My "Great White Buffalo" restoration.

[goskidmark]

Parts again...

I finally had a few minutes in the garage this Saturday, and I decided it was time to inspect the transmission tunnel, and the rear transmission seals. The good news is that all the seals are new. The previous owner installed a rebuilt transmission. I believe it was from an older vehicle due to the shifter selector rod joint. So i ordered the 89 and above off of Pelican Parts, awaiting it's arrival.

Pre-1989... According to this http://www.rtsauto.com/how-to-fix-a-...ideo-included/


I also had the time to figure out where most of the leaks are coming from.


The power steering rack, the rear main seal, oil pan seal, and the oil pan drain bolt are leaking. There is one last coolant leak that I still have yet to find. I know it's in the front somewhere. I hope it's the water pump, because I have a new one ready to install. More to come at a snails crawling pace.

I also received my quote from Portland Drive Shafts. I like the price a lot. The only down side is that they no longer offer replaceable U-Joints for my year. "We are no longer converting the BMW lines over to the grease able/serviceable u joints. The costs in the machining and the availability of viable parts forced us to discontinue the process and offer re-manufactured drive-lines instead." So that's a bummer, but I will be ordering it regardless.

[goskidmark]

More slow progress.

My shifter came back from UUC with a new top bushing. UUC actually sent me new, extra parts as well. That was nice of them.



All finished and ready to install, but I still have to check for leaks on the output shaft seal of the transmission before I install it. A cleaning up would not hurt either in the tunnel and surrounding areas.



I did not use the mystery lube they sent with the kit. I chose something I like to use instead. I need more time off so I can finish the rear end and finally order a rebuilt drive shaft from Portland. I'm still awaiting a quote on that one in my e-mail.

[goskidmark]

A drill (drill around the center rubber) and a sawzall (cut a slot or 2 in the outer metal part) worked well for me getting the bushings out of the subframe.

I tried all sorts of sockets, clamps, etc and none worked on one of them.

That will be my last option.

[goskidmark]

Better springs I would have to say. Courtesy of Klug, a member on the forums. Old (Left) New (Right).



The old set is yellow, and is of an unknown origin. They also are two different sizes. Time for some new spring pads.

[doorman]

A drill (drill around the center rubber) and a sawzall (cut a slot or 2 in the outer metal part) worked well for me getting the bushings out of the subframe.

I tried all sorts of sockets, clamps, etc and none worked on one of them.

[goskidmark]

I had a few minutes in between my son's birthday and clean up to throw some new fabric over the rear speaker shelf.



It's a slow process waiting for the brushed fabric glue to dry, to be able to move on to the next step. I was going to use a spray glue, but shipping on my cans was pushed back. The fabric is very thin, so I will spray it with a clear UV protection when it's completed.

[goskidmark]

Fun times.

I have been wrestling around with the rear subframe bushings for a quite a while. I managed to press out the middle portion of the bushing but the collar is stuck like chuck. I tried the gear puller method which pulled it out about a quarter of an inch and then the tabs gave way and started bending up and the puller lost grip.



Get out you piece of crap!


I had a guy weld this up for me to press this these bastards out.


It turns out it's too long for my bench press. So I will be cutting it tomorrow down to size and breaking things in the process.


I might end up buying the removal tool. I called numerous shops around where I live, and no one could do it.

[goskidmark]

Still waiting on the diff cover.

So this came in the mail. I will see how it holds up in the washer.


This Monday I will be putting together the sport seats along with my NineStitch covers. I will post pictures. I will also attempt to dye the carpet. This should be fun.

Wednesday my parts to pull the rest of my subframe bushings out will be here and I can finally put the new bushings in after I paint it.

[goskidmark]

If your fuel door doesnt shut still, try flipping the spring on the door....works for the e36 as well

I will give that a try. Thank you for the tip.

[BMWManiac]

If your fuel door doesnt shut still, try flipping the spring on the door....works for the e36 as well

[goskidmark]

Getting diry with the E30.

I was messing around with my fuel door that won't stay shut, and I pulled this out. Time for another Pelican order.


The seal kit came in for the diff. Just remember to replace one side at a time, or you'll be punching things. The jug has a small amount of gasoline in it to clean parts. Don't use mechanics rags like you see here to clean these parts. I will be cleaning them over again with lint free rags to get the red crap off of them.


150,000 miles on the odometer. Yeah right. This is more around the 210,000 range. Notice the wear groove in the center. This diff was never filled enough to prevent this. This means the previous owner never gave a shit about the leak. It's not too bad, but it could have been prevented. No worries though, I got this.


There was build up in the threads of the top left two which means water and other crap settled in. It's possible that they were not torqued correctly, or they backed out over years of bumps, and a slew of other possibilities if someone already did this job.

EDIT: The torque for the Axel Bearing Caps are 16-19 Ft·Lbs. It's not written in the Bentley repair manual.

[goskidmark]

I didn't see anyone else answer your earlier question...hope you figured it all out. Those three wires belong in the fanstat plug on the passenger side of the radiator. The plug usually dissolves, leaving those three wires just dangling. If they're not connected, the only way you can get the aux fan running (on low speed) is to press the A/C switch.



Great work so far, thanks for sharing. I love that digital and bar readout newly embedded in the gauge cluster. Very subtle, almost looks OEM!

Holy crap! Thank you sir! I was digging through diagrams a few weeks back and still could not find what those were for. No wonder why my aux fan does NOT turn on. Thanks DesktopDave!

[DesktopDave]

Found these next to the front passenger headlight just sitting next to the air-conditioning hard line. Time to find out what they are, and where they need to be.

I didn't see anyone else answer your earlier question...hope you figured it all out. Those three wires belong in the fanstat plug on the passenger side of the radiator. The plug usually dissolves, leaving those three wires just dangling. If they're not connected, the only way you can get the aux fan running (on low speed) is to press the A/C switch.



Great work so far, thanks for sharing. I love that digital and bar readout newly embedded in the gauge cluster. Very subtle, almost looks OEM!

[goskidmark]

No back flow when pressurized!

Brakes look good. I need to do this.

Well then I might just skip on the speed bleeders. The calipers are pretty simple in design, but the most time consuming part is cleaning them.

[TimeMachinE30]

No back flow when pressurized!

Brakes look good. I need to do this.