Internal cumbustion builds..Cars/Bikes/Trucks..Show them old build pics etc...

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Stuff is finally happening!
Fixed the thing that holds the trunk opening button and licence plate lights in place. Scrubbed the rusty spots, added anti rust base and paint, then applied new screws so it won't be falling off the car anymore.
Did some anti rust plus paint on the rear arches.
Started on doing up the horrible lacquer peel on both sides and fixing up the very scratched bumper. (pictured after paint, no lacquer yet). Idgaf about doing it properly. No filler and scrubbing anything flat and shiny.. Just a quick scratch and the paint goes on. The cars just not worth the effort.

Also pulled the dark film from the trunk window on the X3, it was wrinkly and throwing chips into the cabin. All of em need changing but at least we can see out the back window now, the wrinkles were really getting bad.

Top tip that actually works : let the car sit in the summer sun for a couple of hours, once heated enough you can pull the film without it leaving any glue behind. Well worth the patience, especially if you are looking for someone to put on a new film and won't diy it. They will be really greatful and it might even be cheaper as you don't have to pay for hours spent removing film.

Anyway, story time: I'm on holiday, finally got my own garden all week as its owned by family, so I can work on the cars to my hearts content. Unless the kids keep bothering me, which is 99.99999% of my time but that's alright. Anyways, I went into town after finding a paints shop via Google maps. For context we are in what's considered the countryside, but it's kinda major town in the region. Found the shop , lovely lady dressed in a black dress greets me with a smile, asks wth I want. She starts looking on the pc for which set of bmw color cards she needs to find my exact paint color. Already a bad sign lol. Anyway, we go out to the car, non of em match, so we decide on the factory color code card. It's gonna be good enough. Random painter guy arrives, obviously a pro at painting houses. Starts chatting her up. Lady tells me and the guy she would need at least 10 mins to fill a spraycan for me. I'm like alright, I got time. Biggest mistake i could make.. Anyway, she says she starts up the machine, while I tell her I'll go hit the government fag shop (yes that is a thing here unfortunately) to buy some cigs and a coke that's just on the next corner. 15 minutes later I come back. She tells me she hasn't even started on my paints yet.
Filled the guys order for 8liters of wall paint, had to make phone calls to her boss to ask for measurements and shit. Then after like 40 mins she started on my paints. While she was doing it she served 3 other customers who just wanted regular paints and masking tapes and stuff. She wasn'tike totally dumb to the business, she explained the difference between all the different masking tapes to a customer in such technical detail even I had no idea about. But still.

It took her 1.5 hours to get me 2 cans of fucking carpaint!!
Goddamn it was slow lol
It was really chill and all, typical countryside, but damn I would have been fine waiting only 30 mins for it lol

IMG_20230815_161242.jpg



The real punch for the end of that story is that next to the fag shop, just 1 min walk away from the paint shop, was the local specialist Car Paint Shop!!! Shouldn't have listened to Google map first choice hahahaha


Edit2: BTW tby the end of the week, I play to put on all the dumb fake stickers I bought on Ali express. Completing the meme aspect of the car. There will be an actual "shopping list" on the doors that's for sure hahaha

Edit 3:.before you freak out about me doing a trash job "fixing up the paint". I know, but I have reasons. I want to change the front bumper to something cooler, which is cracked in 3626 places and needs professional fixing anyways. The rear arches need bodywork done, what I'm doing is just to keep it in check until I can afford it. It's gonna be ugly but it wont rust anymore. The paint peel I am handling as much as it needs to be, cleaning up beforehand, sanding it back, and it doesn't need any bog on it as its straight, just needs paint. Also I either do this now the best I have time for, or not at all for at least another year due to my circumstance of not having access to a private spot, only public street parking where it's very illegal to do any of this.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GPcustoms

GPcustoms

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 3, 2019
748
2,898
2,000
RSI Handle
GPcustom
Stuff is finally happening!
Fixed the thing that holds the trunk opening button and licence plate lights in place. Scrubbed the rusty spots, added anti rust base and paint, then applied new screws so it won't be falling off the car anymore.
Did some anti rust plus paint on the rear arches.
Started on doing up the horrible lacquer peel on both sides and fixing up the very scratched bumper. (pictured after paint, no lacquer yet). Idgaf about doing it properly. No filler and scrubbing anything flat and shiny.. Just a quick scratch and the paint goes on. The cars just not worth the effort.

