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

[SlimKlim]

I guess if this is going to be my project car I should actually keep up with my project thread. The weekend before last I bit the bullet and went digging for my knock sensors. Normally, as a diseased and hopelessly diehard bmw lover I'll go toe-to-toe with someone that the older cars are actually DIY friendly and assembled in a logical order so a man and his tools can work on his car by himself because 'Murica dammit.

However, to replace these particular sensors, BMW decided to bury them on the side of the head somewhere and put the entire fuel and air deliver system on top of them. It wasn't quite "step 1 remove front clip" but it probably still took me a good 5 hours.

First I pulled the fuel fuse and cranked the car for a while to depressurize the fuel lines. It won't stop fuel from getting everywhere but it will stop you from spraying gasoline in your face. Then I disconnected the battery to avoid welding a wrench to the starter, and got down to the nitty gritty.

You start by dealing with the firewall bullshit. Pull the wipers off, pull the weather stripping off the cowl and lift up the cowl cover to get to the two screws that hold the wiring harness up. Then take the ECU cover off and disconnect it. Then take the 3 nuts off and remove the lower cowl.

Then remove the engine covers and alternator duct, intake, MAF, and throttle body (just push it out of the way). Unplug the coils, remove the bolts on the coil harness and fuel rail and disconnect the front and rear fuel rail.

Then take out the VANOS ground wire, brake booster vacuum line and the weird ass hose that goes into the bottom of the intake. Remove the bolts on the manifold support. Ease the fuel rail up and support it with a piece of string or something.

Now you can take the manifold off, replace the front sensor, remove the bracket that covers the rear sensor and replace that, but don't plug it in all the way.

Stop and take a picture.


Then put it all back together again, let it freak the fuck out when you restart it and it tries to relearn everything, then swear up a storm because you didn't plug the rear sensor in all the way. Pull the codes to check, swear more, drive it to work, come home and shove your right arm in there REAL DEEP LIKE to get to the plug, aaaaaaand you're done.

No sweat.

In other news:

This Saturday I'm planning on rebuilding the variable timing system, then Monday or the weekend after DJ is going to help me install the headers. I've also got some new OEM spring pads on the way in an attempt to fine tune my rear ride height on the cheap. After that I'm debating indulging in a grossly overpriced but oh so euro steering wheel so I don't have to claw at a skinny, ugly, 4 spoke, germ infested thing with half its stitching and none of its leather left.

If I do choose to go for that, I'm going to cut myself off on big money mods while I focus on saving for a daily driver and establishing some savings like a good grown up. I'll still spend time sorting out all the smaller/cheaper projects though, and I might end up doing a lot of paint work on it with my dad, so there should still be some stuff going on.