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Bringing my dad's car back to its former glory and beyond

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    #91
    Thanks for the suggestion! I'd always heard the opposite, which is why I did it the way I did.
    I don't have a pressure bleeder, but I do have speed bleeders (basically just bleeders with a ball valve that when you loosen them, lets fluid out but not air in) and they work very well on my other cars and also make it a one man job.
    2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
    1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
    1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

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      #92
      I also always bleed the brakes starting at the rear passenger side and finishing at the front drivers side. I just use the two man method and it works just fine.
      I have a vacuum bleeder but that does nothing, total waste..
      1990 325iX Touring - November 2018 R3V Car Of The Month

      1980 Volkswagen Golf mk1 1.1
      1974 BMW 2002 Touring

      Instagram

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        #93
        Ended up adding phase 2.5 of the 3 phase project, and pieced together a coilover setup.

        After waiting 2 weeks and never having the coilovers ship from GC, I cancelled my order and decided to wait on the suspension piece. In all honesty, after doing all the bushings front and rear, the suspension was actually feeling quite a bit better. It's still relatively soft and very DD oriented, but it makes driving around very comfortable! Plus, it actually sits really low for H&R OE Sport springs and KYB struts.




        It doesn't sit quite as low in the front, but that's mainly to do with the fact that rear arches are much lower than the fronts, being a late model.


        So this all started when I purchased a parts Ford Probe a few months ago that happened to come with two 7" 375in/lb Eibach springs rolling around in the trunk. It just so happens that's the exact rate that GC had suggested to me when I ordered from them. As mentioned in my previous post, I also happened upon a large lot of loose Eibach springs of different rates and lengths, which included some that were 6" 450in/lb. So now I had the springs, but still needed the sleeves and shocks.

        I researched the shocks for quite some time and ended up purchasing Koni 8641-1144SPORT for the front and 80-2522SPORT for the rear. Last up was the coilover sleeves. Now IE Motorsports sells them, but at $150 for two, I was not too keen to buy from them. Ended up purchasing a random set of four on Amazon for $45. Meh, a sleeve is a sleeve.




        Today I got around to installing the rears. Didn't take pictures of the install, but it was relatively straight forward. Shock swap is obvious and easy. Only real modification I had to make was cutting a good amount off the height of the sleeve, as they were a bit too tall. I cut them right above the "35" line in the picture below... basically in half.


        They rather conveniently came with some small screws that thread into the sleeve to affix it to what would normally be the strut housing. I instead used them to hold on to the rubber pad and nub that the spring normally holds onto (sorry for the blurry pic)




        I ended up installing them with stock rubber pads both top and bottom and with both lock rings, but screwed as low as they would go.


        When I put the car back down on the ground, it sat pretty much exactly where it had with the OE Sports, maybe a tiny bit higher. Of course I can pull one or both of those lock rings out to get almost another inch lower, and can also resort to removing the upper and lower spring pads, or going with a 5 inch spring. For now, I have no issue with the height they're at.


        I may get to the fronts tomorrow, but probably not, as I'm going to Italy on Tuesday night and don't want to potentially leave the car on jack stands in the driveway while I'm gone.

        I also purchased new wheels for the PGT... I think they look alright.




        2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
        1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
        1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

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          #94
          Let us continue, shall we?

          At the time of the rear subframe swap I had to cut off the rear of the exhaust to facilitate the drop. I originally planned to just weld it back up, but wanted to start experimenting with components for a new setup. Plus the raw mufflerless tone really changed her personality!

          I finally started on the new setup this morning. I had a Varex muffler on the PGT that I'd decided not to use, and instead swap onto the e30. The plan was to mount it in place of the stock muffler, but upon test fitting into the stock muffler brackets, realized it wasn't going to work. First step was to remove the bottoms of the brackets and shorten them so they would firmly hold the muffler in place.


          Tried another test fit that went well in terms of the brackets being the right size, but the inlet for the muffler was right up against the cv shaft, and the outlet wasn't pointed in a great direction. So off it all came again for more modifications. Cut the bracket hangers off and lengthened/rewelded them to move the inlet down and aimed more towards the center of the car.






