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

[Jake]

Yeah, I think they are the same. I'd just use a plastic scraper/trim tool or teeny flathead to get in there and pry carefully.

Then again, you've seen my E36 and the finesse with which it's been built, so YMMV.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Credit cards...

[SlimKlim]

I ended up not getting to the brakes at all last week, but I did manage to finish up most of the other stuff. Thursday night I banged out a quick ICV change and installed the motion motorsport underpanel from Jake.



It's a bit wobbly but I got the upright supports for the rear from him yesterday and will throw them in at some point to steady it up.

Friday night I stuck on the new 5mm spacers for the rear, installed my fire extinguisher bracket & new rear parcel shelf and got the car on stands. Saturday morning I took it for a little test drive and spent most of the day making the interior presentable and giving it a quick wash.

The difference in how the car drives with so many new bits & pieces is pretty amazing. The new ICV resolved my perpetual low idle issue, seems to have fixed the occasional scary noise on hot starts, and stopped 95% of the idle-hunting when coasting in neutral. As an added bonus, it also "fixes" the oil pressure dummy light in the dash flashing on when the idle gets too low thanks to the increased sensitivity of the new pressure sender. It only does it now when the idle dips thanks to a big electrical load, aka, the fan.

The gauges seem to be working correctly, except for the oil temp. The water temp warms up to about 185 and stays around 185-190 when the thermostat opens. If you come to a stop and idle for a while the fan will switch on around 190-195. I'm really glad I decided to do the override switch, I've noticed there is a temp spike in the head when you first shut the motor off, which makes sense, and I can avoid it by just running the fan for the last couple of minutes before I park. It's nice to have control.

Oil pressure is also working as expected, it sits at about 60psi when the motor is cold and varies during use depending on gear & throttle. The temp on the other hand slowly climbs to ~150* and stops. It doesn't make sense that the water temperature would be running 40* higher than the oil circulating around the same motor, so I'm going to give the guy that owns Leatherz a call and see what might be causing it to be out of whack.

Anyway, the concours yesterday was an interesting experience. Despite all the (deserved) flak I take from track people about doing nothing but wash my car, I quickly discovered I do NOT belong with these guys who take cleaning very, very, very seriously.

I had a good time seeing a lot of really gorgeous cars and chatting with other hardcore BMW nerds but after a couple hours I was bored & pretty much done. We ended up bailing an hour before the wine & cheese even kicked off and going to get margaritas and snacks at taco bamba.

I'm glad I went but probably won't seek out stuff like that in the future, I prefer the shorter & more informal setting of C&C, hopefully FFX PD can keep the riffraff out of Katie's this summer and keep it a nice meet to go to.




(bidibodi bidibu)

[xvxax]

You were the youngest owner at that car show by at least two decades.

The other 95 yellow m3 owne was bragging as we walked by about how he never drives his car to keep it nice, and that he only takes it to car shows which blows my mind as the purpose for any car worth like $6000. Did the lambo doors e36 win best in show? Had my vote.

[Jake]

Ugh, there was a gorgeous E39 M5 in a funky red (factory) color. I talked to the owner who has had it since 2010. He said the farthest he's driven it from home is Baltimore, and he's put less than 1k miles on it since the purchase.

...why? Such a waste of a cool and fun car.

Cars like Joey's, that look nice and are cared for, but are actually driven, are where it's at. None of this "oh it has 29k miles and was built in 1991 and don't look underneath because every seal is rotted from lack of use" stuff.

[ScottyB]

Cars like Joey's, that look nice and are cared for, but are actually driven, are where it's at.

cannot concur more heartily my good sir.

i'm far more impressed by someone that puts the metal to the test and can still manage to either keep the car looking great or has some good stories to tell about some parts that don't. i guess in my mind, maintaining an old classic is a skill, and anyone can keep a car looking great if all they do is park it in the corner, put a cover on it, and drive it on nice days to a parking lot.

[Goodspeed]

i c u

[SlimKlim]

Oh heyyyyyyyy

On Centreville? Where are you workin' these days?

[Goodspeed]

Oh heyyyyyyyy

On Centreville? Where are you workin' these days?

Yeah, I work just across that intersection (Dulles Tech drive) - I was turning left as you were from the northbound lanes

[SlimKlim]

I was walking distance from you when I was at TWC, I'm a bit further down the road now at Sprint.

[Senor_Taylor]

I was walking distance from you when I was at TWC, I'm a bit further down the road now at Sprint.

YAY WE'RE ALL NEAR EACH OTHER. HAPPY TIMES

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[.RJ]

carpool meetup soon pls

[Jake]

carpool meetup soon pls

This month's Carpool meetup is at Hyperfest but we'll do one after that.

