What did you do to your other car(s) today?

[jca]

I am about to finish up a rattle can touch up paint job on my 84 325e. Lost count of the number of cans used, but the car certainly looks better than it did. Appalled at the cost of professional paint jobs.

[jca]

I am about to finish up a rattle can touch up paint job on my 84 325e. Lost count of the number of cans used, but the car certainly looks better than it did. Appalled at the cost of professional paint jobs.

[gadget73]

washed the Continental and the Towncar. Oil change on the Towncar, it was actually due.

[Karl Grau]

Started removing the stupid 'clear bra'. It's not quite as big of a pain as window tint but it's close. I now officially hate clear bra people as much as I hate front window tint people.

[1st 5er]

309.767 miles and the 5.7 Vortec has developed an engine knock.

[amagansa]

Bought a new daily! 2000 528i 5 speed. Clean in and out, no major problems, 189k. The style 5s are in better condition than my e28's. Wealthy family in Napa bought a new bimmer, so out with the old. Now I can reduce the workload on my e28 and think about doing some major work.

[SeattleGuy]

I am about to finish up a rattle can touch up paint job on my 84 325e. Lost count of the number of cans used, but the car certainly looks better than it did. Appalled at the cost of professional paint jobs.

That's hootlarious. I love it. Can we see it!

I actually drove it downtown with my GF and put the top down!
I also looked for my title as I had moved the folder it was in.... apparently to a dark crevasse. It would probably be nice to find such folder sooner than later as the plates have expired LOL.

[RDAvena]

Just finished cutting the cancer out and repairing the inner lip of the trunk on my son's red golf ball.

Are rear e28 trunk seals supposed to be glued to the body contributing to rust later?

[amagansa]

Took the e39 for an alignment at work. Did a shakedown and noticed the passenger ball joint was shot, so I got that replaced with a new control arm. Then I noticed the previous owners just kept replacing pads only and the rotors were way gone. Got the 2 fronts replaced, but I think the rears will need replacing soon too. At least the terrible squeaking is gone. It's 2018 and independent shops still don't know how to lubricate brake pads

[BDKawey]

Started removing the stupid 'clear bra'. It's not quite as big of a pain as window tint but it's close. I now officially hate clear bra people as much as I hate front window tint people.

use wd40 and a plastic razor blade. I wouldnt have survived removing the bra from my texas lived subaru if i wouldnt have discovered that. heat gun if it helps but its kinda depends if its gonna help or hurt you.

[SeattleGuy]

Started removing the stupid 'clear bra'. It's not quite as big of a pain as window tint but it's close. I now officially hate clear bra people as much as I hate front window tint people.

use wd40 and a plastic razor blade. I wouldnt have survived removing the bra from my texas lived subaru if i wouldnt have discovered that. heat gun if it helps but its kinda depends if its gonna help or hurt you.

Newark, Oh-HI-OOOO..... Cleveland, Cinti, Cols here mate. On a related note...after I creased my doors I found replacements with pinstripes, sooo.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4F_-k4Avlk

[Mike W.]

New battery for the E12, only $120, or was it $130? I think the last one was about $30. I didn't seem to record it, but it was at least 10.5 years ago, maybe a bit more. Not bad for a Walmart cheapie, but it was made by Johnson Controls who also make Interstate Batteries.

New turn signal bulb for the Ultimate Commute Machine, the E36. I was sitting at a stop sign when all of the sudden I noticed it was started double time flashing. Unfortunately I committed heresy, I installed a brass base one I had in a coffee can. So if I die in a flaming accident in the next few days you'll know why.

[dsmith]

At home sick today, so I made progress on project SB. Rear subframe was stuck in the body. Left subframe bushing metal tube broke off in the body. Not fun. Removed the first strut and forgot the brake line! Cut it off to make up for it’s mistake.

Rotisserie arrived and got that together too. Just need to drill some holes on the mounts and get the rust removal party started! Also need to find someone skilled to remove the side and hatch glass for reuse. Little scared of that one.

[tig]

At home sick today, so I made progress on project...]

[Chimi-Changa]

Starter time on the White Whale ( Wifey's e61) - Thought the battery was due ( over 5 years old), but after replacing that- nada. So off comes the intake and anything close to it on the N52. CVV hoses disintegrated on contact, so those needed to be replaced too. Cleaned up intake, and throttle plate to while there, and now she fires right up! ( if it wasn't the starter, everyone was saying the motor ground straps are typical on those too)

[TSMacNeil]

Freshly built S52 as a plug and play in the e34.



Probably break it in for 5-10k miles and then decide on a power-adder of some kind.

[SPF2006]

Pulled the head unit from my wife's e46 to repair the ever-present loose volume knob problem. Had to tear the entire thing apart, including removing the CD deck and disassembling the faceplate, to replace this one part:



Eight thousand tiny, impossible-to-reach recessed screws later, back in with trim reinstalled and now the knob works like new.

[gadget73]

Finished the stereo upgrade in the Continental. It now has 1986 JBL stuff with a 40 watt per channel amp instead of the 10 per channel amp it had originally. Still fairly pedestrian stuff, but it sounds a whole lot better and I managed to do it without modifying the wire harness any.

