jc43089

I'm heading to Florida next Friday and managed to score some tickets to the 12 hours of Sebring from Michelin!

Almost spring update!   Took advantage of the warm weather this weekend and tackled the suspension upgrade...
Fortune Auto coilovers (thanks @KaiserRolls), new control arms, lollipops, poly bushings, and end links.  Should be a huge improvement over the 35 year old suspension bits.  
 
Unfortunately, my original Racing Dynamics strut bar doesn’t fit because the adjustment knob on the coilovers hits the center support.  I’ll put it on the wife’s convertible, and figure out which one to purchase for my car.
Hopefully this weather will continue and I’ll get her on the road soon!
 
- Timmer 

 

Commuted.

 

UPDATE
Some parts came in. Silicone IACV hose kit with the aluminum boost proof fitting and a non-m fuel pump sleeve.

I broke down my M54 manifold as well. Removed the fuel rail, iacv, throttle body and the IAT sensor.

 
Then I started the modifications to the fuel rail that I know need to be made to use the factory M54b30 fuel rail on the M50 manifold, which is cutting off the mounting tabs.

 
While I was waiting for the manifold I also pulled the harness off and labeled it all as well as wrote down the pin numbers and locations in preparation for re-looming as well as some modifications.

 
Here is the manifold before I cleaned it up. I definitely forgot to snap a pic after pressure washing it.

 
Here is the manifold adapter to put my b30 throttle body onto the M50 manifold.

 
Mocked it on while I'm waiting for all the gaskets and O-rings to show up.

 
Then I got on to mounting the fuel rail, gotta thank my buddy @_Wackster for the idea to mount this way rather than what comes in the standard kits.


I have some ideas on how to spice it up appearance wise if I can't make the factory manifold cover fit.
Next I plugged up the ccv holes in the head.

 
I was able to test fit the manifold and I knew that the chase bays power steering resiviour would be a problem. So I devised an idea and began with the first CAD work of the season lol.
Here is the base part of the mount, originally used the pattern of the factory mount that the chase bays unit used. Then I modified its shape from there, below is the progression.

 
Then I made the upright mount with hols that lined up with the mounting holes on the chase bays resiviour, and transfered it all to some metal.


 
Here's the plate mounted to the oil filter housing. 

 
Then I made a few final adjustments to the base plate and marked and drilled some holes for rivets.


 
The plan is to have this drawn up, cut, and bent so it is all one piece. 
But here is the final product for now.





 
With the resiviour mount done for now I moved on to stripping down the engine harness.


I did remove all the wiring for the DISA, SAI, and the evap solenoid from the sensor plugs to the connector on the DME.
Once I removed what I wanted I put it on the engine and began the slow process of routing things.
The beginning.

and the end for now. 

 
Waiting on a few things to finish up the harness along with a few other parts to finish up the manifold swap which should be here and done by next weekend. 
So that's it for now!
 
 

Yup same fitment as style 5's. I think they look WAY better without centercaps (same with 16" style 5's unless you get those RS style waffles/hex nuts). I got my set for cheap at a junkyard and am planning to use them for track/auto-x wheels eventually

Pulled the car out of the garage for a rinse and re-installed the spoiler because it is very tricky to get the placement correct. I wasn’t satisfied with my first two attempts but it’s all good now.
I was able to try out the new parkIng brake components and can now finally hold the car on a hill in neutral! A functioning park brake is underrated. 

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2654273591505564/?ref=search&referral_code=undefined
Clean set of style 4 wheels. One of the few OEM forged wheels 

