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

[BDKawey]

(yesterday) was 74 degrees in ohio and easter was a relaxing day. so I took the subaru out of winter mode. ISC coilovers and Enkei kojin wheels back on for the summer.

[tig]

Was actually yesterday. Weather finally turned nice in Seattle and I hit a milestone on the 911:

[SPF2006]

The 80s-vintage Porsche instrument layouts remain my absolute favorites, moreso even than BMWs of the same period. Beautiful.

[offroadkarter]

Bought it.

That looks really clean, ditch those wheels and throw on some period correct BBS wheels.


It was 71 out today so I washed my bronco, the black marauder and the x5.

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

Bought it.

Fuck yes.

[slammin_e28]

I just wish it would start.

Has great compression. Has spark. Has fuel.

What more does this dumb thing need?

I'm concerned the timing is off....maybe the fuel isn't totally 100% good. going to drain the tank and get the timing light out and make sure that's all up to snuff.

I can't wait. I've wanted one of these for over a decade.

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

I just wish it would start.

Has great compression. Has spark. Has fuel.

What more does this dumb thing need?

I'm concerned the timing is off....maybe the fuel isn't totally 100% good. going to drain the tank and get the timing light out and make sure that's all up to snuff.

I can't wait. I've wanted one of these for over a decade.

Ah the age old wankel conundrum. "It's got everything it needs yet it's still not enough"

A friend of mine bought one from a dealer for the price of a cheap coffee because they couldn't get it started and assumed it had catastrophic engine failure. Turns out it was flooded, and has never missed a beat since.

They are a great car when they work, I'd love to put an FD in the garage sometime.

[slammin_e28]

I just wish it would start.

Has great compression. Has spark. Has fuel.

What more does this dumb thing need?

I'm concerned the timing is off....maybe the fuel isn't totally 100% good. going to drain the tank and get the timing light out and make sure that's all up to snuff.

I can't wait. I've wanted one of these for over a decade.

Ah the age old wankel conundrum. "It's got everything it needs yet it's still not enough"

A friend of mine bought one from a dealer for the price of a cheap coffee because they couldn't get it started and assumed it had catastrophic engine failure. Turns out it was flooded, and has never missed a beat since.

They are a great car when they work, I'd love to put an FD in the garage sometime.

Yup. This thing is killing me. Literally cannot sleep.

So I drained the tank and put in some fresh fuel. Also borrowed a timing light and got the thing spot on. The fuel pump seemed a bit weak.....fuel just kinda flowed out of the line. As such, I swapped in a spare pump that was in the back of the car....no go.....it's dead Jim. Soooo.....figuring anything was better than nothing, I scabbed in an e34 fuel pump.

Still.
No.
Start.

Doesn't even attempt to fire.

Next up....I'm testing the injectors....but I can only get to the secondaries. Ohm out good, also the continuity to the ECU is good on both....next the primaries....OH THEY'RE UNDER THE 2ND PART OF THE INTAKE MANIFOLD THANKS GUYS I'M GOING TO BED NOW.

....annnnd that's where I left off. Vintage is coming and I have to get some BMW ready to drive down. Ain't nobody got time for a RX7.

[geordi]

Pulled the X5M out of storage and gave it a full detail. Will list for sale in a few weeks.
Wife wanted to help and even with her assistance… it took 5 hours. There was A LOT of tar on the front and removing that consumed much of the time.
She kept saying.. "I don't know how that got there

Finally decided to tackle removing the trunk lid spoiler from the 528i. Since the car will be repainted, I lifted the lip and poured 3M adhesive remover in the gap. After about 10 mins, it was easy to peel the spoiler of using using the plastic tools. Someone used A LOT of two-sided adhesive tape. LOL

[MicahO]

ZHP got new poly rear trailing arm bushings. The old ones didn't look bad when they came out, but the rear-steering effect is gone.

John Deere fluid and filters change - 3 quarts of oil and 3 gallons of hydro fluid - for it's 400 hour service. That's a lot of juice!

I've recycled 10 gallons of oil in the past month, and now have another 4 gallons to bring in. Anyone have thoughts on a clean burning oil-fired space heater? I'd love to find a second use for all this oil - a second use of my own that is..... Clean-burning seems to be the issue.

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

Drove it home from Sydney. Quite a nice little package these things and the performance is really impressive. It drive's very well and ate up the miles with ease. Needs a wheel alignment, a couple of balljoints and a detail but aside from that it seems to be a very solid car. This being an LCI means it has all the gear too, here's hoping for years of hassle free enjoyment for the wife. Yeh right.

2009 E87 130i/6.

[jlucas]

Jealous. I so want a 1 series hatch, preferably diesel. BMWUSA decided we did not need them.

