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Replaced Scotty's sticking starter with the new b35 starter. The right tools (trunk kit) makes all the difference.

Built a cart for working on my two eta's.





The top is two prototype detachable stainless steel medical shelves that were rejected by the buyer (a former employer). The trays were from a dumpster dive at a Dentistry Supply outfit, stainless instrument trays circa 1960's. The tubing that they are mounted on is stainless as well. The 1" plywood shelves came off the bottom of a shipping crate for Sun Microsystems Racks. The screws and other hardware came from the wood collection and fastener hoard. Those of you that are artisans can see I am not, but I am pretty satisfied with the function. Ah, I forgot the best part, it is on casters taken off the bottom of a junked gas barbecue.

Based on tire threads read, I got a new set of continental dw 225 50 16s tires installed

Sapotorito wrote:Based on tire threads read, I got a new set of continental dw 225 50 16s tires installed

On which wheels?

I pulled the shifter today to rebuild. This was the first time I've actually removed this stuff with the trans , driveshaft and exhaust installed. Can you tell why I couldn't find a couple of gears?

First, spent an hour destroying the shift knob to remove it. Someone wrapped tape on the shifter then JB welded the shift knob to it.

Then it was under the car to do the nasty. I found that the rear bushing wasn't attached, one of the front mounts was completely destroyed and all of the other bushings were very worn and sloppy.

dsmith wrote: First, spent an hour destroying the shift knob to remove it. Someone wrapped tape on the shifter then JB welded the shift knob to it.

I bet you struggled mightily yanking on that knob. I just pulled the knob on the salvage car and when it popped off I almost broke my nose.

(Cue an oldskool level joke).

I've spent countless hours dicking with this M21.....

I think....

I.....think I don't like these anymore.....

Bought a top strut lock nut after my nylon one backed out on the passenger front strut. Gonna fix that tonight.

Also searching out winter tires for the 535is. 15". Suggested size? It has 195/60s on it now I think. They just look too small.

John in VA wrote:

Sapotorito wrote:Based on tire threads read, I got a new set of continental dw 225 50 16s tires installed

On which wheels?

John, on some e38s..



of course they need a nice wash lol

My project over the past couple of weeks was to remove an aftermarket Clarion radio and install an OEM Pioneer KE-81 which I had "Dr. Don" refurbish. Had to do quite a bit of rewiring of the front speakers and of the 12-wire connector that plugs into the trunk amp since someone had bypassed it. Sure sounded nice when it fired up this morning! I think these original radios are pretty good quality units, made in Japan and using a Blaupunkt amp. I wonder if the tuner electronics are essentially Pioneer's "Supertuner" that was so popular back in the day?

I'm on a roll this week; today I fixed the central locking system which hasn't worked since I bought my car two years ago. Real simple fix: the solder connection on the fuse inside the CLS "brain" had broken. Evidently this is a common problem, often caused by locking and unlocking the doors repeatedly in quick succession.

Drove the lady's 535is all over central Michigan for a color tour with a series of other cars, including a 3.0 CS E9, various E36 and E46 and E90 cars, and some E34s and E39s, a MINI, a beautiful 635 CSi in BahamaBeige, and some others as well. What a drive.

yodman wrote:Drove the lady's 535is all over central Michigan for a color tour with a series of other cars, including a 3.0 CS E9, various E36 and E46 and E90 cars, and some E34s and E39s, a MINI, a beautiful 635 CSi in BahamaBeige, and some others as well. What a drive.

Sounds like a great tour. I do miss the Midwest in the fall (I grew up in the Chicago area).

LarryM wrote:Sounds like a great tour. I do miss the Midwest in the fall (I grew up in the Chicago area).

Definitely. The color was fantastic in the trees. I'm also happy with how flawlessly the car ran. A $1200 investment that's been mostly rewarding me since I got it for her.

I am finishing the install of a 3.46S diff on my 535i. Last winter I had an open 3.25 and it was challenging even with decent snows. I purchased some fancy Nord-Loc washers to use on the CV bolts in an attempt to prevent them from possibly loosening but the washers inner diameter is a bit too small. Instead I am just using medium thread locker. I also installed a new poly filled BMW diff mount while I was at it.

Well Cactus (Hunter) and I had a wrenchfest, with a guest appearance by South26 (Andy). How would I feel about Hunter working on my car???



Anyway, I wanted to troubleshoot a vibration, so we got my car in the air using the drive up on ramps and then lift the car method. Then we poked around and actually the UCAs seemed good, and so did the LCAs. The idler arm had some play in it. Could this be the culprit?

Well since we're at Hunter's place there just happens to be an idler arm on a parts car that sits just feet away. Hunter begins the extraction.

I start disassembling the throttle linkage on his ///M5 in preparation for a ITB sync. I get the linkage off- this was my specialty skill because of the skinnier fingers- and then I tell him I'm going to clean them with a wire brush and drill as recommended. He says naaa... don't waste your time. Okay... was gonna do the work...

