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

[gadget73]

DId the lens thing like 2 weeks ago. The one I put in is actually in better shape than the one that got broken. The old one had some minor crazing going on.

Air compressor on the same car decided it was going to be stupid. It developed a leak that was larger than the volume of air the pump made, so instead of inflating the air springs it just deflated them until it timed out. Leak was an O ring on the vent solenoid and a slightly less than perfect seal between compressor and drier. The bigger problem was low volume. The intake "valve" had dirt under it and wasn't sealing correctly. Its basically a plastic mushroom shaped device that pushes against the metal in the head. Cleaned that out with a paper towel and gave it a quick flush with contact cleaner. Compressor sounds much better now and it seems to be working again.

[e24mpwr]

The 911 got new wheels and tires and a new steering wheel

That steering wheel is sublime...

[e24mpwr]

The journey with the E30 continues. It's been a seriously-crazy 8 months or so - I'll spare y'all the details, but one of them is a move to a new house in Raleigh, NC (I previously lived nearby in Cary).

In the midst of the chaos, I've managed to address some nagging things with the car. The refurb Z4 rack was leaking from one of the seals, so I warranty-replaced that. The billet oil pan also has a consistent drip, which turned out to be a slight gouge in the mating surface that was keeping it from sealing properly. Since it was nice and tight, I slapped 9 liters of Amsoil in the S52.  Yeah - the better part of a 2.5 gallon jug... (this is enabled by the oil pan required by the swap. Normally it's an M50 pan (which gains capacity), but the billet pan based on that design offers more clearance actually enables even more capacity.

I replaced all the lugs with new blacks ones too. The old ones were a bit battered and two wheels had slightly longer ones that were used when the car was running spacers. Then the car went to SouthEast SharkFest since my M635 decided to act up a bit...
I replaced all the lugs with new blacks ones too. The old ones were a bit battered and two wheels had slightly longer ones that were used when the car was running spacers. Yeah - the better part of a 2.5 gallon jug... (this is enabled by the oil pan required by the swap. Normally it's an M50 pan, but the billet pan that offers more clearance actually enables even more capacity. Then the car went to SouthEast SharkFest since my M635 decided to act up a bit...

On the way up, chasing my friend Greg's M635


Apparently four six-footers fit in an E30

(but not for long)

Post-SharkFest I had a couple issues where the car would stall and wouldn't restart. It turned out to be a dying in-tank fuel pump. Of all things a Chevy Vega pump could be hacked into the existing assembly and seems to be working great:


As the pandemonium settles a bit, I have a list of things to do to the car soon:

• I have a knockoff set of door seals to try out. The almost-certainly original ones are done, especially on the driver's side. I have a brand-new OE set, but I'm considering whether to save them for installation when I can figure out a paint job of some sort on the car. (no hard plan on timing yet)

• I have an OE trunk seal to install too, along with brake light gaskets which will hopefully solve some damp issues in the trunk.

• I've got a kick panel made of plastic from Race German that will replace a slightly-shabby original one - haven't opened it up yet - lol

• The interior door handle on the driver's side broke. I splurged and ordered the Leo Grande billet aluminum door handles, which might eventually wind up in the M635 if I like them and don't feel flush enough to buy them twice

• I need to adjust the cushions in the Scheel Mann seats

• ...and a bunch of other little stuff

I'm still kinda digging into the garage (and the house itself, for a variety of reasons), so this and other stuff might stretch out. I need to get a proper-sized battery for the car so I can get the battery tray in the car and a more-secured battery. I also have a Continental radio I need to install (or have it done for me).

[stuartinmn]

Took care of some overdue maintenance on my 325iX. New ball joints and an alignment cured a clunky ride and shimmy at highway speeds, a leaky camshaft seal was replaced, a new muffler to replace the old one that had a hole in it, and finally it was time for an oil change. I should be all set for winter.

[gadget73]

The Chevy Vega had an electric in-tank fuel pump? Would have never guessed that.

[stuartinmn]

I'm surprised a Vega fuel pump is still available.

[Theotherotter]

The 911 got new wheels and tires and a new steering wheel

That steering wheel is sublime...

It's very nice! It was originally offered as an option in Corvettes in the early 80s. Finally the right combination of reach, diameter and grip size. And yet now I am tempted by a brown-with-bronze-hub Victor in the same diameter....

[gadget73]

I'm surprised a Vega fuel pump is still available.

true

for yucks I looked it up on rockauto, sure enough its got an electric in-tank. Fits a ton of things from the mid 70s through the late 80s including Ford trucks. Thats probably the real reason its available. On those I suppose its the lift pump in the tank for dual tank models.

[e24mpwr]

I'm surprised a Vega fuel pump is still available.

true

for yucks I looked it up on rockauto, sure enough its got an electric in-tank. Fits a ton of things from the mid 70s through the late 80s including Ford trucks. Thats probably the real reason its available. On those I suppose its the lift pump in the tank for dual tank models.

In my case my shop used the kit to just replace the pump in the BMW frame, but it was funny asking for a Vega fuel pump from NAPA.

[Mike W.]

I'm surprised a Vega fuel pump is still available.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more Vega fuel pumps available then Vegas remaining.

[1st 5er]

I'm surprised a Vega fuel pump is still available.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more Vega fuel pumps available then Vegas remaining.

[Mike W.]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more Vega fuel pumps available then Vegas remaining.

Yeah, I mean Rockauto alone has 7 different brands. Really?

[e24mpwr]

Somewhere in the ether of the interwebs, some guy (or AI bot) is wondering why there's a jump in interest in Vega fuel pumps...

[gadget73]

If you look at the listing of what else it fits, I'd bet its more the F series trucks that explain why they are around than the Chevy Vega. As for surviving Vegas, I'm curious how many still exist with original engines vs V8 swaps. I suspect there are more V8 Vegas at this point in time.


This was a week ago, but I rebuilt the power antenna on the Continental. I had gotten it working when I bought the car and last year it started getting goofy again, not wanting to run the antenna all the way up. Cleaned it, and it worked until a few weeks ago. Gave it a complete teardown to nothing with a deep clean and lube. Found crap packed between the commutator bars which explains why the motor never ran quite right. Runs real well now.

[austin8753]

winterized the 2002 and s50 powered e30 yesterday and took them to storage.

oil service on the M3 and M5, washed both and put on the battery tender.

winter has arrived... :/

[e24mpwr]

If you look at the listing of what else it fits, I'd bet its more the F series trucks that explain why they are around than the Chevy Vega. As for surviving Vegas, I'm curious how many still exist with original engines vs V8 swaps. I suspect there are more V8 Vegas at this point in time.


This was a week ago, but I rebuilt the power antenna on the Continental. I had gotten it working when I bought the car and last year it started getting goofy again, not wanting to run the antenna all the way up. Cleaned it, and it worked until a few weeks ago. Gave it a complete teardown to nothing with a deep clean and lube. Found crap packed between the commutator bars which explains why the motor never ran quite right. Runs real well now.

Somewhere here there's a thread on S38/M88 thermostats where my shop found one that fits/works correctly (which is a trick these days... ). Anyway, I went looking for a spare, and apparently it also works on early/mid-1980's Jeeps