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

[rmiddendorf]

In other more exciting news, my shopping for a Vehicle To Call My Own has picked up steam; our three adult kids came over to see us, and we spent about a week galavanting around südwest Deutschland (and other adjacent locales), and we blew what was left of our allotment of personal drive time in school vehicles. I've been shopping a bit for a car that's 25 or older so that I can ship it back to the US; lots of e28s and whatnot, but most are too far away to consider, but have seen a few this weekend that are within a few hours by train, and decently priced. Stay tuned...

This might sound weird but use your import freebie wisely. There are quite a few cars over there that could be had for cheap(er) that could really bring good buck here stateside. Maybe even dip into that 'used car' market that hasn't balloned to widespread collector status yet- like the E28 ///M5 was 5 years ago or longer.

Even an early 90s Alpina of some sort might be cool.

B7Turbo has a really sweet E32/735i Alpina. I don't know the market for those over there, but that's inline with what I was thinking.

[e28Sean]

I've been shopping a bit for a car that's 25 or older so that I can ship it back to the US; lots of e28s and whatnot, but most are too far away to consider, but have seen a few this weekend that are within a few hours by train, and decently priced. Stay tuned...

DO IT!

[Mike W.]

Overloaded it, the E36 that is. I'm redoing the stepping stones in the backyard and wanted some 12X12s to replace the 16X8s I've been using. So I loaded 30 of them in the back of the 328is. I knew they weren't light, I figured 10 pounds a piece. I'm a bowler and I thought hell, these are lighter than a bowling ball. But the car wasn't happy, I had to noticeably give it more gas off the line and even stalled it once. And a noticeable lack of acceleration. Got home, weighed one and it was 20 pounds. Meaning I had 600 pounds behind the rear axle. Good thing I got home before dark or I would have been blinding people like the aholes in jacked up pickups. I knew I should have taken the E12.

[1st 5er]

Overloaded it, the E36 that is. I'm redoing the stepping stones in the backyard and wanted some 12X12s to replace the 16X8s I've been using. So I loaded 30 of them in the back of the 328is. I knew they weren't light, I figured 10 pounds a piece. I'm a bowler and I thought hell, these are lighter than a bowling ball. But the car wasn't happy, I had to noticeably give it more gas off the line and even stalled it once. And a noticeable lack of acceleration. Got home, weighed one and it was 20 pounds. Meaning I had 600 pounds behind the rear axle. Good thing I got home before dark or I would have been blinding people like the aholes in jacked up pickups. I knew I should have taken the E12.

[kzolee]

Left under the snow...

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

Installed the pass through ski bag in the e34. The car had the panel cutout when I bought it and the centre armrest always fell into the void which really bothered me. The ski bag that had been laying around for years had a couple of small parts broken, but it turns out that all the parts aside from the canvas bag itself are still available and pretty cheap; I replaced the bow and the locking tab and the two parts cost me $25 from the dealer. Score. No more floppy armrest. Now to just keep it hidden from the wife to be, as I've enjoyed using the lack of boot-cabin access as an excuse to avoid picking up large and long items from the hardware store. If she finds out, the gig is up!

[dsmith]

I couldn't resist buying these repro e30 euro grills for the touring. Mine has a broken chunk. Sold new for $69 shipped by abrahamsmotorsport.com.

[e28Sean]

Wrecked it.



I'm totally okay, but, The Green Monster is done for, i'm afraid.

[dsmith]

Wrecked it.



I'm totally okay, but, The Green Monster is done for, i'm afraid.

Jeez y'all get a little weather and oh noooo!

The plant even shut down today (I plan the BMW freight to the plant for the main carrier) and we have drivers stuck all over the place. Glad to see you're ok.

[Mike W.]

Wrecked it.



I'm totally okay, but, The Green Monster is done for, i'm afraid.

And to add insult to injury you just washed it???

But wrecked? Hood and a fender and grill and... OK, maybe.

[e28Sean]

Glad to see you're ok.

And to add insult to injury you just washed it???

But wrecked? Hood and a fender and grill and... OK, maybe.

Rule #1. Never, ever, under any circumstances, wash anything.

Thanks guys. And yeah, it's a wreck. Thee tree hit outside the frame rail, folded the bumper back 90 degrees, tore off the front left suspension mounts, and bent the front axle. I also put the fan into the radiator, bent the front rad support, and shorted out quite a few of the electronics. I paid $1400 for that truck, and it would cost over 2 - 3 times that in parts to get it back on the road.

[Sapotorito]

Not necessarily today, but a couple of weekends ago I tried to bring back to life the headlight clear lenses on the e60





I was pleased with the result... Let's see how long they last this nice.

[Nanajoth]

The heater core on the M5. I would not say the job itself is terrible, just the fact that all the electrical connectors decided to crumble upon removal. The three coolant pipes were a pain to install too.

[slammin_e28]

Whelp.....the Disco 2 is done.....for now.

I've been getting a cyl 7 misfire. The wires were in pretty terrible shape, and I figured the coils were original at 117k, cheap enough, I'll do them. So I did, as posted before.

The misfire went away. Yay!

