Ruby's Thread

[Levy3Poop]

I caved. I ordered an....eBay IS lip *Gasp!*

I've been thinking, and with the roads and driveways being so gnarley here, I shouldn't put a $180 OEM lip close to the ground until I can one day get Ruby set up with an AirLift kit. That way I'll be able to raise up to clear bumps and driveways.

The splitter was kind of a pain to mount to the lip, but I got it all done correctly using my Dremel to drill holes into the new lip while using the splitter and the existing screw holes as a sort of template.

ALSO! After our last trip to Austin, I met a guy at Bucee's with a 325ix who said his IS lip was stolen. I put two easy to spot marks (easy to spot as in you don't have to get on your hands and knees and stick your head in the wheel well) somewhere on the lip. Also, I wrote my name in silver pain pen on the inside of the lip, as well as engraved my last name on the inside of the lip using my Dremel. That way if shit goes sideways and someone swipes it, I can identify it beyond a reasonable doubt as my own. I know that will probably never happen, but I met someone who claimed it happened to him. Best to have these measures in place, right?

Also, I replaced all the white clips with black ones. That way you don't see little white lines in the shadow of the lip/facia line. That always bugged me. To get the old clips out, I had to use my Dremel (God I love that thing) to drill out the plastic push-in pins. Those clips are STUBBORN.



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[mike.bmw]

Were the pins stuck? You should be able to tap them out gently with a hammer and the correct size punch. Either way, your car is looking good!

[Levy3Poop]

Were the pins stuck? You should be able to tap them out gently with a hammer and the correct size punch. Either way, your car is looking good!

Yuuuup, they were super stuck. There's jist not a whole lot of room for a hammer to fit inside of the bumper. At first I used a pair of needle nose pliers to push a few down, but only a couple actually budged and worked with me, and the ones under the fog lights had no other option. I was really hoping to save them and give them to someone who needed them.

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[Levy3Poop]

We can start this update by getting the maintenance stuff out of the way.
Oil change at 234,257.
I know, fun.



The oil was warmed up from driving to AutoZone to get another oil bucket and it shot out a little bit further than expected.
I rolled out of the way though, and didn't get hit!







Fun stuff time!
I finally got around to installing my powdercoated valve cover.
I painted the ribs with a chisel tip silver Krink pen (which was sooo much better than using a small sharpie like on the plug cover), and I'm really happy with how the silver turned out!
I used a silver metallic sharpie to do the little BMW logo on top of the intake manifold.
It could have been better, but I'm happy with it :)



What I wasn't happy with was this stupid sound deadening insulation.
It's always rubbed on my intake manifold, so the ribs on the front section of the intake manifold had actually had the powder coat worn off of them.
Thankfully the ribs protected the in-between space, and none of that red was lost, so it doesn't look bad now.
I actually did the silver lining a few days ago, and when I went to change the oil today, the hood lining had already worn off some areas of the silver paint pen.
Needless to say, that stupid liner had to go.
Plus, it just looks awful IMO.



WOAH! The inside of the hood is black?!
Well, I guess that's alright. I can always turn that into a paint project if I want to.
Either way, I like this much better.
After a couple test cycles of closing and opening the hood, there doesn't appear to be any rubbing.
Success!

[Levy3Poop]

For some reason, fuse 23 (which is a 7.5A) keeps blowing, and that makes my right marker lights all to out, as well as my gauge cluster lights inside. I thought I had a bad ground from splicing the city lights into the front marker lights, so I just redid both the positive and ground cable. It worked and didn't blow my #23 fuse for about 15 minutes, but then went back to blown fuse. It was blowing 10 and 15 amp fuse, but not 30A fuses. Needless to say, I don't have a 30A fuse in slot 23, that was just an experiment.

What are some common causes for fuse 23 being blown? One thread said the wires get pinched by the shifter, but there were no wires near any pinch points in my shifter. Another thread said it was something like the cable for the lights coming out of the gauge cluster that apparently goes to the radio. If that was the case, wouldn't my radio not light up? The radio does still work fine, it's just all the dash lights and HVAC lights are out.