[tig]

Been driving around your-up in a little 218i. Sickens me BMW is building a front wheel drive car, but for navigating the bicycles and waffles of Amsterdam the size can't be beat. Cruises great on the highway. When you down shift (I insisted on the manual at Sixt) it matches revs for you which blows the mind the first time it happens.

Nav system has saved our butts a few times. Got us to Ivo's house even though we meant to go to his shop. In Antwerp it led us down a pedestrian walkway, but that's ok, because were so obviously American, nobody seemed to mind.

[geordi]

Been driving around your-up in a little 218i. Sickens me BMW is building a front wheel drive car, but for navigating the bicycles and waffles of Amsterdam the size can't be beat. Cruises great on the highway. When you down shift (I insisted on the manual at Sixt) it matches revs for you which blows the mind the first time it happens.

Nav system has saved our butts a few times. Got us to Ivo's house even though we meant to go to his shop. In Antwerp it led us down a pedestrian walkway, but that's ok, because were so obviously American, nobody seemed to mind.

I suggest you blend in more with the locals… ride bicycles and eat at FEBOs!

[davintosh]

Been driving around your-up in a little 218i. Sickens me BMW is building a front wheel drive car, but for navigating the bicycles and waffles of Amsterdam the size can't be beat. Cruises great on the highway. When you down shift (I insisted on the manual at Sixt) it matches revs for you which blows the mind the first time it happens.

Nav system has saved our butts a few times. Got us to Ivo's house even though we meant to go to his shop. In Antwerp it led us down a pedestrian walkway, but that's ok, because were so obviously American, nobody seemed to mind.

The two series too? I thought that FWD disease was limited to the ones.

Also if your car has what looks like cruise control and it doesn't seem to work, it's probably a speed limiter. I found that when I rented a car in NL a few weeks back; kinda ticked me off because the rental co. didn't mention it until I complained that the cruise didn't work when I returned the car. And watch your speed too. NL has speed cameras flippin EVERYWHERE! You won't know you got a ticket until weeks later.

That rev matching thing is weird; the new Fjord van we use does that. It also bumps the engine speed up as you ease the clutch out from a stop. You don't even need to touch the throttle until the clutch is engaged. The younger crowd who just learned to drive manuals really appreciate that feature.

The nav system getting you to Ivo's house sounds like user error to me. And yes; you really need to do something to blend in better. Your short haircut gives you away as an American, but if you combine it with the European manscarf, you just might fool enough people to kinda blend in.


https://youtu.be/Cj8YpdnCt7s
(and no, I don't wear one. I won't be any time soon either.)

[slammin_e28]

I removed the front plate bracket.



Still no runny.

[june82000]

'95 Land Rover Discovery Clutch Replacement. It's nice working on something with an abundance of ground clearance!

[byf_42]

Visited my parts guy in OH, scored a pair of minty mirrors in brilliantrot for my 91 318is. Traded him my Bavauto "performance" coils from the old dead M42 outright for 'em. The "new to me" M42 came with a coil on plug conversion.

Also made a trade deal for a set of minty (US) grills, kidneys, and a pair of minty ellipsoid headlights for the 318is for $75 and my old M42 wiring harness and starter. My grills and kidneys are all faded to gray. Hooray, I'll actually have headlights worth a damn on the e30! Hate, hate, hate the old sealed beams!!!

[MicahO]

The ZHP is showing it's age. Wednesday last week it ran like poo on the way home, and the SES light came on. I checked codes and it was throwing lean mixture codes for both banks. Typically this points to intake leaks on the M54 motor, so I pulled the intake apart looking for cracks. While I found none, the DISA valve seemed like it would benefit from a new gasket.....though of course on that car it's not an o-ring; the gasket is integral to the valve. Historically I would just throw a large handful of parts at the car - i.e. every single part that could cause an intake leak. I end up spending as much as I would at a shop, but I would complete a large batch of preventive maintenance at the same time. But the calendar is tight, so I called my local indie and made an appointment for him to smoke the intake and find the actual problem.

And Thursday I drove the car to work. Morning was fine with a few down-power events and no new codes. The car almost didn't start at the end of the day, and barely made it out of the parking lot. With 50 miles to go, I figured I'd try to get as close to home as possible. Hitting all of the BANGBANG pavement breaks on the TappanZee had the car sputtering and bucking very badly, then smooth roads on the west side of the river had the car running very nicely. I made it home and got the car away. No new codes, just the same 2882/2883's. I figured I'd get it to Jim for Monday and he could suss it out.

Saturday morning the car wouldn't start at all. Fuel pump relay seems okay and is making the requisite slap-click "I'm on" sort of behaviors, but the fuel pump is not giving any signs of life. Fuel pump seems easy enough, but I've already got an appointment. I winched the car onto the trailer and brought it to the shop. We'll see what the prognosis is later today.....

