GunMetalGrey

Considering the limited quantity of prep that was done on this I'm pleased with the way it turned out. 

Fixed the offroad issue with some 18's and 31" all terrains (Falken Rubitrek) 
I dig the look, and will enjoy it even more once I get the 20mm spacers in the rear! 



I've got a bit of clearance work to be doing, but nothing major! 

Seams sealed

Hoping to shoot paint Saturday or Sunday

Seams sealed

Hoping to shoot paint Saturday or Sunday

Summer out here makes it hard to work on cars when there are so many awesome other things to do!
Finally laid some primer down in the engine bay

Seams sealed

Hoping to shoot paint Saturday or Sunday

Seams sealed

Hoping to shoot paint Saturday or Sunday

Oh man, this is a thread I can get behind! 
As a kid I worked on dirt jumps at a friends house and reworked all kinds of weird mountain bikes to make the most suspension travel possible out of the cheap Walmart bikes I found or was given. 
The real stuff all started when I was working in the Scheel's service shop. I built / repaired bikes and a whole variety of other things, it was honestly one of my favorite jobs (outside of the dismal pay) and I have debated doing a similar job again on the side. I worked with a lot of high end road bikes and decided to try my hand at that, and with the employee discount of Scheel's (cost +5%) it was an easy decision to pick up a Fuji Sportif and I started riding that with a friend.
 



It was amusing but one day he and I were standing in my parents garage looking up at a pair of vintage mountain bikes and decided to take them for a rip around the gravel path near the house. We had more fun doing that than any other road riding session we had ever encountered. We started riding High Cliff right before winter, always returning coated in mud and cold, but it was so much fun. 
The summer after that I started riding with a couple friends from school at Riverview Gardens in Appleton, and was introduced to the Reforestation Camp in Green Bay. I also started seeing a friend in Marquette riding some really cool looking trails that I had a desire to go see. I went to The Recyclist in Appleton and traded in my road bike for a Giant Talon with an air sprung front fork and hydraulic disc brakes. It was miles better than the Specialized Hardrock circa 2000 that I had been riding as a loaner from a friend, and it was what lead the same friend to buy a Fuji Nevada for his first MTB. 
I started riding more with school friends and their friends, and that's when things really took off. We rode various places in WI (standing rock, a place in Tomahawk, Baird's, Refo) and at one point a friend of a friend asked if I wanted to do a skills clinic in Copper Harbor. I had ridden with him a couple of times and figured why the heck not! 
We headed up and stopped at Michigan Tech and rode the DH trails they had there, which was the first time I had ever ridding a solely downhill trail. I am not one to make exclamations above standard volume, but Cory was in front of me hooting and hollering as we tore down the trail and I found myself matching his style and yelling in excitement as gravity took hold of the situation. The weekend in Copper Harbor was eye opening and was where I met even more people I still keep in contact with. A few weeks later a friend rented a full suspension bike in Copper Harbor and we both rode it and bought full suspension bikes in the following weeks. It was a massive upgrade from the hardtails that our legs and butts learned to hate. 
Copper Harbor skills clinic lead me to do things that I never saw myself doing, I was always afraid of falling as a kid, but for some reason that fear was leaving me. Sadly it is coming back and I have been working on that as much as possible. A nice rock roll from Copper Harbor on my first FS bike. 


Shortly after all of this I started talking more with the guy in Marquette who I had been in Highschool with. We started visiting Marquette more often and riding the trails out there, and if you have not gone, you absolutely must. The trail network out there is insane, and there are miles of unmarked trails that will knock your socks off. 


I'm losing track of timeline here due to the overwhelming good times that are coming to mind. I have met so many awesome people due to MTB, it is the main reason I moved across the country, the reason for staying in shape, and also a great source of frustration. I'll never forget the time we got big talking @HipMF
 to come ride the stuff we always talked about, and in the first 2 days he lost his wallet and broke his bike and body. I've been to CO, Whistler, Duluth (another amazing place to ride), Little Switz, Marquette, Alabama, and Washington all just to ride bikes.  