So after 2.5 years with an S4 pissing me off constantly due to half-baked features, I am back in a BMW. Picked up a 2021 X5 40i fully loaded with the exception of no traffic jam assist package because we have no real daily rush hour commute to deal with. The car had to be ordered to spec because people usually make poor decisions when they order these things, so nationwide dealer search showed literally nothing that matched exactly what I wanted. Crazy fast turnaround time since X5s are being built in North Carolina now and not shipping over on a boat, so it took about 3 weeks from the time of order until pickup at Umansky. 
Initially I went to IA since they were close, just to test drive and figured deals would be competitive regardless of what dealer I talked to because we're talking about a new car which levels the playing field quite a bit compared to the used market. This was just as big of a mistake as any one of you reading this would expect. Total horseshit. The sales guy we talked to was 3 months into the job, younger guy, unfortunately did not know about the bad reputation that IA has. I sent my spec to them, came in to chat, and they basically just offered me the current BMW incentives of $3500 total. So the car was 79k sticker, minus 3500 leaving it at around 75.5 for the raw purchase price. I looked at TrueCar and found most people around me are paying 74k for a similarly spec'd example. I talked to the sales guy and explained several things which I thought were well-reasoned arguments to lower the price. The first being that the going market rate is 74k, not 75.5. Also, they tell me they can't keep X3 or X5 on the lots and most of their sales are order/pickup. I said ok but you have 3 X5s on the lot right now as we speak, plus an X5 50i in the showroom, plus 2 of 2 allocations waiting to go into production this week that are not yet spoken for. That's 6 X5s that you don't have sold. Who is to say that your 2 allocations get built and don't also sit on the lot? You have an opportunity to lock up a sale right now for one of those if you would just be realistic about price. Plus I'm giving the dealership the financing kickback. So the sales kid goes back to the manager and as you would expect, the manager wouldn't budget at all because he's a piece of shit. Refused to even bother to negotiate in good faith.
So I called Umansky and immediately they got me a quote for 73,600 on the same car. I mentioned it to IA just to let the sales guy know that I wasn't wrong or blowing smoke up his ass when I said the car would be had for closer to 74k, and he was asking if he could talk to his manager about this offer from Umansky and try to earn my business. I said no, now you get to the learn why it sucks to be a sales guy with a shitty manager, because I already gave that jagoff a chance to negotiate in good faith and I presented fair reasoning in regards to your volume-based business. There is no more opportunity. I'm just going to buy the car from Umansky because they didn't try to jerk me around. 
So anyways, onto the X5 itself. The G05 generation is an insane jump up from the prior gen, and very much needed for BMW since they were starting to fall behind in the mid-size SUV race. The G05 really steps it up and puts it back on top as the overall best choice. I watched a ton of reviews and cross shopped it a bit and while the XC90 offers more luxury, the performance driving dynamics are not there compared to the X5, and the Mercedes GLE doesn't have the driving dynamics that the X5 has, nor the quality of infotainment. This thing feels really good and offers enough customizability in the transmissions, steering, suspension, and engine that it's fun for me to drive as well as the wife. The tech works way better than my Audi. Gesture controls and voice activation are spot on, the fit and finish and upgraded leather are supple, the massaging seats are way above what I got with the audi, comfort access actually works unlike my S4 which 60% of the time it didn't, the kick-trunk feature actually works here...and the list goes on.
In general a huge reason I went with the X5 is because BMW is still using a lot of obvious tactile response buttons that have satisfying clicks, not everything is behind a touch screen. I have a huge problem with how so many cars these days are trying to behave like a smartphone - I don't want to scroll screens and try to tap shit while I'm driving. BMW is still doing a good job of keeping real buttons in the mix for core functionality inside the cabin. The wireless carplay is really good, doesn't cut out like other cars I have heard of that drop connection. I had to order it with M-sport because obviously I had to order it with M sport... and I am very happy that there isn't any M badging on the exterior of the car. I added the "M" brakes which is separate from the M-sport package, and that's the only place you see any M logo badging on the car. I appreciate it because it's not trying to appear to be something it's not. I did get the 21" wheels which unfortunately come with summer tires only, 275 front, 315 rear, so the last week or so has not been driven at all. But with the air ride option, M sport, extended shadowline and the right wheels, it looks really good with the factory drop on air. 
I do intend to keep this car for a long time so I bought it instead of leased, and I paid $5800 for the extended BMW warranty which is 7 years or 100k miles. I thought that was interesting when you look at the cost of the car, and says a bit about how much they expect to go wrong. If you wait like 2 years into ownership and try to get the warranty, BMW will charge you almost 10k for it, and I did some rough math in my head and if you figure most people driving 10-12k miles a year, at time of purchase the 7 year/100k warranty makes sense to be cheaper, but add 2 years of time and you're still on the 100k mile limit, but now you have 9 years total ownership into the car with warranty coverage instead of 7. They are definitely banking on shit breaking after 7 years or roughly 70-75k miles, and none of it will be cheap to fix.
Overall I'm as happy as I can be I guess for what a modern BMW is these days. I do feel like the X5 is still pretty good in terms of balancing luxury with driving dynamics. Steering is appropro weighted in sport, and the car feels relatively precise even on air suspension. The B58 speaks for itself and the zf8 tuning is as good as it gets in an automatic transmission. Again, much better than my Audi, which thankfully will be leaving the stable in June.