Also pulled the dark film from the trunk window on the X3, it was wrinkly and throwing chips into the cabin. All of em need changing but at least we can see out the back window now, the wrinkles were really getting bad.

Top tip that actually works : let the car sit in the summer sun for a couple of hours, once heated enough you can pull the film without it leaving any glue behind. Well worth the patience, especially if you are looking for someone to put on a new film and won't diy it. They will be really greatful and it might even be cheaper as you don't have to pay for hours spent removing film.

Anyway, story time: I'm on holiday, finally got my own garden all week as its owned by family, so I can work on the cars to my hearts content. Unless the kids keep bothering me, which is 99.99999% of my time but that's alright. Anyways, I went into town after finding a paints shop via Google maps. For context we are in what's considered the countryside, but it's kinda major town in the region. Found the shop , lovely lady dressed in a black dress greets me with a smile, asks wth I want. She starts looking on the pc for which set of bmw color cards she needs to find my exact paint color. Already a bad sign lol. Anyway, we go out to the car, non of em match, so we decide on the factory color code card. It's gonna be good enough. Random painter guy arrives, obviously a pro at painting houses. Starts chatting her up. Lady tells me and the guy she would need at least 10 mins to fill a spraycan for me. I'm like alright, I got time. Biggest mistake i could make.. Anyway, she says she starts up the machine, while I tell her I'll go hit the government fag shop (yes that is a thing here unfortunately) to buy some cigs and a coke that's just on the next corner. 15 minutes later I come back. She tells me she hasn't even started on my paints yet.
Filled the guys order for 8liters of wall paint, had to make phone calls to her boss to ask for measurements and shit. Then after like 40 mins she started on my paints. While she was doing it she served 3 other customers who just wanted regular paints and masking tapes and stuff. She wasn'tike totally dumb to the business, she explained the difference between all the different masking tapes to a customer in such technical detail even I had no idea about. But still.

It took her 1.5 hours to get me 2 cans of fucking carpaint!!
Goddamn it was slow lol
It was really chill and all, typical countryside, but damn I would have been fine waiting only 30 mins for it lol

View attachment 24812


The real punch for the end of that story is that next to the fag shop, just 1 min walk away from the paint shop, was the local specialist Car Paint Shop!!! Shouldn't have listened to Google map first choice hahahaha


Edit2: BTW tby the end of the week, I play to put on all the dumb fake stickers I bought on Ali express. Completing the meme aspect of the car. There will be an actual "shopping list" on the doors that's for sure hahaha

Edit 3:.before you freak out about me doing a trash job "fixing up the paint". I know, but I have reasons. I want to change the front bumper to something cooler, which is cracked in 3626 places and needs professional fixing anyways. The rear arches need bodywork done, what I'm doing is just to keep it in check until I can afford it. It's gonna be ugly but it wont rust anymore. The paint peel I am handling as much as it needs to be, cleaning up beforehand, sanding it back, and it doesn't need any bog on it as its straight, just needs paint. Also I either do this now the best I have time for, or not at all for at least another year due to my circumstance of not having access to a private spot, only public street parking where it's very illegal to do any of this.
Nothing like a project. You know what the outcome shall be so its only a matter of one step at a time. Personally I like your style kiddo.
What bumper are you kicking the tires on?
O7
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lorddarthvik

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Nothing like a project. You know what the outcome shall be so its only a matter of one step at a time. Personally I like your style kiddo.
What bumper are you kicking the tires on?
O7
Thanks for the kind words! I was looking at the CSL bumper but I'm not so sure if I'd like it on a normal width coupe like this. It's just too long of an overhang in the front, but I really like the single circular hole on the side design.

Well. Paint is done. From 10+ feet away, and on camera, it looks like I did a decent enough job. If I had the time and put in the effort to do it anywhere near properly, it looks like I might have pulled off a decent enough job with the cans of spray paint. As it stands now, everything is visible. There is a whole landscape of hills and valleys under the fresh paint hahahaha Apart from where the shitty canned paint spit on it, I only have a single paint run under one of the mirrors and it's in the lacquer layer so I could even sand it away lol

I thought it would be hard for me to accept this as a good enough result.my regular job involves what we call pixel fucking, trying to get things pixel perfect per frame in VFX. A total waste of time in the name of perfection.
Yet I'm really liking this very messed up imperfect result. Overall it looks way better than it did, even without the polish it badly needs.
It looks like something that has been cared for even if it was done badly and it makes a huge difference. I'm actually quiet proud of myself for doing a blend in the front left bumper corner and it turning out barely visible from 20+ feet away lol. If I did it a dozen more times I believe I could get pretty decent at it.

