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Lucan

What'd you do to your BMW today?

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This morning I coded BMW Connected Drive with Apps to my car. Virginized the head-unit and custom signed FSC codes, saving me $499 for the code + 1.5hr of coding at BMW.

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18 hours ago, Young Thrash Driver said:

the clutch in the 525i is just fine so that can wait for another weekend.

:lol: You only have to let the pedal out about 1.5 metres, before the bite point, and pressing it in 3mm makes it slip..... prolly get another 100,000 out of it...

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Flashed EGS (gearbox) with Alpina D5 soft. 

On 9/2/2018 at 8:24 PM, hugo_nz said:

Backlight on cluster now always white

Did this affect the ability to control the brightness of your dash or CIC screen? 

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On 9/6/2018 at 9:52 PM, sobanoodle said:

Flashed EGS (gearbox) with Alpina D5 soft. 

Did this affect the ability to control the brightness of your dash or CIC screen? 

I don't actually know... Haven't noticed anything 

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On 9/2/2018 at 7:27 PM, Young Thrash Driver said:

This spans a couple of weeks of snatching an hour here and there, but replaced the heater return pipes under the intake manifold on @Allanw old 525i. The top one had actually snapped but hadn't quite begun to leak, as usual they disintegrated upon being interfered with as did the CCV Also replaced throttle body gasket, intake elbows, the whole CCV system, intake manifold gasket, dipstick o-rings, air distribution piece o-rings and a few other bits while I was there. Re/installed a mix of new and the original splash/underbody shielding. Installed a new valve cover, thanks to @Gabe79 for that one. New BMW coolant in the 525i and new oil in the 530i, might get around to changing the 525i oil tonight. No more leaks which is a good change, the 525i was dripping oil from nearly everywhere.

Got to about 5.30pm today and not much was happening so I thought "Sod it I'll give it a go..." and swapped the steering wheels between them. They are both the later dual stage type, the 525i left the factory with the flatter triangular shaped airbag type (who's shape and feel I don't fancy) and the 530i came equipped with what the internet likes to call "E46 M3 style" type, which differs in that the wheel grip is thicker and the diameter is smaller, plus it just looks a bit sharper with the round airbag. Not to be confused with the "sport type" which has a larger diameter and often has no thumb grips and sometimes a split in the bottom trim piece. The swap was fairly straightforwards- fighting that 16mm nut in the center of the shaft without a helper was challenging- and took longer to Google the ins and outs than to actually complete. Once installed there were no issues, perfect plug and play swap. Will go for a hoon later and see how it changes the car.

Took a bit of time to troubleshoot some rough running/no idle issue on the 525i, turns out the intake manifold gasket won't always stay put when reinstalling the intake manifold, wasn't an issue when I did the same jobs on the 530i but there you go... I suspect some of the rough running may have been caused by residual carb cleaner in the ICV too. A loud tick also reared it's head somewhere in the valvetrain that 100km of driving cured. Just about BMW'd out, the clutch in the 525i is just fine so that can wait for another weekend.

Pictures or this did not happen and you clearly wrote this while dreaming! 

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2 hours ago, Olaf said:

Pictures or this did not happen and you clearly wrote this while dreaming! 

He has to have the internet delivered in little boxes by the rural postie, so photos take days to come in :P

  • Haha 3

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2 hours ago, Allanw said:

He has to have the internet delivered in little boxes by the rural postie, so photos take days to come in :P

I empathise.

It keeps internet relationships interesting. 

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yesterday I... added BMW #3 to the fleet.   Come to think of it. @Haitoman we passed you in the opposite direction (Kapiti somewhere), while you were out in the M3.  Only saw you at the last moment, such was my e30 reverie...

Today, I took a train to Petone with my lad, to collect it.  Showroom page coming soon.

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Finally got some decent weather and managed to co-incide it with some free time, and managed to be fairly productive with it as well.

Took the tow bar and wiring off of the F31 as that is now being replaced with a different car and model. Also cleared out all the accumulated junk and bits off stuff that seem to accumulate in daily drivers. Brushed the brake dust off the wheels to make it look half clean when it goes back.

Since the yellow ball made an appearance in the sky I took the covers off the convertible and took it out around the block to drive the cobwebs out. (Oh, if only it were really that simple!! Full story would be... Put the garage door up, which pushed two tyres and a wheel off the stack by the door causing them to bounce off the convertible and around the garage. Luckily the cover saved any damage to the paint. Looked in about four cupboards and three drawers to find the keys for the convertible, tried to start it - not quite enough juice in the battery, found keys to wife's car, moved that, then pushed the vert back so I could boost it off the race car battery - finally got it started. Drove it around the block a couple of times to get things up to temp, tyres really squeaky - need more air. Pumped up all four tyres by foot, put it back in the garage. Brushed some of the dust and bits and pieces off the outside, put the cover back on.) Total miles travelled this year, since last WoF, now up to 92miles - woop, might make triple digits before it goes for next WoF!

