesels and one year Crown Vic with a tow package or something. I ditched that for a normal Bosch type relay that can be had anywhere. I'll have to figure out the amp draw and add a suitable fuse to the mix.

[tig]

Removing 7 years of dead paint to bring back that drippy, fresh from the factory gloss.

Pure sex. Nice work.

[Mike W.]

Pressure washed the wheel wells of the Datsun today. What's the significance of that? I hope to get rid of the flies and wasps hovering around it.

Coming back from vacation, just before the little town of Austin, Nv, Pop 272, where we spend a night, we ran into some of the road where it was covered with spots. An inch or two in size. The road was covered, maybe 50 per square foot. Some of them were moving. Turns out they had an invasion of Mormon Crickets, which are actually more of a grasshopper, but regardless, about 2 inches long and there had to be millions of them. Driving over what was surely thousands plenty got flung up into the wheel wells, thereby providing food for the aforementioned flies and wasps. Not to mention stinking. An insect 2 inches long has some meat to it.

Talking with the woman at the Motel she said the state will send sweepers out there to clear the road and in especially bad years a snow plow has been used. All this worthy of a Steven King novel, one of which was actually on the desk at check in. They don't seem to be especially problematic for people, except for the creep out factor. Read this and sleep tight.

[jca]

Going through my 1998 318ti prior to giving it to my son and his wife who now need a second car. Changed all fluids and filters, new serpentine belt and top radiator hose. Gets new plugs tomorrow. Wife and I are driving it from Texas to Columbus, Ohio, next week. Fun little car, but I needed to thin the herd anyway

[Mike W.]

A/C on the E36 hasn't been what it once was. Compressor seemed noisy for a while, but not so much now. Being smarter than the average Joe my first thought wasn't to throw some R134a into it, especially since I didn't see the telltale oil of a leak anywhere. But with some smuggled in from Utah I threw a can in today. Dropped the idle, max blower speed temp, by 15F. Hmmm, I wonder if I found the problem. I put a full can in and think I overcharged it a little, it'll go down to 40.1F, then the compressor seems to cut out at idle, but I'll give it a little bit and see. KISS, remember KISS. Keep it simple stupid.

[Bonsaibacker]

Digging around under the E21 I found the smallest lump in the undercoating. Picked at it and sure enough- rust. Enough to warrant a full investigation and since this car is up for restoration, I wasn't gentle with my digging on the top side.



Plan on patching w fiberglass for now to hold while I attend to the E28s punch list and then dissembling an E39 parts car and then this bastard will get the attention it has been waiting for. Poor reliable car...

[SPF2006]

Ordered a set of Blizzak WS80s and some cheap, minimally acceptable wheels (step above steelies) for the X3. Best time to prepare for winter is during the summer and Tire Rack offered discounts on both.

[amagansa]

Driving home in the e39 and I hear a pop. Temp gauge is in the red. Pull over and pop the hood, and my expansion tank has blown up. I can only hope there is no head damage, but I fear the worst, since I hadn't looked at the temp until I heard the pop. Who knows how long it was in the red. Luckily, I was able to make it home without a tow truck by short drives, coasting down sloped roads with the engine off, 15 minute stops, rinse and repeat. I will get another expansion tank and pressure/block test ASAP. Time to let the e23 stretch its legs a little.

[John in VA]

Driving home in the e39 and I hear a pop. Temp gauge is in the red. Pull over and pop the hood, and my expansion tank has blown up.

Get the real thing from the dealer or the Modine or Behr version - bad fit at the bottom with off brands is no fun! Buy from FCPEuro & it's covered by their lifetime replacement. You can add the G.A.S. 1.2 bar cap (or the 1.0 bar plastic E30 version) to lower the pressure a tad in hopes of preventing this again.
https://www.germanautosolutions.com/bmw ... ar_cap.php

[amagansa]

Thanks! Didn't even know they made these. Will be ordering both.

[Mike W.]

Drama free for a change, oil and filter on the Datsun. Troubleshot the aux fan I installed a couple of years ago, off an E34 I think, and found a bad resistor. High speed still worked at least.

[amagansa]

Replaced the expansion tank on the e39. Still overheats. I may be SOL I'm hoping it's just still air in the system, but not getting my hopes up. More testing later. Live and learn. The chassis has been good to me, I may look for a 530 or touring in the future.

[BDKawey]

Yesterday I began teardown on the subaru for a timing belt job. due to bad design the timing cover bolts are just spinning on atleast 3 of them. took a break and later this probably tomorrow ill get back to it and see what kind of destruction I have to do to get them out.

[amagansa]

Put the e39 up for sale. Taking a big loss in terms of money, but It isn't worth fixing either. Besides, I've already got my sights set on a Toyobaru twin. Either that or the Craigslist demons will lure me back in...

