Granitsilber Coupe: x-country warrior kicking it in SoCal

[Dj Buttchug]

so much easier to just yank the radiator.

[kronus]

You need to have RTV or gasket compound on the WP gasket, it's part of the install procedure, and leaks otherwise.

[thatphysicsguy]

You need to have RTV or gasket compound on the WP gasket, it's part of the install procedure, and leaks otherwise.

Ah I did not see that. Well good thing I have a tube lying around.

I'll start working on it again on monday. Hopefully I should be driving by friday next week.

[thatphysicsguy]

Thanks for the help, guys! It means a lot to a complete n00b like me.

[kronus]

good luck!

[Link]

I like it, keep up the good work. All these cars need is some love.

[thatphysicsguy]

I like it, keep up the good work. All these cars need is some love.

Thank you!

It's been tough, though. I'm working two jobs so I don't get many days to completely dedicate to working on it. I mostly just manage a couple hours before and after work. But nighttime is hard (thank goodness for headlamps).

[singh336]

Clean car, sometimes its worth it to buy an automatic because they haven't been beat to hell.

You're from Troy also? Me too lol

[BamaE30]

Very good looking car...love the color.

[thatphysicsguy]

Clean car, sometimes its worth it to buy an automatic because they haven't been beat to hell.

You're from Troy also? Me too lol

Yeah The thing's been babied a bit in terms of driving. The downside is carbon buildup from never reving above 3k (not 100 percent sure if the PO drove it that tenderly though.)

Either way still trying to save up $ for the 5speed swap.

Also yeah, I go to RPI. So I consider myself a resident of both regions!

[TheTacoMan]

Clean, once that auto is out, its a whole different ball game.

Looking forward to see this done

[thatphysicsguy]

Clean, once that auto is out, its a whole different ball game.

Looking forward to see this done

Yeah kinda makes me seem like a bit of a hypocrite for pestering you about the 5speed lol.

As of now I just need $ for it, I'm behind budget thanks to some unforeseen costs not e30 related.

[thatphysicsguy]

Well update: car is on jack stands still (for a month or so now) because after I was reinstalling everything for the second time (water pump sealed nicely this time, luckily) one of the 6 flywheel pulley bolts snapped on me.

Previous tech way over torqued everything so even though my clicker was set to the right torque, the bolt snapped before it even reached the right amount.

There's only 6 in of clearance between the bolt and the AC condenser and I can't get a drill down there to drill a hole for a screw extractor (easy out).

So I tried to JB weld the snapped head back on just so I could get the rest of the bolt out, but JB weld sucks in terms of shear strength so that got me nowhere.

I'm pretty stuck to say the least.

Anyone have any recommendations for housecall mechanics in Orange County?

[thatphysicsguy]

After quite the adventure, the car is back on the road and running well.

I did: accesory belts, timing belt, tensioner, and water pump, Valve adjust, new vc gasket, painted the VC, new spark plugs, and last but not least put in a new radio antenna grommet

This was the very first time I've ever worked on my own car by myself. I've helped friends out with their cars, but never even done an oil change on my own set of wheels. So naturally this was a huge learning experience.

It took me about two weeks to excavate down to the timing belt. This was mostly due to inexperience, limited working time, and an idiotic previous tech with a flair for over-torquing and stripping the hell out of bolts.

The windsheild washer pump was the first casualty unfortunately. The dang crimp clamp just didn't want to come off and the stem ended up snapping off



But I slowly got all the stuff out (and had to get a new socket wrench set just so I could reach the AC compressor bolts) and eventually got to this point



That engine bay was grimey!



I got everything back together, and the waterpump didn't seat right. It leaked quite a lot.
So back down the rabbit hole I went and after another 3 hours or so of scarping off old gasket that I had missed the first time (newbie mistake, yeah) I got the new pump and gasket on with a touch of rtv just to be safe.

I tested it this time to ensure I wouldn't reassemble everything in vain a second time.

It passed!

I started to reassemble and got to the harmonic balancer and crank pulley.

I hand tightened down the 6 bolts, then got my clicker out and worked my way around. Now remember how I said previous tech loved to strip and over torque things (dist rotor, ps pump tensioner and bracket, ac bracket etc.)?

As i was doing the last round of tightening one of the bolts snapped



It snapped before I even got to the proper torque (and 16 ftlb is not exactly cranking on it)... So the bolt was probably stressed from before, because last I checked: grade 8 bolts are pretty sturdy (I might be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure previous tech is still a douche).

I tried in desperation to fit the smallest drill I could find in there so I could put my screw extractors to use, but to no avail. I tried JB welding the broken head of the bolt back on just to remove the broken shaft







That didn't work and I learned that JB weld has no strength in shear.

Being stuck, I turned my attention to the VC:





But that didn't occupy me for long...

At this point, I realized I was stuck and ended up asking around for help. Ended up getting a mechanic with a mobile shop truck to come out (for $240 no less :curse: ).



He got the bolt out luckily and went on his way.



I reassembled everything and was ready to get the show back on the road, but not before Previous Tech (the most dastardly villain of our time:hitler:) had anything to say about it.



Took off the tstat housing and took it over to my buddy's place (he has a chunky vice that I used to get the damn thing out). But this set me back another day (it's little delays like this that ended up making this adventure nearly 5 weeks long!).

Anyway, I get a new screw on (props to steve at blunttech for getting a new screw and o ring to me overnight: he's a true champion of the people! :-D )

And then I prepped the car for cars and coffee the next day:





And the car is back on the road and driving well!

The next small project is putting a new i lip back on as the old one is missing.

Here's a nice sunset:



Thanks for reading!

[kronus]

well done, glad to hear you got it running. timing belt is a big first job!

you should invest in a screw extractor bit, it's probably what this mobile truck guy did to get your sheared bolt off. they're like 5 bux..

unless you have aftermarket hardware, your metric bolts are measured in "class", not "grade", which is an SAE thing. The most common ones on BMWs are class 8,8 (regular) and class 10,9 (hard).

if you run into many more overtightening problems you should get a can of penetrant like liquid wrench, which reduces the breaking torque after you let it seep into bolt threads.