My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)
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I've always been happy with ECS as well Bought a crap load of stuff from them about a month ago. They called me up about a few items that weren't exactly as I ordered (out of stock, replacement, etc). Seems to be a good complany.
I went and checked out the new daily with Earl. His new Honda Insight (first gen) is pretty sweet.
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John and I got a nice chunk of work done this weekend. I had planned to just peel the carpet back from the firewall (so it doesn't catch fire again during welding), run my front air lines through the interior, and then start on my false floor.
John decided we would pull the whole carpet since it needs to be replaced and it would be in our way four routing the air lines anyways. I shockingly did not take many pictures of the interior removal but it was pretty straight forward.Â
We removed the seats, drivers side knee panel, and then the center console. After that it was just a matter of making a few cuts in the carpet to free it from the center of the dash frame.
In the process, I broke my gas pedal. There is a clip to release it and then you should be able to wiggle it back and forth until it pops out. Upon wiggling it back and forth, the plastic fatigued and the pedal broke from its base...oh well. lol
I also got a good look on how bad that fire was behind the carpet a few weekends ago.Â
A bit worse than I thought but good thing it went out easily.Â
After that I helped John route the air lines in a factory way. We followed the wiring harness tracks in the floor and came out into the wheel well in a nice spot. (excuse the surface rust from the wheel wells sitting raw for months)
Passenger side
Drivers side
The passenger side floor was in perfect shape. The drivers side has a few small surface rust spots from all of the winters the car has seen. I will be using a course wire brush and spraying rust reformer in all of the spots. Nothing is bubbling or looks to be serious at all which is great=)
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Saturday was a decently productive day.
The day started off with my buddy Kyle (different one than the one welding my bay) coming out and checking the timing on my engine. We picked it up off of the engine stand by the engine mounts and set it on the bench with an engine hoist. We quick tossed the flywheel on and found a socket about the same diameter as the timing slot in the flywheel. Low and behold it lined up perfectly with the hole in the block. He turned it over a few times and I had a huge grin on my face knowing that I somehow managed to get it timed right.
After that, he left and I decided to start removing my dash. In order to do this I had to remove all of the components that are attached.
I started with the defrost vents
You can see the three bolts holding the top of the dash to the frame (only one other bolt on each end holds the dash onto the frame)
After that I removed the HVAC panel (note the two screws)
I also removed the radio at that time but didn't take any pictures. The black plug on the back was kicking my ass. I slid the locking cage up but it was still stuck in there really well. I sat and wiggled it furiously in spurts for around 45 minutes and it finally came out.Â
After that I removed the gauge cluster
Then the wiper and turn signal stalks needed to come off
And then the dash came out (I put the stalks and column cover back on to keep them out of the way and from getting broken)
The dash was a lot easier to remove than I thought it would be.Â
Once that was out I went back to the motor. I torqued down the bolts on the lower timing cover to get it seated for good. Some of the paint ended up flaking around the bolts from the torque but I will go back with a foam brush and some matte black paint later and do touchup.Â
I then removed the upper timing cover bolts to install the cover....or so I thought
I went to dry fit the profile gasket and ran into a problem. The profile gasket between the head and rear timing case sits out a little too far, causing the ends of the timing cover profile gasket to not seat correctly.
I tried pushing it back to where it should be but it wouldn't stay. I tried force fitting the ends of the timing cover gasket into the available space but could only get one side in to where I felt comfortable.
I am not quite sure what to do to make sure it won't leak and to get it to seat well.
During that time I also repaired a mount on my front bumper that I had snapped off a while back. I also helped my friend Kevin lower my friend Johns Passat to its normal non-winter height.Â
I decided I would grab my bumper and bring it home to work on throughout the week. The bottom edge where the exhaust cutout was shaved really needs to be smoothed out since there was way too much material added. I also decided to shave the tow hook cover since it seemed to stick out to me more now that the exhaust cutout is gone. I was going to shave the crease in the bumper as well but a friend convinced me that it fits well with how the skirts seam up with the body.
Yesterday I decided to get a start on shaving the tow hook cover.
I started by cutting off the tether.
I then removed the metal clip (I would have kept it for reinforcement but it seemed too rusty)
After that I roughed the edges up with 80 grit, mixed some epoxy, and put it in place for good.
It seemed to keep sinking at the edges no matter what I did so I will sand it all out smooth and then add another coat to rid of the low spots.Â
Here it is cured and you can see how much sanding I need to do to the lower edge to get it straight.
My second set of replacement hubs should be here today. I should hopefully be able to get the hubs reassembled for good. I still need to figure out how to get my last caliper assembled and solve my stripping bleeder screw threads in my other front caliper.Â
Other than that the e34 has been working awesome for daily duty purposes and I sold the Prelude friday evening=)
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Looking good.
I like the shaving of the tow hook port, but how will you tow it....or rather where will you hook up to it ot drag it onto the flatbed?
As for the gasket, would simply taking a dremel and adding some clearance in the offending area work? It seems like it would still seal well enough.
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The front still has a tow hook port=) If the car ever ends up in a ditch, there will be more to worry about than dragging it out by a chain around the trailing arm=P lol The rear bumper also comes off very easily so I could just remove it and use the tow hook.
I would do that but I am just wondering why I am having an issue. The gaskets are all OEM so there shouldn't be any sizing issues.
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Agreed, makes sense on the tow hook...I assumed you were shaving the front too.
Maybe send those pics to ECS (assuming you purchased it through them), see what they have to say. Based on the service you've gotten, and what I've personally experienced, they would probably be eager to help.
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My new hubs came from ECS yesterday. Since we had issues with the SKF bearings twice they upgraded me to the FAG bearings at no charge=)
They slid right onto the spindle of the knuckle and they fit perfectly around the inner dust covers. I got my studs installed right away too.Â
I need to find some Evercoat Polyflex for my rear bumper as a finishing filler. I also need to grab a sanding block. Once I get those I will work on the bumper=)Â
I leave you with an old booty shot (you can see how the bottom edge of the bumper isn't flat where the exhaust cutout was shaved)
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I fiddled with the bumper a bit last night.Â
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.Â
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=)
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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.Â
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.Â
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
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Achieved zero progress over the weekend. The girlfriends rear drums brakes proved to be a weekend long endeavor.Â
These came in however:
I will be installing those Saturday, as well as installing my new sway bar endlinks, bushings, brackets, and hardware.Â
I will also be getting the inside of the valve cover cleaned out and then installing it for good on the engine.Â
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=)
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