BenFenner's 2000 Black M-Coupe

**BenFenner** · 07-23-2014, 08:45 AM

Yah, I never understood the archive thing. I need to talk to Kevlar about that. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

Edit: Woohoo new page!

**Terry F.** · 07-23-2014, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by BenFenner

Yah, I never understood the archive thing. I need to talk to Kevlar about that. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

Edit: Woohoo new page!

799 to go. It will take a while before it is archived. And no one want to wade through a thousand post thread, even this one.

T

**BenFenner** · 07-23-2014, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by Terry F.

no one want to wade through a thousand post thread

That's what the Table of Contents is for in the first post. Take a look.

**Terry F.** · 07-23-2014, 02:59 PM

797. I see, thanks. Very complete, no doubt. Do you also post each task individually? Because all of this good info isn't real searchable to a new user, who might need the info the most. They wouldn't know to look for "Ben Fenner", but they would search for many of the topics that you address. I hate to see your efforts go to waste, so much time invested.

Terry

**BenFenner** · 07-23-2014, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by Terry F.

797. I see, thanks. Very complete, no doubt. Do you also post each task individually? Because all of this good info isn't real searchable to a new user, who might need the info the most. They wouldn't know to look for "Ben Fenner", but they would search for many of the topics that you address. I hate to see your efforts go to waste, so much time invested.

Terry

That's a really good point and one I'd like to address as best I can.

I do tend to naturally create threads when I have the need for one. For example, I had issues with the rear suspension on my car, so there is a thread for that. Once I get around to updating this build thread, I always link anything like that in the update. This process naturally leaves behind a searchable thread on the topic. I'll almost always add it to The Manifesto as well, since it's usually good info. Another good example is how to remove the B-pillar trim. That's a thread I made when workign on my rear suspension that is left for others to find easily.

Then there are other instances where I don't have questions, but I've done a lot of reseearch on a particular type of product or modification (for example, rear shock mounts and wheel spacers). Those threads came about because I needed some rear shock mounts/wheel spacers and there are TONS of options to sort through. I plan on doing the same for wheel studs, and maybe for clutch line replacements and brake line replacements. Obviously these threads go in The Manifesto too.
Maybe this is what you're talking about when you say you don't want my efforts to go to waste? If I invest real time on something, it gets a thread and cataloged in The Manifesto.

Now if only it always worked like that...

As you've gathered, there is a third scenerio. A lot of things I will just go ahead and do myself without needing a research thread and without posting elsewhere. Some of my updates can almost be treated as How Tos with the number and order of images, descriptions and such. Clearly those nuggets of information (if there are any worth sharing) are pretty burried in this thread if you're here looking for anything specific and you don't think to check the TOC. I'll agree with you there for sure. I only have two things to say there.

1) I will make a more concerted effort to post new threads whenever anything I post here could be used as a stand-alone thread. I'm already doing it, but I could do more I guess.

(However you'll have to realize that to me what constitutes thread-worthy knowledge might be different from others. If it's novel to me, or I see people in the need for the info I will post. This means a thread on how to change brake rotors is not likely to come from me even though I almost have a How To in this build thread already as those threads are time-consuimng to do well (it would have to be done WAY better than I have it in this thread now to meet my standards) and the general knowledge is out there already. But a tiny thread about what size hex tool is needed for that rotor retaining hardware is a little nugget I should share. Or what size Torx bit for the rear bumper support is more of the type of thing I'm finding useful at my skill level and naturally find useful to share.