 
Lowered in Sport mode:

 
 
 

I pulled one side rear fender and will start working on the other side.

Helmut by w grync,

I cut the inner fender and pulled until it started to dent the outer then i backed up a bit. I welded piece of sheet metal to the inner to fill the gap. I will prime with epoxy and seam sea the shit out of it. 


I got my new Mig setup its the everlast i-mig200e. I have only experience with some crappy 60 amp mig and inverter tig machine. So far i am impressed with that new mig.

Helmut by w grync,



I migged the front lollipop mounts together. And will weld them to the frame rails later this week.

Helmut by w grync

Helmut by w grync,

I had to notch the rear frame rail to clear the triling arm.

Helmut by w grync



Trailing arms with the new shock mounts tacked in.

Helmut by w grync,

Helmut by w grync,




 

I got a new tattoo on Wednesday!  It was great to get back in the seat after 10+ years!  It's got my son's name and birthday.
 

Evolve Medusa headers installed!  Mike and I had to drop the engine to get the stock manifolds out and the new headers in. Rawspeed welded up a new Y-pipe and 2 high flow cats to bring the new into the rest of the custom exhaust.  Was running 1 high flow cat but that was choking the system at the old Y pipe.
It is a whole new car! Really feeling the added POWA!

Mmmm salty. 
 
:side note: The car heats up quick now with the coolant system and heater sorted. BUT, I have a few holes I need to plug to keep the air from coming in. Without interior panels it’s quite drafty. 

Couples hours this morning in the toasty garage. Good start I'd say. 

I accidentally left the sunroof open on the garage. 

You may want to check out your roof condition if that much snow is entering your garage...

You may want to check out your roof condition if that much snow is entering your garage...

You may want to check out your roof condition if that much snow is entering your garage...

16" contour reps clear e46 330 brakes.  I have test fitted that combo.  Clearance is about 1/8"
 

These are some neat projects.  We finally finished out basement as well.  Bought the house 7 years ago.  Basement was sorta finished, but just very white-box-ish.  So after a couple years we added a bathroom, then demo'd the rest, then it sat until the end of last year.  Finally got moving and finished it.
Basically how it started last year....we have pics of what it looked like when we moved in somewhere.  The whole ceiling was dropped and had conduit everywhere.  In these pics, the ceiling is gone and I relocated all the wires into the joist like they were supposed to be.







Here I have a bunch of the bar framed in and the plumbing pretty much done.  Had to dig a sumpcrock into the floor then route everything overhead.  I hired someone to do the framing but did the electric and plumbing, just to keep the project moving.


Ran a second zone of HVAC too.


Opened up the stairwell and added stair lights.

Exercise was staying the exercise room so it became a temporary home to a lot of crap

It was not fun getting things down the stairs, but having it opened helped A LOT

The movie room stayed the movie room but we had to fix the back wall (left side in pic) and the ceiling got insulated and painted black.

I hired out the drywall too. 




Movie room sucessfully blacked out

Decided to add some stone walls:

The wifes design pallet


It was a long wait on the cabinets, but they started to roll in.



Tin/copper ceiling was tricky

Then added more stone and more tin:



Then the big wait was for the counter tops.  So we finished a bunch of the other stuff



Finally the tops came in so we could finish the back-bar....more stone and cabinets.  Haha




Movie room got furnished

Appliances

Crown to finish off the ceiling

Finish work on the stairs

Then....the coolest part.  We unpackaged everything we had been storing for 7 years from our old house.

