Olaf

I mentioned Wordy Rappinghood earlier. And because it’s Friday, and there’s been a lot of paint splashed about, it’s time for a musical interlude from the 80’s... to match the e30. Yeah, an obvious pun with the second track.

Mission accomplished this evening. Built my spray booth for the calipers. I wanted to limit overspray, but I needed to be able to turn the workpiece while I was painting. I used an old plastic storage box that was destined for recycling, I up-ended it, clamped it to my workmate, and made a hole in the top edge. I wanted light transmission rather than shading; this would be ideal. I prepped and masked the second caliper. Those foam earplugs are great for plugging the holes. I trimmed and bent stiff wire to suspend the caliper parts from, and devised an in-booth (exo) support from a broken rake handle (thanks kids, I knew that would come in handy!). Paint a piece, turn it, paint some more. Support workpiece with left hand, turn. Repeat. Squat down, spray underside. Lift, turn, spray more. Support workpiece with left hand, remove rake handle, carefully remove workpiece and hang away from your booth. Install next piece, rinse and repeat.. This time I set up a tub of hot water to warm the spray cans before I shook them. 3 coats of VHT caliper paint, ten mins apart. Two thin coats, then a medium wet coat. Shake can 10 secs after every minute it's been in use. I found the VHT caliper paint flows well. Perhaps the warming helped. And painting onto a porous surface makes it easier. No runs that I could detect. Above: the caliper frames hanging after 3 coats, while our neglected 90's hardtail race MTB's hang in the background. My wife's '96 Gary Fisher Supercaliber, my modded '96 Supercaliber, and my custom '96 GT Zaskar LE. I reckon I need to start pedalling again. Perhaps when the e30 is sorted. And after pausing to appreciate my work, I really pushed out the boat with Rustoleum “universal advanced formula” Gloss Black on the bars, one clamped in each vice. The Rustoleum paint is just great. You can twist the nozzle to get a vertical or horizontal spray patterm, and it flows out great. A thin dusting coat, let it flash off, then a wet coat and it flows out nicely.

Tells great time, too. It’s Beer O’clock!

You can buy the wiring kit to add multifunction wheel onto the vehicle for e46. I have part number in a spreadsheet, let me know if you need it. Last time I looked it was under USD30.

As planned, I got a little time in the workshop tonight. Laid down primer on the front ARB, and touched up the rear ARB. I used 600 W&D - dry - as I was not keen on water this evening, sh*t it's cold! Not so bad in the workshop. I thinned the runs, took off the nips, and gave it all a light scuff. I thought 'that looks like a reasonable surface, I'll get a good finish on that'. I then used grease and wax remover. That was probably a mistake. I think the paint has reacted with it. So I'm calling it 'Wrinkle Finish'. Bummer. Hey ho. Not Koni Yellow, Wrinkle Finish. Some people buy special cans of paint for that, and pay extra! "Do a blind man's eyesight good" as my Dad used to say. Tomorrow night: Brake Calipers, and painting the bars with gloss black.

That’s what she said ?

I followed an e90 335D (///M sport I think) over the Rimutakas heading north on Friday. Charcoal Colour, it was. Well, when I say follow, I mean I was behind him for a while, though with full family on board I was concentrating on giving my family the smoothest ride possible, so he pulled away. Looked tidy!

Do it!

I went back to the workshop last night, used a sharp blade to trim the runs, and gave it a gentle rub with a scotch-brite. I gave them another coat; one of my earlier mistakes had been not pulling the tops up to full extension, and painting the tops (up, down), then the bottoms. This laid too much paint in the middle, as too many overlaps. Second coat was continuous, up, down top to bottom. It wasn’t pretty... but then these aren’t concourse! It’s the cheap metal enamel (Galmet metal protector) that they sell at NZ Safety Blackwoods, about $10+GST per can when it’s on sale, from memory. It doesn’t flow like Rustoleum, but it’s way cheaper and I don’t have much call for yellow. This morning it had settled in and flowed out pretty well. I’ll give it a quick rub with 600 wet and dry tonight, hit it with 2 thin coats 10 mins apart. Job done! In other news, I picked up more etch primer from Bunnings on the way to work this morning. Hooray for 0700 opening, eh? I’ll be needing that for the strut housings. I’ve also dreamt up a booth solution for painting the brake parts. Watch this space.

Well my cheap yellow paint makes them look more like Bilsteins. And I've really cocked-up the topcoat. Not enough space to paint well, didn't warm the paint, too much rush. Sags. Oh dear, not like my usual work at all.

