Leaderboard

Spotted this one a 2nd time in the past week or two; this time at west side woodmans.

Found a 1993 Stumpjumper M2 on the curb this past fall. Retail on this thing was $1300 at the time, which is mind boggling. Was set up with 1.25" tires, bike computer, stupid åĕRő handlebars, but otherwise complete and original. I cleaned off the 20 years worth of dust, change a bunch of stuff and I've been using it as my main bike for a couple months now. I feel a little guilty about it, because it's actually in really nice shape, and there's probably someone out there that has a huge boner to buy a rare bike they had, or wanted, when they were a teenager, but free is free.

I had some timing cover leaks that I had to fix. Brakes are done. I used stainless hard lines which do not seal as well at the fittings as NiCopp lines. I had couple small leaks. A bit more torque at the fittings fixed the issue. Clutch hydraulic lines are done and it looks like clutch works ok. I put driveshaft, diff and axles in. Tightened whole front suspension minus tie rods. I still need to shorten stock e36 tie rods for this setup to work. I have a z4 manual rack that I will put in I just need to figure out the splines. I hope they are the same as e36 rack so I could reuse my Woodward u-joints. Valve cover lost its beautiful blue color for the more modest wrinkle black The stupid intake manifold flange was warped. And my shitty welds were full of pinholes. No wonders that I could not set the idle below 1.2k rpm. 2 hours later and the flange started too look flat again I spent whole evening chasing pinholes. I think I got them all. I welded new downpipe and rest of the exhaust. Its a 3" going into borla XR-1 muffler to Vibrant super quiet resonator and side exits on the driver side. I still need to weld a beauty ring for the side exit. I got a 4" stainless pipe for this.

Isnt that why we are all doing BMW things?

Also bought an N54 intake manifold and plan to retrofit that when the garage is warm enough (too poor for a heater). Choosing this route over the 330 “3 stage” intake swap to avoid dealing with pesky DISA valves - the power gains are pretty similar: https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1902505 I understand modifying an N52 is relatively pointless, but I’m doing it for the sheer sport of it.

I never posted photos from the Vintage this year; the photo dump is at the end. Such a fun event that I’m going back this year! I put a lot of miles on it overall last season, driving it up until late November before finally putting it away. Had a minor issue with a hanging e brake halfway through the summer but beyond that it ran and worked great! I ended the year at 212,283 miles on the odometer, so over 7000 miles? Pretty proud of that. Took it up to Hayward in June, the Vintage in May, and all over the state after that. The z3 shifter made a world of difference, and I love the Stromung catback - it’s a little droney at neighborhood speeds but it sounds so good when wrung out that I don’t care. Minimal to no drone on the highway is way more important to me, and I can’t hear any over the wind noise! Winter projects: - Put in rebuilt alternator. Had it done at MJ Auto Electric in Butler and they did a great job, it looks excellent. - E46 rack swap (AAE 3310N). Currently in progress, I’m working on getting the steering coupler shaft thingy out now and fighting the upper splined joint hard. Any tips are welcome, it’s stuck fast. - Rebuilt PS pump, I’m swapping in a ZF to replace the Vickers that it had in there. Luckily got a ZF with all the brackets so it’s a direct swap - Replace all PS lines and the reservoir, goes hand in had with the rack swap. - Address a small coolant leak coming either from the looped throttle body heater hoses or from the thermostat gasket itself. - Correctly repair the C191 injector harness; I admittedly kludged it together to get it working last time and need to go back and fix it correctly with good heat shrink and crimp connectors. - If I can find good used speakers (or if anyone has recommendations), replace the blown rear speakers. - Replace the literally worn through seatbelt buckle. Old car problems! - Valve adjustment - New oil dipstick o-ring, the tube is dirty and im assuming the crankcase pressure is just enough to blow oily air past that o ring. - Replace the tee fitting for the headlight washers; it’s never worked and it’s annoying. Might put in a smaller fluid bottle to give more room for other things - Replace the cracked drivers side low beam; I scored a full set of ellipsoids from an old member here a month ago and I’ll probably refurb using the best lenses from both and new adjusters. MY EYES!!!! - Realign the muffler (it sits slightly twisted currently) and smoke test both the intake and exhaust to look for leaks. I’m almost positive I have some leaks in the cat section, but honestly with wanting to go to a header + universal cats at some point soon I’ll probably just use exhaust tape or JB weld to patch and send it for now if/when I find leaks. It isn’t winning any concours awards anyways. Anywho, here’s the trip pics! A sweet print they gave out at the CCA museum! Skidplate hit I took on Shenandoah from a fat ass rock. The HIKfab plate saved my trip and maybe me - oil on the tires where I hit it might’ve sent me off a cliff. Obligatory Buc-EE’s stop. Clean bathrooms, but man, sensory overload. You can pry kwik trip from my cold dead hands. Tail of the Dragon! Some company for dinner at a German restaurant in Hendersonville! As a Wisconsinite, I can genuinely say that their food was pretty top tier and on par with the best bratwurst up here. One of my favorite magazine articles ever was Sam Smith’s piece on the alpina 2002 at Laguna Seca. Seeing that car in the flesh was incredible. My favorite feature was the metal strips riveted over the back window to keep it from flying out at speed! I have never seen so many Alpinas in my life. Between the 15 or so inside and the 25ish outside, it has to be one of the largest gatherings ever in North America. This guy won sticker of the week in my book! Japanese market LHD e36 M3! Group drive on Thursday! Maybe 150 cars? We caused a huge traffic jam on the way out of town, sorry not sorry. I saw at least one overheat 😂 Mt Pisgah - one of the best drives of the trip. I want to run it again this year with the quick rack - the factory one was definitely a hindrance. A phenomenal view, finally. I spent most of my time in the mountains in the rain and fog, even getting caught in a flash flood warning in Shenandoah. The top was far closer to “water resistant” than “waterproof” Leaky roofs call for desperate measures Two days before the trip, I smoked an absolute hoss of a raccoon on I94 and narrowly avoided taking out my oil cooler. I ran like this most of the way down, picked up a new lower valance in Chicago on my way by, and swapped it once I got to NC.