Sunday when the car didn't start I was frustrated. Then I realized how nice it was that the car conked out in my own garage, instead of far from home, or *gasp* on the TZBridge. Thank you ZHP

[Mike W.]

I figured out where the hellacious rattle on the RR corner is coming from. You know those anti rattle clips that go on the brakes? They do something, a lot. Dunno know where it went, but it's MIA. Oh well, cheap fix at least.

[1st 5er]

Checked air pressure in the tires.

[Das_Prachtstrasse]

Opened a can of worms.

[Soco]

The ZHP is showing it's age. Wednesday last week it ran like poo on the way home, and the SES light came on. I checked codes and it was throwing lean mixture codes for both banks. Typically this points to intake leaks on the M54 motor, so I pulled the intake apart looking for cracks. While I found none, the DISA valve seemed like it would benefit from a new gasket.....though of course on that car it's not an o-ring; the gasket is integral to the valve. Historically I would just throw a large handful of parts at the car - i.e. every single part that could cause an intake leak. I end up spending as much as I would at a shop, but I would complete a large batch of preventive maintenance at the same time. But the calendar is tight, so I called my local indie and made an appointment for him to smoke the intake and find the actual problem.

And Thursday I drove the car to work. Morning was fine with a few down-power events and no new codes. The car almost didn't start at the end of the day, and barely made it out of the parking lot. With 50 miles to go, I figured I'd try to get as close to home as possible. Hitting all of the BANGBANG pavement breaks on the TappanZee had the car sputtering and bucking very badly, then smooth roads on the west side of the river had the car running very nicely. I made it home and got the car away. No new codes, just the same 2882/2883's. I figured I'd get it to Jim for Monday and he could suss it out.

Saturday morning the car wouldn't start at all. Fuel pump relay seems okay and is making the requisite slap-click "I'm on" sort of behaviors, but the fuel pump is not giving any signs of life. Fuel pump seems easy enough, but I've already got an appointment. I winched the car onto the trailer and brought it to the shop. We'll see what the prognosis is later today.....

Sunday when the car didn't start I was frustrated. Then I realized how nice it was that the car conked out in my own garage, instead of far from home, or *gasp* on the TZBridge. Thank you ZHP

just got done chasing my tail on my m54. I'm sure you already know but the vacuum lines that go to the fuel pressure regulator (under the cover on the d/s frame rail) like to avoid replacement as they are out of sight. Also the CCV (hope thats not the issue that usually means pulling the intake.)

[tig]

Opened a can of worms.

Dems wheels give me wood.

[MicahO]

just got done chasing my tail on my m54. I'm sure you already know but the vacuum lines that go to the fuel pressure regulator (under the cover on the d/s frame rail) like to avoid replacement as they are out of sight. Also the CCV (hope thats not the issue that usually means pulling the intake.)

Yes - those are trouble points on these cars, though all those items still look good and have been replaced once already. The good news is that this was 'just' the fuel pump causing lean events, then dying completely. New pump and filter/FPR, smoked the intake and found no leaks. 150 miles as of this morning and no new codes. It's running nice and strong - sort of makes me wonder how long the pump's been weak, or maybe it's just the placebo effect....

[cddallara]

[tig]

Love it!

[RonW]

The passenger door on my E46 coupe suddenly wouldn't open from the outside, although the inside lever would work fine.

I went through this once before. For some reason BMW saw fit to connect the outside handle mechanism to the latch with a Bowden cable, even though the latch is only inches from the handle. The end of the housing detached from the handle mechanism, and I had to reattach it. The first time I managed to shove it back into place without removing the handle mechanism. Since I didn't take any measures to ensure it didn't happen again, it happened again.

This time I figured I had to take the mechanism out so I could use a cable tie to hold the cable housing in place. Coaxing that mechanism out into the open was a pain in the neck, as was reinstalling it. But I did it, so now, I hope, I won't have to deal with it again.

[Karl Grau]

Did a half-assed repair to the rear window switch in the Honda. Ahab, Motronic, travisj and CEK borrowed it to cruise for chicks over St Paddy’s weekend and CEK maliciously broke it for no reason.

[oldskool]

Water pump was leaking like a mutha on the daughter's 2004 Grand Cherokee as it came into the garage last night. Normally I'd just top it off and send her back, but this morning I saw quite a mess.
I grabbed a beer on the way to the parts store and calculated my methodical attack. Someone honked as the light turned green and I still just sat there, planning, judging. Look at the baby.
I summoned the Gods of Hellfire and put a new one in this afternoon, in like, 45 minutes. That's right MikeW. I can span a spanner. 45 minutes, MIKEW, AND THAT INCLUDES SOME BEER BREAKS!! I even checked the oil levels, so if anyone is ever looking for a competent tech who only works a few days a week, hit me up. And it's got to pay more than this here Beamter gig plz