hunter

15 hours ago, Eagle said:

 

Has it always had alignment issues\steering issues since you bought it? Have you kept any older alignment sheets like before all the suspension work? I keep them for this reasons like this

 

Digging out my service history today, there were no alignment records provided prior to my ownership, had asked Coombes too, none there....

Yeah mate. It’s always been off spec one way or another. Here is an old sheet from after new suspension install. Last November. But they’ve always made a good job of makin it even in the past. 
Might be worth replacing the steering knuckle on the left too  as the main areas mentioned in what could be wrong was  knuckle, too hat , shock   

19 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Dont worry about it man, im sure its fine. Did they bang out the front camber pins to get some adjustment?  Probably not. They were still installed when i worked on the car.

I had a look at the front struts and they appeared fine to my memory, the L and R letters were aligned with the slots. One of the side of has a stupid BMW sticker plastered over the strut label with the L\R alignment marks, but you can still just see it. Maybe the other side was mixed up but you can have to look yourself to confirm or i can check it again if you like, maybe they are wrong about them being out of rotation, wouldn't surprise me. 

Yeah please post the alignment sheet

Yeah I mentioned it’s been looked at by someone in the know recently but they said they were wonky so I had them adjust it. 
wasn’t mentioned if the camber pins have been touched. 
concern now is the report above says it’s different left to right. So not happy about that and now being able to adjust it other than putting the right side back out of spec. But then atleast it would equal. 

Having alignment issues. Left is out whilst right is now in spec.
 

Went to get the car aligned this today. To make sure steering was straight after the work above. 
worth noting that In my ownership I’ve never had an alignment go well first time. There’s always been corrections that need doing to ensure the steering wheel is “straight” on the road. 

in this instance It was noted by Coombes that the front shocks weren’t installed properly as they were out of rotation (how it was described to me)and needed to be set right before the alignment could be done.

 This was done and the car aligned. Now the left remains out of spec. Possibly due to “something bent “ FML. 🤦‍♂️ the left has more camber than the right hand front  

Advice from the tech is it’s possibly something at the top of the strut (strut top, replaced last year) or perhaps the wheel carrier, causing this  or even the shock itself  (also replaced last year)

I haven’t had any accidents I’m With no real way of telling what could be wrong im left with the proposition of replacing more bits. 

It’s stressing me out tbh. Any advice or experience would be appreciated. I’ll upload the alignment sheets a bit later. 

Big week for the car this week with a new wheel carrier, right lower control arm, rear carrier ball joint and integral links and Vanos oil line. 

Turns out my clicking was actually coming from 2 (TWO!) busted sleeves in the carrier. one on the lower control arm and one on the Thrust arm.
 

massive thanks to @Eagle for the installation help. 
 

some other niggles have presented themselves such as the DISA needs a rebuild and worn sway bar bushings. Parts on order!

in other project new, I have all the bits for my headlight rebuild on the Xenon’s, just need some free time to do it. 

WTB - good condition e39 wheel carrier, front Right-hand side. part# 2 in the pic.

have seen a few crappy ones so if you have one please send pics of it.

40 minutes ago, BreakMyWindow said:

points to evidence of some gorilla using a BFH in the past to try and separate the Balljoint.

Yes. I’d like to take a ballpoint separator to their squishy bits as a lesson on the right tool  😆

On 10/24/2022 at 1:36 PM, Eagle said:

No one wrecking any on tm, facebook etc? I guess try Nick Weitz tomorrow but yeah Auckland will have plenty. 

Nick doesn’t have any either. There is one locally here in hams on TM. just saw a response from the seller. 
might go check it out this week. 

1 hour ago, Eagle said:

No one wrecking any on tm, facebook etc? I guess try Nick Weitz tomorrow but yeah Auckland will have plenty. 

Nick doesn’t have any either. There is one locally here in hams on TM. just saw a response from the seller. 
might go check it out this week. 

1 minute ago, Eagle said:

Yeah hopefully someone has something available locally

Mosens has nothing sadly. 
BMworld has one so might have to mission up for that. Else new ones is ~500 landed from Pelican. 

Massive Thanks to @Eagle who gave me a hand this weekend to diagnose the clicking from the the front end. 
removal of the lower control arm showed a broken sleeve in the steering knuckle. 
With a piece missing from the bottom of the sleeve and the rest of the bottom of the sleeve falling out onto the driveway it was obvious to see where the noise was coming from. 
So am  now looking for a good condition steering knuckle (wheel carrier) as I don’t want to muck around with re-sleeving. 

On 9/21/2022 at 3:26 PM, Eagle said:

I can do it for you if you want.

Awesome man. I’ll pm you to tee up a time. 

A while since my last update.

few mini projects on the go;

- Driver seat refurb is holding up well and is super comfy

- Xenon project is bubbling along. new lenses arrived yesterday. still need to buy butyl sealant & a heat gun.

