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

[tig]

Yesterday I 'treated' the Fuchs. Still near perfect after all these years.


When I was putting the wheels back on the 911 after cleaning them I lost one of my lug nuts. I had set the 5 nuts in my lap while I was on my little work chair on wheels so I wouldn't drop them as I was putting them on. I got up to pick up the other 5 nuts for the other wheel and as I approached the edge of the driveway I saw a lug nut fly from my crotch into the bushes.

I guess I had picked up 6, not 5.

My garage is on a hill above the main house and the bushes where the nut fell is at the top of the hill. I spent 15 minutes on my hands and knees searching that hill for the lug nut. I finally gave up and figured I'd have to source a new one. It was gone.

This morning, as I walked up the drive from the house to start detailing the rest of the car, I happened to glance at the edge of the driveway at the bottom of the hill (the driveway loops around from the upper garage pad) and lo-and-behold:



I really didn't think it had rolled all the way down the hill, but it had.

I have decided I'm buying new nuts anyway since these are scratched (even though I have always been super careful and used a special 'soft' aluminum socket), but I'm glad I found it.

[geordi]

You need to keep your nuts in a sack.
Latex gloves, nuts, Vaseline... what in the heck in going on in the PNW??

[nik77356]

Towed it home. Transmission in the wagon went out about 3 hours from home on the way back from visiting family in St. Louis. Manual swap time!

[davintosh]

Towed it home. Transmission in the wagon went out about 3 hours from home on the way back from visiting family in St. Louis. Manual swap time!

Ouch. I saw that you mentioned something about that on FB, but didn't have time to reply. Isn't a trans swap on an e39 a bit more difficult because of the electronics?

[yodman]

Changed the oil in my Jetta VR6 today

[nik77356]

Towed it home. Transmission in the wagon went out about 3 hours from home on the way back from visiting family in St. Louis. Manual swap time!

Ouch. I saw that you mentioned something about that on FB, but didn't have time to reply. Isn't a trans swap on an e39 a bit more difficult because of the electronics?

We'll see. Shouldn't be too bad. Autologic is your friend!

[Mike W.]

Towed it home. Transmission in the wagon went out about 3 hours from home on the way back from visiting family in St. Louis. Manual swap time!

Ouch. I saw that you mentioned something about that on FB, but didn't have time to reply. Isn't a trans swap on an e39 a bit more difficult because of the electronics?

We'll see. Shouldn't be too bad. Autologic is your friend!

I've heard yes and no both. A lot of E39 stuff is that way, there are some very hands on people, but not many.

[nik77356]

Friend of mine has a facelift wagon with a 6 speed and an M54B30. Based on his experience, it should just be reverse light and clutch switch wiring. Everything else is coding.

[a]

R+Red the exhaust on the Rat over the week end.

[slammin_e28]

Friend of mine has a facelift wagon with a 6 speed and an M54B30. Based on his experience, it should just be reverse light and clutch switch wiring. Everything else is coding.

IIRC I think I saw a auto-man swap button on the Autologic when I was fooling around with my e46.....

[nik77356]

Friend of mine has a facelift wagon with a 6 speed and an M54B30. Based on his experience, it should just be reverse light and clutch switch wiring. Everything else is coding.

IIRC I think I saw a auto-man swap button on the Autologic when I was fooling around with my e46.....

Oh it's definitely there for an E46 M3. We just used that recently after swapping out the SMG on one. Double check with them before you swap anything else though. They made us a special button after manual swapping an E46 325xi. I'm sure I can get them to make me a button for the E39.

[stuartinmn]

I'm bringing my 325iX into the body shop this afternoon, a rust hole has appeared at the bottom of the driver's side front fender and I want to get it taken care of before winter. I have a nice rustfree fender to replace it, but of course it's the wrong color so it will have to be painted to match. They'll also do some PDR repair on a couple door dings while it's there.

[slammin_e28]

Friend of mine has a facelift wagon with a 6 speed and an M54B30. Based on his experience, it should just be reverse light and clutch switch wiring. Everything else is coding.

IIRC I think I saw a auto-man swap button on the Autologic when I was fooling around with my e46.....

Oh it's definitely there for an E46 M3. We just used that recently after swapping out the SMG on one. Double check with them before you swap anything else though. They made us a special button after manual swapping an E46 325xi. I'm sure I can get them to make me a button for the E39.

My e46 no need swapping, lol. I was playing around with coding things....like DRLs off, how long the beams stay on after I get out of the car, oil service interval, etc.

Need to get my PA Soft stuff working.....

[wkohler]

I hate this E34 touring so much. Words cannot express.

[tig]

I hate this E34 touring so much. Words cannot express.

After the whole door lock fiasco I was surprised to hear you were keeping it.

[slammin_e28]

I love this E34 touring so much. Words cannot express.

I installed some of the missing covers in the engine bay on mine. So much better.

Also slapped some new hood struts on the e32. It now slides open like it should.

Small miracles.

[a]

After 6 weeks in the air, the Rat returned to earth long enough to get a valid inspection sticker. It has traveled less than 1250 miles in 2 yrs.

[djazz]

We were tracking down an exhaust rattle on the truck when we found the completely shot center bearing. We didn't feel a thing while driving.



