P_Roloff

I’m such a slacker and forgot to post this, but Santa got me an awesome print of the Madison lakefront and some awesome stickers, thanks again! Favorite gift of the season!

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!

The following message is going to be copy pasted from my last update on facebook. If anyone can offer any help, please reach out.

MY CAR IS STILL MISSING
$500 REWARD IF FOUND
IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION, DIRECTLY CONTACT ME OR THE POLICE. MY PHONE NUMBER IS 715-FIVE SEVEN SEVEN-0942 I received an update today that the person who broke into my unit has been arrested with proof and confessed to stealing my car. He is not the same person who tried to ransom it back to me. The car is still missing, but supposedly has changed hands multiple times and is still getting used. It was last seen in the Eau Claire area in the beginning of January.   I am now offering a $500 reward for information that results in the returning of my car. Its supposedly still being used and driven. Below I will list the technical specs of my car and some of the aftermarket parts in case anyone sees e46 parts come up for sale or anything like that.   2001 BMW 330i VIN: WBAAV53431FT01049 LAST KNOWN MILEAGE: ~137k mi 3.0 I6 w/ 5spd manual M-tech I appearance package Silver on grey interior BBS RC303 wheels with Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 Tires Eonon head unit Magnaflow catback exhaust Active Autowerke headers Fortune Auto 500 coilovers E39 M5 single mass flywheel conversion kit Dinan carbon fiber intake ECS lug stud conversion 15% tint   IDENTIFYING PREVIUS DAMAGE: Car had broken front kidney grills and a damaged hood, passenger side door had some dents, red-tint painted taillights and yellow tinted fog lights, dark grey pinstriping below window line, powdercoated wheels had tire mount residue around the bead stained on the black powder, passenger side front fender has a roughly 2 inch long oval sized spot of missing paint, and small amounts of rust on body panel below rear license plate

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?
 

Looks like @straight6pwr’s old car is up for sale!
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1989-bmw-325i-165/?fbclid=IwAR2DXsSEdDoLRlEGWAXA-JBDeWAPgbIN2HfF3dcZFTIWWjd8TjPoTnnO8qk
 

ACS mirrors successfully installed, painted, and PPF'd on the ZHP.
These have been on my list of parts I have been searching for for this car for probably 2 years now, finally found a LHD set, as all of the other sets I find are RHD. With my car being a 05, I have the ribbon style cables, so I had to modify them a ton to make them functional. I completely took the motor and harness out of my OEM mirrors and made a bracket so it fit in these. I parrallel park downtown almost daily, so I really did not want to lose the reverse mirror function.
I also recently black PPF'd the door trim, as it was severely faded and buffing did nothing. This has bothered me since I bought the car, and new shadow line trim is like $6000, so this was the best option. It honestly looks better than new, and will withstand all scratches with the nice self healing that PPF has. 
I think the mirrors completely changed the look of the car! This is how the car should have came from the factory. 

I didn't do any driving today, but I did go trudge around on a ~10 mile walk this morning. Nice to get something like an actual snowstorm. Road conditions were definitely poor, but people seemed to be making the best of it.

I think the partnership broke for a few years but looks like they are the current OEM supplier again per Castrol's website. https://www.castrol.com/en_us/united-states/home/castrol-story/newsroom/announcements/recommended-bmw-oil-supplier.html
Man those pics make me wish I was romping around in my 530i.

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?
 

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. 

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-1-4-3-8-1-2-in-E-Torx-Socket-Set-HETX13PC/206031060#overlay

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?

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!
 

Thanks! It totally does, I'm looking forward to taking some trips and getting out in the woods! It's actually pretty fun (in a silly way) on road and in corners too. And totally agree but I'm definitely biased haha. 
Thanks! I wish there were more to go around too... 
Thanks!! I was hoping for some snow drifts to go bombing through this morning but we ended up getting nothing but rain 👎 Enjoy the new ride!!

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!


 

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!
 

Congrats on the new Ferd Joe! Having seen it in person, the color and overall looks are even better than the photos, which is saying something. Now that you officially posted about it though I think there’s a requirement for photos of it hard parked with one wheel on a big ass snowdrift 😂

Congrats on the purchase! and on avoiding the knife fight of potential buyers for this car 🤣 this really is a perfect daily and looking forward to following it more.

Well, I wish I wasnt making this update but here we are.

Back in December I got a fun phone call from a local police department asking about my E46 and told me they had a traffic infraction that they wanted to discuss with me. I responded with "Wow, thats really interesting given the fact I put my car in storage back in October." The cop proceeded to tell me that there was no traffic infraction he wanted to discuss, but that he was investigating some storage units that had gotten broken into in Chippewa Falls. I immediately ran to my storage unit here in Eau Claire and lo and behold, she was long gone! And not only that, they ripped the wall off the unit to get into the 2 next to me. Enjoy this photo of property damage and a sadly missing space in front of my skyline.

