who is wrenching today?

[thomsbrain]

The Accord got an oil change and Hella 500 rally lights.

 

[Gillbot]

 

[skyking]

I installed the ported turbo and manifold, some extrude honed stock injectors, buttoned it all up and ran to a dyno event today. I was the last to get there but got on anyway.
It was a Taylor waterbrake dyno. Engine is revved to redline, then loaded down so the graph is bass ackwards.

 

[Gillbot]

Filled two. As soon as I get my driveshaft taken care of, it'll be time to let 'er rip!

 

[amdhunter]

Installed some Infinity 6x9s to replace the stock Bose in my rear deck. Took out the seats, rear deck and cleaned up some wiring from my Bazooka install last week.

Took about 2 hours from walking back and forth, fighting stuck interior connectors and so on, but I managed to do a great job.

Thinking about putting a dedicated subwoofer box and amp and throwing the POS Bazooka out soon. lol

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Got my new injectors put in my 540i today. Also took a clay bar to it and waxed it.

Better shot of the hood:

Man I love black cars when they are clean.

 

[yhelothar]

That's a gorgeous 540i :thumbsup:

 

[manimal]

Got my new injectors put in my 540i today. Also took a clay bar to it and waxed it.

Better shot of the hood:

Man I love black cars when they are clean.

To think people told you to keep the jag. pfft!


Next time someone starts talking crap about older bmws I am gonna point them to you!


Found a turbo seal leaking on my Z so thats happening today.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

To think people told you to keep the jag. pfft!


Next time someone starts talking crap about older bmws I am gonna point them to you!


Found a turbo seal leaking on my Z so thats happening today.

Thanks guys

Since I sold the Jag I have put in:

New plugs, new gaskets throughout the intake manifold, new waterpump and gaskets, new valley pan and gaskets, and new injectors. The results? the car idles exactly at 600 rpm and is buttery smooth (for a V8), mpg is up, and power is up. It is turning into a car that I can be proud of

As I work on this car more and more I find the engine and other main components are fine, just 17 year old plastic and rubber is letting them down. With my intake manifold operation I got a lot of the top side gaskets, but there are quite a few drips from many of the underside gaskets. In a week or so I'll be replacing the oil pan gaskets and pretty much any other gasket I can get to easily from the underside of the engine. Thankfully gaskets are pretty cheap and still easy to find for this engine.

Also thrust arms need to be replaced, which is normal for just about every E34, those wear out all the time on these cars. The rear dog bones needs to be done as well. So I suppose those who stated it is a money pit are kind of correct, but so far I'm out ~650 for parts, which doesn't seem too bad for a 17 year old BMW.

realoem.com is incredible. I'm spending more and more time running out to my car and then going to realoem to take an expanded look.

Oh and 10 bucks for new badges since mine are peeling and flaking

 

[skyking]

I think I am finally done with injectors!
I had a custom set built with Denso nozzles, 7 hole x 0.0088 SAC nozzles. They were set at 285 Bar (~4130 PSI). I got them in today and fired it up, and it was a thing of beauty. You could not see any idle haze, whatsoever.
Keel in mind this is a 16 year old truck with old tech and 245,000 miles. It was totally clean.
I installed the ported turbo and manifold the other day.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Finally got started on my Jeep again.

Last week, welded up the disc brake brackets and spring perches on the rear end.

Took a wire brush in my die grinder to it. Cleaned and prepped, and painted it yesterday.

Noticed that I smoked both the outer axle bearing cups when I welded the brake brackets...that means the welds definitely penetrated enough.

Might see if Advance has new ones and get the axles and rear cover installed and back in the chassis...and it'll be rolling!

The brackets were already welded on, but looked like an 8 year old did it....in fact, I think my 8 year old might have done better. I'm no pro welder, but I did a lot better than what was on there.
Here's what I started with:

Ground off:

Re-welded, as I said, I'm no artist but it's a helluva lot better than the
booger splatters that were on there before:

Cleaned: (cover is still painted because it's not getting re-done, I have a new, beefy ARB cover)

Painted:

You can see a bit of the weld on the spring perch in that second painted pic...First time using my big Millermatic 200 and I got a lot better with my beads than in the first weld pics.

