View Full Version : Tim's Mystic Blue ZHP Coupe
Current Mod List (August 1, 2021):
Exterior
BMW Performance Grilles
Smoked side markers & reflectors
LED license plate lights
Debadged
Interior
MK4 Nav
TCU
TV Module
Homelink
Rearview mirror w/homelink and BMW Assist (so I have a total of six garage door openers, lolz)
M dead pedal
M door sills
One-touch rear windows
Napa leather steering wheel
Cheap ebay aux cable to cheap ebay Bluetooth adapter (hey, it cost $5 total and works really well)
Findway F518 3D floor mats
A & C pillars in black alcantara, B pillars recovered with original fabric (I didn’t buy enough material, but the slight mismatch doesn’t bother me)
Car-Solution eKombi Module (Numerical Oil & Water Temp, Battery Voltage, Vehicle Speed Gauges)
Underseat First-Aid box
Sparco Pro2000 w/ Brey Krause mounts on OE power slider (driver’s side)
Powertrain
GAS DISA
BMW Performance Intake
BMW Performance Exhaust
S54 Oil Fill Cap
BavAuto Viton OFHG
URO aluminium water pump pulley
URO aluminium power steering pump pulley
E30 expansion tank cap
M3 engine mounts
M3 transmission mounts
ECS 88A poly diff bushings
BMW Performance shift lever
CDV delete
M3 fuel pump baffle
Flipped underhood positive battery jump post
Suspension
Redish V2 RACP reinforcement plates
Vincebar Epoxy & Rivet (original design)
Powerflex Yellow subframe bushings
Powerflex Black RTABs
Ground Control Double Adjustable Koni dampers, Eibach springs (440/900 lbs. F/R)
Ground Control Hybrid caster-camber plates
Ground Control Street rear shock mounts
Front strut reinforcement plates
17 x 8.5” ET40 TRMotorsport C2 (street)
245/40/17 Continental ExtremeContact Sport (street)
17” x 8.5” BMW Style 68 (track)
245/40/17 Hankook RS-4 (track)
Motorsport Hardware 78 mm wheel studs, black acorn nuts
Condor Speed Shop Street Brass Caliper Bushings (front)
Zimmermann Rotors
Hawk HPS Pads (street)
Hawk DTC-60 Pads (track)
Stoptech SS Braided Brake Lines
ATE Type 200 Fluid
ST Suspensions 30 mm M3 front sway bar
Custom front ARB reinforcement plates (epoxied with 3M DP460)
Custom power steering reservoir catch can
Thought I'd start a thread on my car, after just over 5 years of owning it.
A bit of back story: Like most here, I'm a car guy inside-out. I grew up collecting model cars, eventually working my way up to a $200 AutoArt Koenigsegg CCXR. I was always a fan of JDM cars, that is until I got to high school autoshop. Unlike most autoshops with a donated Cavalier, my autoshop teacher was building an E36 racecar. Like most projects, everytime he said it would be done by so and so date, it wasn't. So for two years I had my hands dirty with that car, swapping out the M50B25 for an S52B32, Moton dampers, Megasquirt ECU, the works. He also had an 328is for the street, and working on both those cars combined sparked my interest in older BMWs.
Fast-forward to March 2015. I needed a car for co-op, as my first job was in Windsor, and I lived 400 km away in Toronto. I was initially looking at WRXs and Foresters, but they were all beat up or out of my price range. But then a clean E36 323is popped up on Kijiji, so I decided to check it out. Unfortunately it had massive lifter tick, and although clean inside-out was priced too much for what it was worth.
Then, one night I was laying in bed browsing Kijiji, when a 2004 330ci popped up. It was high mileage at 303,000 km, but had the ZHP package (which I wasn't too familiar with at the time) and was Mystic Blue on Black. More importantly, at least through pics it looked like it had half the mileage it did. I lost a bit of sleep that night thinking about it, especially because I knew about the "subframe" (RACP) issue, and that it was more than double my budget. I stayed up doing a bit more reading to learn about the E46 platform, ZHP package, and the RACP issue. It seemed that the consensus with cracking RACPs were limited to pre-LCI cars (ha, ha........ words I will eat 2 years later). So the next morning I decided to pay a visit. This was the first picture I ever took of the car, and the first time I ever saw it when we parked next to it:
https://i.imgur.com/x99kQscl.jpg
The seller and I got along really well, and you could tell he took good care of the car. He wasn't even planning on selling it, as he had brand-new Michelin PSS fitted to the rear, and a full paint correction + Opti-Coat a few weeks prior. Turns out he found a good deal on an E92 M3, and decided to upgrade - we even took a joyride in that car during the viewing!
https://i.imgur.com/jdfI3p3l.jpg
After 3 hours looking over the car and talking, I made an offer he immediately accepted. Looking back on it I was young and naive, and could have easily bought it for >$1000 lower than what I paid. However I really needed a car, and to this day it still puts a smile on my face everytime I take it out, so I don't regret the purchase.
So as of April 5, 2015 I was the new owner of a 2004 BMW 330CI ZHP.
https://i.imgur.com/YrzLkyyl.jpg
Welcome!
Mystic’s a great color on these cars
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
28firefighter
05-09-2020, 10:49 AM
Very nice! Welcome from a fellow Mystic Blue owner.
sillieidiot
05-09-2020, 11:04 AM
nice to see that you're here too :hi
Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! Now, to continue (note, this will take a while: I pretty much have a novel at this point up until last year, and am still writing). To avoid spamming I'll probably stick to 1-2 updates/day.
Brought the car home and a few pics under my new ownership:
https://i.imgur.com/AqdxiY6l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9xpBPYFl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jPfWrQFl.jpg
Crusty BMWP Exhaust (that I somehow didn't get around to cleaning until 4 years later...)
https://i.imgur.com/JEgqZBZl.jpg
I brought the car to my highschool autoshop to do the oil change, because why not take advantage of using a lift. But more importantly I wanted to remove the rear rotors to investigate why the handbrake wouldn't work. I don't have any pics, but there were chunks of friction material missing from the shoes. I actually bought the handbrake rebuild kit 2 years after this point, and even to this day still haven't gotten around to replacing it. For now I've been parking in gear with no issue.
Additionally, there were traces of rust here and there:
https://i.imgur.com/f8pKpZFl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/U01DXnTl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/H6dT4PFl.jpg
I didn't know it at the time, but the above pic came in very handy when diagnosing the RACP!
The previous owner was somehow able to take advantage of BMW's 12 year rust warranty. The warranty technically only applies for perforation, and the fine print says that you have to go back to the dealer every so often for inspections. So the car has had a couple partial resprays and blending done, but it kept coming back. The previous owner and I managed to put a case in with the same guy at the same dealer all the previous repairs were under, so we crossed our fingers and waited for BMW Canada for approval.
Throughout the summer of 2015 I didn't do much with respect to mods and maintenance. Looking back through my maintenance log I did an oil change, coolant flush (pulled the drain plug on the block), and trans fluid. I also did my best to keep it clean with regular 2-bucket washes. But I mostly just kept driving - putting 400 km every 2 weeks driving between Toronto and Windsor, man the ZHP is such a great road trip car. I was also part of the Formula SAE team at my school, so a few weekends I'd also drive there for summer testing.
https://i.imgur.com/bo0Qihkl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/m5MpqMkl.jpg
At some point I also bought a cable for PA Soft and changed the hexadecimal values to make the coolant temp gauge more linear. I distinctly remember driving back from work and after 5 minutes, the temp gauge was at 12 o'clock. So, I revved it out and it sounded... stressed. More than likely coolant temp was juuuust at 75 deg C, and if that's the case, oil was likely at 40 deg C. Yeeeeaaaaah... again, I was young and dumb (which you'll see more of in my next post). As we don't have oil temp gauges nowadays I make sure to drive a minimum of 10 minutes after coolant is at 90 deg C, to make sure oil is more or less up to temp before giving it the beans. And I just bought a module from Germany that taps into the K-Bus and will display coolant & oil temp, battery voltage, and vehicle speed on my MK4 NAV!
Alright, here comes the one stupid moment I had with the car, it comes down to bad timing and bad judgement. I was late for work and stuck behind a garbage truck. It was a 1 lane road with a solid yellow, and there were no other cars in sight. The truck started to pull to the shoulder with no signal, and there were houses with bins lined up by the curb. So I (wrongly) assumed he was stopping to pick up garbage, and crossed the solid yellow to go around. Unfortunately this was a case of him just signaling at the last minute, to turn left into a driveway. As he started the left turn I was too far gone, and his left front corner tagged my rear quarter panel. Quite a bit of carnage:
https://i.imgur.com/UILGRMOl.jpg
As I’m sure many of you are aware, insurance lowballed me and tried to total my car. I took it to the best collision shop in town, which caters to high-end exotic cars (more on this in a bit). After a bit of back and forth, they put out their final evaluation, and told me to get my own to prove the value of my car. So that’s what I did, and the appraisal came back for much more than I had purchased the car. Of course this was biased as the appraiser knew what was going on, but it did the job, as after 2 or 3 weeks of sitting repairs were approved.
As it’s the quarter panel my car is now tainted, but there was no way insurance was going to pay for a full quarter replacement (plus, 2 years down the line the other quarter panel got damaged, due to a drunk driver – again, more on this later). The quarter was pulled as flush as possible, then a skim coat of filler was applied. A donor door was sourced and fully stripped for paint. There were no LKQ mirrors with shadowline trim available, so the entire passenger’s assembly was replaced. The whole lot was then painted:
https://i.imgur.com/8OZsqsel.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/C1z4EiQl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NvbGjOml.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fstV5Xvl.jpg
After another 2 weeks, repairs were complete:
https://i.imgur.com/u3YgDTxl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mH0rqahl.jpg
And as an added bonus, I salvaged as much as I could off both doors. You don’t realize it when you’re just swinging it on its hinges, but jesus christ that sucker was heavy. My door card was swapped over so I have the door card off the donor, which I ended up selling online, amongst other things:
https://i.imgur.com/Eb4Qm1wl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LaP2N6Cl.jpg
Immediately after taking delivery of the car, I noticed this:
https://i.imgur.com/cQgEKo7l.jpg
Which, under more revealing lighting conditions turned into this:
https://i.imgur.com/kQcEiyAl.jpg
So, of course I’m like WTF? They didn’t even touch the roof when painting, and the roof is Opti-Coated! But then, I remember walking into the body shop still shaken up by the accident, and seeing an employee drying the car. He was using some kind of foam squeegee to dry the cars, which explains why the swirl marks aren’t “swirly”, but rather straight. Well, given that half the car is coated and half is not, and that the whole thing is so messed up, time to break out the Harbour Freight DA I had recently bought. After some trial and error, that above spot turned into this:
https://i.imgur.com/6QVsuxjl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/fbMIqNhl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/J4TsIVWl.jpg
A few lessons were learned with this accident (only had one more due to a drunk driver, 2 years later), including the fact you really have to do research into body shops, and that perhaps I’m too fussy with paint. Definitely wouldn’t have expected a body shop of that calibre to cause that much damage. Anyways at that point I was hogging my parent’s garage too much, plus it was insanely hot. So with the paint mostly corrected and protected I kept driving it until the end of August. At which point my co-op term ended, and it was time to go back to school. It was pretty odd putting the car away for storage when there were still 2 more months of relatively nice weather, but I lived a 5 minute walk from campus, was super-busy managing school and FSAE, and would save a bunch of money on insurance.
So I gave it one final detail, swapped on the winter tires and pumped them up to 50 psi, plugged the exhaust tips, disconnected the battery, brimmed the tank and added fuel stabilizer. Then threw a car cover over it, and said goodbye for 4 months.
johnrando
05-10-2020, 09:56 AM
:thumbsup. Will have to read it all later.
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
:thumbsup. Will have to read it all later.
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
:biggrin
After driving my car with that crusty, ripped alcantara wheel for a few months, I decided it was time for a change. Being the budget-conscious student I was, I wasn’t willing to buy a new leather wheel, and I didn’t want to go back to alcantara. These were the days before DIY sewn-on-covers from China, so my research led me to buying a napa cover from Redline Goods. So while my car was in storage, I removed the wheel and installed the cover:
https://i.imgur.com/SAhZlpgl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rQ9gqyyl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vowJEfrl.jpg
I’d like to say I’m fairly decent with my hands, but this is probably one of the hardest DIY jobs I have done. There’s just a certain level of finessing you need to get the fitment to an acceptable standard, and I was never truly satisfied with the fitment of the cover. At that point in time though, that’ll have to do.
Come the start of 2016, my car was coming out of storage (in the winter!) for my second co-op job. In January, BMW Canada finally approved rust repairs on my car, for what would be the final time since the 12-year mark was approaching that April. As mentioned before the rust kept coming back with resprays, so this time they decided to cut out both rocker panels and replace them:
https://i.imgur.com/I4jjeGv.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/E8UCCKZ.jpg
Suffice it to say I did not want rust coming back, so since then I have not driven the car in the winter.
Come April 2016, I was going back to school for the summer, then ended up landing my third co-op in the SF bay area for the fall. I would’ve loved to drive there, but would not want to drive back in December. Then I was back in school for winter 2017, so the next time my car was out of storage was March 2017, 11 months later. It was at this point, 2 big things were coming up – the first stage of my RACP reinforcement, and a road trip to the SF bay area for my fourth co-op term.
It’s now March 2017, and I’ve taken my car out of its 11 month hibernation. I had been planning a road trip to the SF bay area for some time now – I had an internship there for 4 months in the summer, and what better way to spend 4 months there than driving the canyon roads? So in addition to completing my oil change before even starting the car up for the first time, I also had a quick look at the rest of the underbody.
Right before storage I had the brake pad warning light come on, but I still had tons of pad life left. During my inspection I found this:
https://i.imgur.com/S9yrcdOl.jpg
When I first got my car, it needed pads and rotors to pass safety inspection. The PO took it to a generic shop, so I guess they just didn’t tuck the wire behind the dust cap for the bleeder. I quickly fixed it with a brand-new sensor I found cheap off some guy on kijiji.
I also realized that my driver’s mirror cover was pretty loose. All the retaining tabs were broken, and it was held in with black butyl tape. Removed the cap, epoxied zip-ties to the inside of the cap, and had the zip-ties come through the holes for the tabs.
Another thing I found was this:
https://i.imgur.com/aDm0PlSl.jpg
Remember when I took my car to my highschool autoshop when I first got the car? I thought that split seam in the left rear wheel well was just compromised seam sealer, and was probably something I should take care of. Doing a lot more research, turns out cracks in the sheet metal are not the only indicator of a failing RACP, but the split seam is a result of the RACP actually starting to come apart and fall down, away from the rest of the body. At the time I was quite shocked and disappointed, as repair costs are a decent chunk of the vehicle’s value. But I decided to look into it, as I planned on keeping the car as long as I can. Normally I’d DIY everything, but I was still in school for another month, and there was no break period from end of school to my road trip. Luckily I found a shop that was vetted on the local forum by multiple people, and their pricing was unbeatable (though there was a small conundrum that was peacefully resolved later on). After discussing with the owner of the shop what exactly I wanted done, I was confident that this was the right shop to trust my car with.
Things that were done at this time:
• Repaired the existing crack (stop-drilled the ends, then welded it closed + grinded flush)
• Welded Redish Motorsport V2 plates in
• Welded separated seam in left rear wheel well
• Powerflex Yellow subframe bushings (while we’re in there)
• Powerflex Black RTABs (while we’re in there)
• New OEM diff bushings (while we’re in there)
• Replaced fuel pump with VDO unit (I was going to take care of this on my own, and had the part. But they said they’d do it for free since it takes 5 minutes with the tank out of the car anyways. Very kind of them!)
Crusty subframe, ugh I hate Canadian winters:
https://i.imgur.com/T96jZdZl.jpg
Crack I found:
https://i.imgur.com/n7TMZT5l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YoBYDFUl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MU2EQQRl.jpg
Plate welding in progress:
https://i.imgur.com/nNiy2LIl.jpg?1
Repaired seam in left rear wheel well:
https://i.imgur.com/EkQga2El.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/qXhUfI8l.jpg
With stage 1 of RACP repairs complete, I then took my car to the dealer for the driver’s side airbag recall:
https://i.imgur.com/0vYOQW1l.jpg
Ooooooh shiny new badge:
https://i.imgur.com/3L2sTWRl.jpg
Throughout the winter I was also keeping a close eye on eBay for reconditioned steering wheels. There are a couple well-known sellers within M3 Forum, but their prices were out of my budget. But then, a relatively unknown seller popped up, and they had only sold 3 or 4 wheels at that point. The pictures showed a wheel as nice as the ones by the more well-known sellers, so I decided to chance it and went for it, knowing I had eBay buyer’s protection in case things went south. Contrary to what most people like, I decided to stick to black instead of tri-stitch, I think it just looks much cleaner.
The wheel arrived before I took my car out of storage, and man it was beautiful. I held off installing it until after the RACP repair and airbag recall, to keep it clean.
https://i.imgur.com/6UBdK4dl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BAaZKUVl.jpg
Aaaaaaah much better. And it was only $220 USD!
https://i.imgur.com/PErtiV7l.jpg
I think I held onto my old wheel for about a year, before I found a buyer to recoup some of the cost.
With the RACP repair, airbag recall, new steering wheel, and the car inspected with a clean bill of health – it was now time to drive to California.
I had a lot of car work planned for the 4 months I was in California. The last time I was there, I had spent 4 months helping a friend 2ZZ swap his MR2 Spyder, so I was able to use his garage, tools, and help this time around. Nevertheless, I still brought some of my tools with me, and was able to make full use of the space above the spare tire and under the trunk false floor:
https://i.imgur.com/qZPe14Ml.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bMpSFk2l.jpg
My first stop was supposed to be Chicago, but I had visa issues and was held an extra night in Sarnia. Luckily things got resolved, so I’d still be able to make my 2nd stop with a bit of extra driving.
Crossing into Port Huron, Michigan:
https://i.imgur.com/sGHinpjl.jpg
12 hours later, and a lot of killed bugs:
https://i.imgur.com/J2Hz28fl.jpg
The view from my AirBNB at Council Bluffs, Iowa:
https://i.imgur.com/8NS4KNhl.jpg
Saw an actual cowboy en route to Denver:
https://i.imgur.com/FseOAQul.jpg
Past Denver and starting to climb:
https://i.imgur.com/56qdNwal.jpg
Went from fairly decent spring weather, back to winter. Surprisingly the Michelin PSS did fairly decent in the little slush I did encounter:
https://i.imgur.com/znvRsjFl.jpg
Made it into Utah!
https://i.imgur.com/eSOPitkl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/aIzzbybl.jpg
Sitting hellaflush with all the weight in the rear:
https://i.imgur.com/PLV1wiOl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/F26GHORl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/h7pgoril.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/GZHLepzl.jpg
Unfortunately, this is the only pic I have of my car at the Grand Canyon:
https://i.imgur.com/UojA7wJl.jpg
At a family friend’s house in Kingman, Arizona:
https://i.imgur.com/PIdMbM4l.jpg
Stopped for a couple nights in Vegas (no pics, unfortunately):
https://i.imgur.com/G7pPHndl.jpg
Almost there!
https://i.imgur.com/Pmj6Lahl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7i7W9u3l.jpg
Aaaaaand, made it. Of course, lots of carnage:
https://i.imgur.com/piRzCa0l.jpg
The best view I’ve ever had out of any bedroom, and I’ll have it for the next 4 months:
https://i.imgur.com/sSZ9GTsl.jpg
Back in December 2016 I ordered a massive pile of parts, to take advantage of the end of year sales. I had them shipped to my friend’s place, since we were working on my car there anyways.
From VinceSE2 on M3 Forum (for my RACP reinforcement stage 2):
• Vincebar, Epoxy & Resin (Original design)
• Epoxy & Resin Install Kit
From FCP Euro:
• Cooling system refresh
• Belts, tensioners
• M3 engine and trans mounts
• E-brake rebuild kit
• Inner + outer tie rods
• Strut & shock mounts, reinforcement plates
• Bilstein B4 shocks & struts
• Oil pan gasket
• Diff fluid
• BMW Performance Shift Lever (correct one)
From ECS Tuning:
• BMW Performance Shift Lever (wrong one, so I had to return it)
• ZHP 6-speed shift knob
• URO Aluminium Water Pump Pulley
• URO Aluminium Power Steering Pump Pulley
• VANOS oil line
• S54 oil fill cap (because I had $$$ from the refunded shift lever)
From BavAuto:
• Viton OFHG
From eBay:
• POR15 starter kit (for Vincebar)
• Smoked front reflectors (to match the smoked side markers from the PO)
I also bought Araldite 2014 epoxy for the Vincebar, but forgot where I got it from.
https://i.imgur.com/185u6Rorl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Uvet5yxl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XDVU8K3l.jpg
I also paid a quick visit to Walmart to grab some car wash supplies, as my car was (obviously) in dire need of a wash:
https://i.imgur.com/i3A1vHul.jpg
Much better, feels good to get all the road trip grime off:
https://i.imgur.com/1UIsIgKl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dNEHuYal.jpg
Installed my smoked reflectors:
https://i.imgur.com/2ABztoOl.jpg
I wasn’t very happy with the fitment, as they’re flatter than they should be, so the leading and trailing edges stick up a bit. Unfortunately I cracked one of the original ones taking them out, and I did get a partial refund on them due to the bad fitment. Given how the paint on my front bumper is original at this mileage, the reflectors are far from the ugliest part in that area, so I wasn’t bothered enough to buy higher quality ones.
https://i.imgur.com/o68Bpgml.jpg
I also had a flickering passenger’s xenon, which turned out to be a broken wire. Cut, soldered, & heat-shrinked the offending wire, and all was back to normal.
https://i.imgur.com/HbBIv48l.jpg
I then sprung a leak at the plastic neck on the radiator for the upper rad hose. Impeccable timing too, since it happened about a week before I was planning on doing my cooling system refresh. A small dose of JB Marine Weld got me through the week (and probably would’ve lasted a whole lot longer):
https://i.imgur.com/f4Pu5xnl.jpg
Unfortunately, I have no pics from my cooling system refresh. We did the following:
• Radiator (Behr)
• Water Pump (genuine BMW)
• Thermostat (Mahle)
• Expansion tank (Modine) & E30 1.4 Bar expansion tank cap (Behr)
• Both the primary & AC belt tensioners (INA) and belts (Continental)
• Expansion tank return hose (Rein)
• Power Steering & Water Pump Pulleys (URO Aluminium)
• OFHG (Viton, so hopefully it lasts a lot longer than stock)
• VANOS oil line
I didn’t intend on replacing the upper or lower rad hoses, since they were done in 2014 and still soft. To reuse them I bought o-rings and replaced those instead, which worked fine on the lower rad hose, but still leaked on the upper rad hose. So I just bought another upper rad hose anyways and left the lower one.
I then started stripping the rear end of the interior, in preparation for the Vincebar.
Crumbling sound deadening:
https://i.imgur.com/UHzQqUjl.jpg
Score! Found some spare change under the rear seats:
https://i.imgur.com/VXzYAWFl.jpg
I’ve no idea why I bagged the sound deadening (that I was tossing) so nicely:
https://i.imgur.com/sRwVte1l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sK306TQl.jpg
I had a bunch of packing supplies leftover from all the parts I bought. For some reason, instead of removing the rear seat belt receivers, I left them in and wrapped them in bubble wrap to prevent them from rattling around:
https://i.imgur.com/DEuBNAKl.jpg
My friend and I planned to do the Vincebar on a 3-day long weekend in mid-June (I forget what long weekend it was for) because we weren’t sure how long the whole job would take. So on Friday, June 16th after work, I pulled into his garage and put my car up on jackstands for the next 3 days.
fredo
05-11-2020, 01:06 PM
Lots of good updates here. This is the first time I hear BMW approves to repair rust.
Lots of good updates here. This is the first time I hear BMW approves to repair rust.
Yeah, I was quite surprised - apparently back then, people have had fairly good luck with BMW Canada and the 12-year warranty. Technically it's only for perforation, but they still went ahead with repairs on cars anyways :dunno. But nowadays it seems they're really tightening up restrictions, and rejecting claims as you're technically supposed to have an inspection at the dealer once in a while. Regardless I was quite ecstatic about having both rockers done.
So we put the car in the air, and the first thing I did was look at all the work the shop did. Considering the price, I couldn’t complain about the quality – the underbody isn’t colour-matched but the welds looked fine and was properly protected from corrosion. The poly subframe and RTAB bushings were also installed properly, with lubrication.
https://i.imgur.com/Jqnho0kl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/x3A0tkzl.jpg
However, I paid for OEM diff bushings to be installed, and the bushings looked… not new. The rear bushing was fine, but the steel outer sleeve was rusted. Furthermore, the front two bushings had significant cracks:
https://i.imgur.com/VJJwHMBl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6wII2FBl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Vi8OAPul.jpg
I was quite surprised that they weren’t replaced. I had a pretty in-depth discussion with the shop owner, and he knew I normally did all my own work. I emailed him about it, with no response. I sent a few more emails and called him a few times, and was eventually able to get a hold of him, and he said they somehow forgot to do it. After a bit more chasing, I ended up getting 1/3rd back of what I paid him for the entire job in the first place. It definitely wasn’t a pleasant experience, but I’m just glad not to have gotten screwed over – in fact, I ended up buying the bushings on my own and replacing them myself later on.