But not all is bad! I got a post card and a sticker from Lorenze on here, so that's pretty awesome. Also, Lindsay and I went out and took some pics of the ol' girl the other day.
















Oh! And also, I replaced the timing chain tensioner because it was sounding like a diesel. There was no washer on the bolt, and it took a hell of an effort to get it removed. I got a bunch of washers from Pelican Parts, and they also fit the diff oil plug too. It didn't sound as diesel-ey after putting in the new tensioner. So...success?

[LorenzeTorres]

Just come out to Cali again

[Levy3Poop]

Just come out to Cali again

We'll when you put it like that, how can I resist??

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[rzerob]

Electrical issues could be a common problem that is posted on the forums. But it could also be something that has never been posted before. The best route for finding electrical issues is through diagnosis.

For a blown fuse the best way is to pull up the wiring diagram of everything that runs on that circuit. DMM amperage across the fuse and start disconnecting parts of the circuit until you see the amperage drop. Once it drops you know that that is where your short is. Then you disconnect each piece of that circuit until you find it. While searching for your short if you disconnect a circuit and the amperage doesn't drop you should reconnect that circuit before disconnecting the next circuit.

If you don't have a DMM you could always just use a bag of 7.5 fuses. And when you disconnect a part of the circuit and it doesn't pop the fuse you found your short.

[Levy3Poop]

WOOOO!!! I finally got the Garagistic rear subframe toe and camber alignment plates installed. I got the 90A rear subframe bushings and differential mounting reinforcement as well.



Here's a couple shots of some of the welds for all you welding enthusiasts. I gotta say, It was super interesting watching the welder do his thing. They let me supervise just to make sure this odd-ball of a job got done right, and since it was only one welder on my job, I helped hold the subframe in place. Even got my own PPE during the job :)




My poor father in law (who also helped me install the new roof) agreed to help me with this job. He has a garage, his own set of hands, and he knows how obsessive I am with Ruby, so he's the perfect person to help.

First step is to strip the old paint because I wanted to repaint it. to prevent any rust. Also, don't worry, we got more paint off than in this picture. After the paint removal, we ground out the holes for the bolts and eccentric washers.

HUUUUGE TIP: If you're taking on this project, get a tungsten carbide dremel bit. That thing chewed through the rear subrame metal SO much faster than any other grinding bit we tried.

HUUUUGE TIP #2: Get a helper to take a vacuum and suck up all those metal shavings as you grind the holes out. The metal shavings that come off of the tungsten carbide tip are damn near invisible tiny little bastards that like to latch into your skin.



We strung the thing up on one of those crazy folding ladders Gib had and got the subframe all primed and ready to be painted.



For the color, I originally wanted to do gold, but i decided that painting with a more durable enamel instead of paint would be best. They don't really sell any gold enamel, so I got a bunch of black...but I forgot to take it with me up to my in laws place. I ran to lowes, and they had plenty of this almost Ruby-red enamel :D



All painted! This was the end of day 1.



Let day 2 begin! Here's the new bushings all bashed into the subframe. We used Super Lube (recommended by Garagistic in an email from them), and they went right in without putting up too much of a fight.



We finally got the rear subframe dropped.



After a long time of bolting everything up to the new subframe, and fighting with the subframe to fit in place, we finally got it all done. The plates that go under the rear subframe bushings didn't exactly fit right with the new subframe. I called Garagistic, and one of the guys told me that part of the job is a buggar and always gives them trouble too. I ended up taking the tungsten carbide dremel tip to elongate the bolt hole on the metal plate so the bolts that go through the bottom of the side panel lined up with their holes on the plates.



After messing with the alignment bolts, I finally don't have a bunch of negative camber any more! Now I can preserve what's left of my rear tires.

[Levy3Poop]

Also, I successfully hunted my first electrical gremlin today, which I'm super proud of :)

About a month or so after wiring up the city lights, the passenger side one went out. With it, taking all the marker lights on that side, the instrument gauge lights, and popping fuse 23 as well.



