Ruby's Thread

[Levy3Poop]

Recently, I got the Garagistic Chassis mounted shifter installed.
You know...things are a lot easier if you just install them when you get them and don't leave them around for months or maybe a year, allowing the threads to get dinged, requiring you to buy a tap/die kit 😂



First time using a die/tap kit, and I'm happy to report I didn't crossthread the die and perma-goof my shifter lmao

As required for the chassis mounted shifter, I installed new trans mounts. Went with 95A and HOLY cow what a difference it makes.
NHV out the wazoo compared to the OE ones. I have some 85A mounts coming. Ruby is a cool-cruisin' vert, not a full blown race car lmao



Hnnnnng oh my goodness would you look at that??

My father in law was pleasantly surprised that I finally installed the shift boot he gave me for Christmas YEARS ago 😂
For some reason I had always imagined it being this HUGE PITA to install, but I just used some 3M adhesive spray on the boot ring, and pressed the new boot on


This is with the short option for the chassis mounted shifter, and I'm tempted to order a medium length one just to see how it feels.
I've got a new selector joint and DSSR coming too. Can't wait to see what almost $450 in shifter parts feels like when it's all said and done 😅

Current mileage....263k?

[Levy3Poop]

I couldn't believe it's already been almost a year since that last update.

I never ended up getting the Mishimoto radiator installed, but I did replace it with another M42 spec radiator.

Maybe a month or two ago I tried bleeding the cooling system and it was still overheating after driving around the block. Finally yesterday I moved my wife's car, pulled Ruby out of the garage, and got to work again. It was overheating and everything again, and then I looked up the video on Bleeding the coolant system and turns out I was doing it wrong lol.

I got the cooling system working again, and the heater is even blowing hot air. I let it idle for a while in the driveway, and then took it for a spin around the block. After the spin around the block, I went around the neighborhood. After that, I decided it was time for my son to enjoy his first cruise 😎 We just kept it on neighborhood streets for the most part.

I don't even have any dashboard lights! Never mind the oil leak that's been present forever...no dash lights! 😂 When the gas light came on, we headed back for home. Little man was so sad to get out of the car and started crying until I asked if he wanted to cruise again. When asking that he immediately lunged towards the car, so we all piled back in and went to the gas station 😂

Sent from my SM-G988U1 using Tapatalk

[2mAn]

You're going to love the M54. Glad to see its still kicking and getting some love finally

[Levy3Poop]

Okay time for a long awaited update. I DO still own Ruby, just haven't driven her much since getting my FJ and life moving on, ya know?

I got all our cars inspected this last May, and after getting Ruby inspected, on the way home, she started overheating. When I got home, I could see there was a definite coolant leak coming from the radiator. Either a split hose, crack in the plastic, or something to cause a leak and not just a sudden gush of coolant.
I'm not going to replace the M42 radiator. I've gone ahead and taken this as my sign to get my ass in gear on the M54 swap.

First order of business! A radiator for the M54:
I got the Mishimoto Performance E30 radiator. Not sure how much adapting and custom work I'll have to do to make it fit in my 4 cylinder (product page specified it was for 6 cylinders), but I've got a welder and loads of little scrap metals and a hard head to make things work.
I also got the 6 cylinder E30 coolant reservoir expansion tank, bracket, and hoses to accompany the radiator.



Second order of business: I got the safety-wire oil pump nut on and installed, as well as finally smacking in the front main seal using a custom tool I made that fits around it.
I just took some old engine oil around the main seal, my tool, and a rubber mallet, and *tap tap tap*ed it in with no issues. No idea why I had procrastinated or felt intimidated by this seal originally.



Next up was another kind of expensive part I wasn't really wanting to spend the money on: the alternator.
I went with the Bosh 120a alternator. Thanks to Amazon returns, this one was like new for $180 or so and looks to be perfect!




The next challenge that's intimidating me is radiator hoses. i can't really seem to find any clear cut guides on what hoses to get. Any tips?

[Levy3Poop]

Levy3Poop did you ever figure out why your Aux fan resistor was getting so hot? Having the same issue…

Sorry I never replied, better late than never I guess lol. I ended up just bypassing the resistor all together. From my research, resistors just get hot as a byproduct of their function....but the resistor was getting WAY too hot for comfort for me lol.
I figured it'd rather the bearing on the fan go out prematurely due to always running on high than the resistor burn my car down haha

[snowfox]

Levy3Poop did you ever figure out why your Aux fan resistor was getting so hot? Having the same issue…

[Levy3Poop]

Another small update on the M54. The other day I wire wheeled the mating surface, and replaced the water pump.

Here's the pump-hole after I treated the surface




Here's the guy that went in. It's got the metal assembly with the metal fins, so no plastic./
The o-ring was a bit too grippy, so I just put a thiiiin layer of anti-seize on it to help the water pump slide into place.



Here she is all installed and ready for action!
I was bored, and even took the brass wire wheel to the nuts haha
it's quite satisfying to watch the hardware turn shiny in front of you


I also cleaned up the mating surface for the VANOS gasket



That's it for now. Baby steps will keep me from standing still again!

[Levy3Poop]

Long time no update. I haven't been driving Ruby nearly as much since I got the Fj cruiser, but Lindsay and I took Ruby for a spin the other day with Astro in the back, and man....I had forgotten how much a joy she is to drive.
I'm motivated to get the engine swap done more so than I have been in a long time.