Then through le snow episode the misfire came back. Fuuuuuu. Pulled plug, it's all oil fouled. Swapped it with #5 to see if misfire moved, nope. It just went away totally. Heads were done under 20k ago with the gaskets. Compression on 7 is 155psi. Also, I've gotten this engine sealed up TIGHT. Not a drop leaks from it......but I'm still consuming oil at an alarming rate. I'd also been getting grey smoke under hard acceleration....and black soot blowing out when I start it....only noticed because I had the truck backed up to a snow back at home when I started it.

I came to the conclusion, with advice from some guys on a LR board, that the #7 oil ring is done.

Drove the truck to work this morning, after topping up the oil, and pulled out #7....it's alright, but not great. I had swapped it with #5 (cylinder next to 7) to "cure" the misfire. I got the bore scope and peeked into #7 bore.....everything looks okay....piston is a bit dirty.....meh....then I see it. There is a nice, thick, defined stripe of oil down the cylinder wall.

Oil ring is done.

Now IDK what to do. I guess I'll ride through the rest of Winter pouring oil in and swapping #5 and #7 plugs back and forth....but then what? Pull the head and replace the rings? Get another engine....a 4.6L perhaps? Diesel swap it? BMW swap it? Trash it and get another truck?

Sucks.

[OcCoupe]

I installed the hood pads oh and the engine.

[tig]

I installed the hood pads oh and the engine.

How nervous are you that you forgot something?

[OcCoupe]

How nervous are you that you forgot something?

I haven't been, yet... I dry fitted everything prior to instal. There's always a possibility but I have 2-3 of pretty much everything and if I don't there are plenty of resources. I ran in to a situation where I needed a bracket for the fpr that doesn't exist so I made two then sent them out to get plated. Having the parts books and the factory shop manuals helps. I'm more nervouse of damaging the paint.

[1st 5er]

I'm more nervouse of damaging the paint.

You got this pops.

[T_C_D]

Cut the aftermarket cats, flowmaster muffler and rusted pipes off the e34 540i. (it was all rusted and falling apart) Installed a complete 750il catback. Car went from a hooligan car to a gentlemen's sports sedan. Hate super quiet cars. Oh well, at least neighbors won't stare and old people won't yell at me for driving too fast when I am going 25mph.

Oh and measured city mpg today. 14.9 mpg

[a]

I have a Boysen cat back from an M5 grafted onto the BB supah e,. B6 II has one from a 535i .

[slammin_e28]

Put le engine in the white 525i, while not mine...mine was present and it was the old engine from my car.

My car got a new-to-it steering box. Now it steers more like a galleon....rather than a blimp.





E34s are the bestest.

[davintosh]

I installed the hood pads oh and the engine.

WE NEED MOAR PICS, DAMMIT!!!

Those of us who are living the dream vicariously through you are gravely disappointed in the lack of eye candy.

[MicahO]

E34s are the bestest.

The Touring has had it's eyes out a few times in its lifetime. When it came to the States it was federalized with US headlights, then the original Euro Smilies were swapped back in. Along the way, the auto-leveling was disco'd and the switch removed/not replaced. And the adjusters had all gotten crusty enough that the lights couldn't be adjusted left/right or up/down. Grrr.... Poorly aimed headlights are a pet peeve, and while these were not blinding anyone, the foglights were putting more usable light on the road than the low-beams.

So I bought another set of Euro Smilies; they arrived 25% smashed So this weekend I took the front all apart, cleaned a bit behind the grilles, and re-assembled a complete set of lights with no electronic adjustment, but with lubed and working manual adjusters. I also cleaned up some of the repeatedly cut and pasted cabling and re-wrapped it all neatly with Tesa cloth tape. Now I just need the weather to break so I can take it out on a dark night and aim the new eyes.....

[rmiddendorf]

Now I just need the weather to break so I can take it out on a dark night and aim the new eyes.....

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I did this in my garage with some specification. Something like 4' from the wall on a level surface the top of the drivers beam should be X high and the pass side Y high.

[rmiddendorf]

E32s are the bestest.

FTFY.

[slammin_e28]

E32s are the bestest.

FTFY.

I haven't gotten that intimate with mine yet.

It's still waiting on me to register it

[cddallara]

Micah, according to the UK guys, you don't want the electronic adjusters anyway. They just cause faults.

My car passed smog.
.
Seriously.
.
It only took 5 tries, a tune up, and new exhaust, but I'm legal to drive to San Diego next month. Unlike last year, where I was sporting Nov 2014 tags... Which I finally covered with a 2016 tag last week.
.
Guy didn't notice that it's a different motor, or trans than what the registration says, or that my coolant preheat valve thigamajig is bypassed.
.
Now to get cruise control working again and I'm all set!

[John in VA]

Now I just need the weather to break so I can take it out on a dark night and aim the new eyes.

How To Aim Headlamps and Auxiliary Lamps:
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

[Acid House]

Drove the 02 around the block and took it off non-op status. Probably hasn't seen a road on its own engine power since at least 2010 if not longer.

[T_C_D]

Drove the 02 around the block and took it off non-op status. Probably hasn't seen a road on its own engine power since at least 2010 if not longer.