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I got the transmission back from being vapor blasted today, and took some time to swap out all of the steel hardware for freshly plated stuff. Also install 3 new seals.The final product is jaw droppingly delicious.
They were not able to really blast inside the bell housing at all. The transmission fit inside the cabinet but didn't lend itself access to get the jet in there. I got it pretty clean through traditional methods.
Next matter of business today was rebuilding the better of the two pairs of axles I had. I really like revitalizing original parts with correct date stamps, even more parts that are marked W.Germany. New is nice, but it'll never be W.Germany again.
Inner CV with the original paint finish stripped off.
Outer boot replaced, clamped, inner boot clamped in place, inner CV blown apart and cleaned ready to be reassembled with fresh grease.
Rebuilt axle, will paint the axle tube when humidity lowers.
Tenured Automotive Service Professional - Avid BMW Enthusiast
That trans looks amazing. Did you do a full rebuild or just clean it up with fresh seals?
Nothing was touched internally. This trans came out of the 91 318iS parts car that had been sitting for the last 7+ years. The fluid that came out looked OK and the drain plug didn't have much ferrous fur on the magnet. I couldn't see any damaged syncro teeth through the drain or fill plugs so I suspect it'll be just fine with some fresh fluid. All seals were replaced.
Remanufactuered ZF rack back from vapor blasting, I've since removed the plugs and crossover tubes so I can blast those and get them yellow zinc plated.
Axles installed in the rear hubs, and held to the diff with one bolt each for the time being. I cannot figure out what I did with the 12 correct bolts, there were not plated and should have been in a bin but I dunno, will find them eventually lol.
I assembled the steering rack with new tierods, boots and crimp clamps before hanging it on the front subframe for the time behind until the pieces of it that need to be plated come back.
Oil filter housing assembled with new oil pressure switch and plug, shiny reconditioned AFM.
Tenured Automotive Service Professional - Avid BMW Enthusiast
No updates to post about with pictures I'm afraid.
I have another batch of odds and ends to blast and send to plate, a small batch that is of items I overlooked. I also need to blast the second set of calipers I have because the first set came out blemished and the blemishes are spreading. Some sort of reaction unknown to me, but they are junk.
I spent a half day today pulling and beating on the pinch weld across the bottom of the rocker panels making them straight again. The previous owner(s) obviously jacked on them frequently folding the thin finish metal over on itself and generally making it look like hell.
Otherwise I'm still waiting on paint and body, as I have been.
Starting turning my mind to the engine assembly and what its going to need to get back in action. I have two complete heads, I decided I'll sell the "good" one and break down the "bad" one for rebuilding and head work.
This is the cylinder head off the parts car, which is perfect save for 2 bent exhaust valves on cylinder #1 since it threw a rod. Head fully disassembled and ready to get hot tanked, ported, multi angle valve job etc.
Last night when I got home from the shop I dropped all of the valve train parts and timing gears into the tumbler and walked away from it. This morning I pulled everything back out sparkling clean.
Now that I've figured out a working combo of media and cleaner in this thing man I love it. It puts in work and saves me an enormous amount of time detailing small bull shit hardware that I could spend a day on manually and not get it as clean.
I rinsed the lot in ATF so it doesn't flash rust and then individually bagged each component until its needed.
This stuff was all BLACK with 25 years of oil varnish buildup.
Tenured Automotive Service Professional - Avid BMW Enthusiast
Those little dollops are Loctite Viperlube 36781, which I packed the bearing behind it with as well.
did you use the same grease behind the steering rack boot too? Looks like BMW has LB-1 grease just for that purpose. But it looks like it is the only place that grease is being used...not sure I'd have a use for it if I go LB-1
What combo of media/cleaner did you use in the tumbler? I actually picked up the HF 18lb tumbler after following this thread. So far I’ve used the green HF triangle media and some crushed walnuts.
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