P_Roloff

Finally got around to an oil change and a wash this past weekend, mileage sits at 93,3xx. Changed oil with Mobil 1 15w-50 synthetic. I threw some fresh exhaust hanger rubber mount donut things on at the same time since the last ones I bought shredded themselves in about a year and a half. Fresh rear pitman arms/dog bones and front upper control arms are sitting in the garage waiting to be installed when I get the chance. So, probably October. 

It is! When it joined our fleet a few years ago, it had 59k and had been owned by the same family for most of its life. Maintenance history was great, but the aesthetics of the car left (and still leave) a bit to be desired. The nose has been resprayed at some point and it was done poorly and there's chips and scratches all over it, but the bones seem to be pretty solid. Unfortunately, it only took 3 winters to start to get a bit rusty, the door bottoms are already going 
Forgot to add that the idler pulleys were replaced a few weeks ago as well.

89,3xx miles.
Checking thing off the list slowly but surely. The new door brake and door reinforcement plates arrived a few weeks ago and will go on whenever I feel like welding the plate in, both roundels were replaced, driver's front regulator was replaced, general module was replaced, and I put a Z3 shifter in last night. l'm a big fan of the shorter throws and feel, it'll be interesting to see how notchy it feels when it gets cold again though.
Next on the list is rear sway bar links, a few new moulding pieces to replace the ones that are rusting and falling off, and lumbar for the driver's seat. Between all that and a new apartment, I'm going to be busy the next few weeks. 

Just paid my registration, vintage or bust!

Hmm, will I have the e30 back together by then? Maybe this would be a good goal… nothing like a 1000+ mile shakedown run, right?

Still fighting this car as much as I can. As of yesterday, I think I can say the steering is complete. Sadly, I needed to add a secondary support bearing closer to the double D joint as it would bind under certain conditions. To do this meant I could no longer use the shaft that I had machined down and had to get yet another D shaft. Luckily I had a friend with a spare sitting in his shop that was the right size and length, and was also chrome plated. I was able to mount everything where it needed to be, and welded a new bracket to the pedal box bracket for the new support. After that I added an additional bracket to the column as well to replace the factory support under the dash cluster. This last bracket made everything much much stronger. Finally the steering "inside" the car is done.

If you look close here you can see the L bracket right at the back of the column that would make that final rigid support.
The next thing I needed to attack was getting all the bulkheads in the firewall and the braided brake lines ran. Most of these were already routed earlier, but I will need to add adel clamps so they aren't flying around. One that I did not install was the clutch line. I was waiting to do this as I wanted to hide most of the bulk heads and this one was near the steering shaft and the throttle. I had to complete these in order to prevent any more redos.
So first up I had to modify the throttle for the pedal box. The throttle beam and cam is made of aluminum, and the pivot travels behind the steering shaft and the brake pedals. The cable from factory exits just above where the clutch pedal is, and with the new pedal box, this needs to be moved. I cut the cable arm right above the factory stop to maintain the correct pedal height, and added material approximately the same height directly above the throttle pedal itself. This would allow the cable to be located closer to the center of the engine bay and directly inline with the throttle body. I was able to reduce the length of the cable by about 12" with this alteration!

What I didn't expect was that with the cable location to the cam profile on the pedal, was that I now would need about an extra 2-4" of leverage from the fulcrum to completely open and close the throttlebody. So my solution was a billet aluminum lever from a cheap hydro that I could make an adjustable extension. This worked perfect, and actually made everything much more sturdy.
Finally I ran the clutch line bulkhead right below the heater core lines beside the throttle. The angle of the picture below gives you an idea on the location, and also how tightly everything fits together. Note the cable at the top of the lever and the space on either side as it passes through when the throttle is depressed.

