P_Roloff
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Posts posted by P_Roloff
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Swapped out rear shocks and mounts tonight with OE Lemforder sport shocks (white label). Much improved ride in the rear, rebound damping is much better and it doesn’t huck stuff into the air anymore. I could handle a little more stiffness though, so I may experiment with Bilstein HD’s if I get antsy. Should be more than OK for now, front struts and control arms are definitely a higher priority.
Very impressed with the ease of this job, the hardest part was removing the plastic caps by where the parcel cover attaches. Otherwise, really intuitive and simple. Everything goes back into place with minimal effort and fits nicely.
Replaced serpentine belt, idler, and tensioner as well on Sunday using the FCP Euro kit, continental belt and INA (?) idler and tensioner? Went in easy other than getting the belt back on the harmonic balancer, there’s a tight spot near the bottom that the belt doesn’t like to thread through. Took about 20 minutes total to get the belt back on, and checked with mirrors to make sure it was fully seated. It was, and it made the trip back to MKE tonight so I think we’re all good.
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120,562
Oil change, Liqui-Moly 5W-30 and Mann filter. All looks good!
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On 2/6/2023 at 7:42 PM, HipMF said:
Call off the hounds. I bought a boring transportation appliance (absolute base-model 2019 Chevy Spark manual). Currently mourning my car-guy status with some homemade cheese enchiladas and a stiff margarita.
I drove a manual spark once.
It didn’t have cruise, and I drove from Indianapolis to MKE. I didn’t mind it at all honestly other than my leg wanting to fall off by the time I got home. Zippy enough and great MPG, solid pickup.
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49 minutes ago, HipMF said:
It's a '94 525i. The wipers have been slow to operate at first with the cold temps that we had, but no noise that I can hear over all of the other noises the car makes.
Interesting. If you or someone else ends up parting it out I’d take that linkage for sure. I know of a guy in the Chicago area that’d likely buy it for that if you’re interested.
As far as minis, I had a friend in high school with a first gen cooper s and it was an absolute nightmare. Trans issues, blew an engine, constant suspension issues, etc. His was an abused example I think but still, was a constant problem for him.
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4 minutes ago, HipMF said:
If anyone needs a e34 oil pan, pickup and dipstick tube, let me know. Catch is you have to take the whole car and it's a pile.
Does your wiper arm assembly rattle every time you hit a bump?
I thought your car was a 535i, or have I been huffing too much brakleen lately?
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Looks spectacular, as always! I thought I had a fun winter car, props to you for driving it year round. I’m sure it’s a riot in the snow!
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5 hours ago, YoungCR said:
It's probably mentioned in the owners manual but "BMW recommends Castrol" was a thing forever! If I remember right E39/E46 oil caps even have the Castrol logo on them.
They’re my go-to for the e30 too, pretty much the only manufacturer that has 20W-50 that’s easy to find. Didn’t they change to Mobil more recently?
Also: proof of snowmobile pics. I regret my decision somewhat, because as fun as it was to bash snowdrifts to and from and friends place there is a ton of snow in the engine bay at the moment. Guess it’s a tomorrow problem?
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127,930
Oil change, Castrol 5W-40 Euro full synthetic. Didn’t realize this stuff is BMW LL01 certified, which is cool. $35 a jug at the local O’Reillys, which is more than palatable considering it’s an old beater and you could probably fill a M50 with canola oil and be fine. But hey, never hurts to use the nice stuff.
Ordered a (replacement) replacement VANOS seal from Beisan, once that comes in and gets installed in the new VANOS unit I’ll tackle the valve cover gasket. I don’t want to talk about how long the parts for that have been sitting on the shelf 😂
I always forget how this thing is just a Bavarian snowmobile when it gets slippery out there, solid traction and more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Further confirmation that FWD is not for me.
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First batch of parts has arrived!
Hoping to find time this weekend or next to get the shocks installed, oil changed, and serpentine belt/pulley/tensioner replaced. It’ll go in fairly soon for the wheels to be re-balanced, and it’ll be aligned in the spring when I’m done replacing some other suspension bits. At this point, planning for:
- Front shocks
- Front upper and lower control arms (replacing with the TRW M3 parts)
- Rear subframe bushing inserts. I know full bushing replacement is ideal but I don’t care to jump in that far just yet.
- Any other rear bushings the shop notes as torched. Anyone who has done rear end work on an e90, are there any bushings or ball joints in particular that tend to go earlier than others? Ideally I’d like to not have to replace everything at oncoming the entire car, so if I can do a few things on the rear and the whole front this year, and other rear bushings later, that would be ideal.
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119,390
First parts ordered. Taking care of the oil change, serpentine belt, and rear shocks (including the mount kit) with this batch of parts. Damping when the car is loaded is… not quite what I want to keep things from going flying, so I’m going to take care of the rear shocks sooner than I initially planned and then doing front struts this spring/summer when it’s warmer. Ordered the Continental kit for the serpentine and OE M Sport Sachs dampers for the rear.
I’m going to need to pick up a good E-Torx set for maintenance on this car, any recommendations?
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6 hours ago, m42b32 said:
Congrats on the new ride!! I'm gonna miss this one big time but I'm glad it went to a good home. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it. Here's two of my favorite pics for motivation!
Thanks Joe! I’m excited to see where it’ll take me, there’s already a few road trips planned for it this summer!
