The shaferbm's lame eta progression

[shaferbm]

I picked up an 87 lachsilber metallic eta last week and plan to use as daily driver, fun car anyways. I got it with 180 on odo but it probably has around 190k. The PO had owned it since 1996 and only drove it during the summer. Got an extra set of bottle caps with it which is sort of a bonus. Everything is all original which means ill be replacing a few things. Has a vacuum leak at intake gasket and needs a maf boot and a break line. Test drove it with almost no brakes..lots of down shifting!
Phsyched to get this thing running!
Short term:
markD chip, suspension, basketweaves, various little things
Long term:
731 head, and the whole 2.7i shebang(far down the road though)
euro bumpers!!!

The tow home



About to unload


About to get some much needed attention


seat removed and shampoo

I think some mice took residence for a bit

More soon!

[will61]

wow, that interior actually has potential! Its lookin REAL NICE

[shaferbm]

Thanks ya grease monkey. Tonight I'll be bleeding the rear brake lines, changing oil, new maf boot, intake gasket, and she should be nicely!

markD chip in the mail!

[SirWolfian]

I think some mice took residence for a bit

WTF!? that is fucking crazy

[shaferbm]

WTF!? that is fucking crazy

I know, I couldn't believe it. I got a new filter like stat!

Today some things came in the mail followed by some fun things. There is a vacuum leak at the intake manifold gasket and the one I got from the dealer wasn't complete so I'll be going back.


Soon to be go time!

[shaferbm]

Alright, apparently it's NOT soon to be go time. I still have the intake gasket to do and now it seems I need to replace a thermostat, bleed cooling lines( temp gauge is jumping all over the place) as well as the oil pressure light.
It doesn't seem there is much oil getting to the cam and rockers. It's really sketching me out. An oil pump may be in order. I've seen plenty of these cars with waaay over 190 so I don't think the bearing are bad.

[shaferbm]

I've been Instagram whoring the new toys lately.
Posted them in the Instagram thread, but figured they had a home here too.
More updates on mechanical stuffs soon.

[shaferbm]

So apparently the chip I bought may or may not be a true MarkD chip. Will soon find out. Sill waiting to find out oil pressure issue. Should be some time this week. Cheers.

[shaferbm]

In the mean time I've trim painted the mirrors, and I love the way it turned out. Now I've pulled the grills and kidneys to clean, scuff and paint. Hoping for the same results. I used duplicolor trim paint rather than sem, but it seems to be alright.

Also tonight she got the intake gasket she's been waiting for for a week and a half. Drives a whole lot better as well as idling and revving much more smoothly.
So today and tomorrow I will be cruising classy sans grills :up:

Thermostat has yet to go in. I'm in no hurry, because the current on us alright for now, I'm just replacing for piece of mind. Soon enough will be plug wires, rotor and cap being replaced.

[N2MYE30]

That is a killer garage! Nice car btw.

[shaferbm]

Thanks! If i didn't have it's resources, I probably would be making a payment on a certified preowned e46 or something that is didn't have to fix often. The father's a mechanic, but restoring boats is his true job and passion. He built the garage for that purpose. Tonight however the garage hosted a heart transplant party for my other piggy of a car.

[shaferbm]

It's been a good ling while since I've posted here, but I'm bringing this thread back to life. My slow progression may not be interesting, but keeping it all in this thread will help keep me on track, and allow me to track what I've done relatively easily. So Im back at it. To make up for lost time I'm going to copy & paste a few other threads I've made, so they're accounted for here.

I took some photos when the car was still pretty newish to me (Pasted from http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=243282):

I took a cruise after class today, and snapped a few photos to whore out on my way home. Enter my daily driver. Yes, I know it needs more low. All in good time. Enjoy.

[shaferbm]

In the time since, I've refreshed the trim on the bumpers (twice, could've done better the first time) and begun to refresh the bumper shrounds starting with the rear. I had a bumper tuck going for a while, until an older lady backed into my car at work. Luckily, there was no damage, and my from diving board was jammed into a cocked position. This was fixed very scientifically using a ratchet strap. So I am back to the world of giant chrome bumpers. One of these days I'll re-tuck them. I guess you could say the hole will be pre-drilled this time.

Next came suspension, new control arms, CABs, strut bearings, shock mounts.
I have lemfoerder rear subframe bushing and trailing arms bushings waiting to be done, but frankly, I'm dreading doing it.

Suspension (from http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=287212)

I found some big slinkies in a box the other day, so I decided to make use of them.

New shocks and hardware is pretty.

Shisa!


How it was this afternoon. I swear it's still settling, every time I look at it I thinks it's lower.


It's a pretty happy little daily driver at this point. I'm definitely enjoying the suspension refresh. Even with lowering springs it still rides better than it did with 200k mile old springs, and unknown age shocks.
Cheers

[shaferbm]

And we're up to speed. Today I refinished the bumper trip as I mentioned earlier (this was the second time), Isabel helped as you can see. Then I went for a little cruise and washed up some bits in the engine bay. Currently cruising classily without a rear bumper.





Side note: is there a way to have the running lights and fogs on without having the headlights on?

EDIT: lower valence was also refinished as it was greying after 25 years. Big difference!

[shaferbm]

Young people photos:
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=298507

Short list of things to do:

• yank rear spring pads to attempt to lose some of the early model high archiness
• o2 sensor (either the mustang sort, or buy from member)
• install rear subframe bushings/rear trailing arm bushings that have been sitting around for months. Also diff bushing.
• new pads/rotors/rebuild calipers
• source better condition rear diving board
• restore front bumper surround

On an ambitious and unrelated note, there is a `94(ish) laguna green e36 325is that's been sitting there for probably three years. I think if it's still there towards the end of this year, I'll attempt to buy it, scavenge possible parts and scrap the rusted shell. M50 in the future?