Anyways, some pics of how it looked right after removing the masking. BTW proper 2K can of lacquer was really worth it, it hardened so fast that when I had to drive it around 3 hours after spraying it, it left no marks in it. I could just wipe all the dirt off later. Next up, to apply the meme stickers.
IMG_20230817_112548.jpg

IMG_20230817_112601.jpg



IMG_20230817_112614.jpg


BTW our family car X3, the one that's supposed to be reliable, died. Thankfully just before we went on a day trip with the kids right before exiting the city we were in, and I could get it back "home" before it totally stopped working. Generator is dead, probably a stuck bearing, and it's most likely shorted out as the battery totally drained itself in 20mins of standing still and being turned off. It was also quiet hot, so I uncoupled it after I managed to climb into the back over the rear child seats (electric tailgate lock, no manual safety release in or out, had to Jimmy it open with a screwdriver, battery is under the cargo tray )
Note that I'm on holiday at my parents house over a 100klicks away from home. I would do the swap myself in the garden , if I could find a working generator, but there is so much fiddly plastic shit and rusty screws in the way that I'm just not willing to risk it. It would be a lot of hassle if I broke anything else during the repair, not worth it. So a transport is coming tomorrow to pick it up and take it back home to my mechanic. Already managed unlock the transmission and put in neutral so I can roll it.

BTW, watching some YouTube mechanics vids is worth it. I learned that pushing a car by the body is effing stupid. I could barely rock the X3. Grab the wheel spokes and just turn it. It's much much less effort. Use gloves, cos it's dirty, if you can but damn it's it's so much easier.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GPcustoms

GPcustoms

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 3, 2019
748
2,898
2,000
RSI Handle
GPcustom
Thanks for the kind words! I was looking at the CSL bumper but I'm not so sure if I'd like it on a normal width coupe like this. It's just too long of an overhang in the front, but I really like the single circular hole on the side design.

Well. Paint is done. From 10+ feet away, and on camera, it looks like I did a decent enough job. If I had the time and put in the effort to do it anywhere near properly, it looks like I might have pulled off a decent enough job with the cans of spray paint. As it stands now, everything is visible. There is a whole landscape of hills and valleys under the fresh paint hahahaha Apart from where the shitty canned paint spit on it, I only have a single paint run under one of the mirrors and it's in the lacquer layer so I could even sand it away lol

I thought it would be hard for me to accept this as a good enough result.my regular job involves what we call pixel fucking, trying to get things pixel perfect per frame in VFX. A total waste of time in the name of perfection.
Yet I'm really liking this very messed up imperfect result. Overall it looks way better than it did, even without the polish it badly needs.
It looks like something that has been cared for even if it was done badly and it makes a huge difference. I'm actually quiet proud of myself for doing a blend in the front left bumper corner and it turning out barely visible from 20+ feet away lol. If I did it a dozen more times I believe I could get pretty decent at it.

Anyways, some pics of how it looked right after removing the masking. BTW proper 2K can of lacquer was really worth it, it hardened so fast that when I had to drive it around 3 hours after spraying it, it left no marks in it. I could just wipe all the dirt off later. Next up, to apply the meme stickers.
View attachment 24813
View attachment 24814


View attachment 24815

BTW our family car X3, the one that's supposed to be reliable, died. Thankfully just before we went on a day trip with the kids right before exiting the city we were in, and I could get it back "home" before it totally stopped working. Generator is dead, probably a stuck bearing, and it's most likely shorted out as the battery totally drained itself in 20mins of standing still and being turned off. It was also quiet hot, so I uncoupled it after I managed to climb into the back over the rear child seats (electric tailgate lock, no manual safety release in or out, had to Jimmy it open with a screwdriver, battery is under the cargo tray )
Note that I'm on holiday at my parents house over a 100klicks away from home. I would do the swap myself in the garden , if I could find a working generator, but there is so much fiddly plastic shit and rusty screws in the way that I'm just not willing to risk it. It would be a lot of hassle if I broke anything else during the repair, not worth it. So a transport is coming tomorrow to pick it up and take it back home to my mechanic. Already managed unlock the transmission and put in neutral so I can roll it.