On the exterior of the steering issues was something I didn't mention previously. The new Wilwood rotors sat much further inward to the hub and were very close to the heatshields. So close in fact that with the factory tie rods installed, the boots pushed the shields into the rotors and would cause them to rub. I tried to get different tie rods and even shave them down, but that didn't help. I then bought an cheap angle kit like the one on my E36 to move the pivot inward and away from the rotor. The kit I bought didn't quite fit the hubs I have, so I had to mill them down on the Bridgeport. This was a fail, as even after machining them, I would need additional spacers on the brackets and special hardware. Ultimately I caved and bought a bump steer kit that uses Heim joints in place of the tie rods that allowed me the extra space. I figured these will also help with bumpsteer (duh) and the car being so low and not having power steering anyways. 
See failed E36 bracket below

And the MRT bumpsteer kit installed. Note the space between the heatshield and rotors.
Next is wiring. I started, but its nothing worth mentioning just yet. Fingered Crossed for the Picnic!

@Rekpointsnapped a couple exhaust clips this past weekend. Sounds pretty dang good for an S54!
 

110,657
Oil change and filter, just received all the VANOS rebuilt parts, valve cover gasket and a few other odds and ends so I can take care of a few leaks and the VANOS system all at once. I have a full set of coils and rear brake parts also on order to go in as soon as they get here. Planning for a trip to Voyageurs NP at the end of the month and need to make sure everything is all sorted for that.
 
In other news, the M-Systems are in the process of being refinished, they’re at the polishers getting the lips polished out then I’ll paint the centers in the stock black. Already have a set of Michelin Pilot A/S3+’s to go on. Can’t wait!

Well, the biggest issue with the car(incredibly), has been resolved. I have never had a working stereo system in this car since I bought it. I’ve used a Bluetooth speaker on my dashboard, and that shit was getting old.

I went with the tried and true Continental head unit. This was my first time doing any kind of stereo work(other than the speakers in my truck). The install was pretty straight forward, but was a little confusing at first because there weren’t some of the wires that were mentioned in the install. Realized I had to peel the loom back a little to exposed them.
Was great to hear actual music come from the speakers instead of the R2D2 noises. Heard a little bit of thump coming from the rear deck speaker. Pulled it out, realized that the little rubber seal that sits on the metal frame of the speaker had come undone in one portion. Used some flexible super glue to get it set in place.

Sounds great for what it is, and really glad to no longer use a Bluetooth speaker.
 

And she's back together!  Only hiccup was I forgot to order the front bumper bolts for the MTech bumper.  The stock one are too long, but will work until the new ones come in. 
She still needs a good paint correction and wax, but I'll save that for another day.
Feels good to save another E46...

For sure, the mess under the intake is definitely on the to do list!  I have the VCG and oil filter housing gaskets as well. 
Just got word it's gonna be done tomorrow!  I plan on transmission, transfer case and diff fluid change this weekend.  
Shes had some serious work done to her this week!

Interior back in the car. Almost ready to make its summer/fall residence in my garage. Which means the truck will be in the lot. Storage unit was nice to have both cars in covered storage, but saving ~$80 a month will also be nice. Car will stay in my parents storage for winter unit once they put their boat away for the season.
Carpet extraction, Leatherique, and exhaust are the first bits on the list to start the season off.
 

KW coilovers, Ground Control camber/caster plates, lower control arms,  TC Kline rear shock mounts, sway bar links and bushings all installed the past week or two. Had some time to do a paint correction yesterday as well as install a paint matched rear wiper delete. Getting closer to being satisfied...for now. 

I vividly remember pluggint that in, but I plan to check continuity of all the wires going to the cruise control ecu and will double check that one. 
I ordered a new (used) steering column stalk. I didn't know that the late model cruise control system had an accel and decel feature becuase mine never did that. I also banged the lever really good a few times when taking the dash in and out. I'm hoping that is the cause of my issues. 

What an awesome car, I really enjoyed the short stint I got behind the wheel. I’m sure it’ll do well, it’s an awesome spec and you took good care of it.
Ill be watching the auction closely once it goes up!

And Finally here is the video for the listing.
 

Yup, six bent exhaust valves.