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You didn’t really think that this car was leaving the state with how much we all love it, did you?
119,270
It probably needs no introduction to any of you, and I’m ecstatic to have it joining the fleet. The e34 will get some much needed TLC and likely be heading down the road to a new owner within the next year and daily duties will be supplanted by this. No big plans other than to do some minor aesthetic mods and general maintenance, and hopefully many many more comfortable and fun miles! Hopefully it won’t even realize that it changed stablemates, going from a white e30 to a… white e30 😂
My general list of plans, for no real reference other than my own:
Maintenance:
- Serpentine belt and tensioner: Due for another (about 4yrs old) so this is the first order of business along with an oil change.
- Front control arms: Not shot yet, but I’d rather get ahead of them and sharpen up the front end some. Likely going to install the M3 arms while I’m at it. Summer project.
- Shocks/struts: Originals, going to put original sport pack Sachs dampers in to freshen the ride up. Certainly not bad at all currently but I’m a sucker for fresh OEM suspension. Also a summer project.
- Trans filter change/fluid change and diff fluid change. Probably going to have a shop do the trans, I’ll likely handle the diff. Not in a huge hurry on these.
Upgrades and such:
- LED angel eyes
- Color-matched reflector covers for the front bumper
- Not an upgrade, but the headlights are a bit foggy and I’d like to clear them up if I can. It’s the little things!
That’s really it for now, Joe has been a great caretaker of the car through his ownership and I’m excited to keep this car in the area. The 16 year newer tech is a very welcome change!
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Old car stuff strikes again: 127,700
Things that have cropped up in the last few months:
- Drivers rear door lock actuator completely stopped working. Replaced with a used unit this fall that I had sitting around and that fixed it for awhile, but it’s now completely dead. Probably going to have to yank the whole door panel off which really sucks.
- Wiper arm linkage bushings are borked. Rattles like a maraca over bumps especially under braking. I ordered a bushing set from a guy in Germany and they’ll arrive shortly, at which point I need to steel myself enough to tear out the linkage, blower motor assembly, etc.
- Odd thunk (almost sounds like metal sheet flexing and releasing?) becoming more apparent and common. Happens on large rear end motions (bumps, driveways, worse when heavily loaded). Going to get under it next time I change oil to see if anything obvious is amiss.- Trans is annoyingly stiff when cold, doesn’t love going into gear until warm, and still isn’t as good as it used to be. Wondering if the shop didn’t completely get all the air out when they did master and slave in the summer.
- Rough idle on cold start, likely the VANOS actuator. Poor low end power as well so I just need to get the spare actuator I have finished up and installed.
- Sunroof is rattling slightly. Not bad, but annoying enough. I’ve heard replacing the seal usually solves it, so I’ll pull it in the spring, check the clips and plastic bits and replace the seal.
The joys of old cars! I’ve been so busy that it’s hard to fix stuff immediately and it’s deciding to be a pain all at once apparently. Planning to address a lot of it within the next few weeks hopefully and the rest will be addressed once it’s a bit warmer.
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Man, it’s been a bit since I posted on this. Mostly because I haven’t touched it since last post really 😬 I swore I’d never let a project sit but here I am.
Two weekends ago I finished bending all the rear hardlines after I kinked one of the short ones last spring and got frustrated and stopped working on it (I also got stupid busy, but hey). Fuel system can now go back in, subframe after that, and then the car can come back down and get re-situated for the manual swap! I decided to go engine-out for that one since the oil pan gasket needs replacement, the timing belt is due, and 80% of everything else is already disconnected.
Excited to hopefully make more progress this winter spring when I have time, I’d like to get it done before June so I can enjoy it and shake it down before a planned Blue Ridge parkway road trip this fall. Hoping that once the rear end is back together things will progress more quickly.
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On 1/2/2023 at 8:49 AM, YoungCR said:
Well that’s a bummer. Are they under warranty? I would talk to customer service still, worth a shot at maybe getting the correct wheels you ordered.
They were close out items, they did a buy tow get two to get rid of remaining inventory and I would bet they sold them all out. Hubcentric rings aren’t hard to get so I’ll just use that and chalk it up as a cost of cheap things.
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126,650
No notable service performed, finally got around to checking the centerbore diameter of the MOMO’s I had on the car this summer and sure enough, the ID is definitely larger than 72.56. My guess is 74.1mm e39 fitment, so I’ll be buying a set of hubcentric rings for next year. Quite frustrating considering I purchased them new and chose the correct size, oh well. Definitely explains the persistent vibration!
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My guess is that generally, since more powerful motors are needed for increased power (there could be a possibility of milking more out of the existing ones with software tweaks, but brushless motor “tuning” is not a simple thing) and finding an e-motor that actually works with the existing control system and physically fits is going to be a huge challenge, they just said to hell with it and left it alone. Generally speaking, power upgrades with EV’s is going to be much harder than with IC’s.
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2011 328i Longroof - The Saga Continues
in Members BMWs
Posted
I’ve never had new versions of either; I have some older Bilstein sports on the E30 and they’re decent. Any specific E90 experience with that recommendation or just a general statement? I know that’s what’s recommended for E34’s, the e34 bilsteins are known to be rock-hard.
I probably won’t do it either way, we’ll see how I like the current stiffness with the 19s this summer. My guess is that OE sport is going to be just right, but hey, nothing wrong with dreaming.