|
My last try at a thread only lasted about two weeks, but it's different this time! I'm slowly going crazy in the middle of the desert, and I've got little else to do for the next few weeks other than  Feels weird that it's been almost three years since the last thread. Rewind to the beginning of 2017! I had just recently acquired my first house:  And promptly filled up the parking. At the time I had a 09 135i, '90 325i, and a '95 540i. My garage space was small, but functional.   Garage #2  The second garage quickly filled up with parts, and became a bit of a clusterfuck. I had a sudden need for more storage space, so I had to clean it up:  For this!  It's an 87 325e that a friend of mind swapped to an M50b25 and blew up. The car has some audio mods too, and that's about it. It had been sitting under a tree for a few years since the incident, and he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I want to turn it into a daily! I've had an S52 sitting around for a while (I picked it up for $600 when I was looking for a local source for vanos plugs for the M52 in the brown car) that would have a great home in this thing. It's got hail damage, but nothing too terrible - if I find another black hood and trunk she'll look good as new. No rust! At this point I was up to 4 project cars and precious little space. I spent more time working out of my carport than my garage, because I hated taking the brown e30 out into the elements. Also because of the brakes on it, the parking brake didn't work, and the street by the garages had a nice slope. Never popped out of gear but I would have preferred the extra peace of mind. I dreamed of knocking down my two small garages and building a big one in their place.
|
#
¿
May 29, 2019 17:01
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 19:33 |
|
|
I had a lot of projects I wanted to tackle on the brown car. It had been haphazardly slapped together and needed some attention before I drove it from Indiana down to the Tail of the Dragon in the spring. The wheels came off and were sandblasted in preparation for paint  Parts started piling up in my "office"  The exhaust setup on the brown car was hacked together bullshit. I picked up some stainless and some ebay headers and made a slightly prettier hack job. I was about to get some welding training at work and I really should have waited for that. I had to plug so many pin holes! I welded this with a 120V old MIG, and cut the pipe with a cheap tube cutter because I didn't trust myself to make clean cuts with an angle grinder. I used something called Solar Flux instead of backpurging. I also used the wrong loving gas mix, and probably should have bought a different diameter wire. I learned a lot, and materials for the exhaust itself only ran me about $500, including the headers! I chopped the ebay headers off right after the collector and welded V-band clamps to them. I then ran some bends down to a Y pipe into a 2.5" single. I used a resonator and a straight thru muffler for the rest, with one more V band joining the axle back section to the midsection.   Since the 540i had winter wheels on, and I had the wheels for the brown car off for sandblasting and paint, I tossed the Schnitzers on the brown car for fun, and because I needed to get the car out of the garage to paint the wheels. I almost kept it that way. 
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2019 17:22
|
|
|
I found a pretty neat graphite metallic spray paint to use. It was a normal rear end type spraypaint, so I wasn't sure how it would hold up under high temperature and brake dust attack. I picked up some "high performance" wheel clearcoat too as extra protection. It finally got warm enough (barely) to paint, so with the garage clear I got to work. The surface of the wheels was pretty well etched by the sandblasting, so I didn't see the need for a primer.  I was pretty drat happy with how it came out! I probably should have just powdercoated them, though. Once the paint cured I took the car for a nice drive - it had been a while since I had a chance to rip around in it. Thankfully there's a nice twisty road right by my house!  So drat fun. The next order of business was my rear end. The seat I had in the car was getting very uncomfortable and I was not looking forward to driving 8 hours down to the Dragon in it. I picked up a new seat!   It didn't look quite as cool but it was vastly more comfortable. I had learned how to sew by this point, so I picked up a sewing machine to try to do some interior work. I found an old Singer machine on craigslist, chucked it in the back of the e30, and drove it home.   It turns out the maximum stitch length was a bit too long for what I wanted to do with the machine, but it was cheap and I could learn more with it. I had been driving the car more at this point, shaking it down and trying to fix more of the small quality of life things  I had some dumb ideas about doing a  interior  Spring was finally here, and I was running short on time.  I did have a nice visitor come by a few times when I was wrenching.  I did a quick suspension refresh on the brown car, and tore into my S52 for its cams. The powerband of the M52 was unsatisfying - it really died off at high rpm and the car felt slow. After a cam swap and a remote flash of the ECU, it felt worlds better.  I spent my last bit of wrenching time coming up with a rear seat delete panel and putting some sound deadening in the car to make the trip to the mountains a bit more livable. It didn't help much, but it was removable and gave me some ideas for a second attempt in the future. It was also extremely cheap to make.   Before I left on my trip, I dropped by a friend's shop and got a decent exhaust clip! He short shifted at around 6k, but it captures the noise pretty well. Needs to be louder I think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAslJNHtTl8
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2019 18:02
|
|
|
You know it man. Hopefully the car will have some more work done by then. I think I know what's been causing that misfire, and it's dumb. Plan is at minimum new sticky rubber, a better alignment, and no dumb misfires!
