Trent's fleet changeup

If you didn't buy one yet I'll suggest a Green Machine as a cheap extractor.  I bought mine at Walmart for around $120.  If you separately buy a soft bristled scrub brush and use Tough Stuff as a pre-treatment, you can get out darned near anything with it.

I bought a set of WRX seats for my simulator off of CL that had sat in a filthy shop for year.  They were nasty.  In under an hour I had them looking nearly new.

Kudos to you on the BMW.  That's a nice combo of features.  I would always rather buy a dirty car thats gotten a lot of maintenance than a clean car that only saw oil changes every 20k miles.

etifosi said:

In reply to Trent :

I have to wait for my auto insurance renewal to arrive at the end of January before I commit to anything, but if it doesn't go up I'd like to find out if there are 2854 miles of clutch lining left in the Cabrio. 

It just disengages at a high point in the pedal travel. 

If you want some serious enabling I run a particularly nice restoration shop and have vendor accounts with parts distributors so you would have access to lifts, parts and tools for any work you wanted to do before the trip. 

I'm waiting for a dry day to pull it out, clean it out and photograph it for Marketplace. I will post the photos here before I do that.

In reply to Trent :

Santa IS real!

But I'm not self-nominating myself to the "nice" list right now even though this is, in all ways, exactly what I'm looking for - to the point it hurts. Maybe I will get my poop in a group and can commit to the time and moderate expenses involved, but there are a few external factors that are due to unfold in the next few weeks that prevent me starting a thread asking what else I should consider replacing/upgrading while it's in the air and jumping right now on your Grmacious offer. 

I'm going to stop fantasizing about an achievable thing so as to prevent myself from focusing on E36 M3 I can't do anything about with worry anyway and start arranging some deck chairs. At a certain point either you hit the iceberg and it all sinks or you just carry on I suppose, and either way these chairs need straightened.

I'd love a caddy.  Not sure I fit in them tho.  My dream caddy would be one with a 1.9tdi swap with AC, 16v recaro interior, rocco disc brakes all round, 4 quad grill/headlights, and a set of cup wheels

In reply to docwyte :

They can be tight. At 6 foot tall I have to have Scirocco, Corrado or late Cabby height adjustable seats to be comfortable.

The Euro front end WILL happen when I have time. This has been hanging in the shop for the better part of two years. The black small metal euro bumpers to go with it are here as well.

I'm going all in on the 1977 GTI look

The radio replacement is getting frustrating. 

If I had done a bit more research before ordering I would have learned there is a common issue with the factory DSP amp in the car. 

As it stands I get about 30 seconds of audio before the amp turns off. 

Waiting on a response from tech support... if that ever happens

Trent said:

In reply to docwyte :

They can be tight. At 6 foot tall I have to have Scirocco, Corrado or late Cabby height adjustable seats to be comfortable.

At Radwood here in So SanFran a few years ago, there were two Caddys with extended cabs! One used the doors from a Rabbit 2-door and the other the regular short doors and a lengthened rear cap. I've got pitchers somewhere. Being 5'8", I had no problems fitting in the Caddy even with GTI seats.

Sometimes I wish I still had that thing. It was just so thrashed and I got tired of constantly fixing stupid things like muffler bearings (exhaust hangers) or funky shift linkage. Never seemed to have time to make things completely right. Putting a brush fire out with my feet comes to mind. It didn't help that it seemed to be possessed by some kind of demon.

In reply to Trent :

I'm the same height as you but all torso.  That's why I have such problems fitting in miatas.  Good to know about the seats, I know the Mk2 recaros are height adjustable but still sit higher than stock rocco/corrado seats...

Cabrio is on Marketplace

Battery was dead because I hadn't started it in months but after airing up the tires it ran fine. It is a better car than I remembered.  

Still probably an ABA donor more than anything else though.

After 6 no shows it was sold to the first person to actually see it. 

Feels good to see it go.

Update on the E39.

Its....... awesome.  I really like it.  There is a good reason these cars are held in such high regard. 

Eonon is working.  It sounds much better than the stock DSP unit which was clearly EQ'ed for classical but came off as very midrangey and boomy.

Today's addition is wireless charging.  I have been eyeballing that tray in front of the shifter since day one. It's perfect and it is where I set the phone anyway

The 12V fast charging coil

Gaffer taped to the backside and soldered into the cigar lighter.