[Bonsaibacker]

Messed around with some fiberglass on my E21 to patch a hole in the floorboard. A much larger repair is necessary but waiting till I have the time for a complete teardown. Negated any further rust...

[BDKawey]

still working on the subaru's timing belt when i can. had to break the timing covers on both sides off, only have to replace one of the covers. the rest can be fixed.

went to put the water pump in and 2 of 6 of the threads on the block are going to need helicoiled. another common subaru failure even when using a torque wrench.

[davintosh]

Not today, but...

When I bought the Herky Bird last year, it was missing the spare tire. Thankfully I haven't had need for one, but it's always been one of the many things in the back of my head that keep me from getting back to sleep when I wake up way too early. I got new tires for it last fall, and had the tire shop save one of the old tires with decent tread so I could put together a full-size spare for it. I asked if they had a used wheel for it; nope, but they could get a new wheel, but I was feeling cheap, especially after spending a bunch of money on new tires for it, so I blew it off.

Fast-forward to a couple weeks ago, I did some poking around on CraigsList, and stumbled across an ad for a set of 17" aluminum wheels off of a 2014 F150 for about the same price as the tire shop wanted for a new steel wheel. The guy was located about 2 hours north of me, but agreed to meet up at about the half-way point when we were visiting my daughter a few days later. They were in really good shape; a little rash on one of them, but far, far better than the slightly rusty steelies they would replace.

I got them swapped on last Saturday; almost didn't recognize the truck when they drove it around to the front of the shop when it was done. Looks much better, and I think it drives better too. I didn't check the weights, but it seemed like the new ones were way lighter than the steelies. Even though they're the same size as the old ones, they look smaller. Decent improvement though.



Oh, and we get to do some more bodywork on the Lexus too. My wife was backing out of our driveway at the exact same moment as our neighbor directly across the street, and their bumpers met in the middle. She busted up the left rear marker light and gouged the bumper cap pretty good. The neighbor just got a scratched bumper. Getting it fixed will be a pain in the neck though.

Moments after that incident, she was heading down the street on her way to work and heard a big THUD!!! on the roof of the car. She hit the brakes, and watched as a squirrel rolled down the windshield and hood! The stupid rodent had fallen out of a tree and onto the roof as she drove under it! Probably saved the critter's life. He didn't stick around to say thanks though; probably scared the thing half to death, and scared the daylights out of her too.

[tig]

Picked up Uglina from Legend 4x4 today. Nick took care of installing the new seat covers I bought about 10 years ago. We put all new foam in too. They look and feel great. Drove around a bunch in the Salt Lake heat and was disappointed to find that I still have a stalling issue at idle when hot. I'll be calling State Automotive tomorrow to have them look at it again.





My son is coming to visit Utah this weekend and we're going to do some light wheeling. Can't wait.

Here's the planned route:
https://goo.gl/maps/Xm4LzubBcPXcXYdw8

[Dale3783]

Installed the new M Sport bumpers on the wife's wagon.







forum picture hosting

[BDKawey]

Installed the new M Sport bumpers on the wife's wagon.


forum picture hosting

looks real good! needs a nice lip now.

that image host looks really good too, i just made a account. Do we know if there is an upload limit? I couldnt see anything about it on the site.

[John in VA]

that image host looks really good too, i just made a account. Do we know if there is an upload limit? I couldnt see anything about it on the site.

The front page states:
Drag and drop anywhere you want and start uploading your images now. 16 MB limit. Direct image links, BBCode and HTML thumbnails.

[BDKawey]

brb going to grade school to learn to read

[Dale3783]

Installed the new M Sport bumpers on the wife's wagon.


forum picture hosting

looks real good! needs a nice lip now.

that image host looks really good too, i just made a account. Do we know if there is an upload limit? I couldnt see anything about it on the site.

I was really happy and feeling that sense of accomplishment for about 12 seconds before I realized "Gee, it really needs a lip now." Oh well.

Soon....

[Mike W.]

One of the BMW parts I've installed on the Datsun has failed. I noticed on the way back from Vacation last month the aux fan I'd installed wasn't working with the A/C. First guess was correct, the resistor. $20 and an hour or so later it's back in business.

[amagansa]

I misdiagnosed my e39. Turns out the thermostat was getting stuck and causing it to overheat, NOT a bad head gasket or cracked head. Replaced thermostat and everything is fine now. Still want it gone though.

[gadget73]

popped a brake line on the rusty S10. I bought some line, but thats as far as I got. Ordered a bending tool, one of those things that looks like a screwed up pair of pliers. It blew right at the front driver's side flex hose, and it needs to make a couple of 90 degree bends in fairly tight quarters to get from there to the other side of the frame. I don't own a bubble flare tool so the top part of the line where it connects to the ABS unit will remain original and I'll just double flare and union it further down.

[foamy]

pulled the engine from a 1998 impreza for head gaskets going to end up selling the car i got it free.