e34 Touring

[straight6pwr]

YoungCR said:

I'd send Paul a message next time and see if he has any in stock or will be making more, I forgot about those. He's a big E28 guy and a very knowledgeable CCA advisor. 

well thats awesome of you, thanks! if these don't hold up through next season I'll be wanting to buy something better.

[Jdesign]

As far as those rear mounts go, would it be possible to add some window weld for extra material support? I have used that stuff to make rare hard to find, or weak rubber/poly mounts strong again.

[Bassboy3313]

Jdesign said:

As far as those rear mounts go, would it be possible to add some window weld for extra material support? I have used that stuff to make rare hard to find, or weak rubber/poly mounts strong again.

+1 on that. I have done it too.

[straight6pwr]

how would that work?  I can't picture it. 

i've attached a diagram of an e30/e36 rear mount, which is the same principal as the e34. the rubber part of the bushing completely torn all the way around the center metal sleeve (red lines), separating the mount into two pieces. the only thing keeping the shock from separating from the mount completely was the washers on top/bottom that cant pass through the mount (show as red discs)

[Jdesign]

You could do a few things. Obviously this is a bit of work, and if I was in your shoes I wouldn't do and of this. I would probably just take out all of the soft rubber material, take some measurements, go on energy suspensions website and find a bushing that would match the dimensions. If you don't do that, here is a quick idea of how you could use window weld. The blue tube could be welded around the material, or just used to contain it while you pour the part. I would also suggest drilling through the new mounts allowing the window weld to flow through the existing rubber on the mount.

[straight6pwr]

picking up where we left off - i didnt get to do any ice racing this year so my RSMs are still intact and I didnt bother getting into reinforcements.

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can't believe I bought this car 5 years ago already.  she's up to 158k (from 93k)

a little sad that she has been relegated to just getting repaired when it breaks, and the upgrades have stopped. c'est la vie. i almost pulled the trigger on a 4.0 over this winter, but that one has a snowball effect of a new flywheel/clutch/pp that would have doubled the project cost. the stock 3.0 clutch setup is the same specs as the m50, so it can't handle the extra TQ.

ok, enough reminiscing, time for the boring stuff. 

in the saga that is my driver's window continually snapping clips and coming off the regulator, i decided to just replace the whole regulator to see how that goes. the regulator is slightly bent out of spec and my guess is its not allowing the torque to be applied correctly to the clips.

hint: the e34 the regulators are riveted on. you'll need to drill em out and have 5x 10mm bolts/nuts for the new regulator. super easy repair on an e34 (no contorting your hands and cutting up your arms reaching inside the door skins)

nothing else to see here. i only posted the dumb video because e30.

20180304_130650.mp4

Attachments:

• 20180304_130650.mp4

[YoungCR]

Where did you buy the regulator?

[straight6pwr]

YoungCR said:

Where did you buy the regulator? 

oops, missed this.  i found it on ebay for cheap. fit perfectly, seemed as good quality as the BMW part.

small update: got a great deal on some snowflakes (style 15s) from an e31 with near new tires. also, got the car into summer roadtrip mode. I've had some great trips so far, courtesy of this hauler. my 18" style 32s are for sale, i just haven't had time to post them.

[P_Roloff]

Looks like you spend quite a bit of time on the water, and talk about a perfect rig to get there with. Do any fishing yet this year? I really like the new wheels too!

[straight6pwr]

P_Roloff said:

Looks like you spend quite a bit of time on the water, and talk about a perfect rig to get there with. Do any fishing yet this year? I really like the new wheels too!

i have! although i've done mostly small river kayaking this season, which isnt the best for fishing. i also have an upcoming trip to hayward to hunt muskie that i'm pumped about

[P_Roloff]

straight6pwr said:

i have! although i've done mostly small river kayaking this season, which isnt the best for fishing. i also have an upcoming trip to hayward to hunt muskie that i'm pumped about

Whereabouts? My family has been vacationing on the same lake in the general Hayward area for the last 40ish years, definitely a good area for Muskie. I actually just got back from a 3 day boundary waters fishing trip, did some walleye fishing up there.

[straight6pwr]

we stay/fish on the Tiger cat chain, but also put the boats in at Spider Lake, Lake Chippewa, and Lac Coutre Oreilles. 

ooo, boundary waters is on my bucket list. catch any big ones? any smallies?