In the process of dropping the rear subframe one of the handbrake cables got twisted. I suspect the shop installed the nuts with a gun and overtightened or cross threaded it, so I added a new set of cables to my list of new parts to buy:
https://i.imgur.com/vOY41cpl.jpg
Rear subframe dropped:
https://i.imgur.com/kp3OZz1l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/M7ptDvhl.jpg
Also took some stuff out of the interior, as we needed the space and things were going to get very messy:
https://i.imgur.com/1mekV72l.jpg
Then I drilled the pilot hole for the front mounts from the bottom, poking through the top-most layer of the floor. Then used a holesaw from the top-side to allow access to the internal MIG welds (which weren’t cracked) at the top of the threaded insert for the front subframe studs:
https://i.imgur.com/xgfsXQ9l.jpg
Then started cutting the top-most layer of the rear section:
https://i.imgur.com/2qcbVGrl.jpg
Had to do a couple of minor trims, before a test-fit of the bar:
https://i.imgur.com/KkmEeeCl.jpg
All the grinding and cutting sure makes everything in the garage dirty:
https://i.imgur.com/KFr3QF0l.jpg
Started removing paint on the areas that will be epoxied, and applied POR15 Metal Prep to prevent rust:
https://i.imgur.com/A5xJOWRl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/gh9IAWil.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/mz5uQBRl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uDV1ackl.jpg
Then, epoxied and rivetted everything in place:
https://i.imgur.com/NTnn4Orl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ztqtGY4l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/hK9cVB6l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/x2wqt4al.jpg
It ain’t pretty, but I covered all the exposed seams and remaining exposed metal with POR15:
https://i.imgur.com/73DESVel.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CtDZ0HIl.jpg
Also got my new rear shocks, RSMs, and reinforcement plates in during reinstallation:
https://i.imgur.com/pr4bm9kl.jpg
Managed to button up the car the last night of the weekend, and decided to fabricate the cover and clean up the car the next weekend. Turned out that pre-cut steel plate that was sent with the kit was too small, since I guess I cut the rear top-layer too big:
https://i.imgur.com/sfFg6oBl.jpg
So I made a CAD template, bought some sheet stock, and re-made it:
https://i.imgur.com/Jhg0MjDl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NEBAGYtl.jpg
Then rivetted the whole lot together and seam-sealed the seams:
https://i.imgur.com/Gs0DE8wl.jpg
Then POR15 all exposed metal and seam sealer. Again, it ain’t pretty, but it’s not something I look at every day:
https://i.imgur.com/aNmQ77Ol.jpg
If I could go back and do it again, I’d take a lot more time protecting the interior. I had a few cheap towels laid out, but clearly they weren’t enough. It took me forever to clean the carpets, and I now have permanent craters in the headliner and pitting on the interior of my windshield from the sparks:
https://i.imgur.com/eNKCJu0l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/szvNIcJl.jpg
Oh well, at least I shouldn’t have to worry about my RACP ever again.
Oli77
05-11-2020, 04:53 PM
Dang that's a huge amount of work! Car looks great and has plenty of strength all around it seems'
Dang that's a huge amount of work! Car looks great and has plenty of strength all around it seems'
Yeah, between the replaced rocker panels and the 2-stage RACP reinforcement, I think this one is here to stay. I take good care of my car but have no hesitations in beating the piss out of it - by my best guess, I've dropped the (original) clutch launching it 40-50 times so far, when I autox.
With the RACP locked down, I started to enjoy the back roads around the area (headed to Alice’s quite a few times with friends and co-workers, drove around La Honda/Skyline/Page Mill). I also started autox’ing with BMW CCA Golden Gate Chapter and Golden Gate Lotus Club. Funnily enough, this was the first time I was autox’ing my car, but I had been autox’ing with my Formula SAE team for two years at that point. I still remember the conversation I had with after my first run with my friend (who is also an instructor with BMW):
Friend: “Oh, that really wasn’t bad for your first run! How did it feel?”
Me: “Not bad, but it’s pretty… numb? And really, really boaty”
Friend: “Eh, this is fairly average and a decent car to start with. That Cadillac over there is boaty. Also, you’re turning in waaaaay too late”
Me: “Yeah, I’m used to the FSAE car where you turn and it just goes right away”
Regardless, it was still tons of fun and I was now hooked.
Me being a noob and not putting the tape on my window:
https://i.imgur.com/im4a4e9l.jpg
Well, back to never-ending car work. I had a leaky oil pan, so I purchased a Harbour Freight engine support brace (man, I’m so jealous of how cheap the tools are!) and got to work replacing the oil pan gasket (Victor Reinz). Once again, “while we’re in there”, I did the following as well:
• M3 engine and trans mounts (Rein)
• Front struts (Bilstein B4), strut mounts (Lemforder), reinforcement plates (genuine BMW)
• Inner + outer tie rods (Lemforder)
• Steering Guibo (genuine BMW)
https://i.imgur.com/AnR7O34l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vTWTkDol.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PzhglNil.jpg
I was honestly appalled at the quality of the casting for the oil pan. Tons of little burrs that ripped the shop towel I used to clean it. I had first-hand experience with quality cast aluminium gearbox casings at my co-op, and they were as smooth as a baby’s bottom.
https://i.imgur.com/fmT4R0yl.jpg
I also found these little guys, and was quite concerned. However after getting some opinions it’s very likely a brittle piece of old valve cover gasket:
https://i.imgur.com/UEsEBk3l.jpg
Man, I hate rust. To get the tie rod end off the upright, I used a pickle fork and had to hammer for half an hour before that sucker came out.
https://i.imgur.com/aAnpZtNl.jpg
I also bought new rims. As much as I like the look of style 135s, I was looking to downsize to a square 17” setup. Lower unsprung mass, less understeer, cheaper tires, and the ability to rotate your tires are a few reasons why I wanted to do so. I had a corporate discount with Tire Rack, so got a set of 17 x 8.5” TR Motorsport C2, wrapped in 245/40/17 Continental ExtremeContact Sport. Although these are cheap rims, I had read multiple reviews from guys who had abused them, and they are JWL certified. Also, call me a basic b1tch, but I love the look of TE37s, and wanted to bring a bit of my love for the JDM scene to my car.
https://i.imgur.com/cGYUFdzl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0X4WiU3l.jpg
I put a couple coats of Poorboy’s Wheel Sealant and will be annually recoating them to minimize buildup of brake dust, and maintain ease of cleaning.
I had also ordered a stud kit from ECS Tuning, and was holding off on mounting my new wheels until those were on the car. This turned out to be a lucky decision, as 5 days later this happened:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uWAYTTIlmM
I was lucky to have avoided a front-end collision that could have totalled my car, but he still tagged me in the left rear quarter panel. We pulled over, 3 Hispanic dudes got out of the car, and none of them spoke English. How did I know? When he was trying to give me his insurance papers, he instead gave me his court order for DUI.
Look at it on the bright side: my car was already tainted from the accident prior to this one, so now both quarter panels are jacked up (yay!):
https://i.imgur.com/5yUTQv7l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MNXfacsl.jpg
The other side, that swung into the shoulder:
https://i.imgur.com/tmmKG6zl.jpg
I brought the car to a body shop on recommendation of one of the guys on the ZHP facebook group, and they had lots of good reviews. He came out with an estimate for repairs, but before repairs could commence, I had to deal with the aftermath of the accident. It was clearly not my fault, but this guy used the shittiest insurance company possible. They wanted to total my car like the last accident, and were evaluating my car at a retardedly low number without room to budge. Whenever I tried to prove to them that my car should have higher value given it’s a ZHP and is in exceptional condition, they were complete assholes over the phone. So I called up my own insurance, who immediately gave clearance for repairs, and would go after the other company for the bill. Haha, suck it!
https://i.imgur.com/twOFadBl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8EiA67ll.jpg
With respect to attention to detail, this body shop was far better than the last one, and other things on my car were inadvertently repaired as well. Some of the fasteners and plastic push pins for the rear splash guard were missing, which were replaced. The battery and storage trays on the sides of the trunk were also missing push pins, and new ones were there when I picked the car up. I noticed a bit of haziness on the paint, and the guy whipped out the DA and polish out on the spot. All of this makes sense, since he wore an Obsessed Garage T-Shirt when picked my car up.
In addition to the repairs with the quarter panel, other things were done as well:
• New left tail light (I had noticed faint water spotting inside the lense, but didn’t think much of it)
• Rear bumper repaired and resprayed (had minor gouges from PO parallel parking in city, so now it’s mint)
• Both rear style 135 rims were reconditioned (left side had minor scrapes, right side had “chips” from my drifting into the shoulder)
• Replaced driver’s door seal (I’d noticed it had a tear after repairs, so they immediately ordered a new one no questions asked). This is something I’m pretty happy about, since the felt liners on both seals were missing since I bought the car. At some point the PO tried re-gluing them on, but failed. So there were nasty brown stains of dried glue on them
Of course, having an accident still sucks. But I was glad to have had a few things on my car repaired, all gratis.
https://i.imgur.com/hS7TP0Fl.jpg
Before:
https://i.imgur.com/GRTezqsl.jpg
After (looking back at this pic, I’ll have to re-seat the door seal, as the gap in the felt is shifted such that part of the felt liner goes under the interior trim, pushing it up):
https://i.imgur.com/znDuvGhl.jpg
Alas, no body shop is perfect… 2 years later I found minor rust on the quarter panel, right where it interfaces with the rear bumper. I’m guessing the body shop in Windsor was a lot more diligent with making sure the paint extended all the way to where the quarter panel stops, and the inner wheel arch began, to prevent rust from forming in Canadian winters. It was no big deal, since it was in an area that you cannot see, and had not spread to the outside surface of the quarter panel. The rust was so minor that I sanded it down, POR-15’d it, and painted over it with touch-up paint two years later.
As I had mentioned with the RACP stage 1 reinforcement, the shop “forgot” to install new OEM diff bushings, and had given a partial refund for not doing so. I had a decent amount of car work done, but still had a few remaining items to do, including those bushings.
I did a bit of reading online and found that soft durometer poly diff bushings had negligible increases in NVH. Seeing that ECS’s bushings were 88A, I decided to go ahead with those. So for the umpteenth time, I dropped my exhaust and driveshaft and set to work:
https://i.imgur.com/xy4Q2fml.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YRsWOTMl.jpg
Original cracked bushing:
https://i.imgur.com/TrJTnJYl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/edvtJ1ul.jpg
One of my co-workers was a tech at BMW, so one of his old colleagues was kind enough to let me borrow the proper tools to replace all 3 bushings. The job would’ve definitely taken significantly longer without these – the rear bushing took quite a bit of force to remove even with the tool, and there was a loud bang when the bushing can un-seized itself from the sleeve in the rear subframe.
https://i.imgur.com/OxcqvjFl.jpg
I drove around with the bushings installed and had a noticeable clunk. Turns out I put the bushing in backwards, d’oh! Re-removed everything again, flipped the bushing, then re-installed in a couple hours. Still didn’t solve my clunk, I’m not actually sure what solved it but it was gone after all my car work in California was done.
I have to say – I do not recommend ECS Tuning bushings. NVH is fine, but fitment was not. Perhaps I got one from a bad batch because I didn’t read any bad reviews, but the stepped head of the front bushings were too thick, which pushed the bolt head onto the aluminium driveshaft protector/brace thingy (?). This transmitted fairly loud scraping sounds to the cabin, and I thought something was seriously wrong. Unfortunately I don’t have pics of the actual problem, just the fix:
https://i.imgur.com/OCzH5dXl.jpg
Basically I hammered in a flathead to create a gap, in which I squeezed some seam sealer, which was leftover from the Vincebar install kit. This did the trick, as the scraping noises were completely gone. Downside is that if I ever have to remove that brace, I have to redo that procedure, which takes a full night to properly cure (ask me how I know).
At the same time, I replaced all the shifter bushings, swapped in a BMW Performance short shift lever, and installed a new shifter shaft seal:
https://i.imgur.com/xfATX46l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/NCtWFIll.jpg
Which was then topped off with a new 6-speed ZHP shift knob to complete the job:
https://i.imgur.com/Zl9bDQJl.jpg
Man, the difference with the shifter was night and day, as my bushings were original at 322,000 KM. I also installed the ECS Tuning stud kit, then fitted my new rims, just in time for the next autox event.
So the funny story about the below pic is that I still wanted to go to the autox event, but my car was still at the body shop. One of my friends drives his parent’s Prius as a daily, and we went for a small romp on the backroads. My, oh my… I understand why that car makes people drive so slowly! For shits and gigs, we decided to try autox’ing it. However I got my car back from the body shop a couple days before the autox. My friend has since been autox’ing his Prius on the regular.
https://i.imgur.com/gpKzv3Hl.jpg
One of our other friends is an amateur photographer, and he also came by. So at least I have some pretty decent pics of my car in action:
https://i.imgur.com/Z2sGfn9l.jpg
LOL stock suspension doing what it does best:
https://i.imgur.com/nMblTlal.jpg
Unfortunately it was almost time to drive back home. But not before my style 135s turned from this:
https://i.imgur.com/NZjfYUCl.jpg
To this:
https://i.imgur.com/Lw1ZUUMl.jpg
Probably much easier to haul back to Canada, given the limited space in my car.
Well, as it was now time to leave the SF Bay Area, I gave my car one last detail before setting off. This is probably one of my favourite pictures of my car:
https://i.imgur.com/EWeZaVHl.jpg
Filled to the brim:
https://i.imgur.com/WI1qV3Kl.jpg
Which made me hellaflush in the rear:
https://i.imgur.com/UmMKltQl.jpg
It was right at the end of August, and there was quite the heat wave (it peaked at 40 degrees during the drive!):
https://i.imgur.com/mJ1Fy4sl.jpg
The first few casualties of the trip:
https://i.imgur.com/5uKsfD0l.jpg
A quick jaunt later, I was at the Canadian border into BC:
https://i.imgur.com/v3LW1yMl.jpg
Stayed with some relatives for a couple of days, then continued into the interior. That year was Canada’s 150th birthday and to celebrate, Park’s Canada gave out free passes to all national parks. Boy oh boy, I definitely took advantage of that:
https://i.imgur.com/Nm74AkGl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ewiAyjJl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zKXLKMyl.jpg
Jasper National Park:
https://i.imgur.com/6AgwMUfl.jpg
Maaaaan… the winding one-lane road highways were a dream to drive on!
https://i.imgur.com/GxdlbQ8l.jpg
Probably the most scenic McD’s drive-thru in the background:
https://i.imgur.com/klaOoztl.jpg
Stayed another couple days in Banff/Canmore, then continued through to Edmonton. Lots of casualties:
https://i.imgur.com/Ljhl9gIl.jpg
At that point I realized my rims were in dire need of a clean:
https://i.imgur.com/d9Ovlmbl.jpg
Luckily, I had my uncle in Edmonton, so I was able to wash my car there. Unfortunately, there were only 2 buckets, so I decided to just wash the body to get the bugs off, and left the rims filthy:
https://i.imgur.com/pc6n7Ifl.jpg
Unfortunately, the only notable event between Edmonton and Toronto was me crossing 330,330 KM. If any of you have made that drive… boy is it boring!
https://i.imgur.com/lnnYoMzl.jpg
Nevertheless, filthy again but back home:
https://i.imgur.com/c1j1hh4l.jpg
The next day, I immediately set out to work. Haha such contrast:
https://i.imgur.com/Zsx8wtIl.jpg
My wheel bucket was actually filled with tea once I was all done:
https://i.imgur.com/zozxBhWl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HYf7qDsl.jpg
Cleaned under the door sills as well (which have broken clips, and are unfortunately really loose):
https://i.imgur.com/32m7mAXl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Y2Gexuql.jpg
Before putting the sill back on I put some silicone paste where all the holes were – I’m guessing the body shop that did the repairs in Windsor 2 years prior put that grease there for rustproofing.
Me being the weird person I am, and storing my car when there’s still 2 months of good weather left:
https://i.imgur.com/kaQptdjl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Beu6Qk9l.jpg
johnrando
05-12-2020, 09:47 PM
Wow, lots going on, good updates.
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Wow, lots going on, good updates.
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Thanks! Majority of the car work was definitely done at that point though, and we're quickly catching up to the present.
This one is probably going to be the shortest update ever. I have folders for media separated by year, and 2018 marked the year where I only took 5 pics of my car:
https://i.imgur.com/O8kzJk4l.jpg
In the last post, I put my car to storage right after my road trip back from the SF Bay Area in September 2017, and didn’t take it out of storage until…………………………….. April 2019. It was due to a combination of things – just being on work terms and not requiring a car at the very start and end of 2018 (and being winter as well), and being in school but focusing on FSAE during the summer.
So on the upside… for anyone needing some tips on extremely long-term storage, let me know.
That last post wasn't a real update, so I definitely have that excuse to post another one right after :shift
Since my car was stored so long, at this point we zoom forward to just about a year ago, in April 2019. I was about to graduate from undergrad, and decided to have my car out for the upcoming summer. Perhaps I’ll give a bit of a summary of my storage procedure:
Full exterior wash, re-coat the car with paint sealant
Vacuum + shampoo of floor mats, vacuum of carpets (not that there is much to do, given the awesome floor mats), general wipe down of all plastic surfaces with interior cleaner, leather clean + condition steering wheel & shift knob, leather clean + condition seats
Drive to gas station 2 minutes away, brim the tank. This also gets rid of the rust on the rotors from the wash
Let the car get up to operating temp. While the car is idling, add fuel stabilizer, and pump the tires up to ~50 psi to avoid flat-spotting
Turn the car off for the final time. Lock the car with the trunk open, disconnect battery to prevent a drain on the system, and close the trunk
Plug the exhaust tips with plastic bags, then put a car cover over it
Then, when I take the car back out from storage, removal is basically the reverse of installation, aside from getting the interior dirty, and extracting fuel + fuel stabilizer from the tank. But I also do an oil change on the spot, as I’d rather not run on oil that has been sitting around for a while:
https://i.imgur.com/13c5iCpl.jpg
I’m not sure if the BMW Performance Exhaust has exhaust packing or not, but when I pulled the plastic bags out this time, some fibreglass bits came out. Might be a placebo effect, but I feel like the car was ever so slightly louder after this happened. Oh well, the car is a tad quiet anyways!
https://i.imgur.com/cH1cREXl.jpg
Beading for dayzzzzzzzzzzzzz:
https://i.imgur.com/egJ7T6hl.jpg
At this point it was right before my last FSAE competition in May, so we were testing out the car every chance we could get:
https://i.imgur.com/26Gv30Kl.jpg
Unfortunately the front wing broke, so I tried stuffing it in my car to get back to campus. It was juuuuuust big enough to not make the squeeze in, so it was stuffed in someone else’s car after I snapped this pic:
https://i.imgur.com/UtuDPkgl.jpg
More late-night testing on-campus. Frankly I’m surprised the school gave us permission to do so – I’m sure the students in nearby residences weren’t too happy. But we really needed to pile miles on the car, so I wasn’t complaining:
https://i.imgur.com/GTlJEkkl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dHm5EPQl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KaU4bjDrl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RY75dlQl.jpg
Then, we packed up and made the quick jaunt over to Michigan International Speedway:
https://i.imgur.com/6Aq6nLRl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PjRTNuJl.jpg
Unrelated, but a couple bonus pics from comp of me doing my thing. I couldn’t resist posting these because I really miss FSAE:
https://i.imgur.com/O2WyAKbl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JxMO0Ngl.jpg
This was a result of “just follow the GPS”. Apparently, the fastest way back into Canada included taking a ferry. Here is where I was definitely glad to be at stock ride height. The ramp was quite steep, so I’m fairly certain I would’ve scraped with even a mild drop.
https://i.imgur.com/EhfYcIhl.jpg
Got home and gave the car another good clean:
https://i.imgur.com/vr18JFrl.jpg
This also marks the first time I cleaned the neglected exhaust tips, ever since I got the car. I know, I know… I maintain the tips on a regular basis nowadays. It’s still not quite up to snuff, but I think I’d need to go out and buy one of those foam/brush drill attachments to get the really stubborn carbon deposits off. It’d take hours of me sitting on my ass, doing it by hand:
https://i.imgur.com/j8BQST5l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/C0Rzzf6l.jpg
BMWCurves
05-13-2020, 10:39 AM
I...I want that wing on the ZHP.
I...I want that wing on the ZHP.
Yeah, that was arguably the best aero package the team has ever made. We cut a significant amount of weight from the wings, increased the downforce, and improved fit & finish: win-win-win :thumbup
Sexy carbon fibre because racecar:
https://i.imgur.com/gBI8phjl.jpg
Green tape to protect the finish before final assembly:
https://i.imgur.com/3mqe8Ahl.jpg
Perhaps, I should look into making a small production run of CSL roofs......... lol jk building that was an insane amount of work, with 80% of the time spent on sanding and prepping the molds.
Now, back to the main program:
I realized from my last post that I forgot to include a pic I took after I’d cleaned the car. Probably my favourite interior pic that I have:
https://i.imgur.com/WpwrfjVl.jpg
Zoom forwards a bit to the end of May, at the FSAE Canadian competition. Bear in mind that this was about a year ago, back when new Supras were quite rare. Man, front plates really do spoil the look of that car. From what I was told, a guy from TMMC (Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada) came to check out the competition and potentially recruit:
https://i.imgur.com/jJxjsQWl.jpg
Anyways, another few weeks passed and a maintenance wash was in store. But I also took the wheels off to fully clean the rims + re-coat with Poorboy’s wheel sealant.
https://i.imgur.com/tFmUY1il.jpg
Before:
https://i.imgur.com/8w46E0ll.jpg
After (and as I’m writing this, I totally planned to have the wheel weights in the same orientation for both shots lolz):
https://i.imgur.com/wGOw365l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qkubWX6l.jpg
Since the wheels were off, I decided to replace my front ARB droplinks. I had actually bought these back in California two years ago, but just never got around to installing them. One of the boots was torn, so it was definitely time to swap them out:
https://i.imgur.com/jtYjng2l.jpg
I also randomly decided to re-lube the front caliper slide pins with silicone paste. When I pulled out one of the lower slide pins, I had a rather unpleasant surprise:
https://i.imgur.com/lUFh0mdl.jpg
Well, at least it tightened when I went to reinstall it. Which is something I cannot say for the other side – the slide pin just kept spinning! I never checked these since I bought the car, so I’ve done quite a few autox’s, one or two light braking events from 240 km/h, and my big road trip with this stripped slide pin. Grrrrrrr and this is why I never take my car anywhere. Stupid stupid generic shop that did the brakes and the safety inspection back in 2015.
I did some research into fixing it with a helicoil or thread insert and found that is M9 X 1.25. Apparently this is a common thread for slide pins. Who the hell thought of this, why not just make it M10??? None of the local hardware stores had one, and it was even hard to come across online (heck, McMaster-Carr, the holy grail of all online stores that cater to building/engineering supplies, didn’t stock it). Luckily a Chinese seller on eBay had a full kit for sale (drill bit, tap, helicoil install tool, and a bunch of helicoils) for pretty cheap. The downside is that stuff from China takes freaking forever to ship. So I figured, since this fastener wasn’t under any actual tension, and that I had been driving like this for 4 years, it was fine to just send it.
While there I inspected all wheel wells, and found one small spot on the MIG weld where the strut tower is welded to the rest of the body (behind the strut and just above the FCA):
https://i.imgur.com/w3AgYXNl.jpg
And here is why I say that no body shop is perfect. This is inside my driver’s side wheel well, pointing up and towards the rear bumper. This area was repaired with my accident in California, and although they did an excellent job with the paint, I shouldn’t be seeing this much rust after only 2 years (and when most of the time, the car was sitting):
https://i.imgur.com/dCcliURl.jpg
Definitely best to repair it now, before it spreads to the outside surface and requires an actual body shop to make it look good. So I placed an order for more POR15 and bought some foam brushes in preparation for repairs.
A couple weeks later it’s mid-June, and it’s the first autox event for me of the season. The first event in that series (PITL) actually started in May but again I was busy with school & FSAE:
https://i.imgur.com/8UJ93Mbl.jpg
6 days later, another autox with OMSC at Mosport:
https://i.imgur.com/l80NmNbl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/AY9zFJCl.jpg
Even got to tootle around on the GP track during lunch (Alligator lapping):
https://i.imgur.com/H6CR669l.jpg
Then something fairly dramatic – during one of the runs this guy’s wheel randomly flew off. Luckily no one was hurt. From what I heard, he was using the wrong type of lug nuts. He had OEM 370Z rims mounted, which sheared right around the lugs.
https://i.imgur.com/itzf9Bdl.jpg
You can see the parent material of the 370Z rims still torqued down on the rotor. I really feel for the guy!
https://i.imgur.com/ILwFNYLl.jpg
A few days later I finally got around to installing my aux cord. I actually bought this on eBay back in 2017, but again somehow never got around to installing it.
https://i.imgur.com/Wzy15nNl.jpg
My glovebox flashlight was so dim it was basically useless at that point, so I cannibalized it and turned it into another 12V outlet. I plugged in a USB charger to that, so I could power my Aux-Bluetooth adapter switched with the sleep/wake of the car. Then ran my aux cable from behind the dash to behind the glovebox. I don’t have any controls aside from volume, but I can’t complain considering the whole setup to get Bluetooth audio cost less than $10. I really should’ve done this earlier – during my California road trip I would sometimes be stuck for hours with either no radio reception, or 1 radio station that only played country. Nowadays, Spotify is all I listen to when I drive.
Next was tackling the aforementioned rust. Off came the rear bumper:
https://i.imgur.com/cFIiP7el.jpg
Into the house it went:
https://i.imgur.com/IfBWPERl.jpg
Hmmm, doesn’t look so bad…
https://i.imgur.com/bVhX8qgl.jpg
Unsurprisingly, it was much worse:
https://i.imgur.com/HTQTflZl.jpg
Bunch of sanding with the sanding attachment on the Dremel:
https://i.imgur.com/zHXnqBAl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RtmZ1xUl.jpg
There was also a random rust spot in the wheel well itself:
https://i.imgur.com/CtLlvtsl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/IIlDWthl.jpg
And, the rusted weld in the front wheel well:
https://i.imgur.com/yryFr2Ul.jpg
Soak with POR15 Metal Prep to prevent further rusting once painted, then rinse & dry and paint:
https://i.imgur.com/hTRg7Pzl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jvEx9fel.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LxwiARil.jpg
I gave all 3 spots couple coats of POR15 base coat, then left the rear & front wheel wells as-is. With the areas close to the rear arch, I top-coated that with some colour-matched touch-up paint just to blend it in a bit better:
https://i.imgur.com/ensAuaEl.jpg
I then degreased all the areas on the body behind the bumper, and wrapped everything up. Definitely glad to have (hopefully) stopped that rust from spreading:
https://i.imgur.com/oCoC2zAl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DjfqKQ6l.jpg
2 weeks later, yet another autox with PITL:
https://i.imgur.com/K18cUKQl.jpg
Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) I then took a 6 week vacation for my graduation, so my car just sat. Went to Japan (bought some small goodies at Super Autobacs for my car) and drove the R32 GTR at the backroads by Mt. Fuji (maybe the one I drove was clapped out, but it’s definitely overrated – my E46 handles way better in the twisties. I really liked the RB26 though). Also spent some time with extended family in Singapore and Malaysia, and also went to Bali for the first time.
