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Vass

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Posts posted by Vass

  6. Posted · Report reply

    1 minute ago, Karter16 said:

    The clips that hold the bowden cable all in place and intact? The coupe arrangement is slightly different but for me it was the bowden cable having more lateral play than it should that was a big contributor to rattles. 

    The ones for the window regulator you mean? I believe so. There's one clip and one zip tie holding them to the door panel and have padded sheeting in other places, on the sedan/wagon anyway. There's also a weird plastic piece that runs vertically up the panel that wedges the lock mechanism cable against the door that had a bit of wiggle room. Secured it in place with some duct tape at both attachment points but no luck. It's really weird as there's no rattles at all when you try shaking the door, the slight vibration rattle is only there when driving. 

  7. Posted · Report reply

    I then took a detour and decided to try and hunt down the annoying rattle coming somewhere from the passenger door region that had been eating away at me for months. Having taken the door card off I was greeted with this.

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    Guess that's a quicker way of replacing a window regulator. I've of course had the door cards off before but somehow it hadn't registered. It would have been prior to the engine swap so the priorities would have been elsewhere. I then reached into the door and discovered a handful of glass shards. 

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    Would never have noticed it otherwise but the window was of some random brand and not stamped with a BMW logo like the rest of them. Only then I discovered that it was also the only side window to not have window tints. To top it off it also had a row of little gashes on the inside in one place from something rubbing against it. Not enough to notice on its own, but enough to annoy me having discovered it. I'm planning on redoing the window tints all round before next summer so figured I might as well have a set of original windows and not lock in some random, slightly damaged one. So, being the lunatic that I am, I set off to Pick-A-Part for a replacement original window and vapour barrier.

    Having carefully peeled away the vapour barrier and taken out the glass, I discovered that the car I'd been scavenging was pre-wired for heated seats. Score! The seats themselves were already taken, which made access to the wiring that much easier. Naturally I turned a quick half-hour trip for a new window glass into a 5-hour mission of extracting the heated seat wiring all in one piece...

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    Got to satisfy my curiosity in knowing exactly how it was done from factory and have the full kit ready for when I eventually get around to ripping my interior apart again.

    What started off as trying to chase down a rattle had well and truly snowballed out of control. With the window out, I figured why stop there - I might as well remove the door handle and give the whole door a good cut and polish as well. It definitely needed it.

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    From there on, the window regulator also came out, as did the whole door lock mechanism and everything else along with it until all that remained was the wiring.

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    "But hey, since you've got it all apart, why not install some sound deadening", said my stupid brain.

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    The door panel got the same treatment as the hood, minus the wet sanding. Came out pretty sweet.

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    The door cavity got a proper cleanout with a vacuum and blown out with compressed air. The door lock mechanism, door handle and window regulator got cleaned and lubed up with some white lithium grease. All internals reassembled, I sealed it by taking a heat gun to the butyl tape attached to the new vapour barrier and sticking it on nice and snug. All the door and window rubbers also got some Gummi Pfledge treatment whilst I was at it.

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    Not that there was anything noticeably wrong with it prior but the door handle and window regulator now seem to operate slightly smoother, and the door sounds that wee bit less tinny when slamming it shut. Took it for a quick test drive around the block and...

    ...the damn rattle is still there.

    Looks like it might have been the seat belt trim inside the B-pilar all along.

    Cars are pain.

    • Like 4
    • Haha 1

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Have barely driven the car of late, instead choosing to stumble down all manner of wormholes.

    First was an easy one. The typical cluster clock adjustment arms finally gave out so one of these 3D printed replacements got ordered in and installed. Quick and easy fix, 10/10 product.

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    Then made a start on a task I've been putting off for the longest time - addressing the aesthetics, namely the shoddy state of the paintwork. Having zero prior experience in any sort of cutting & polishing it wasn't a task I'd been too confident in taking on, on a black car no less, but having pretty much resigned to eventually needing a full respray anyway I figured I might as well try my hand at it. Worst comes to worst it would just bring the timeline forward. Armed with some hands-on knowledge through a detailing clinic with United Car Care and a hodgepodge assortment of products I kicked off the journey.

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    I started off on the hood as it looked in the most desperate need for a tidy up. Having done several passes with a heavy cut compound on a wool pad and seemingly not making any progress I went with the nuclear option and jumped head first into wet sanding. Not sure if I was doing it right, and it did look pretty scary at times, but somehow I seem to have gotten away with it.

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    The sequence was as follows:

    1. Wash & clay bar.
    2. 2000-grit sandpaper on the heavier scratches & imperfections.
    3. Several passes with a Koch Chemie H9.01 heavy cut compound on wool pads with a 150mm DA & 75mm polisher for tighter spots.
    4. Fill in rock chips, remaining deep scratches and bird dropping etchings with touch-up paint.
    5. Menzerna 3 in 1 polish on medium foam pads.
    6. Clean down with a quick detailer.
    7. Protect with Fireball Pirouette.

    Still left with plenty of imperfections with some deep scratches going nowhere and touch-up paint making the inherited damage from the etched in bird sh*t only ever so slightly less apparent. Never going to win any awards but still heaps better than the swirly, scratched up mess that it was before. Will make turning up to club meets that wee bit less embarrassing anyway so have to be happy with the effort.

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    • Like 4

  11. Posted · Report reply

    Some dodgy sh*t going on with that 318i Touring. Listing claims 347k km's on the clock. The same car was being sold in '21 at 469k km. A quick carjam shows it hit that mileage in 2019 when the odo broke since it's stayed the same since. Must have passed half a million by now. I'd be wearing that as a badge of honour instead of half-arsedly trying to conceal it.

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    • Sad 1

  15. Posted · Report reply

    If there's a market for it then all power to them I guess. Personally, I find it hard to "support local" knowing that there was zero value added to the original product by the entity taking your money when you can get the exact thing from elsewhere for 1/3 of the price. I'd rather support businesses that, you know, do something. 

    • Like 1

  16. Posted · Report reply

    11 hours ago, Olaf said:

    I bought a VEMO remanufactured Bosch from Rockauto.  No pesky core charge (FCP).  I'm sure it'll be good enough, factory rebuilt.

    Interesting, didn't see that as an option on there when searching by part number. Oh well. 

    I've ordered a Hella unit, will see how it goes. Not too fussed with replacement as I've figured out a way to get to it from underneath without having to take the intake out so not that much of a hassle.

    Before ordering it I called up BM Parts to see what they stock locally, got offered the same Hella unit for $420+GST. From Spareto it's €76+30 shipping so all up $480 vs $190. Bonkers how we're getting shafted over here left & right

    • Like 2

  20. Posted · Report reply

    I think the main factor is the climate. Singaporean imports are notorious for electrical issues due to higher humidity and are worth steering clear of in general. UK & Japanese (depending on region of origin) imports can suffer from rust due to salt on the roads etc. Beyond that I wouldn't read much deeper into it. Both NZ-new and ex Japanese/UK cars can be equally as pampered or neglected when it comes to maintenance, all very much subjective and dependent on the particular car and its owner/s. I guess NZ-new cars are more likely to come with comprehensive service histories as most the paperwork generally get lost during the import process, on purpose or otherwise, but heaps of NZ cars come with zero information as well so... I'd steer clear of any overarching generalizations.

    • Like 4
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