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2019 18:13
|
|
|
The car still had a lot of small, annoying problems, but I was out of time. I loaded up my poo poo and drove to Knoxville!  A group of us headed out together to the campsite. We hit a nasty storm on the way there. 255s and no driver aids makes for a sketchy drive. This thing really sucks when the water starts building up on the road.    Made plenty of runs up and down the mountain with friends. Pictured is my buddy's M62b44 swapped car - I love the sound this thing makes!  Most of us took a side trip to see the Foundation in SC    THOSE FLARES    They really have an awesome museum. This was my last car related event for the year - I had to put everything on storage and head out on deployment.
|
|
#
¿
May 29, 2019 18:59
|
|
|
PART 2: RETURN FROM THE DESERT I came home to a lot of dead batteries and dirty cars. I actually got the black e30 out of the garage and gave it its first wash. There's a nice car under all that sap   Then, I bought my first truck!  I found this sucker on CL while I was overseas and as luck would have it, it was still available when I got home. Winter was fast approaching and I wanted a beater and something to haul parts with. Pictured on its maiden voyage, getting booze:  Don't know what the hell happened here  It's got some rust, but it's not terrible. And it's a stick! With a 300!  Just a good ol 2wd farm truck truck. Devalued here because everyone wants 4WD. I didn't really have much interest in offroading so I preferred 2wd - less things to maintain, better gas mileage. All for the low price of 1200 american dollars. And it has LSD! One thing I kept thinking about while I was away was how good my buddy's V8 e30 sounded. I had taken out the S52 the brown car used to have to try and swap one in but ran out of time and money. I had the time and money now. Shortly after I acquired the truck, I headed out to pull-a-part and made a few acquisitions:  There was a '94 540i there and I also needed a bunch of random parts for my e34, so I scored a bunch of poo poo! The garage was getting pretty drat cramped:  There are a whole host of things I didn't take proper pictures of. The truck got new steering bits to replace the worn out poo poo in the front, and I did a brake job on it too. Then, one of the rear brake lines exploded due to rust. I had a new one made and was back on the road again! Then the starter took a poo poo. Then the gas tank (rear, the only one of the two functioning, and only 16 gallons at that) sprung a leak. The truck sucked up a lot of time. Winter hit in full force, and I got a chance to test out the LSD. It works! And pretty well! The truck didn't give a gently caress about driving in the snow.  The 135i had spoiled me with heated seats, so I tried to find a heated seat pad I could throw in the truck. I found one on amazon that fit the bill and worked pretty well for $20. I also found some questionable marketing materials:  I also scored some nice parts:    And the garage got cleaned up a bit  By this point I had resolved to sell my house and move to a place with a bigger garage / shop space out in the country. I wanted the freedom to work on my poo poo whenever I wanted and not have to worry about neighbors. Car work slowed down and house work picked up as I got my place ready to sell and started hunting for a new place. A friend of mine dropped me some info on a few parts cars as well as a rare and very special piece of german metal lurking outside a barn in the countryside near where I lived. Even though I wasn't in a position to acquire much, I couldn't resist looking. It was March, and while things weren't quite as cold, we still had some sleet in the forecast on the day I decided to check out what was on offer. The guy had several e30 parts cars, several late-OBS style Ford trucks, and the aforementioned Special Car. I made a deal for some parts with the goal to return at a later date with better weather and help him pull them. I had decided to take a long country route back home just to scope out the area and maybe, if I was lucky, stumble on a house for sale. The countryside here had lots of old forest and rolling hills. Some of the roads had some decent curves and would have been a blast in a more nimble car. Halfway home, in the freezing rain, I hit a slick spot in my truck and felt the rear step out a bit. I slowed down and trudged on at a safer pace, slush building up on the windshield. I was miles away from the nearest house, in a very rural area with no cell reception. Something ran out into the road ahead. I found a dog. 
Party Alarm fucked around with this message at 06:26 on May 30, 2019 |
|
#
¿
May 29, 2019 22:00
|
|
|
PART 3: THE PUP I knew that when I stopped the truck, I was making a commitment - if the dog had been abandoned, I would be duty bound to give it a home if necessary. I didn't hesitate. As soon as I opened the door, the dog jumped into the seat. I cranked the heat to try and warm the poor thing up - she must have been outside a while as she was soaked to the bone. Poor thing could have froze to death. She seemed friendly enough, and had a collar (no tags), so I turned the truck around and headed back towards a country store I passed by around 10 miles up the road. I figure I would have a decent shot at finding the owner or at least putting the word out. Thankfully, they were open, but no one recognized the dog and no one had reported the dog missing. I left my contact info with them and an employee took a photo of the pup. I had cell reception, so I plotted a course for the local shelter. It wasn't far from my house. It was late on a saturday, and I would make it there right before they closed. As I drove, the pup inched closed to me on the bench seat until she rested her head in my lap. By the time I heard they were no longer accepting animals due to capacity, I had already resolved to foster the dog while I searched for her family. I secretly hoped she could become my dog. She had no chip, and no one had reported her missing. They took photos of her and posted them on social media.  Those sad eyes didn't last long   4 weeks later after following up with the shelter and the store, I felt comfortable giving her a name. I called her Heidi
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2019 06:37
|
|
|