More progress. Cleaned up one caliper with Wax & Grease remover, and used foam earplugs to mask the holes, and tape for the cylinder. I’ll do the other one later. [ paint prepped caliper parts await three coats of VHT Caliper Paint ] Drop cloths over the hoard on the bench, I primed the shocks and a good part of the rear bar with etch primer. [some etch-primed Konis seem to have momentarily lost their identities]

I've seen this (from behind) a couple of times, in a workshop I've passed on the way to work. Curious. Wonder how hard it is to put suspension back to standard? I'll get me coat then...

Finished stripping the brake parts. No time to degrease and set them up for painting (or the bars), so I prepped the rear Konis with the flap disc and applied Rust Converter, instead. ... and because you mentioned it Colin @Young Thrash Driver, yep it’s a No. 2. ? better get my arse to work. PS: “uh huh huhhhh huh... he said it, he said ‘number two’”. I had to get that Beavis and Butthead moment out of my system.

Slow, really. Been away for the long weekend. After a good 90 mins in the workshop yesterday arvo, I now have 20mm (front) and 14.5mm (rear) ARBs stripped, linished, and anti-rust coated in my workshop. I'll be giving them a coat of primer before I head to work this morning. About to sort a little scabbiness on the rear Konis. I don't have a perfect match for the yellow paint, but hey, better than rust! The brake calipers are almost ready for paint, I spent a great deal of time on them yesterday. Full PPE kit, vacuum cleaner to catch the dust. They should get VHT caliper paint tomorrow night. Then I need to clean and prep the 51mm struts for paint. Things are getting tight.

Have you replaced the DME relay? If it has 200+k kms and 25 years on it, those contacts have had a lot of current through them, could be a bit tarnished and worn. Same for fuel pump relay. EDIT: Context for this comment is my e30 325i back in Blighty had hot start issues, and some very unusual behaviours. Diagnosis with the RAC callout tech suggested new fuel pump relay. This sorted the hot start. Then I delved into my Bentley manual, and did some reading on line (back in 2001 there were some very helpful e30 sites), and came up with DME relay. Sourced one, installed, issues resolved. I guess clean power to the DME helped. At the time the car was 13 years old with about 130k mi on the clock. It's a relatively inexpensive part, worth a crack. Hope that helps.

Just found the latest 'Restore It' on youtube is the Touring...

I'll see your '02 and raise you an '02 with cage, NZ pedigree, and Alpina! 1971 BMW 2002 ti Alpina: After winning the 1970 Silver Fern Rally in a stock-standard BMW 2002, Paul Adams built this car in 1971 and ran it in three consecutive Heatway Rallies, with a best finish of fourth in the 1972 event. Image linked from, & Text borrowed from www.leadfoot.com

OPP was Other People's Pussy!

Hey Jon, welcome! Plenty happening in Wellington, and you'll be wecomed along to any events. Next BMW CC NZ Wellington Chapter pub night is Thurs 6 June 6.30pm at 1812 Bar in Johnsonville, Bimmersporters welcome. In addition to plentiful parking and renowned great ribs, enjoy the camerarderie and banter of the Welly crew. Family-friendly! 15/16 June we have a tour of some of the backroads of Wairarapa, to and overnight stay in Castlepoint. I follow HVMC on the book of faces, great buzz ya'll have going on.

On my e46 Touring, the FM antenna is in the side window. I had thought the shark fin on my e60 was for radio duties (FM, Tel, Satellite radio & GPS)... I used to puzzle how the FM wavelength was effectively catered to by such a small stub! 1/16th wave folded dipole? ?. As you say - FM is in the glass and the shark fin is the diverity antenna. I found this on Aliexpress whilst googling... https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32919244671.html not convinced it'd be effective, looks like it's a cosmetic update to existing bee-sting antennas. Ahh the bee-sting. Sometimes I miss my Golf GTi MKII.

... mind you, do the yoof of today listen to FM? ?

Get a shark fin antenna, cable it up, job done!

Bloody good job too! Safety first.

Aliexpress? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/one-din-Fascia-For-BMW-3-Series-E46-1998-2005-CD-DVD-Stereo-Radio-Panel-Dash/32849302159.html I've only changed factory units. Prefer the linked lighting, ergonomics, and cool features like speed-related auto volume control...

Edd China has done a really informative video on changing out your brakes. I'd latched on to silicon high-performance brake grease a while back, though in my case it's ATE. Worth a watch. These FoMoCo calipers are clearly Girling design. The stainless shims are a nice touch.