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MrE wrote: ↑Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:46 am Stunning looking car.

Thanks! Of course I know every single blemish on every square mm, but even I'm in shock sometimes that the car is as clean as it is for its age. It cleans up well, for sure. At least the previous owners did something right

MrE wrote: ↑Wed Aug 29, 2018 8:46 am

OnTheFritz wrote: ↑Tue Aug 28, 2018 6:48 pm I'm back!!

Stunning looking car.

I concur.

Went on a 400km+ trip yesterday my longest trip yet with Sonja, got her up on the highway at 4000 rpm to get the M30 to "Breathe" for a bit, I'm not going to post my speed though. Lets just say it was adequate.

Put the rear up on stands to check my muffler problem and my failing diff mount. Look like the indy repair shop uses the later, taller mount many years ago.
I used IRON-X on the inside of my rims. First time I've ever cleaned there. The stuff is great but multiple applications is needed to get the residue off.

Oops

sansouci wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:44 am I used IRON-X on the inside of my rims. First time I've ever cleaned there.

Seriously?!?!?

DRPM635CSi wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:13 am

sansouci wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:44 am I used IRON-X on the inside of my rims. First time I've ever cleaned there.

Seriously?!?!?

Regrettably yes
This is a great product and wish I'd heard about it years ago. Here's proof that it works. But it did take 6 or 7 applications/scrub cycles to get it clean.

Looks like my TRX's after I used Meguires Aluminum rim cleaner, but I scrubbed too hard and took the paint right off one of them!

sansouci wrote: ↑Tue Sep 04, 2018 1:42 pm

DRPM635CSi wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:13 am

sansouci wrote: ↑Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:44 am I used IRON-X on the inside of my rims. First time I've ever cleaned there.

Seriously?!?!?

Regrettably yes
This is a great product and wish I'd heard about it years ago. Here's proof that it works. But it did take 6 or 7 applications/scrub cycles to get it clean.

That's not bad at all for a TRX, I'd be happy with that too, but when I did my spare, it was completely beyond a simple clean and needed a lot more work to be useable.

Wow! nice. I might just check in the local stealership and see how much they are new. I am sure they may have some old good new stock( I know it sounds like a conundrum). I got my shiney new Bosch coil today!

Tried to put my restored driver seat in and the fuses blew every time I tried to move the seat back. Problem seems to be in the harness since I tried to put all the electronics from the old seat in.

Lots of stuff over the weekend! First up was replacing the Pitman arm bushings that were nothing more than metal dogbones at this point. Probably original to the car, there was no bushing material left. You could shake and twist them around however you wanted with the car on the ground
How it was:

Old and disgusting vs new and shiny. What a difference!

While I was under there, I also installed new rubber hangers for the center resonator. We’ll see just how long those last. Another thing I noticed was the right rear swaybar end link wasn't attached for reasons I still can't explain or comprehend. But I got that re-attached swiftly. At the same time, I also discovered my right axle had tears in both rubber dust boots, and one of them wasn't secured to the shaft anymore. Add that to the grocery list

The following day, I had new tires installed. Moved from 205/60 Cooper CS4s to 225/50 Kumho Ecsta ASTs, and let me tell you, I can't be happier with these tires. They're quiet, grippy, and not outrageously expensive. It was under $500 for the set, shipped, balanced, and installed! The alignment was extra, but that needed to be done since it hadn't been done after it was repaired. After all these changes, the car handles a million times better in the corners, quite shockingly so. Still haven't found the new limit (but I'm waiting for them to break in fully) Here's the resulting alignment for those interested in leaving feedback

And more recently (this afternoon as of writing), I discovered I have a minor fuel leak at 2 locations: the junction between rubber lines under the intake manifold, and another at the inlet for the fuel rail. Thought I was dealing with a leaky injector #6 because the manifold was slightly discolored in that area and I've been experiencing intermittent odd sounds from that area (not sure if related), but I saw it leaking clear as day with the hood open the engine running. Gave me quite a fright. That'll get fixed tonight when I get home from my evening class.

Looming for the coming weekend is an engine oil and transmission fluid and filter change. It's about that time for the engine, and I have no records of the transmission being touched since at least 1992, so that's going to be an adventure for sure. All this work I could've been doing over the summer while I still had ample free time if someone had used their eyes and brain to not drive in to me. But I digress. At least it's getting loved and cared for And I promise, one of these days when I have the time to do so, I promise I will backlog all my progress/maintenance and make my own Project thread. May be a while until I have that much time..

wattsmonkey wrote: ↑Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:04 pm

sharkfan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 10, 2018 10:24 am Lubed up the ever-so-slightly bonkers brake bar mechanism found on right hand drive pre-1985? cars - I used the spray on High temp Lithium grease so fingers crossed it will last a little while.

I wonder if this is different from the stuff I'm using on my throttle linkage rose joints (the sticky ones!) What are you using here Kevin?

Thanks,

Rob

Hi Rob,

I thought I'd update this with another nugget of information. A good friend has an E26/1 with a similar throttle linkage set up and the factory maintenance schedule for the cars states to lubricate the throttle links every 5000kms with engine oil...

Yep, good old super gloopy 20/50, 15/40 or whatever you choose for your ageing M88 engine. Whilst stating above I recently used 3-in-1 oil it reminded me I had previously used some motor oil when nothing else was to hand.

Great! Thanks Kevin,

Rob

Who did you order the tires from?

87Shark wrote: ↑Sat Sep 15, 2018 12:24 am Who did you order the tires from?