PART 4: A NEW LAND Raising Heidi and fixing the truck sucked up a lot of time. So did all the house stuff. I kept the brown car clean and took Heidi everywhere. Any time I went to a store that allowed dogs, she came. Any time I went to a car meet, she came. She took to training extremely well!   Somewhere in the midst of things I threw a bunch of mods on the 135i. The clutch was starting to slip, and since I needed to drop the trans it sounded like a good time to do a charge pipe. And an intercooler. And downpipes. And inlets. And a JB4. Pictures of this are all on my old phone sadly. It was so nice to have the car back on the road.  Also holy poo poo, POWER. To give you a better idea of what my old house was like, here's a view from the front:  Neighbors EVERYWHERE. The house next door to the left was falling apart and empty when I bought mine. Someone picked the house up cheap and started renovations - it was only a matter of time before I had next door neighbors to deal with too. When they renovated the house, they also tore down most of the trees in the back yard. My back yard suddenly felt a lot more exposed. I could have spent money on landscaping, a privacy fence, and a new garage, but with the way the housing market was in my town I wouldn't gain enough back in equity for it to make sense. Spending a lot of time in a desert next to an active air field had me longing for country life. As luck would have it, I found the right place, at the right time, and made the right offer.  Closing was still a long ways off, however, and I had a trip to make. A trip to the VINTAGE!   dog, move over, you don't have a license
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2019 08:30
|
|
|
PART 5: THE VINTAGE Twice a year, I get together with a bunch of other e30 folks at the Tail of the Dragon for a week of driving and camping. We go in the spring, and in the fall. This year, I was invited to go to the Vintage before our usual Spring trip. For those of you that haven't heard of it, the Vintage is a huge classic BMW car show. See: https://www.atthevintage.com/ 2018 was hosted near Asheville NC. Heidi is a loving trooper, y'all. She made the drive from southern Indiana all the way to Asheville without complaint. I went about setting up camp - most of the crew from our biannual Dragon trips (affectionately called the "Brodeo") were in attendance.        The next morning, we headed to the show
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2019 09:18
|
|
|
                      
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2019 09:24
|
|
|
        God drat those e9s. Some really beautiful cars and craftsmanship on display. I wasn't looking forward to the long drive home. The brown e30 has stiff as gently caress suspension, it's loud, has no AC, and the stereo sucks rear end. I had several long drives ahead of me this year, so I had just to deal with it.  e: More pictures of Heidi being a good dog     Party Alarm fucked around with this message at 12:46 on May 30, 2019 |
|
#
¿
May 30, 2019 09:29
|
|
|
PART 6: TO THE MOUNTAIN AND BACK AGAIN I had a few weeks after the Vintage before I'd be headed on the long drive back to the Smokey Mountains again. I think Heidi was pretty happy to be home.  Despite the fact that she must have been uncomfortable as gently caress, she's grown to LOVE car rides and flips out whenever she gets the chance to go on one, even with my driving. Dog likes going fast! I found a good deal on some S52 cams, but unfortunately the seller did not pack them well.  Thankfully he was cool about refunding me. I really didn't do much besides troubleshoot some small issues on the brown e30 before it was time to head back to TN / NC for the Spring Brodeo. We had a campsite in NC. I decided to leave Heidi back home for this one - it's more of a driving event and I haven't come up with a good dog racing harness yet. Many vertebrae rattling miles later:      A friend of mine brought something very NOT-BMW   Yeah y'all, that's a 3SGTE! This thing was AMAZING! It made all the right noises. I had an SW20 MR2 for my first car and I've always wanted to get another. This car made me love AW11s, though. We traded keys, and I got a chance to drive it up the mountain. I fell in love with the car.  We had a pretty cool looking dog visit us at the campsite  And made some big bonfires  I wish I had more time to spend up there. I needed the break. Heidi was happy to have me home, though 
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2019 13:26
|
|
|
I'M GETTING TIRED OF DOING PARTS Mine.     12 acres, and a 40x30 shop, with 10' ceilings. Just high enough for a lift! The fleet (minus the 325e and the truck)  Peach trees! There are grapes, blueberries, blackberries, and apple trees on the property as well  The inside isn't bad either. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to move for a while   The most important part - the garage!    There's a dividing wall separating the garage into ~10x30 and ~30x30 areas. The side area would make a nice machine shop. The best part is the view from the deck. The house is off the main road on a slope, so I can't see the road from the house. It's quiet, and peaceful. I've got basically everything I wanted. 
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2019 16:04
|
|
|
Things I can turn into booze!   Did a bit of TIG at work.  I would be stuck trying to sell my old house for the rest of the year, so I was on a very tight budget. It's really pretty out here     The garage is starting to come together! I'm short on storage space  I need to build some mezzanine storage. What good is a big garage if you don't help a friend or three?  Heidi approves of the new garage  Two of my best buddies got invited to do a pre-run of the TN Gambler 500! They invited me to come along with them. We'd be in a 1st gen Raptor owned by one of the aforementioned buddies. The TN gambler was being held on a bunch of old coal roads in the Devil's Triangle area in east TN. I drove out to Nashville and met up with my friends, and we drove the three hours out to an old prison that would serve as the main campground for the event.  The raptor was not well suited to the trails. It's a bit large         The owner of the Raptor graciously let me have the keys for a bit. I spent most of it sliding around gravel roads with the rear diff locked and the 6.2 howling. The truck felt good on pavement too! I was sold on the Gambler - the main event was going to be an amazing clusterfuck. Driving around that raptor had me thinking about my plans for the F150.. Pipe dreams for now, but I really wanted to get a gambler vehicle. The actual event wouldn't be for a few more weeks. I hatched a plan to drive the brown e30 to the event, making a stop off at Markert Motorworks in Atlanta to get the car a dyno tune. The car has an aluminum block M52b28 from a late US Z3. When I rebuilt it, I used M50b25 vanos pistons. They're identical to the M52 units, only they are 1mm taller. Theoretically, this should bump compression to ~11:1 from 10.2:1. I wanted to see how much power I could get out of it. It would be a shitload of driving, but the extra power I could gain from the custom tune would feel really nice when I headed back up to the Dragon in late fall.
