Rumor has it this bish is back on de rode.
2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)
Former:
1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)
With a huge amount of help on assembly and triple checking the timing and VANOS were spot on.... She fired up and settled into a beautiful idle almost immediately!
Here's some pics from along the way on assembly.
And DONE!
Just have to do some more coolant bleed cycles, pop a few things back on and put some miles on her!!
This has easily been one of the more challenging, time consuming... But rewarding wrenching projects I've taken on.
A huge thanks is owed to Mr. GearGrinder and Chris who helped with the timing tools / expertise and assembly. I'd have been in over my head without some overly helpful local assistance, and the great resources available here as well.
Cannot wait to get out for a drive finally!
Last edited by scottieducati; 06-10-2017 at 11:10 PM.
Did some errands this afternoon and let her cool, coolant level looked good tonight and I got to give her a proper thrashing. Didn't miss a beat, feels solid everywhere although almost feels like "less" power, I attribute that to things being a bunch smoother particularly through / after hard throttle application after the VANOS rebuild. No doubt things are still settling in as well.
Might sound funny but upon lifting the hood after, the engine smells great. No burning oil or coolant smell, just hot engine smell / what you'd expect.
No signs of leaks, but I put a fresh bit of cardboard down under the car for the night. Will check it, and the coolant level tomorrow. May have to remove some coolant if I don't get any level drop as she cools.
Otherwise, so far so good
Car continues to feel better and better with miles. Coolant and oil levels holding nicely.
For those following the Ducati build, finally got her out for a proper ride today! No knock under load up a nice grade, and idle / fueling overall feels pretty good. The high comps definitely added to the midrange and top end. If forgotten how amazing she sounds. Best sounding bike I've ever owned, IMO.
She cleans up nice for a 19-year old bike...
So went up to GG's place this afternoon for what we thought would be a 2 hour quick fix of my non-tilting sunroof. After finding more broken bits than we thought.... The whole cassette had to come out.
Started with the headliner:
One of the offending bits:
Cleaned my cassette tray up:
Can't get a video to upload but here's a pic of it up:
Buttery smooth operation now with a good level. Enjoyed the drive home with the roof open!
Can't thank GG enough for his expertise, recently having done this twice on his own (...how, I don't know. This is a 2 person job IMO), and for randomly having just the right spares for some of my offending bits.
She's back together but much of my headliner / A and B pillars need some attention. This poor car got baaaaaked in the sun for too many years and everything is melty / brittle where the heat has gotten to it. Anyway, another job for another day.
What a night....
Last edited by scottieducati; 06-24-2017 at 01:41 AM.
Nice job, you guys. Love the OSHA approved work boots...
Set the controls for the heart of the sun
Ha ha - man you made it home in good time to post that by 1:36! I'm sure roads were a ghost town. Glad you enjoyed it on the ride back.
In retrospect, although I was gettin' real tired of pulling bellows and fiddling w/ screws, I'm really glad we did those last couple iterations of fit-check, and glass adjustment, it seemed to slide much better after that even though it seemed "OK" before.
I'm thinking about updating my big old post on cassettes now that we have an even further better idea of how the various bits of the damn thing work. For reader benefit: we had 2 cassettes fully torn down with every single mechanism disassembled... the one single thing we didn't do was remove the cables from the tracks. As Scottie says, freakish mojo worked out that the non-broken parts on my old cassette happened to be exactly the ones that were needed on his.
- - - Updated - - -
Ha. Once summer kicks in, I tend to avoid footwear as much as possible. Prob not best idea during a car project, I think I was actually wearing shoes MOST of the time...
2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)
Former:
1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)
As I said last night... How he managed to do this twice single handedly is.... Legendary.
Got to cleaning up the stock brakes. My winter setup will be 16" wheels on new BFG Comp-2 A/S:
New paint after loooooads of cleaning:
Have new rotors, pads and SS lines to go on with these once I finish rebuilding them. Probably sometime in the fall I'll swap to winter / old man mode.
