Yeah those do look pretty sweet for reps, and the welding fix for the crack was nothing short of genius. Should be interesting to see how it holds up.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Thanks guys. I'm pretty pleased with them. They aren't perfect but for a winter set up they should do the trick - there's a few blemishes like some nicks and you can see some paint ridges in spots, but the paint actually came out really nice. Won't be mistaken for clear coated aluminum, but that's OK since they mostly be dirty given VT winters.
Wish I had the guy send his pictures of the repair process. It was pretty cool. Before he did the work he actually was warning me that the crack would come back in another spot, but after he was done, he said no problem, it should hold up great. We'll see how it goes.
Here r some for a spare
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/wto/5311206746.html
Last edited by clarkitect; 05-21-2020 at 11:05 AM.
Thanks! Yeah they are staggered.
Looking at your car, yeah it does look like a bit of gap on mine. The front seems ok normally, but there's a good bit of rake in the rear. I know I can get in and out of my driveway no problem, unlike my old 530. That would really scrape.
I can't slide my jack under the front without driving up on ramps though, so not sure how much lower I'd go. Definitely drop the rear when I get around to springs and shocks.
So, thanks to Shanecarmaster (lol ), I am now thinking about something that hardly even crossed my mind before - my car's ride height! What do others with stock sport suspension have for a hide height? I measured mine this morning - 27 1/2" to the top of the rear wheel arch, and 28" to the top of the fronts. Odd because the car looks sort of jacked up in the back.
Anyway, if anyone running stock sport suspension felt like dragging out a tape measure, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
Last edited by clarkitect; 11-23-2015 at 08:28 AM.
Last edited by clarkitect; 05-21-2020 at 11:06 AM.
Mine is dropped on UUC springs, but I'm soon to go back to stock M Sport that it originally came with (of course I sold those springs) because I want the rake back. I think what sometimes makes the gap look much bigger is that the M Parallels are REALLY sunken in. It gives the look of a lot of space. I saw BlueCrabMafia's Imola Red sport with spacers in person and the car seemed to be a perfect height. When a Sport looks really good in pictures, it's usually devoid of any hint that the M Parallels are in fact sunken all the way in. It's something I've noticed.
I'll probably try to harass some people into selling me rear Sport springs and get 15mm spacers of front and 20mm for the rear. As I said, when the tires are actually parallel with the fender, the gap isn't too bad.
Thanks for the dimensions guys. Guess I am about average. I actually started to wonder if a PO had swapped out the suspension. Guess not.
Definitely some spacers would make a difference.
Taking her on a road trip today. No snow (thank goodness). My daily transportation is a pair of shoes so getting to drive is a real treat.
So I have been adding a bit of coolant every few weeks until recently when I noticed blue puddle under the car. Since I don't have a pressure tester I made on up out of an old radiator cap. Works like a charm.
I determined that the water pump was leaking around the gasket. I used a BMW gasket here specifically because I heard they were the best to use, but it was leaking so I replaced it and decided I should check everything with my tester before I filled it back up. Good thing too because it still was leaking around the gasket! WTF!? So I took it apart again, and determined that this little pipe protruded 5mm from the face of the timing cover, but the water pump only had a 4mm hole for it to fit in.
Here's that little pipe:
And the hole it goes into:
For some reason that was preventing the WP from seating properly. Not sure why it didn't just get pushed in when I tightened the WP bolts but it didn't. I think it has been leaking since I installed the thing. I lightly tapped that pipe in just a couple millimeters and it now seals perfectly, but when I pressure test it I hear air escaping from the rear. I am pretty sure it's the O-ring at the rear coolant accumulator pipe because one of the pipes came out with the water pump. I got it back in but the year old O-ring must be shot. I am planning to access the accumulator by taking off the intake manifold to give some working room.
Has anyone done this without taking off the intake or should I just bite the bullet?
Do yourself a favor and pull the intake. The rear accumulator sucks to remove and install even with the intake gone.
And how did you get a black gasket from the dealer? It should be green and a bit thicker. The extra thickness of the oe green gasket would have accounted for why the dowel pin was too far out as well
That black gasket is the one that came with the water pump I installed when I did the guides. I didn't use it at the time, I used the OEM gasket instead. It was the OEM gasket that was leaking, so I had to search around to find the black one to use the other day. Found it safely stored in the pages of my Bentley manual. Luckily had two spare o-rings too. Now unluckily I need to order new ones for the rear.
Yeah, I figured pulling the intake would be the way to go. I just needed some moral support.
I almost want to pull the waterpump again rather than mess with that coolant accumulator. I can get that out in about 15 minutes at this point.
I would rather pull the water pump again. The rear accumulator is awful to remove, even with the intake manifold off. Once you have the new o-rings for the water pipes installed, lubricate them so that the pipes slide in easily. If you don't lubricate them, they'll pinch the o-rings and you'll get leaks. Ask me how I know.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
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