BTW, watching some YouTube mechanics vids is worth it. I learned that pushing a car by the body is effing stupid. I could barely rock the X3. Grab the wheel spokes and just turn it. It's much much less effort. Use gloves, cos it's dirty, if you can but damn it's it's so much easier.
Thats one nice ride Brother....Well Done :like:
 
  • o7
Reactions: Lorddarthvik

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Thank you!
I'm starting to actually like the look of it again. It really could use some white wheels though.. Hahaha

Added the literal shopping list and the AMG strip to the side for a bit of trolling.
I have a stripe that says e46 where the breaks are in this one, but I forgot to pack it, so for now I'm keeping this one lol
Next up for this ride (once the X3 is fixed)
Fix the weird death wobble that comes on at 160kph+ that's coming from the middle of the car. Probably the driveshaft lost its stabilizer bearings in the middle, and is also probably bent. No speeding until then.
Attach the spoiler! I've been kicking that thing around for months know, I just need to find a place that's willing to sell me some proper glue for it.
Btw, any tips on what exact glue to use for affixing glasfiber to metal body? Double sided tape, no matter how awesome it is, is out of the question due to shape and size. Also no rivnuts, wouldn't fit the design, too barbaric.

IMG_20230819_160612.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: GPcustoms

GPcustoms

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 3, 2019
748
2,898
2,000
RSI Handle
GPcustom
Im no body guy so I will not offer any bad advice. Plenty of aircraft epoxies out there so its gonna be some research for you brother.
The car looks epic Eggs Bread Milk and Ham all the way:o7:
 
  • o7
Reactions: Lorddarthvik

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Found a little bag in the glove box. I forgot I bought the 2 dollar set of tiny corner spoilers from Ali ages ago. Stuck em on. It's made of rubber with pre applied double sided tape that was kinda already melted from the heat. I give it 2-3 drives until at least half of em fall off lol
IMG_20230821_193201.jpg

IMG_20230821_194241.jpg

Edit : now that I have a medium scale fdm printer, I might just design and print a front splitter instead of buying a cheap pre made "fits non" style.
 
  • Like
Reactions: GPcustoms

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
So looong, freshlypaintedbumper!

Neighbour had a rough time getting into his garage. He is getting old and managed to find my ride regardless of me leaving more than a 6 foot gap between me and his gate.
I know it's not much damage in pure monetary value, but goddamn I just made that corner look shiny a week ago! ffs...
Also the arch wasn't damaged before, and I'm guessing there is a new dent in the hood as well. Even if there isn't, the bumper got pushed aside so yeah, great. Oh and ofc the ali express winglets are now junked. I could probably replace the tape on them, but it's literally cheaper to buy a new set then to buy a roll of decent double sided tape so... haha.
Anyways, I got insurance, but it's not that simple. He has to admit being at fault, which he seems to be willing to do, but if he won't, I'll have to go through the police which is a nightmare.
Tomorrow will tell what he comes up with to fix this mistake, but no matter what, it's gonna cost him more than he thinks, and it's gonna be rough.
This is a total financial loss, at least I'm guessing that's what the insurance will say. So yeah. Fuck my life.

373465077_134207843098819_7008807413498873803_n.jpg
 
  • Mad
Reactions: GPcustoms

GPcustoms

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 3, 2019
748
2,898
2,000
RSI Handle
GPcustom
So looong, freshlypaintedbumper!

Neighbour had a rough time getting into his garage. He is getting old and managed to find my ride regardless of me leaving more than a 6 foot gap between me and his gate.
I know it's not much damage in pure monetary value, but goddamn I just made that corner look shiny a week ago! ffs...
Also the arch wasn't damaged before, and I'm guessing there is a new dent in the hood as well. Even if there isn't, the bumper got pushed aside so yeah, great. Oh and ofc the ali express winglets are now junked. I could probably replace the tape on them, but it's literally cheaper to buy a new set then to buy a roll of decent double sided tape so... haha.
Anyways, I got insurance, but it's not that simple. He has to admit being at fault, which he seems to be willing to do, but if he won't, I'll have to go through the police which is a nightmare.
Tomorrow will tell what he comes up with to fix this mistake, but no matter what, it's gonna cost him more than he thinks, and it's gonna be rough.
This is a total financial loss, at least I'm guessing that's what the insurance will say. So yeah. Fuck my life.

