oh man you don’t have an xbrace yet?
put it in. now. don’t waste another day. trust me.
dunno you’d have to ask bobby. i only drove it on those a few times and they just didnt seem to have very much overall grip.
and ask xreaction112 about spinning out in the rain coming home from an auto X :lmao :lmao :lmao
I have one and have the nutserts etc. Will put it in, I know it makes a big difference. :thumb
The nutserts are easy too, just make your tool with some beefy hardware. Don’t worry if they spin, you can just hit the bolts with my impact once they’re resting in place in the subby. They’ll snug right in.
Nice work Archie! I love the wheels man. One question, didn’t your car need an inner tie rod or am i thinking of a different car? I don’t clearly remember, it was a LONG weekend.
Thanks Wayne. Yeah if you read the Stage 5 write up in its entirety (tough I know without caffeine) you’ll see that the tie rods were replaced with new ones! Entire assembly was replaced on both sides, not only the inner part.
It may as well be a different car, I am so happy right now just driving it around and knowing the suspension will cooperate…
awesome man, didn’t realize you put entire assemblies on it, i thought it was just outers and i was like oh noes, that car needed an inner! lol
Stage 6 – Issues and the Power of Community [UPDATED 1/10/2010]
Calling this a “stage” is a bad joke, kind of like this vehicle. It’s more like “Mistake 6 – Issues and….”
Well, you have to give me credit for being unique here. For one thing, this is probably the only build thread where:
- Car has shiny bright and clean headlights
- Interior has been fixed up to some extent
- Car has rims/tires/major rear end work and good suspension
YET the engine bay still manages to look like:
Damn, this M50 looks like it spent New Year’s Eve at the Albany bus terminal with the head resting on the toilet.
I will continue to stand by my excuses that
- this is a daily so I don’t care what it looks like and
- the price of bread has gone up $0.32 and BoA does not finance Simple Green
This time, though, it turns out the lack of attention would come to bite me in the a$$… (Actually, after spending most of the holidays demolishing a 7 lb Honey Baked ham with my cousin Brian, a bite out of my a$$ may help me to look quite appealing)
Yes I know the visual imagery was just too much and some ladies out there had to take a cold shower. So dry yourselves off and read on (this totally did not sound good).
Now, let’s back things up a few days:
12/31/2009, 1:47 PM – Getting ready to head out to NH for the long New Year’s weekend. After piling about 7 bags, stroller, crib, etc into the family van, I’m feeling lazy to clean off the Beemer before I stick it into the garage. So I don’t. In it goes with about 6 inches of snow on the car.
1/1/2010, uh, all day – Most of the day is spent struggling to breath in between bites of Honey Baked Ham.
1/2/2010, 1145 AM - Somehow, Brian and I finish the ham after just 2 sittings, and decide that defrosting and roasting their turkey left over from T Day is a good idea – for, ah, FOUR people. So the rest of the weekend is spent in and out of food coma.
1/3/2010, 7:45 PM – Back in NY after driving through the snowstorm. My belly rubbing on the Odyssey steering wheel functioned as a sort of passive stability control mechanism and probably helped me save the van from a couple slides. Thanks Honey Baked Ham.
I get into the 325 to pull it out of the garage but all I got was-
WHRRWHRRRWHRRRRRWHRRRRRR just cranking, no firing.
I thought I heard it catch once or twice, but no more than a revolution or two and it just wouldn’t go.
I try it about 6 times, alternating between stepping on the gas and not, but it was as if the M50 is saying “not now, man, lemme sleep it off some more ok!?!”
Although this is my daily, I’m lucky in that my brother is out on vacation so I can use the Civic tomorrow to get to work. I’m tired, so I give up on trying to do anything more.
Monday morning: a couple of PMs from more knowledgeable Shift members later (oh wait, “more knowledgeable” could mean the entire forum so let me be more specific- thanks Fn Skanks and skiboard), I was armed with the following ideas:
- Turn off the sappy R&B and listen for fuel pump priming before starting
- Crank Position and/or Cam Position Sensor(s) could be bad (Yikes!!)
- Moisture from melted snow could have crept into the DME and screwed something up
- Moisture in tank could be bad enough that it’s affecting ability to start
- Pull coils / plugs and check for fuel delivery
Fn dropped by that evening to help check me out (and the car as well).
