Well, good luck to you SIR! 

Earl said: Your aunt must really love that Cabrio to save it from succumbing to Winter Yeah, not really sure what her deal is with it.  Has a lot of rust, she's always been a volkswagen fan.  I just hope I don;t have it much longer than this winter.

AsparagusMike said: Honestly the biggest thing with bench bleeding is to help avoid running into a situation where there is trapped air in the master cylinder that won't be easily bled out through the calipers. When I install a new master I'll go ahead and do the bench bleeding procedure and then leave the fittings and hoses on until I have the master mounted in the car and ready to hook up the lines to avoid it all coming out and making a mess. You can probably get away with skipping the bench bleeding as most of the time your going to be able to get all the air out of the system no problem, just a easy precaution to avoid any troubles. Is that tool something that can be bought locally? Looks like a screw driver with a ball at the end of it? I'll probably use something like snaps method.

Thank you for properly understanding the fuel pressure regulator!

I was not suggesting that ARP stud kits are inferior to TTY bolts.  I was stating that I though TTY bolts would be better than just picking 12.9 bolts.  No background was given about intended use or modification from stock. Stockish engine, use TTY because they clearly work well.  Significantly beyond stock engine use ARP.  That would be my thoughts.

Hah, replaced the OFH gasket and oring a few years ago but could be going again and weeping a bit towards the front. These engines leak/seep like crazy. Keeps things from rusting but still. I've got a skid plate so oil will pool over time and then drip off the edge of the plate.  The pooling on the ground though was still more than I've ever seen. Cleaned it up and drove it for a while and so far found only small things: loose bolt in the timing case cover leading to oil weep down the passenger side, two rear valve cover bolts are loose and need to be helicoiled and oil is leaking enough that it pooled down on the control arm near the CAB. Oil pan bolts are tight and upper and lower didn't seem to be leaking. I'll let it sit for bit and see what other surprises there are.

So like anything typically with a steering box?

Went ahead and ordered the Saleri along with everything else for a full refresh. Boxes of parts are here. Now just have to find the time to do it.

straight6pwr said: personally, i've never run 20w in anything. i also believe that brand names, additives, blah blah blah is marketing b.s. and the difference in quality doesn't justify the extra costs. get the right weight in whatever fits in your budget. Ditto. 20w- anything is an archaic spec that belongs back in the 50-60's. Only guys using it are into old muscle cars with sloppy clearances, because some of the oils are blended to protect flat tappet push-rod valvetrain.  Or they like to see 100psi. on the gauge on cold starts and think it's a good thing.   Most older BMW engine clearances are designed to run a 10-13cSt oil viscosity. Or ~30weight oil running @100c. All oils start much thicker when cold. Running a thicker oil doesn't make sense unless you run the oil hotter the 100c. A 20w50 will be ~20cSt @100c but it will thin to ~12cSt at 120c. engine thinks it got 0w30 in it. It's happy. The cold end of the scale looks much worse. A 0w30 is 65cSt @40c while the 20w50 is 180cSt at 40c. It takes that much longer for the oil to warm up and flow throughout the engine. This is not even looking below freezing. In those temps the extra drag can defeat a good battery and starter. You're trying to pump molasses through a coffee straw. The 0w40 synthetics are a good compromise of performance and protection. With a 75cSt cold and ~13 cSt hot. It's on the thick side of spec.@100c thinning to ~8cSt @120c still giving you some track protection, without relying on the additive package to keep the bearings from seizing for 2-3 times longer on cold start. everyone says that most of your wear comes from cold starts, so why use an oil that will take twice as long to warm to running temp.  If you need to run your oil that hot add a oil cooler, or as a last resort run a 5W-50 (115cSt cold, 18.5cSt hot). Not as a first step. Oil analysis Oil analysis is a great way to know engine health.  Like a blood test for your car. But, it's meaningless by itself.  You need multiple samples to get a true picture of engine health. If you put on a lot of miles and change the oil on a schedule with the same brand/type of oil,  it can save you allot in showing you true extended drain intervals for your environment/ driving style. In a garage queen that gets an oil change every year and runs 1k mi. it's pointless unless your looking for a piece of mind. by getting a baseline and getting follow up test you can know nothing changed. on a 1million dollar car it's worth something, on a 200k mi daily, not so much.   [image: oil chart.jpg]

Thanks again guys. Wheels looked much better in person than in the pics. Turned out just to be peeling paint.

straight6pwr said: 2. Nothing wrong with replacing just two tires. Just don't go off and get two new tires with vastly different tread/compounds. Like super sticky summer tires matched with eco-tires, for example.  However, you would be starting the cycle where you will be constantly replacing two tires at a time, instead of all four, since they are wearing at different stages. If you park the car in the winter or use snow tires. put on 2 new ones, and replace the old ones when you burn them up.  if you need snow traction 7/32 is getting on the thin side. most places will tell you to replace them at 4-5/32.  You can still replace 2 just put the new ones on the front to help steering/braking.  The handling will be a little different in snow and heavy rain, just need to compensate.

Thanks guys! The goal with this car is ideally to avoid the ??? DIY where possible, already been removing some of the existing self-tapping screw work. I'll also hold the "claim stupid" defense in reserve...for when I really do stupid. OEM plate holder ordered, this time the right one.  If anyone has used up their "claim stupid" for the year, has a LEO that hates them, or just wants their e46 to be legal pretty I've got a nonZHP/M-tech II plate holder (51117030593) listed for sale.

Yup $1000 is the going rate for a properly applied, quality product.  A year-round car should definitely see 3+ years before needing new ceramic, if it is garaged and you keep up on washes. People who neglect their cars in winter and wash them once every 1-2 months, and/or park the cars outside where they are constantly battered by the elements - there is a significant reduction in life expectancy on the ceramic at that point. Washing the car regularly and not letting it get abused by the elements are the biggest factors because at the end of the day, it's the breakdown of the ceramic that you're concerned with, which salt, road debris, and sun all play a factor in depending on the time of year. We run the Pilot through a wash weekly during winter, and if there is ever a really bad bout of weather that causes excessive salt to be dropped, then it gets washed sometimes twice a week. I've had ceramic on the Pilot for over 2 years now and it hasn't had to be re-applied.  @YoungCR @Jdesign

Awesome!!

straight6pwr said: well if you go the DIY retrofit route, I'm certainly willing to help Much appreciated!

Yes, I have since learned the 2 stage torque procedure and have not had another failure.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAND my speedo stopped working. Tap the dash and it comes back for a second and fails again. If anyone has tips on pulling the cluster and checking out everything. It would be much appreciated.

E30 strut mounts are the same part number for left and right, and the bolt pattern only allows them to be installed one way from what I remember. When does the vibration occur and is it random? A failing strut mount usually knocks over bumps as the bearing or rubber wears out, or becomes notchy while turning the wheel back and forth. Its possible that a new/stiffer mount is transferring more of the vibration from something else in the suspension compared to the old mount?

I think the non sealed ones whether from Nerptech or Turner would not last long on a daily driver, dirt gets in and wears the joint rapidly.  Condor ones look like they use the same insert as Turner.  The ball joints can wear out, both of them on the control arms of my coupe were loose, it does have almost 300k on it and they are likely original though.  Replacement joints are cheap.  I saw the Turner ones and thought, hmm I should just machine my own housing and press in the Lemforder joint.  I need to measure and see if the length of the inner sleeve matches up with the ball joints.  i understand though not everyone can just machine their own parts.

Ive heard of people totally peeling it off. plastikoting (matte) it then throwing a satin clear coat over it.