One of the things that was holding me up because I just wasn't sure about was the brake booster. I knew I need a new one for the 24v swap.
I found that Tangent Innovations makes a plug and play adapter for the E60 brake booster, So i ordered that and a booster off amazon.
That means I have less excuses to not get to work!

I went ahead and finally put on the new thermostat for the M54 yesterday. It was just sitting in the box under the engine on the stand.
I took a dremel with a brass wire wheel to the mating surfaces first to make sure the seal was good, and popped the new thermostat on.



Nice, now for another small and easy thing I found in my box of M54 parts: the oil filter housing gasket!



Hmm...that gasket looks like it was new already, and that mating surface looks like it's been wire-wheel'd already...Have I done this before?
Oh well, the one from the bag in the picture is now on the engine.

Baby steps. I have tons of parts for this swap that I JUST NEED TO DO!
I'm so frustrated with myself taking forever on this.
I just have to keep SOME progress coming regularly and not get used to stagnation.

[Mazi!]

I like this thread!

[Levy3Poop]

well actually, in 2021 we started a bunch of truck threads so you need to start a new thread for the green bastard. Lots of domestic trucks so it will be nice to see an Import in the mix

Very nice! Sent from my motorola edge using Tapatalk

[2mAn]

The formatting got fucked up, but meet my new 2014 FJ Cruiser: The Green Bastard!
Green Bastard gets dirty so Ruby can be clean!
I won't post too many pics of GB cause this isn't the forum, but man I love FJs lol

well actually, in 2021 we started a bunch of truck threads so you need to start a new thread for the green bastard. Lots of domestic trucks so it will be nice to see an Import in the mix

[rzerob]

You could always ship the wheel somewhere for the repair. It would take a while but you could run a spare. Or wait until the winter when you are not driving it as much?

[Levy3Poop]

I forgot to mention in my last update that I got new tires all around recently. The front tires are only about a year old and still had plenty of tread on them, but the rear tires were bald and I failed inspection until I got new tires. No idea how that happened ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Here's the kicker though, when I went to discount tire to get new tires, they wouldn't sell me the BF Goodrich G-Force comp 2 tires I had always been getting because their computer system all of a sudden was saying it was the wrong load index. They said they would replace the front tires for free for me since they put them on and it is the wrong load index according to their computer. I ended up getting all four tires for about 300 bucks thanks to that little change in their computer system! What everyone probably wants to really know though: the new tires are Dunlop Direzzas. They handle pretty well! After the new tires got put on the steering wheel was shaking like holy hell at 60 miles an hour, so I went back to discount tire for a wheel balance and they let me know one of my wheels is bent. I'm super bummed about that because I really love these bbs's on it. If anybody knows a good wheel repair shop in the DFW area please let me know. I can't seem to find any on Google Sent from my motorola edge using Tapatalk

[Levy3Poop]

Big news (indirectly) for Ruby! To celebrate, she got a wash and wax again.
It has been way too long since I washed her. Just felt like every time I spent the 2 hours to really wash her the way I wanted, it would rain within the week.
No worries any more!

Keep scrolling to find out why :)



The formatting got fucked up, but meet my new 2014 FJ Cruiser: The Green Bastard!
Green Bastard gets dirty so Ruby can be clean!
I won't post too many pics of GB cause this isn't the forum, but man I love FJs lol
Also, now that Ruby isn't my DAILY driver, I won't have to worry about what I'm gonna drive during the *alleged* M54 swap.
Haha I joke that the m54 will never happen, but now I feel more motivated to get working on it.

Anyways, Hopefully progress on Ruby will be making more headway soon.
That is all!

[Levy3Poop]

Long time no update! I hope everybody is doing well in the new year, and that all of our little old BMWs are running great! Just going to be a basic little update today for an oil change at 260,000 miles. It's getting quite oily underneath Ruby, but I at least have some good news on the m54; I was finally able to get the timing cover off which now means that I can replace the gaskets around there and progress should actually be made this year. I'm trying to decide if I want to actually go ahead and replace the head gasket while the engine is on a stand, and replace the timing chain, but honestly the timing tooth don't have too much of a shark fin at all. I think I might leave the timing gears alone and just replace the chains if I do decide to change the head gasket. Little update on the sore throat shifter I got for Christmas last year, due to the inaccuracy of how the knob fit onto the new shifter, I had been too little metal tabs in the drive shaft tunnel that hold the shifter linkage in place. I was driving around forever just listening to the bottom of the shifter rub on the drive shaft before I finally decided to fix it. I spray painted over the area of the drive shaft with the car in gear on jack stands so the shaft was rotating, and there wasn't any rust on the drive shaft which was my main concern. Everything seems to be fine now though aside from the body of the shifter sitting loosely in the shifting linkage. My terminology is probably screwed up but it's not loose enough to absolutely hate or feel like I need to immediately replace. A couple of weeks ago I also did Ruby's annual coolant top off and coolant system burp. Of course right before I did that it was super cold and my heater wasn't working at idle because there wasn't enough coolant in the system (I think). Everything works well now in my temperatures stay right in the middle. Anyways, yeah, boring update aside from the m54 stuff. Sent from my motorola edge using Tapatalk