Back from my trip at the end of August, I resumed driving my car by putting a bloody scrape in the front bumper, arrrgggh. Just me stupidly getting a bit too close to the wall at the underground garage at my apartment. My front bumper has never looked good, there are multiple spots of peeling clear, and it has so many rock chips that you would think it’s been sandblasted… but at least it looks uniform! This scrape is quite noticeable from some distance away. I’m thinking about getting it repaired and painted, but I’d also have to do the hood as well, since that’s peppered with rock chips too. The one good thing about having bad front-end paint was that I didn’t care too much about normal wear and tear, for example any rock chips or bug guts that would have ruined the paint on my road trip. Because of that piece of mind I think I’ll leave it for now, but damn! I’m so pissed at myself:
https://i.imgur.com/z1tH6Lnl.jpg
Anyways, not a whole lot to report before storing my car for the winter. Just 3 more autox’s, for a total of 6 autox’s for the summer. Not bad considering I was gone for a month and a half!
Last round of PITL:
https://i.imgur.com/uSjDIRBl.jpg
Got a nice video to go along with this one (thanks to a passenger’s helmet cam):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbnlOiHiUDg
Unfortunately, no pics at TLMC in Barrie. Followed by that, the last round of OMSC at Mosport. It was a fairly rainy October, and only ~25 people showed up. So I ended up getting 13 runs!
https://i.imgur.com/mk7hCdHl.jpg
Alas, come end of October, bad weather was quickly approaching, so it was time to store the car.
Started off with the floor mats, a nice vacuum is definitely needed:
https://i.imgur.com/VTNPrLYl.jpg
Then spray with carpet cleaner, and rinse:
https://i.imgur.com/iC5St8Gl.jpg
After a proper clean, the mats are like new!
https://i.imgur.com/gxM1KjLl.jpg
I was too lazy to bring the vacuum out for how little dirt there was on the carpets, so I just found some cheap dollar-store masking tape I had laying around and used that to clean the carpets out (the light marks are just worn spots):
https://i.imgur.com/jfW7toll.jpg
Standard 3 bucket wash:
https://i.imgur.com/FkPI9Ywl.jpg
After which I found a long scratch where I hit a cone:
https://i.imgur.com/xb6B0V0l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/PswnQ5hl.jpg
2 minutes later with polish and a MF towel, all gone:
https://i.imgur.com/pjjie5xl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WNTWBObl.jpg
Brimmed the tank:
https://i.imgur.com/fapqac8l.jpg
Tire pressures to maximum:
https://i.imgur.com/JuNq37Il.jpg
One last goodbye before car cover goes on:
https://i.imgur.com/aFJGgEdl.jpg
Can’t forget the butt plug, don’t want foreign objects going up it:
https://i.imgur.com/LXasX5al.jpg
See you in 2020!
https://i.imgur.com/8vG1rZbl.jpg
johnrando
05-14-2020, 02:06 PM
Nice!
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Nice!
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Thanks, hopefully the repair lasts! Will keep monitoring during my annual wheel-well/underbody check-in.
Well, I lied about the fact that I wouldn’t see my car until 2020. Come Christmas break I was itching for something to do, and decided to re-wrap my pillars. My B-pillars weren’t too bad, but the A-pillars were sagging quite a bit. But that was nothing compared to the C-pillars – the stock fabric was actually hanging down and covering the vanity lights! So end of last year I lifted the car cover and pulled all the pillars out:
https://i.imgur.com/p9nYV93l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ksGX3XAl.jpg
I did briefly consider pulling the fabric and leaving it, but there were nasty glue marks left behind:
https://i.imgur.com/vaSJQD2l.jpg
Not sure how people wrap their C-pillars with one piece, or how the stock fabric has no relief cuts. That one curved section by the rear window vent actuator needed a relief cut, and patch. It’s not ideal, but at least I don’t notice it:
https://i.imgur.com/ruMYCucl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dQdLvI9l.jpg
Unfortunately I didn’t buy enough fabric to recover the B-Pillars, but they only needed the sides gluing down. The mismatch with the A & C-pillars doesn’t really bother me:
https://i.imgur.com/o6XWQ3Ol.jpg
The A-pillars turned out decent. The only gripe I have with them is that the airbag strip doesn’t sit quite flush, but still pushes into its slot and stays in place:
https://i.imgur.com/RjsKk9Ul.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7ick2wgl.jpg
All installed:
https://i.imgur.com/8RLJZ0El.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QCsCoNll.jpg
Looking back on this project, I wasn’t aware that you could buy material online that was a very close match to OEM fabric, so I wish I did that instead of buying generic black alcantara. The stuff I bought seems to be very high-quality, it feels just like a brand-new alcantara steering wheel, but there is a definite mismatch in shade with the headliner. But it’s a heck of a lot better than stock, and as I was now satisfied with scratching my itch I put the car cover back and waited until April to take my car out again.
But one small thing to add before the next update – in February of this year myself and a few others were going to be driving to Austin, Texas for a workshop (2 day drive, for a 3 day workshop, don’t ask). Given how much Canadians get screwed over for cross-border shipping, I decided to use this to my advantage and make an FCP Euro parts run and have those shipped to Austin for pickup. As I was planning on tracking this summer (hahahahahahahahahahaha) I purchased pads, rotors, and fluid, so I’m not so thermally limited with standard no-name pads, and to get rid of my slightly warped rotors.
I purchased:
Zimmermann Rotors
Hawk HPS Pads
ATE Type 200 DOT4 Brake Fluid
Exhaust Manifold to Midpipe Gaskets (in case I have to drop the exhaust to replace the handbrake cables, when I do my handbrake rebuild this summer)
Funny story – I figured, since I was staying at the Hilton Austin, that I could just have my packages shipped via UPS to the UPS office within the hotel. But after talking with them, they wanted $80 to hold the packages, “because it’s a conference centre”. So instead I had it shipped via Fedex to the Fedex office a 10 minute drive away, and just picked them up there for free. And when I got back to the hotel I consolidated some of the boxes to cut down on trunk space, so I had spares. This may have been a slightly dick-ish move, but I seriously couldn’t find a big recycling bin, so I brought the empty boxes to the UPS office and asked if I could recycle them there.
https://i.imgur.com/2iefWTMl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4LWP0MOl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/17OqNTRl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/q0bAumUl.jpg
Whew, we’re officially into the same year as this posting, and nearly caught up! Car came out of storage again in April. I had some nice Tesa tape on hand so I decided to fix some of Tim’s sketchy wiring from 2015, along with some of the peeling harness wrap in the engine bay.
Back when I first got the car I hardwired my dash cam, taking power off the homelink garage opener. But I wasn’t too electrically savvy back then. Having built the majority of a full engine harness for the FSAE car has taught me a few things, and man looking back on this I really shake my head on what I did.
It’s not the best solder joint in the world, but at least I did pull out the $10 soldering iron I had back then. But since I spliced too close to the homelink connector, there was no space for heat shrink, so I put a small piece of electrical tape over it. Over the 5 years it’s been installed, that piece of electrical tape became unwrapped, leaving live +12V exposed.
My homebrew 12 to 5V stepdown also shown:
https://i.imgur.com/RuE2xtil.jpg
Used some high-quality electrical tape as insulation, then wrapped everything with fabric sound-deadening interior harness wrap tape:
https://i.imgur.com/6gV2ueMl.jpg
Decided I’d follow what Porsche does (https://www.718forum.com/threads/felt-pad-on-the-seat-belt-buckle-holder.16364/), and wrapped the seatbelt buckle in the same tape to prevent scuffing of the centre console:
https://i.imgur.com/TKPKxhMl.jpg
Also took the opportunity to take both beauty covers off and clean. Unfortunately not a full-out detail since I didn’t have time, but better than it was before:
https://i.imgur.com/XNoZ4Wml.jpg
Then, re-wrapped this harness behind the airbox with abrasion & heat-resistant engine bay harness wrap tape:
https://i.imgur.com/a1pnNHVl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CJLUL5gl.jpg
I had a small split in the plastic loom that runs above the thermostat, which I repaired a couple years ago with regular electrical tape. I highly urge people not to use this stuff – after a few years, it’ll be a sticky, brittle mess. Re-wrapped it with the same engine bay harness tape:
https://i.imgur.com/zsfFgQXl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/n5hBlR5l.jpg
Engine bay pic after the partial clean. Still need to do a proper detail on it:
https://i.imgur.com/KTi6WDHl.jpg
I’ve always had these scratches in the BMW Performance Intake. My bet is that some grease monkey used it as a workbench for his tools, when working on the car. And this is why I don’t take my car anywhere… after asking around I think I’ll try a Magic Eraser, then Solution Finish and see how that turns out. Just gotta buy it first:
https://i.imgur.com/nk6l7Jbl.jpg
Then I thought I’d take care of the small split in the elephant wire sheathing for the trunk. Normally I’d replace this, but since I wasn’t making an FCP Euro order anytime soon, I decided to try using some self-vulcanizing tape. I’ve had great success using this stuff on the FSAE harness, and even sealed a leaking gas line for our MIG welder.
https://i.imgur.com/ZahhT7ol.jpg
If this repair doesn’t hold up, I’ll place an order for a new sheath, but I bet it’s waterproof. If applied properly, you can’t even unwrap it – for removal, you must cut it off, as all layers have fused together.
https://i.imgur.com/OueNjIXl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DmiuLOJl.jpg
My car also really needed a wash. California road-trip aside, I think this is the dirtiest I’ve had my car:
https://i.imgur.com/t42Tu1Jl.jpg
Aaaaah… much better!
https://i.imgur.com/08oA6FMl.jpg
Lately, I’d been keeping a constant eye out for local partouts. Rock-chippy front-end paint aside, my car has had a couple cosmetic issues that have always slightly bugged me – ugly door seals, and a cracked passenger’s headlight. But these issues weren’t big enough to warranty me paying the prices that a used headlight or door seal go for.
I’m sure as many of you coupe owners know, some door seals were faulty from factory, where the fabric inner lining would separate from the rubber seal. The PO tried to glue it but ended up ripping it off, leaving an ugly brown mess. As I mentioned before the body shop in California ended up tearing the driver’s side seal, so I was lucky in the fact that they bought a brand-new one ($$$) and replaced it for free. So that left just the passenger’s side to deal with.
https://i.imgur.com/9rJ2Wewl.jpg
And as for the passenger’s headlight, well all facelift coupe owners have been cursed with non-removeable lenses from factory. And it seems the only aftermarket replacement lense is $200 for a set, which is insane considering what sedan or pre-facelift lenses cost.
https://i.imgur.com/fX13mOgl.jpg
I guess my car is sort of like two-face at this point, haha. Cracked headlight, bad door seal, and scraped bumper – all on the same side!
But an ad popped up recently about a guy selling the rear quarters and hood off a facelift coupe. So naturally, I messaged him about the passenger’s door seal, and headlights. He hadn’t even posted ads for these parts yet, so he wasn’t sure what they were worth. The result of which, after some negotiation, concluded in a flaming deal that had me coming home with a set of headlights and the one door seal that day:
https://i.imgur.com/7UDqoK9l.jpg
After some cleaning, the door seal was indeed in excellent condition as the seller had mentioned. Not bad, considering I paid well <10% of what it cost brand-new:
https://i.imgur.com/GyfU2wvl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BNyH7ypl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YWuogXxl.jpg
And the headlights… well, they definitely need some elbow grease. As these are non-dynamic xenons, I’ll be swapping the passenger’s side lense onto my housing, and vice-versa. I then plan on wet-sanding to get all of the pitting and cloudiness out, then spraying with 2K clear to prevent them from getting yellow and cloudy again. Then, another wet-sand with 2000 grit (only if there is significant orange peel). Then compound and polishing with my DA, to get the surface as perfect as possible.
https://i.imgur.com/tQ40rmrl.jpg
Quite grimy outside, but clean inside!
https://i.imgur.com/jlUIdybl.jpg
Both headlight lenses were cracked right under the headlight washer. I’ll have to stop-drill the root, then epoxy. I’m not concerned about this, as you can’t see it when installed:
https://i.imgur.com/8F9XZfPl.jpg
To celebrate the purchase, I then went on a late-night COVID cruise. Might as well take advantage of the cheap gas, and empty roads.
https://i.imgur.com/WF3Eihil.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eUmuEV7l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KiYrxw6l.jpg
I’d been staying at my apartment near campus working from home (as a grad student), but decided to move back home, at least until this whole virus thing blows over. Normally when I drive home for the weekend I’d just bring a backpack, but this time around I had a lot more stuff to bring home. I brought back:
• 4 winter tires (I brought them over a few weeks ago, to try some empty parking-lot drifting)
• 2 headlights, and the 1 door seal
• Roll-on-the-floor cooler
• Laundry basket w/ clothes, bedsheets
• 24” computer monitor
• 3 laptops, 2 chargers
• Wireless keyboard
• Backpack w/ bunch o’ other stuff
• … and lastly, my computer desk chair
https://i.imgur.com/gmaKPRSl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OwMtsuIl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dXrboQxl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Icjv37Il.jpg
Pssssssssh, SUVs… who needs em when a coupe will suffice?! After this, my interior is definitely in dire need of a good cleaning though – just waiting on nicer weather to arrive.
My eKombi module had arrived at home and was awaiting installation. It’s essentially an oil & water temp, battery voltage, and vehicle speed gauge that displays on the stock radio or MK4 nav. I had been looking for an easy and stealthy way to get oil temp, so this seemed like the perfect solution. So the next day I started working on that.
https://i.imgur.com/e6Rgdefl.jpg
Naturally, the first thing I did was fabric tape the harness:
https://i.imgur.com/Yn56lXEl.jpg
This module splices into the wires that go into the gauge cluster (IKE). I quickly found out the hard way that the stock fabric tape’s residue broke down over the years, which left a nasty, sticky surprise to deal with:
https://i.imgur.com/qK1JXEsl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/A2InZWLl.jpg
I then pulled the connector housing off, which reveals the pin numbering so you know which pins to splice into:
https://i.imgur.com/2TkMyPul.jpg
This mod was one of those, where everything went wrong. There are a total of 5 wires to splice into, but the pin for the oil level sensor was non-existent at the IKE connector. I sent a message to the seller, and he responded to splice into pin 39 in the 52-pin connector at the DME. But before he had suggested that, I also came to the same conclusion, but the wiring diagrams I look at said to splice into pin 50. Unfortunately it was already late in Germany due to the time difference, so the seller couldn’t confirm my thoughts. In my haste to get the install done I ran the wire through, and spliced it the way I thought it should be done:
https://i.imgur.com/vV9pkP2l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eE09ytfl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yPiPk4gl.jpg
Then I turned the ignition on, and… nothing. Since the module pulls power by being hooked up in parallel to IKE power, I probed those pins with ignition on and saw +12V, but nothing at the module. After some thought I checked all my connections and realized that I didn’t push the wire taps in all the way (even though the plastic cover closed). Used pliers to fully compress the wire taps, and the module now worked and showed ¾ parameters – the one that didn’t show was oil temp:
https://i.imgur.com/4NfAppHl.jpg
Then, the seller got back to me and still said to connect to pin 39. But that pin was unused on my connector:
https://i.imgur.com/5Be2YTtl.jpg
Unfortunately, before checking this pin, I had already cut the original wire tap off (since it didn’t seem like it was reusable). I re-checked the wiring diagrams and the wire colour stated there matched what was on my car. At this point I was fairly frustrated, so I just took a crappy butt crimp I had and re-connected that same wire back up:
https://i.imgur.com/YeHG43Jl.jpg
Probably the shittiest thing I’ve done electrically, but it passed the pull test. And it’s not going anywhere after re-wrapping the connector wires in fabric tape:
https://i.imgur.com/X8y0PlAl.jpg
I then decided to try starting the car, and seeing what happens. And to my surprise, it worked! This might’ve been stupid, but I suspect that it was just because I had previously turned ignition on to test the module, and not actually started the car. To be fair, the other 3 parameters displayed correctly without starting, so I had assumed oil temp would as well.
But since everything worked, I buttoned it all up. This install took a couple days, working on and off, as I had to diagnose quite a few things and wait for the seller’s response. According to him, I’m the first in North America to have one (though, credits to Galapolis for introducing this module!). But that one evening between the 2 days of working, I took the opportunity to polish out my gauge cluster:
https://i.imgur.com/dYPiFEUl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/guTz4Acl.jpg
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my compound, so this one deep scratch was something I couldn’t get out:
https://i.imgur.com/3MgjsY0l.jpg
Before installing the gauge cluster I cleaned up the harness, wrapped everything in fabric tape, and secured the module with zipties:
https://i.imgur.com/L8VLVwTl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Sn8UKwYl.jpg
Although this mod didn't go as planned (required heaps of diagnosing, and routing the extra wire through the firewall) I'm still glad to have it in my car, as it'll come in handy with the track days I had planned for this summer (lolz). Indicated oil temp seems very reasonable - lags by coolant temp about 30-40 deg until both are at operating, where during normal driving it stays around 98-100 deg. Haven't had the chance to push the car yet, but I'm curious as to what oil temps on the track would be like.
https://i.imgur.com/xONIEtIl.jpg
And with this post, we’re fully caught up! If you’ve managed to read through all of my ramblings, then kudos to you. But, from here on out updates will be much, much slower.
fredo
05-15-2020, 07:14 PM
I'm jealous of your NAV screen. Mine has dead pixels. It was ok until 2 years ago, then I needed to park outdoors for 6 months. Maybe the TX heat was a factor.
The biggest item I carried on my ZHP was a dolly, folding seats were handy.
John in VA
05-16-2020, 05:36 AM
Nice work! Where did you source the fabric tape?
I'm jealous of your NAV screen. Mine has dead pixels. It was ok until 2 years ago, then I needed to park outdoors for 6 months. Maybe the TX heat was a factor.
The biggest item I carried on my ZHP was a dolly, folding seats were handy.
Hmmmm, I can't tell if MK4 prices are going down because they're getting obsolete, or if they're going up as they get rarer. If it's the former then it may be worth looking into a used one, if you want to retain the factory nav.
Mine's in great shape but certainly not perfect - I polished out that dark anti-glare coating since it was all scratched up, and accidentally put a small scratch on the screen in the process. Luckily it's right at the edge of the screen so you don't notice it during day to day use.
Nice work! Where did you source the fabric tape?
Borrowed from work, but I think you can buy it off Amazon. The stuff I used was Tesa 51616 (https://www.tesa.com/en/industry/tesa-51616.html) for the interior, and 51036 (https://www.tesa.com/en/industry/tesa-triple-a-51036.html) for exterior & engine bay.
sillieidiot
05-16-2020, 12:29 PM
you mean stole from work lol cause iono how you would return it after you used it :rofl
you mean stole from work lol cause iono how you would return it after you used it :rofl
:ninja shhhhhhhhhhhhh
Well we’ve had rain for most of the week, then today was a nice & sunny warm day. Then rain again forecasted for the next 4 days or so, so I decided to take the opportunity to install my reverse camera. The previous owner had actually given it to me, so it’s been sitting around for 5 years. I actually can’t judge backing up for my life – regular backing up into spaces is fine, but it’s when you have to parallel park and it’s very tight, I’m always paranoid about bumping into other cars and end up with a gap that you can park a bus in. I don’t parallel park very often, but thought I might as well install this since I have it anyways.
My plan was to have the reverse signal at the MK4 Nav power a relay, which switches to the reverse cam input at the TV module when it is grounded. I did it this way initially, but nothing was working… then after looking at wiring diagrams, there is another connector between this pin and the front of the car, which wasn’t connected to anything. Truth be told my car didn’t come with nav from factory, the whole lot was swapped from an M3 partout under previous ownership. So wiring is a bit of a jumble, and I really couldn’t find the matching connector. So I took one of the reverse light positives for the relay, and grounded on the TV module chassis.
Messy wiring:
https://i.imgur.com/7VqnyIql.jpg
Not sure why, but there was a random wire (shoddily) tapped into what is the rear left wheel speed signal:
https://i.imgur.com/X1IkhObl.jpg
Relay mounted and harness taped:
https://i.imgur.com/FvoVxFUl.jpg
Man, this was fun (not). Routing through the elephant sheathing. There was 1 wire with broken insulation, but none of the conductors were severed, so I just taped it up:
https://i.imgur.com/QA4w84al.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UQK5svZl.jpg
Then I took off the trunk handle assembly and found some rust. Uuuuuurgh I’ll have to go back and address that. Also, I seem to be missing this gasket (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/trunk-lip-grip-gasket/51138244713/) – does anyone know if some cars didn’t come with one from the factory, if not then someone has definitely been here before. The missing gasket and the rust probably correlate. As of right now the wire comes out of the centre hole before going right, and it is pressed tightly against the trunk, which ever so slightly pushes the whole handle up. Not a fan of having the wire pressed against the edge of that hole (as it is sized specifically for the trunk handle wire housing), so I’ll have to think of something that doesn’t involve notching the hole. I’ll also address the rust once I have a new gasket to install.
https://i.imgur.com/ZZygQQpl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/aE7kVo7l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uydqaayl.jpg
Man I really should’ve taken better pics, but I was in a bit of a rush as I had other important things to do that day. But in the trunk I basically routed it following stock routing to the elephant sheath:
https://i.imgur.com/oZGKRyQl.jpg
Tapped into the reverse light power for the camera:
https://i.imgur.com/d4oYYbcl.jpg
I really couldn’t find a good spot to route wires from the left to right of the trunk, as it seems that any junction in the harnesses are forwards of the trunk. There wasn’t any place I could route up top, and I obviously didn’t want to drill holes in the body for harness clips or ziptie holders. So for now I used Gorilla Tape, and taped the harness directly to the sheet metal. Unfortunately I have no pics, but it basically runs alongside the left frame rail, under the trunk sill trim, then joins up with the right tail light harness and makes its way up to the elephant sheath. Definitely not “proper” harness routing/strain relieving methods used here, so I guess I’ll run this for now until any issues pop up, or if I think of a better way.
Camera working:
https://i.imgur.com/p7KTFx5l.jpg
Truth be told, I’m not sure the eyesore is worth the added convenience. It’s pretty ugly – I’ve essentially added a permanent pimple to the back of my car:
https://i.imgur.com/W0rx0NKl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WQY4E0Nl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1BhFeNXl.jpg
I guess I’ll leave it for now and see if it really adds value in day to day use. If I don’t think I need it I can always go to the wreckers and grab another trunk handle, then just swap the underside plastic bit over (because I drilled the original one).
Placed an order with the dealer for a trunk handle gasket, and the 4 plastic screw inserts (cheap insurance in case I break any taking the original ones out). But the trunk gasket is backordered for another 15-20 days, hopefully I don’t see a heavy downpour before I can get to it.
But I did get a chance to install the new-used passenger’s door seal. I was pretty happy to have taken care of this, as it was missing ever since I got the car.
Before:
https://i.imgur.com/WkTjno8l.jpg
After:
https://i.imgur.com/6Of7VOFl.jpg
Before:
https://i.imgur.com/qTqcSo1l.jpg
After:
https://i.imgur.com/XUQBXSKl.jpg
Not sure why, but the felt liner seems to be too long, as it extends under both the front and rear of the interior sill garnish. I don’t think there’s a whole lot I can do about it unless I attempt to trim the excess liner off:
https://i.imgur.com/OSEzLSdl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vE1tbTsl.jpg
I also placed an order for Fujiwara Tofu Shop stickers about a month ago, and it finally arrived, so I applied it on my rear passenger’s window. Having grown up with Initial D I wanted to show my appreciation for the series, but I’m not sure how I feel about having Japanese writing on a German car:
https://i.imgur.com/nXm87AHl.jpg
I bought 2 stickers, and each of them was $1.00 and free shipping from China, so not much loss if I decide to remove it.
sillieidiot
05-20-2020, 12:32 AM
lol funny you mention Initial D. I went back and re-watched it like a couple of weeks ago. Well, I only watched the Legend movies cause they were in HD. The story changed a bit, but it was better. I did re-download the whole series in HD too. Well as HD as it could be anyways.
lol funny you mention Initial D. I went back and re-watched it like a couple of weeks ago. Well, I only watched the Legend movies cause they were in HD. The story changed a bit, but it was better. I did re-download the whole series in HD too. Well as HD as it could be anyways.
lol that's so true, those old animations were so bad, yet the original anime was by far the best. But I think my fav episodes were from Season 4 (god-hand and god-foot) and those animations were already so much better.
On another note I took my friend car-shopping for his first car (exciting!) and on the 300 km round-trip I unfortunately chipped my windshield:
https://i.imgur.com/3ElBatul.jpg
Not worried since the windshield already had been previously repaired in another spot:
https://i.imgur.com/0KOsINsl.jpg
But I gotta stop by Crappy Tire tomorrow morning to pick up a resin repair kit before it spreads.
sillieidiot
05-21-2020, 02:13 PM
lol that's so true, those old animations were so bad, yet the original anime was by far the best. But I think my fav episodes were from Season 4 (god-hand and god-foot) and those animations were already so much better.
Yeah, loved those 2 episodes. The other one in that same season that I like is Blind Attack. Seriously, how can he see? I've turned off my headlights on a mountain road before, I couldn't see shit even following another car lol
Yeah, loved those 2 episodes. The other one in that same season that I like is Blind Attack. Seriously, how can he see? I've turned off my headlights on a mountain road before, I couldn't see shit even following another car lol
Yeah, I've driven mountain roads in the SF bay area at night and even with headlights had nowhere near the guts to go as quick as I would go in daytime.
Fixed the chip/small crack in the windshield today:
https://i.imgur.com/oOKd3dXl.jpg
Don’t mind the scratches on the plastic, that was from using the razor blade as a squeegee. You can also see how pitted my windshield is:
https://i.imgur.com/SIxxm61l.jpg
Not perfect, but a whole lot better than before. Hopefully it will last the test of time:
https://i.imgur.com/WUKWFkbl.jpg
Not bad for $17 CAD! I did have to buy razor blades though, would’ve been nice if one was included in the kit.
Galapolis
05-21-2020, 05:13 PM
Yeah, loved those 2 episodes. The other one in that same season that I like is Blind Attack. Seriously, how can he see? I've turned off my headlights on a mountain road before, I couldn't see shit even following another car lol
That's probably because you weren't blasting Eurobeat, which is known to give you supernatural driving capabilities, as well as +50hp.
sillieidiot
05-21-2020, 06:49 PM
That's probably because you weren't blasting Eurobeat, which is known to give you supernatural driving capabilities, as well as +50hp.
I figured driving the ae86 in the same paint scheme (without cf hood) would have transferred his skills to me :spit Honestly, that thing was hard to drift (unlike the anime). I had an easier time drifting an mr2 or s13. The only thing I could do in that car was J-turns.
