P_Roloff

Ha, yep that was me!  I was wondering if you'd be on here

Brave soul performing a compression test and posting it here. There's been bad juju all here regarding compression tests lately haha

Painted the Throttlebody, EGR plate, and Intake manifold and prepped for the new gaskets I picked up, and cut out a new plate out of aluminum for the top of the manifold. Mocked up how they look now, but wont install until I get a new coolant hose and injector. The injector is the bigger problem as there is no way to install them once the upper manifold is bolted down. 
Pics are with and without the plate. I plan on matching the "red metal" look on the valve covers across the top of the intake manifold.

 

The model maker at my work owed me a favor, so I had him paint my overs and my M3 mirrors since I have been too busy to do it myself. I cant wait to bolt them on when I get back to the shop.

I second this. I thought I killed one with a full can of rootbeer straight to his head. When I was carrying him to his grave with a shovel, I learned what the meaning "playing possum" meant. Needless to say I launched his hissing ass right over my garage. 

Why do you have rocks in your bathroom?

170, 170, 80, 170, 170, 170. I blame this forum and won't ever be returning.

When you do a compression test there is two possible results good or wibimmers.

Sleeper wagon

What about a 190e?

Picked these up for the e38 this weekend

More progress!
Finished the upper coilover mounts for the rear.

New coilovers offer a substantial reduction of droopyness, more low, and increase of tuning options. Muy bueno. These use 1 7/8" ID springs as opposed to the defacto standard 2.5". Still plenty of spring options out there though. Going to 1/2" heim joints top and bottom means I can change the whole unit out for pretty-much-whatever-the-hell-I-want-to later if these don't work out. Probably going to be loud as hell back there now that everything is solidly mounted, but it ain't easy being cheesy.

After that, I moved back to the front of the car to try and fit the MKI Golf struts inserts. After hours of test fitting, measuring, hemming and hawing, I finally gave up and just cut 1.25" out of the strut tubes. Most people who do this mod are after crazy low and cut out more, but the next issue that you run into is that the control arms hit the subframe. My intention is that the internal bumpstop in the strut insert will prevent that from happening too violently, but I'm not really sure if I got it right. Regardless, the front of the car should go 1.25" lower than before, which is plenty, and if I need to, I can disassemble the strut insert and put a spacer under the bumpstop to make it work right.
Oddly, I actually took pictures of the whole process, so here we go:
First, get the original spring perch out of the way.

Then do a lot of measuring, calculating, and head-scratching. Realize that life is meaningless and we're all doomed. Then remove 1.25" from the ugly part of the strut tube.

Recall painful memory of Ben scrapping out all of your little leftover bits of stock while you were away on vacation. Then, go to the store and acquire a super-precision butt-welding-two-tubes-straight jig. VERY IMPORTANT!!! Do not forget to install the sleeve that  the coilover adjuster slides on to, because it won't fit on the tube after the it's welded. Somehow I managed to not screw this up twice in a row (pats self on back). Tack weld strut tube.

Remove super-precision butt-welding-two-tubes-straight jig and weld for real this time.

Realize that the weld penetrated through to the inside of the tube (good) and that the strut insert no longer fits in the tube (bad). Try a stupid method with a power tool that's totally wrong for the job, then use half-round file to remove the excess weld inside the tube.
Confirm that strut tube is indeed shorter than one that hasn't been modified. Also confirm that you are tired and whiny. Go back to step 1.

After scoping out the route on Street View, I found few more improvements to the route and made yet another revision. Reasons for changes: less prone to getting split up or lost, better continuity, removed a boring section, some roads were just too narrow and underdeveloped, and a decreased overall travel time by staying on the freeway just a tad longer.  This should be the last one unless I find out there is some road construction or something else going on. Check it out in the first post!

Tonight I installed the rear main seal into its carrier, protruding 1.5mm. I will wait until I install the E34 oil pan to install the carrier/seal onto the block.

Out of my own curiosity, I wanted to overlay all the BMW 2.5L engines: M20B25, M50NV, M50TU, M52B25, M54B25, N52B25 and see how the torque curve flattened over time with all the technology advancements. Instead I lost interest and threw the modded M52 data over some data for
a stock M20B25 vs. an M52B28, M50 manifold, S52 cams, intake, exhaust, stock ex. manifolds, and tune. 
I remember having fun with my stock M20 so it appears there is a little more fun in store with the M52. Next week will for sure see some significant progress as I will have some extra time, but I will keep nibbling away at things this week like I have been doing.

 



 

 

Route Map UPDATED 9/18: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XBTOxpyQTSmbNJXXzGgGAtbm0p0&usp=sharing

UPDATE 9/18:  I expect that Devil's Head Resort should be a safe bet as a final congregating point that wont be a nuisance to anyone (remember the Holy Hill parking lot 2 years ago during Saturday Mass?!?). We will stop at the resort for a photo so someone with a >2.4 megapixel camera can get a few shots of the group. If this ending point somehow isn't workable, the contingency plan is to stop at the truck stop gas station/hotels by the I-90 onramp. Unless you live in Baraboo I would imagine everyone will be hopping on I-90 to get home so this should be a good place to stop and fuel up and chat for a bit before heading home. See the little red star on the map by I-90.
Anyways, it wasn't my intention to type this much red text and also not my intention to over-plan/over-manage the drive but hopefully the additional forethought will help ensure its a safe and enjoyable event.  -Snapple



NOTE: The maps/routes you see in the examples below are not correct. Please see the link for the current route map^^
Download the Google Maps app and you can send the route to your phone for turn-by-turn navigation and never get lost!
1) Click the link (you will need to open it in safari/chrome or your normal web browser, NOT Tapatalk).
2) Sign in to your Google account

3) Use the map like you would a normal navigational route. You can set your destination from your home to "START" to get to the meeting point at Jason's shop in Cottage Grove.

let all the air out of your front tires and jack the rear of the car way up in the air. 
insertion angle is all about positioning. car-ma sutra, or something.
 