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2019 09:29
|
|
|
REAL TIME UPDATE: I caught a camel spider in my tent. I named him Fred. Also I'm trying to buy another car that's back home in Indiana, wish me luck! It's got a V8, three pedals, and 5 doors BACK TO THE PAST First, a trip to Atlanta!  And the results!  Just kidding their temp sensor thought it was 160 degrees outside. Uncorrected on a hot Georgia day:  I picked up a lot of power in the midrange, and it was very noticeable when driving! The car felt so drat smooth. I headed straight for the campsite for the Gambler    I was riding with the same two friends in the Raptor as a support vehicle for our friends in the Suzuki Side-Chick (not pictured) The event was a blast. They didn't have reverse or working windshield washers so we kept doing brakestands in the mud in front of them The loud rear end raptor made some locals mad, though  I should have taken more pictures of the event. Anyway, back to Indiana AGAIN. Remember the guy with the parts cars and the special car? Remember how I said I loved the Gambler and wanted a ride for it?   I now own two Mercedes, for the low low cost of $200! I also snagged some very important parts. I took the brown e30 apart once with V8 dreams in my head, and it ended up sitting for years only to get another 24v stuffed in it. I have no intention of doing that again. I want to do all the fabrication work without having to sacrifice a shitload of garage space and the ability to drive the car. A buddy of mine in Knoxville did this once, and I thought it was a great idea!  Also Heidi continues to be the best dog 
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2019 20:30
|
|
|
Also while typing this post I bought that car I was talking about
|
|
#
¿
May 31, 2019 20:31
|
|
|
Heidi   Fall was here, and the weather was perfect for wrenching  I just relaxed on my deck and drank instead ~*~ MARGARITA RECIPE ~*~ 1 part honey 1 part fresh squeezed lime juice 8 parts Tequila Time flies - it was time to head back to the Dragon for the fall!     We stayed at Fontana this time, thanks to Kadunza (Knoxville BMW resto shop, great people!). Way nicer than we are used to.  Heidi stayed home again  She got plenty of car rides back home, though   Fall went by far too quickly. I was still stuck paying two mortgages so my car work ground to a halt aside from some small maintenance items. I had time to work on the garage, but I just wanted to relax and enjoy being home. I was deploying again soon.  I got to see a little bit of snow  My brother gave me an awesome Christmas gift - a badass welding table and a smaller fabrication table with mounts for a portaband and belt sander. Getting it into the garage on my own was a bit of a pain in the rear end.   The garage is a mess. Every single car needs a laundry list of things. I was going to have my hands full when I came back from my trip, and that's before I got
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2019 11:29
|
|
|
Thank you for the 5's y'all! Yes, my brother is the guy who started Track One, although he parted from the business some time ago. He's an Aston Martin / Lotus tech now! It's fun to visit him at work  I don't remember how I got there, but I ended up on this dude's page: https://www.mojoswork.com/paintings and I ended up having that painting commissioned. He's great to deal with! I just noticed he added the Chef he painted for me to the collage on the website :3 So that first car I was teasing about earlier in the thread:  MINE!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 1, 2019 19:31
|
|
|
So, if you looked closely at that last picture, you can see there's a lot of daylight in that engine bay. She, uhhh, needs some love.          It's the perfect M3 for me, though, because I was never interested in a stock one. If you can't tell from the brown e30, I also like weird colors. This car is a great blank canvas to build into whatever I want. I'm going to try and apply the things I've learned messing with the brown car and what I learn building the black e30 to make this car special. I can't see myself ever getting rid of it. The brown car and this car are ones I definitely plan to keep for life. It's a diamond black / cardinal red car, '87. The motor had a spun bearing, was rebuilt, and promptly spun a bearing again. Not sure the cause. It was reclaimed from the machine shop it was sitting at. I think they had done some work on it, but I'm not sure. Supposed to be a 2.5L. I need to inventory and inspect all the bits. I'm planning on selling off the engine, and any other bits I don't need. I'm probably going to end up parting a lot of things, because this car needs a special motor. At minimum, an S54, and maybe an S65 or S85. I'll have plenty of time to make up my mind, because this car is going to take a long time and a lot of money to finish  I really love the Singer Design 911s (I mean, who doesn't?) and I'd love to apply that level of craftsmanship to this thing, but that's beyond my current talents by a long shot. Pipe dreams for now. It'll probably spend a long time stripped down and under a car cover before I start on it. MEANWHILE, OVERSEAS Heading to chow one morning, and I find this little fella curled up on the concrete. It looked like she had been there all night. Barely even responded to me being there, and wouldn't take food (note my attempt with a vanilla wafer cookie).  I carefully put her in a box and brought her to our shop. Poor thing seemed like she was injured, and yelped when I touched her neck. I gave her a big box to hide in, and my coworker gave her a blanket and a bowl of tuna. She didn't touch the food. Eventually I caught her yawning and put a small piece of tuna in her mouth. Her eyes went wide and she scarfed down the whole bowl and immediately went to sleep    I managed to give her a bath, and noticed some bite marks on her neck. Eventually I got the full story from some other folks: she was wandering around with her brother, and they got too close to another dog (named Socks) that had some puppies and was known for being aggressive. Socks attacked and killed her brother, and they found the pup curled up next to her brother's body. They tried to move her away from Socks and unintentionally introduced her to another group of dogs who were unsurprisingly also territorial. Thankfully they weren't quite so murderous. So, she had a pretty rough night. My coworker made a safe place for her in our shop, and after a few days she trusted us and started acting like a puppy again!    I got her rescued through Operation Baghdad Pups. She's safely home with a friend that volunteered to foster her while I'm deployed. I named her Syri - it was temporary, just for the paperwork, but it ended up sticking.  She's being raised right  I also found out she's going to be a big pup. She's 41lbs and ~7 months old. Everything I own is a coupe aside from my e34, which IMO is still not big enough for both dogs. I needed a wagon.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2019 15:35