- Style 66 project. I have a full set of 5 wheels now after buying individual wheels from all over the place, worked out much cheaper than a full set all at once from recent sellers. you just have to be patient. these will eventually be repainted and have new tires.

- Suspension -  to finish this off, I need to do rear Integral links and carrier bushings, have the parts & saving for some time to pay someone to do it as its fiddly. Not urgent will do before Christmas.

On 9/17/2022 at 4:28 PM, Eagle said:

Came across a post discussing E46 ride height - turns out the OE Lemforder\Sachs mounts are actually different design to the originals and are taller.

 

This is an interesting observation. i noted when i replaced mine in the E39 i noted it sits higher than the original height. I also noted that the strut mouints removed form the front where different in design. this was due to one being replaced at some stage.

i would say its 5-10 mm difference. did the arcticle mention if the OEM ones were still the same design (lower profile). i love how my car rides but still think the front end sits too high when compared to the back end.

I think they are the same between various models too (3,5,1 series) as long as you dont have EDC

1 minute ago, Olaf said:

oh and re your suspension refresh, can't go wrong with Lemforder.

Shocks and Springs, there's a whole 'nother wormhole.  Why not just go with Sachs OE Msport, and the existing Msport springs if they're still good?  With everything else sorted (you're being thorough on bushes, rods, arms etc) it'll ride and handle like new, and certainly nothing at all like most of the flogged-out e36s around (particularly those that have had just shocks, or just shocks and springs, and maybe a peppering of poly bushing because still baggy...) I'll get me coat then!

Hundred percent Olaf,  I can vouch for this approach this is exactly what I did for my E39 drives like new, handles like new and it’s all OEM spec. 

16 hours ago, francoisv said:

Sis you do the hidden Sports Menu unlock trick too?

Nah, what's that 

On 8/17/2022 at 2:05 PM, Vass said:

Wonder what the actual differences are with a regular Msport wheel, flappy paddles aside. Bottom tri-spoke trim looks to be bullet grey or something as opposed to black. Apart from that... 🤷‍♂️

Apart from what you've mentioned, there are internal differences albeit slight, for the paddles and wiring, clock spring is also different, and extra pins for paddles, (same as heated wheel), other than that it is all the same 

I've got an SMG paddle one wired into my E39 530i, it's cool in the twisties with paddles 

Epic as always. 

Hey Boston..

Regarding the suspension kits from FCP I can recommend them I bought one for the E39 and it turned out to be really good just make sure you get a reputable brand and all the brands on there are.

I’d also recommend getting the most comprehensive one you can I didn’t and I’m gonna have to go back in and do integral links and rear wheel carrier bushings are before Christmas  

But it’s also easy to go front and rear separately so that helps

6 minutes ago, euroriffic said:

Repaired the lower bumper on the e39 and glued some broken bits back together to get the fog light back in and pointing in the right direction now. 
Brakes weren’t looking too flash so got the front rotors skimmed, cleaned all of them up and gave the calipers  a paint ready for when the new wheels go on 😁                       Cleaned up all the interior so is looking a lot nicer, and decided to take it for a drive…             
Was running like a dream for about 20mins then all of a sudden check engine light was on and was missing like MFer! Tried to nurse it home but by the time I got to the bottom of the big hill/mountain it could barely pull away from the intersection. So turned it around and ditched it at a mates. 
Had it scanned and only came up with activation map cooling and missfire in cylinders 2,4,5,6Plugs didn’t look too flash so got a new set but no Change. Same with another set of coils. Hmmmmmmm

 

Check you intake boots for splits. My e46 used to do this when I had a split in my intake boot I couldn’t see. 
 

also check intake cam sensors 

Sweet. I thought they were no longer available. Will give the boys a call tomorrow. 

12 minutes ago, BMWTouring said:

I think they’re pretty cheap genuine mate from memory. We used to sell tons of them.

Sounds good @Eagle

keen to take a look and you can try my refreshed seat out. 

Cleaned up and tested the xenon’s today they work well aside from the adjusters which have turned to shrapnel inside the light bodies. 
need to fix some stuff in the Toyota then will start buying parts for the lights. 
 

looking at adjusters on eBay there are 2 different kinds listed for 2000 on e39. Anyone have any advice on what kind to get. 
 

9 minutes ago, BMWTouring said:

Let me know if you want to cash up the halogen ones..

Will do mate. Will be a while away as I slowly rebuild these xenon’s. 

In impromptu project news some xenon’s with broken adjusters came up in FB today I snapped them up. 
this one might be a slow burn, I might be kidding myself about that. But goal is to hopefully pull them apart, fix adjusters and replace lenses too. 
 

not the easiest job in e39 lights but far cheaper than new ones.