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

[dadsbmw]

Thanks Mazi. Curious what your username stands for?

The new Z4 got lowered and gunmetal grilles (to match the wheels) installed today.. total game changer.

[dadsbmw]

Been a while since the last update due to a lot of focus on the E89, but I did finally get back to work this weekend. Sold the ESM wheels and put the RS style Emortals back on, which is definitely the correct look for the car.

Project for this weekend was getting the Garagistic 2nd diff mount installed. Had purchased it a while ago and installed the mount portion on the diff itself, but due to the Lukebox being in the way, never actually attached it to the car. Spent Saturday getting the garage cleaned out to park the e30 in it, and removed the Lukebox. It's always an annoying process... have to remove the rear seat back, remove the anchor screws, disconnect the wiring to the amps on the box, and then pull the whole damn thing out of the car. The install should be pretty darn simple from there, but the arms that connect the bushing to the floor of the car were just slightly too long. After trying to cut away the undercoating and failing, I eventually just leveraged the bolt through and hammered the arms into the correct place. Got 2 pilot holes drilled from underneath and then used the top mounting plate to line up and drill the rest. Screwed it all together and took the ol girl for a ride.




Now I had been dreading doing this project mainly because the Lukebox would be a pain in the ass, but I was also a bit dubious about the net benefit of the whole thing. It felt more like a preventative maintenance item than an upgrade. Boy was I wrong! The rear end feels SO much more stable. No looseness at all in the drivetrain. I've always felt the diff on this car felt wrong, even back when I was in highschool 20 years ago. There was always an amount of play in it that I just couldnt button down as incorrect lash in the diff, or bad diff mount, or gosh knows what. I figured it would all go away when I rebuilt the rear end got a new diff, but no. BUT THIS DID IT. the stock mount arms on the chassis must just be completely rocked, which kind of isnt surprising at 400k miles. Anyways, super stoked to have done it... but I was really only half way there.

Today I met with my next project, which was to modify the top mounting bracket to fit with the Lukebox installed. Unfortunately I didnt take any before pics of it installled, but 2 of the bolts will fit fine with the box installed, but the other 2 sit directly under the box and I was afrait would prevent it from installing correctly, so modification was necessary. Ended up welding the bolts into place and then cutting the heads off and grinding it all smooth.




Then gave the ol gal a test fit. The line in the below picture is the location of the edge of the Lukebox


Removed the front bolts and reinstalled the box


With all in working order, got everything reinstalled and took her out for a drive. And once again, this thing is a riot! I know its because its on old all-season 205 width tires and it's about 50* out, but this baby loses traction hard rolling into power in 2nd gear and even will get sideways shifting hard into 3rd! Haha!

More updates soon.

[Northern]

Did you ever get that third rattlecan of paint to compare? I need to do a sunroof/bumper/fender bottoms soon and I'm in the market but last time I tried this, my colour was off by a lot.

[dadsbmw]

All things considered I think ScratchWizard is the best solution. Best color/flake match and full coverage.

[dadsbmw]

Gettin the lady cleaned up on this fall afternoon

[2mAn]

Gettin the lady cleaned up on this fall afternoon

...for a photo shoot?

[dadsbmw]

...for a photo shoot?

Funny you should ask...

[2mAn]

Funny you should ask...

Still got another day !!!

[dadsbmw]

Still got another day !!!

Sent you a PM a bit earlier today

[dadsbmw]

Since the pictures are now available in the COTM thread, figured I'd post them up on here as well...












And while I was laying on the ground working on the new exhaust setup for the Z4, I happened to roll over and catch a glimpse of this beauty, and of course had to take a picture

[dadsbmw]

Back when I parted out my PGT I ended up keeping the fire extinguisher. The other day when driving the e30, I got the strong smell of fuel and popped the hood to find an injector not fully seated in the rail and leaking fuel onto the head. Put two and two together and purchased a mount from Garagistic for the following result








Sorry for the dark pictures

[dadsbmw]

Just want to put this here to help anyone else who may eventually make the same mistake. My brake booster works great, however, it makes a rather annoying hissing sound when the pressing the pedal. Did some research and found that there's a foam insulator that is supposed to prevent/suppress this noise. I was a bit skeptical that this tiny little piece of foam could make a difference, but looking back over pictures I took before install, it can be seen that this piece is completely missing from the booster I'm using. Quite annoying! so now I either have fix it or replace it, which either way requires removing the intake manifold and master cylinder. The missing foam silencer is circled in red in the below picture, make sure your brake booster has one and it's in good shape!

[2mAn]

Turn the stereo up! Lol

[dadsbmw]

Turn the stereo up! Lol

Haha I know right!? I keep turning it down to find all the little annoyances I need to fix, when I should just be turning it up and enjoying the car! I don't think I used to be this way, but with the amount of work/$$$ into this thing I really have a hard time letting the little things go!

[dadsbmw]

Welp... a thing happened today. Wasn't really looking for it, but when a deal makes itself known, you have to be prepared to pull the trigger.