Got it all organized.  Installed my lights and shelves in the towers.


We are still working on some things.  Decorations.  I want to build a bar sign for between the 2 towers.  It was a fun/stressful/rewarding/expensive project.

Hi all. I will eventually be making a new thread for this, but I wanted to pop in and introduce myself as the new owner. Things have escalated very quickly with this car, and this winter, the engine is getting a complete overhaul (with the exception of the bottom end). The car was in excellent condition considering mileage and age, but it had some oil seepage from most gaskets, power steering, and all the other common E36 things. Anyways, so I pulled the motor...
More to come later, and I will consolidate all of this in a more formal post. If you want to follow along immediately, I post regularly to my story on Instagram about what’s going on (search “therealswiper”)
 
Cheers,
Josh

Since we are all basement experts. Which oil should I use? 
Basements are typically colder so I was leaning towards something thinner like a 5w-20 but there can be hot spots around the furnace and water heater and am afraid of coking. 
As you can see below, I really like to floor it a lot.
Trying to avoid Bob Is The Oil Guy on this one

 

Another small update, small details matter though right? Noticed the rear badge was pretty sun faded/cracking on the M stripe section. Rather than replacing the entire badge, if you just apply a bit of heat (enough to make it warm to the touch but not compromise the badge adhesive) the M stripes can peel right off and be replaced. I got the replacement vinyl from here if anyone is curious. Badge looks brand new and cost $8 and 2 min of time!

Back in August I picked up a very clean example of a ZHP in Georgia! I have wanted one of these cars for years, as I always thought it would be the perfect daily driver. Still very simple and reliable, but not too old where it still feels modern. The E46 Truly is an amazing chassis! Driving it home from Georgia, I had to take a proper detour and test out all the new bushings the previous owner had just replaced at the Tail of the Dragon. I instantly fell in love with the car! Here are some pictures I have taken since ownership!
Things I have done already before starting this thread
-Quick paint correction (1 step, the paint was actually in great shape)
-PPF all the piano black trim 
-New ZHP knob (stopped in Atlanta to get one from dealer an hour into ownership)
-Coco mats
-Coby new alcantara steering wheel/e brake handle/arm wrest
-Future Classic window sticker (the car is 1 of 36, just like my E36 )
-Future Classic wheel spacer kit 
-Rewrap rear and front alcantara pillars 
-New headlight lenses
-BC racing Coilovers
-AC Schnitzer Type II wheels 18x8.5 et13 wheels overnighted from Japan
-Refinished ACS wheels in BMW Stoneington Grey
-Nitto Neo-Gen tires
-AC Schnitzer Polished/Brushed Door sill plates
Yesterday I went to Chicago and pulled a 65k mile S54 from a crashed ZCP M3. I also grabbed the OEM M3 strut bar, the DME, the cluster, the window switch (to prevent tamper dot), the full wiring harness, and a bunch of other stuff. I am so excited for this. I have always dreamt of owning an S54 powered sedan. This car has been altered and modified in so many more ways already than I ever imagined when I bought it. I still plan to daily drive this car with the S54 in it; as I should! 
Things I plan to get within next week or so for the S54 swap 
-Headers (The people with the M3 wouldn't let me take the catalytic converters, and chopped them off the motor once I got it out of the car. I have yet to decide which ones to go with, as I don't want the S54 rasp)
-Full exhaust
-Rod Bearings/VANOS rebuild
-check panel with sport button/heated seats
-New OEM motor Mounts 
-Get this BABY put in and running!
-I also have new bumper brackets sitting around, but I'm waiting to install those when I take the front clip off for the motor swap!
I will probably be posting the ZHP motor for sale soon if anyone is interested! If not, I will find something to do with it! 







 
 












 
 
 
 
 

Replaced the tired original knob. Since I already had factory illumination I figured I can't remove that, so I went with an OEM ZHP illuminated 6 speed knob. Also, these things seem to be getting crazy hard to find, thanks @Rekpoint!!