This weekend, I decided to tackle my brakes. With tracks starting to open up, I decided that now was a good time. Unfortunately, things definitely did not go to plan, but everything worked out in the end after much fettling about. I installed:
Zimmermann Rotors
Hawk HPS Pads
Stoptech SS Braided Brake Lines
ATE Type 200 Fluid
Febi Handbrake cables
OEM Handbrake rebuild kit
Alright, first order of business was to start with the handbrake rebuild. I’m replacing the cables because one of them got twisted when I went to remove it for my subframe drop back in 2017, and I suspect the shop that did the RACP underside reinforcement may have stripped or cross-threaded the threads on the cable end. Ever since then, I’ve left the cables disconnected, then just parked in gear. As a matter of fact, my handbrake never actually worked properly ever since I got the car. No big deal, just inconvenient, as if I want to keep the engine running to warm it up in the pits for autox, I have to sit in the car to keep it from rolling away.
First order of business was to get the car in the air, and the rear rotors off, pretty simple:
https://i.imgur.com/61KEOC3l.jpg
Geez no wonder the handbrake never worked, there was no friction material at all:
https://i.imgur.com/6sYGSR7l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FVFdedul.jpg
Here is where things started going downhill. Spent 1.5 hours getting the driver’s side cable out – getting the ends out from the body tube and upright were not too bad, but the plastic sleeve on the cable was really seized into the subframe:
https://i.imgur.com/AO2L0IAl.jpg
Pulled as hard as I could, tried levering it out with vicegrips and channellocks, and bit by bit the cable sheathing slipped through. But eventually it got stuck, so I cut it in half, and after more wrestling was left with just the plastic sleeve in the subframe. After more pulling it eventually came out:
https://i.imgur.com/q87bnjHl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bwGSkIfl.jpg
The passenger’s side was even worse, that took 2.5 hours to get out. The cable broke in multiple places as I kept pulling, and was more seized than the other side:
https://i.imgur.com/PG52sDql.jpg
The part of the plastic sleeve that sticks out of the subframe got so mangled, so I had to flush-cut it with the subframe. Then I hammered in a pick between the subframe hole and the plastic sleeve in multiple places to collapse it and eventually got it out:
https://i.imgur.com/YwnuhhRl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/eWxi6val.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9ZCgR9Ml.jpg
The issues didn’t stop there. Getting the cables in required some sanding of the metal bushing that goes into the body tube by the lever. Driver’s side just needed a bit of sanding, passenger’s side was sanded so much that I couldn’t go more, and it still wouldn’t go in. Tried a bunch of things but in short, I cut the new bushing off, drilled out the old bushing such that the lever-end of the cable could go through, then stuck that on the cable after it was passed through the subframe:
https://i.imgur.com/X7Vnbb9l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/BSJPahZl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/gHpMO7xl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/B3LCKdel.jpg
Don’t worry, after the above pic was taken, I used some self-vulcanizing rubber tape to keep the cable on the old bushing, and seal the exposed metal sheathing.
Then, with the new cables in, the rest of the handbrake rebuild was a walk in the park. I adjusted the shoes as best as I could with the stud kit, taking the rotor on and off until it would barely fit on:
https://i.imgur.com/1JcwDQZl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4O1F4WWl.jpg
While my exhaust was dropped, I took the opportunity for a quick polish of the tips all-around. Not much improvement since I had already taken care of it before, but better nonetheless.
https://i.imgur.com/qtaRH8Ol.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/TgbJjnMl.jpg
Replacing the rear pads and rotors were real easy since I had already removed them to inspect the handbrake when I first got the car. However, the fronts were a different story. The shop that did the safety inspection on my car replaced the front pads and rotors, and the caliper carriers were just “ugga dugga’d” on with the gun. The 2-wrench trick didn’t work as I was bending the wrench, there was no space for my breaker bar, and I had no power tools. So I had to get creative:
https://i.imgur.com/Nw7kspXl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OGrOT6ol.jpg
2 things: Yes, that is a torque wrench being used as a breaker bar, and yes, those are hockey pucks for spacers, because Canada. As they say: “if it looks stupid but it works, it ain’t stupid.”
Then I got the new brake lines on. Fitment was good, the only complaint I had was that the rear line retaining clips seem pretty loose – I think the grooves in the metal insert might be too wide. Bent the retaining clips a bit to take up the slack, and it’s better, but not as tight as it was before.
https://i.imgur.com/VZC6Gdll.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ABtM33Tl.jpg
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my adapter for my Motive bleeder, so I had to resort to the 2-person method with my dad. Then the car went on the ground, where I realized the handbrake was not as well-adjusted on the shoe-side as well as I’d thought. I wasn’t about the take apart the rear brakes again, so I just ran both nuts down until the handbrake operates following the BMW spec of 2/3 ratchets of the handle correspond to rear wheels moving with resistance/not moving at all. The handle is pretty hard to pull though – I hope I don’t stretch the cables in the long run. C’est la vie:
https://i.imgur.com/rC58m1ul.jpg
Then went for a quick drive, and bedded in the pads. I’m not sure if I bled the brakes properly, or if it was because I was expecting a firmer pedal with new fluid and SS lines, but the pedal was not as firm as I thought it would be. Dare I say it’s slightly less firm than it was before. However I bled all 4 calipers twice with no bubbles, and I can do hard braking with good stopping power – it’s just that I feel that the pedal travels more than it should be.
https://i.imgur.com/39HR1eWl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sHSNbJVl.jpg
As I suspect, the shaky steering wheel under braking is now gone. However, I suspect my FCABs may need attention soon. When I kick the wheel or try to shake the FCA near the FCABs, its solid, but under light braking at low speed there are rare times when the wheel will jerk to one side. Odd, because it has never happened during all of the autox’ing I’ve done.
kakashi169
05-30-2020, 04:33 PM
Welcome over to the better side tim...haha
Welcome over to the better side tim...hahaThanks for the suggestion Daniel, glad to be here. Us members in the GTA/surrounding area should have a meetup once the pandemic is over!
Chaplian
05-30-2020, 06:53 PM
Just wanted to say I've been reading every post as you've been posting, and loving the build/progress! Keep it up, this ZHP is definitely in the right hands.
Just wanted to say I've been reading every post as you've been posting, and loving the build/progress! Keep it up, this ZHP is definitely in the right hands.
Much appreciated! I do intend on keeping this car for a while, so I do want to keep it in good running condition, while also beating the crap out of it on the track and having it stand up to that. And postpone/repair the inevitable rust for a Canadian car lol.
I might as well copy my other post from the braided brake line thread. No pics though:
Just re-bled the brakes today. Bit the bullet and bought a replacement Motive bleeder adapter, put silicone paste on the threads of all bleeder screws to prevent air getting past the threads, used INPA to cycle the ABS/DSC unit, and used a mallet on the calipers in an attempt to jiggle out any trapped bubbles. I believe the brakes are ever so slightly better, though there is definitely still more initial pedal travel than before the new pads and rotors. At this point I'm fairly confident there are no bubbles - even with the re-bleed, I didn't see any.
Initial pedal travel to stopping power isn't like how it was before, but pedal firmness is excellent when you step on it, with good stopping power. Perhaps the stiffness of the HPS pad material is lower than standard street pads? Either way, I think I'll be leaving it as-is
alexandre
06-07-2020, 12:57 PM
Just stumbled on your thread. Great story and your car looks great. We've got similar histories - I bought mine with 330,000 km in 2012 from the US and imported it. It's now nearing 450k. I'm in Montreal and I've driven it to Vancouver and back for a job there, it's such a great car. Hasn't given me much trouble over the years, although I also had the subframe mounts welded and refreshed when I noticed a crack.
I drive it year-round, the rust issues are starting to get pretty bad, and my 2003 only had 6 year perforation warranty :( so it'll probably be a part-out in the next 2 years or so unfortunately. I assume BMW beefed up the rustproofing in 2004 when they doubled the warranty. I've got 2 collapsed jack pads and the usual areas in the back are bubbling pretty bad. I'm enjoying it as much as I can while it lasts!
I actually lurked this forum since I got my car in 2015, and I've come across your thread a few times. Thanks for stopping by!
I assume BMW beefed up the rustproofing in 2004 when they doubled the warranty. I've got 2 collapsed jack pads and the usual areas in the back are bubbling pretty bad. I'm enjoying it as much as I can while it lasts!
Yeah, not sure why the perforation warranty was increased in 2004. But seeing how much rust was on my car when I got it even after the repairs were done a year earlier, I'm doubtful about that. As much as I did overpay for the car there are many reasons I don't regret still buying it, and the amount of rust repair work done to it was one of the big ones. By my best guess, it's had $20k of rust repair work done to it, the rear quarters and rocker panels on the front (that small sliver of sheet metal between the front fender and front of the side skirt) were resprayed a couple times, then of course that big rocker panel replacement to wrap everything up.
Sad to hear about the rust on your car, but seeing how it'll have lasted 10 years since you got it, that's not a bad run. The downside with me storing it for the winter is that it's a long winter, and I miss driving mine very much. And I don't get to go snow drifting with it! I only wintered mine once in 2016, and the rocket panels were done in Jan/Feb of that year. I can't bring myself to re-winter it due to rust of course, but also the fact that if some guy in a Corolla on no-season tires rear-ends me, insurance will want to cut me a cheque for $4k and consider my car totalled due to the fact that it's some "shitty old BMW with high mileage".
To further preserve my pristine rocker panels I'm going to be removing the side skirts, then spraying fluid-film inside all of the access holes. Then a wax on the outside of the panels themselves. I think doing this every other year should suffice.
Well, I went ahead and re-bled my brakes. Bit the bullet and bought a (way overpriced) replacement Motive bleeder adapter locally, put silicone paste on the threads of all bleeder screws to prevent air getting past the threads, used INPA to cycle the ABS/DSC unit, and used a mallet on the calipers in an attempt to jiggle out any trapped bubbles. I believe the brakes are ever so slightly better, though there is definitely still more initial pedal travel than before the new pads and rotors. At this point I'm fairly confident there are no bubbles - even with the re-bleed, I didn't see any. It seems like the initial pedal feel is just down to the HPS compound. While not a dedicated track pad, it still has a higher temperature range than regular street pads, so its friction does taper off a bit at close to ambient temps.
I then got a chance to clean my interior, which wasn’t too bad, but just very dusty and the floor mats were quite dirty. Man this interior has aged so well (excuse the dirty floor mats, hadn’t gotten to them yet):
https://i.imgur.com/pdd0I6Tl.jpg
Gave the carpets and floor mats a good vacuum:
https://i.imgur.com/YndghqKl.jpg
I’d also been carrying around some dirty stuff such as my floor jack, and my winter rims. So my trunk was also in dire need of a good cleaning:
https://i.imgur.com/wKc8eTXl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/u2kA4Iel.jpg
I had my first ever track day coming up, and didn’t want to pay for an overpriced headrest mount, so a trip to Home Depot and $20 later I had my own:
https://i.imgur.com/tK0dmDwl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/l2ES2Vnl.jpg
I then adjusted my front camber for the track by pushing the strut mounts as far inboard as they would go. According to my alignment sheet, I started off with -0.2 and -0.7 deg on the left and right sides respectively. Then used my phone + piece of wood as a straight edge to record the deltas, which were – 2.0 deg and -1.8 deg respectively. So that would be a total of -2.2 deg and -2.5 deg total, though I don’t think stock adjustment can accommodate that much. I marked the original location with a sharpie, so I can easily revert back:
https://i.imgur.com/qNyYOWTl.jpg
Then, headed to Toronto Motorsports Park for my first ever track day:
https://i.imgur.com/GhBCCZFl.jpg
Aaaaaand why was I not surprised to find this mess:
https://i.imgur.com/CUH9a8ql.jpg
I have a motorcycle master cylinder reservoir on the way for a catch can, but it hasn’t arrived. I guess I’ll put a cheap sock over it, or plug the hole with something I can easily remove later on.
Geez, I don’t think my wheels have ever been this dirty before. I do like this picture though, looks tough AF:
https://i.imgur.com/cgdlByAl.jpg
Front versus rear wheel:
https://i.imgur.com/yZqiA0Kl.jpg
Unfortunately, near the end of the day, my front left tire looked like this:
https://i.imgur.com/rneCW7hl.jpg
Coming from a tiny, 450 lb open-wheel autox’r, then autox’ing my own car, I basically went “omgerd to go fast let’s just drive the same way”. After asking for opinions both on here and on the fb group, turns out I was waaaaay too aggressive with my inputs and overdrove the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzqOanDVWgE
I believe the blistering is down to three things:
The car, being setup to be very “safe” from factory, lots of positive camber wear due to understeer in addition to not enough negative camber to start off with
Overheating the fronts by staying out too long and going full Godzilla mode and just sending it for 12 laps at a time (3 KM track), for a total of about 60 laps that day
And last but not least, the driver. I definitely need to work on adapting a less aggressive driving style and to adapt my driving to the car
So now I have to get 2 replacement Contis for tires that would’ve otherwise lasted a decent amount of time. Oh well, you live and learn.
For future lapping sessions, I’m definitely going to have some friends with heaps more experience (Ontario Time Attack) sit with me and coach. And likely not so much focus on lap times, but specific techniques I know I need to develop, for example braking + downshifting.
I also decided at this point to pick up a set of Hankook RS4s for events, and leave the Contis for the street. My old winter tires are nearly at their wear bars and they are from 2012, so they’re basically useless at this point. I was planning on pawning off the rims cheap online, but why not use them? They’re 17 x 8 so it’s not ideal, but I’m going to squeeze a set of 245s on them.
https://i.imgur.com/UIhIhT3l.jpg
Galapolis
06-11-2020, 04:05 AM
Even though 245 will fit on 17x8, I really wouldn't recommend it. 17x8.5 is the minimum you should be aiming for. If you want to keep the budget low, you can't go wrong with a square set of Style 68s. Easy and cheap to find and very light.
Even though 245 will fit on 17x8, I really wouldn't recommend it. 17x8.5 is the minimum you should be aiming for. If you want to keep the budget low, you can't go wrong with a square set of Style 68s. Easy and cheap to find and very light.
Yeah, it's not ideal, but not completely uncommon. Also I figured with a dedicated setup that only sees wear at the track, depending on how many events I do they should last a long time, so these are wider for futureproofing. I'm constantly keeping an eye out for cheap 17 x 8.5s and will likely re-mount. However most Style 68s are staggered, so I'd have to piece together a 8.5 square setup from two sets, then somehow pawn off a 7.5" square setup which I'm not sure may be too desirable
ZHPizza
06-12-2020, 05:29 AM
According to my alignment sheet, I started off with -0.2 and -0.7 deg on the left and right sides respectively. Then used my phone + piece of wood as a straight edge to record the deltas, which were – 2.0 deg and -1.8 deg respectively. So that would be a total of -2.2 deg and -2.5 deg total, though I don’t think stock adjustment can accommodate that much.]
Was the wood on the tire or wheel face? Something gave you excessive numbers. There's no way you moved the camber that much with that little adjustment.
I actually extended the adjustment slots by 5mm and was still only able to get to -1.5deg
My tires looked a bit like yours after my first track day. You really want -2.5 or more on these cars (which will require camber plates or e36 m3 strut mounts). This is a good resource that I endorse: http://www.bimmerhaus.com/tech/align.html
Galapolis
06-12-2020, 06:21 AM
I was able to get to -2° on a slammed car without the strut pin. If you are on stock springs, I'm guessing you'll be somewhere in the -1° range with just the pins removed. I still have ZHPizza's E36 mounts. Waiting on getting my new Spring/Shock setup before installing them. Excited to see where camber ends up with those, especially since I'll be raising the car again.
Was the wood on the tire or wheel face? Something gave you excessive numbers. There's no way you moved the camber that much with that little adjustment.
I actually extended the adjustment slots by 5mm and was still only able to get to -1.5deg
My tires looked a bit like yours after my first track day. You really want -2.5 or more on these cars (which will require camber plates or e36 m3 strut mounts). This is a good resource that I endorse: http://www.bimmerhaus.com/tech/align.html
I was able to get to -2° on a slammed car without the strut pin. If you are on stock springs, I'm guessing you'll be somewhere in the -1° range with just the pins removed. I still have ZHPizza's E36 mounts. Waiting on getting my new Spring/Shock setup before installing them. Excited to see where camber ends up with those, especially since I'll be raising the car again.
Yeah, I was pretty suspicious of the numbers I was getting. Measured to the outside sidewall of the tire, which isn't the most accurate, but I didn't have a piece of wood (which was a wooden snowbrush/ice scraper) short enough to fit on the rim. After some reading I'm probably closer to -1 deg as I'm at stock ride height.
I actually whipped up a set of fixed camber plates in CAD and was thinking of making them once school re-opens, as I'd have access to the machine shop and waterjet:
https://i.imgur.com/6vzpBXol.png
My issue with fixed camber plates and E36 M3 strut mounts is that my car is still my daily, and I'm not sure about inner tire wear. Perhaps without much toe, it's not a huge issue? My plan with the fixed camber plates was instead of hammering out the studs on the stock strut mount & using regular nuts, I'd hammer the studs out, drill out to 10.5 mm, and use press-in nuts. That way I can remove the camber plate, and mount the strut mount with bolts on its own, if I was planning on putting a bunch of mileage on my car between events.
Galapolis
06-12-2020, 06:38 AM
Adjustable camber plates might be worth considering for your situation, even if they are quite pricey. That being said, I still got excessive outer wear on -2°, and it's not like I go to the mountains THAT often. I think -2.5° for a mixture of street/track should do just fine in terms of wear.
ZHPizza
06-12-2020, 07:52 AM
Adjustable camber plates might be worth considering for your situation, even if they are quite pricey. That being said, I still got excessive outer wear on -2°, and it's not like I go to the mountains THAT often. I think -2.5° for a mixture of street/track should do just fine in terms of wear.Preach it
-2.5° and 0 toe in front
This is the way
ZHPizza
06-12-2020, 10:57 AM
Yeah, I was pretty suspicious of the numbers I was getting. Measured to the outside sidewall of the tire, which isn't the most accurate, but I didn't have a piece of wood (which was a wooden snowbrush/ice scraper) short enough to fit on the rim. After some reading I'm probably closer to -1 deg as I'm at stock ride height.
I actually whipped up a set of fixed camber plates in CAD and was thinking of making them once school re-opens, as I'd have access to the machine shop and waterjet:
https://i.imgur.com/6vzpBXol.png
My issue with fixed camber plates and E36 M3 strut mounts is that my car is still my daily, and I'm not sure about inner tire wear. Perhaps without much toe, it's not a huge issue? My plan with the fixed camber plates was instead of hammering out the studs on the stock strut mount & using regular nuts, I'd hammer the studs out, drill out to 10.5 mm, and use press-in nuts. That way I can remove the camber plate, and mount the strut mount with bolts on its own, if I was planning on putting a bunch of mileage on my car between events.
That makes sense - measuring on the tire will add extra camber due to the lower sidewall bulging under the weight of the car. -1.0 is probably right on as I beleive that's where I was able to get without the alignment pins. I'm also at stock ride height, so I can confirm that you can get to -1.5 if you grind out your slots 5mm more (I did this in 2018 and just found the pics).
I'm actually planning to use the e36 M3 strut mounts BECAUSE my car is a daily since they give you the extra camber and caster while retaining some rubber damping between the strut and body.
I'm even thinking of making them adjustable in a way -- hair brained idea below:
- Install them in the middle of the adjustment slot (since my slots are extended, that gives me +/- 0.5deg to work with)
- Current camber is n. Get an alignment at n camber, zero toe
- Raise front of car, loosen nuts, slide struts out all the way out = [minimum] n+0.5deg camber, + toe in
- Raise front of car, loosen nuts, slide struts all the way in = [maximum] camber at n-0.5deg, + toe out
I say maybe because I don't think that the toe will change with the camber on these cars but I could be wrong
The guy at the link below estimated that n would be around -2.9deg for me (middle of my slot is roughly -1.0 right now), so if that's the case, then I would have these adjustments:
Street (out): -2.4, slight toe in
Track (middle): -2.9, zero toe
Autox (in): -3.4, slight toe out
Could even extend the slots the other way and try to get under -2.0 for the street. Man, I can't wait to get these things installed and see where it sits!
https://www.e46fanatics.com/threads/suspension-evolution.1261039/
Galapolis
06-12-2020, 12:59 PM
I say maybe because I don't think that the toe will change with the camber on these cars but I could be wrong
I can confirm it does. Watched it change when the mechanic changed camber on the alignment rack.
ZHPizza
06-12-2020, 01:48 PM
I can confirm it does. Watched it change when the mechanic changed camber on the alignment rack.Oops I meant to delete that part after I looked at the suspension geometry and googled around
I'm hoping it's slight enough to get away with changes like I'm thinking
Huh, those E36 M3 mounts sound pretty nifty. Seems like after slotting the strut towers it can reach perhaps 50% of the adjustment range of a true adjustable camber plate, with the neutral point closer to the sweet spot for events. I might be buying a set of used GC street plates, but if I don't end up with those I will either have to add the E36 mounts to the next order when I head to the US (which is scheduled for October) or keep an eye out for a cheap set locally here in Canadia.
Oops I meant to delete that part after I looked at the suspension geometry and googled around
I'm hoping it's slight enough to get away with changes like I'm thinking
Yeah with the tie rod fixed and being in front you get toe-out with moving the strut in. But it seems like the E36 mounts add a decent amount of caster as well, so you may not have to run as much extra negative. I guess you'll just have to see how it is when you get on an alignment rack
A week after, I had an appointment to get the front 2 Contis replaced, and 4 Hankook RS4s installed on my winter rims. Of course, at this point it would be prudent not to take my wheels off for their annual cleaning & re-waxing.
Geez look at that camber wear:
https://i.imgur.com/Dg0GoYGl.jpg
A few days prior I realized the brake pad sensor wire was also touching the inner barrel of the wheel in front, as there was not much caliper clearance with the 17s. Unfortunately this meant that the barrel was marred about its circumference. Not a huge deal, but still sucks when the rims are basically mint:
https://i.imgur.com/LdPO65Rl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/O3rwHGjl.jpg
Therefore, I decided to leave the sensor plugged in, but zip-tied it out of the way. Also did the same in the rear, though there was no issue there. Psssssh brake pad wear sensors… who needs em? My eyes are the sensors:
https://i.imgur.com/5ZtI634l.jpg
At this point I also inspected the brakes, and dear god… I used up about 40-50% of the Hawk HPS pad in the front left. Front right has slightly more material, the rears are of course fine. When it comes time to replace them, I’ll have new pads shipped to a UPS/Fedex store in Buffalo, NY and will swap the pads in the parking lot. Then re-send the old ones back immediately, before crossing back into Canada and driving home. Thank god for FCP warranty! Going forwards I may need to think about a track pad, but then that just adds hassle if I had to swap pads AND tires for each event:
https://i.imgur.com/6n8L4YXl.jpg
Pulled all wheels out for cleaning:
https://i.imgur.com/nR2ZhqDl.jpg
Of course, a few stubborn brake deposits aside, the street set cleaned up real nice and easy:
https://i.imgur.com/ofDt91Xl.jpg
I knew the winter set was going to be bad, so I bought Autoglym’s Custom Wheel Cleaner. I was going to clean them pretty thoroughly, but quickly noped out of there when I saw the barrel. Instead, I just cleaned the face and rim of the wheel. No big deal, these rims weren’t in the best shape to start anyways, and they’re only going to get showered in brake dust at the track:
https://i.imgur.com/h6ChL3Pl.jpg
I left the car on stands overnight. The next day, I got the tires installed. The RS4s are some pretty meaty bois:
https://i.imgur.com/i6CkW5Pl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/FyroP2Dl.jpg
The Contis:
https://i.imgur.com/tLOUi7ll.jpg
The camber wear is pretty apparent:
https://i.imgur.com/doFxr2Jl.jpg
Since this is the first set of rims I really care about, I had to deal with removing the old wheel weight tape. Tried wheel cleaner, IPA, WD-40, a razor blade… in the end, brake cleaner cut through the residue like a hot knife through butter. I also used it to remove any remaining brake dust deposits:
https://i.imgur.com/SDOsqI8l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/1RvxajYl.jpg
Then I coated all of my street wheels with Poorboy’s wheel sealant, and the tires in Autoglym Instant Tire Dressing. The pic below makes it look a lot more shiny than it actually is. I guess we’ll see how long it lasts:
https://i.imgur.com/CSRqNLQl.jpg
kakashi169
06-21-2020, 07:45 AM
looking good tim! what brush do u use when u are cleaning your rims?
Galapolis
06-21-2020, 07:55 AM
Let me know about the RS4's. I was close to getting those as my daily tires but I chickened out and got the Indy 500s again. They are very similar to the DW Sport so your impressions would definitely be valuable to me.
looking good tim! what brush do u use when u are cleaning your rims?
Thanks Daniel! I actually use two of these dusting gloves (https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/simoniz-microfibre-dusting-glove-0396124p.html#srp) which are more or less wash mitts in glove form. I've found that wearing them allows you to wrap your hands around each of the spokes to get a pretty thorough clean. To clean the barrels I bought something similar to a wheel woolie (though not nearly as expensive) when I was in Japan, though I'm sure you can probably find something similar locally or from Amazon. I can clean perhaps 70% of the barrel, the remaining 30% I can't get to due to minimal caliper to barrel clearance. Not a huge deal as with regular washes and the annual wheels-off wash + wax, brake dust never sticks. Oh, and also because I wax my rims, 95% of the brake dust comes off with a high concentrate of regular body soap. The remaining 5% of brake dust deposits I've found come off with brake cleaner.
Japanese "wheel woolie" on the top left:
https://i.imgur.com/U8HGtorl.jpg
Let me know about the RS4's. I was close to getting those as my daily tires but I chickened out and got the Indy 500s again. They are very similar to the DW Sport so your impressions would definitely be valuable to me.
Depending on how much street mileage you put per year, I think you made the right choice. I'm not sure I'd run a 200 tw tire as a daily, but if you visit mountains or do autox/track a lot then you may be able to squeeze by with running RS4s as your summer tire. My first autox is next weekend, and I plan to hit the track again next month so I'm pretty excited to see how they perform!
