My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)

[Earl]

I fiddled with the bumper a bit last night. 

I will hopefully get the feel for it after a little more time. Right now I am in the phase where I feel like I am going to mess it all up and have the body lines all wrong. 

Bought this guy

I then started flattening the bottom of the bumper and taking down the epoxy on the tow hook cover

The features that I am afraid to mess up are the edge above the tow hook cover, the recessed line, and the curve of the lower skirt. I am trying to figure out what motion to use the block to keep the upper edge from losing its tight curve. I feel like I am easing the curve but when looking at it from the side it seems I haven't messed it up. There is a lot to do yet but I will stick with it=)

[jc43089]

Looking good Earl, practice makes perfect.

[ClassE]

Bodywork is tough and takes time to learn how to do well. I'll do some prelim work on stuff if needed - but always let paint guy do the final sanding/ prep to fix any of my screw-ups. Keep at it tho, looking good so far!

[Earl]

Thanks guys=) I am going to try and get it as good as I can get and then when the car gets painted they will probably do any final work if needed. I am trying to get that paint job cost down a hair=D

[wasnt m3]

Gonna be working on it this weekend? I need to stop by to drop off some parts for you.

[Earl]

I will be there Saturday

[wasnt m3]

Me too.

[Earl]

Nothing got done on the compact Saturday. I didn't get to start working on it until late in the day but I got very frustrated and left. TJ did drop something off by me however=)

[Earl]

So Saturday wasn't too bad of a day.

I started by mocking up my e46 skirts

It is really hard to tell how they will look with no front fender on, and the car in the air. I would also really like to shave the raised center to give it a nice smooth look similar to the AC Schnitzer skirts. 

After that I lubricated my cams, timing chain, and chain guides with engine assembly lube before buttoning the covers up. I then installed my upper timing cover

And then installed my water pump and thermostat housing

The thermostat housing is only on hand tight at the moment because I got the wrong gasket and my thermostat didn't come with an o-ring. 

The valve cover is only one because I had to tighten it down to seat the timing cover on the profile gasket properly. I was told that the pressure down on it should seat the end of the profile gasket that wasn't sitting well. I sure hope it works out. I put a large dab of silicone on the inside edges like the Bentley specifies. I also put a small dab on the outside edge. If it leaks it still shouldn't be a hard fix=)

My buddy Greaser Kyle made it out and shaved all of the unneeded holes in my radiator support that you will be able to see

I found a great condition black carpet that should be shipped out today. I have also been contemplating buying aftermarket rear strut mounts since my e46 m3 vert mounts don't look like they held up too well. I was looking at either choosing Rogue Engineering mounts of the Ground Control mounts. I ended up opting for the Ground Control mounts because they are poly and seemed to be made a little beefier. Those should be shipping out today as well=)

Here is my canvas of a back window

Hopefully all of the microscratches will buff out lol

[jc43089]

Looks good Earl, glad you got some work done, you should move into your shop so you don't have to drive to it.

[Rowleym]

I swear no one in the shop can draw anything except for dicks. WHAT THE HELL. Sick of having every shape of penis on my car.

[Earl]

Achieved zero progress over the weekend. The girlfriends rear drums brakes proved to be a weekend long endeavor. 

These came in however:

I will be installing those Saturday, as well as installing my new sway bar endlinks, bushings, brackets, and hardware. 

I will also be getting the inside of the valve cover cleaned out and then installing it for good on the engine. 

I gave my friend Greaser Kyle the pass code for the garage door so that he can work on the bay/shaving while I am not there so we can get this done=)

[Derflaminflitzer]

56 pages and the car doesnt run....im starting to feel a bit let down earl.

[Earl]

Lol

[Derflaminflitzer]

If there is anything I can do to help speed this up without the cost of my money I will. Time is not money in this case

[KaiserRolls]

Earl said:

Lol

Lol

[StewCrew]

KaiserRolls said:

Lol

Lol

[StewCrew]

Earl said:

Lol

  

KaiserRolls said:

Lol

Lol

[RamRod E28]

hey stewcrew how did you get such a big pic on ur sig?

[KaiserRolls]

Ramze46 said:

hey stewcrew how did you get such a big pic on ur sig?

it's been there for forever