View attachment 24851
Just stumbled back to the forum and saw this. Murphey's law at work, Jenga or complete BS...Hope things worked out after all the hard work.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lorddarthvik

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Just stumbled back to the forum and saw this. Murphey's law at work, Jenga or complete BS...Hope things worked out after all the hard work.
Oh hey there, nice to see you back!
Things went surprisingly easy, took a week or two to sort it all out but the neighbor admitted the fault and payed out of pocket to avoid having to mess with the insurance. It wasn't his first time having to deal with something like this...
Car looks better than I've ever seen it thats for sure, got the corner and the hood fixed back into shape along with a fresh new professional paintjob. I had to pay partially ofc, cos I'm not a dick and we both knew the hood was kinda busted already. In the end it turned out okay, I just haven't taken the time to get the little lips back on yet ,and the stripe had to be removed for the repaint on that fender.
Car is going strong, I had brand new Bilstein B12 kit put under it. Basically the same height, maybe a couple mm lower than where it was before, but that wasn't the point. Old front shocks were busted, rears were made for the slightly heavier 325i... it was a mess as everything is with this car.
Most importantly the car now sits planted. It felt really floaty in long corners and at speed. It's all good now.
Feels awful at city speeds though, the roads are really rough especially now after the winter freeze so it's kind of a strange muffled yet bumpy feel. I dunno how to describe it exactly. It's like the chassis starts bending first along with the suspension in low speed corners and bumps. But when I start driving even a little bit more properly it all falls into place and grips up like chewing gum under a mcdonalds table. It grips so well that even though I tried to be a hooligan, on my summer tires in the freezing cold after 11pm in a roundabout I tried to get to power slide it in first gear.... nope. Wouldn't budge. Clutch kicking works ofc, but the sheer amount of grip these hankooks have even in below freezing (but dry) conditions is astonishing.
Next up on the list:
brakes
proper brakes
change the damn brakes!
get the damn handbrake working (cos I live on hills)
Then fix the aircon, and get an LSD.
 
  • Glorious
Reactions: GPcustoms

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
lol, nah, I want it to be a bit more civilized than that. I drove a welded e30 for a week. It was great for being a hooligan in the parking lot, but not much else.
Found some reasonably priced helical LSD from the UK, made by Blackline. Is this a good choice for a balanced style with a bit of everything? I'm not looking to become the next DK. Just wanna have a bit of fun sometimes, hit up a track day a year maybe. Not much else. Or do I need to go for the much more expensive plated LSD?

Had some fun tonight. Around 10pm I went up the hill to a place I need to visit every week, and ofc I ignored the weather warning that it will be sleeting. (Bing and google both tell me that's the proper translation. But is that a word even? It's rain that freezes coz it's below freezing temps and it should be snowing but it rains instead. We call it tinny-rain, as in the solder. Cos, hell knows why.).
Anyways, arrived without issues, on my summer tires ofc. No sign of any rain, but it was getting foggy. 10 mins later I started driving back, and it was like the car was in neutral. Revving but barely rolling. That's when the fun started! Babied it back home, starting every corner really carefully...
Good times, new suspension came in handy, everything remained controllable. Didn't need no clutch kicks or welding anything, it was slippery enough as it is hehehe
 
  • Like
Reactions: GPcustoms

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Thats great news Lorddarthvik...
I sorta did a thing this month and picked up a rather old retro style bike....And I couldn't leave it alone :love:
Don't get arrested you holigan!:o7:
Is that a Royal Enfield Cafe racer build? At least that's what google came up with.
I really like the look of those cafe racers, rare to see one in the wild though.
Grats on your new ride!
 