Well Hunter can't get the idler arm off the parts car, and kinda gives up. So we call Andy South and he stops by. Sees that we can't get the idler arm off. So he goes home to get a puller tool and then comes back and removes it for us. We install it on my car. I politely remind him that I do have to be able to drive it home.



I'm still hoping that solves the problem.

Oh yeah, and the broken piece of plastic around my driver's door handle was bothering Andy so he brought one back from his place and installed it for me. Dude thanks Andy! Now ya'll go buy some parts from him.

Well I started the ITB sync on my car, and removed and adjusted the linkage. And I cleaned mine. Oh yeah and then we oiled the linkage. We were advised to skip the mechanical butterfly adjustment unless really necessary so I didn't do that. I reinstalled everything and Hunter and I got the 6 channel vacuum gauges out thanks to a friend who let me rent his cheap. That was freakin sweet to use.

Turned the car on and the idle was high. The linkage in the rear was pulling the throttle up. So we adjusted it down and got the idle to where it should be. Then we balanced the ITBs. This involved Hunter standing precariously over my engine while it was running with a wrench. I was scared.

It wasn't too hard to sync them all, then it was time for a test drive.

I think I cursed in joy for about 5 minutes after driving Heinz on a test drive. Hunter can testify. Its soooooooo much smoother, and I think I probably have 15 more horses. Incredibly amazing. Like driving a new car. And the shimmy seemed gone too. Cool.



Then we got to Hunter's car. He did the linkage adjustments but then took the plenium off. Since he was chasing a high idle he wanted to see what was going on. His butterflys were beyond the open point actually restricting airflow at full throttle. So he adjusted those. He just eyeballed those. The actually looks lined up when he was done. I was shocked. Then we got it all back together and started it up. Still a high idle. And his linkage was different than mine so he didn't have the same problem I did.

We troubleshot this for a while, adjusting the throttle closed stop screws. Didn't work. Hunter looks at the giant adjustment screw on the middle throttle body. He asks what's this? I dunno, lets look it up. And before I could say that he's got the screwdriver out unscrewing it. He gets it as open as it can go and we start it up. This just made it bounce around a bunch. He put that back.

We poked around with it for a while but didn't get it all idling right and it was time to call it a day. I headed home with a purring ///M5 which actually still has a vibration, it just didn't show on the test drive. Hunter disappeared into his mansion to go hang out with some of his hos.

Scooter got a new radiator after the top hose nipple broke and separated, while driving.
Good thing I was only a mile from home.

I had the tires balanced in order to eliminate a variable. The back seems fine but now the steering wheel has the 50mph wobble. Moosehead UCAs on the way!

got it ready for winter storage ....

hacksaw wrote:got it ready for winter storage ....

I'm trying to hold out until December this year.

Got 3 of four corners done on the blue car.
New slotted 750i fitment rear rotors to replace the grooved, glazed and worn old stuff.
Front passenger got the 840 aluminum 4 pot calipers and some drilled + slotted rotors.
This required the removal of the rotor dust shield. Bye bye! (Took a half hour of swearing and hacking)
Also got the oil eater and mineral spirits pressure wash on the three corners.

Still have one more corner and that one has stud issues, so I'll be getting that sorted.

Replaced the batteries in the trunk mounted Maglite and while the trunk was open, I very briefly mused about designing some sort of emergency trunk release using a Bowdon cable that would route to behind the back seat.

Drove the IS to work and back today. 75 mile round trip. Car cruises so nice considering the money into it.

A further review of the carfax reveals 116,000 miles in 1996, 169,000 in 2002, and the odometer quit at 188,000 at that same rate. My approximation says it has over 280k now. But it just runs so good. Compared to when I got it.

I put a Momo Monte Carlo steering wheel in the 528i tonight. It's too small, so I'll put the stock one back in tomorrow sometime. Maybe even tonight.

Finally got the new UCAs in. Firestone is going to compensate me the difference in what I paid to expedite that because of their many screw-ups. All I asked them to do was balance the rear tires. They balanced the fronts too- after me telling them not to touch them- and then lost my RF hibcentric ring.

That, my friends, is why I want to buy a tire balancer.

Got most of the stuff out of the way for intake removal. What a pain in the neck!!

Stand by to see the difference between a 2.5/2.8 intake, and a 3.5 intake....

ldsbeaker wrote:Got most of the stuff out of the way for intake removal. What a pain in the neck!!

Stand by to see the difference between a 2.5/2.8 intake, and a 3.5 intake....

Took it twisty blasting w/ some fellow BMW CCA members. Currently posting from the hotel. Gonna wake up tomorrow and do more twisty blasting. Oh, then some more on Sunday.

After the shifter bushings, it was time to put on the front end. I'm going to actually pay for an alignment this time. It looked like the duck gasket was leaking, so I replaced that too.

Dreamed someone stole the driver's door.