|
|
|
That's just the name of the organization - they work worldwide now! It was really easy - I put her on a truck, they took her out of country. She ended up in Erbil where their main rescue center is, and they took care of everything else. I just had to pay for her flight from NYC to the state she was picked up in
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2019 16:11
|
|
|
It was a 30 day quarantine IIRC
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2019 17:35
|
|
|
So, this post will bring us up to the present day. Listen to this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vHQoHe37g It's glorious. I go back to this video all the time. I really liked this build. I've always wanted to gently caress with a BMW V12, because I love noise about as much as I hate myself. Ever since I found out how big Syri was going to get, I've been thinkin bout them wagons. I need something to carry the dogs in, and I think the e34 sedan I've got is going to be too small. I considered lots of things. There are a lot of cool wagons out there. The obvious choices given my proclivity to BMW would be an e39 or e34 wagon. Both solid choices. A second gen Buick Regal wagon would be pretty rad. There's the W123 wagon, which is also really pretty. My ideal e34 would have been an Oxford Green 530iT manual. They've got the weezy 3.0L V8, but since that motor is basically identical to its bigger cousins, it could easily be swapped out. The engine bay is already set up for a V8 (or V12). It's already manual, so no need to swap in the pedal box and all those bits. I'd want it to have a pretty clean body and no rust - bodywork gets expensive FAST and I wanted to minimize that. That's asking a lot. That's a pretty rare combination. I've seen e34 tourings for sale, but they're usually beat to poo poo, and the wrong trim level. Prices on them are starting to go up a little too. On whim I decided to ask the owner of that V12 car some questions, and popped into a for sale section of a 5 series forum. "530iT"  "Oxford Green, rust free"  And holy poo poo, it's local. I PM'd the owner, got in touch with him on FB, arranged a deal, and sent a deposit. I'll finalize the purchase when I get home. BEHOLD!   It's got a few cosmetic issues - dent in the rear quarter, hosed up rear bumper, weird paint spot on the hood. The interior is falling apart. No worries, the price was right and those problems should be easy to fix. I'm holding on to the Alpine e34 for the previous owner. Gonna fix a few things and sell it back to him when he's made room for it later this year. I'll be sad to see it go, but I got the e34 I really wanted. As for what I want to do to it, well 
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2019 19:34
|
|
|
Somewhat Heroic posted:This has been one of the most wholesome things I’ve read in a week. Great writing and pictures to log it all. Thank you! My home brings me so much peace. I have flexible work schedules, so if I get in early I can be home as early as 3:00pm, and my deck and garage are already in the shade by then. I'm surrounded by woods so the place is extremely quiet. It's a good 20-30 minute drive to go shopping, but there are two small country stores nearby for essentials if I ever get caught without something. Good thing I like driving! For those reading, I blew my wad. That was 2.5 years of content, and that brings us to the present day. Here's some more pictures of Syri, and the pup that became her first dog friend after her traumatic experience.   I made her the collar :3   We had a shop cat for a while. She was rescued by my coworker and will be on her way to South America soon!   He named her Canela. Now I only have Fred the Lets talk about M60s! M60 refers to a family of DOHC BMW V8s used from 92-95 mainly in the 5 series and 7 series. It came in two displacements, the 3.0L M60b30 (found in my wagon), and the 4.0L M60b40 (found in my 540i). The 3.0L produced 215bhp, while the 4.0L produced 282bhp. Their valvetrain is very similar to the 24v sixes. They use hydraulic tappet lifters. They've got a dual row timing chain setup that's known for being pretty stout. They have some minor issues - mostly fluid and vacuum leaks from timing covers and the PCV system. There were issues with nikasil cylinder liners early on, but by now all those engines have either been warrantied or tossed in the garbage. They were updated to alusil later on. They're pretty light (~440lbs for the one I yanked IIRC, I've got a crane scale because I was sick of seeing engine weights all over the place), fairly reliable, and sound awesome through a nice exhaust. You can find them at pull-a-part for the low, low price of $250. The engine was iterated into the M62b44 in 1996. Displacement jumped up by 0.4L, but the cams were less aggressive, resulting in the same 282bhp. They later added VANOS, BMW's variable valve timing system, to the M62b44TU in 99. It mostly gave low end and mid range gains. VANOS in the 90's motors was fairly primitive - it was an on/off type system that retarded the intake camshaft only. Like most BMW parts, lots of things in the M6X family are interchangable. It's possible to put M60b40 heads on M62 blocks. You get slightly more aggressive camshafts and a bump in compression. There's a couple of these motors out there. They don't seem to produce a significant amount of extra power over the stock M62b44s. Still unsure if it's worth the effort. The dynos I've seen for this family are all