          Also managed to point the muffler outlet in the correct direction as well


          Now I had the issue of merging the dual 2" piping into single 2.5" piping. I'd looked around and wasn't having much luck in finding a y-pipe that would work well, so I went about the task of welding together my own. Had some extra pipe sitting around and actually managed to weld together something that is pretty much perfect.


          With most of the trial and error stuff done, I'm planning to purchase a proper tip and bring the car to an exhaust shop to run the small amount of piping to get this all connected. Then I'll need to run the wiring up to the front for the bypass switch.






          More to come!
          2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
          1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
          1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

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            #95
            Met Bill this weekend, sounds like the S52 should be quite a bit of fun when you get it installed
            Simon
            Current Cars:
            -1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle

            Make R3V Great Again -2020

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              #96
              very cool! where did you run into each other?
              2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
              1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
              1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

              Comment


                #97
                Originally posted by dadsbmw View Post
                very cool! where did you run into each other?
                I was picking up some parts from him, might have to go back and get some more too
                Simon
                Current Cars:
                -1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle

                Make R3V Great Again -2020

                Comment


                  #98
                  Finished up the exhaust this week. Amazon delivered the dual tip on Monday so I rushed to an exhaust shop after work to get it installed.


                  The Varex muffler thankfully has a flange on it, so I had them keep it to make things more serviceable.


                  While it was up I also got to see how the suspension looks fully compressed. No dead coils and a good amount of available compression.


                  All in all it went pretty well, but unfortunately I could only see the fitment from underneath. With the car back on the ground I feel like it needs to go in about an inch. Oh well, easily fixed.






                  So I didn't mention it earlier, but when I had the Lukebox out to do the rear suspension, it took a small spill and the sub ended up ripping it's screws out. This is mainly because the box cutout for the sub was slightly too large. This had been a known issue since I bought the box, but I had just been living with. I took this as a sign to finally find a sub that would fit correctly, and after some research ended up with a 12" Image Dynamics IDQ. As you can see I ended up installing it 90* offset due to the old screws ripping out.


                  While I was in there I hooked up the rear speakers to the stock deck, and painted the rear parcel shelf, as it had faded quite a bit. Need to find a UV resistant fabric to wrap the parcel shelf. Oh, also painted the sub ports.




                  While I was figuring out the rear speaker wiring, I also took the opportunity to run wiring from the muffler up to a switch above the deck.



                  Switch doesn't quite fit and will need some trimming, but it'll work for now.

                  Why on earth would I need wiring for a muffler you ask? Because the Varex muffler has an internal cutout! Honestly at first I thought maybe I had it wired incorrectly, because it was so quiet when opening the cutout, but after driving around for a couple days its really started to open up. It actually provides a decent amount of volume reduction for a straight through muffler when the valve is open. Videos to be posted next weekend.
                  2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
                  1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
                  1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

                  Comment


                    #99
                    Took a video of the new exhaust setup... I think I quite like it actually
                    2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
                    1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
                    1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

                    Comment


                      Well I've driven the car to work all this week and am absolutely loving it. With the exhaust now in a place that I surprisingly like, I feel like the car is really coming together. As a result, I've finally started working on getting this s52 put together. I've really been putting it of because the motor isn't complete and having never worked on an s52 before, it's not immediately clear what I'm missing. Thankfully however, I do have a spare M50 sitting next to it that I can reference. I started this week with a very easy task, installing the headers. I have stock s52 headers which have been coated in black with new gaskets, but there are no header nuts and half the studs are missing. So off to the M50 I went, pulled the nuts and 12 exhaust studs and gave them a good rub down with a SS wire wheel on my drill.