When we moved to WA we quickly violated the lease terms with our bike rack






Our typical bike chaining in Marquette






It was always a game of how many people and gear you could cram into one truck



I now have a two bike fleet. My 2017 Intense Tracer trail bike (165mm front and rear travel) and 2018 YT Tues (200mm front and rear travel). In Washington the trail bike is king, and I've quickly learned how to pace out (4) 1,300ft climbs in an afternoon to get some laps in on the trails. There are a couple of spots that are viable to shuttle and ride trail bikes yet though. 





The one thing I've missed greatly this year is the ability to go into Canada. BC is absolutely insane, the trails are perfect, the views are stunning, and Whistler bike park is astounding. 
A simple stop in Squamish for some Tim Horton's is picturesque 

Riding the chair up at Whistler knowing you've got almost an hour of descent (with breaks) coming up if you go up high enough, just insane. This picture is of the second chair up, you cannot even see the first chair, and you start the the town that is behind the cables, not the dirt area to the right of them. It is 4,000ft of rideable mountain, and I don't know where else to get that kind of thrill, all 3.5 hours away from our house in WA. That was the amount of time I used to spend driving to Marquette. 


But it all doesn't come without damage. Among the amount of blood and skin I've shed on trails, there was a particular day in MN when I overshot a jump and thought I hit my helmet on the tree that I landed into. The ski patrol couldn't see any marks on my helmet, but I sure did do a number on my lip and teeth. I re arranged my teeth, cracked one, and put a couple of said teeth through my lip. A memorial day trip to the urgent care was fun, and I still chuckle about it. The Urgent care people took all my info and then took one lip at my lip after uncovering it, and walked me over to the ER to get it taken care of haha. 8 stitches inside my lip, and that nice one on the outside. 


If anyone is looking to ride and travel let me know, I will gladly provide transportation, a place to crash, and guide services to have a blast on bikes, regardless of skill level. 
Sadly my job has me on the road a lot so I don't spend as much time on the bike as I would like, but I plan to start flying with my bike more often and  not worry about the dark or weather and just start riding more. 

Lots of good memories and good friends, and I hope to keep that rolling! 

Now that's a color! I
Nice find, you'll enjoy the torque even at stock levels. 

The F15 and E70 seem oh so similar in many aspects, so for similar price you made a good move. 

Got some new wheels. Style 193's from a coworker who was moving and no longer needed them, got them for a good price. They came on Michelin Pilot Aplin winter tires. I am planning on keeping these off until winter, running them with the winter tires, and then next spring, swap the Michelin Pilot Sport 4 S's I just got onto them to be my spring summer tires.
 

It was a very busy couple of days for the M3!



At 109k miles I did the rod bearings and bolts, motor mounts, header gaskets, trans mounts, driveshaft center support bearing, trans fluid, and engine oil. 
The motor mount on passenger side was two pieces, and the drivers side was collapsed and the oil pan was resting on the sway bar. 

Bearings looked acceptable for the mileage, but good to have piece of mind that they're done. 


The motor had been replaced by the dealer at around 300 miles for a stuck injector, and it looks like they didn't do the header gaskets correctly... 



The drive after felt great, significantly smoother with the engine not rocking around in there and being properly isolated from vibrations.

What's better than having 5 vehicles? Having 6! 
A poor picture for intro, but its the only one I have right meow

This was a spur of the moment decision, and is planned to replace my truck and 1 series. 
2011 x5 35d Sports package, HUD, 360 cam, premium package, pano sunroof, and a set of snow tires + to go with it

More details / photos later

133k

Hitch installed


Nice an easy access to get that one installed.......


Got a bike rack after much deliberation. Settled on a 1up Recon 5 vertical rack. 5 places for bikes, pivots out of the way of the hatch, and weighs a cool 95lbs! I've been enjoying it vs the truck


Did some light off-road driving in Whistler to car camp after a day of biking (full size mattress fits perfectly with the seats folded down) and found I need to get rid of the 20's as soon as possible. 


