jc43089

Mirror glass came in today finally. Hate the burnt old ones from the heater. 

If you haven't already noticed, YouTube and Instagram are where I post most of my content. If you aren't already subscribed/following there, you're missing out
That being said, I have exciting news I want to share! I know Brian already posted a thread congratulating me, but it makes sense to share it here too.
First pass on 20psi ran an 11.29 @ 128mph with a 1.94 60ft.
Second pass on 25psi ran a 10.53 @ 137mph with a 1.73 60ft.
Third pass on 28psi ran a 10.36 @ 134mph with a 1.59 60ft.
Log: https://datazap.me/u/suspenceful/1036-13409mph?log=0&data=1-3-4-11-25-26-27-28-29
I actually set a record on my 3rd pass with the 10.36 ET! Currently the fastest manual trans N5X BMW with stock chassis. Ghassan Automotive went 9.6 but they have a custom back-halfed chassis.
I think I can run 9's as I was misfiring during my 10.36 pass, watch the video!

Was looking at Groms on Facebook Marketplace and came across this, lol
I trimmed the video, but c'mon 

New horns!!!  Sounds like a Ferrari now.

Some pictures from last night. Not completely satisfied with these, need to do some more playing around with night shooting, car angle, camera angle, etc. Going to be doing a lot more experimenting in this location though. Ton of different lighting levels and background options to work with, just didn't have a ton of time.
This lighting really tells all in terms of your paint quality. This thing needs a paint correction badly.

Finally a build update:
I cut the front of my car off, built a tube front, and then everything decided to snowball.

With the tube front done, I decided to do some wheel tubes to keep water/dirt out. I've always wanted to experiment with composites and saw this as an opportunity.
After modeling the entire tube front, I created the wheel tub in solidworks, 3d printed the molds, and created carbon fiber wheel tubs/liners. Also, a special resin was used and the passenger side tube was post heated allowing to withstands 500+ deg temperatures.
 

The tube front moved the position of the oil cooler, therefore a new ducting system had to be designed.

Made up some bumper brackets to adapt the factory crash bar.

Once everything critical was mocked up the bay was painted, finally assembly has started and is beginning to start to look like a car again. I still have to finish painting a few of the brackets and reclear all of the carbon pieces. I know I have missed a lot of small details, hopefully they make it here sooner than later. 

Too late. 

I haven’t been very good about updates, but a few things have happened since the last post, thought I might as well update for record keeping purposes.
Finally took care of the rear license plate mounting situation, the P.O. had it attached using two mismatched self-tapping screws, one of which had been overtightened and stripped the plastic grommet out. Ordered four new grommets and screws from FCP, and voila, no more annoying rattle when closing the trunk. It’s the little things.
I also got the m-systems bolted up and took some pictures, even with old tires the increase in handling sharpness and overall grip was miles better than before. Unfortunately, the car also developed a tendency to tramline that I wasn’t really expecting. Tightening the steering column nut helped some, but I think some adjustment of the steering box or replacement of some parts may be necessary to get rid of the problem, or at least reduce it. Input from other e34 owners would be greatly appreciated on this one. 




The lower profile tires also exacerbated a noise that I believe to be caused by the sway bar links, those will be replaced as soon as the parts show up.
Also want to give a shoutout to @Jdesign for his help dismounting the tires and ensuring the wheels are true, they’re now ready for refinishing and I’m happy to report they’re as straight as an arrow. I’m finishing up a prototype design for a 3D printed center cap as I type this, and will share results after I test it. 
I was also lucky enough to spend 5 days in northern Minnesota just after school ended with some family, I’ll probably post some more photos but this was one of the fish my dad caught on the second night, a 27” walleye. The wild part was that wasn’t even the biggest one caught that day in our group, it was quite an experience. 

So I fixed/improved a few things on this car a couple weekends back. Even though I had thought I had fixed it entirely with the turbo drain line I have still been having some oil leaking issues lately, Just couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. After some close inspecting I had reason to believe my valve cover gasket was leaking. A few days later a new valve cover gasket appeared on my door step and I spent an evening swapping them out.

After that was finished I started the car up and began inspecting. That's when I noticed something after bumping the oil feed line for the turbo...