[Karl Grau]

Started removing the stupid 'clear bra'. It's not quite as big of a pain as window tint but it's close. I now officially hate clear bra people as much as I hate front window tint people.

use wd40 and a plastic razor blade. I wouldnt have survived removing the bra from my texas lived subaru if i wouldnt have discovered that. heat gun if it helps but its kinda depends if its gonna help or hurt you.

Thanks for the plastic razor blade tip, it is a yuge help. I take back my comment about it not being as bad as window tint. It is ONE MILLION times more of a PITA.
I'm too scared to use WD40 so I ordered some 3M "Specialty Adhesive Remover" that the internet seems to think highly of.

After an hour's work, I had a ~8" x 8" aera done with a bunch of residual adhesive still to remove. The only good news is that the paint is staying put and appears to be in great shape.

[Mike W.]

I'm sure there's an easy way to remove that stuff, but I don't have a clue what it is.

On to my stuff I found out it's not a good idea to wax a car in the rain. Not outside while it's raining, but even after it's been in the garage a day or two. Even with the garage door closed it's still too humid and damp, the wax doesn't want to dry. Seemed like such a good idea, it just wasn't.

[Bonsaibacker]

Started hunting down a fuel delivery issue in the E21. Kjet knowledge is as useful as learning Latin...

[Mike W.]

Started hunting down a fuel delivery issue in the E21. Kjet knowledge is as useful as learning Latin...

Biggest fuel delivery problem I had with them was leaky hoses and loose clamps, all on the suction side. It would run ok once it was running, but if it had been sitting for a few days or longer it seemed impossible to start. Since K jet works off fuel pressure, and I was sucking air into the system, it wasn't happy. Fuel pumps don't pump air very well.

[dsmith]

Started hunting down a fuel delivery issue in the E21. Kjet knowledge is as useful as learning Latin...

I thought I would never have to deal with it again, but then I just bought an old MB. Start with Control, System and Residual pressures. Then air leaks and appendages (AAV, etc). I assume you have the correct fuel pressure tester.

[Bonsaibacker]

Started hunting down a fuel delivery issue in the E21. Kjet knowledge is as useful as learning Latin...

I thought I would never have to deal with it again, but then I just bought an old MB. Start with Control, System and Residual pressures. Then air leaks and appendages (AAV, etc). I assume you have the correct fuel pressure tester.

Thank you both for your suggestions!

Mike-
I have smoke tested and carb sprayed the engine down 20+ times to look for any vacuum leaks (over the course of the past year and a half hunting). I adjusted the WUR and got it running smooth above 3,000, but had intermittent issue below that. As this is the easiest test, I will GLADLY hope I find something this time!

DSmith-
Congrats on the MB purchase- another project???

I follow the Bosch manual to the letter when testing for pressure (using the pressure gauge) and fine tuned the WUR to correct most of my previous issues. This morning's tests will involve hooking up the pressure gauge, testing compression (need to rule out a head issue) and then reviewing the results. Last time it was that the WUR had softened to not generate enough pressure. This time the symptoms came on and progressed faster. Possibly the same issue, but the symptoms are more severe. Thought it was dirty filters, but I have a new filter in stream and after pulling the in tank pump it is clear the filters are not the issue. Fires up fine then coughs and sputters under load and opening the throttle. Finding the issue will be very gratifying.

[Bonsaibacker]

Solved the KJet issue on my E21! It was the fuel relay.

I went to the vintage 2 years ago and my starter went out. Anyone who has done a starter on a M10 knows that this is not a job you tackled without a garage, all of your tools and a couple of days (so that you can kill some bourbon after you are half way through the project).
I had the car towed to a local shop where they replaced the starter and then (with my permission) sorted a vacuum leak they found while in the car (boot on the afm). In the process, they rerouted the amp for the fuel pump and unbeknownst to me, replaced the fuel pump relay. When I picked up the car a month later (they acknowledged that the car wasn't't running correctly, but I could hobble it home- 4 hours) I was frustrated, out some cash, but happy to get the car home.
I tested and worked on the system never looking at the relay- was using the FAQ in the E21 section on bimmerforums and there was a diagram on how to jumper your pumps that showed the plug and not the relay and although I was using the book on how to tune and modify, I never read their angle. Got it running well enough, but decided to go MS and screw the KJet. I was still driving the car and the problem resurfaced. I convinced myself that changing the injection was the wimp way out and that I needed to figure it out- I mean it is a primitive system!!!
Yesterday I dove back into the forum and the book, but approached it from the box this time (unintentionally) and noticed the posts on the relay were numbered differently, so I pulled the plug and look at the bottom and the posts didn't hit all of the wires. I had already set up for the pressure tests, so I resumed them (results were within range) and afterwards popped in a relay from a stashed wire harness. Of course the car fired right up (it ran well during the pressure test too).

Happy day!

5 plug relay that was in the car. Generic non-OEM POS.


Side by side:


Sorry for the long post, but I cannot express how pleased I am to have FINALLY settled the bug and have the garage available for the E28!