Here's what this goes in, for reference:

 

[skyking]

the older 200 is what my neighbor has. I have burned up several pounds of wire through that over the years.

 

[Pacfanweb]

the older 200 is what my neighbor has. I have burned up several pounds of wire through that over the years.

I've had this one since 1994...just never used it. It was my Dad's, got it when he died. Never had anywhere to use it.

Got it serviced and back in action a couple years ago, but still only just played with it a little, trying to get it to do right. The rear end was the first serious thing I've done with it in all this time.

 

[merlion]

New pads and brake discs on my son's '07 Accord.

 

[manimal]

Since my kids are old enough I have added video screens for them in the minivan. Kenwood system I did last year. Have two more screens for back most seats as well that get dropped in when I can figure out how to quick release the connector when I pull those seats to haul big stuff.

inexpensive boss units. Cost less than 100.

Head unit has been fantastic save for its reception. Gonna make that better when we slow down

showed my wife this picture when we were tearing into the dash and she freaked out.

fit and finish pretty good for budget units. Plastic backing on seats made install super easy. Mediocre video quality though out of the box. After adjustments decent.

buttoned up. Took 3.2 hours.

Took all of 5 minutes to get them installed into the seats. The dash not so much.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Put the cover on yesterday. Had to order the axle bearings....nobody had them. Be here tomorrow, so can't get it rolling yet. I can put it back in the Jeep, though. Might do that today.

 

[manimal]

btw dont know if I have mentioned it earlier but nice work pacfan! Really nice looking progress!

 

[foghorn67]

Brakes got mushy on the Malibu.
Pads and rotors are fine. Flushed brake fluid. It looks like a bad piston on one of the front calipers. Sucking in moisture I suppose.
Ordering one from rock auto.
I'm going to do most of the 30,000 mile service in the next couple of weeks along withe the caliper replacement. Oil change and air filter.
I'll just leave the alignment, rotation and balance to the dealer.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

Just got my 540 inspected to ensure it was actually doing as well as it seemed. What the shop found:

Control arm bushings were trashed. Which is completely normal for E34s. Crunched for time since I'm moving, so I had the shop replace those.

Rattle from suspension was caused by the drivers side front wheel dust plate. It is cracked, but is not anything important, so the rattle lives on. Just glad to know it isn't a sound of anything bad.

Timing chain cover is leaking oil. The amount of work required to get at that cover is immense. I would never pay anyone to do that work. When I have some more free time I'll likely head out to my uncle's shop and do the timing chain cover gaskets along with the valve cover gaskets. Oil leaks amount to about a quart of oil loss a month. So my car will continue to mark its territory.

Front brake rotors and pads are ordered. Along with a wheel hub for the drivers side front wheel (bearing is starting to make unhappy noises). I'll be replacing those in a week or so.

Summary: Car is in pretty good health. Big stuff is fine, just all the gaskets and rubber is failing due to 17 years on the road.

 

[HybridSquirrel]

Oil change and a exhaust install Saturday morning hopefully.

 

[Gillbot]

Been getting a P0102 lately and a P0757 along with it. Found my MAF pigtail wire busted so I fixed it only for it to fail again. Fixed it again and still threw the P0757. Pulled some fluid out through the fill tube and sure enough, glittery. It's still pretty red but has a lot of material in it IMHO. Looks like a trans swap may be in my future.

 

[jlee]

I should've done stuff today but I slept instead. :\

 

[Pacfanweb]

btw dont know if I have mentioned it earlier but nice work pacfan! Really nice looking progress!

Thanks!

Rear is sitting in the Jeep now, going to bolt it down and roll that thing out of the garage and let it work on its tan for awhile.

 

[Pacfanweb]

She's rolling. Sitting in front of the garage, getting a tan.

 

[MentalIlness]

Doing some Iroc-Z body work.