Olaf

Today I spent time in my basement workshop, cleaning up and clearing a workspace. I’d forgotten about the bench vice a friend of ours gave me years ago. I thought it was knackered, today I was pleasantly surprised to find it just needed some oil. It’ll get a full refurb in future. So I set to finding the right 10mm drill bit to mount it to my carpentry workbench (it has a woodworking vice at the other end). And, a trip to Bunnings for some more 10mm 40x40x3mm zinc square washers. Result. With my workshop HiFi playing Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness, I got productive. I stripped down the two Girling front calipers. If you don’t have a compressor to get the pistons out, a track bicycle pump will do. It was after I got the first one out, I remembered Jon’s warning about a flood of brake fluid ?. I removed the pins, boots, seals (not the inner seal inside the bore), hoses, and bleed nipples. The pistons are good. A little mild burnishing in a couple of spots (around a centimeter Square), they’re visible though I can’t feel them with a fingernail. The slider pins were a bit tight and corroded in two of the holes. Uncertain how do address that. Do I measure the new pins, use the right size drill to dress it? Valve grind paste? I used a ton of brake cleaner on the two main parts. Then donned my PPE (muffs, goggles, and respirator), and started the naughty wellington strip. It feels good to be productive. Strained my back walking down the street with my Volvo battery yesterday; this was better than sitting around acknowledging the pain. This post brought to you by shitloads of tools acquired over the past 35 years, 90’s Rock, and the power of Naprosyn ? I’ll continue stripping them back to prep for painting. VHT caliper paint, and then rebuild next week.

Hey Tony, welcome! Plenty happening in Wellington, and you'll be wecomed along to any events. In addition to this weekend's Cars & Coffee meet in Raumati, 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.

"basically a station wagon"? Have you been reading "The Jeremy Clarkson Bumper Book of Hyperbole"?! 1er's - while certainly good fun - are not capacious by any measure. ?

Gutted, surely? Or is there some preoccupation with drainage?

Very sensible!

Or buy a handsfree unit?

I feel for your bad internet, mate.

You beaut 320i manual spotted in Wellington last week...

It's a very reasonable qualifier, and unrelated to expected sale price. That says to me "if you want to feel the loud pedal from behind the wheel, I'm qualifying you as a genuine purchaser". Implied is "and if you break it, you've bought it". Good luck with the sale @francoisv!

A step in the right direction yesterday, at least. Workshop prep to assist with motivation: Surplus home theatre receiver, and a classic Philips CD502 (one of the best (budget) CDP’s ever for fun and pace. Made the interconnects with my son, teaching him to solder. And now to clear workbench space and get to it. Struts and calipers first. # days till Castlepoint: 25.

Of course I'll give Jon a shout ? Thanks Graham!

Air leak? Get video of it happening, from both drivers position and under the hood. There's a big Suzuki forum here, initial skimming revealed this thread... https://www.suzuki-forums.com/suzuki-swift-geo-metro-forum/262241-suzuki-swift-sport-p0607-issue.html Is it throwing any codes? HTH PS: also https://www.suzuki-forums.com/suzuki-swift-geo-metro-forum/262105-suzuki-swift-1-5-idling-issues.html

outstanding, mate.

Took the e30 for a buzz out to the Hutt Valley this morning. Gave her a drink - 300ml of Messers Penrite finest HPR5, and later fed her $75 of BP Inc’s 98 octane. However, I returned from buying a Stilson wrench, and my son greeted me with a present. He’d been waiting in the car. Hmmm. Where can I find these?

wait, what? @treone Time for Duran Duran torture:

Exactly! Yes, they may be an e30 underneath, but those are the coolest door mechs ever! I think this one is hampered by it's ACS accoutrements. It's a rare thing that waving the ACS magic wand makes a car uglier, but (IMHO) this is one of those exceptions that proves the rule. Rarer than an M3? Even rarer than an e30 Baur!!

“Boing” mkii And these have arrived... Am now deep in planning. Perhaps suspension, front brakes, and cooling, before wheels.

Looks like you can get them from Germany pretty cheap**. As we’re both Wellington-based, want to explore together, share freight costs? I’m interested in an iS lip for my FL e30 coupe. ** aftermarket not factory.

yeah you're on the hook now. Whether it's certed an under it's own steam, or on a trailer!

I’ll be photographing it as I go... ?

Springs have arrived. I'm making space in my workshop (over the past few years had become unworkable due to amount of sh*t in it), so that I can prep the wheels, prep and paint the fatter ARBs (20mm front**, 14.5mm rear), the 51mm strut housings, the rear shocks. A few more parts to come; decided on Hawk HPS pads for the front as I really like what they're doing on my 545i. And I have to re build and repaint the Girling front callipers. I saw this. Perfect timing. I'm not planning on going so far, I'll be concentrrating on the front faces. ** and funny thing happened on the way to the workshop. My 20mm bar that I lovingly stripped and repainted earlier in this thread, turned out to be a 19mm. When Jon went to fit it, the specified 20mm bushes were too big. Hey ho, new 19mm bushes and game on. The 20 & 14.5mm bars are on their way to me now. So the heat is on. I'm not sure I have enough time to complete all the prep work in time to take this on the Castlepoint trip in mid-June, but I'm going to try. It's time for some Glen Frey. Oh f#%k that...I Need some motivation and pace. And some greater authenticity, real 80's rather than commercial pap. Fortunately I'm wiring up a new workshop hifi to keep myself motivated while working. While I do that, here's The Cure: Yeah, once upon a time, The Cure were truly edgy and completely outside the mainstream. I think I may be some time, so much back catalogue to explore. Here's some obscure B-side material:

brilliant. Looking forward to seeing this in the flesh. e30 Mega Meet 2019 yeah?

@Kodachrome Great job, Alan! Looks better, and am sure it feels better. Where'd you get the foam?

@Autoglym

so no "we're rescuing this BMW from Invercargill", then. ?