[HAULN-SS]

clue me in. i moved to great falls 2 months ago

[SlimKlim]

ONE OF US

[SlimKlim]

I went to check out the Leesburg C&C this morning and got caught by the paps.

[SlimKlim]

I've done a terrible job at actually documenting all of the stuff I've done on this car. Everyone I meet at C&Cs or wherever car nerds can be found always drops the "So what have you done to it?" question, which I always stumble trying to answer mostly because I can't remember. Since I'm wrapping up another big project on it, I thought I'd try and actually come up with a "build list".

It's still not a complete list, just what I can remember off the top of my head and from skimming back over this thread. But it's the *most* complete list I've ever actually come up with for it.

Suspension / Brakes / Wheels & Tires / Steering:

Koni Yellow Adjustable Shocks - Installed 1/12 - From one of Mike D'amico's cars
H&R Sport Sprints - Installed 1/12 - New
96+ Swapped Top Hats - Installed 2/14
15mm+10mm rear spring pad
"Street" poly rear-trailing-arm bushings w/shims
Poly lower-control-arm "lolipop" bushings
New end links - Installed 2/12
New tie rods - Installed 2/12
New RF wheel bearing 7/09
New LF wheel bearing 2012-ish

Stoptech Pads & OEM Rotors - Installed 06/11
SS Brake Lines 6/14

12.5mm Front Spacer / 5mm Rear Spacer
VMR V703 18x8.5" +35 HyperSilver Wheels
Conti DW 245/35/18 Tires

Steering Rack, Pump, Lines & Cooler - Installed 9/13 - From Jim Khoury's race car

Drivetrain & Engine Maintenance

New Ignition Coils - In 2010 and again in 2012ish
New Knock Sensors - 2/12
New Vanos Oil Lines 2010-11ish
New O2 Sensor - 9/13
Rebuilt VANOS 2/12
Cooling System Overhaul 9/12
New Radiator Hoses 4/17
New Guibo 9/13 (and also 4/17)
New Driveshaft CSB 9/13
New Trans Mounts 9/13
New Battery Spring 2011 & 4/14
Motion Motorsport Underpanel
New Headgasket 3/15
Machined Head 3/15
New Lower Timing Cover Gasket 3/15
New Timing Chain Guides 3/15
New Oil Pan Gasket 6/16
Safety Wired Oil Pump Nut 6/16
Intake Air Temp Sensor delete 6/16
New ICV 4/17
Bimmerworld lightweight flywheel & M5 clutch 4/17
New starter 4/17
New slave cylinder 4/17
New SS clutch line 4/17
New TOB, Pilot Bearing & RMS 4/17
Electric cooling fan conversion w/override switch 4/17

Performance

eBay Long Tube Headers w/v-bands - 2012ish
OBD-II 328i midpipe - 9/13
B&B TriFlow cat back - on car when purchased
3.5in intake, MAF & throttle elbow
24lb fuel injectors
RK Chip

Interior & Cosmetic

Aluminum Pedals - Installed 2010 or 2011
New "Tainik" Custom Euro 3-Spoke steering wheel - 3/12
E46 M3 Front Seat Swap 9/13
All Suede Everything - incremental
Road-Rally Shift & Brake 1/14
Ghetto "cooling" ducts made out of fog light housings 9/12
OEM HK Amp (car was not optioned with the HK setup)
Bavsound 10-speaker kit
Kenwood headunit w/ USB connection
Super cool & totally necessary fire extinguisher mount- 4/17
Leatherz Gauge Kit - 4/17
City Lights w/cutoff switch
Lighted OEM shiftknob - 11/14
LTW style splitters 2010ish, then again in 2012, and maybe once more after that?


Upcoming

New SS Brake Lines
New Diff Fluid
New Rear Camber Arms from DJ
Install lower temp fan switch
Install new clutch pedal arm
Insulate water temp sensor wire
Insulate underside of hood
Re-locate oil temp sensor (with next oil change)
Re-wire heated seats
replace some missing clips & stripped screws on interior
chase down small oil leak, looks like valve cover gasket again


Long term upcoming
Rear-end bushing & wheel bearing overhaul

[D_Eclipse9916]

ALmost looks Phoenix yellow in those pics


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[SlimKlim]

Yeah, I think his HDR settings were a smidge high.

Speaking of cameras, Nikon has 50% off on a couple models this month. Soooo...

[SlimKlim]

Painted muh brake calipers.





I'm really pleased with how it turned out for a brush on kit. I only had a couple runs, nothing significant enough to notice when the wheels are installed. It's a pretty good mimic of how they came out of the factory, and makes the whole car look more put together IMO.

I also got my new brake lines installed, and put in the lower temp fan switch.