And then to follow everything up, they drove up to Chippewa Falls to use my car to break into more units up there the day after it was stolen which is where I originally got the call about my car from. Heres a fun security camera shot given to me by the owner of the other units:

To say the least, I wasnt very excited about this news. I got police involved right away and started posting on Facebook trying to locate my car. A couple people had seen it here and there, but no solid leads aside from the fact the car was still local. Eventually I had a woman reach out to me that explained that not only did she know who had my car, but she had actually ridden in it! Saw my facebook posts and reached out. Pretty cool, but I still didnt have my car back yet. Turns out she was the roommate of the new "owner." We talked for a few weeks, and eventually I figured out that the current "owner" of the car was going to try to ransom it back to me for a very good price of $2500. Its at this point that I've realized I have reached and met the bottom of the intelligence barrel in this town, so I downloaded a phone recording app, got the number from her, and gave this asshat a call. I told him I was not going to get cops involved and that I was willing to pay $3000 just to get the car back. He was apprehensive at first but told me he'd give me a call back.

We are just getting to the fun part now. He gives me a call back and lays out everything, where to bring the money, and even admitted to having the car but did not admit to stealing it. Also threatened me which was really nice! So, I did what anyone would do, and recorded the entire phone conversation and gave it to the detective in charge. The next day he was taken into custody with my skyline keys in his pocket, but the car is still nowhere to be found. He was already on parole until 2030 so it is fair to say he's pretty screwed. The cops are now working through the download on his phone to hopefully track the car down but it's still no longer in my possession.

If anyone sees any parts go up for sale (Active autowerke headers, fortune auto 500 coils, bbs rc303's with hankook ventus v12 evo 2 tires, eonon head unit, etc) please have no problem reaching out to me, I'm scared the car is likely getting parted out already. Hopefully I get it back, but chances seem slimmer by the day. Ill be sure to update if the car gets found but I have a feeling this thread is closing in on the end.

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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Finally got around to doing the brakes over the last couple months as they were properly worn out. I built up a sandblasting cabinet over the summer and stripped/painted the 335i calipers and caliper brackets and rebuilt with new seals/boots/guides/hardware. I also painted them gold because I wanted a little color and liked the look of the oem BMW performance brake kit that's painted in phoenix yellow. I installed everything along with new rotors/pads/outer rubber lines and a fluid flush. Because of the larger calipers I coded in the performance brake option to the vehicle order that adjusts the bias/pedal feel/abs/etc. to match the larger brakes. Overall a massive improvement, should've done it way sooner. 


 
I also bought a new daily about a month ago. I've had a weird itch to get into something manual/4x4 for a while and more recently my wife and I decided we needed something a bit bigger for road trips. Decided it was time to scratch that itch and after a lot of searching I got a bit lucky (given the current car market) and ended up picking up a manual '22 Bronco Badlands out in Seattle. I've been really enjoying it so far.
 
 
The sad news is that the Bronco will be replacing the wagon so unfortunately that's where my time in the Longroof club ends.... or so I thought. After nearly 5 years and 50k miles of trouble free driving for me it decided to do this on a test drive with a potential new owner lol. 

 
Sooo I got it towed back home and did a fairly complete cooling system overhaul last weekend. New radiator, expansion tank, upper and lower radiator hoses, replaced the hose that split with the updated version, water pump, thermostat, both of the large diameter hoses that connect to the water pump, replaced the plastic 'mickey mouse' flange on the head with an aluminum version and new hose to that too, and a fresh fill of the good ol' BMW blue coolant. Also replaced every o-ring on the hose connections I disconnected but didn't replace with new peroxide-cured EPDM o-rings. With that it's running great again and it'll be headed to its new home this week. I'm definitely going to miss this one. 

I 100% didn’t realize that car is out east 😂 dang it

h my that is what happen when you have 4 other projects ehm ehm. kids, wife and house and poor bimmer had to wait again. Oh well I got a bit of motivation so I will try to keep the momentum going. Vintage 2023 I am coming

It is wiring time. I ordered bunch of tefzel wire a while ago but could not get myself to start the wiring process.
 
 
 
 
 
 
And of course when i started checking circuits and what wires I will need I found that I forgot to order roughly 20-30% of needed wires.
I fixed that and I am getting the remainder tomorrow.

Since I could not continue wiring for about a week focused on other things. Fuel tank was partially modified (read cut but not welded), so i tackled that. I will run just the right side tank (measures roughly 7.5 gallons). Range will be amazing escpecially on e85. Space left after the left tank will be occupied by the exhaust.
 
Don't mind my ugly welds it doesn't leak  and its temporary until I get the fuel cell
 
 
 
 
I also got the main power feed done. It is 1/0 splitting into 3x 4 gauge. Black thingy is the main 70A relay that will power up the "run" bus of the fusebox
 
I painted front calipers black and inspected rear e28 calipers that I sourced from the lemons e28. Rears will need rebuild which will be done as soon as I get my rebuild kit from rockauto.


This week I will try to finish fuel lines (6AN ptfe for that corn juice power) and continue the wiring challenge.
 

The upholstery project has been going better than I anticipated and is a lot of fun. The rear bench is almost done. 
 
 

The euroweaves replacements got here. 🤤

I took out the rear subframe. I don’t know if you guys remember how much trouble I had fitting the RevShit RTA bushings, but I swapped those out for Condor and I’m really annoyed I didn’t use Condor originally. Fitment was 10/10. 
Also did the rear sway bar link reinforcements and rear sway bar mount reinforcements. Another great excuse to get the welder out. Not pretty but I’m happy with my twice a year welds.

 

And the X5 looking dapper as always.

I finally realized why I like this car so much and I can summarize like this: I don’t miss driving the e30 when I’m driving this.