Stinky: The New DD: Is now the Weekend Car

[McGyver]

You know what the best way to test a limited slip diff is?... :)

Oh, it's gonna leave burnouts! Side note, the rear wheels have a LOT of resistance to turn by hand. Like really hard. So I may have smoked this diff.

Id run run Redline 75w140. I wouldn't ever consider dctf / ATF as it may do damage.

Yeah, that was a stopgap, and I may have driven too much before swapping in the correct fluid.

[McGyver]

I got a little more work done this past Tuesday. There was a nasty coating of goo on everything inside the car. I had wiped it with disinfectant, but never actually cleaned it. So I finally got the headlight and radio knobs, control stalks, and horn buttons clean with isopropyl alcohol and paper towel. Fucking gross that I left it for so long.





Then I scrubbed the engine bay like crazy. Tons of foaming engine degreaser to loosen stuff, then simple green with a toothbrush, then sprayed it all off. There's still a bunch of cosmoline, but that doesn't bother me right now. The main goal was to have a clean place to work and prevent contamination on the new oil pan.







Got the old pan off. Turns out that my method of sealing works well because I had to pry it to pop it off. Luckily the gasket went with the pan. The block got scraped with a fresh razor blade, then hit with grey scotchbrite, then wiped with acetone prior to reassembly.





I also put a little more work into the pan. I marked the surface with a blue sharpie, then lapped it on a granite slab at work. It took a while, but I think it's reasonably flat and smooth. There were a few gouges left, but those will get filled with RTV. I cleaned it with acetone, then Permetex Ultra Black on the pan in a thin layer, then the gasket, then another thin layer. I put some extra RTV in/around the little holes to seal the interface with the front and back covers.













Finally have the pan on and the bolts torqued to spec. I think I used too much RTV because a bunch squished out, which means a bunch squished in. It's getting to cure for several days before I add oil, so hopefully nothing breaks free and clogs something.

[McGyver]

Mini Update, Mini Snag.

I'm pretty stoked to get the engine back together and oil in the car. I'm still waiting for a new valve cover gasket and air filter, but that's quick and easy to change later.



The last step before getting the car on the ground is the skid plate and x--brace. I mocked it up and center-punched the bolt hole locations, then I quickly noticed that my core support is pretty bent and half the bolts would be inside the support. No problem, I have a box of rivnuts ready to go! The M8 rivnut has an 11.5mm diameter and my closest drill bit is 12.5mmm, probably not a problem, right? I didn't have any step bits, so I was drilling slow because I was super nervous about drilling into the radiator. I ended up tearing the sheet metal instead of making a clean hole. I didn't think that would be an issue until I tried to insert the rivnuts without the correct tool. Apparently they need a pretty tight fit to prevent them from spinning. Soooooooooo, this is on hold until the tool arrives. Some day I may replace the core support, but hopefully this'll be good enough for now.








On a side note, I've been looking for a mid box for a few months, specifically to put my wrenches in. My bottom box is 18" deep, my top box is 16" deep, and I hoped this 12" deep box would work. It doesn't. I'm back on the search.

[McGyver]

Since the bolt and nut method of installing rivnuts didn't work for me, I spent a bunch of time researching different tools. I know I could have gone the harbor freight or cheat Amazon tool route, but I want something that'll last. The standard tool that you'll see people use is the Astro Pneumatic #1442 ($72.38 on Amazon). This does rivnuts in multiple sizes and comes with an assortment of rivnuts. During my research I found out about plusnuts. These are like rivnuts, but have a significantly larger flange to hold onto oversized holes (like my application). I ended up buying the Astro Pneumatic #1450 ($77.77 on Amazon) which has longer mandrels for the plusnuts. It also works great for rivnuts, it just has to be screwed in further. I'm super happy with the tool and recommend it 100% to anyone.

I got the two rivnuts fully set and the 3 plusnuts set. Notice how much larger the plusnut flange is compaired to the rivnut. Apparently the test fit put the holes in the wrong spot because the skid plate wouldn't line up with the subframe holes. I finally got the plate and x-brace installed after something like 3 minutes of struggling. Then I trimmed up my splashguard and installed it.







Finally done with "swapping the oil pan". I put on Luna's old beat up lip and went for a test drive with my girlfriend and out dog! (Note the fresh shoes!)





Car drove great, but I still have a few issues. One is that I have dimly lit lights on the cluster. I think this is a grounding issue related to hearing the alternator in the radio. I also got some error codes, which I think is also grounding issues. And finally, the x-brace is having some of it's own grounding issues. See how the leading edge of the x-brace is lower than the trailing edge of the skid plate? This is causing the x-brace to CRASH into speed bumps and other small obstacles. I may try to put spacers in the springs to get a little more ground clearance.

[McGyver]

Last big mechanical update because I want to drive the car for a while!

