New guy

[2mAn]

That Going to the Sun Highway at Glacier National Park is an amazing experience. Glad to see the car is swapped and going... That oil leak could be the Valvecover Gasket (easy) or the Headgasket (not so easy)

Now that all those 5speed swap parts are out, is it time to work on the Alfa?

[LateFan]

Car and party are now in Illinois with no issues other then a slight oil leak down the exhaust side of the block, but that was there before.

[LateFan]

As promised....close to the top of the Going to the Sun highway at 7:30 this morning. So far so good!

[LateFan]

Lots of process pics over on my transmission & driveline thread.

The Jim Levie Memorial bleeding technique was brilliant!


Our buck eighty five maple shift knob from a hobby/craft shop. Drill a straight hole, add some Danish oil, and use some tape to jamb it onto the lever. Having some buyers remorse now at ordering the cool 917 laminated knob.

[LateFan]

I’ll tell him to take some up there. Wish I was going, they’re hiking the Highline Trail - literally carved into a cliff.

Went to the muffler shop this morning to add a tab for the manual hanger bracket off the trans case. Some of the loudness I heard thru the floor yesterday (no interior, riding on the floor!) was the bailing wire to cross member I’m thinking. That mount is like a foot forward of the auto mount.

Do you ever hear any gear whine sound with the manual? I realize I haven’t gotten any sleep for days in the garage, so I’m worrying about every little sound. It’s stiffer going into gear standing still than say my Audi A4, but it shifts fine driving. You can ease out the clutch with no throttle and roll away.

[2mAn]

We expect some pics after all this, especially after going to Glacier Park.

[LateFan]

Damn, it runs!! Backed out of the garage, lifted it up, bled the cooling system. Drove around the neighborhood very slowly to see how it did - no noises, no weirdness, all normal it seems. So we took it up a close-by canyon for a 10 mile easy drive. Went through all the gears, downshifted, backed up.......I'm amazed.

We did timing belt while we had it apart, and added a red46 skid plate.

It feels like a completely different car. So sweet. I want my turn to drive it! We have to put the interior and console back together tonight. Then he's taking it to Glacier Park tomorrow (3 hours) for a shake-down cruise. Driving across the country Sunday.

[LateFan]

We put a gawdam manual transmission in this thing! Just the two of us, in over our heads. Unbelievable.

Reverse lights! It starts!! It runs!! R12345 all spin as normal!! Bleed the coolant and roll it out of the garage to see if it rolls on its own............... stand by...........

[LateFan]

I started a manual swap thread over in transmissions because I have a thousand little questions.....

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/e30-technical-forums/engine-drivetrain/transmission-driveline/9940350-manual-swap-questions

[LateFan]

Selector shaft seal, fresh out of the box...... a perfect oval, like it was made that way.

Box was fine, no damage. New one on the way.

[Albie325]

Nice, glad you found one! And interested to see how the driveshaft comes out

[LateFan]

Sent the driveshaft off to Driveline Specialist of Texas. Lots of experience, they build custom driveshafts and DS's for regional BMW race cars. $399 incl shipping, all new, spun balanced.

http://www.driveshaftspecialist.com/Import%20html/BMW.html

Found one of those shifter mount brackets in SoCal. 20 buck for a $6 part, but I'm happy to find one.

It's tiny....


The shipping delays are killing me. Now they're telling me some of it won't be delivered until early August.

[LateFan]

This passenger floor leak is frustrating. We've pulled the carpet up, dried everything. Floors look great BTW. We're looking at the firewall grommets, the A/C grommet, the elephant trunk drain, the windshield gasket, the sunroof drains... The water dribbles out the bottom of the sills the way it's supposed to. Spraying a hose on the A/C grommet next to the passenger fender makes it leak, but how does any water get inside the hood gasket and above the battery try to spray on there? Doesn't make sense. The electrical wire boot to the door doesn't fit all that tight, but it would have to run down into the passenger speaker well and pond up in there before pouring onto the floor. The floor plug on the slope above your feet drips a couple of drips - we can reseal that with some silicone. One place that really confuses me is the well where the heater blower sits. Water from the cowling vents runs across that areas to the elephant trunk drain on the passenger side - does it run right across the gasket for the blower? Or is there a gutter or trough through there?

[LateFan]

We ordered a scary shitload of swap parts last night. Added a starter in - this has to be original. Also timing belt and tensioner with camshaft seals. Gawd it adds up! Talking to three driveshaft shops to remanufacture.

Took a look underneath to check out clearances and mounts and hardware and CPS's etc. He needs a wash.

[Vincenze]

Being "100% new" it's hard to imagine it's anywhere near the quality of an OE reman from a specialty shop for the same money. I mean...autozone 🙄

As far as I know, it's difficult to rebuild a BMW drive shaft.
So, a remanufacturer will cut out the pipes from a drive shaft and weld new u-joints to them from another car (Nissan?).

Does it provide better quality than welding new u-joints to new pipes?