Also finally remounted my engine under tray and cleaned up some of the driver's side fender liner where it was a bit cracked and beaten up. Will eventually order a new fender liner and under plastic bits and hardware.
With the VW gone she's now pulling daily duty. Purring like a kitten since the TCG job.... But I do have an oil leak.
ID'd the leak from the chain tensioner area. Had an issue with the powder coat on the upper timing covers that meant we had to sand down the area the tensioner sits in. Obviously don't have a great seal so will have to try some gasket goop and see if it helps.
Last edited by scottieducati; 07-30-2017 at 05:03 PM.
Sorry didn't reply to texts brother, down on MV in family vacation chaos (fun but hectic and distracted).
Yeah extra prepping and triple checking overspray on PC'D covers is a must. BTDT. I have some powder coat stripper which of course I always forget I have until I've hand sanded it off. That's a crush washer application, wondering if you used a fresh crusher? Goop usually isn't great help w those.
We should connect again soon, let me know if you're in neighborhood w the in-laws for sure.
2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)
Former:
1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)
Not sure a washer of any kind was used.... We fitted and refitted several times after slow sanding. No word back from Chris yet...
You definitely need a new crush washer when replacing the tensioner, otherwise it'll leak like crazy. I went through that whole ordeal with my 03 540i/6 M-Sport...
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Unfortunately I wasn't doing this install, but was helping at this point. We were focused on sanding out a bit to get the tensioner to clear / fit in the timing cover which required one of those flexi-extensions for the Dremel tool to get the right angle. I was operating the back end / power and Chris was working the sanding disc and fitting the tensioner.... After trial and error so many times, I can't recall if we busted out a fresh crush washer or not, but I know I have one and will try this... was debating whether or not to use some engine sealer in addition, but will examine further and see if a lacking crush washer is the cause....
Scored a set of staggered 18" m-parallels locally and tossed them on.
Much nicer ride on our legendary roads here and no more running up front. But easier steering too, so for now I'm happy with the ride quality.
And these wheels just seem to always look right...
Oh yeah, those look way better than the BBS LM reps. The touring looks so classy now!
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
Yeah. youll never stop kids from having 19" / megawide obsessions but this is moarpreformances.
2003 M3CicM6 TiAg
2002 540iT Sport Vortech S/C 6MT LSD TiAg
2008 Audi A3 2.0T DSG (the daily beater)
2014 BMW X1 xDrive28i (wifemobile)
Former:
1985 MB Euro graymarket 300SL
1995.5 Audi S6 Avant (utility/winter billetturbobattlewagen)
And I bet those M-Pars are lighter than the LM reps! The M-Pars are one of the lightest wheel options out there.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
She rolls nice and quiet now too, feels buttery smooth at city speeds. Could be in my head but I swear the MPG's were looking better... could be so if they're lighter, I should try weighing them as they have the same kind of tire.
Just dabbed on some touch up caliper paint to the stock calipers. Taking my time with these but I anticipate tossing them on sooner rather than later, I want to get the BBK's front rotors turned down a touch on a lathe and I'll try some new pads in the spring after cleaning them up over the winter. Also may have a machinist friend clean up the beefy caliper mount brackets a wee bit as there are some detail finishing ideas I have. I also noticed some odd looking brake-line brackets fitted for the BBK that aren't the same as OEM, so I'm guessing I'll have to source some new stock parts or maybe make another junkyard run...
Anyway once the stock calipers w/ new rotors and pads go on... it will help me figure out if the vibes and slight shimmy up front are the brakes or control arms, or both. I am leaning toward thinking both are contributing in different ways, the brakes have a granular feel and some vibes on hard braking... with the slightest typical "shimmy" at 60-70 mph but this happens both on and off the brakes.
For the standard shimmy, I have some Lempf. arms w/ PFlex Black Series bushings ready to go on, just haven't scheduled that yet and am trying to be step-wise in what parts are changed out to fully understand where any remaining issues lie.