I took off the front bumper, cut out my original crimp connectors I used to splice into the running lights for the city lights, and ran a new ground wire. I figured "I did something over here, and now it's acting funny. Must be my fault". After doing all that, it worked! Well, for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes of driving, my gauge lights went out again, taking the marker lights and city light with it. Shit.

I was too busy to go gremlin hunting, so i just minimized any time driving at night so I'd be less likely to be pulled over. Today, I decided to go hunting again.

I examined the wiring in the trunk and under the back seat. All looked good. I followed the wiring from the driver side firewall, past the fuse box, and over to the passenger headlights. That's where I found this guy rubbing against the body of the car, which must have been my short, which kept blowing fuse 23 and taking my lights along with it.



It looks like one of the previous owners soldered the connectors for the ellipsoids Ruby had when I got her, and the solder had a pokey piece which wore through the tape, and made contact with the body. Shit happens. My only valid complaint is that the connection is too close to the connector to really use this connector again.

Thankfully I just so happened to have this connector in my little bag of electrical supplies! I don't even remember ordering this thing, but hey, it fits into the headlight plug, and has too long wires to work with!



I used a crimp connector to connect the two (there's no electrical outlets in the parking lot to use a soldering iron), wrapped it in electrical tape, and all is working again! It's not blowing fuses, and everything seems to be good once more. I've got my city light, side markers, and my instrument lights back again :up:

[Levy3Poop]

AAAAAAAAGH

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[Levy3Poop]

I decided that I'm not done fighting my electrical system yet, and busted out the bentley again.
It says that the license plate lights are tied to fuse 23 along with the marker lights.
Funnily enough, i just so happen to have a license plate light that hasn't worked for a looong time.



I removed the plastic trim that goes on the edge of the trunk and looked in the area to examine my license plate light connectors and wires.
When I found it, the problem was so glaringly simple: the negative/ground connector had come off from the terminal and was touching the body, thus causing a short and blowing my fuse!
I removed the license plate bulb housing, put the connector on more snugly, and BAM!



The lights work again!



I even have BOTH license plate lights now!



I let the music blast at driving volume for a few minutes (sorry neighbors!) because both the previous times I thought I had fixed the issue, fuse 23 popped after a few minutes of driving, which I suspected was due to the power draw coming from the subwoofer's amplifier.
After about 10 minutes I felt bad for my neighbors and called it fixed.
Here's all the fuses I blew after realizing "I should save those to make something out of in the future".
Maybe I'll make a sigh that says "Old cars need love" and spell it out of the fuses when I have enough lol.



I had a few beers at the hot tub and met up with my neighbor that night and told him about the headache fuse 23 was causing.
I told him that the fuse blew after 10 minutes of driving or so, and asked him to take me for a ride in my car to make sure it was actually fixed.
Good news is that the fuse didn't pop, my instrument lights never went out, and everything still works as it should, so it's fixed!
Bad news is he hit a possum and it broke my IS lip and splitter. He wasn't even speeding, we were just going around a curve and the possum was right in the middle of the lane.
He felt so bad, and even offered to pay me for a new lip, but I told him not to worry because it could have happened to anyone.
We went back to pick up all the pieces and move the new road kill.
Well...the possum just GOT UP AND WALKED IT OFF.
Crazy bastard.

[wworm]

fuck possums those fuckers are crazy.

Are people still having issues with this style of camber/toe correction kits loosening up over time? I personally want to opt for the IE posi-lock style but they're so much more expensive than garagistic's kit.

[brutus]

great effort mate !
it looks good .

[Levy3Poop]

fuck possums those fuckers are crazy.

Are people still having issues with this style of camber/toe correction kits loosening up over time? I personally want to opt for the IE posi-lock style but they're so much more expensive than garagistic's kit.

I was baffled that the little bastard survived getting hit going ~55mph. Those are some durable ass animals!

I haven't heard anything about the garagistic kits coming loose, but on Garagistic's product page the say that kits from other companies come loose. Do you have a link to the posi lock thing? That sounds interesting.