After spending some time at the track and learning what both myself and my car needed, I had my eye out for a set of camber plates, which would help with both cornering grip and tire wear. However, as I was on a budget, I quickly whipped up some fixed camber plates in CAD, and was planning on making them once the school re-opened. They’re basically the same as the TMS plates, the only difference was that I was planning on hammering the studs out from the stock strut mount, drilling the holes out to 10.5 mm, then pressing in press-in nuts. Thus, the strut mount could still be used without the camber plates by fastening with bolts to the car, if I was planning on putting a bunch of mileage on the car between events.
https://i.imgur.com/6vzpBXol.png
However, I found a very good deal on a set of used Ground Control camber plates locally, so I swept those up:
https://i.imgur.com/uN262vJl.jpg
Everything seemed fine, except for some damage to the bearing seals, and slight “crunchiness” while rotating the bearings. So I decided to re-grease them:
Bearing seal damage:
https://i.imgur.com/uADLq6jl.jpg
Cleaned bearings:
https://i.imgur.com/YR7dqRnl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Kk9BsOYl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9v8ydfml.jpg
Re-greased (the actual balls & cage were also greased before reassembly, just didn’t want to get my phone messy):
https://i.imgur.com/n5idAaVl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/E71VcMFl.jpg
I initially attributed the “crunchiness” due to dirt embedded within the old grease. But to be honest, I didn’t feel a difference – the bearings do rotate smoothly, the only “crunchiness” is audible. Not sure what it is, but all the parts look okay, and I think it should be fine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The next day I headed over to my friend’s place. He runs a K20-swapped EK Civic (https://www.facebook.com/APEXPerformanceEngineering) in Ontario Time Attack, so he had a decent set of tools I could use. Heck, my “impact” is really just a hand-me-down corded impact driver that barely pushes 50 ft-lbs of breakaway torque… that just shows you the extent of my equipment. He had a nice Milwaukee cordless impact that I needed to loosen and tighten the strut top nut, along with other stuff like scale pads & leveling plates for the DIY alignment.
So first things first, install the camber plates:
https://i.imgur.com/j1oMUYyl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/KIEtHptl.jpg
Pushed the camber plates all the way in, and you get some stancenation going on:
https://i.imgur.com/OSo6ug5l.jpg
Then set up the scales & leveling plates:
https://i.imgur.com/qr49q5Zl.jpg
Got the car on the scales. Take the corner weights with a grain of salt because although left and right were level, front and rear were on a slight downwards slope to the back. Well, it’s not like I can do any corner balancing anyways, with my Bilstein B4 dampers and stock springs.
7/8ths tank of gas, no driver, nothing else in the car aside from some spare fluids:
https://i.imgur.com/8XtPspIl.jpg
Then started doing the alignment:
https://i.imgur.com/m6GfI3Il.jpg
My plan was to have a street and track setting, and I’d switch between the two for events. I was planning on running the following:
Street
-1.2 deg camber
0.06 deg toe in
Track
-2.7 deg camber
0.1 deg toe out
Camber was no issue. Unfortunately what ended up happening was that toe would keep changing, and was inconsistent when switching from track to street, then back to track. Heck, we even set camber and toe for the street, then I went for a drive, and the car was pulling to the left. Turned out that one of the tires somehow had 4 mm of toe, which is about 0.5 deg. So I’m starting to think that unless I did an alignment every time I went to change camber, toe would be thrown off. I may have to settle on a single setup for both track/street, something like -2.5 deg camber and near-zero toe, then set & forget.
I also have to go back and re-do the alignment as my car still pulls to the left slightly. Some things we will be doing next time to hopefully have a more accurate alignment:
Roll the car forwards/back when adjustments are made, rather than just bouncing the car up/down
Steering may have moved slightly, so a steering lock will be used
Swapping the camber plates out was relatively quick, the alignment took the most of the day and was a bit of a PITA. But it was a good learning experience and it allows you to tweak your setup without having to constantly shell out ~$100 for an alignment at a shop.
sillieidiot
06-21-2020, 08:50 PM
Man doing the alignment sucks. But I did the same thing you did. I messed around with the settings until I found something that I liked and then I just pay for an alignment and make them align it to those settings lol
ZHPizza
06-22-2020, 10:24 AM
Yeah something was definitely wack about how y'all were setting the toe. It should be consistent with the camber changes. Locking the steering wheel and rolling the car a bit would likely do the trick. There's plenty of stuff that binds up and will release when you roll it a bit.
Yeah something was definitely wack about how y'all were setting the toe. It should be consistent with the camber changes. Locking the steering wheel and rolling the car a bit would likely do the trick. There's plenty of stuff that binds up and will release when you roll it a bit.
I honestly don't know what's going on. Through the help of friends I got to use what was basically Smart Strings, we checked & re-checked that they were square with the car. Rear toe was found to be zero on both sides so at least my left rear toe adjustment was pretty spot-on. Front camber was set to -2.5 deg, with 0.1 deg toe out and yet I still have a gentle pull to the left, and a steering wheel that is 5-10 deg left of centre. We also rolled the car, and used a steering lock.
I'm starting to think it could be the positive camber wear i have on my front street tires that may be affecting something, though I don't believe this pull or off-centre steering was present prior to the camber plates. I'm going to start troubleshooting by swapping on my RS4s and going for a drive, and seeing if brand-new tires on all 4 corners will solve the alignment.
Man doing the alignment sucks. But I did the same thing you did. I messed around with the settings until I found something that I liked and then I just pay for an alignment and make them align it to those settings lol
lol yup... I might be doing that if I can't figure out the pull to the left, but then they may run into the same issue as well
https://i.imgur.com/A46Ej84l.jpg
So my steering wheel was canted about 5-10 degrees left from centre, along with a slight pull to the left. Got the brand-new RS4s on and nothing changed. Said screw it and shimmied both tie rods over the same number of turns, so my steering wheel is pretty much straight. However the pull is still present, though it seems to be better than before. I don't know, I may leave it for now... or I may have to hop on an alignment rack for peace of mind.
fredo
06-25-2020, 08:00 AM
I suggest to get an alignment, specially because of your new tires. My 2 cents.
I suggest to get an alignment, specially because of your new tires. My 2 cents.
Yeah, if all else fails I'll have to just bite the bullet and hop on an alignment rack. Usually the DIY alignment is pretty sound, my friend hasn't had issues aligning cars like Civics or S2Ks. We're thinking it could be the steering guibo where the wheel is straight, but the rack isn't, because even though we used a steering lock there will still be a ton of play post-guibo. At least for my autox this weekend I'll run it as-is, sometime next week we'll re-string align and hopefully third time's the charm and it all works out.
Going to have to pay careful attention and line up the markers on the rack and the shaft, at least that will eliminate the guibo as being a source of error.
https://www.brakeandfrontend.com/wp-content/uploads/Articles/03_01_2009/105821010169875_00000056875.jpg
Galapolis
06-25-2020, 09:17 AM
Have you replaced the steering coupler yet? Might help a little. What also helped on my car was torquing down the steering rack.
Have you replaced the steering coupler yet? Might help a little. What also helped on my car was torquing down the steering rack.
Yep the steering coupler only has maybe 20k km on it or so. I'll add the steering rack bolts as another thing to check.
I suspect alignment shops don't run into these issues because they have grease plates, so when they make toe changes there isn't any binding in the tire or any of the rubber in the system.
ZHPizza
06-25-2020, 11:50 AM
Yep the steering coupler only has maybe 20k km on it or so. I'll add the steering rack bolts as another thing to check.
I suspect alignment shops don't run into these issues because they have grease plates, so when they make toe changes there isn't any binding in the tire or any of the rubber in the system.
Wait you didn't use grease plates when you were making adjustments? That would definitely explain why you had trouble with the e46 (that has a ton of rubber bits for isolation) and not hondas (rubber bits cost money to produce lol).
There are several ways to DIY grease plates with stuff like salt or...well...you know.....grease...
Wait you didn't use grease plates when you were making adjustments? That would definitely explain why you had trouble with the e46 (that has a ton of rubber bits for isolation) and not hondas (rubber bits cost money to produce lol).
There are several ways to DIY grease plates with stuff like salt or...well...you know.....grease...
Yeah, in all of the online DIYs I've looked at it didn't seem like not having grease plates was a concern, but then again I guess our cars are just that sensitive with all the rubber. Gonna try again early next week, ensuring the steering rack is centred post-guibo, and gonna use wax paper and soap as a cheap grease plate and hopefully that solves my toe issues
Proudly sponsored by Vaseline:
https://i.imgur.com/KB2irfFl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OesYQhtl.jpg
Unfortunately there were still issues, I also made sure to line up the marks on the steering rack. Hoping my car isn't crooked or some shit, but the last time it was on a rack it aligned fine, and that was after both accidents which did not affect the suspension. I have a couple leaky valve stems on my track setup so the shop that mounted my tires is going to have those fixed. Just going to get my car aligned at the same time:
https://i.imgur.com/7Ac200bl.jpg
ZHPizza
06-29-2020, 08:53 PM
Damn this is frustrating and I have spent 0 hours working on this alignment. Can't imagine how deflated you're feeling right now. Hopefully the shop is able to square it up and you're able to fine tune it down the road.
Damn this is frustrating and I have spent 0 hours working on this alignment. Can't imagine how deflated you're feeling right now. Hopefully the shop is able to square it up and you're able to fine tune it down the road.
Yeah, definitely frustrating. Not sure what it is, probably a multitude of issues including some sort of bushing preload somewhere. I was talking with a bunch of guys on NAM3Forum, they seem to be okay, but some of them spent $$$$$ on their string alignment setups. On my end we seem to be doing everything correctly, yet toe is just wonky. If anyone else here does a DIY string alignment on their car I'd be interested in hearing if similar problems arise.
Took it to the shop today and these were the readings:
https://i.imgur.com/3bsF0ill.jpg
Pretty hilarious all things considered, because on Monday we literally guessed toe since strings messed it up. Drive up on ramps, turn the tie rods 1/4 turn, small test drive, assess, then back on ramps and adjust tie rods again. Rinse & repeat 5 or 6 times and somehow we ended up with dead-on 0.10 deg toe out on each side.
Anyways the shop also did a small inspection and found a worn FCAB on the passenger's side. Since toe was not off by much in the rear I decided to wait until I replace the FCABs before re-aligning. Just have to shop around a bit, with Canadian parts markup even standard Meyle HD FCABs are $100 USD and I don't get the warranty from FCP. And unless I go to the stealership Z4M FCABs are out of the question
sillieidiot
07-02-2020, 12:58 AM
just get one of us order it and send it to you lol
like 100 each for meyle fcabs? damn that's like the price of the z4m fcab.
just get one of us order it and send it to you lol
like 100 each for meyle fcabs? damn that's like the price of the z4m fcab.
That's very kind of you, I'd be willing to cover shipping cost + a bit extra for the hassles. However I don't think that'd circumvent the shipping costs if I were to order from ECS or FCP and have it shipped to my house. I was looking up some quotes from USPS or Fedex, it just seems that crossing the border adds significant cost for shipping, even if I were to have my items shipped free to a US address, then shipped to me.
I added some bronze caliper bushings and FCABs to my cart at ECS and shipping would be $40 USD, with duties and import taxes another $40 USD. So I think it'd make sense to have my items delivered to a USPS or Fedex store in Niagara NY and pick them up there (like how I did with my brakes when I went to Texas). I also have to replace my fairly new HPS pads because of severe pad taper wear, so I'll have FCP ship them there, swap the pads in the parking lot, then ship the old ones back immediately before going home. Just need to wait for borders to open, and for COVID to blow over.
Next up was OMSC autox, the first event with my new RS4s. Obviously it’s hard to compare as the course is never the same, but based off the times relative to other people I saw last year, I’d estimate I’m ~1 second faster around a 40-ish second track. Not bad!
https://i.imgur.com/4m8dYHel.jpg
It was also at this point I realized I had severe pad taper in one of the front calipers. So I finally got around to helicoiling the stripped guide pin holes in the caliper carriers:
https://i.imgur.com/MggzCW5l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QRRYYKql.jpg
I also swapped the pads left/right in the car, and the pedal felt horrible. But given it felt fine before I attributed that to the fact that the caliper wants to push the pad straight, when the pad wants to sit crooked. So that big initial dead spot in the pedal is due to the piston taking up the slack with the taper.
Then I had another track day at TMP again with some friends. Nice and quiet, only 7 cars for the whole track. I for sure thought I’d be faster with the new tires:
https://i.imgur.com/cLVRV67l.jpg
Boy oh boy I was wrong, my fastest lap was almost exactly 1 second off from last time. It’s hard to say because it’s not a back to back comparison but braking power felt similar to last time, the only difference being the dead spot in the pedal. Cornering also felt similar, not really quicker or slower cornering speeds than last time. This is sort of reflected in the data, in a time-distance graph, the slope of decel looked comparable, and the valleys for cornering speeds are similar. I let one of my friends (who won his class at Ontario Time Attack) drive, and he set down similar times, though to be fair he only did 3 laps. It was about 10 deg C hotter though, so the heat may have had something to do with it. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with not setting quicker times with 200tw tires. But at least the tires had no discernable wear, they look a bit scrubbed as expected but still look basically new!
Oh, and Hawk pads doing their thing:
https://i.imgur.com/X2HBgWGl.jpg
My PS reservoir catch can still hasn’t arrived, so I just found an old sock that had a hole in it, which worked really well:
https://i.imgur.com/mU4Upgol.jpg
Towards the end of the day, I’d have a red brake light come on whenever I engaged ABS, and it would stay on a for a few seconds, then go off. I hadn’t seen that before, but thought it could be something that normally happens when you engage ABS a lot. Thought nothing of it until when I was driving around town a few days later, I had the orange DSC light, and red brake light come on. Pulled the following codes:
ABS:
- 5E1A CAM DME/DDE Signal Error
- 5E1F PT-CAN chassis number wrong/ECU not initialized
- 5E16 CAN Timeout instrument cluster
- 5E5D Brake_fluid_level low/Switch faulty
LEW:
- 0B Wrong LWS-ID
Symptoms aside from what I mentioned above: Turned the car off, DSC light went away, but ABS light was still there. ABS still works. Got home and cleared all the codes, did a couple more ABS stops and the red ABS light came on again, but went away after a few seconds. Re-checked and still no codes.
Did some searching but at this point it could be a number of things. I have been taking advantage of ABS pretty heavily throughout my autox'ing and track. Until recently I haven't had any issues, but I'm thinking that with my pad taper and resultant very squishy pedal, the ABS module thinks the brake fluid is low, perhaps the other codes come along with that fault. What's puzzling me is the last code, which is new, not sure how the LWS-ID can randomly change.
At this point I decided to swap back to stock pads in the front, which have tons of MEAT left. Interestingly enough, the HPS pads were now worn flat on both sides, but they were almost down to the bottom of the centre groove.
https://i.imgur.com/h7RWExFl.jpg
My brass bushings also arrived, which I had ordered (and paid out of the a$$ for shipping & duties) to fix the pad taper:
https://i.imgur.com/nAg0ssJl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/RBmcodil.jpg
As a precaution I also rebled the front two calipers. I may have had one or two microbubbles come out, but the fluid didn’t appear as if it had boiled over. Anyways I have another autox coming up this weekend, so I’ll find out then if my ABS issues have been fixed.
Galapolis
07-07-2020, 06:51 PM
First of all, respect for wearing down the HAWK pads. I understand that track driving really punishes brakes, but I've had mine for 1.5 years and not been easy on them and I still have like 75% life left.
As for the tires, I still think the 245 on 8" is the problem. I read on the M3 forums that running 245 on 8" on our cars actually reduces grip compared to 225 on 8". I'm sure the tires would do a lot better on 8.5" or 9" wide wheels. I know that E46 touring cars run 245 square on 9". Those 200TW also like much lower tire pressures. I run 34psi on my Indys, but I've had Autocrossers tell me they run their 200TW tires at 26psi.
ZHPizza
07-07-2020, 07:03 PM
Oh yeah that is a lot of tire for an 8in wheel. Did you happen to mark the sidewall to see what kind of rollover you're getting? I do that for every autocross now and adjust pressures accordingly.
Also I can't remember have you used INPA to bleed the ABS units? Bubbles can get trapped in there and cause problems.
First of all, respect for wearing down the HAWK pads. I understand that track driving really punishes brakes, but I've had mine for 1.5 years and not been easy on them and I still have like 75% life left.
As for the tires, I still think the 245 on 8" is the problem. I read on the M3 forums that running 245 on 8" on our cars actually reduces grip compared to 225 on 8". I'm sure the tires would do a lot better on 8.5" or 9" wide wheels. I know that E46 touring cars run 245 square on 9". Those 200TW also like much lower tire pressures. I run 34psi on my Indys, but I've had Autocrossers tell me they run their 200TW tires at 26psi.
LOL it's not exactly a good thing. Yeah I did like 7 or 8 autox and quite a few runs in the mountains around the SF bay area with my stock pads and they're at ~75% life as well. It's actually insane how much the HPS has worn on track, no noticeable fade but I guess running a non-dedicated track pad just wears out extremely quick.
Hmmm interesting, I was expecting reduced turn-in response due to the slightly pinched sidewalls, but not reduced grip, especially not to the point where it'd be slower than the 340tw Contis at ~44 psi hot. Also odd how I seem to be quicker at autox, but slower at track, but again it's hard to gauge with autox since the track isn't consistent. Did they say why grip is lower? I'm still on the hunt for a 8.5" square setup but given how much I've spent in the past few weeks, need to save up.
Even if it's a bit slower, at least keeping things consistent now without much tire wear, I can still learn and see if I can improve from I guess what would be now my "new baseline" time with the RS4s. Unfortunately I think I only have 1 or 2 more track days left in the HPS pads before they have to go back to FCP for warranty, which is not something I can easily do on a budget given the closed border.
Oh yeah that is a lot of tire for an 8in wheel. Did you happen to mark the sidewall to see what kind of rollover you're getting? I do that for every autocross now and adjust pressures accordingly.
Also I can't remember have you used INPA to bleed the ABS units? Bubbles can get trapped in there and cause problems.
Yeah, I was down to ~28 psi hot and I still think I could have possibly lowered the pressures even more. I did use INPA to bleed the ABS, no bubbles were present
Ah, the joys of a used car. Got my new FCABs in today (Meyle HD) and found out the old ones were different left/right. Left was Meyle HD and was pretty solid still, right side definitely needed replacing and promptly puked oil when it ripped taking it off. Hmm, since it was oil filled I wonder if it was Lemforder? 5 minutes with a dremel on the centre metal insert and it was off, new FCABs slid on like butter with some dish soap.
My intention was to keep the old ones so I could press in Z4M FCABs into the old lollipops, but I'm not sure if IDs would be to the same tolerances left and right. I'm really in no rush though so I'll press the old ones out first and measure the bores to make sure the press fit will be more or less the same. Then whenever I happen to be in the US next I'll order the Z4M FCABs from FCP.
Left:
https://i.imgur.com/sUOvzUyl.jpg
Right:
https://i.imgur.com/2D5KttJl.jpg
Also got my trunk organization dialed in. I was at autox yesterday and it rained very heavily. All of my stuff got soaked, including the cardboard box I have had in my trunk for 5 years, which fit perfectly in the little cubby above the battery tray.
https://i.imgur.com/h5WaR5Sl.jpg
Went to a local home hardware store and found a rice container that happened to fit perfectly in that spot. I also put adhesive-backed velcro strips on the bottom, so the box is pretty solid and won't slide out on spirited highway on-ramps. Only caveat is that the box is such a snug fit, that the trunk light on that side won't fit with the box. Also, my oil jug and spray bottles are too tall for the lid, which I was hoping to use when leaving my stuff outside on a rainy day at autox/track.
https://i.imgur.com/eDWYJv8l.jpg
Then, I went ahead and got my alignment done. I’m not sure what’s up with this car though… after they aligned it, the steering wheel was canted to the right, and I still have a very slight pull to the left. So they shimmied the tie rods over a bit which centred the steering, but the ever so slight pull is there. Could just be the crown in the road, but I can do a very slow lane change with my hands off the wheel. Gonna live with it though, at least until the next suspension upgrade.
https://i.imgur.com/ZGCMAUpl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/CpWiEFKl.jpg
I had a small BBQ with a handful of friends at a park. I arrived much earlier than everyone else so I parked right by the lake, pulled out my camping chair, and chilled right by my car for about a half hour. Also made for some great pics:
https://i.imgur.com/lmOXAaCl.jpg
Then my friend arrived with his 320i:
https://i.imgur.com/pURLd1tl.jpg
Then, this weekend I decided to restore my headlights, fix the rust on my trunk, and colour match my backup cam housing while the handle was out of the car.
First things first, colour matching the backup cam housing – I was planning on using some touch-up paint, then clear-coating with 2K clear at the same time as the headlights. Unfortunately it didn’t go as planned, since the touch-up paint did not self-level like I thought it would. So I’m just gonna leave it for now:
https://i.imgur.com/7hwl62fl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/6nRuLQQl.jpg
Next was the rust on my trunk. Why, BMW, did you install the plastic screw inserts before the trunk was painted? So of course, over the past 16 years, rust started forming.
https://i.imgur.com/ehjaimhl.jpg
Took the inserts out:
https://i.imgur.com/uRoJwVcl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/sVTS57rl.jpg
Sanded back to metal with a Dremel:
https://i.imgur.com/HcbrwiNl.jpg
Metal-prep’d, then POR-15 painted the exposed areas:
https://i.imgur.com/aybLsvPl.jpg
New screw inserts back in:
https://i.imgur.com/QKexFKYl.jpg
Trunk handle gasket installed, to replace the one that was non-existent. Trimmed a small channel to allow for routing of the backup cam wire:
https://i.imgur.com/srvvmcTl.jpg
Also found a crack from the spot weld, to the trunk latch holes. Uuuuuuurgh more stuff to do, a problem for another time:
https://i.imgur.com/tAZYEqgl.jpg
Lastly were the headlights, for reference this is why I’m swapping the lenses and refinishing them:
https://i.imgur.com/fX13mOgl.jpg
Started off removing them. Upon removal of the headlight washer fluid sprayers, I was showered in the face with windshield washer fluid. Great, just great…
https://i.imgur.com/0JbknAOl.jpg
Also yet again, another “joys of a used car” moment. Someone broke all the tabs off one of the covers and hot glued it in place:
https://i.imgur.com/YLHokGRl.jpg
2-part epoxied it back, hopefully next time the cover doesn’t come apart from the washer nozzle:
https://i.imgur.com/MaiZyLRl.jpg
Below is more damage that isn’t seen when installed. Not sure how this damage was caused, but it’s quite extensive:
https://i.imgur.com/7Qw042nl.jpg
The donor headlight had a crack on the bottom that isn’t visible from the top, so I just stop-drilled the root of the crack and epoxied:
https://i.imgur.com/JDShbsel.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/QIyULKyl.jpg
I started sanding the donor lense just to gauge how much work they would be, then chucked it into the oven:
https://i.imgur.com/5EBlp0ql.jpg
Then swapped the lenses over:
https://i.imgur.com/c2kkaZAl.jpg
After a bunch of sanding up to 800 grit, both sets of headlights are ready for paint:
https://i.imgur.com/gOpaJtjl.jpg
Painting in progress. Everything was going well until bugs started landing on the wet paint. Uuuuuugh why would you want to land on a wet surface where the liquid slowly suffocates and paralyzes you. I'll have to see if I can get them off with a bit of polishing once cured. I also have very small run that's very hard to see, but it bugs me (ha) so I'll also wetsand that out.
https://i.imgur.com/GZL4VDpl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/yS8aaDHl.jpg
Then, installed on the car. Can’t wait for nicer weather so I can wash it again and get better pics, these lenses will definitely pop:
https://i.imgur.com/MMtZQYwl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/HkT225Nl.jpg
Even the spare set turned out really nice, aside from the cracked lenses:
https://i.imgur.com/QTqW6mql.jpg
If anyone is looking to buy facelift coupe headlights and aren’t too fussy, let me know!
Nice job on the lenses, they look great. What was the progression you used for sanding? Also, did you consider getting replacement lenses from Bimmer Jakes (link (https://www.bimmerjakes.com/ca/headlight-lens-plastic-covers-for-bmw-3-e46-1998-2006/3-28-bmw-3-series-e46-coupecabrio-facelift-new-headlight-lens-plastic-cover.html#/114-left_right-pair))?
Nice job on the lenses, they look great. What was the progression you used for sanding? Also, did you consider getting replacement lenses from Bimmer Jakes (link (https://www.bimmerjakes.com/ca/headlight-lens-plastic-covers-for-bmw-3-e46-1998-2006/3-28-bmw-3-series-e46-coupecabrio-facelift-new-headlight-lens-plastic-cover.html#/114-left_right-pair))?Thanks! The donor lenses were heavily oxidized so I went from 400 -> 600 -> 800 grit wet sanding. The ones from my car weren't so bad, so I was able to get away with just 800 grit.
When I first started looking around for replacement lenses, I did come across Bimmer Jakes but they're asking way too much. The donor pair of headlights were significantly cheaper, and I can still sell them and recoup the costs (and hopefully make a small profit given the work I've done to them)
johnrando
07-20-2020, 04:11 PM
Nice werk.
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Nice werk.
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Thanks John!
Just sold the donor set for a good deal. The headlights are making my front bumper look worse than they already are lol
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200728/e27555514ae9bb8145cae288c659205a.jpg
sillieidiot
07-28-2020, 12:57 AM
can't see that picture you just posted.
can't see that picture you just posted.Should be good now!
Also, Hmm... Looking at that pic, I need to not be lazy and see if I can fiddle with the alignment of the door. Looks a bit off where the door molding meets the front fender
Took my car to the dealer for the 2nd passenger's side airbag recall. I've tried everything to contact and set up an appointment at the dealer by my house, but I guess since recall work doesn't pay the bills, they don't care. I sent a recall request to the dealer that did all the rust repair work on my car, and within 15 minutes someone called me and we set up an appointment.
I had to drive ~50 mins to get to that dealer, but I didn't mind as they have A+ customer service. I brought my own "do not wash" sign, but I guess they encounter enough fussy customers, so they were familiar with that and had their own signs ready. Only caveat was that they disconnected my dash cam so I have no footage at all, aside from when I pulled into the service entrance. It's a bit suspicious however I do trust that they didn't do anything to the car, as the mileage was unchanged when I got the car back.