On Sunday took the E46 wagon for a drive as it hadn't been started for a while, it's sitting waiting for me to give it a real good clean and tidy up before we sell it.

Also managed to find a bit of time to fluff around on the racecar, got the bushes pressed out of the new rear subframe and cleaned up some of the bodywork ready for painting, wrote a few more things on the list of jobs that need doing. Treated a little bit of surfacre rust on the subframe and around the lip of the boot where it was starting to bubble.

Painted a few more parts for the latest model kit M3 and stuck a couple together, so much more detail on this one than the first one it's testing my eyesight that's for sure.

Overall quite pleased, and don't feel like crap today which has happened the last couple of times I have tried to do anything, so might chance my arm at a few more jobs during this week.

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"Surface rust" seems to be a UK term that means "the whole thing is riddled with rust but I'm sure it's not structural and you should trust me". 

Rust is rust. And if it's in one place, it's sure to be in others. 

 

  • Haha 2

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Considering it's a 32 year old race car that's had at least two big (and many small) accidents it's surprisingly solid. Couple of spots that need attention, which you tend to find when it's completely stripped. Definately not "riddled with rust" as you put it.

Worst part of the car is the rear end, hence the boot lip, which was stitched on from an '83 NZ New 323i that I never treated properly before painting.

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Bought a new diamond key for the e39 - had a miserable 'won't start at all' situation that luckily was resolved by trying the spare key. Ordered a new one to safeguard against the spare (same vintage) dropping off too. Not a purchase I relished, but the fear of being stranded in a parking building for two weeks was too strong to ignore. 

IMG_20180912_214111.jpg

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Today I washed 5 cars, and waxed one.  Volvo 855-T5 wagon is going on sale any day now.  e46 wagon was filthy, so it got a good wash - though no time for wax.  e60 needed a good wash - there's plenty of pollen flying around now.  I washed and waxed the e30 (Grey Thunder); it really needed a clay-bar and gentle polish, though no time so simply Super Resin Polish from Auto Glym.  The fifth car?  I washed my neighbour's starlet.  17,000 steps, I think I've earned a glass of pinot.

More news in e30-land, I also researched more parts for the e30, gearing up for the clutch job (no pun intended), cambelt job, and some suspension refresh work.  It'll need a pair of tyres on the rear sharpish, one just passed the WoF with 2mm.

Edited by Olaf
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Cleaned the X5, 316, 318 #2 and hateful 520. 

Put the "new" head on 318 #2 after work yesterday. Forgot to get new valve cover gasket. Derp. Will give it a polish and sell it soon 

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Dropped the old diff out of my E30 last night, took a while to figure out the ratio stamped (40:11)was the same as the LSD (3.64) I have waiting to go in!

Seriously considering buying diff studs before I reinstall incase I ever have to remove again - so difficult compared to an E36/39!!

 

Raided Zebra today and picked up a mint FL nose/grill panel & bootlid from an E36 coupe and a Barina steering linkage for the E30.

 

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New redline oil, paint and installed the LSD in the E30 yesterday 

A18BC4C1-1FAD-482A-A628-645293514107.thumb.jpeg.c4279f1a5250a5e4748486a844be0256.jpeg

Finished tidying up cluster today

27FFCAEA-9BA2-41AC-8BE0-DBB565E221C6.thumb.jpeg.45e45f0b5544590566b01fdff430bf48.jpeg

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Cluster looks good, I like the black gauge rings actually, where did you get the red needles?

 

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pulled the roof lining out of the M5, removed the corroded roof rail and installed good 2nd hand replacement, wasn't as much of a pain as i thought it might be, now i just have to track down and fix the leak/s and sort the tailgate wiring, then put it all back together!!

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Today I...

Pulled the HVAC control out of one of the 318s and replaced the caps on the board. 

Easy and works properly now. 

Drove it around and did an oil change. New headgasket and head appear to work. Shame about the fact it's a 318... 

Next to tackle on it;

Remove a dent. 

Fix interior, it's all saggy. I think I have a complete tidy leather interior, so may chuck that in

Attempt to make it tidy outside 

Sell it

20180923_132327.jpg

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Waved 'bye-bye' to the E36 318i 5-speed. ?

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New oil and other fluids for the 320i, also a fresh wheel alignment.

I need to detail the interior, it's dusty...

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