Went up to Mazama to visit a friend, rock climb, mountain bike, and go for a hike and brought the X5.
On the way back got an error for oil level over max, which I thought was odd as I had checked it after purchase and the oil level was near the top, but not over. Checked on the dipstick and it was indeed over the max mark, meaning the oil level sensor was intact. The oil smelled like diesel so the hunt was on. After pulling up the coolant temp and driving around a bit I found that the thermostat is stuck open, and am trying to find when the last DPF regen was as it likely got up to temp to be able to do a regen while climbing the mountains, but then cooled down and just dumped all that extra fuel into the oil. I can't get the coolant temp to go over 150 on the highway, with 140 being the average. Running temp is to be in the 190-195 range, so I'm getting plenty of fuel past the pistons.

New thermostat and EGR delete on the way! Of course with an oil change in the next couple of days. 

Hitch installed


Nice an easy access to get that one installed.......


Got a bike rack after much deliberation. Settled on a 1up Recon 5 vertical rack. 5 places for bikes, pivots out of the way of the hatch, and weighs a cool 95lbs! I've been enjoying it vs the truck


Did some light off-road driving in Whistler to car camp after a day of biking (full size mattress fits perfectly with the seats folded down) and found I need to get rid of the 20's as soon as possible. 


Went up to Mazama to visit a friend, rock climb, mountain bike, and go for a hike and brought the X5.
On the way back got an error for oil level over max, which I thought was odd as I had checked it after purchase and the oil level was near the top, but not over. Checked on the dipstick and it was indeed over the max mark, meaning the oil level sensor was intact. The oil smelled like diesel so the hunt was on. After pulling up the coolant temp and driving around a bit I found that the thermostat is stuck open, and am trying to find when the last DPF regen was as it likely got up to temp to be able to do a regen while climbing the mountains, but then cooled down and just dumped all that extra fuel into the oil. I can't get the coolant temp to go over 150 on the highway, with 140 being the average. Running temp is to be in the 190-195 range, so I'm getting plenty of fuel past the pistons.

New thermostat and EGR delete on the way! Of course with an oil change in the next couple of days. 

What's better than having 5 vehicles? Having 6! 
A poor picture for intro, but its the only one I have right meow

This was a spur of the moment decision, and is planned to replace my truck and 1 series. 
2011 x5 35d Sports package, HUD, 360 cam, premium package, pano sunroof, and a set of snow tires + to go with it

More details / photos later

Amen brother

I will say the E9X platform has been one of my favorites over the years, it just seems like everything is streamlined in the interior, no big screens or anything clouding the space, simple lines inside, but classy. 
Chassis dynamics are great, with solid engine options to boot. 

The fact that you enjoy this more than the F30 says a few things to me

Those wheels though

I know it goes against your core beliefs, but finding someone to dyno tune it is a really good thing in life. Then it runs / drives with a higher level of reliability and you can tweak from there knowing your starting point is strong. 

I too was anticipating an S65 in the mix here, but was pleasantly surprised by the rest!

Agreed. Odd. Makes sense, but also makes no sense. It's absurd; not in a Baldessari way, but in a way that your average car guy can understand. Big 'A' art for the little guy (given the fact that the world we live in is absurd and this is merely a reflection of it)?

http://www.speedhunters.com/2022/04/e36-meets-e9x/

Bump

Correct
You want the lowest amount of spring force required to match the speed of the cam, as anything above is just added friction and wear. 
When you over rev the spring force is not great enough to accelerate the valve fast enough to follow the cam and you get valve float, which can in turn cause the valve to contact the piston if the discrepancy is high enough. 

I did supertech springs in my S52 head and the spring force change becomes VERY noticeable when you try to get the cams back in...

What's better than having 5 vehicles? Having 6! 
A poor picture for intro, but its the only one I have right meow

This was a spur of the moment decision, and is planned to replace my truck and 1 series. 
2011 x5 35d Sports package, HUD, 360 cam, premium package, pano sunroof, and a set of snow tires + to go with it

More details / photos later

What's better than having 5 vehicles? Having 6! 
A poor picture for intro, but its the only one I have right meow

This was a spur of the moment decision, and is planned to replace my truck and 1 series. 
2011 x5 35d Sports package, HUD, 360 cam, premium package, pano sunroof, and a set of snow tires + to go with it

More details / photos later