                      Of course I had to take the obligatory exhaust valve shot before they were covered for the foreseeable future


                      Dirty


                      Clean


                      All clean


                      Missing


                      All in attendance


                      Shiny


                      Done (and blurry)


                      I know it's a small step, but it's the getting started that counts! I've got some PGT work to attend to this weekend, but I shall have more s52 updates in the near future!
                      2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
                      1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
                      1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

                      Comment


                        Knocking out small steps, especially while everything is new territory is a smart way to go. Makes sure that each step is done right and not rushed... keep it up
                        Simon
                        Current Cars:
                        -1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle

                        Make R3V Great Again -2020

                        Comment


                          Thanks mang! I may consider bringing someone local in to help if I run into any big issues, but considering I just did a cam install on my PGT motor, I should be in a good place to complete this on my own.
                          2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
                          1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
                          1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

                          Comment


                            Made a few more steps. Managed to get the cams installed but unfortunately am missing the exhaust cam timing components, so waiting for those to ship from a seller off ebay. I'm actually realizing at this point that there are quite a few pieces I may not have which could be a significant blocker going forward. Also realized there's still quite a bit of $$ to go before this is done! Over $1k just in engine related maintenance items! Yikes!


                            Up next are to get the timing set, VANOS installed, and valve cover in place. Will update soon!
                            2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
                            1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
                            1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

                            Comment


                              So looking back through this thread I realize I never posted the fact that I removed the front sheepskin seat covers a few months back. This revealed almost perfect grey cloth comfort seats, save for a small run on the drivers side seat bottom, and an even smaller tear on the passenger side seat bottom. Frankly, for its age, this interior is in amazing condition. I'd always planned on completely redoing the interior in potentially brown leather or something of the sort, but this plan was quite a ways down the road. Recently however, with my tastes changing, I'd begun to reconsider keeping the stock grey cloth.

                              I decided to check with an upholstery shop to see about getting the rear seat back refinished, as it was pretty ripped to shreds from sitting in this sun it's whole life. After calling a few shops I realized exactly how rare this fabric is today, and how infrequently you see this setup around, and that made the decision for me... I was keeping it! BUT, I still had to get things fixed, and didn't want to pay thousands to do so. I also wanted sport front seats, as I much prefer the look and secure fit for more spirited driving. I had no immediate plans to buy anything, but an ad popped up on here from across the country, and after talking with the seller for a couple weeks, and waiting a couple more for them to ship via Greyhound, they finally came in last night.





                              I realize these pictures are terrible, but they're in pretty darn good condition! The rear and passenger seat are perfect, and can be installed immediately. The drivers seat needs some work, but the purchase of this setup provides me with extra fabric to have a shop perform the necessary fixes without breaking the bank on material.

                              Also finally broke down and purchased many of the pieces needed to finish up the motor. As mentioned in the last post, I'm missing a lot of pieces. The S52 swap came with an M50 as a donor, because the previous intent of the project was to go OBD1. I decided to go OBD2, but after purchasing and modifying the OBD2 ecu and wiring harness, I was already pretty deep into the decision, in terms of both money and time. I ended up going on realoem and looking through every engine diagram to compare the S50 to S52 and buy anything that was different between the two or that I just obviously needed. Everything I ordered from RockAuto has arrived, but still waiting on pieces from Turner Motorsport and FCP Euro. All in all a little over $1k.


                              Engine has been pretty much on hold, as I've been waiting for these parts, with the significant blocker being the bolts that hold the exhaust timing sprocket to the exhaust cam. Did manage to get the oil filter housing mounted, which not only looks great, but also frees up room on the shelf. I swear half the enjoyment of these projects is clearing out space in the garage! So that's the update for now. The rest of the parts will be here by October 2nd at which point I can finish up the timing/Vanos install, seal up the motor, and start thinking about the actual swap.


                              Oh also, pretty sweet part showed up for the Probe as well. One of a kind oil pump gears to help me rev up past 9k rpm.


                              2003 Z4 3.0 6-speed- Silver, 19's, daily driver
                              1990 Silver 325i- Lowered on H&R OE Sports, e90 drop hats, KYB shocks, color matched rocker panels, 16" Emortal RS wheels on 205/50/16 tires... Currently getting a full refresh including an S52 swap!
                              1997 Black Ford Probe GT- Stripped to 2220lbs, MS3X, Forged motor in midst of assembly... Dyno results and 1/4 mile times pending

                              Comment


                                too bad that gear isn't on display. billet anything deserves to show itself. super cool stuff.

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