2) However much or little I decide to share on this forum and how I share it is up to me. Obviously I want to give back to the community and I don't think anyone would say I'm guilty of making things LESS hard to find around here. Truly, I want to share as much as possible in the most organized way possible. I think that's been obvious from the get-go.
That being said, if I find it best for me to maintain one, long, monsterous build thread with untold nuggets of information effectively hidden inside that is sort of my porogotive and I don't think it's in anyone's place to force me to do otherwise. Ask, beg, and plead; sure. But not force. Especially considering that I'm on topic and not some newbie unaware as to how forums work and the tools at my disposal who just seems unable to click the "New Thread" button or what have you.
Don't take me the wrong way. I want to share and be organized and believe that I'm an example of the solution, not the problem. Given that, you'll see maybe why I think it's odd I only have 796 posts to go before I have to harm organization by making a Part 2 of this thread.

**Terry F.** · 07-23-2014, 05:11 PM

795.

Interesting reply. I'm not asking for or implying that any changes *need* to be made. You post whatever you want, however you want.

When you hit 1000 replies you have to buy a new car.

Terry

**BenFenner** · 07-23-2014, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by Terry F.

When you hit 1000 replies you have to buy a new car.

I'll let you know when the D2 donation link goes up.

**BenFenner** · 07-29-2014, 07:29 PM

Mechanical radiator fan removal | Album

It was time to delete the radiator fan. It's surprising how capable the electric auxiliary fan is on these cars. It is plenty to keep the temps down under all but the most extreme circumstances. When I think about others having their fan fail at speed sending blades into the hood, and the slight power gain, and the declutter aspect, and reducing stress on the water pump shaft it becomes a no-brainer to remove it.

The clutch threads into the water pump shaft with reverse threads don't forget. It's important to be able to hold the water pump pulley in place to get the leverage you need. I thought I would improvise and ended up not having any ability to hold the water pump pulley in place (don't even think about using pliers on the brittle, plastic composite water pump pulley). I didn't even have a 32mm wrench for the nut. It was miraculous I was able to get this job done. In the end two techniques were used. I used a long flathead screwdriver and a hammer to hammer on the edge of the nut for a long time. This may or may not have loosened the nut. It also may or may not have done lots of damage to the water pump shaft bearings? At this point I was wishing for an air hammer.
Next, I used a large adjustable crescent wrench (although not as long as I'd like) and careful blows with a mini-sledge (don't pound a hole in the radiator!) to just whack the crap out of the nut trying to get it to turn. This was a last ditch effort. Like I said, miraculously it came off.
Look hard enough at the second image and you'll see the wrench where the air box usually goes. You'll also see the pliers at the top that I tried on the water pump pulley. That just ended up chipping a small piece of the lip off the pulley.

**spacecowboy** · 07-29-2014, 09:48 PM

I picked up the water pump pulley holder & fan nut wrench off eBay like a lot of us have. It took almost no effort to break the tension on the nut. Don't know if it was the proper tools, not a great job tightening by someone, or if it would eventually vibrate loose, but it was so easy to do. The hardest part was slipping the fan out from behind the radiator shroud.

**BenFenner** · 07-30-2014, 08:55 AM

Yah, this was something I was expecting to do once in my life. It was hard to justify buying a tool or two just for that. I figured I could get something to hold onto the water pump pulley bolts. I was wrong.
I should have bought an air hammer... But I didn't have an air compressor at the time so it would have done me no good at the time anyway. I should have ordered my air compressor earlier.

**BenFenner** · 07-31-2014, 06:30 PM

Brake dust comparison | Album

You may recall a while back when I did my front brakes that I wanted to go to a pad with less dust, even if ultimate performance suffered. The OEM pads got replaced with Hawk Performance Ceramic (Hawk's daily driver pad with their least aggressive compound). After a good bit of driving I'm now able to compare the dust produced up front versus in back. The rear still has OEM pads, and typically produced 1/2 to 1/4th the dust that the front pads do. So after a long while the rears finally were pretty coated. Normally the fronts by now would have 2 or 4 times the amount of dust. With the Hawk pads I'm seeing less build-up up front than in the rear, and the color of the dust is less opaque which helps even more.