The next episode looks like this:
M52B28 from 1997 E39 528i 139k miles
OBD1 conversion with 413 red label DME and Sssquid Tuning stage 2 tune
S52 cams, M50 intake manifold, Supersprint replica long tube headers, single 3" exhaust 
Achillies upgraded oil pump shaft and oil pan baffle and every other reliability upgrade I can find
E30 G260, lightened single mass flywheel, South Bend stage 3 street clutch disc, Sachs 918 pressure plate, Z3 shifter with DSSR, S3.25 rear diff

All of the gaskets and seals are being replaced (except for the head gasket), I purchased brand new coilpacks, sensors, hoses, vanos rebuild kit, and a host of other refresh items.
So far I have pulled the exhaust manifold, removed all the exhaust manifold studs, started pulling the intake manifold, began the tedious process of scrubbing the block for a fresh coat of paint, and have cleaned up the injectors, and sent them off to Injector Rehab for some cleaning and testing.

Underneath the valve cover, nothing out of the ordinary, the cam lobes are in great shape which helps re-affirm that this engine was maintained to some extent.

I can't help but sit here counting all of the valves and wonder how I got to this point in my life. 
 

So fellas I bought my first car. It's a 1999 323is.
I bought it from the ORGINAL OWNER!
Came with window sticker and a bunch of service manuals.
Whole suspension was replaced. Needs nothing but a seat belt buckle because an airbag light is on. Has 180k
I plan on replacing headlights, clear corners and such. Possibly m3 front bumper and definitely wheels.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Clearly you don't understand the WIBimmers crowd. Most members actually prefer a non-running BMW that is constantly being worked on.

1984 TC Baur 318i
https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/6162136421.html

some sun came through friday night after washing the car. got out the camera to document the only moment when this car might be perfectly clean from here on out. (don't forget I am daily driving this car)








 

Spotted at lake mills cars and coffee

SEM trim paint, for now. Its a temporary fix.

So this is a cool pic.

I don't have any direct responses for anyone here - I'm just going to say some things broadly about the "car enthusiast" scene in the year 2017. 
The issues being discussed here can mostly be traced back to the self-esteem movement and telling everyone they're special when they really aren't, and that everybody should just let everybody do whatever they want and be inclusive of that. 
Here's a thought which I will qualify below: Fuck that. 
So, before I started my own company, there was a time in my career in software development where I was responsible for setting technical direction, and generally speaking had to wrangle 40-50 developers on the straight and narrow. Some of them were very young. Some of them had egos coming out of college, and others were more humble and realized they don't know anything at all. The younger guys who eventually succeed are the ones who come in with mediocre skills at best, but want to participate in a way that they are learning, asking questions, and generally trying to become better. Then there were the guys who think that just because they can write some code, that they deserve a seat at the table, shouldn't have to listen to anyone senior to them, and I've heard things like "well I've never deployed a bug to production" - congrats you've just shown that you have nearly 0 experience. Your code is also garbage. You've contributed nothing to anything, and as such you don't know shit and you will now sit down, shut up, and listen. You have nothing useful to contribute yet, despite being told your whole life that your opinion matters. Don't do your best - do my best. 
These 2 types of young guys (gals aren't usually as ego-driven) getting into (in this case software) is analogous to young guys getting into cars. One group of guys are genuinely trying to learn, they try to wrench on their own cars with what tools they have, they are how (most of us I think were) at a younger age. My first car was a 93 Ford Probe GT that I blew the ringlands on and used it as an opportunity to learn how to swap my first engine at 17. Another group of guys are putting stupid stickers on Chevy Cruzes, Hyundai Accents, etc. and when they go to car meets/shows, they talk about a lot of things they know nothing about trying to "fit in" to fill the void of the insecurity of knowing deep down that they drive a complete shitbox that would've been just fine if they had left well enough alone. In short, they have nothing to contribute of any real value. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a Chevy Cruze if that's all you can afford. There is something wrong with not wrenching on anything, hob-cobbling your car with stickers, slapping a "short-ram intake" i.e. cone filter on the hot side bolted directly to your fucking throttle body, and then walking around like you have something to say. Wanna go to a car meet but don't have a nice car? Nobody is going to shun you - show up and ask about the builds of cars that are there that actually have work done to them. Learn something from people. Do better for yourself. Show up as a true enthusiast who just wants to talk to some like-minded people and hang out. 
In summary, I will not be inclusive of shitfucks. Shitfucks is not necessarily synonymous with people driving cheap cars. I didn't get to where I am in life by spending all my time pandering to people who don't contribute to the bottom line. I got to where I am by actively looking for people smarter than me and then figuring out how to learn from them - Not circle jerking on WCEC Facebook all day talking about how awesome my new LED underglow lights are going to be when I order them after 2 more paychecks come in, to the tune of 100 other knuckle-dragging mouth breathers without a shot in this world telling me how sick AF those lights are gonna be at Automotion.