You can also see that the 90 on the -an fitting had been kinked. I knew about this prior to the leak but new that oil still flowed through it fine and kind of just put it off. well sure enough that's where the leak was all along. When I lifted the line ever so slightly it would begin dripping drastically. After spending a few hours searching around I ordered a new -4 an line from rally road. Also, after some more inspecting I found that the oem breather fitting coming out of the valve cover wasn't cutting it anymore and blow by was getting past the fitting and making an oily mess underneath. While on rally road's site I also found that they sold a fitting to fix this exact issue so I ordered that as well.

A week later or so and the fitting and line were here. The following day after work I got to installing the new pieces.
Old line vs. new

Unfortunately I could not find a -4 an line in black which would have been a little more ideal looks wise but it is what it is.

New breather setup installed.

The rally road breather fitting was an awesome piece! It has two o-rings on the shaft that slides into the valve cover hole which sort of snaps into place, its a tight fit. Coming out of the other side is a -an fitting so I ordered a -10 an 90 with a hose barb on the other end to adapt to my rubber hose running to the catch can. I love the look of the new setup and best of all, no more leaks!
After all this was finished I figured it was also about time for an oil change as well. After some debating back and forth I figured it was time to switch over to synthetic. I had been running shell t4 15w-40 for the last 12,000ish miles with a zddp additive and I had been doing this partly because of engine break in reasons and the fact that if I switched to synthetic that the leaks would get worse. With the new fittings and valve cover gasket I felt much better about making the switch. I chose a t6 5w-40 full synthetic oil.
Underneath the car was an oily mess so after completing the change I pulled the skid plate and used about 4 cans of brake clean spraying down everything top to bottom. Two weeks later and no signs of oil leaks anywhere!
For the longest time I had been running stacked washers to space the nut out for the momo hub instead of buying the oem spacer. Well when i ordered the valve cover gasket I threw it in with and decided it was time to swap it out for the right part.

The spacer was a few mm longer then my washer stack and actually fixed a steering wheel squeak I had been dealing with sometime now so that was neat!
First auto-x of the season for me this weekend. Looking forward to seeing how the car feels on the track with the new gearing setup and a non-squeaky steering wheel.
 
 

Correct. Under the dash. It’s the hi line from inside the car that was leaking a bit and then the low side at the fitting between the evaporator and the expansion valve. 
It was a $10 UV flashlight from Walmart. Decided to grab that at the last minute but it was very worth it. Excited to say the car now has cold AC. It’s actually a little better than my XC70. That probably needs a charge - which I can now do. 

Video of my fastest run + results from morning/afternoon session.  rewatching, there are definitely areas I could’ve picked up time, but that’s the way it goes lol
 




 
cant get the YouTube vid to embed for whatever reason, probably because it’s unlisted(?)

I get about 1.7 miles per tank. My ODO gears are whack 

Gettin' those groceries.

Now that I've got real tires on I'm no longer breaking traction every time I hit boost, which makes for a slightly less nerve-wracking commute. I'm also learning when and how much to lift when I hear the turbo spooling so that I'm not rocketing off like a boy-racer every time I leave an intersection. I was initially concerned this thing would be undrivable at autocross, but I think it will be fine once I get used to the power delivery from the turbo and adjust my throttle control accordingly. Fun times.

Ok so I said screw it and lightly drove it anyways
 

I'll come by this weekend and pick up that old white car with the base model E39 engine in it. I can only do $2500 since it doesn't have airbags or traction control and will be using it to transport my kids to and from daycare. 
 

Bet you were pretty amped it was just a simple fix

I live in the middle of nowhere about a half hour west of Wausau.  If anyone wants to come there is a cool pizza farm about a mile down the road.  Wood fired pizza ovens, every ingredient grown on his farm.  Also he makes beer too.  Stoney Acres Farm.  I've got 26 acres and a nice basement to crash in.  I would be happy to host a meetup if anyone wants to come.

@Ryan... You're welcome
 

Hard to have a sense of humor about 100,000 dead.

If you have no sense of humor don't click this.  Link

Much better than being at work

Pretty tasteful compared to some that I've seen. Also surprised that they were still doing stuff like that in the late 80s. I thought most of that aggressive planned obsolescence stuff died out earlier than that.

Well those are some darn cool door cards on that 944! i don't even know how to describe that. Gradient based plaid?

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