For now, I'm not in love with the pads but the dusting is certainly less. If this is where my modifications were to stop, I'd be okay. However I have a serious tire upgrade and some power mods in the future which I'm sure will require me to abandon these pads. I'll give those impressions later. Check out the front versus rear build-up.

Front. (Hawk Performance Ceramic pads)

Rear. (OEM Textar pads)

**BenFenner** · 09-19-2014, 11:45 PM

Jonathan Thayer's (mcoupemindy) seat tilt mod install | Album

I ended up leaving it installed on the passenger side only. I will have to find a better solution for the driver's side. Read here for my full review: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...-seat-tilt-mod

Picture time.

**BenFenner** · 09-22-2014, 11:00 AM

130,000 miles | Album

I bought the car 3 years ago with 118k miles on it.
This is not nearly as fun as watching the analog odometers turn.

**BenFenner** · 10-20-2014, 12:07 PM

Windshield washer fluid leaks - attempted fixes | Album

I knew my windshield washer fluid reservoir won't hold fluid, so I eventually got around to hunting down the issue(s). I figured I'd fix all of the issues before putting the underhood insulation back. If you recall, I removed it while the hood was repainted.
This is actually the second attempt at this. Somewhere in my old updates I have pictures of the disconnected line to the rear wiper washer. I connected that line and found the rear wiper nozzle clogged. I unclogged the nozzle but soon found a fluid leak in the hatch. This is probably why the fluid line was disconnected by one of the previous owners in the first place. So I have a leak in the hatch to fix, but I'll get to that later. I found that either the pump or reservoir/tank was leaking so I dug in deep and found more issues.

The reservoir was definitely leaking. I'm pretty sure the pump is leaking as well. One of the hoses hanging from the hood is also leaking. Apparently the whole system needs an overhaul.
In an effort to fix at least one problem and narrow down the additional issues I thought I'd try to re-seal the reservoir. I tried using a soldering iron to melt the seam together where it had split. This failed.

I will source another reservoir and move forward. For the time being, I will continue on without washer fluid.

Some pics:

**robb1887** · 10-20-2014, 03:34 PM

FWIW, alot of guys replaced the 5L res with a 2.5 that is a lot smaller (obviously), there is also a guy that used a 5'er filler neck with a Pep-boys generic tank to stuff it under the passenger headlight that looked super clean as well.

Might be worth looking into.

**BenFenner** · 10-20-2014, 05:44 PM

I wasn't entirely sure the 2.5L unit would be a direct fit (I'd considered it), but now I know.
As it stands, I got a used 5L unit for cheap that will probably go in. Maybe I'll think about a hidden one for the long haul.

**BenFenner** · 10-24-2014, 10:54 AM

Interior light dimmer bypass | Album

As is common with these cars, the dimmer for the interior lights was having issues, and then at some point it failed completely. I since learned that a short in the shift knob light can cause this. I'm still not sure if the PO installed an illuminated, or non-illuminated ZHP shift knob. Maybe the wiring is dangling? I'll sort it out at some point.

In the mean time, I took out the dimmer and bypassed the rheostat (potentiometer). I have a few pictures to post, and some advice.

1) If you don't know how to take the assembly out of the dash already, pay attention to this post. The pull-knob has a cap that comes off, and there is a nut to remove behind it. This will allow you to thread off the knob.
I thought that was all that was needed, and proceeded to pull the assembly out which broke the other mount.

Once the knob is out, there is a screw you can see if you look up high from a low vantage point that you will need to remove as well. The images will make this clear.
Then there are some plastic prongs to spread (or pinch)? It's pretty obvious. This will let the electrical assembly fall away from the HVAC vent so everything is much easier to remove.

2) None of the How-Tos show the best way to bypass the rheostat. They make things harder than they have to be. Do what I've done in the pictures and it will be much easier, and easily reversible. Connect the posts as I have, with solid-core wire (or a bent paper clip in my case). Don't try to clean off the copper traces and solder to the holes when there is a much better option available. Just in case, insulate the paper clip you added from the metal case backing by putting a strip of electrical tape on the back of the case.