[P_Roloff]

Gotcha, yeah that’s a nice area. Fishing this year was pretty slow, we missed it by about a week for the walleye. They just finished the spawn so they weren’t really moving. Still caught a few though along with some pike, but no smallies. 

100% would recommend going, this was my 5th trip up there and even with the crappy fishing it was still a blast. It’s such a neat area in terms of geography, lots of cliffs and rock formations.

[B C]

Wow! this looks enjoyable

[straight6pwr]

indeed it is. just have to watch out for the crazy wisconsin serial killers lurking in the deep woods. we found a creepy shooting range and a deer carcass that was dumped over a bridge in a bag with the skull sawed open. ️

[KaiserRolls]

straight6pwr said:

indeed it is. just have to watch out for the crazy wisconsin serial killers lurking in the deep woods. we found a creepy shooting range and a deer carcass that was dumped over a bridge in a bag with the skull sawed open. ️

Keep a gun on you during these excursions lol

[straight6pwr]

KaiserRolls said:

Keep a gun on you during these excursions lol

certainly a thought that crossed my mind as we portaged the kayaks through a place full of creepy dolls, santa decorations, and random office furniture.

the gf was like 'oooooo this is cool' and walked around taking pictures as i'm hurriedly getting the boats back in the water like

[straight6pwr]

fixin' stuff.

per my technical thread:

I replaced the lower steering column u-joint today. one of the two bearings was seized to where i couldn't rotate it by hand.

New joint 

Process:

Remove the heatshield under the driver's side headers to gain access to the joint

Loosen the large steering column spline nut under the dash to be able to slide the splined shaft into the column. (you have to remove all 3 kick panels for access)

Undo the top u-joint pinch bolt and remove it. Slide the splined shaft up and out of the top of the u-joint. It was pretty stuck so I loosened it by driving a large flathead screw driver into the pinch bolt slot of the u-joint to spread it as much as possible. It is aluminum, so it will mangle, but since I'm replacing it doesnt matter.  Then, placing a long screw driver at the base of the column, pounded upwards until it released. This took a bit of effort. You can see in my photo how hard i had to hit the shaft to release it by the marring. Be careful not to damage the splines. Luckily I had coated the entire joint in PB blaster last week. Then slide the column up as far as it will go to get it out of the way. 

Undo the bottom u-joint pinch bolt, spread the slot with the screw driver, and pound upwards on the joint to slide it off. The u-joint should fall off then.

Clean bothsplines with WD-40 and a soft wire brush to remove residue and surface rust. Lightly grease.

Tighten the large steering column spline nut under the dash and slide the new joint up onto the column. note the shaft is keyed where the bolt goes through, so line it up. put the bolt in and thread the nut on lightly to hold it in place.

Loosen the large steering column spline nut under the dash. Align your wheels forward and the steering wheel centered. Slide the u-joint down onto the splines of the steering box. The shaft is keyed 360 deg around, but make sure you line up the bolt hole to the right depth.

Tightened down both u-joint nuts, then the steering column spline nut.

Done.

new joint vs. old joint. please note the length difference is irrelevant and both styles work 100% the same. 

[straight6pwr]

also, I started diving into the hatch wiring and general hatch issues.

the passenger side ball joint that the tailgate strut mounts to has disintegrated to nothing, causing the strut to keep popping off.  This is a real problem if it happens and you dont have torx bit to remove the strut from the hatch. collapsing the strut by hand takes a man stronger than me. 

not much left there. 

new ball joint. pretty interesting part, there is a gasket on the back of the integrated washer to keep water out of the body.

And finally, the dreaded e34 touring hatch wiring problems. for those not familiar, the e34 touring has fairly terribly engineering rear hatch. the wiring on every car will eventually break and need to be replaced. also, if the hatch glass is stuck closed due to electronic issues, there is no way to get it open without breaking interior pieces. 

I've put off doing this, since the functions i've lost so far havent been inconviencing. but, a month ago, both hatch opening handles were inop, so wait longer I cannot. 

things that don't work so far because of bad wiring:

1. interior dome light doesnt come on when you open the hatch
2. rear wiper does not return to same spot everytime
3. rear defroster inop
4. glass switch inop
5. gate switch inop

two broken wires, and about 4 wires that are about to break on passenger side

rear defroster harness crushed to almost nothing

two broken wires and several cracked on driver's side.

more updates on this in the future when it stops raining

also, I will be selling the touring in the spring. tell your friends, and such.

[YoungCR]

Selling?? Can’t wait to see what’s to come but hopefully this car stays around too.