My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)
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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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The floor looks to be Silver, I thought this car was Black.
What kind of wizardry is this?
10 years of storage etched the...... I got nothing.
WHY YOU NO DONE YET?!?!?
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haha I know how much of a pain that stuff is to take out so I am avoiding it. There were no spills or evidence of salt on the floor itself so I think it is safe. If there was any salt or dried residue I would definitely remove it. I wasn't even planning to dig this far into the interior at this point so I figure a good cleaning and light rust search is good for now=)
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It will get sprayed.
One panel at a time
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Thursday I went to pick up my latest Fastenal order.
It included hardware for my fenders, headlights, and hood, as well as these
Rivet nuts=) This is the only viable option I could think of for converting the fender mounting hardware to m6, versus the current self tapping screw style.Â
Friday my WBR pads came from CaTuned
Igor is a really awesome guy and is there for help and advice any time I need it=)
Saturday was a little disappointing, but wasn't completely unsuccessful. I didn't get near as much as I wanted done, but enough was accomplished to be happy with.
I started by installing some of the rivet nuts after picking up more Downstar hardware
I messed the first one up by placing a star washer in between the handle and the rivet nut. This drove the star washer into the rivet nut and gouged up the top. I will be replacing that one and ordering some extras.Â
The second one I snapped the bolt off since I didn't pay attention to it only being a grade 8.8=/ I ended up drilling it out and got another one installed. The other four that I installed didn't go too bad. It seems that there is a fine line between crushing them the right amount and over crushing them, since the metal folding inside can cause interference with inserting a bolt.Â
I have eight more to install. Four of them are puzzling me because the hardware is actually threaded into a clip instead of into the body like I though. I will figure it out some way or another.
After that I my rear calipers and carriers, touched up the paint, put on the new pads, and then installed them. It got dark by the time I got them installed so pictures will come Friday.Â
During the time the touch-ups on the calipers were drying, I thought I would see how my headlights will look with the modified mounts and Downstar hardware (excuse the super dusty headlight)
I am really happy with how all of this hardware is coming out.Â
I also vacuumed up all of the large debris in my drive side foot well and will start the hunt for rust. I don't really want to have to take up the sound deadening since this has all already taken way longer than I would like. I am thinking I can spray any surface rust with reformer and come back at a later time to redo deadening=)Â
Throughout the day my John did more welding and grinding in the bay during my other friends absence. He got a good chunk done and it is coming along.Â
I have an exam and Scooters this weekend so all of my progress will be getting done Friday afternoon.
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Rivet nuts are awesome, we have the big tool at work instead of using a bolt to draw it in. We use them for hanging conduit on the walls which are 4" foam panels with aluminum facing.Â
Tips, grease/antisieze the threads of the pulling bolt, and use the exact drill size that the package calls for, some need letter/number drills rather than fractional.
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