3) I tried soldering the break in the rheostat coil itself but the metal rejects the solder.

I have also given these pieces of advice in other threads:

Originally Posted by BenFenner

Funny you made this post, last weekend I just got around to bypassing the dimmer mechanism (rheostat). It is a simple procedure, but don't do what I did and break things when taking it apart.

To get at the mechanism, remove the headlight stalk cover by pulling on it. There is a nut behind that. Undo the nut and then the rest of the headlight stalk will come out by threading it off. You will notice a screw above that you can access once you remove the headlight stalk. I do believe you want to unscrew that. Then, you can push the stalk rod in while tweezing the plastic tabs that hold the electrical unit to the HVAC vent housing. This lets the headlight switch and dimmer assembly fall away backward so you can pull the HVAC vent housing out WITHOUT braking the tab that the screw (you removed this just prior) catches on.

Once you have the vent out, it will be easy to remove the switch assembly. From there, you can visually inspect the rheostat (mine had a clear break in the coils) and/or use a continuity test to make sure it is working properly. You can solder in a jumper to deal with the issue if the rheostat is toast. You can't really fix the rheostat, as the coils are stainless steel and solder won't stick to it. I doubt they sell just that part anywhere easily found. The entire switch assembly runs around $45 and is the other option obviously.

I have pics of all this if you think it will help.

Originally Posted by BenFenner

Two flathead screwdrivers and you should be all set. Or one and some wiggling...

Originally Posted by BenFenner

The way the rheostat works means that failure modes differ. However, I'll try to explain how it can fail.

Typically when the rheostat fails, it fails at the point where the knob is set. The coils burn up at the junction point, and dimmer settings BELOW that point will no longer work because of the break in the coils. Settings ABOVE the break will still work. 99% of the time the dimmer is set to full brightness when it fails, so the gauge lights don't work at full brightness, or obviously any setting below that.

Yours being stuck at some dim setting is very odd. Nothing quickly comes to my mind as to how that is possible.

You can by-pass the rheostat pretty easily to get the lights to show at full brightness, which is what many folks do. I did mine a couple weeks back (a bit better than I've seen posted on the forum). It will not increase bulb life doing this. They will be at their brightest, and likely shortest life. Also, if the reason for the rheostat failure is not addressed (a short somewhere) before by-passing it, things can get worse.

I hesitate to mention it because I don't think it is significant, but I had one bulb out before my dimmer died, and since by-passing it I've had another bulb die on me. For what that's worth.

**BenFenner** · 11-01-2014, 02:09 PM

Glove box knee crash plate removal | Album

In an effort to get stuff done, I also removed the knee crash plate from the glove box (or what ever that thing is called). I wasn't dealing with glove-box sag at the time, but I thought I should address it anyway. In the process I replaced some missing screws/threaded clips and really shored up the whole thing quite well including getting the second retaining strap connected properly. The provisions for the plate itself crumbled when disabling, which wasn't a big deal.

**BenFenner** · 11-08-2014, 03:37 PM

Adjust sticking HVAC blend door | Album

The foam or whatever on the blend door has long since disintegrated, and the rubber seal is sticking to the cold side as many others have experienced. The previous owner ever had the HVAC knobs replaced because of damage done due to this issue.
I moved the attachment point of the cable on the door to prevent it from closing completely while I already had the glove box off. It is an annoying job and tough to figure out how much to adjust, so I may have gone too far (but I don't think so). Two winters later and my heat is not nearly as cold as it should be. I'll tackle that issue later, it's probably air in the heater core or something else.

**BenFenner** · 01-01-2015, 08:23 AM

Track day - Virginia International Raceway (VIR) Full course | Album

I know it's been a while since I updated last. I've been very busy with other stuff.
Here are the pics (and video this time!) from another trip to VIR. We did the full course this time which was a treat.