  • Like
Reactions: GPcustoms

GPcustoms

Space Marshal
Donor
Sep 3, 2019
748
2,898
2,000
RSI Handle
GPcustom
Hey Lorddarthvik. Yeah I picked up a GT650 a few weeks ago and threw all my old Ti at it along with pipes,air box and power plug. Deleted all the emission crap like air injection and EVAP. You might say that its first 300 miles have been interesting. Love how old and vintage it looks :love: All I need now is a leather football helmet, the glass aviator goggles and a handlebar mustache.:thump:
 

Attachments

  • Love
Reactions: Lorddarthvik

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Woke up and did a few things that Im sure will upset tree huggers everywhere.....Cheers :o7:
I feel really, really bad....Honestly I do:drunk:
Dyno when? :D


The only thing I modded this weekend was some black wrap on the chrome window trim. Only done the bottom rails, not finished yet. I'm just curious how it would look with a "shadow line" trim which I'm not willing to pay hundreds of bucks for. It's also a pain to install, tearing out old rubber mouldings and such along with the trim, I feel like wrap is the less attractive but way more sensible approach.
Also went for a proper drive with the roads finally being warm enough and having a tiny bit of free time. I realized, again, that I need a full break refurb. Pads, disks, and most importantly fluid cos it doesn't look healthy. I believe it's not supposed to look like a dark soup with spots of "oil" floating on top.

Also my front left indicator decided to break at the screw, so it was dangling out the side of the car on it's wiring. Ducktape fixed it, for now. Thing is I went down the rabbithole of headlight+indicator combos and OMG... you don't wanna go there. It's deep, and even the dealer database is utterly confused when it comes to it. My fr L headlight is apperently the wrong type as it got replaced when the seller crashed the car while selling it to me. The outside is correct, the lenses are correct, the rest of the black plastic bits are a mix of later pre-facelift and post facelift. It's utter chaos in there so I'll just buy a new one, and that's where the rabbithole starts, with options for clip-ons and screw-ins and slightly different outlines and orange vs clear indicators with different mounting... it's a mess.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: GPcustoms

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Short Version:

Got new shocks in X3.
Got new rear end susp parts in 320ci, ebrake, diff bushings, quick (purple) steering rack, finally working AC. Still havent swapped the broken indicator (see below)
pics of rear end before after:

20240322_105709798_iOS.jpg20240322_105715211_iOS.jpg


Goddamn the inflation here took the price of parts like a storm and raised em like 300%. I just had 4 shocks and 2 front springs done on the X3 (with strutbearings and dustcaps and such misc stuff you're supposed to change as well) and with all my "lifelong best firends with the mechanics shop owner" benefits, it cost 655k huf. It woul've been nearly 1mil huf (2.7k usd) without the friends discount.
That's my monthly wage after tax, when I can do 60 hours work weeks. Converted to USD it's only around 1800ish, which might not sound like much, but I live in a country where the median net earnings is less than a 1000 usd a month. So yeah, shits gotten expensive, fast. And I didn do any fancy parts either, just some cheap but tried and tested noname springs and Sachs OEM style shocks. No Eibach coilover kits or such. All stock. It's a family ride for the wife n kids, I don't wanna ruin it. Yet. When the transmission finally dies (its on its way out), I might consider trying for a manual conversion and dorpping the whole thing by like 6-7 cm. That'll defeat the purpose of it being a city-SUV that can jump curbs, but it will look amazing.

Some good news is that I had the aircon fixed (it only needed some assembly of parts that were taken off when the cats got cut off by the dealer, a cleaning and a filling) on the 320Ci. I can now not-die in standing traffic in the 40C heat. Huge improvement after last summer when I spent 4 hours in a jam on the highway in 38-40C summer heat. Thrice.

I had to ferry the kids around in it while the X3 was offline for the suspension change, it performed pretty damn well, with two full sized child seats in the back.. Despite having the rather harsh Bilstein set, they enjoyed it, especially the younger one. I think not having the rear sway around like a boat (X3) made them feel much safer. Pretty rare for "sport coupe" I think. At least it has proven the wife that it's not just a toy for my early midlife crisis, it's actually usable as a real car lol

Also, I remember writing about having some of the rear end changed. Maybe in another thread? Anyways, everything was rotten, there were barely any thread left in the hubs so things needed to be changed just to not kill me. New rear brakes, rear brake hardlines, finally with working e-brake (the reason for all these swaps), new hubs, new bearings, and the diff mount bushings are changed as well. The cost was insane, 700k huf, 2k usd. Same as the whole car is worth on a good day, if everything was absolutely perfect on it...
I only wanted the ebrake fixed, it turned into this.

Oh and I got a purple tag rack, so the steering is real fast now. Supposedly at least...