I did feel a bit proud of my car during this visit though - the moment I pulled into the service entrance, a few guys came over and oggled the car. We had a small chat, one of them also had an E46. Turns out many of them are enthusiasts like us, and love the older models
https://i.imgur.com/5QvtJRSl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/014OLGFl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/zWwvH8cl.jpg
A week later I headed to PITL with some friends, got some nice shots there:
https://i.imgur.com/WzMGNEvl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/gmRCDYvl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5x33lsDl.jpg
3 weeks after that I picked up a set of Ground Control Double Adjustable coilovers. The set had popped up on kijiji (moose version of craigslist) for a very good price back in June, but at the time I talked myself out of it. But lately it's been on my mind, so I figured what the heck, and sent the seller a message. We talked for a bit and was able to pre-negotiate a great deal pending close inspection of the parts. Met up with the guy today and the kit was as clean as described - all the spring perches turn without issue, nothing is seized, etc.
So, even though I'd already bought RS4s and Ground Control Street camber plates (man, my wallet hates me...), I came home with these. Just gonna include them in next year's car budget, and given I'll be busy with school in the fall and there's only 2 months left of nice weather I think I'll also hold off on installing them until next spring as well. I'm really in no rush to get these installed, as I also want to see what sort of times I can put down with the stock setup before getting these on.
Also, I need to buy springs - the kit came with 440/550 lbs F/R which means the rear ride frequencies are lower than the front, so I'll have to bump the rear spring rate up quite a bit.
https://i.imgur.com/PYC9186l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/55jCAQDl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/MeXlKybl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/rtjI70Vl.jpg
However, there is one potential issue with the kit – the rear dampers are a mystery, as they are labelled TCKline, which does not match the GC build sheet, and the TCK dampers only support up to 700 lbs springs. However, the seller was a totally stand-up guy and said those came with the kit, and the below pic from when they were new seems to support that:
https://i.imgur.com/T0CQvVyl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cR2JfFyl.jpg
I’m kind of hoping they were somehow revalved to accommodate much higher spring rates, because the GC rear dampers can support ~1100 lbs and I want to run closer to that. I say this because there are what appear to be plug welds above the compression adjusters, that I don’t see on these dampers in any other online pic. Perhaps that’s part of the revalve process?
https://i.imgur.com/PMCwP1ml.jpg
Regardless the pricing of the kit was such that even if these rear shocks are original TCK it was still well worth it. I’ll still run with the 550 lbs rear springs as a baseline, but I guess when I do bump up rear spring rate, I’ll max out the adjusters and feel if the rear is underdamped.
Anyways, I also ordered an M3 fuel pump baffle a few days before, that arrived so I put it in:
https://i.imgur.com/gtJI4Jal.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0nISHiNl.jpg
Which was just in time for my next track day. I managed to hit my PB there, even though it was very hot – got down to a 1:29.1, over a second faster than last time with no changes with the car and similar ambient conditions. Two primary reasons:
I got more comfortable with heel-toe. It’s still not perfect as it still takes a bit of my concentration away from braking, but it’s now at a point where the advantage of having extra thrust on corner exit outweighs the small amount of time lost under braking
I only found out within the last ~20 minutes of the day, but it’s better to turn everything (aside from ABS) off. Previously I pressed DSC, so traction was off but stability was on, because I had assumed that the 1-wheel braking a.k.a. “poor man’s LSD” would help put some power down on corner exit. But I thought what the heck and turned it off, immediately I could feel the inside rear wheel spin up occasionally but the car felt a lot more nimble, and overall felt more “raw” and I could feel the car out more. And this was also the primary reason my times dropped, I was consistently within 5/10ths within 5 laps and averaging about a second faster than my average with keeping stability on.
I reckon the car with the current setup can do a low to mid 1:28, but it needs new brake pads to do so – the HPS definitely lose a bit of stopping power as it reaches end of life.
Thanks to one of my friends for taking some pics that day:
https://i.imgur.com/BnKe9XGl.jpg
Oh and also, it started to rain halfway through so nobody felt it was worth it to try going for times. So we all (at least all of us with RWDs) started trying to drift. Me being the n00b I am combined with the open diff went off, thank god I don’t really care too much about my front bumper:
https://i.imgur.com/fKEhVOBl.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFU75cnS2pI
Also, lol spoke too soon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FLba_bviCg
I stupidly hosed my car off at the track to get rid of the mud, but their water was really hard. Uuuuuurgh water spots galore but oh well, at least my paint already needed a correction:
https://i.imgur.com/Ctb6n0Wl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ui67bIkl.jpg
Then, a few days later I replaced the front pads, as they were done. Thank god for FCP warranty:
https://i.imgur.com/0uwT49al.jpg
ZHPizza
08-29-2020, 03:02 AM
Oh hell yeah boi. DSC off gives you so much more control with what these cars are doing - especially with using the throttle to adjust your line mid-turn.
Also 1100lb seems crazy for the rear, no? Is that what you would need for a flat-ride setup?
BMWCurves
08-29-2020, 06:17 AM
Those spins just make me think of good ol' Clarkson:
https://i.imgur.com/U6fPlcH.gif
Galapolis
08-29-2020, 06:40 AM
If you're looking for a "poor man's LSD," you could give this a shot: https://www.ebay.com/itm/RacingDiffs-LSD-conversion-kit-Fits-BMW-188K-E46-E39-E38-E60-E53-E85-E83-/264498963829
It just "bolts" into your stock diff. I've been meaning to give it a shot for quite some time now but I've just had other priorities and I rarely need it with my driving style. According to the German forums, the lockup is about 15% and it works just like you'd expect. Most people over there use it for snow driving but it should do well in a motorsports setting too. You might want to get the Z4 finned plate though.
Oh hell yeah boi. DSC off gives you so much more control with what these cars are doing - especially with using the throttle to adjust your line mid-turn.
Also 1100lb seems crazy for the rear, no? Is that what you would need for a flat-ride setup?
It does sound insanely high, but with the rear spring being inboard the motion ratio is something like 0.5-0.6. I was thinking of running 900-1000 lbs so the wheel rate would be more like 500-600 lbs. Front MR is something like 0.95 so wheel rate is pretty much identical to spring rate.
I'm so thankful that Fat Cat Motorsports has made their ride harmonizer spreadsheet (http://www.fatcatmotorsports.com/FCM_Ride_Harmony_BMW_E46_M3_Online/FCM_Ride_Harmony_BMW_E46_M3_Online.htm) public, I've been playing around with some numbers there to settle on what rates I can run. Just crossing my fingers that my rear dampers can accommodate!
Those spins just make me think of good ol' Clarkson:
https://i.imgur.com/U6fPlcH.gif
Hahahaha I headed out with a friend in a BRZ, 255 wide RS4s with AST coilovers, a very quick car around that track. Yet in the wet that thing still wants to break away so easily, and man those cars look so easy to slide around. Still spun out a few times though :rofl
If you're looking for a "poor man's LSD," you could give this a shot: https://www.ebay.com/itm/RacingDiffs-LSD-conversion-kit-Fits-BMW-188K-E46-E39-E38-E60-E53-E85-E83-/264498963829
It just "bolts" into your stock diff. I've been meaning to give it a shot for quite some time now but I've just had other priorities and I rarely need it with my driving style. According to the German forums, the lockup is about 15% and it works just like you'd expect. Most people over there use it for snow driving but it should do well in a motorsports setting too. You might want to get the Z4 finned plate though.
Hmmmmm I did glance over that a few times seeing some ads but am a bit skeptical about it, primarily about how consistent it is, and how long the clutches last. Might be a good option if there are decent track reviews with good feedback, and they've been installed on the car for a decent amount of mileage.
Oh and on another note I should mention the M3 fuel pump baffle is well worth it, I was able to run the tank down to 1/8th and still had no starvation. Previously, I'd start starving around 1/2 tank, at which point I'd curse myself then have to drive to the local gas station to fill up
johnrando
08-29-2020, 08:24 PM
Nice updates!
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Nice score on the suspension. Looks like a fun day at the track, too. Looking forward to see what you go with for springs, ride-height, compression damping (clicks), etc.
Nice updates!
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Thanks JR!
Nice score on the suspension. Looks like a fun day at the track, too. Looking forward to see what you go with for springs, ride-height, compression damping (clicks), etc.
I actually have this entire week off from my Master's, we've decided to take a break before starting back up Sept. 8th, so I'm really tempted to throw the coilovers on the car. Not worried about corner balancing, as stock it was within 1% cross weight which was surprising, so as long as I get the front and rear adjusters as close as I can with calipers it should be fine. I just need to check my alignment and make sure my DIY string method can reproduce readings similar to what I got at the shop. If I can do that, then I'm comfortable with any small adjustments necessary, I just have to ensure I make the same adjustments left and right.
Gosh, all that needs to be researched. For now I'll throw the 440/550 lbs setup on the car, but short of a shock dyno it'll be hard to tell what the rears can handle other than buying rear springs, and testing it out (lol if someone has 800-1000 lbs 2.5" ID 6" springs, happy to take it off your hands). Ride height... aesthetically speaking I do want the front lower, right now it looks like a truck lol. I'll have to check what angle relative to the horizontal the FCA is as it stands, I don't want to lower it to the point where the FCA is angled upwards and I'm loosing significant camber under compression. Hard to really dictate without a full kinematics analysis but obtaining all the pickup points is tons of work. Won't be dumping it on the ground though, to start I'm thinking of keeping rear similar and the front going down 10-15 mm.
Damping, well that's just gonna require a ton of tuning and seat time, especially since I have 2 knobs to play with (rebound + compression). I have my work cut out for me to research all this
Galapolis
08-30-2020, 03:46 PM
Man I thought I was obsessed with suspension but I looked at that chart you posted and noped out in 5 seconds.
Also those spring rates sound bonkers. I think the Pro-Kit is in the 150/375-750 (progressive) range. Also I would love for my front to be higher again lol. Alpina B3 stance ftw.
If you needed beefier rear shocks after all, what would your options be? Also, I would highly recommend Eibach sway bars. Our cars benefit the most from soft springs + stiff sway bars.
Man I thought I was obsessed with suspension but I looked at that chart you posted and noped out in 5 seconds.
Also those spring rates sound bonkers. I think the Pro-Kit is in the 150/375-750 (progressive) range. Also I would love for my front to be higher again lol. Alpina B3 stance ftw.
If you needed beefier rear shocks after all, what would your options be? Also, I would highly recommend Eibach sway bars. Our cars benefit the most from soft springs + stiff sway bars.
I'm learning. Lucky to have one of my friends, who is a vehicle dynamics guru (used to work at OptimumG and Calspan tire testing) so I can bounce ideas off him. He actually made his own spreadsheet which is the same as the one from FCM and said, I quote "damn I've been made obsolete lol".
Beefier rear shocks, well I found the PN from the GC build sheet and it's about $330 per shock (https://www.summitracing.com/parts/kon-8042-1134spt). Not ideal since I am trying to do this on the "cheap" and two new rear shocks would already be more than half of what the whole kit cost. And revalves for DA are expensive, at ~$3-400 per shock, so not cheaper than new either. Honestly I'm not too sure what my plan would be, but I'm really hoping to avoid big expenses like that.
Yeah, 440 lbs is about the lowest you can run on the front dampers, GC advised that since the DA is a race damper it can easily accommodate 2x that rate. My plan is to keep the front at 440 and re-spring the rear to get a ~5-10% higher ride frequency than the front. Then anti-roll bars hopefully next year, if I can find a good used set of bars that research shows would work well with my setup
So… I know I said I wasn’t going to put my coilovers in until next year, but I did it anyways. I was working on my Master’s until last Friday and we all decided to take a break until Sept. 8th, so I had a bunch of free time on my hands. Additionally, I still plan on going to the track at least 1 more time before I store my car for winter, so that would at least give me time to shake down the car, and test the current setup as-is (ie. see if 440/550 lbs F/R is actually a pitchy POS).
So firstly I was worried about the alignment getting out of wack, and don’t really want to pay for another alignment since I just got one about a month ago. Since I was doing this at home with no equipment, I just prayed to god that my garage floor was flat enough, and drove in with the steering as straight as possible:
https://i.imgur.com/nK2wmDyl.jpg
When you do a DIY alignment you really need a ruler like this, so I bought this one off Amazon and will be using it specifically for string alignments:
https://i.imgur.com/mqjisWBl.jpg
Given my previous DIY alignment woes I was a bit concerned about inconsistent measurements, but surprise surprise the string alignment revealed measurements that were similar to that of what the shop actually did. ~-3.0 deg camber, 0 toe in front. I forgot to measure the rear camber, but toe was 1 mm in on both sides.
I currently do not have access to scales to corner balance, but given that the last time I was on scales with stock suspension cross weights were within 0.2% of 50/50, as long as I get the spring perches symmetric it’ll be close enough for now:
https://i.imgur.com/uVscynwl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SCEwTBtl.jpg
Before removing the old strut, I measured how far off centre the strut shaft was. The OD of the flange on the strut tower is 75 mm, the strut shaft was at 20 mm so this would mean it’s offset from centre by 17.5 mm. I decided to dial out a bit less camber so when I installed it, I went to 25 mm or 12.5 mm offset. I also decided to increase caster for a bit more camber under cornering, for now I have it at ~35 mm or 2.5 mm offset backwards, for practicality sake with camber adjustment.
https://i.imgur.com/wu0lOZXl.jpg
Front ride height is alright, might be a touch too low for what I want to run. But the spring perch is at the top and increasing it further means less thread engagement, not sure I want to do that.
https://i.imgur.com/1iqhz3kl.jpg
Rear ride height is definitely too low (barely 2 fingers between the tire and the fender) but I had to make 3 adjustments (first two were higher than stock) and each one is a PITA. I don't have the wrenches so it involves removing the lower shock bolt, using the BMW jack to push the upper CA away from the body to remove the spring, then changing spring seat height.
https://i.imgur.com/zBw5lkOl.jpg
I then re-stringed the car, and re-checked the alignment. Front camber is now at -2.5 and toe is 0 (well, the left side apparently has 1 mm toe-in, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ something something measurement error). Rear camber is at -2.5 (~-1.0 deg more than what the shop set it to before) as a result of the lowering, toe is 1 mm in on each side. So either I'll jack up rear ride height, or dial out a bit of camber in the rear, or both.
Left both adjusters at nearly full soft less 2 clicks or half a turn, as I read online that it's not recommended to run at the very limits of adjustment as the adjusters could get stuck. Did a quick 10 minute drive around the block and didn't really get a chance to push it aside from a few slaloms within my lane and a couple swift lane changes, so I don't have too many comments. But during those transients the car definitely feels less "laggy" in its response, and body roll is decreased, as expected.
But what was really surprising was no apparent deterioration in ride quality, or increase in NVH when I intentionally drove over some small potholes or cracks in the pavement. Front ride frequency has nearly doubled, and I have spherical bearings in the front camber plates (though the rubber/poly upper spring perch, being a hybrid camber plate may help), so this comes as a rather pleasant surprise.
One other unpleasant surprise: The 2 rear shocks are for the right, when they’re supposed to be left and right. Pictured below is the right side:
https://i.imgur.com/WRMdN1ll.jpg
Unfortunately, this means that the left side has the compression adjuster facing forward, which kinda sucks. I wonder if I can just buy the lower bushing, so I can press the old one out, and the new one in the other way?
Next on the list is to cut the rear trunk lining to allow easy access to the rear rebound adjusters. And install my underseat first aid box, since that arrived yesterday.
johnrando
08-31-2020, 07:57 PM
Good stuff
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Nice!! Happy to hear you're liking the ride quality and the no additional NVH, sounds like the dampers are doing their job properly.
Good stuff
Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk
Thanks JR!
Nice!! Happy to hear you're liking the ride quality and the no additional NVH, sounds like the dampers are doing their job properly.
Yeah, I'm really happy with it so far. I still haven't pushed it but I did take a highway on-ramp fairly spiritedly and it just took it with no issue, whereas if I were to do the same with the stock suspension, the DSC warning triangle might flash and you'd feel the car complaining a bit.
Raised the ride height in the rear a bit, now it's ever so slightly lower than stock. Re-checked camber, one side was at -1.5 and the other was at -2.0 deg. It's likely due to the fact that the garage floor might not be as level as I'd hoped. Given the adjustment should be symmetric since it was last adjusted at the shop, I decided to leave it, knowing both sides should be between those two values.
https://i.imgur.com/pGkyS31l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wNtYHnxl.jpg
Then headed over to crappy tire to rent the spring compressor - brought my tools and just took off the GC street camber plates in the parking lot, rather than making 2 trips.
https://i.imgur.com/TjioQAOl.jpg
I also installed the underseat first aid box, I’ll use it to store my tire pressure gauge and both Koni rebound adjustment knobs.
https://i.imgur.com/kfohxwgl.jpg
Galapolis
09-01-2020, 02:55 PM
Raised the ride height in the rear a bit, now it's ever so slightly lower than stock.
Bro if you aren't tucking in the rear like a 90s BTCC car, are you even REALLY lower than stock?
37160
Bro if you aren't tucking in the rear like a 90s BTCC car, are you even REALLY lower than stock?
37160
Geez that thing looks crazy, I wonder what the spring rates are, must be f stiff if they're running such low clearances. Pretty sure their pickup points are different than stock too, my front isn't that low and from what I can tell any lower and I'd lose significant camber under compression.
I'd also like to add that I'm starting to think that the car does feel ever so slightly "pitchy" under bumps, but that could just be confirmation bias, knowing what rates are on the car right now
What are your ride heights (center of hub to fender lip)?
What are your ride heights (center of hub to fender lip)?
IIRC just a hair under 13" for both front and back. I'd been checking what that was as I made adjustments because that's the standard the NAM3 guys seem to like using
ZHPizza
09-02-2020, 06:31 AM
I cannot believe you used those deathtrap spring compressors in public. You could have killed dozens of bystanders.
I cannot believe you used those deathtrap spring compressors in public. You could have killed dozens of bystanders.I can't tell if this comment is serious - are those really that bad? If it's any consolation I parked pretty much in the back corner of the lot and there was no one around for at least another 25 m
ZHPizza
09-02-2020, 09:41 AM
I can't tell if this comment is serious - are those really that bad? If it's any consolation I parked pretty much in the back corner of the lot and there was no one around for at least another 25 mLol half
Those things are terrifying. There's an old mafia bro up in your area that was using those and took a coil spring to the safety glasses. Damn near lost an eye/face. Doubt he'll see this but @slater
I picked up this contraption a while back and it is significantly better for the user's health
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DP2CDJU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eL9tFb465WYTM
d-rod
09-02-2020, 10:01 AM
Lol half
Those things are terrifying. There's an old mafia bro up in your area that was using those and took a coil spring to the safety glasses. Damn near lost an eye/face. Doubt he'll see this but @slater
I picked up this contraption a while back and it is significantly better for the user's health
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DP2CDJU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eL9tFb465WYTM
I don’t know if that’s any better.. yikes
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200902/7f091f40206a3175eccb511f7a504e6e.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
ZHPizza
09-02-2020, 10:05 AM
I don’t know if that’s any better.. yikes
oh shit
Lol half
Those things are terrifying. There's an old mafia bro up in your area that was using those and took a coil spring to the safety glasses. Damn near lost an eye/face. Doubt he'll see this but @slater
I picked up this contraption a while back and it is significantly better for the user's health
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DP2CDJU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_eL9tFb465WYTM
Yeah, I know slater, I talked with him extensively about the Vincebar back when I found my crack in the RACP. Too bad it doesn't seem he's on here lately (or other peeps from around South Ontario). After seeing your comment I did some snooping around, and count my blessings that I'm totally done with spring compressors. There is enough droop and the springs are so short that I can swap springs without needing to use a compressor.
I don’t know if that’s any better.. yikes
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
fffffffffffffff
On a negative note, I trimmed flaps into the trunk liner, and as I was testing out how easy one of the rear shocks was to adjust I found myself with oily fingers. I went ahead and checked the rest of the adjusters, one of the fronts has a light coating of oil after cycling through the entire range of the knob, the other front and other rear are bone dry. However the adjusters don't leak when driving, only while turning them. Really, really hoping this isn't a major issue, and perhaps I'm able to replace the adjuster seals on my own
Update: Called GC and they said if the adjusters haven't been touched in some time, some weepage is normal, once they have been used a bit and are broken in they shouldn't continue to weep. This is the case for all but the LR shock, weepage has definitely gone down but there is still a light coating of oil that forms whenever the knob is turned. Not much I can do other than keep an eye on it for now
Galapolis
09-02-2020, 12:01 PM
oh shit
Looks like death is the only option when working on the front struts.
sillieidiot
09-07-2020, 05:09 PM
I mean, you could technically use the car as the compressor too. I like the wall spring compressors that some shops have. Those are the best.
To easily gain access to the rear rebound adjusters, I went ahead and trimmed the rear trunk liners. I was debating on whether or not to cut actual holes out and use edge trim, or potentially use large plastic plugs that could be easily removed. However, after some looking around online I decided trim flaps on each side, which just fold back when adjusting – definitely the most stealthy way to do it. The right side is slightly rearwards but is still fine, but damn I should've cut the left side higher. I could still get to the adjuster but it was pretty tight so I had to make 2 relief cuts for a 2nd flap on top. All in all, not the end of the world since it's still pretty stealth, but I'd definitely recommend taking multiple measurements before cutting.
https://i.imgur.com/GoyDD6Vl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/re7El08l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7JWqM6Tl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vwAYBpXl.jpg
The first outing with my coilovers was another autox with OMSC. Obviously I have no time to tune the damping settings, so compression was left at 2/12 clicks from soft (mainly because I forgot to change them when I swapped the track wheels on), front rebound set to 1.25/2.5 turns, and rear rebound set to 0.5/2.5 turns from firm. I would say the car feels similar to how it did before, but it’s a whole lot more responsive in transients (such as the quick left-right-left in a box, or a slalom), and doesn’t understeer as much. However, I also felt quite a bit of pitching, the rear end was bouncing around from mid-corner to corner exit on one or two of the corners, which enforces my theory that the ride frequencies are not where they should be. Unfortunately it’s really hard to gauge if my car was actually faster as a result of installing the coilovers since the track was too much of a variable – let’s just say that you know your course design is… less than ideal when this is the result after the first run from the first run group:
https://i.imgur.com/fu1ZTQBl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/dl1erXgl.jpg
And also, since I have had more seat time than just my quick jaunt around some smooth roads by my house, the coilovers have definitely had a detrimental impact on ride and NVH. Certain bumps such as going over expansion joints, or cracks in the pavement produce a bang that is much more audible than stock, and you definitely feel more of the bump transmitted to the seat of your pants through the chassis and the seat. Regardless, these statements make it seem worse than it really is – ride and NVH levels are still well within what’s considered reasonable IMO for a daily. I’ve only extensively driven 2 cars with coilovers, the other being a 2016 Camaro with BC Racing coils, and that thing is slightly worse with NVH, and much worse with ride.
Another thing that’s annoying, is that for track I will be increasing negative camber, since adjustments are a whole lot quicker and repeatable with these Hybrid caster-camber plates (separate SHCSs for camber) than the street plates I previously had (relying on the 3 strut-top nuts). Unfortunately the positive jump post terminal on the right side of the car is in the way of the knob, I’m going to see if I can machine a new knob (preferable) or relocate the jump post (not as preferable).
https://i.imgur.com/JIIjurbl.jpg
As an aside, I’m constantly in awe of the FRS/BRZ/86 platform, I knew from the get-go they designed it to be easily modified, but my friend and I were at autox and we were comparing camber plates. Not only does he have camber bolts, but the strut tower hole is much larger than ours, there’s so much more room than the E46 for their camber plates:
https://www.grimmspeed.com/content/images/brzcoiloverdiy/figure12.jpg
2 weeks later I had yet again, the next autox with OMSC. This time course layout was much more straightforward, and I was able to drive to what I felt was the best of what I could do. I also decided to run softer damping, having the front at 0.5 turns from soft, and rears 1 turn from soft. This time, there was no “bucking like a horse” of the back end – I was thinking it could’ve been that my damping was too high the last time around, and my pitching was due to jacking down. Or it could’ve just been the course, who knows.
Regardless, based off relative times with some of the other guys there my car seems to be faster – there is an E36 328i on BC BR coils, LSD, Yoko Advan AD08R, who was consistently 2-3 seconds ahead of me with stock suspension, and I was able to edge him out by a few hundredths this time.
https://imgur.com/iXJFq1jl.jpg
… and 2 days later, I had the true test: back to TMP for my first track day with coilovers. My plan was to also tune damping, since seat time is minimal with autox, thus making it hard to do so.
Within the first half-hour of arriving there, I was able to eek out a 1:27.5 – 1.6 seconds quicker than my previous PB of 1:29.1. I then started playing with the damping, and eventually settled on rebound settings identical to that from my previous autox, which is as soft as I can run without being underdamped and having the balance the way I like it. I brought my jack, intending on tuning compression as well, but getting to the compression adjusters on the bottoms of the front struts proved to be too big of a PITA without lying on the ground, and I wasn’t about to get my clothes dirty. Next time around I’ll bring some kind of mat to lay on.
https://imgur.com/J47BQMAl.jpg
As the day progressed times dropped – down to a mid 1:26, a 1:26.1, then ended the day with a 1:25.9. Suffice it to say I was quite pleased with that, but I got too greedy in the end, stayed out a bit too long, and rode the curbs a bit too hard:
https://i.imgur.com/greygmxl.jpg
Aside from coilovers, there were 2 other contributing factors to improving my PB by so much:
- Track conditions, temps were a bit cooler so not as much heat soak
- My driving is getting better, however I still feel I'm too aggressive and have too much steering input for the given speed (so too much tire slip angle). I honestly don't see how you can't though, if I was to drive less aggressively and smoother with less tire noise, my times would be slower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VROSXGyQ4Z4
According to sector times, at one point I was 0.8-0.9 seconds faster than the 1:26.1 I had earlier in the day, and optimized lap time is a 1:23.9. The car definitely has more in it, I'm just not a consistent enough driver to replicate the perfect lap. Had I not had that oversteer-y moment right after T8 (due to a bad downshift, gotta work on my heel-toe), I definitely would've been in the low to mid 1:25s.
As the day progressed I was noticing tons of grooving and pad deposit on the front rotors. Got home and found this:
https://imgur.com/xt1rKhyl.jpg
https://imgur.com/RdbCHy7l.jpg
My ambient temp sensor also ripped out, so I just pulled the fender liner and found a good place behind the bumper to zip-tie it:
https://i.imgur.com/sQgxeAfl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EUTuwfsl.jpg
Stopping power isn’t what it used to be when the parts were new, but it’s not horrible. However there’s some vibration and quite a bit of noise. I was hoping to do 1 more TMP session before I store my car for the winter, but given the condition of the brakes, it’ll constrain the times that I can lay down. That, coupled with the fact that if I put my car away end of September instead of end of October, I’ll save money on 1 month of parking and 1 month of insurance, so I decided to do just that.