I changed out the valve cover gasket and the air filter. I forgot to get new rocker shaft plugs, so I had to reuse them, but it should be fine. I scrapped everything, cleaned the plugs with isopropyl, and cleaned the metal with acetone. Then put a thin layer of permatex ultra black on everything and bolted it together.



The next step was replacing my ground straps. I was going to buy them from one of the forum sponsors that lives along my commute. They felt that selling a set of ground cables in person to another local enthusiast would result in losing money, and I felt that I don't want to support someone who tried to charge me $200 to pick up a set of cables from their house. So for all those interested, here's how to make your own ground cables. It's actually kind of fun, so I may get some supplies and start making these. I didn't end up making up an alternator power cable, but my cost for a 10" oil pan ground cable, 6" hood ground strap, 8" valve cover ground strap, and 36" alternator power cable would be roughly $26.44 with tax. Feel free to cross shop that.

Here's the state of my oil pan ground cable and the hood cable. It's pretty bad.





Supplies

First you're going to need some tools. You can get cheap stuff that'll work, but probably not give great results. If you buy directly from TEMCo's website you get a 10% discount from Amazon's cost and you still get free shipping. After a bunch of research, I decided to buy two styles of crimpers. The TEMCo TH0006 ($130.45) comes with a bunch of standard die sizes and a bunch of in between sizes for odd sized connectors. This is an awesome hydraulic crimper! The second is a TEMCo TH0007 ($19.75) hammer crimper. This is a great tool if you just need a solid crimp on a budget. It also seems to be what the competition is using for crimping the ground straps. Finally, I bought a Klein Tools J63050 cable cutter from amazon ($39.99)

You'll also need some wire. TEMCo sells really nice welding cable that has a high quality EPDM jacket that's resistant to oils, solvents, and abrasions. This seems to be comparable to what the competition is using. I wasn't sure what to get for ground strap, but I know I needed tinned copper webbing. So I just snagged some 1/2" webbing from amazon.

You'll also need some ring terminals. You're going to want tinned copper terminals without inspection holes. You can get really cheap ones with thin walls, or quality ones that are more rugged. I bought these from TEMCo as well. I got the 4AWG 5/16" hole for the webbing and 2AWG 3/8" hole for the ground cable. The most correct thing would be to buy some metric ring terminals, but I couldn't find anything I liked and just wanted to get the project done. The metric sizes are SC25-8 and SC35-10, respectively.

Finally, you need heat shrink for the cable. I have a bunch of marine grade heat shrink with adhesive, but none large enough for 2AWG wire. So I had to use some non-adhesive stuff I had laying around.

Ground Cable

1. Cut the cable to length making sure the ends are even.
2. Strip back the insulation and twist slightly to keep the strands together. The ring terminal should just about touch the insulation when the copper strands bottom out inside the terminal.
3. Get your fancy tool and select the correct die.
4. Line it all up. The dies are able to move around a bit in the tool, so you have to get everything aligned before applying force to the crimp. Stop when the dies touch.
5. Remove your nicely crimped cable, which also has the AWG size stamped into the crimp.
6. Apply heat shrink to keep moisture out of the cable.
7. Install it.

Ground Strap

My hood ground strap was only hanging on by a few strands and I doubt it was doing anything to prevent electrical interference.

1. Fold the end of the ground strap back so that it will partially stick out of the ring terminal.
2. Place the strap and terminal in the hammer crimper.
3. Smack the shit out of it until it fully crimps.
4. Admire your handiwork.
5. Install it.

And that's it. I've still got some buz in the radio, so I think the issue may be with the head unit or its ground. I haven't driven at night to check on the cluster lights yet.

I've got the car on the newly refreshed 15x7 Racing Dynamics wheels with fresh tires. Time to drive for a while!

[mjweimer]

Well done - nice write-up.

[McGyver]

Back in the garage! The passenger front wheel bearing started grinding, so I grabbed a couple of new hubs and nuts and went to town!

I'm moving back east at the end of the month, so this is HOPEFULLY the last big repair before I ship the car. I'm also trying to take care of a few maintenance items on the f30 before my girlfriend and I drive it across country with the dog and cat. You can follow that saga over on f30post. We're moving to Philly, so I'm looking forward to meeting up with people over there and going to The Vintage and GPS Picknick.

So, I got the two cars in the garage, but there is only enough room to get one side at a time. I can't wait to have my own garage that I own. I'm going to seal the floor, install good lighting, put in plenty of power outlets, install a fucking lift, and most importantly, not worry about neighbors complaining, someone else leaving the door open, or a landlord kicking me out. I can't fucking wait.



Onto the work. Passenger side was a breeze. This is the only side that was grinding and making me worried. I got the brakes out of the way, used the big boy impact to remove the nut, and the 3-jaw puller took the hub off like butter. The inner race came part of the way off, just enough to get the puller on the back without damaging the backing plate. I love this puller (that I borrowed from work). It has the reversible cup to either hold the fingers in or out, depending on the job.