I ordered them through Tirerack and had them delivered to a local tire shop. Made things super simple. Not many street tires in that size anymore, so I'm happy to have a (so far) good experience with them. More miles will tell, but I'm a fan so far

I have had those same Kumho tires (same size, even) on two of my BMWs. My daughter wore out a set on her 95 318is (60k+ miles) and I have about 10k on those on my 633. Two things: they seem to change little in grip throughout their life, but they do get noisy at 15-20k miles. For the price they are hard to beat. I, too, got them from Tire Rack. I bought a third set of Ecstas with wheels from them that went on our 95 Villager van, but the van died well before they'd been on the vehicle very long.

I've just had an interesting experience with Kumhos .
I have them on my daily and the E24 and have used them on my wife's cars for some years with no problems .
I fitted two 225/50/17's to her Skoda Yeti last October and another two in April this year . The ones fitted i April went onto the front .
I replaced them three weeks ago after 7K km's worn evenly down to the markers. At over € 125 a corner fitted that's expensive . The supplying dealer said that that's what I could expect on irish roads, Things got a bit heated after he refused to consider the wear as anything but normal and after some 15 years of business we went our seperate ways .......
The next closest dealer actually fitted the other pair last October ,which are wearing much slower . He pointed out the tread wear number on the sidewall of the worn tyres , which was 24, and said that that would signify high grip with a high wear rate . The figure on the rears was 34
Google reveals that that wear factor is not applicable in Ireland .........
The bridgestone replacements have a factor of 38 which should be a more suitable grip to wear ratio according to the fitter . We'll see.
If it is true then It's something that I will check prior to any future tyre purchase.

Changed these.
Fuel pump packed in. Put in a new fuel filter at same time.

Not today, but yesterday I mopped up the brake fluid that has started puking out of my '84. I need to look up when it was replaced, but at least it isn't recent. This moves up the brake job that has been on stand by.

I did get a Euro handbrake surround from Vintageracer to eliminate the existing with no longer needed power seat buttons today. I'll clean it up and it will be in before the master I suspect.

Ross

I'm always late to post my updates, but this past weekend I did my engine and transmission fluid services!

Engine went smooth, especially since I had it on a professional lift. Did my normal service (4qts Valvoline 20w-50 VR1, 1qt Lucas Heavy Duty oil stabilizer, STP S2965A filter). I normally change every 3k miles, but this was almost 4k. The engine was noticeably quieter after the change (I didn't think the oil was that old, but it doesn't lie), but there were no metal flakes or anything abnormal. Just nice, smooth, and uniform. Also took the opportunity to re-torque all the oil pan bolts properly as things are starting to look a bit grungy down there

And the transmission! This went much easier than I was expecting. The fluid was definitely past its prime, and plenty of material had been collected by the magnets on the pan. But I was pleasantly surprised to not see a sea of metal shavings/muck all over the pan

Here's the inside of the pan just after I removed it. Surprisingly shiny and clean for the most part. And you can really get a sense for how much stuff the magnet collected. Those two are the same size beneath all that goop

A close-up of the MVP magnet

This is all the crud that it had collected over the years

Now the car is dead quiet while driving. No weird ticking/clicking or hissing/whining sounds anymore, and the transmission feels like it's hardly breaking a sweat anymore. 2nd -> 3rd shifts are still lazy compared to the others, but it's all smooth as silk now. Guess it's good for another 100k+ miles

Just a small job. Fitted new exhaust rubbers.

Replaced original comfort seats with power sport seats. Less obvious but more critical, this year I've replaced the starter (upgrade to E34 starter), and had a new guibo put in to fix the issue that was causing my shift linkage to hit the top of the guibo while shifting from 4th to 5th and in 5th gear at highway speeds.

New Lloyd Ultimats as well.

New idle air control valve ordered but not here yet.

Unfortunately my 635 has had to give up its garage spot to a near-bone stock mint low miles Toyota MR2 turbo that I inherited from my father. My 6 is a nice car, but it isn't pristine perfect like the MR2, so the BMW gets a car cover for the time being.

Next year I hope to be getting my 6 a garage renovation so that it can have its spot back though

Bought a solar charger for battery top up. Plugs into the cigarette lighter. Also I gave her a good vacuum, prepping it up for carpet cleaning before I install the new carpets.

Gave mine a much needed wash and wax on Sunday. Next time will probably be in over a month due to my hectic fall schedule, so I hope the wax doesn't get washed away too quickly
Next time I beautify the car, I plan to go a bit crazy and spend a couple days doing it. In addition to the wash/wax, I hope to do a full clay bar wipe down, maybe some light paint correction/polishing, detailed trim cleaning/rejuvenating, and really deep clean of the wheels and wheel wells in advance of winter.

In other news, the car is being driven more than ever before. At least 300 miles a week now, if not closer to 400. It's only been 2 weeks and a few days since my last oil change, and I've already put on 1100 miles But even with being a full-on daily driver, it's driving and operating beautifully: smooth, quiet, and powerful as ever. I'm even averaging 21mpg+ every tank! Though I do feel somewhat guilty for subjecting the car to such abuse, I love driving it more than ever, and I can't imagine what life would be driving a big truck every day as opposed to the shark (as I thought would be the case). But in the near future, I do plan on refreshing the diff (new LSD clutches and fluid) and updating the brakes (at least a fluid change, E32/E34 calipers/rotors/MC if necessary) when I finally have the time and financial approval