Bronzit E30 - OBDII S52 shaved bay - weekend/autox toy - Journey

[rzerob]

Damn, that is a sweet setup. Very, very nice. Shame rescinded.

[TeXJ]

details on the bench where you have the vise mounted? I need a vise but have nowhere to mount it.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

congrats on the new pad and job. hope we all can get some fun runs up to newcomb and get some breakfast again soon.

Thanks, its been too long glen. Those were good days. I look forward to it

congrats on the new pad! love how organized the garage is, watch out for that wire wheel though! i just started to clean up my garage, but everything i want to do to organize it costs money i shouldn't be spending right now!!

thanks! HA I know one of these days I am going to walk into it and be pissed... thinking I ought to drape a cloth on it as some minor protection. I love organizing.

Damn, that is a sweet setup. Very, very nice. Shame rescinded.

it better be I put off any fun projects for like 5 weeks to get to this point (not gonna lie I did have fun doing it - I love garage projects as much as car projects)

details on the bench where you have the vise mounted? I need a vise but have nowhere to mount it.

I think its a harbor freight bench? it was left in the garage and the owner refused to move it. I just bolted it into the table with lag screws. Honestly it's not very big nor sturdy. I'll probably end up putting a thick steel plate over the top... or disassembling it and shoving the pieces up in the rafters of the garage. I have a nice big steel table frame and a bid solid table top I'd prefer to use, and top that with steel... future upgrade.

[TeXJ]

aww ok, yeah I've been trying to find something I can use to put a vise on.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

aww ok, yeah I've been trying to find something I can use to put a vise on.

I'm being a bit overly critical. It's not bad at all for like $130 with coupon, and even with the lag screws the vice is solidly mounted. The whole thing is hardwood. I just personally had in mind something a bit bigger and more solid and am a little annoyed the owner of the house left it in my way to deal with

[TeXJ]

I'm being a bit overly critical. It's not bad at all for like $130 with coupon, and even with the lag screws the vice is solidly mounted. The whole thing is hardwood. I just personally had in mind something a bit bigger and more solid and am a little annoyed the owner of the house left it in my way to deal with

understood lol

[ForcedFirebird]

aww ok, yeah I've been trying to find something I can use to put a vise on.

I mounted one to a grinder stand so it's mobile in the shop....

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-4288-Bench-Grinder-Pedestal/dp/B00LPFITWA/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=bench+grinder+stand&qid=1587642907&s=hi&sr=1-3

[2mAn]

Nice Garage Charlie. LMK When you want to hang out, youre too close for us not to hang out more often

[iwantspeed]

nice job charlie

[jeenyus]

that blue shelving unit, can i get a link to it? looks legit.

[TeXJ]

I mounted one to a grinder stand so it's mobile in the shop....

https://www.amazon.com/WEN-4288-Bench-Grinder-Pedestal/dp/B00LPFITWA/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=bench+grinder+stand&qid=1587642907&s=hi&sr=1-3

aww that's cool! I didn't know if those were heavy enough for a vise to be used on them. Thank you!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Some updates...

Started the suspension refresh. Rear is completely torn down and disassembled. Overdue for maintenance. The condor rear trailing arm bushings took quite a bit of abuse since installed around 5 years ago?!?! Easily over 40-50k miles on all my "new" suspension at this point. Subframe bushings still look great but they were softer poly. All rear bushings getting replaced with AKG 75D. Went with 12mm subframe riser bushings to improve rear roll center. Hopefully I can still get the camber where I want it. Also noticed a small crack starting to form around the base of the inner passenger side adjuster. I'll do some minor reinforcement all over including where the diff mounts to the subframe. Between all that and the e36 double ear diff cover, rear end should be rock solid for years to come. Trailing arms will get reinforcement too.