solidly in the 250whp-280whp range. Aftermarket support is basically nonexistent. I feel like there's some untapped potential here - S52b32s, the 3.2 L6 from the e36 M3, can produce 260whp with cams and bolt-ons. An M60b40 with a similar specific output should produce over 300whp. This also brings up one of my biggest gripes with the motor. It will easily rev out to 7000rpm. Power falls off hard after 6k, though. To me, that makes for an unsatisfying drive. So what's the problem? Both engines share similar compression ratios - 10.0:1 for the M60, 10.5:1 for the S52. The M60 has 35mm inlet valves, while the S52 has 33mm inlet valves. Both engines have the same size exhaust valves at 30.5mm. As far as I've seen, the M60 head ports have no major shortcomings either. The M60's cams (remember, these are the more aggressive of the two) are 249 duration and 9.7mm lift on the intake, and 241 duration and 9.4mm of lift on the exhaust. The S52 cams are 252/244 and 10.2/10.2. There's a significant different right there. The M6X family also have GARBAGE headers, with few aftermarket solutions. Look at this poo poo:  Lets stick with what's good, and replace the obvious choke points first. This motor needs some cams, and a good set of headers. Unfortunately, there's next to no aftermarket for these things. No off the shelf headers fit an e30 swap, so lets rule that out right off the bat. There is a neat option for headers though - the S65. The headers from this motor are beautiful 4-1 units, and I picked up mine for $200 on ebay. Given that there are a few S65 swapped e30s around, it should be possible to modify them to clear on an e30. Also, they will ALMOST bolt on to an M60 - they changed a few mounting flanges by rotating them 90 degrees! I'm just going to chop off the stock M60 flanges and reweld them to the S65 headers. The only cams I know of are available from VAC Motorsport for the low low price of $2400. Yeah, nope. What about regrinds? Well, apparently Dbilas Dynamic offer regrinds for this engine, as do several other european shops. There are a few things about the design of the cam trays with the M60 that allow for this in a way the 24v sixes do not. Due to metallurgic issues, folks don't weld on these BMW cams (few racers had the welded material separate and wreck a motor). This means the only option is to remove material, and if you reduce the base circle even a little on the 24v sixes you are at risk of the lifters clashing with the cam trays. They're also proven, at least by this one Finn https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlwyUAXZZH4 I tracked down the builder and asked him some questions. Gotta love the internet sometimes! Those cams are regrinds. The motor is an M60b44 build. The only mods are S65 headers adapted to the M60 heads and cams reground to 275 duration. I don't remember the lift specs. He didn't even add lash caps, so the lifter preload might be loving with his peak lift too. He made 318whp on pump gas. That's more like it! And I bet that motor doesn't fall off at high revs either. Since Dbilas Dynamic has regrind specs on their website, along with valve spring recommendations, I should be able to come up with some specs that allow me to use the stock valvetrain. I plan on using lash caps to keep consistent preload on the lifters, and I'm going to modify the oil ports in the cam tray to make sure they get proper flow when the valves are closed. I'm going to pick up some valve check springs so I can test piston / valve clearance on the new cams without taking the motor apart just for extra insurance. The red e36 above actually used an M62b44TU block because the pistons have valve reliefs in them. The stock M60 pistons are flat, so I want to make sure I have enough clearance. I intend on picking up a second set of heads so I have spare camshafts and can use the extra heads to gently caress around with head porting if I feel like it. They should be cheap. If one doesn't pop up at the local yards, I bet I can find a parts car. If my experiment doesn't pan out, I can always go back to stock cams. I bet the motor will still be fun with the nice headers, and it'll sound amazing. That front clip I bought will allow me to figure everything out on the swap without having to take the brown car apart either, so I can continue to enjoy it while I gather and make everything I need!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 3, 2019 12:12
|
|
|
 Oh wow that's a lot cheaper than I thought
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2019 19:34
|
|
|
Disclaimer: still in a desert going insane So, I've been researching things. The N73 is extremely complicated and would be very, very difficult to swap.There's no way I'd try running this with the stock engine management. It's got valvetronic (variable lift), vanos (variable valve timing), and direct injection. Of the three, megasquirt can control dual vanos, though I don't know if anyone has tried dual vanos control on an engine with two banks before. Valvetronic: A video! It actually features the N73's valvetrain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9JA5vwj-NU&t=36s Lift is controlled via a single stepper motor per bank. Based on researching some valvetronic failures, it looks like you can just manually actuate the stepper and drive the system to full lift and leave it there. Feasible! Dual VANOS: Okay so, VANOS is just BMW's variable valve timing. Apparently Megasquirt 3 pro can handle this, but I doubt it's ever been tried with an N73. That's a crapshoot. A few companies make vanos eliminators - they use a few machined plates to lock the cams in place. Maybe I could make some. Maybe. Direct Injection: Just leave the injectors in the head and use normal port injection. So, maybe this could be a thing. Will a trans bolt up to it? Here's trans bolt pattern from the M70/73. I'd need to match this one.  Here's the N73's automatic:  gently caress. Well.. maybe the N62 V8 family? They came with a 6 speed, rarely. There's a few on car-part.  Goddamn.  So maybe this could be something, if I could convince someone to give me an N73 cheap enough. If I fail, it'll make a good coffee table! I should just get an M73 and wait until they get a little cheaper, but if I get the right deal...