I turned the car around and went to work on the driver's side. The hub came off easy, but the inner race didn't move. I could have gotten the puller on the inner race if I destroyed the inner dust shield, buuuuuuuuut, I saved a few bucks and didn't buy new ones. I tried grabbing it by the tiny lip, but that broke off. Then I tried again after heating it, and the lip broke again. So I went to the dremel and got it off. These spindles are the original ones from Luna and I last changed the bearings about 10 years ago. I forgot the driver's side was a huge pain and had weird spots. Oh well, it's back together and running smooth!







I'm doing the Breakfast Club Rally this weekend, so I should have some cool shots from that! I also want the obligatory shot from the base of the golden gate bridge.

[Northern]

weird spots is right lol

[2mAn]

Guess you should take some pics out in SF before you head east... ;)

[McGyver]

Guess you should take some pics out in SF before you head east... ;)

Yeah, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) I'm not road tripping this one. So no pics as we cross state lines. Definitely gonna drive around and take some cool pictures though!

[McGyver]

I took a bit of a hiatus while moving and getting settled in Philly, but I finally have Stinky back from the shore and fully legal! I'm excited to be able to cruise again, hopefully find some car people here.

The f30 went through safety and emissions inspection with a bm3 Stage 2 93 octane tune, FMIC, CP, and AA downpipe. All of the emissions monitors were ready, so I fully expected it to pass.

The e30 was just as simple. I told the service writer to be careful because the car is really low. When he came back he said, "Man, you're car is REALLY low!" I laughed at that one.

[McGyver]

I finally decided it was worth spending a little time to replace the antenna mast. It's one of those things that wasn't enough of an annoyance to really care about, but it feels good to get it off my list.

The antenna wouldn't go all the way down and it would only raise 1 more level:


The replacement process is to unscrew the 13mm nut at the base of the antenna. Then turn on the radio, which will raise the antenna until it is fully free from the assembly. Insert the new antenna with the teeth facing the rear of the car. Turn off the radio to retract the antenna into the assembly. Finally, tighten the 13mm nut until snug. This should all be accomplished without messing with the trunk lining.

In my case, the nut was seized, so I has to remove the assembly to loosen the nut. I've also removed my radio and sent it to be repaired. So I needed a different way to raise/lower the mast.

I'm using the 1989 325i - 325is Electrical Troubleshooting Manual. You can get it from wedophones, Sheet 6500A-0 states:
"When the Raise/Lower Input if the Power Antenna receives voltage, power is supplied from Fuse 28 to run the motor and raise the Antenna. When voltage is no longer present at the Raise/Lower Input, the Antenna is lowered."

It's clear that I just needed to get 12v to the white trigger wire. I jumpered from the white wire to the Violet/Grey power wire. This allowed me to control voltage using the key.




Behold, a functioning antenna for $17 off amazon and about 15 minutes of work:



I also added a light coating of white lithium grease to lubricate and help prevent corrosion.

[McGyver]

Major projects have been put on hold since we moved to Philly, but I've been able to knock out some small stuff.

I replaced the sunroof crank with another cheap one from Amazon. They wear out pretty quick, but they're also cheap and easy to install.



The washer spray system stopped working, so I went through everything. The nozzles have shot up in price. They were $13 each in 2019 and now are $23 each in 2023. Pro Tip: These "L" connectors allow you to keep the hoses tidy without kinking the lines (61668374371)



I've had some rough running issues and was hoping it was just an ancient Oxygen Sensor. The car will misfire and have really bad throttle response until it warms up, then sometimes it just runs fine. I broke out the Baum CS1000 to pull the codes. u3 = DME 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 ; 28 = Oxygen (Lambda) Sensor ; 10: Oxygen Sensor (Lambda) Control Feedback (Air or Fuel Leak Likely). I changed the oxygen sensor, but no major improvement. I think the next step will be to smoke test the intake system for leaks.









I also noticed temp creep while at stop lights, so it was time to change out the fan clutch. It was a little annoying, but not a terrible job.

• Real OEM shows 11521723918 as "From [blank]" and 11521466000 or 11521740962 as "From 09/1987"
• FCP Euro shows both as options for my 1989 325i
• My car has a 9-bade fan, FCP Euro shows 11-blade fans for my car
• I read that the 3918 vs 6000 have different properties for when the fan will kick in, meaning the 6000 is supposed to start cooling sooner (...I think)

I bought the Mahle (6000) and it turns out my car had the Sachs (3918). It also turns out that it doesn't matter and the cooling system works fine.











Also, I finally got my specialized antique plates in the mail. I guess I'm not planning on any engine swaps for this car!



So sticking with m20s, here's a little teaser of stuff to come