gilber33

Finally picked up the new daily! After ruling out many of the other European SUVs, I kept coming back to the X5. After a lot of browsing I realized I wanted one with nicer wheels and either sport or comfort seats. The other features weren’t as important. 
 
There were some in Chicagoland, but driving down there with my wife and then driving two cars back through there with her by herself isn’t something I wanted to do. Fortunately, I found a strong contender to the north of me in Neenah. We went up there Saturday morning, checked it out, and bought it. 
 
2015 Xdrive35i with M-Sport package. The PO also has an e70 diesel with m sport, an M650, e46 M3, and a new X7. He was selling the X5’s to make room for his new M3 Comp. So it was coming from someone who knew the cars and I really liked that. 
 
Anyways, I’ve only been driving it for two days, but it is so awesome. All three kids fit comfortably with three across forward facing car seats. The storage in the boot is great. The car in Sport mode is quicker than I thought it would be and the paddle shifters are reallly good. 

Using an easy up as a paint booth frame is a great idea. 

I’ve been daily driving the e30 for a couple months now. Other than one scare when it wouldn’t start at work it’s been great! Thought the starter failed after I got to work one day but it was actually the engine to frame ground. I assume the starter is grounded to the engine block? Anywho. 
 
Anywho, here’s some neat pictures from cruising around the area last night. 
 

I’ve been daily driving the e30 for a couple months now. Other than one scare when it wouldn’t start at work it’s been great! Thought the starter failed after I got to work one day but it was actually the engine to frame ground. I assume the starter is grounded to the engine block? Anywho. 
 
Anywho, here’s some neat pictures from cruising around the area last night. 
 

I'm two e90's into my life and I'm convinced it's the best mix of technology, tactile feedback, comfort, performance and usability.  It just all makes sense and the performance is so usable.

Just make sure that once the seat is strapped in and snugged down, you give it a couple pats and tell yourself “that’s not going anywhere”. Only then, are you truly a dad. 

What are these? Pedals for ants? 
 

 
Are these as tiny and tightly grouped together as it looks, or is the picture deceiving?
 

Just driving it an enjoying it.



As soon as the 850 is done, I have a small to-do list for it: 
Remove amp and subwoofer and put back in the "underseat" powered subwoofer.  O2 sensor.  Investigate intermittent clunk from rear. I believe it's tied to the sway bars. Either the mounts or the unsealed heim joints on the aftermarket sway bar endlinks.  That's really about it right now. 
Took the car to Green Bay and back on Wednseday and it did great. It was wet and humid and then cool at night and the headlights stayed completely dry the whole time.
My only complaint is the car sitting at 3500 RPM while doing 70 on the highway with the 4.10 diff. But as I looked more into the 3.73, it sits at about the same if I were to go 80. I also read of a significant difference in feel of the car between the two, with the 4.10 being quite a bit snappier. I mean, it makes sense, I just didn't realize it would be as noticeable as others describe.
So, I will probably save $1,000 and just go 10mph slower.

Just make sure that once the seat is strapped in and snugged down, you give it a couple pats and tell yourself “that’s not going anywhere”. Only then, are you truly a dad. 

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. 

Not to toot my own horn, but I love how all of this came out. 

Me too!
Its harder than I anticipated. I knew forums didn’t work like they did years ago for selling car stuff and that’s it’s all moved to Facebook and Instagram, but I never got deep into instagram. So it’s been a huge learning curve to try and get the name out there. 
 
But those who have received and installed the adapters really like them! 
 
The Depo kits with the new Acme projectors is a no brainer to me. I was taking some new pictures of them last night and I’m looking at the Depos , and then my Ellipsoids, and back to the Depos. If one of those sets end up on my car I won’t be surprised. 

As I started making them I realized that a complete kit takes 24 hours of non stop printing to make with one printer. Since I really only have the ability to start a print on the morning and after work, it wouldn’t have been good business to do that. Plus, if the printer went down, then I’d be screwed. So yeah, I dove right in. 

The last month was pretty crazy figuring out this whole lighting biz. But I got caught up on the first wave of orders and had a night to just work on the car. 
It's back on the ground. What I've completed up to this point: 
ABS Delete using the Chase Bays brake line kit.  Chase Bays power steering reservoir and hoses. Patch some rust in the engine bay and paint it.  New water pump, timing belt kit, transmission input shaft seal.  Ditched the Garagistic DSSR in favor for the IE Motorsports DSSR and oem shift selector joint. Rebuilt the HVAC box with all new foam on the flaps and the joints and fixed one of the recirc flaps. Redid the body harness going into the engine bay (lights, fan, etc.) with new loom. What's left: 
Finish putting interior back together and redo the gauge wire harnesses.  Paint a couple pieces. Fluids.  Odds and ends. 

My printers hard at work. 

These lighting adapters have been a lot of fun and really cool to see all of the reactions to them. I'm trying really hard to make them look and feel just as good as they do function.

Annual first drive to work picture. 


Cruise control works. I took the actuator apart and did a better job adjusting the cable. I think there was too much slack inside the actuator before. 
 
850R is up on the lift for engine mounts, turbo rebuild, some coolant lines, and hopefully if all goes smoothed, pull the dash and fix the mounts and replace the evaporator.  
 



Not good for boost. 

World is kind of geared for a family of 4. Finding a car to fit a 3rd car seat starts to become a challenge. The 3rd row seat requires a contortionist to get a kid strapped in the 20point harness these days.  So, you go out and get the "swagger wagon" for the whole family, and you windup having the wrong car half the time when you go get them from the sitter. just get the "Hoovie Van" and you'll be all set.
As far as family dynamic the more the better.  once you get past 4-5 the older ones help out with the younger ones. but, when it's just the 2 of you, the biggest change is from 2 to 3. it's a whole different ball game. you go from playing "man to man" defense to "Zone". You go from controlling the situation to just containing the explosion.
good luck with getting that boy. You have a 50/50 shot.  My grandfather was a farmer and wanted sons to help on the farm. He wound up with 5 girls (youngest is 2 years older then I) and 14 of 19 grandsons.  I got 3 boys because my wife wanted that girl.  Now that they are teenagers, she is glad 'cause she says she couldn't handle today's girls.
  so, god give you what you can handle.
 
 

Eh. I felt going from 1 to 2 was a bigger transition than going from 2 to 3. 
Everything works itself out and you adapt. Our plan is to have one more. And when that happens, we'll figure it out. It's definitely easier with two them able to walk longer distances, so when we walk downtown the two older ones can walk or ride scooters or something. 

3 little girls here. Haven’t read a baby book yet. 
 
My unsolicited advice: make it up as you go. They’re going to do whatever they want when they want and any attempt to follow schedules and routines that Instagram moms swear by will only result in unnecessary stress and hell when your baby decides to continue being a baby and doesn’t give a shit about your schedule.
All the blogs and books are bullshit. 

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

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

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. 

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. 

That looks like exactly what I need! Thanks for that. I had no idea that existed.