Don't get me wrong, she rides amazingly well now. I'm just pretty OCD when it comes to a smooth ride and no vibes that aren't supposed to be there.... can get to chasing your tail when making too many changes at once. For now the brakes have gotten better each (of two) times I've done a mega clean and scuff of the rotors, I just don't think I'm able to get the deposits off the rotors entirely and they need a quick turn down or replacement. The confusing bit is when the brakes have gotten better, the shimmy was almost gone... then I changed wheels, and it came back although somewhat slightly. Perhaps the narrower front rubber feels the shimmy more whereas the wider 275's on the 19" wheels I had on there had so much grip it damped some of the shimmy?
Speculation for now, but slowly and surely she gets better at every change....
Last edited by scottieducati; 08-07-2017 at 04:37 PM.
Update to the timing chain job. We had a bugger of a time getting the tensioner in, initially clearance issues from overspray during powder coating, had a slight oil leak from that spot and decided to investigate...
Well, there used to be threads here....
Visual inspection of the upper timing cover via a dentist's mirror showed some thread damage but mostly looked ok. Problem being, the tensioner retaining cap only engages the first few threads....
Fortunately GG had a spare tensioner with cap and came down to lend them so we could see if the cap would thread.
No joy. Clear tendency to cross thread and stops after no more than a turn even if threaded properly.
At this point GG is wishing he'd never met me... But also demands only the finest of tools before he lays hands on a car.... So off we went to the hardware store so I could finally buy a 12V Milwaukee 3/8 ratcheting driver that he's been raving about since we met, and which would make mince meat of the work lying ahead.
So guess who has two thumbs and owns a sweet 3 piece Milwaukee cordless set now?
(Hot tip: HD has a sale now buy a combo kit and get 2 free batteries.)
Back to the action, GG's expertise particularly uncoupling the injector clips and we've got the offending part loose. Although not without some serious Jenga with the Secondary Air Pipe removal so we didn't have to drain coolant.
Also had to get a wrench in the VANOS solenoid after popping the upper cover loose as I didn't have the deep socket and GG hadn't thought to bring it! Neither of us planned for this today.
Anyway, here she is, note the overspray where the solenoid seals go as well. None of us were happy with this PC shop.... won't be using them again.
The offending threads:
I have a tap set in M22x1.5 coming tomorrow but am fairly confident these threads are done. Will be snagging a spare upper cover just in case. Hoping to have this sorted and her back in the road by the weekend.
It's becoming far too often, but thanks again to GG for helping a brother out in a serious jam.
Getting top down rides in the M3 doesn't hurt either.
Last edited by scottieducati; 08-21-2017 at 05:08 PM.
Those timing chain tensioner threads strip all too often, usually because people cross-thread the chain tensioner cap when installing it. I usually just replace the upper timing cover, but I also don't powder coat my timing covers.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
The Milwaukee is sweet. I got an impact ratchet and a drill that also does hammer drill and such, the 2pc combo got me the charger and 2 extra batteries under promotion. The ratchet is unfortunately sold separately and w/o a battery. It wasn't a cheap trip but I'm happy to finally have my own fully cordless setup.
Last edited by scottieducati; 08-21-2017 at 06:04 PM.
Yeah. It was sort of thrown in as my valve covers were bad and getting PC'd anyway. Masking instructions were given but not followed so we cleaned up best we could. I'm grabbing a spare cover from the kid who helped me out with all the timing stuff and may blast it with some paint before installing tomorrow so at least it'll be black and not look really outta place. At least the threads and VANOS solenoid sealing surface will be as they should though. Also all my gaskets were new and came off clean so I should be OK to reuse. Gonna pull em off and clean everything well and install as if new. I have a new solenoid seal gasket kicking around somewhere as well.
Just hoping for no leaks this time....
Last edited by scottieducati; 08-21-2017 at 06:08 PM.
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