What was done Saturday:
- Vacuum and shampoo floor mats
- Vacuum carpets
- Wipe down of dash, centre console, door cards (on non-leather surfaces)
- Leather clean and condition seats and door cars (on leather surfaces)
- Clean all windows
- Wash and remove the caked-on bugs
What was done Sunday:
- Locally polish scuffs out (from cones)
- Apply paint sealant
- Fill gas, put fuel stabilizer
- Pump tires to ~50 psi
- Disconnect battery
- Throw the car cover on
https://i.imgur.com/4Yn3jHWl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/vlwvHKpl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/OqAYcehl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/m0l0V7vl.jpg
The last fill-up:
https://i.imgur.com/IIIKfBvl.jpg
And, put away until next April:
https://i.imgur.com/v0hWNl7l.jpg
BMWCurves
09-27-2020, 02:56 PM
Great update! Glad it was driving better, be it softer or whatever reason!
d-rod
09-27-2020, 04:05 PM
https://i.imgur.com/4Yn3jHWl.jpg
Who else likes silver trim over black ?
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BMWCurves
09-27-2020, 05:08 PM
Who else likes silver trim over black ?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Everyone. I'm dying for a Silver Cube set for a coupe
With the car in storage, there’s not a whole lot going on… so I decided to work on some stuff I could do without it. Since I’m back at school, and all undergrad classes are online, the machine shop is pretty much dead. So why not take advantage of the quietness to make some tools!
First up are the spring seat wrenches. The previous owner of my coilovers couldn’t find them anywhere, so instead of buying new ones I decided to make my own. $2 of 3/16” steel plate, a few minutes on the waterjet, and a quick spraybomb later I had this:
https://i.imgur.com/EdpQl5Hl.jpg
(I know, I know… the bends don’t match up because I stupidly bent both the same way the first time, when they should be mirrored parts. It’ll still work.)
Next up are the toe jigs. I took some measurements on my car before putting it away, and decided to mount into the two hood latch holes in the front, and the two hooks on the inside of the trunk sill.
Once again, sticking with the theme of making everything on the cheap – all I had to pay was a few bucks for fasteners and a short piece of ¾” round aluminium stock. The extrusions themselves were all being recycled so I snagged a bunch.
Started off with a CAD model:
https://i.imgur.com/ExDEC8ol.jpg
WIP:
https://i.imgur.com/RY35rY7l.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Mt0pDfml.jpg
Done! Crossing my fingers they’ll fit.
https://i.imgur.com/VNF7aHhl.jpg
These are the pins that go into the hood latch holes:
https://i.imgur.com/EIcq215l.jpg
A few days later, I was helping my friend diagnose a small coolant leak, so it was the perfect opportunity to test fit the jigs! They fit nice, but snug – so much so that you have to lightly push it against the bumper for it to go on. I was planning on wrapping some pool noodle or MF towel around the areas that rub on paint, I’m hoping there’s enough leeway to allow for that. Worst-case, I’ll just remake the horizontal front-to-back pieces a little longer. I’ll re-assess in April when I’m able to test it on my car:
https://i.imgur.com/68ArAfvl.jpg
Next was the steering rack alignment tool which is sold by Turner Motorsports (https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-1785-steering-rack-alignment-tool-e46/). This tool sandwiches between the inner tie rod nut and a shoulder on the rack housing, which ensures the steering is locked straight when doing alignments. This is much more effective than a steering wheel lock, as the guibo on the steering column still allows for torsional flex. I haven’t had the greatest of luck with keeping a centred steering wheel with my previous DIY alignments so I’m hoping I can dial it in much better with this tool, along with the toe jigs.
Thanks to a couple people on a couple forums, I was able to gather dimensions to machine my own:
https://i.imgur.com/dIZmWmgl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Et1GJ5Fl.jpg
I also acquired a set of scales and will be making leveling pads but as that’s likely not until next year, I’ll leave that for the next post.
BMWCurves
12-07-2020, 05:35 PM
Cool! I wish I had access to a nice shop like that while I was in undergrad.
Cool! I wish I had access to a nice shop like that while I was in undergrad.
Yeah, it's definitely handy. I'm making the most of it before I graduate next summer!
johnrando
12-10-2020, 08:12 AM
Those are awesome.
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kakashi169
12-13-2020, 08:25 AM
damn tim, nice work! I need to hear over to you garage to check in. my e46 probably has a lot of problems lol
Those are awesome.
Sent from my SM-G935V using TapatalkThanks JR!
damn tim, nice work! I need to hear over to you garage to check in. my e46 probably has a lot of problems lolLol no way... I watched that video you posted of your car, it's a very clean build. And for sure Daniel, hopefully once COVID blows over!
Now that my car is out of storage, time for another update!
From all of the track days last year something I’d been noticing was that I was all over the place on the stock seats, which have pitiful bolstering compared to some of the newer cars I’ve driven (late-model GTI & Golf R, BRZ). Another thing I’d never really liked about our cars is how high the seating position is, and I’m not even a tall guy (~5’6”). What really stuck out to me was how nice the ergonomics is in the FRS/86/BRZ – the moment you sit in that seat, it feels like the car just shrink-wraps around you, and that was something I wanted to achieve in the E46. After doing much research and considering how much I’m likely going to be tracking in the future, I decided to invest in a fixed-back bucket seat.
At first, I decided to make my own seat mount:
https://i.imgur.com/ioST7mNl.png
But the free waterjetting I had access to could not cut the plates in one piece. And getting quotes online for waterjettting/lasercutting even for mild steel showed that it was worth it to just buy the mount. In doing more research I came across Brey Krause, which seem to be one of the cleanest mounts out there, as you don’t have to fuss about with billet aluminium nut plates and generic side mounts. I was actually watching this video from Speed Academy (who are local to me) about their mounts which reuse factory sliders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jC-rgzpXgfw
At this point I’d already committed to buying BK mounts, just had to decide whether I wanted fixed or on sliders. But you guys know me and my successful streak of getting deals on used performance parts – I hopped on the usual channels to check and low and behold, Peter from Speed Academy actually had the exact mount from that video for sale! So we met, and it was a win-win situation: I saved quite a bit of cash over importing a new mount, and it was really cool to meet Peter, we had a pretty deep discussion on a cars and their channel for a half-hour. Really nice guy!
The setup came complete with the mount, optional lap-belt receivers, and E30 window switch, all assembled to a sedan power slider:
https://i.imgur.com/fevHOCVl.png
I wanted this to be a fully plug-n-play solution, since I plan on swapping back the stock seats for road trips (~2-3+ hours). Since you are required to splice power from the yellow seat connector to the window switch, I’d have to snip off the power connector from my old seat and find some way to swap this pigtail between the two setups. My original plan was to use an intermediate connector between them, but I wanted this swap to be as clean as possible, so I was keeping an eye out for another connector, perhaps from a junkyard or a broken seat. I have to credit Archbid on this one, as he found one and shipped it to me gratis (and yes I insisted on paying). Such a great member to have within the E46 community!
https://i.imgur.com/WMFnnM5l.png
Just whipped up a harness from scrap wire I had laying around, and some spade crimps I bought to connect to the switch:
https://i.imgur.com/1vNZ6Mql.png
All nicely wrapped up in Fabric Tesa Tape:
https://i.imgur.com/inXZ7PLl.png
The rails were quite dirty and rusty so I took them apart and gave them a nice coat of POR15:
https://i.imgur.com/FchQG8Vl.png
https://i.imgur.com/A1tTZ40l.png
https://i.imgur.com/RxYlA8wl.png
Next, it was time for the seat itself. I was initially looking to go with the Corbeau FX1 Pro since it seems to be a pretty good bang for buck, and I don’t need FIA rating for just lapping. However what I really wanted was a Sparco, so I was keeping my eyes peeled for a used one that had expired. I actually found a Pro 2000 that I was planning to pick up on the weekend (as I’m out of town) but it sold before I could scoop it up.
I was pretty pissed about this, and once again kept my eyes peeled. In doing more snooping I’d realized that there’s quite a disparity in price between seats sold in North America versus Europe. Not sure why this is, but even with shipping some of the seats were still cheaper to import, than to buy local. Even so, these prices were still out of my budget.
I decided to dig even deeper. Just using ebay.ca only showed vendors who were willing to ship to Canada, and their prices combined with shipping weren’t that cheap, I suppose because they are targeting North America and know the prices we have to deal with. But what if I used ebay.de or ebay.it? Scouring those sites with the power of google translate revealed a shop in Italy that had a Sparco Rev for sale for a really good price. I went on their website, and it turns out they had a 2019 Sparco Pro 2000 discounted quite a bit. I sent them an email, and it turns out it was their last display model and yes, they were willing to ship to Canada for only 60 Euros, which is super impressive given the size of the package and that it was air freighted. So, I paypal’d them the money and waited.
3 weeks later this showed up at my door (well, not quite, since Canada Post apparently just leaves “we missed you!” notices without actually attempting delivery, grrrr):
https://i.imgur.com/TVXWnw5l.jpg
I considered flipping the seat or trading it for an older model locally but ultimately decided to just put this in my car as intended, since it’s super-clean and has never been in a car. Well-worth it for no butt-stink!
https://i.imgur.com/qKnFaQOl.png
After cleaning and sitting in it a bit, the first thing I did was to wrap some fabric tape around the cover retaining spring, after seeing chrisfix’s video on bucket seats:
https://i.imgur.com/EBZ0TXEl.png
https://i.imgur.com/H2o5OBZl.png
Before assembling the seat to the newly painted rails I decided to remake the inboard seat belt mount. Not sure why, but it looks like the OE mount was removed at some point and replaced with a bracket that was clearly made by someone in a garage with hand tools. Once again, machine shop to the rescue. 2 minutes of waterjetting, 5 minutes fiddling with the sheet metal brake, and a lick of POR15 later I came out with this:
https://i.imgur.com/cX7unL9l.png
https://i.imgur.com/kbIW5O8l.png
After reading forum posts and seeing how stiff the pre-tensioner is I decided to use the E36 rear belt buckle, which is just a buckle on a bit of seat belt strap looped around a lug:
https://i.imgur.com/qPMyDa0l.png
Coded it out and installed the seat:
https://i.imgur.com/A5pDtkYl.png
https://i.imgur.com/gMD95yMl.png
Initial reactions: mixed, but I knew what I signed up for. Ingress/egress is a bit of a PITA, but once you’re in there, you’re snug – taking any sort of curve at speed is intoxicating now because it’s just you needing to man the wheel, no need to use it to hang on tight. And you can feel so much more of the car, the sensitivity of my ass-sensor has been dialed up to 11. Seating position is much lower, which felt weird initially, and isn’t as practical when you’re parking or getting near curbs. I also wished the steering wheel went lower to match, but the gearstick is now higher up relative to me, and comes to the hand easier.
After my 1.5 hour drive to school I was fully settled in and loving it – I could definitely do a much longer stint in the seat with no problem, and the higher steering wasn’t as much of a bother.
Now I’m a bit out of chronological order but right before I put the seat in, I took my car out of winter storage and did my usual routine of an oil change on the spot. I went to remove the drain plug and saw a small spirally chip of aluminium come with it.
https://i.imgur.com/PJojhvZl.png
Fuuuuuuuuuq the drain plug would not torque up, the oil pan was stripped. Partially my fault for not using a torque wrench since I owned the car, and have definitely been exceeding the 25 Nm torque rating. But also, the threads in the pan seemed suspect ever since I got the car. When I was working at a shop back in high school usually you just have to break the plug loose, then it threads out by hand. Not the case with my car, the threads were never smooth and I always had to use a ratchet to back it out all the way.
I did some research and found that the threads in the pan are apparently much deeper than the length of the plug. So I went out and bought a 30 mm long bolt, almost double the length of the 16 mm long OE drain plug. Threw the crush washer on and prayed to god… it torqued up! Being afraid of wearing out the threads with more use, I counted my blessings and decided to just use an extractor for future oil changes.
Let’s go back to right before Christmas break of last year – I was able to fabricate the corner scale pads nearly to completion at that time. I acquired a set of Proform scales that are quite small and light (~14” x 9”). As such they’re a bit harder to work with than a standard 15” x 15” scale, but I can’t complain.
These pads integrate grease plates that use 9 ball transfers. The plates lock in place with bolts when you want to roll the car back and forth when corner balancing, or when adjusting camber. Then when setting toe, you can simply take the bolts out, and the plates are free to move. This setup, along with my toe jig and steering rack tool should allow me to be fairly accurate and precise with alignments at home.
https://i.imgur.com/9HoyehVl.png
https://i.imgur.com/0UDkKxCl.png
https://i.imgur.com/X5eE6jgl.png
https://i.imgur.com/nOWATJEl.png
The ball transfers are rated to 225 kg each, way overkill but hey the bearings were available. Before the actual plates were made I tested them with a piece of scrap and could barely stand on them without falling off, any miniscule amount of side force resulted in the plate effortlessly gliding in-plane.
https://i.imgur.com/y0pIe90l.png
All I had to do left was to make the actual grease plates, but I didn’t actually get around to doing that until end of May. A combination of just being too busy with school, and not needing them until then since Ontario was on lockdown and tracks were closed.
Time-travel back to yesterday afternoon and this was the progress:
https://i.imgur.com/8fZHJKGl.png
https://i.imgur.com/jo8Po0yl.png
The grease plates themselves have pieces of angle iron welded to them, which are the stops to prevent the plate (and, subsequently car) from sliding off the pad:
https://i.imgur.com/GBcBeZxl.png
Next on the list were the front ARB reinforcement plates, which is much needed since I have a 30 mm front bar going in, and I’d hate for the studs to pull out like others have experienced. Once again, having access to a full machine shop is so great, quite a simple CAD model using some measurements found online and from other forum members (thanks guys!), a few minutes on the waterjet and bam here they are:
https://i.imgur.com/mGi23qQl.png
Of course, not having access to my car at the time brought some small teething issues – nothing huge and after a bit of filing they were usable:
https://i.imgur.com/ZQMikO0l.png
Permanent installation to come later.
Next was the positive jump post relocation – as it is situated right by the right strut tower, it blocks the rebound damping adjustment knob at high camber/caster angles. Following the procedures similar to that of the BMW Performance Strut Bar, along with the details from ZHPizza meant it was a cinch to do.
Before:
https://i.imgur.com/kQsz7MYl.png
After:
https://i.imgur.com/MiH4A65l.png
https://i.imgur.com/6TUtHeel.png
Next was the power steering catch can – I was spewing fluid out of the breather on track, and it seems to be somewhat of a common mod for our cars when that happens. Got a cheap plastic motorcycle brake reservoir off eBay and removed the gasket, so I didn’t have to drill a venting hole in the cover.
https://i.imgur.com/X90H61Nl.png
Decided to mount it to an unused stud on the left strut tower – however the reservoir can only be mounted one way or it’d interfere with the airbox. Doing so would angle the outlet away from the PS reservoir, so I made a small bracket to get the outlet in the right direction, and a small spacer to offset it from the bracket. Once again, took advantage of waterjetting (don’t worry this was done with a bunch of other parts) for perfect geometry, and sanded to look nice.
https://i.imgur.com/Y7K7NUol.png
https://i.imgur.com/sENIjRsl.png
I know, I know… soft PVC tubing isn’t great. If the tube starts to sweat then I’ll swap it out, but this was just what I had available:
https://i.imgur.com/viPAD9ql.png
Next I replaced the trans fluid (Redline MTL) and replaced both fill & drain plugs with new OEM. Thanks again FCP!
Lastly, a bunch of small bits and bobs – some mounting points of the heat shields were starting to tear, so I put some fender washers to spread the load to a larger area. Also when I was doing the trans fluid I noticed the insulation of a harness going to a sensor on the trans was cracked so I put some Tesa Tape:
https://i.imgur.com/QHHhReWl.png
https://i.imgur.com/O6N1swil.png
johnrando
05-24-2021, 11:19 AM
Awesome!
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
Awesome!
Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk
Thanks JR!
I’d been driving a lot more at night and noticed my headlights were basically pointed at the ground. Followed Trevor’s DIY from years ago and got them adjusted. Now my headlights actually do something!
Before:
https://i.imgur.com/JZf5GdJl.png
After:
https://i.imgur.com/4VweIpnl.png
Next was a bunch of stuff done, both for track prep, and to tackle rust I had noticed over the past year. Things to do:
Tackle rust (took up most of the time)
Install front ARB reinforcement plates, install front ARB
Warranty new front rotors
Clutch and brake fluid flush
Install DTC-60 pads all-around, install new front caliper carriers
Install new wheel studs
Install rear shock shields
The following areas were rusty/needed addressing:
Rear shock towers (noticed when I installed my coilovers last year)
Driver’s side rear floor plug (noticed when I had my car on the lift back in May)
Random small spots near driver’s rear floor
Bottom of battery tray
Started off by stripping the interior, up to and including the rear carpet:
https://i.imgur.com/97W5d2cl.png
Rear shock towers were just surface corrosion so that was ground down:
https://i.imgur.com/9x597I3l.png
https://i.imgur.com/LeySyIel.png
As are the spots underneath the battery tray:
https://i.imgur.com/9ivbhwhl.png
I also checked the inside of the battery tray, which appeared to have some rust. However, those were just loose particles, perhaps shavings from when I installed the vincebar. It cleaned up real nice and I saw no need to touch it:
https://i.imgur.com/Zf5iftZl.png
The big issue was the rear floor plug – the passenger’s side was fine, but at some point the driver’s side must’ve popped out a little, letting water in. Not sure when it happened but luckily I caught it fairly early. Unfortunately not early enough for all the metal to be solid – this is a pretty good example of how it may not look that rusty, when in reality it’s just the tip of the iceberg. All in all the hole grew to about twice its size, before I hit healthy, solid metal:
https://i.imgur.com/CkIu9LSl.png
https://i.imgur.com/puVCqtjl.png
A bit of a bummer, but not as bad as some of the others I’ve seen online. I thought about many options – I was heading to the body shop to get my rear bumper painted (details of which will be in the next post) and thought about seeing if I could get the hole welded with a patch plate. In the end, I decided to fibreglass it, as it was an economical option that was completely fine in this application. Thinking about it, although the hole is now twice the size of what was there originally, in the grand scheme of things it’s still rather small, so it won’t affect the structural integrity of the body. And as long as the metal is treated to stop rusting, it won’t spread, especially when top-coated with POR15. Plus having had prior composites experience, I was fairly confident in making a repair that will stand up to the test of time.
To prevent further spread of rust I soaked this, along with all other exposed areas of metal with POR15 metal ready. Only then could the fibreglass be applied.
For the hole, the obvious solution was to use 3M’s fibreglass repair kit, which I did end up using, but was hesitant on. Some reviews have mentioned it as providing chopped-strand mat fabric, which I wasn’t too keen on using. However, the kit I bought did come with plain-weave, which was fine by me.
Started off with a template, one for top and one for bottom:
https://i.imgur.com/bpjdF9Wl.png
Then started cutting the fabric out. I ended up putting 10 layers, 6 on top and 4 on bottom – without proper vacuum bagging I was worried the bottom layers would debond while curing. I also cut out pieces with varying ply orientations, to ensure the repair could withstand loads applied from any direction.
https://i.imgur.com/pTZp1wGl.png
Finished repair – I tapped it with the handle of a screwdriver and it wouldn’t budge, seems pretty solid.
https://i.imgur.com/XRN9GCxl.png
https://i.imgur.com/ImQsz7Rl.png
With that sorted, I went ahead and POR15’d all the exposed metal, along with the fibreglass:
https://i.imgur.com/bWRYBywl.png
To prevent the same failure mode that caused the repaired hole, I went ahead and added seam-sealer around all the other plugs I could access. This includes the pair on top of the fuel tank, the ones in the battery tray, the two in each of the rear wheel wells, and the one remaining in the rear floor on the passenger’s side.
https://i.imgur.com/kwKHxOSl.png
https://i.imgur.com/SNQ66sBl.png
Next was rubberized rock-chip guard, to top-coat the POR15’d areas, and with that, we’re done.
https://i.imgur.com/3FZwL6rl.png
I did also pull off the side skirts to check for rust, and replace some broken clips, which I’d noticed since the skirt would sag outwards ever so slightly. Luckily for me as the rocker panels were completely replaced in 2016, all I was met with was not a trace of rust, and a thin layer of cosmoline over everything. Mmmmmm just the way I like it:
https://i.imgur.com/ZJ7yIM6l.png
https://i.imgur.com/pgjRnMvl.png
Up next on the list were to front ARB reinforcement plates that I waterjet earlier. Started off sanding those down and soaking in POR15 metal ready:
https://i.imgur.com/BTtlxp8l.png
A key to a solid bond is all in the prep work, so I made sure to thoroughly sand down the mounts themselves:
https://i.imgur.com/fdtciw8l.png
3M DP460 adhesive applied, consistent bond gap achieved by torquing the two mount nuts:
https://i.imgur.com/p0KrYkXl.png
Installed:
https://i.imgur.com/9veKlpDl.png
Also got the new front ARB in (ST 30 mm M3 bar). You versus the guy she tells you not to worry about:
https://i.imgur.com/AdsAerWl.png
Took apart the rear shocks so I could install the rear shock shields, which I got from another project where it wasn’t being used. Perfect fit, and glad I don’t have to worry about potential nicks in an exposed shock shaft, that could cause a leak:
https://i.imgur.com/0GjuedSl.png
https://i.imgur.com/YUPvJ4dl.png
Got the new Motorsport Hardware wheel studs installed – the ECS Tuning ones have served me well for 4 years, but it’s a no-brainer to go with annual replacements from FCP. Also got the new DTC-60 pads in, along with new (used) front caliper carriers – hooray to no stripped slide pin threads! Then, wrapped up everything with a clutch and brake fluid flush with ATE Type 200.
Lastly, going to get my RS4s flipped and mounted to the style 68s. Hopefully now, with the larger front bar the wear on the outer shoulders is not going to be as bad.
https://i.imgur.com/ANIsW1Ll.png
Galapolis
06-15-2021, 05:37 PM
Nice work, all this rust talk is giving flashbacks to the motherland. Maybe I should try the Sreten method and pick up cars from Spain. Let us know how the massive front bar feels on track.
Also you still owe me pics of square Style 68s mounted on the car!
Nice work, all this rust talk is giving flashbacks to the motherland. Maybe I should try the Sreten method and pick up cars from Spain. Let us know how the massive front bar feels on track.
Also you still owe me pics of square Style 68s mounted on the car!
Yeah, I briefly thought about selling this one and buying another rust-free once I move, but I've put too much into it, and it also has sentimental value given it's my first car from 6 years ago.
Rims should be going on the car in the next few days so I'll be sure to post a few pics!
ZHPizza
06-15-2021, 07:33 PM
Man that was a nice chunk of work. Glad you were able to fiberglass patch the hole as trying to weld that up would have been such a mess. Definitely pumped for the 30mm bar!
alexandre
06-16-2021, 09:37 AM
Work looks great! Nice catch on the battery compartment, looks like a solid fix.
Yeah, I briefly thought about selling this one and buying another rust-free once I move, but I've put too much into it, and it also has sentimental value given it's my first car from 6 years ago.
I was in this perpetual conundrum for my entire period of ownership lmao. Seeing your undercarriage and rocker panels, definitely doesn't warrant this operation. You've got all the weak spots addressed. New car = new problems.
Man that was a nice chunk of work. Glad you were able to fiberglass patch the hole as trying to weld that up would have been such a mess. Definitely pumped for the 30mm bar!
I can't tell if it's because of the bar, the wider rims (and thus not pinched tires), or both. But turn-in response is a lot sharper. I tried to push it a bit on a highway on-ramp, couldn't stay at the limit for very long but I felt like it did push a bit, which my 900 lb rear springs should help out with. Those aren't going in yet because I want to see how the car is with just the larger front bar - I have 6 day passes to use, so I'll be incrementally adding parts for the first few!
Work looks great! Nice catch on the battery compartment, looks like a solid fix.
I was in this perpetual conundrum for my entire period of ownership lmao. Seeing your undercarriage and rocker panels, definitely doesn't warrant this operation. You've got all the weak spots addressed. New car = new problems.
Yeah exactly - new cooling system, oil pan gasket, OFHG, suspension bushings, etc. and the big one is the 2x RACP reinforcement with Redish plates and vincebar, both of which I am not super inclined to go through again. And yes, although this car does have its rust issues they are quite minor - got lucky with BMW Canada rust warranty so any rot left over is fairly reasonable.
Also you still owe me pics of square Style 68s mounted on the car!
took these just for you bby
https://i.imgur.com/tIRCuO4l.png
https://i.imgur.com/QETNWwfl.png
https://i.imgur.com/TB5bkTgl.png
https://i.imgur.com/01NMetql.png
https://i.imgur.com/YE7GXwBl.png
Bear in mind the front has a 12 mm spacer, for clearance to the spring seat on the strut. Though without the spacer it did go on fine, but there was nearly zero gap with the tire. The rears being so sunk in by comparison looks anorexic lol
The studs I bought are also pretty long, it's comical how much they stick out from the rear rims.
Front:
https://i.imgur.com/mkQA01jl.png
Rear:
https://i.imgur.com/2AeQs8Ol.png
Also on a side note it turns out I was running my 245 RS4s on 17x7.5" rims, not 8" wide like I originally thought. Super-pinched lol
Galapolis
06-16-2021, 05:17 PM
That is HOT. I really miss my 68s. Thanks for the pics, this confirms that I need a square set of 8.5s as well for dedicated performance tires. Sadly that will have to wait as it's not worth getting that for one more year.
I'd probably run without spacers though, I wonder if that would cause any rubbing under hard driving.
That is HOT. I really miss my 68s. Thanks for the pics, this confirms that I need a square set of 8.5s as well for dedicated performance tires. Sadly that will have to wait as it's not worth getting that for one more year.
I'd probably run without spacers though, I wonder if that would cause any rubbing under hard driving.
Hmmm yeah that's a good point - for my first track day when I ran my street setup, that was 17x8.5 ET40 when this is effectively ET38, so only 2 mm more poke. But back then I was on stock suspension with higher ride height, but also less stiff. I did do some fairly aggressive lane changes/slaloms and thought I heard something but didn't see anything. Perhaps I should jack up the wheel and see how close it gets...