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2019 21:59
|
|
|
MS3 has enough outputs to run a v12 in semi sequential / wasted spark. Only one needed!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 4, 2019 23:00
|
|
|
HandlingByJebus posted:Only the MS3Pro Ultimate - it also has four banks of variable valve timing control, so using my AEM Infinity hack (see my build thread; BMW VANOS uses two solenoids per cam so it’s slightly more complex than most) the Ultimate could probably handle this. I've been watching your thread! BURNOUT WHEN? Very glad you didn't have to do a rebuild. I love Z4M Coupes, and that brown  I'm gonna try to stop chasing the N73 pipe dream for now - If I start it I'll either have to sacrifice the rest of my projects for months or shove it in a corner under a tarp for months, at which point I could probably find one cheaper. I'll just keep my eyes open for a deal, since it looks feasible. Maybe. I've got an overwhelming amount of projects for when I get home. I'm gonna try to use this thread to get my thoughts straight so I can hit the ground running and accomplish what I want to this year. Expect lots of rambling and dumb ideas! It's hard to even pick where to start. Probably with a bottle of tequila. So, current car list: '78 Mercedes 240D - ran when parked, hole in the timing cover, sockington levels of rust '85 Mercedes 300D - hit in the front, was the owners DD at the time. Could be repaired with the 240D (I hope). Gambler 500 car! '96 Ford F150 - Runs okay ish, minor issues. '87 M3 - getting thrown under a car cover and forgotten about until I get time. Long term project '87 325e - Has an M50b25 swap but is otherwise stock. Resto / DD project '90 325i - the brown one. Some minor issues I want to fix before I go to the Dragon in November at minimum. Hoping to shove the V8 in there. '94 530iT - Another rolling resto. Eventual engine swap - going to handle cosmetics and suspension stuff first. Good shape mechanically! '95 540i - Selling this back to the PO in the fall, have some body work and repairs to do. I want to return it in good shape '09 135i - Full bolt on turbo POWERRRRR. Has a misfire, because of course it does. Hope it doesn't need new injectors! I should have the list slimmed down to seven cars by the end of the year. The 540i is going and the 240D is probably going to be a parts car.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2019 14:50
|
|
|
Thanks! Sadly the 300D is non-turbo, but the guy I grabbed it from might have an OM617A sitting around the yard somewhere! From what I've read, with the injection pump turned up I'd be doubling the horsepower of the naturally aspirated version. I still haven't done a lot of W123 research other than seeing if I could somehow cram a limited slip in it to help with the offroad shenanigans. That's actually a good way to spend my evening, assuming the internet doesn't get knocked out in this storm.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2019 17:02
|
|
|
HandlingByJebus posted:Holy poo poo. Yeah... maybe don’t take on a V12 swap right now I mean I'm still going to do it, I'm just going to use this engine   SOHC, no fancy tech. I still want to megasquirt it if I can because of all the problems they have, mostly related to the weak rear end ignition system and V12 specific parts ($$$). The M70/73 are pretty well trodden and don't require reverse engineering like the N73 would. Looks like getting the W123 higher won't be hard! I just need to order new springs and taller factory spring pads. That'll get it high enough to fit a 27" tire on the stock 14" Bundts. It looks like all the body panels interchange, so I can take the front end off the 240D and slap it on the 300D. Here's some inspiration:  I think most of that work is going to have to wait until 2020. We'll see - I might invite my buddies from the last Gambler up to my place for a weekend of wrenching - that's probably all the time I'd need to get it ready to go!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2019 08:42
|
|
|
I hope so. I just need to stay on track. It's hard to get motivated sometimes. I had arranged a deal on the wagon with a deposit, intending to give the car a once over in person before I sealed the deal. Looking for e34 touring build threads for inspiration, I managed to find this: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/das-einhorn-lebensmittelgeschaftwagon-e34-v8-manua/139990/page1/ That's the wagon! MY WAGON! Lots of work went into this thing, and armed with more pictures I felt comfortable sending the current owner the rest of the funds. Now I can buy parts for it! Even better, the PO decided to throw new tires on the M-pars and put some lowering springs on it too. Bonus!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2019 14:29
|
|
|
Thinkin' bout this V8 swap for the e30. Parts list: Mandatory: M60b40 complete engine: CHECK! PMC Adapter + Flywheel to run 335i trans: https://pmcmotorsport.com/gearbox-adapter-bmw-m60-m62-bmw-m50-m57-gearbox.html Have to check if compatible with the bits I want to run. The flywheel may not run the 550i clutch I want to use. 335i trans: Several assemblies available on car-part locally for as low as $350 Shift linkage: Modify the stock stuff. Need to TIG, because it's aluminum. Driveshaft: Looks like all I need to do is swap my current e36 manual front driveshaft section for an e36 auto one. I think I have one of those around too! Oil pan: Instead of modifying the stock oil pan to clear the steering rack and crossmember, I'm going to notch it the crossmember, lower the steering rack, and run adjustable tie rods (http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=12) to dial out bump steer. Since running rod ends on the street is kind of a no-no, I'm going to run boots (https://sealsit.com/product-category/rod-end-boot-rod-end-seal/) and make some heat shields for them to protect them from the brake rotors. Exhaust: Modified S65 headers into a custom exhaust. Already done one, so doing a second one with the right equipment shouldn't be too bad Trans and engine mounts: Gonna make these, pretty easy Radiator I have will work! Wiring /EWS Delete / Tuning: Just gonna throw a chip at it Optional if time allows before November: Additional M60 heads - get the cams reground to something more aggressive and maybe try babby's first head porting Do some dumb poo poo with the intake Megasquirt Build a goddamn M60b44 with an M62b44TU bottom end with all of the above I'm gonna have like 3 months to make this happen 
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2019 18:14
|
|
|
The guy I bought the wagon from might be picking it up from me. I've had a few people interested in it. I think I'm going to keep the wiring and a few of the swap bits though - I need to put those on the S52 that's going in my black early model.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2019 19:35
|
|
|
 I'm pulling the trigger on a lift! A local shop uses one of these and loves it. It's more convenient than a two most, and I can wheel it out of the way when I'm not using it. I checked out an e46 on this lift at the shop, and there was plenty of room to drop the transmission. With all the work on my plate I really need to make things easier on myself. I heard back from PMC motorsport. Apparently, the diesel gearbox most of their adapters are made for has a wider bolt circle than the one I want to use. I've been reading some mixed reports on the compatibility of the 335i gearbox with the older BMW engines. I should have test fit the 135i's gearbox when I had it down for the clutch job! Oh well. They are working on an adapter for that gearbox. I might be able to modify one of their adapters for the petrol box myself. I'm just gonna pick up the box and see what I need to run it. Worse case scenario I just slap the weaker ZF6 from the e46 on there - that one is a confirmed fit, and it should cost about the same.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 10, 2019 13:31