Front is 50% disassembled. Going to do reinforcement of the spindle and go over some of the "less than ideal" welds I did years ago with my shitty stick welder. Got my eye on the ground control roll center/bump steer kit to add adjustment to both tie rod and control arm mount point. Initially was considering the MRT/SLR type kit but both seem to give a significant minimum offset with the mounting block plus regular adjustment. Besides likely not fitting inside my 15" joengbloeds, looks like they will overcompensate the adjustment I actually need. After spot checking the suspension angles at ride height it doesn't appear I need much major adjustment. Tie rods are ~3/4" from parallel to the ground, and control arms maybe 1/4" - 1/2". The ground control kit should provide that and clear the barrel of the wheel.

I am also going to switch from standard control arm mounted swaybar endlinks to strut mounted like the M cars. My front end links are toast and were never at ideal angles.

on to pictures....

Chopped out the spare tire well. Long overdue.




Had to order some maintenance parts for my wife's car and noticed rockauto also carries a massive variety of oils including my favorite liqui moly (and at decent price). So I loaded up on supplies to do oil changes in all three cars. They're all overdue.




I am also going to switch from standard control arm mounted swaybar endlinks to strut mounted like the M cars. My front end links are toast and were never at ideal angles. I started taking measurements for the end links, but then realized I have a little problem... When I installed and modified the new headers and merge section, I did so with the swaybar at the odd upwards angle (forced by the end link mount position). Clearances were very tight, but they fit. Now with the swaybar at the correct angle, it pivoted the center section under the car closer to the exhaust... and now they touch with the swaybar parallel to the ground. I suppose I have three options:

Space the swaybar mounts further down
Accept less than ideal swaybar angle
Modify the exhaust

I very much do not want to dent or modify the exhaust (there just isn't space unless I remade the whole thing). So I think I'll do a combo of options 1 and 2. And I'll create a bit more beefy swaybar mount spacer. Maybe I'll dent the exhaust a teeny tiny bit. Every millimeter counts!



Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[2mAn]

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Small progress. Ground out the ugly welds I did ~5 years ago on these struts when I first tried my hand welding with a HF stick welder. Went back over with the MIG. Much better. Additionally made some gussets and welded one in. Next I'll make some swaybar brackets and weld those one. After that I'm considering disassembling the hub to have the whole thing powder coated and replace the bearings. Spent most of last weekend wrestling the biggest power tool I ever bought into the garage. 60 gal 2 stage 165psi 15cfm at 90psi. Been waiting to have the ability to run 240v to upgrade to a big boy air compressor. No regrets. Believe it or not its quieter than the HF 2.5hp 10 gallon compressor it replaced. Also believe it or not that compressor is still going strong 12 years later with 1 oil change.... it's a bit overkill for the moment but I want to do some more painting, eventually get a blast cabinet and expand my air tool collection so this ought to cover all my future needs. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[ForcedFirebird]

I got one of those HF compressors at a sidewalk sale for $200 (was a repaired return, no warranty), back in '08-ish. That compressor ran my shop for several years. Want to say it was for 7-ish years, running all day every day trying to keep up with a die grinder and media blaster. Literally, run all day several days a week, with a few breaks to let it cool off. What finally killed it was kinda my fault. The air lines are so tight at the shop, not a single leak, so it was rarely turned off. We have 3ph electric, so three transformers, and one blew in the middle of the nigt - so the compressor motor was trying to run on one leg (110v) and completely meted down until the braker popped. The windings were just a big mass of copper sludge. Stuck a 3hp real industrial motor on it and it stayed like that until we got the Quincy 325 compressor head (up to 500psi!). Since upgraded the motor to a 5hp 3ph and have the switch to cut off at 190psi and regulate it at the ends of the galvy pipes. The tank is still that same HF tank, though. Had to upgrade the switch for the 3ph motor, but now it's quiet and I can maintain 90psi, even with a wide open 3/8" hose. Now considering fabricating an after cooler for it since the lines near the compressor (they all pitch towards it) have a lot of moisture, even with a quality water separator.

That thing should last light duty for quite some time. They are just a hair loud.