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My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)


Earl

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Almost forgot the updates from this weekend.

 

Friday I got the mirrors installed as soon as I got out of work. I am really happy with how they look on the car.
 

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I stuck my missing fog delete in too. I really like how they look. I may source an extra ///M bumper and completely shave the foglight holes. It looks kinda cool. I need to figure out the white balance on my phone to take better pictures.

 

Anyways, I was also in the process of swapping out my drivers side seat belt adjuster, but didn't have the right size Torx bit. I grabbed one on the way home and got back to work Saturday morning. Here is the old and new (old left, new right)
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You can't really see the problem much. I ended up breaking the original when I was removing my headliner a while back. I tried fixing it but it kept going off track. Kitty sent me a new one with the mirrors and it works flawlessly=)

 

After I got that done I finished removing my steering rack by getting the tie rods unbolted from the knuckles. I need to buy a case of brake cleaner so I can clean it up and then see where the leak is coming from.

 

I did not get anything else done because a local member swung by and I installed a set of coilovers on his e36. We has a pesky bolt that wouldn't come undone for over an hour and upon reinstallation, I snapped it in half. We sourced a bolt easily at the local store and finished it up as soon as we got back.

 

I am hoping I can get at least something done this week. Fingers crossed

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Quick mirror comparison

 

So here is the compact right after her first wash when I bought he with the lovely flag mirrors
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and the current state with AC Schnitzer mirrors=)
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They definitely seem to fit the bodylines better and sit nice and tight against the body. Very happy with the outcome.

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Well the car is too round for the boxy flag mirrors, and the ///M mirrors are rounder and odder shaped than the AC Schnitzer mirrors. Plus they stick off the body really far. You would need to see these in person to see how well they fit the shape of the car=)

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Things actually happened since last update.

 

Friday I went to the shop after work and smoothed out all of the welds I could get with a flap disc.
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I need to find something small to fit into the remaining areas to grind.

 

I spent Saturday morning at the meet and then came back to the shop with Andy.

 

We removed the tie rods from my rack and cleaned it up a bit.
 

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I found where it was leaking right away. One of the lines rotted through.
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I removed them and will be capping them off since I deleted power steering.
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My lovely girlfriend then stopped by to drop off my package from ECS Tuning.
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There was a ton of harware and my tie rods, but two other things stood out.
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I have always wanted the raised BMW front rubstrip. It seems that the area it mounts on my rep bumper is a little off from OEM, so I will need to do some light sanding of the bumper for the rubstrip to sit flush.

 

I have also really wanted the euro M3 radiator cover since I saw one and it wasn't too bad of a price. Only $35 and ECS carries them.

After that I took my old oil sensor and replaced it.
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Around this time I actually felt like working on the car more and just started tearing into it. This was around 6pm and I needed to stay at the shop until 8:30 because my girlfriend and I were going out to see Andy for his birthday. I figured since the bay is getting rewelded shortly, the undercoat needs to come off as soon as possible. I also want to get my knuckles,calipers, and front subframe painted before putting the new control arms on.

 

Off with her head
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This week I will be picking up a wire wheel and getting all of the undercoat off. I am glad I actually got something productive done and I hope it continues.

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Thanks....... I've been at work for an hour and half now and have nothing to show for it because of this thread.

 

Earl has been at work on this thing for a year and a half now and has nothing to show for it   (*_*)

gQF4OOa.gif

 

 

(post will be deleted when the car is up and running.) 

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Thanks....... I've been at work for an hour and half now and have nothing to show for it because of this thread.

 

You're welcome=)

 

Earl has been at work on this thing for a year and a half now and has nothing to show for it   (*_*)

gQF4OOa.gif

 

 

(post will be deleted when the car is up and running.) 

 

Hey, it hasn't even been a full year yet=) I parked it in November of last year

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Friday I split my old control arms from my knuckles and compared them to my new ones.

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The front end will feel a million times better with the new ones. It is odd because my car felt super solid before. I cannot imagine how nice it will ride whenever I finally finish the car.....

 

I had to leave the shop shortly after that because I got something in my eye and it was really bothering me. When I got home it ended up just being dust in my contact making my eye dry out.

 

Saturday I spent all day getting the undercoat out of my wheel wells. I thought at first I should go down to bare metal, but then figured I will need to primer/paint it before undercoat again anyways so I just focused on getting the undercoat itself off. I am very happy with the end results.

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Right now my buddy is able to do the welding this weekend. Hopefully that doesn't change over the next few days.

 

I have also been honing my drift skillz on Forza 4 with Kaiser so come and play with us=)

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So the bay got some much needed attention this weekend.

 

Saturday and Sunday my friend Greaser Kyle started working his fabrication magic on the bay.

 

I should have gone to him in the first place. Whate neded up happening is the guy I had weld before layed really tall tacks and when I ground them out, it ended up making some thin spots. This lead to Kyle having to fix blow through as well as patch a section that got really thin from his grinding. He is working out out so there won't be any issues after he is done.

 

I started saturday morning by removing one of the last brackets.
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I didn't get many pictures of what Kyle got done.

 

Here is the hole he cut to patch where it got thin.
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You can see it all patched up here.
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That mount of weld up top was to add some thickness where a little hole was. He wants to use as much weld as possible so that I really don't need much filler at all later.

 

He is gone up north this coming weekend and then gone hunting the next, as well as Thanksgiving. I won't see him for about three weeks so that means I will be working on routing the airlines for the front through the inside of the car as well as finally putting my motor together a bit more=)

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Looking good, maybe i missed this but is the welding for strength, looks, etc?  Just curious because I will be doing a bunch of work over the winter.

 

Pretty sure he's welding to make everything smooth.  Some just use filler, but then it cracks after awhile.  Welding is the better way with only filler to make it perfect.

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Exactly what Robert said=) It is for filling the seam where the strut tower meets the wheel well. Otherwise people stick a bunch of filler in there and it cracks when stress is added. This will strengthen the seam and filler will only be needed for minor waves or imperfections in the metal.

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