I blew my bumper apart on a dip in the road that I didn't see. And Sundae (horse) thought the ds mirror would be great for scratching her arse. I was hoping to have everything done by a pro but that became an impossibility due to recent events. Here's hoping it's at least acceptable from 10-20ft when all done.

[a]

Heh heh. I took the play out of BBB's CSB with a couple of pieces of used timing belt .The bearing was repacked by prying the shield back enough for a grease needle. Thumping has gone away. The Rat's CSB gave me the inspiration. The bearing had seized at one time and ripped loose of its rubber suspension. The bearing was barren of grease. It rattled, but spun freely The shield popped out with little trouble and I packed the sucka just like the front wheel bearings on a '58 bug. Dana doesnt list a CSB ,Timken and SKF are Chinese for US money. I have yet to take the play out of the suspension. The thud it makes when I dump the clutch, reminds me to take it easy.

[BonitaBeast]

Replaced my 12 year old sagging front springs with a new set. This monster now floats over everything. No longer a bone jarring ride

[stuartinmn]

I'm bringing my 325iX into the body shop this afternoon, a rust hole has appeared at the bottom of the driver's side front fender and I want to get it taken care of before winter. I have a nice rustfree fender to replace it, but of course it's the wrong color so it will have to be painted to match. They'll also do some PDR repair on a couple door dings while it's there.

I got my iX back from the shop last week with a freshly painted fender and no dings. They also touched up a few chips along the rocker panels that were just starting to rust so it's looking much better. Finally, today I replaced the flaking roundel on the trunk lid.

[wkohler]

Any photos or should I just look at photos of the car when you got it?

[Duke]

Get my car in the Kansas City Star is what I did.



Digital article -
http://www.kansascity.com/cars/article38232522.html

[offroadkarter]

I have a 04 marauder that I'm throwing a T56 magnum into, I just welded up the crossmember today which will allow me to drill for the new trans mount. I've never welded before in my life, but after laying down some practice beads on a piece of scrap, it actually came out good. Mig welders are much easier than flux!



Still have to trim up some excess, grind the welds down and prime/paint it. It sure as hell is gonna hold though.

My buddy drove up from maryland to bring me his welder, so I had a lot of BMW's going on this weekend. Just a reminder that I need to get a e39 m5 for myself, it makes my car feel like such a piece of shit.

[rmiddendorf]

In addition to a slew of other things I did last week I replaced the driver's side door switch on my E32. Now my interior lights turn back on when I open the door- woo-hoo!

[MicahO]

Over time I've been quite inspired by threads like Karl's wherein a reasonably nice late-model car gets a refresh. It's GREAT putting the time into an older car, but it's nice to see the newer stuff getting some love too.

It occurred to me that the ZHP was coming up on a bit of a milestone - approaching 200K miles. While most of the car is near-perfect (interior, and most of the car) and some of it is better than original (suspension and rear end), the front end was a HORRIBLE EYESORE. I spend a lot of time on the NYS Thruway, a road that has been in some state of repaving for five or six years, and I am very early on the road, so I'm usually driving just after the equipment has finished their night-paving. The front end was totally sandblasted.

So I had the front end repainted - hood, front quarters, nose and mirror caps. When I reassembled everything, I used new turn signals and foggies, new lower grill, new bumper trim, and I'm waiting on backordered new headlight lenses. The car looks freaking great again. I'm quite happy!

Oh - taking a cue from Karl, I also replaced the driver's mirror on both the e46 and the M5T. Both were delaminating a bit around the edges and I didn't want to see that anymore.

[wkohler]

I hit 270k on my POS E34.

[Mike W.]

I hit 270k on my POS E34.

Just buy a E39 touring. Faster, better looking and better gas mileage. With even more plastic in the cooling system. Just try for a 28, they're much better than the 25s.

[slammin_e28]

Rebuilt the breather system on the 750. It was bad. I needed a simple, mindless task to get myself back on track after this M21 fiasco.

This is how I got the car 120 miles home....



The rubber hose crumbled, so I snipped a bit of washer hose out of the car to substitute the hose so it didn't have a massive vacuum leak.

Worked brilliantly. Except World Pac sent me a heater hose for something in a bag labeled with the part # of what I needed.....was able to reuse the old one for now, but it's crusty. Also installed throttle body gaskets, since to get it home I just smeared some goo on the mating surfaces. Now the CEL doesn't ALWAYS come on at idle.....just sometimes.

Also put in some new trunk lid struts and a new tool kit tray. Much better.

[a]

The first day of my vacation, I took the Rat to get inspected. It passed. Two exhaust systems silenced in'15. Between the wye pipe and the muffler are 9 different pieces. Along with 9 muffler clamps, ranging from 3" to 2" Two cans of muffler mud and the remains of a tube of high temp RTV help seal the many joints. Several fiddly hours in the shop and under the Rat lying on carpet strips , tapping with a neat little long nose ball peen hammer to mate pieces tightly together. It became a sort of make -do project after spending 1500 bux for parts on a truck that should have been scrapped , but I thought ,could be saved with just a clutch disc. The truck has traveled 1200 miles the last 2 yrs. Idon't care, I like the old truck. It reminds of the old pick ups I had as a callow youth