(I've just now learned that EU purple tag racks have nothing in common with NA purple racks. In the US purples, some yellows, and blues have the same ratio supposedly? Here it's very different, purple being the fastest rack available and the most saught-after. Because of owning a RHD car in a LHD country, I got mine for basically nothing off the wreckers)

I have some issues with it though, car constantly pulls to either side, it feels hard to start turning the wheel, and it feels heavier than it should imo. Despite the quick rack it's slow to turn in because it had an alignment made to supposedly factory numbers so it has toe-in. Which is dumb for this particular car (yeah I know it's the "safe" option... I dunno why manufacturers assume that being unable to control your car to it's full extent is safer, but sure...), it runs soooo much better with the slight toe-out it had before... anyways, I'll have to take another deeper dive into my suspension, see what else needs to be changed to have it run fine. Anyways, the guy who did the aligment is rather... special.
he is a dumb fucking moron of an alcoholic, and probably fucked up my alignment, again. Did a perfectly fine job on the X3, but probably had too much, or not enough, to drink when he did the coupe. I got the paperwork with the final setup data, somewhere... I'll post it up for you to take a look, see if I'm right.

Well, this turned out longer than the 2-4 sentences I originally planned.
BTW I still haven't fixed the Fr L turnsignal, it's still held on by a large piece of very TEST-like black and yellow diagonally striped ducttape. I'll get around to ordering a new one, sooooonTM...

Slightly relevant to the topic, have any of you watched the 24 Hours of 7.5hours of Nürburgring? Or the 24H of LeMans? I've watched most of NBR24, it was disgraceful, and some of Leman (cos I didnt wanna pay and they kept taking down the free streams), but the best long-haul race I've seen recently was the 24H Spa last weekend. Really intense, with tons of insane rain, a ferrari exploding into a fireball on the main straight, lots of drama with world champs like Valentino Rossi almost binning his bimmer, twice... Really fun.

What have you guys been up to with your rides?

REPRESENT! with TEST-tape!

Untitled-1.jpg
 

Lorddarthvik

Space Marshal
Donor
Feb 22, 2016
2,854
9,924
2,860
RSI Handle
Lorddarthvik
Im away currently and it was the first time I had this piece of junk out on a multi lane almost empty highway since the upgrades and rear end getting fixed. I mean the unlimited parts of the German autobahn ofc. Or a private road in Mexico. Ya know...

Things were..discovered. One might say, issues with the car.
Despite the supposedly normal setup of toe in, the car has zero willingness to go straight. Especially at speed (above 140kph) it gets really bad. It keeps wanting to drift from side to side, you put in the slightest input,nothing happen,you put in a tiny bit more, and it starts drifting thr other way, by a lot.
Theres also a very much not good sound that starts above 160kph. You know the sound in like Sci fi movies when something starts powering up, a sinister wub wuub wub wuub and it builds up and speeds up until it becomes a constant noise... Yeah it does that. Goes away at around 180 190 though...😆
And ofc the whole car has a resonqnce along with this noise. It doesn't have the usually wheel wobble feel on the steering, but you can feel it in that, in the pedals, shifter, everywhere... Effing scary.
When I arrived at my destination I went aroud the car and I didn't notice anything for a day. Then I saw it the next day. Both of my stick-on bmw logos from the front wheels are missing. The front suspension is hasn't been bothered yet apart from the shocks and springs, so im guessing everything else is shot. Along with the cheap rack I got.

The only good news is that when a newish X5 with green plates (meaning mostly or fully electric) was trying to push me out of the fast lane, he got left in the dust past 180kph. I'm also shocked that such a heap of junk with 270k miles on the clock and basically no proper upkeep for the past 10 years before I bought it can still easily do above 200kph. If I had the balls I'm pretty much certain it would hit the Rev limiter in 5th (it needs the 6gear box, badly. Not just for top end speed but for comfort as well, having to listen to the drone of 4500rpm at 130kph for over 2 hours is just not fun).
 
  • Love
Reactions: GPcustoms

Shadow Reaper

Space Marshal
Jun 3, 2016
5,418
15,028
2,975
RSI Handle
Shadow Reaper
Forgive me asking for a clarification, but what I’m hearing you say is the steering is both drifty and unresponsive at high speed, but you’re driving it at high speed for hours at a time anyway?
 
  • Glorious
Reactions: GPcustoms
Forgot your password?