A transcontinental romance: loving a

[tantumaude]

I hate winter, can hardly get any work done. Anyways, ordered some guide and chain parts for the S62, as I found some pieces while rotating the engine on the stand.

My heater valve failed last week (one end broke), I hate having to deal with cooling issues as it makes a huge mess every time. The door reinforcement plate seems to be moving as well, I think I'll have to weld it to the door.
As for the steering play, my mechanic suspects the steering column splines are worn--there is no play between the wheels and bottom of steering shaft. The wandering seems to be caused by too little caster. Sadly it's not adjustable, so I'm wondering if the drag link adjustment procedure would help.


Therefore, I cheered myself up by ordering a M5 plate surround and some funny decals for my E31 brembos. Stay tuned for pics of that. Also got the rare rear oem PDC kit, but not sure if I want it. The PDC in my E91 drives me nuts.

[sugaki]

Love the unique color combo (never seen a latter-model ultramarine either), I've always fantasized about gutting a BMW phone and making it compatible as a headset... not engineering-minded enough for that though.

Yeah those clear side parking lights are a hard contrast to the dark blue and black trim--think the Euro trim would look best with those lights deleted.

[tantumaude]

Love the unique color combo (never seen a latter-model ultramarine either), I've always fantasized about gutting a BMW phone and making it compatible as a headset... not engineering-minded enough for that though.

Yeah those clear side parking lights are a hard contrast to the dark blue and black trim--think the Euro trim would look best with those lights deleted.

Thanks! Yeah, I'd love to get the phone working, but I'd probably lose the hands-free capability it has. It would be very cool though.

Thanks for the opinion on the markers. I can't get Euro trim due to regulations here that stipulate we need at least side reflectors. (I've seen it enforced in winter, which is not a bad thing). I think I'll go back to the orange ones.

[Germanas]

Really awesome, any future mods you have in mind?

[tantumaude]

Really awesome, any future mods you have in mind?

Thanks! S62 swap is the big upcoming project. Once that's done, the only other thing I'd like to change about the car is the steering setup...so maybe a rack install. Aside from that I can't think of many other things to change. Suspension is pretty awesome, LSD swap is great, all my electronic add-ons make it as nice as my newer cars.

Only thing left to fix is the bottom part of the driver's seat heater not working and to play with the lighting system to get rid of the DRLs. At that point I think I can say I will have built my perfect car.


Speaking of which, I got the decals for my E31 brembos today!
20180307_182012.jpg


Going to try to do the S62 timing chain guides and other engine work in the next few days.

[tantumaude]

Started the guide job today. A lot of sludge in the engine, but cam lobes look good. Unfortunately one of the VANOS board is damaged (two capacitors missing, broken wires), so I need to have those repaired. Guides were a bit worn, nothing catastrophic.

[moroza]

Eww, that sludge does not speak highly of its previous ownership.

Your caster is off? Unless your suspension is very worn, that's a sign of body damage.

[tantumaude]

Eww, that sludge does not speak highly of its previous ownership.

Your caster is off? Unless your suspension is very worn, that's a sign of body damage.

Yeah. OEM spark plugs though, which is either a really good or really bad thing.

As for the caster, that's my alignment guy's theory. The car's never been accidented and has all new front suspension, so we're trying to figure out the wandering.

[moroza]

Is it a hunch, or did the caster actually measure out of spec?

[tantumaude]

Is it a hunch, or did the caster actually measure out of spec?

Hunch. He builds racecars and works on exotics for a living, so I have little reason to doubt that he'd be incorrect. Not saying it's out of spec, but that increasing it would help with the vagueness.

[tantumaude]

In other news, this happened 30 minutes ago:

[moroza]

I'm going to heckle you for the fuel filter location, but mostly

[tantumaude]

I'm going to heckle you for the fuel filter location, but mostly

I'd have expected more disapproval of the DME location upside down on the driver's ebox! What about the intake tract just above the exhaust?

[moroza]

Well, that all looks like temporary dangling for initial "does it even work" purposes. At least they belong in the engine bay. I don't like volumes of gasoline hanging out near lots of electronics...

[tantumaude]

I see...yes, it's far from ideal. I'd much rather it sat under the floor as per the E39, but the oem hardline is NLA, and my line making shop has closed, so this will have to do in the short term.


Interestingly, my shifter seems too far back now that everything is bolted up. Yes, it is the right way forward (UUC short), but in fourth it almost hits the rear of the shift surround. Perhaps the E34 and E39 shift arm are different length. Another possibility is that the shift arm link joint at the tranny is a different design (although the E39 one is listed as fitting the E34), part no. 25111222688 (e34) vs 25117580281 (e39)

[moroza]

E34 540iM shifter arms (the horizontal ones) are unique; I'm not surprised the E39 one doesn't work.

[Kingpin025]

Very cool color combo and build.

[tantumaude]

E34 540iM shifter arms (the horizontal ones) are unique; I'm not surprised the E39 one doesn't work.

No, I'm using the E34 arms. The only interchange part I'm using is that which attaches the selector arm to the selector shaft. It's listed as fitting pretty much every BMW since the E30.

[Tristan36]

ive got the same issue with my s52 swap when shifting to 2nd or 4th it smacks the rear of the shift surround let me know what you do to fix yours.

[Creesic]

Give blue sport seats please.
Beautiful car, though. Great find.

[GazM3]

Nice. S62 swapped e34’s are great. U will be very happy when it’s all done.

[tantumaude]

Little update on the S62 swap: I need to relocate the oil filter, there simply is no way to get it to fit around the brake booster, electric fan and rad hose. Also need to make said rad hose, and finish a couple of little odds and ends. Hope to have it buttoned up in the next two weeks.

As for the shifter, I think I'll just spin the shift lever 180 degrees, hopefully that will solve the problem.

[tantumaude]

Moving along nicely, made the oil filter relocation lines yesterday and wired most of the interior stuff. The last big hurdle is making a PS line to go from the E34 steering box to the S62 pump, once that's done I should be able to fill all the fluids and go for a drive. I just can't get to it with the engine in place, struggling quite a bit.

All the exhaust hardware either disintegrated or had to be cut off when I removed the system, so I will be getting a custom catback made as soon as the car is on the road. Can't wait!

[moroza]

custom catback made as soon as the car is on the road. Can't wait!

X-pipe, I hope?

[GazM3]

I’d prob favour a slotted merge rather than an x-pipe personally the longer the slot the better