Before I could ask insightful troubleshooting questions such as “Yo does Bavarian have one V or two?”, the rear seat was apart and Fn was asking me to put it in RUN so he could listen for the pump.
We went through that and I checked fuse #18 under the hood and it all seemed legit.
While I cranked it, we could also smell fuel, so it seemed that fuel delivery wasn’t the issue. I had already checked around the DME and it was dry so I doubt it went bad (whew).
Soon, though, we find this:
Yuck. I could almost see the electrons slipping and sliding all over the place trying to jump the gap.
This called for cleanup of the coils, new plugs, and a new valve cover gasket to make sure it stayed oil free. I thanked Fn for help with the diagnosis and started piecing together the plan.
Next day, I order some parts from Union Foreign Auto in Ballston Spa.
Note: Good service there, the lady answering the phone really sounds like the band camp girl from American Pie. Dead serious.
Getting the valve cover off is easy- the hardest part is the bolt at the left rear of the engine.
But since I pack mad small tools getting in is never an issue (re-reading this sentence I realize why I never had any good game):
Removing bolt at the rear
JDM mallet that I used to tap out the GDM cover!
These spark plug seals actually cracked in pieces as I was removing them. Yep, I’m sure they were preventing all kinds of leaks in this condition!!
Coverless M50
I took a moment to congratulate myself on not dropping washers / nuts straight into the combustion chamber, then cleaned up the mating surfaces with gasket scraper and then put some Permatex on the front and rear of the head before laying the new Reinz valve cover on:
Then I replaced the old hardened up bolt washers
I went with NGK BKR6E’s for the plugs after reading BF.com.
Although these are supposed to be pre-gapped at 0.032”, I found mine were all at 0.036” so I adjusted the gap down before installing.
Another after pic
I also replaced the breather valve / O ring to prevent more leaks:
OK, so the moment of truth… Get into the car and crank it some more.
The engine catches a couple times but keeps dying. Hmmmm seemed to be getting closer but still not quite there.
I scratch my head and nuts (in that order, I think) and remember another PM where Skiboard told me to try and put HEET in the tank to remove moisture build up in the tank. Good thing I picked some up on the way home.
I put 2/3 of the HEET into the tank and go chill for awhile… Wait 25 minutes and about 5 attempts later I had:
YESSSSS! Got it started!
I had to give it gas to get it to start but after it ran for a minute I could take my foot of the pedal and it settled down to about 800 RPM eventually.
Just to be sure, I drove the car to the gas station and filled up the tank. Car felt smooth, no hesitation. Good for me.
So in the end, a problem that would have me stressed out about how to get to work turned into a pretty easy fix and great learning experience.
Thanks again to the E36 heads and cheers for the power of community!
:thumb
How much fuel was in the tank when it wouldn’t start?
Quite a bit, 6 gallons
It’s amazing how you can turn a task that could easily be summed up in a sentence into a highly entertaining, hilarious, educational masterpiece, Archie!!!
edit: just reread what i posted… to clarify, i was complimenting you :lol
<<<<---- Will be callin union auto later :excited :lol
Holy lots of documented work. Keep the ankle pics out. LOL… Keep up the thread…nice!
- 1
ridiculous
i love your posts :lol
Thanks, I will continue turning small jobs into big boondoggles and taking credit for the work of others…
Maybe if I took this attitude into work more, it would help me move out of a cubicle and into a real office someday :lol
But seriously, I enjoy writing / documenting and since I don’t have any big dollar or complex projects to work with, I make do with what I have and am happy with that. If others can be entertained along the way, that’s a bonus.
Nice work man! As always, a great read.
Yeah I hear you. I hope to do that in the spring when we revamp the mr2, but i said that last spring when we dropped the motor and only took like 4 pics and no write-up :lol
good read mang!
I still love this thread with your stories Archie!
Glad it all worked out.
Let me know if the woman answers and if it sounds like band camp girl. And if she mentioned sticking the breather hose in the ________ = get at me ASAP
Man, I did like 100 calf raises just before taking that pic too… OK fine will keep skin out of it.
Thanks, I was finally able to update post #1, somehow I think I bumped into a limit for images in one post… Hehehe :ninja
Psyched to get that LSD in… See ya soon broski.
So basically last spring you did 1000x the work that’s in here and only have four pics!? Heheh.
Appreciate the help and suggestions. :thumb
I’m sure car will need more to come…