My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)
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More front and back pictures of the badges
Saturday I started by installing my m44 crank pulley
I was very happy to see that the trigger wheel was the same as the m42 pulley. I never even thought to make sure before switching over.Â
After that I threw the intake manifold on temporarily to get it off of the bench and to see how it is all coming together.
It is much bulkier than I would like but it is about as good looking as it is going to get without making a log style manifold.Â
After that, John arrived and decided to attack the rear wheel bearings. These were a nightmare. Getting the hubs out was pretty quick and simple. The inner races were on them pretty tight and pounding them out wasn't working. We set them to the side so that we could work on getting the outer races out of the trailing arms.Â
We were having a terrible time removing the snap ring for holding in the bearings. We ran to Napa to get a snap ring pliers in hope that they would work great. Well the pliers design for holding the tips wasn't exactly up to par and they kept turning when we were removing the snap rings. I ended up getting fancy with a straight pick and two screw drivers to work them out.Â
After that, we figured the outer races would come out with brute force. That wasn't working. We then tried multiple ways of pulling them out of the arms with no luck.Â
The piece of uni-strut bent before the race even budged.Â
We went off to the hardware store and bought a dremel, figuring it would be our saving grace. It worked excellent for removing the inner races from the hubs. We moved onto the outer races and couldn't quite reach all the way through.Â
The new neighbor to the shop then came home and upon introduction, recommended we use his air chisel. He walked on over with it and zipped them out in a matter of seconds........I should have introduced myself sooner.Â
After all of that, John pressed in the new bearings. I brought the hubs to work so that they can be sandblasted and repainted. I will install them Saturday afternoon.
How the car currently sits
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Yep rear wheel bearings suck, I got one out on another e36 by cutting the outer race with a die grinder which took hours. On mine I took the whole control arm to my neighbors shop and he pressed them out no problem. Way easier to remove the control arm than fight with that bearing on the car.
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What hasn't been gone through on this car???!
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You'll never be able to see them anyways man.
It lays frame ffs haha
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You'll never be able to see them anyways man. It lays frame ffs haha
Only in front though=P lol I agree no one will see any of this and that it doesn't need to look perfect, but it will bother me if I paint something half ass or leave it rusty haha
Also, this is the smallest diameter sway bar I have ever seen lol
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I got out to the shop after work today.
I started by installing the wheel bearing snap rings with a thin layer of anti-seize so they don't seize like my last set was
As you can see, some painting was in order.
I started by scuffing the rust and flaking spots with a scotchbrite pad. I then masked everything off.
I then sprayed them. I am really happy with the outcome.
More progress will happen tomorrow afternoon
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Hey! I havent been on for a while but I thought I'd mention, I work at a powder coating place and I'd powder coat whatever anyone desires for cheap
I may need to take you up on that soon=)
Oh I see how it is!
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Haha I know! Just messin with ya! Everything is looking good tho Earl. Keep it up!
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I did some work yesterday.
I started by pressing my hubs in.Â
First I put a very thin coat of anti-seize on the inner race of the bearing and then I tapped the hub with a mallet to get it started
After that I used my homemade tool (a nut and bolt with misc washers) to draw the hubs in
They went in very smooth and without too much effort.
Then I applied a thin layer of anti-seize to the hub to prevent corrosion between the hub and rotors
After that I installed the Adams Rotors, along with the stainless ECS rotor screws
After that I planned to start doing the rear swaybar
I ran out of time before I had to leave but I got the end link brackets installed
I was looking at how to get the end links on the bar and it seemed impossible to me. The hole in the end link is half that of the bar. Supposedly dish soap is the way to go so I may try that Friday when I get back out there=)
It is slowly but surely coming along now
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Fridays plan was to pop the axles back in and get the sway bar installed. I got the axles in and then realized that I want to either replace them or get them looking like new. My previous paint job isn't holding up so well. I still kept them in because I planned to put the back of the car back on the ground.
I popped the end links on the sway bar and it was looking great
I then tried to struggle and install it alone and realized that the paint isn't going to hold up to what it needs to. I took the end links back off and will be getting it powder coated. Since the two things I had planned didn't work, I packed up and headed off to a friends so we could cruise to Automotion. The weekend was beautiful and it sucks to be back to work.
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I spent all Saturday at the shop.
John came out and did some welding and grinding in the bay=) He did a really good job
I finished part of a project I have been thinking of. BMW used self tapping screws for multiple areas in the front of the car. The ones that I wanted to change over to m6x1 are the headlight mounts and the fender mounting holes. I got the easier of the two done.
I started off with the ugly hardware
I then drilled out the threads
Then ran an m6x1 tap through them
The finished product
I will be sorting out the fender mounting hardware next. There isn't enough material to drill and tap for those so I will have to get creative with the use of rivnuts/nut-serts/blund nuts.
The next thing I did was remove the seat belt mounting bars to get them powdercoated.
Most of the rest of the day was spent cleaning the front floors of the car. I want to look for any surface rust from salt and water soaking in the carpet during winters. The passenger side is rust free and I am now looking at the drivers side.
Other than that I ordered my brake pads through CaTuned and will be placing some other parts orders this week=)
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