|
|
|
That's why you use a high lift / under hoist jack stand. I was sketched out at first too, but the tech at this shop is one of a handful of people I would trust to work on my own cars, and if it gets his seal of approval I'm sold. I could have someone test my concrete and see if it's strong enough for a 2 post, but sometimes the garage is full and I need to work on something outside. The fact that this thing is mobile is a huge plus for me. ALSO they just responded to my email and the price went up $300 because of the loving TARIFFS
|
|
#
¿
Jun 10, 2019 19:40
|
|
|
Quickjacks seem awesome and I definitely want a set even with a lift. I'll be looking out for your review! Emailed a bunch of companies selling the lift I wanted to see who could swing me the best deal. Gonna have to keep an eye on the news to see if trade talks break down further at the G20 or not, that could increase the price even more. Back to wagon things. The Elekta special edition e34 M5 tourings came with a really bitchin interior. My wagon currently has a worn out parchment interior. Yuck. I've never cared for the light tans BMW did around this time period. They get dirty and stained easily, and I think they look bad. I'm a huge fan of the various brown interiors they did, though. Cinnamon, caramel, terra - they all look wonderful, and contrast great with the Oxford Green Metallic.  (the car is also British Racing Green, but Oxford is close enough!) So, the style in question uses a mix of black interior bits (top door trim, dash, headliner and pillars), hazelnut leather (everything else!), and green carpet. I love it! Here's what I'm starting with:     Bleh. Pretty typical for an e34 these days. Their interior falls apart just like the e36. Trying to source parts from an actual Elekta car is a non-starter. They're in the six figure range now. I don't want to spend a ridiculous amount of money having an upholstery shop retrim everything either. This thing is going to see a decent amount of abuse hauling dogs and groceries, so I've cooked up a plan that shouldn't break the bank. The comfort seats need to go. They suck. Rather than try and source some heated e34 sport seats, which are fairly rare and pricey, I'm going to nab a set of e90 sedan heated manual sport seats. They look lovely, are extremely comfortable, and are available in terra brown.  They're also cheap! I could score a set for around $300. Surprisingly there doesn't seem to be a lot of people retrofitting these yet. They are even fairly light given all the tech in them - 50-60 lbs depending on manual or power. I figured there would be some CAN bus shenanigans with them, but it turns out the issues are fairly minor. If you get power seats, and don't have the CAN bus stuff hooked up, they power down after a few minutes. I found a thread on a Landcruiser forum of all places where a guy traced out the wiring and figured out how to wire them up. See: https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/my-bmw-e90-seat-install.909191/ In short: Wire power to the seat controls on a switch, toggle it on and off again and you regain power to the seat motors. Heated seats can be controlled by units ripped from an e38 7 series. I could poke around in my e82 and see what it would take to get to make the seat controller happy, but I think I'll just stick with the manual seats - they have a larger adjustment range and can be set closer to the floor. That means all I need to do to get them heated is find a spot for the e38 heated seat switches and wire them up! The e38 also came with an optional heated steering wheel, and it's possible to grab one from an early e38 and retrofit it in an e34! Gotta love BMW LEGO. Getting the rest of the interior up to snuff is just going to be a tedious dye job. I want to pick up '95 door panels, because they have a gathered faux-leather door insert and stitched leather door pulls that look nice. I could dye everything to terra if I decide I'm happy with that shade of brown. The only other thing is redoing the headliner - thankfully it's glued on a board backing like most modern cars which makes it a pretty simple process. There are enough e34s in the yards nearby that I can source a full interior, including a few wagons! Hopefully they'll still have most of their bits when I get back in country. I should also be able to snag the rear bumper I need. I hope matching the paint isn't going to be too much of a pain in the rear end - the hood and the rear bumper will need to get sprayed, and I have a really neat factory front bumper I'd like to throw on so I might be having a lot of paint work done.  I believe these bumpers were unique to the auto 540i in 1994 only. They look a little more aggressive than the factory front bumpers and I really like them. I happened to score one at Pull-a-Part intending on using it for my '95 540i since the front bumper is cracked. I'd like to put it on the wagon instead.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 11, 2019 12:20
|
|
|
The seller showed me some updated pics of the wagon    I'm so excited!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2019 14:22
|
|
|
Well, it's still 4 cylinders short of where it needs to be, but it's an excellent start
|
|
#
¿
Jun 16, 2019 21:38
|
|
|
Still alive, getting closer and closer to going home. Things got busy again so I've not had much time to think about car and tool stuff Trying to work a deal on a Smithy with a shitload of tooling. Also I need to keep off of craigslist.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 27, 2019 15:55
|
|
|
Back home y'all Needed to stock back up on the essentials. Updates are going to be low quality until my internet gets fixed. This is all being done by phone for now. I went to Import Alliance just to hang out with some old friends. I saw some great cars too, I'll share all the pictures soon. I left IA straight for Indiana to meet back up with my dogs. It took Heidi a few hours to realize who I was. She's happy to have me home  Syri and Heidi finally got to meet! Syri doesn't recognize me yet - going to spend some more one on one time with her and try to ease her into living with me and Heidi. I also picked up THE WAGON. All my cars are at the house now short of the 2 Mercedes.    I need to clean and organize the garage before too much happens. Also goddamn I owe a lot in reg fees! Wagon trip report: suspension vibrates a lot, so I guess I'm gonna get all the suspension bits I want and do it all at once. Lots of weird noises! Despite being down on power compared to the 540i, it still cruises at 100 just as easy. I've got a decent amount of bodywork to do. I LOVE Oxford Green in person, though.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2019 15:27
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 9, 2024 19:33 |
|
|
So it's taken me a while to update the post Yeah. ANYWAY I went to Import Alliance because I was in town. Here's a lot of pictures of neat cars.                             Yes, that's a turbo K20 in a boat    
|
|
#
¿
Jul 21, 2019 02:56
|
|