The Long Awaited: The Myth, The Legend, The Douchebaggery

[Jake]

I don't think you can rent those can you? I'd have to limp it back over to the shop and have them do it.

Buy a pack of Marlboros and light 'em up.

[*insertusernamehere*]

He's got a vape pen haha


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[SlimKlim]

It was a loose ground nut, not a vacuum leak. I am not a smart man.

I drove it to Jake's house and back after fixing that, and it was 99% normal. At one stoplight the idle dropped and it got a little "chuggy", but at the next light was back to normal. :dunno:


The smaller fitting on the charcoal fuel breather filter is broken (the one on the right). I don't know if that's under vacuum, but I should be able to super glue it back on for a temporary fix and I guess replace the canister at some point.

Tonight I'm gonna do that, bolt the x-brace back on, change the oil, give it a bath and take a drive down to Summit tomorrow.

Also the flex pipes should be here today, I'm hoping my friend has time to get them installed sometime next week.

[Senor_Taylor]

a drive down to Summit tomorrow.

RonPaulitsHappening.gif

[SlimKlim]

The car was a peach on the 110mi loop to Summit Point and back yesterday. Coolant level and temp stayed where it should, no other leaks that I noticed. It still has an occasional idle hunt, but that's it. I think it's safe to say the HG job was an official success!

I put the new clutch pedal bushings in this morning but I think the pedal is ovaled out. It fixed the slop but it still leans to the left. I guess I'll have to get a pedal if I want to fix it. I think I'll have them smoke test it when the flex pipes go in to see if the idle hunt is from a leak or a failing ICV.

I have a wishlist the size of my arm of things I'd like to do to with the car now that it isn't catastrophically broken anymore, some are small cosmetic items, others a bit more complicated, so I need to do some soul searching and see which, if any of them, are worth spending the money on.

[SlimKlim]

200+ mi since HG repair.

Exhaust is fixed.

Coolant don't leak.

Only leaks a little bit of oil.

Runs like a peach 99.9% of the time save for an occasional rough/dipping idle.

Just rolled over 187,000 miles.

Good enough.

[*insertusernamehere*]

Yeeee buddyy!! :thumbup:

[Senor_Taylor]

Good job, man! Glad to hear it!

[Steve85]

:thumbup:

[SlimKlim]

Speaking of MMemories, I just realized I've officially had this thing for six goddamn wonderful, miserable, amazing, grueling years.

7/23/09. It's come a long way.

[*insertusernamehere*]

Are there any other cars in MM that have been around for so long and been through so many changes?

[Senor_Taylor]

Jake's Miata and his spray painted E30 have bounced around owners a few times in MM.

[*insertusernamehere*]

Actually answered my own question, Sean Schutte's E30. ^Those went through different owners, that doesn't count

[Jake]

Sean's E30 has been around the longest (it's his first car, I believe). And Adam's Talon is still under his ownership and mostly alive, I think.

I had my Miata for 6 years. The E30 was only mine for ~6 months or so.

Got to hoon around with Joey last Saturday morning... we both decided we needed some relief from the constant NoVA traffic, and that we missed the random college backroad driving we used to do. So, I met him at his house around 8:30 and we set off with a rough destination of Harper's Ferry, WV. Took two-lane roads for 95% of the drive there and back, and it was just a great use of a morning and some 93 octane. Joey drove us out there and I drove us home... the car feels great (if a little torque-less down low #becauseheaders) and is really well set up as a street car.

Makes me want another street-only M3...

[SlimKlim]

Pete's had his XR for 10+ years I think, not sure if there are any others.

[HAULN-SS]

I've had my SS since 2001, but never really done much with it motorsports wise..more of a tinker project (engine swap, paint job, suspension re-do, interior redone, and just recently dash + stereo re-do)

[SlimKlim]

That's awesome, you must get first prize for longest owned car, I can't imagine anyone else having something that pre-dates 2001.

I mean, this car is largely just a tinker project for me too, i think I've put ~5-600 miles on it this year. Its done a ton of autocross but those barely count, and just a few track sessions.

I kinda feel silly for hanging onto it when I drive it so little, but going out for that cruise with Jake reminded me why I've kept it and done so much work on it. After racking up nearly 50k on it when I was DDing it, it's been really nice to actually fix things faster than they break. It was an absolute peach on our little cruise, with the exception of a few cosmetic niggles like a passenger side skirt that can randomly flop half off and flap around in the wind, it "needs" nothing.

I'm already sketching out this winter's project. Need to do the oil pan gasket to stop it from ruining the garage floor, might as well do new rod bearings while I'm in there. And then it's a toss up between a clutch/shifter refresh or a rear subframe overhaul. Both areas are of mysterious age and mileage, both are holding up ok but are threatening to show their age soon (subframe carrier bushings have no play but are starting to crack, clutch grips fine but the TOB squeals and squelches like crazy sometimes)

[ScottyB]

I kinda feel silly for hanging onto it when I drive it so little

that's practicality speaking. don't listen to it, its for bland grownups who regret stuff.

[SlimKlim]

Was casually chatting BMWs with Matthew (does anyone do anything else) and he mentioned how LTWs were his favorite wheels. I remembered one of the POs of my car had a set of LTWs on it at some point and the photos would come up if you googled "Dakar E36 LTWs."

Then it occurred to me that photos in an 8 year old thread are going to disappear at some point and if I want to hang onto em I better make my own copies, so I did some digging through the forum archives and pulled them into a new album.

These are the oldest photos I can find of the car, summer of 2008, owned by a guy that goes by Garrett M on the forums.









Then later that year or early '09 he posted it for sale.













Crazy how clean the paint still was and how straight the body is in that last shop, she is definitely showing her age now. Also notice the missing M badge on the driver's side molding, one of the very first things I changed on the car, like the week I bought it.



Vaders were already not looking so hot, the Florida sun definitely didn't help things. You can see the wear on the driver's bolster that he's trying to conceal in the photo.



I still have these floor mats, they look like complete ass now.



I also did a number on the poor steering wheel, It looked mint in '08 and I had destroyed it by 2010. Rainy track days + old leather = bad.

Then in the summer of 2009 the guy that bought it off of him posts it for sale in VA beach. He had owned it for less than a year, paid 10k for it and was listing it for $7500. In retrospect I should've known it was going to be a basket case, I think in the back of my mind I knew it was going to be, I just really, really, really, really wanted to buy the car.









And here's the most recent photo taken of her, all snuggled up in her new home.

[Jake]

I love this.