More concerning is the nicks in the pistons that I think are beyond salvageable.



I'm afraid this rotating assembly is toast.

Thanks! 
 
Did some laps around Cedarburg on Sunday and it was spectacular. 

Took a cruise last night and these lights do not disappoint. 
 

Tried this thing. It didn't work though due to the GAPING HOLE IN THE WATER PUMP GASKET I found after filling it up with coolant. 
Replaced the gasket and then it worked and made filling it up really easy. 

Some interior dingle berries to wrap up. Just waiting for the classic wisconsin 30 degrees and snow to 80 degrees and humid over night transition to summer. 

Got the center console in and everything hooked up. What a huge pain in the ass that was! Hooking things up with little to no space to put hand behind was super frustrating. Hopefully everything works as it should or it's gonna stay that way for awhile, lol. 

Got some more work done today, but more of a one step forward, 1.5 steps back deal. 
 
I successfully pulled the tank, no thanks to the engineer that specced those horrible ass crimp fittings to all the fuel lines (I have choice words I’d like to use, but won’t). They do their job fine but are such a pain when it comes time to replacing and removing things.
Anywho, got the tank down, all the lines and senders/pump and whatnot transferred to the new tank. Fit was pretty solid, the new mounting grommets fit in snugly, the sender and pump fit tightly, and all bracketry mounts right up. My only gripe is that the tank thickness appears to be different between the replacement and OEM one where the senders mount, so you cannot use new OEM o-rings; thankfully, they include slightly thinner o-rings in the packaging, but something worth noting. Otherwise, barring the lack of drain plug everything seems to be more than up to snuff. The holes all seem to line up well with the mounting points on the body, finish is nice, all the inlets/outlets are in the correct spots. Honestly, if they had painted it black, you could’ve told me it was genuine BMW and I might’ve believed you. 

So that was a win, but when disconnecting the fuel lines to remove the tank I noticed that my fuel hard lines were pretty crusty. 

So those need to be done. I have no desire to burn this car down or worse, and it seems foolish to not take the opportunity to fix it all while it’s disconnected. In the same vein, I noticed the rear brake lines were also getting pretty gnarly. I replaced the hard lines on the trailing arms a few years ago but never touched the soft or hard lines upstream of that, and they’re pretty bad (soft lines have hairline cracks, hard line junctions look like they spent time on the titanic, etc.). So the plan is to either buy all new OEM hardlines from FCP and bend them myself, or install the ChaseBays hard line delete that just runs soft lines all the way back and to the trailing arms. It takes it down to three total lines for the whole rear brake system after the ABS pump, and I’m weighing whether the cost is worth the simplicity it adds. Any thoughts? Potential concerns about longevity?
https://www.chasebays.com/collections/google/products/chase-bays-front-to-rear-brake-lines-rear-hard-line-delete-82-91-bmw-e30?yoReviewsPage=2
In other news, got the e34 into full winter mode just in time for spring, oh well. Mudflaps got added to keep crap off the rockers, and roof rack installed to carry the old fuel tank 😂 what, did you think I was going to put it in the backseat?
 

I have nothing constructive to add, but if you import a car, want to toss a set of e30 euro bumpers in the back seat for me?

With the new job came a new reason to buy another car!
Since I gave up the take home car with the old job, I needed a new (to me) daily for the upcoming commutes. 
After thinking about what I wanted for a bit I settled on finding myself a nice E46, since a 2003 325i was the first new BMW I have ever owned, and haven't had one since 2006.
After a few weeks of looking, and passing on a few cars, I came across this gem!
2005 325ix, 106k, premium package, cold weather package, MK4 Navigation, Harmon Kardon, Xenon, and best of all.... Oxford Green with Carmel Leather!
Overall a very solid car, and it drives wonderful. Gonna work on a cooling system overhaul and some minor maintenance this week.
Next week it's off to the body shop to have MTech bumpers fitted, door dent removal, and rust mitigation.  
I love it when a plan comes together...
-Timmer