November e30 meet

A few pics of the meet and the cars...

3 in 1

Ive been putting off a few things because all my time has been spent on the challenge car. www.dirte30.blogspot.com Now that the challenge is over with, I had a few things I needed to get done on my daily driver. Priority 1 was to replace my tie-rods. They were making a lot of noise over bumps, and giving a sloppy steering feel to my e36 steering rack. I quickly replaced them, did a much needed oil change and alignment. As you can see I had quite a bit of toe-out that needed to be corrected. Once that was done I moved on to my exhaust. Since my car is a 318IS which comes with a single tip exhaust, I had to cut out my rear valence a bit when i installed my twin tip muffler. It was fine for a while, but lately it was rattling. I decided to trim it out some more, and fold the steel inwards like it is on a stock 325. After some paint, it came out really nice, and It never rattles anymore. Last but not least, I picked up a used roof-rack off craigslist for $20. It was way too big, so I cut it down and made it fit a bit better. I have plans to make the cross bars out of Teak. Stay tuned for more on the rack.

Headache of the century!

I had a terrible vibration that kept getting worse and worse. It felt like it was coming from the rear, so i jacked the car up and my driver's side wheel has a LOT of play in it... It was time to pull the bearings and install new ones. Little did I know how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be. When i pulled out the bearing it fell apart and looked like this. Using a bit of heat and a home-made bearing puller, I was able to get the rest if it out. Installation was way simpler than the removal. I put the wheel bearing in the freezer and it pretty much slid right into place with minimal pressure! After doing one side, I asked my dad to make me a more solid plate so I could push/pull the other bearing in and out more easily.

help me pick my paint scheme!

Should I go with the tan/creme color or keep the red with the white number plate(i don't know what number to use yet). Leave a comment below.

Photoshoot

I got a great deal on some lightly used tires at the local swap meet, so I mounted them on a new set of wheels that have been sitting in the garage for the past couple months. We found an empty parking deck where we could shoot some pics.

BMW meet.

I have a few pics of a large BMW meet that we went to this past Saturday. It was ok. There were a ton of newer bimmers, and a handful of older e30 chassis cars.

The workday blues welcome the arrival of a road trip

Cristy and I woke up early Saturday morning in search of some adventure. We jumped on A1A in Ft. Lauderdale and took it all the way up the windy coast to J.D. MacArthur Beach State Park, in North Palm Beach. It took us a good part of the day, because we stopped along the way, but we had had one hell of a lazy Saturday and saw some really beautiful scenery.

Starting the bodywork

Grassroots Motorsports FTW! So i decide d to start on some of the bodywork this past monday. My cousin lent me his compressor and DA sander. I went to the local hardware store, picked up some sandpaper and primer, and got to it THis is actually my 2nd day of sanding. On the first day all I was able to do was the driver's side of the hood. Its a junkyard hood, so it had some funky ripples, and had already been re-painted once. Good Times , after sitting in an office staring at a computer all day! Well after having a close call with a curb and putting a huge lump on one of my tires, I thought it was time to get some shiny new shoes for this piece. I picked them up for super cheap. They are 15x8 with a +15 offset. I'm planning on running a 12mm spacer in the back and prolly going to stretch the tires a bit so they won't rub. I'm still unsure about the color... but i think im going to paint them.

Junkyard Steering wheel FTW!

So, I found an old steering wheel at the Junkyard. I really liked the retro look of it, so i bought it for less than $6! I brought it home and began looking for a hub that would work. Everything i found was $$, and I really didn't feel like paying $60 for a new MOMO hub. I grabbed the stock steering wheel, and decided to cut it up into a custom hub/adapter. I began by separating the wheel from the stock aluminum hub. I had to cut and grind a lot of parts off including the airbag wiring and horn wiring. After about 30 mins of cutting, I spent some time sanding the surface smooth on my belt sander. I then drilled 3 holes on the hub and 3 matching holes on the steering wheel. THis is the finished product. Here is a side shot of the clearance i have between the wheel and the column. I'm really happy with the final product and the way it makes the car feel even more responsive. I used some stainless nuts and bolts to install the wheel. I am still planning on refinishing it, and wiring up the horn.