Oh and on a other note man those DTC-60s are abrasive as hell when cold. Fairly loud scraping when you get on the pedal, and you can see the individual grooves of where the new rotor is effectively sanded. Thank god for FCP warranty!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210617/737dbf9ad88bc52fab0b2d5db9974eca.jpg
Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk
With the RS4s mounted to the style 68s, it was finally time for the track! But first, I took the opportunity to secure the passenger dash trim – it’s missing 2/4 orange plastic inserts, and was quite loose. I bought new ones off eBay a while back but for some reason never installed them. Took the trim off (very easy with the missing clips), cleaned behind it, and installed the new clips.
https://i.imgur.com/jsmkWDYl.png
… and now it’s time for the first track day of the year!
… HOLY the dust from these DTC-60s are insane! Initial impressions aren’t great, to be honest – there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of bite, and stopping power seems to be the same as my old HPS. However, looking through data deceleration rate seems to be increased, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Wear is also much better than the HPS, before I’d only get 2-3 days out of the fronts, now there’s just so much meat after 3 events I’ve done to date.
https://i.imgur.com/EIeRY3cl.png
Also, PS reservoir works! The reservoir itself is never going to fill up with how much ATF vents, but there’s no more spill.
https://i.imgur.com/fvfToJbl.png
Differences between this setup versus my last are the 30 mm front roll bar (up from 24 mm) and RS4s on 8.5” square style 68s (so they’re no longer pinched). With the MacPherson front end on our cars coupled with how much body roll there is, you kind of have to throw traditional thinking out the window – yes, increasing front roll stiffness is supposed to decrease grip on that axle. However, given the E46’s geometry and rates, the larger front roll bar significantly reduces camber loss which could increase grip. This is evident in my tire wear, which had negligible wear on the outer shoulder after the first day, compared to before where the outer shoulders were getting scorched.
At first I thought the car was more understeer-biased, but it was rainy the whole day. Don’t be fooled by the footage below of my best lap (slower than my PB by ~6/10ths), it was pouring most of the day and when it did clear up, the track was deceivingly slick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26qqF0Rwy_Y
Unfortunately when pushing too hard I had an off, which resulted in what I suspect something getting behind the rear right rotor hat and banging around. I was really worried the engine started ticking (oil pump nut!!!) but alas it correlated with speed, not engine RPM so it wasn’t that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifbul6Cpxg8
Took the wheel off at the track and peered around, saw nothing unusual. Decided to drive home carefully, when I got home I took the rotor off and found nothing. Odd – the piece must’ve gotten out and fixed itself, and all is good in the world.
Because of the off the car was super dirty so I broke out the pressure washer, the driveway turned brown lol. You know your paint is bad when the clear flakes when you wash it:
https://i.imgur.com/XFnalUel.png
Also since it was raining, the water and brake dust combined with the heat presented ideal conditions for DTC pads to do their thing – tried some Autoglym wheel cleaner to no avail. To be fair I didn’t try too hard since I bought these wheels as track beaters anyways. Perhaps I should try IronX, since I just bought that.
https://i.imgur.com/1LTU57bl.png
Now we’re going a bit out of chronological order, but back in May I had a bit of an oopsie with the concrete pillar in my underground – sunglasses and darkly-lit parking lot don’t mix well:
https://i.imgur.com/cf5mVbkl.png
Looked around at body shops and initially decided to get the front bumper done as well. Thought about being a baller doing the euro front bumper without reflectors, but in the end I settled on just the rear bumper given what I use my car for, and how nice it is just not to care. After much research and shopping around I settled on a small one-man operation. The guy has been doing bodywork for over 40 years, and when I came for a quote he gave me a full tour and showed me his processes. A few things stood out, which was what made me go with him:
He uses Sikkens paint, which is one of the most expensive and durable paints (his words “you can step on it, it’ll be fine”)
He colour matches with a special camera, then tests different blends by spraying onto a small card and comparing it to the existing paint (however, he did note that he didn’t do the spray-out with my car, but I cannot perceive any differences in colour)
He mentioned he lays down a ton of clear, and he wetsanded + polished the bumper
Car back from paint. I immediately put a couple coats of Meguiar’s Ultimate Fast Finish since he said I could do so without waiting. Offgassing is done overnight in the heated booth.
https://i.imgur.com/EOJlcxQl.png
Paint is excellent, there is 1 dust nib on the tow-hook cover (I guess it’d be tough not to have one unless you were in a factory) and he painted my diffuser with matte trim paint for free.
He even offered to remove & re-install the bumper for free since I was gonna take care of that to save some cash. I just wish he would’ve taken more care with that since my backup cam wires were pinched, that I had to then solder:
https://i.imgur.com/y0WhLqhl.png
Even with this fault he’s still the best body shop I’ve been to and I would return if I had more work that needed to be done.
The morning of my visit to the body shop for a quote, I got a CEL (2nd one in 6 years of ownership haha). Turned out to be the secondary air pump, so I did some snooping around on whether it was the valve, pump, or MAF (LOL there’s a dedicated MAF for the pump). However, I had noticed the pump being much louder than usual. Pulled it, bench tested to find this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzbwZM4jJ20
Somehow I stumbled across a used OE pump for sale on eBay for a whopping $8. Shipping was $20 for 1, or $30 for the 2 they had on hand… so I just bought both. Bench tested them when they arrived and aside from the absence of a screaming motor, a whole lot more air was being pushed compared to mine. Put one of them in, cleared the code, and lo and behold no more CEL.
Back to TMP, this time with no rain. The balance of the car was much better than last time – honestly, with the large front bar, it wasn’t understeer-biased.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77rT4__zQIo
Unfortunately I only got to lap from 10 AM to 1 PM, when I got an intermittent battery light with voltage dropping to 12V. Still couldn’t PB – best lap was a 1:26.57, versus 1:26.56 from last time. Take the closeness in these values with a grain of salt, given the standard logging frequency of RaceChrono + built-in phone GPS.
I thought the battery light had to do with heat soak so I let the car cool down, went for rides with friends, then drove and luckily made it home. Once again, more snooping and turns out a voltage regulator should fix it. Placed the order with FCP and got around to swapping it out:
https://i.imgur.com/hwXIJ8yl.png
You versus the guy she talks about:
https://i.imgur.com/Lcgiizcl.png
No more battery light! So glad I don’t have to buy an entire alternator, the bearings were smooth as butter.
fredo
08-14-2021, 05:01 PM
Rear bumper looks great. May I ask how much did you pay ? My shop charged me $300 some years ago but the quality was just ok.
Rear bumper looks great. May I ask how much did you pay ? My shop charged me $300 some years ago but the quality was just ok.
$300 is pretty decent! There were quite a wide range of prices, mine was in the upper end at ~$600 CAD. I found some sketchy shops on fb marketplace that would do the front + rear for $450 CAD, and their work looked pretty good in pictures. But I ended up not wanting to take a chance since I bet those paint jobs won't look so good in 2-3 years
Before my next event I got some inspiration from ZHPizza to check oil temps, since I had been seeing up to 140C oil temp on track with the eKombi. The eKombi splices to the wires coming directly off the oil level sensor, which doubles as a temp sensor on the M3s. I was curious to know how well the eKombi temps correlated with the actual oil temp sensor in the head, so I plugged my laptop in while running INPA and went for a drive:
https://i.imgur.com/9Wp0mwQl.png
Turns out the correlation is pretty good. At operating, eKombi pan temps were within 5C higher than DME reported head temps, and the delta between the two never exceeded that value. So I guess I should just keep an eye out on track, as I don’t want to thin the oil out too much.
Next, I went ahead and swapped the rear springs out – going from 550 lb/in (out-of-box rates from GC) to 900 lb/in for a flat-ride setup:
https://i.imgur.com/A77QtRpl.png
Also went ahead and set the corner scales up. This will be the first time trying out the corner balance/alignment tools I’ve made:
https://i.imgur.com/yoDmtoUl.png
With the slope of my garage, the bolts I intended to use for the feet were too short at the front, so I had to use the bolts meant to retain the slip plates. Oh well, they still work, even if the bolts for the slip plate are now too long.
Front:
https://i.imgur.com/Rg5L0SGl.png
Rear:
https://i.imgur.com/5T4P8apl.png
Out-of-the-box corner weights, with me in the driver’s seat. Ride heights dictated by measuring the spring seat height using calipers got it close enough:
https://i.imgur.com/seAqpBbl.png
With the corner balancing done I turned to checking the alignment. Man, these slip plates are so nice. Absolutely no need to roll the car back and forth after adjustments!
Then, locked the steering centre with my steering rack alignment tool and a bungee cord:
https://i.imgur.com/VYTFmqPl.png
https://i.imgur.com/liYyrnBl.png
The setup:
https://i.imgur.com/paXizMHl.png
https://i.imgur.com/4BGsZIul.png
The result – rear toe was on point, ~0.6 mm toe in on each side. Front toe was ever so slightly toe-in on one side, and ever so slightly toe-out on the other (I forget the values). Could be down to measurement error or the front wheels not quite straight. Anyways, I elected to leave it as-is, since the car drives straight-ish (although the tires have camber wear, which does induce moments that can counteract uneven alignments, evidenced by the differences with my street and track setup).
Anyways, the next day I hit the track again. Got down to a 1:26.23, still ~3/10ths off my PB, but another 3/10ths faster than the last 2 outings. With the 900 lb/in springs, the car felt more twitchy and you could play with it a bit more, I definitely like the balance now. But now with the stiff springs, the rear inner wheel was spinning up on certain corners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2vcaYwRsbw
As the day went on the tires started feeling a bit greasy. Rather than try to PB I decided to try for consistency and was able to set a few 1:29-1:30 laps within a few 10ths of each other, with minimal tire wear.
In an attempt to alleviate spinning up the inner rear wheel, I decided to swap the RTABs for spherical bearings. I decided to go with Moog Camry bearings (K200786) because they were dirt cheap, at $25 USD per bearing. I also used the free ball-joint press rental from Crappy Tire (Autozone for folks down south), unfortunately the tool was bent (along with a bunch of other complications) so I had to improvise to get these suckers in:
https://i.imgur.com/y9yfqXJl.png
https://i.imgur.com/SvfqJN6l.png
https://i.imgur.com/5qAfxhIl.png
I also went ahead and de-crusted my RTAB pockets with the POR15 process and some seam sealer:
https://i.imgur.com/v4nOO9Gl.png
https://i.imgur.com/oOTjbqCl.png
Installed with new M14 bolts and deform-threaded locknuts:
https://i.imgur.com/C2qlQWyl.png
Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the brake line rubbed on the upper CA. Still usable, it’s just the outer plastic/rubber layer, none of the braids were chaffed. But I’ll replace both rears anyways since FCP has just the pair in stock:
https://i.imgur.com/Oi1fqIZl.png
Finished it up with another alignment – started with ~4 mm rear toe-in, got it down to ~1 mm when I was done.
The last thing I did was to fix the slow retracting seatbelts. I was inspired by Sreten – cleaned the belt with some carpet cleaner, then use silicone spray to lightly lube the belt. Retracts much faster now!
https://i.imgur.com/IY5ifS9l.png
Yet again another track day. My friend and I are starting to suspect our tires are heat-cycling out. We both got our tires at the same time last year, and they’re not really hooking up as well as they were before. My friend got lowering springs and a rear ARB for his MK7.5 GTI and he also can’t best his times. I feel like my driving is definitely getting better compared to last year, so that could be making up for the tires – in fact I was on track to beat my PB, but it was snubbed by another car. I did 2 consecutive flying laps – a 1:26.33, then the next lap had fast sectors up until the last corner. Also it’s quite cool to see how close the two laps were, downloaded a free video editing software so I could overlay them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lryJG6vh53w
Galapolis
08-26-2021, 04:50 PM
What oil are you running? I've seen some track guys switch to 10W60 for track days, might make sense for you as well with the temps you are hitting.
What oil are you running? I've seen some track guys switch to 10W60 for track days, might make sense for you as well with the temps you are hitting.
Brotella-T6 5W40. I haven't heard of people using something that thick for M54, but might be a good idea to prevent premature rod bearing wear!
Galapolis
08-26-2021, 05:10 PM
Brotella-T6 5W40. I haven't heard of people using something that thick for M54, but might be a good idea to prevent premature rod bearing wear!
Yeah make sure to only use it for track days of course, might be a bit inconvenient to change oil just for that but it'll definitely be even more inconvenient to replace rod bearings.
It’s been a while – big backlog of updates needed. Last track day was August 20, 2021. Looking at my photo archive, the next big thing I did was install the OE Westfalia trailer hitch I bought off eBay. At the time I had an upcoming cross-country move (will get into this later) and given I had 4 tires, a fairly sizable toolbox, all my scale/alignment jigs, etc. the most cost-effective way to move was to tow a trailer. Having seen a few guys on old M3F and E46F do this, I figured it would be no problem for me as well.
A couple options immediately came to mind:
Buy the curt hitch, which requires you to drill like 6/8 holes into the thin-ass sheet metal of the spare trunk well
Buy the Westfalia hitch off Schmiedmann ($$$)
… or do option 3 and buy a used OE Westfalia hitch off eBay.de, which ended up being cheaper than either of the above. So that’s what I did, and I got to work:
https://i.imgur.com/89eA9Mwl.png
https://i.imgur.com/N8IeUBUl.png
https://i.imgur.com/CeF8iDrl.png
The only downside is that a couple weeks after buying the hitch, the reinforcement plates that go behind the frame rail flanges in the trunk were not included. But like my front ARB reinforcement plates, I was lucky to have access to a waterjet, so I just got those made up:
https://i.imgur.com/ABBle3nl.png
https://i.imgur.com/QLQqp3hl.png
https://i.imgur.com/zdgqFzJl.png
https://i.imgur.com/UP422Lwl.png
https://i.imgur.com/mtOXOMul.png
https://i.imgur.com/Z3ibrBal.png
All installed – left the diffuser off as I did not want to deal with popping it off again, since my trip was so soon. And I wanted to start packing it away:
https://i.imgur.com/izQxd0nl.png
Off to the track for the last time, got down to a 1:24.51. Honestly I felt like I was overdriving the car with too aggressive steering input, but I re-bled the brakes and was able to carry more speed into the T7/T8 kink. Anyways, it’s a substantial improvement over the ~1:26s I was able to manage, and I couldn’t ask for a better end to my track days in Ontario.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVH_2elOIQ4
Also, whoops – thank god for FCP warranty:
https://i.imgur.com/tO86pBbl.png
Started to give the car a once-over before the trip. Noticed one of the exhaust clamps for the BMWP muffler was cracked, so replaced it:
https://i.imgur.com/nQvPuuyl.png
https://i.imgur.com/CU2jBkzl.png
Having never towed a trailer before, I rented one just for a day to try it out. No problems actually towing and driving around, just had to wrap my head around backing up.
https://i.imgur.com/dlrsj3gl.png
Onto detailing: before the cross-country drive, I wanted my paint protected. As such I bought a bunch of new products, and set aside ~4-5 days where I could spend ~10-12 hours a day on the car. Below is a summary of what I did:
Exterior
- Strip wash with Meguiar's car soap and dish soap mixed together
- Spray CarPro IronX to remove metallic contaminants
- Clay with Autoglym clay bar to mechanically remove all other contaminants
- Wipe down with CarPro Eraser to get rid of any residue that may remain on the paint
- Hand-compound RIDS with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound
- Polish all painted surfaces with Meguiar's Ultimate Polish + Lake County CCS Pad (orange, light polishing) and a Harbour Freight DA polisher
- Wipe down with CarPro Eraser to get rid of any remaining polishing residue
- Apply 2 coats of Jescar PowerLock + with an Adam's Hex Grip applicator
- Apply 1 coat of Collinite 845 with another Adam's Hex Grip applicator
Glass
- Wipe down with Invisible glass
- Apply 1 coat of Soft99 Glaco glass sealant
Interior
- Vacuum carpets (not dirty enough to warrant shampoo)
- Vacuum floor mats, shampoo, rinse, and wipe dry
- Use Autoglym Leather Cleaner, followed by Autoglym Leather Conditioner on all leather surfaces
- Use Meguiar's Quik Interior Detailer for all other interior surfaces like dash, centre console, etc.
Wheels and Tires (off the car)
- Strip wash with Meguiar's car soap and dish soap mixed together (wheels weren't dirty enough to warranty anything else)
- Apply 1 coat of Poorboy's Wheel Wax to all exposed surfaces of the wheel
- Apply Autoglym Instant Tire Dressing, wipe off with a damp towel to a matte sheen
Some pics:
First time using IronX, it was quite interesting to see the "bleeding":
https://i.imgur.com/ojIobKKl.png
Man, my car hasn't look this good in ages:
https://i.imgur.com/ZGB7aH7l.png
https://i.imgur.com/d04TnZ1l.png
https://i.imgur.com/SUCYMjZl.png
Swapped back from my bucket to stock driver's seat, so much easier to clean with the extra room:
https://i.imgur.com/ePgjnA4l.png
The slickness and depth of the paint is pretty unmatched, I'm quite impressed. It's my first time using the PowerLock + and Collinite 845 combo, but I see why everyone talks about it. Time will tell how durable these products are!
Checked and adjusted the alignment one last time before the trip. At this point, it is end of Sept 2021:
https://i.imgur.com/D8XMtIIl.png
Galapolis
02-12-2022, 08:30 PM
I'm always amazed at your ability to retroactively update your thread. Hope we'll see some Canyon pics soon!
fredo
02-13-2022, 02:34 PM
Hope we'll see some Canyon pics soon!
+1. Did you already register the car in CA ? Here in TX they said there's a long waiting time due to Covid. We are talking months before you can grab an appt with the DMV.
I'm always amazed at your ability to retroactively update your thread. Hope we'll see some Canyon pics soon!
+1. Did you already register the car in CA ? Here in TX they said there's a long waiting time due to Covid. We are talking months before you can grab an appt with the DMV.
Haha, next up are some nice road trip pics, but I did post them here before.
I did register my car back in October when I got here, but yes the wait here is also super long - I still do not have my plates. Well... I'm not particularly complaining since anything with a toll (fastrak and the many bridges we have here) are free for me. Those fees do not go north of the border!
sillieidiot
02-15-2022, 02:18 PM
+1. Did you already register the car in CA ? Here in TX they said there's a long waiting time due to Covid. We are talking months before you can grab an appt with the DMV.
Here, the appt are months out too. But it's faster to just show up early and just wait an hour for walk in.
RUS_ZHP
02-18-2022, 12:00 PM
I love to see all those updates! I wonder what people reaction was when you towed that trailer with your coupe. Default towing car in the states is a big V8 pick up truck. Which is certainly doing the job excellent and easy. I've seen so many times when people are using something like VW golf to tow campers across the Europe.
I was trying to buy a proper hitch bar from Europe couple of years ago. But had no luck since nobody from Ebay.de wanted to deal with shipping to US.
Your paint looks very good after detailing!
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I love to see all those updates! I wonder what people reaction was when you towed that trailer with your coupe. Default towing car in the states is a big V8 pick up truck. Which is certainly doing the job excellent and easy. I've seen so many times when people are using something like VW golf to tow campers across the Europe.
I was trying to buy a proper hitch bar from Europe couple of years ago. But had no luck since nobody from Ebay.de wanted to deal with shipping to US.
Your paint looks very good after detailing!
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Hahaha yeah, the car is like 2/3 the height of the trailer so the proportions are quite comical compared to with a truck. I'm actually in @Galapolis's backyard right now and there are quite a few hatchbacks and sedans driving around with the little receiver ball on the back. I also told the story to our German colleagues over dinner and they immediately knew it was from Westfalia.
Guess I got lucky with the eBay seller! He did take some time to get it to the post office, I suppose he had to find such a big box.
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Galapolis
02-24-2022, 04:59 AM
I hope we'll see some pics!
Default towing car in the states is a big V8 pick up truck. Which is certainly doing the job excellent and easy. I've seen so many times when people are using something like VW golf to tow campers across the Europe.
I've looked into that. Part of it is overestimating what you need to tow, but most of it is because European trailers support their own weight and don't put weight on the rear axle. This requires brakes on the trailer. The 330i towing capacity with brakes is rated at 1700kg or 3747lbs: http://www.treffseiten.de/bmw/info/daten_320i_325i_330i_touring_03.pdf
So yeah, carrying massive trailers with a 90hp diesel Golf is possible with this setup.
RUS_ZHP
02-25-2022, 07:44 AM
Hahaha yeah, the car is like 2/3 the height of the trailer so the proportions are quite comical compared to with a truck. I'm actually in @Galapolis's backyard right now and there are quite a few hatchbacks and sedans driving around with the little receiver ball on the back. I also told the story to our German colleagues over dinner and they immediately knew it was from Westfalia.
Guess I got lucky with the eBay seller! He did take some time to get it to the post office, I suppose he had to find such a big box.
Sent from my SM-G781W using TapatalkNice!
If you will be in Charlotte area, let me know. I would be glad to meet another BMW nerd in person and get a coffee together.
I hope we'll see some pics!
I've looked into that. Part of it is overestimating what you need to tow, but most of it is because European trailers support their own weight and don't put weight on the rear axle. This requires brakes on the trailer. The 330i towing capacity with brakes is rated at 1700kg or 3747lbs: http://www.treffseiten.de/bmw/info/daten_320i_325i_330i_touring_03.pdf
So yeah, carrying massive trailers with a 90hp diesel Golf is possible with this setup. I grow up in western part of Russia. I saw so much crazy stuff that people are towing with cars under 100 hp that is crazy to see in other parts of the world.
I still want to get a proper towing rig for my touring. Maybe this year I will resume my hunt for towing bar form EU.
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Ah, by backyard I meant his home... currently touring Germany from Stuttgart to up close to Dusseldorf, then over to Berlin and into Poland... would have been a good opportunity to pick up some rare car parts, but the "anhangerkupplung" (word stuck in my head from hours of scouring over eBay.de) was really the only thing I needed!
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RUS_ZHP
02-25-2022, 07:56 AM
Ah, by backyard I meant his home... currently touring Germany from Stuttgart to up close to Dusseldorf, then over to Berlin and into Poland... would have been a good opportunity to pick up some rare car parts, but the "anhangerkupplung" (word stuck in my head from hours of scouring over eBay.de) was really the only thing I needed!
Sent from my SM-G781W using TapatalkAh, got you. That area is nice to travel. Enjoy it! I haven't been in EU for 3 years and miss that place.
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September 30th, 2021 – with the car freshly detailed and paint protected with multiple layers of sealant and wax, it was now time to move to the SF Bay.
Some of my crap starting to stage in the garage. Hauling my big-ass toolbox down was a big factor in why I decided to tow everything down.
https://i.imgur.com/xAQHKpel.png
Loaded up the trailer. Had to repack it 3 times as the euro hitch can’t handle more than something like 75 kg of tongue weight. Used a bathroom scale and floor jack to measure:
https://i.imgur.com/LjNI4Qkl.png
https://i.imgur.com/0vpaJJFl.png
First stop for lunch, about 3 hours in. Trailer fenders make a good table:
https://i.imgur.com/P02EgZPl.png
Before long, hit my first stop, Indianapolis:
https://i.imgur.com/rZNuErxl.png
Then stopped at Kansas City, then to Santa Rosa, NM (right outside Albuquerque):
https://i.imgur.com/lqZ5ruEl.png
On the way to Vegas:
https://i.imgur.com/Rq2xxCyl.png
POV pics courtesy of my mom:
https://i.imgur.com/Wlt0snrl.jpg
Found a scenic spot to pull over. Unfortunately, I failed to realize the drop from the road to the shoulder was a ~3-4” drop, so I scrapped the frame rails (just the undercoating and paint, which I later fixed). I guess it was worth it?
https://i.imgur.com/1yTv2XEl.png
https://i.imgur.com/AkecGIBl.png
It was at this point the engine started running a bit rough. Higher RPM and cruising were no problem, but just off-idle and throttle tip-in made it stutter just a bit. Just nursed it into Vegas:
https://i.imgur.com/dzFHDAml.jpg
Filled with gas not from a sketchy small town, poured in some octane booster, and all was well:
https://i.imgur.com/RQCk4lml.png
Pro-tip: Miracle mile shops has free, secure parking (behind a locked gate) for oversized vehicles – so our little convoy here qualified. Was quite the pleasant surprise to have free parking in the heart of Vegas!
https://i.imgur.com/ryIiQ1Ul.png
https://i.imgur.com/p2vBXhCl.png
Next stop was Irvine, where I met up with a friend. Stuffed the trailer in his garage for the day:
https://i.imgur.com/uW06rYNl.png
It was imperative to me that we visit the Ontario, CA sign – given I’m from Ontario, CA hahaha.
https://i.imgur.com/l5mzQV7l.png
Next was what was supposed to be a fun drive on Angeles Crest Highway. It was myself with my friend in his BRZ, and another friend in a… Toyota Highlander lol.
https://i.imgur.com/arD6Y83l.png
Unfortunately, we all ran over some rocks in the road since it rained heavily the night before. We all took a bit of damage and my pristine rear bumper had a couple diffuser mounting tabs broken off:
https://i.imgur.com/uBFogQGl.png
The Highlander suffered the worst damage, and got a punctured coolant line. So our fun drive was cut short trying to get a tow truck up there:
https://i.imgur.com/d9G320Kl.jpg
Had dinner with @sillieidiot and @ItsRichieRich, then back to the hotel for the night:
https://i.imgur.com/SfWSFwhl.png
A few hours later, made it to my place in the SF Bay:
https://i.imgur.com/JYkmJ7Al.png
Then immediately to Ikea, since the trailer rental was going to end:
https://i.imgur.com/S0zSylSl.png
And thus concluded my move to the west coast. I have such massive respect for this car – I’d estimate the trailer was ~2000 lbs gross weight, and I had to floor it for minutes at a time going up hills to maintain speed. Oil temp got up to 135C which is higher than I’m comfortable with (also my fault for not keeping an eye on it, I let off after) but it just took whatever I threw at it without issue – even with the bad gas.
I made sure the place I was moving into had a private garage – my car deserves it!
fredo
05-11-2022, 05:06 AM
This is a GREAT summary of your trip adventures, thanks for sharing. And I think those scenic pics were worth the trouble. :thumbsup
This is a GREAT summary of your trip adventures, thanks for sharing. And I think those scenic pics were worth the trouble. :thumbsupIt really was! I don't think I'll be doing many long trips anymore in this car, unless I move somewhere else... then trailer time again?
On another note...
https://youtube.com/shorts/oeNX_WPDVhQ?feature=share
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sillieidiot
06-04-2022, 09:25 AM
:rofl
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