I am unable to snap a pic of my phone charging there but trust me, it feels fancy. 

Quite pleased with the result.  

Wireless phone charging and Protomartyr on the headunit. You're living some kind of fantasy. 

Mezzanine said:

Wireless phone charging and Protomartyr on the headunit. You're living some kind of fantasy. 

Dude they're from Detroit and I've never heard of them until right now. WTF? Where have I been?

Oh we can totally derail this thread and just turn it into modern post-punk music recommendations!

Protomartyr is great! But so are Eagulls which is probably the spotify radio station playing in the pic

Eagulls on Spotify

They tend to take inspiration from Killing Joke, the Cure and early Echo and the bunnymen more than Joy Division like Protomartyr. 

Trent said:

Oh we can totally derail this thread and just turn it into modern post-punk music recommendations!

berkeley yeah we can! 

They tend to take inspiration from Killing Joke, the Cure and early Echo and the bunnymen more than Joy Division like Protomartyr. 

Srsly when i heard the Proto dude sing I had to look up if it was some Joy Division offshoot. I'm totally listening to Eagulls tomorrow.

Because I can't resist a project. 

As the BMW transitioned from super cheap experiment, to real interest then genuine affection the need for tires also transitioned to a need to do something about the wheels.

The style 42 wheels are actually really great. They have the same failing clear that all style 42's are afflicted with though

There was no appeal in swapping the spare around so I could refurb them one at a time. The hunt was on. I missed out on a clean set of Style 5's due to the ice storm. I almost bought another set of 42's. Then I found these. Terrible pics, reversed faces, filthy. No info in the ad. 

screw it. 158mile round trip later these were in the trunk

Seller never mentioned they included the caps, I was stoked when he handed them over. 

Tore them down this morning and I am super happy. Incredibly minor rash, faces with no dings and minor scratches. All hardware is good, the plating is still near perfect on all the bolts. A polish of the lips is really all they need but I am considering going gold on the faces. Chandler's Merc pic is strong inspiration

Then decide on tires. Thinking that Conti DWS again. I like what they did for the Clubman. I think I'd like them on this tubby beast too.

As for the rest of the cars, The Clubman developed a low oil pressure rattle after sitting for a few weeks. I did some investigating and found the oil filter housing drainback valve had pushed through the filter making most of the oil just drain back into the pan when running

This is a sub 3k mile OE Mann filter. No idea what happened but this isn't the first time.  I also have a major oil leak behind the filter housing so...

I'm replacing the filter housing 

But last weekend was lost to the ice storm and this weekend there is no space inside the building to get it up on the lift

I think Friday is my next best bet.

I've been using the DWS Conti for years. Work really nice in most weather conditions other than straight ice. Had them on my S8 and now my wife's Q5. If they made them in 13" I'd have them on the 69 Coupe as well. That era 5 series is, in my opinion, the best looking they have ever made. Is that a Alfa 164 in the picture?    

My Fikse look gold on the car but they are really Beige or even yellow. It works with the bluish silver German car colors

Gold sample against the body color. It doesn't not work.

Also, the existing wheels really dragging the overall look down. Yuck

BBS clear is legendarily tenacious stuff. In the past I have used an oxy acetylene torch to burn it off but 1 hour in the 190F aqueous parts washer is loosening it up

Where do you get a new filter housing in aluminium?

I just put a set of DWS on my Audi Allroad and it was absolute bliss on a 3K round trip last week! They are so quiet and smooth, and we even hit some nasty snow along the way.....worked as advertised....as in, no issues.

You are kidding on the BBS clear, I refinished a set of 18" style 5s years ago and that clear laughs at aircraft stripper

also if you decide you dont want to keep the factory plastic cap down the road, this guy make s nice conversion to an RS style waffle/nut...pricey, but a nice kit

https://ewheelworks.us/collections/products/products/bbs-center-cap-conversion-for-2-piece-17-18-bmw-style-5?variant=41848316657846

So satisfying. 

MiniDave said:

Where do you get a new filter housing in aluminium?

Vemo brand from my Worldpac account. 

I hope to not own the car long enough to regret not buying OEM 

In reply to Trent :

Good grief, almost all in one piece!? That's the most amazing thing I've seen in a while.

And I'm really jealous of the industrial heated washer thing.