Touring International

[frink84]

That's not true for any brands I checked... Monroe, KYB, and Strange. 79-93 is always shorter than 94+ when comparing shocks of the same brand/type.

You can check for yourself here:

http://www.monroe.com/assets/downloads/english/08_MountingLengthSheet.pdf

http://www.kyb.com/technical/documen...onsSecured.pdf

strange, since the 94+ is recommended for lowered foxes.... perhaps it is different for more corner carving oriented shocks like bilstein and koni.

message me, I can send you one, too
they do have a part-no., but people mostly sell them for ridiculously high prices. Sadly there isn't a chance to get these new any more...
I'll just part them out on junkyards for super cheap

you got a pm!

[Earl]

Small updates from Saturday. I had the barrels bead blasted on Thursday so I figured I would paint them. I used Tractor and Implement paint from Fleet Farm. It lays really nice and is pretty durable.





I missed a few spots and ran out of paint. I'll be touching that up tonight. I also noticed that two barrels have a few flat spots in the lips=( Looks like I'll be going wider out back this coming winter.

After that I decided to reinstall my RTAB's properly. I had the sleeves bored out correctly at work since Silver Project accidentally missed an operation on them. The funny thing is that the machinist at work didn't bore them all the way through=( Today I will be running a 15/32 bit all the way through so that I can bolt the trailing arms up. I decided I will do the wheel bearing while they're mounted on the car because the car really needs to roll to get the bay welded up at my friends shop. The bushing went in smooth as butter this time though=D




I then decided that since I got the euro glovebox in, why not tackle the driverside cubby. Of course there was yet another stupid metal pad.



Then of course a bracket had to be welded to the frame to keep me from a straight bolt on install. (That polkadotted rusty bracket)



I decided that a dremel was smarter than an angle grinder this time.



After that was off the piece fit well=)



I did notice that you can see through the opening below the column. I believe that is because the metal pad covered that a little before. I'm going to make a little plate to sit there to pretty it up.

Tonight I will be out at the shop painting the barrels more, installing the trailing arms, and possibly painting the CV axle shafts. I will also be doing a little fiberglass repair and shaving on some parts. I'll show you what I mean tomorrow=)

[bimmerbabe]

I did notice that you can see through the opening below the column. I believe that is because the metal pad covered that a little before. I'm going to make a little plate to sit there to pretty it up.

Could get you the plastic cover that goes under the steering wheel... ours are in a different angle then yours, didn't keep that in mind when getting you the parts
you wouldn't need to make your own plastic piece then
I can take a pic how it looks in our car, later

[Earl]

Could get you the plastic cover that goes under the steering wheel... ours are in a different angle then yours, didn't keep that in mind when getting you the parts
you wouldn't need to make your own plastic piece then
I can take a pic how it looks in our car, later

Not a problem Kitty. A picture would be nice. Do you guys have tilt steering? We do not=( Our column is non adjustable.

[bimmerbabe]

Not a problem Kitty. A picture would be nice. Do you guys have tilt steering? We do not=( Our column is non adjustable.

No, in Germany the tilt steering wheel never came. AFAIK this has never been an E36 Compact feature at all, not even as an extra.
Steering wheel height adjustment has never been a standard item in the E36 range. This was always a special feature that was quite pricey, too... therefore it's not *that* easy to find out there... at least that's the standard in Germany
But there are quite a lot of people here who put the adjustable piece from a Coupe in, I heard that works quite fast and easy

[PashaP]

It will be a great result!

[frink84]

more cool euro-spec stuff! nice.

[Earl]

It will be a great result!

Thank you. I like the progress on your car lately

more cool euro-spec stuff! nice.

I would have more if the euro spec interior has more things that were different. It is quite off to me that the US dash frame has those mounts welded on instead of being bolted on. I should make writeups for the glovebox and drivers side install.

No, in Germany the tilt steering wheel never came. AFAIK this has never been an E36 Compact feature at all, not even as an extra.
Steering wheel height adjustment has never been a standard item in the E36 range. This was always a special feature that was quite pricey, too... therefore it's not *that* easy to find out there... at least that's the standard in Germany
But there are quite a lot of people here who put the adjustable piece from a Coupe in, I heard that works quite fast and easy

I'm assuming you change out the whole column then? I may have to look into it. Luckily for me, the steering wheel is at a perfect angle for me anyways=)

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I got a tiny bit done yesterday.

My friend couldn't make it out, so fiberglass repair or shaving was done. Hopefully later this week, or sometime next week that can happen.

I did touch up the barrels and now they are finished=) Now I just need the faces and my wheels can be assembled.

I got the sleeves pressed into my RTAB's finally. The bad thing is that no matter how hard I tried, I always pushed part of the bushing out of the arm. I used a c clamp and applied even pressure to get them in. All would look great until I took the clamp off. The bushing would then return to shape but be pushed out about 1/16"-1/8". I didn't want to mess with them anymore and it shouldn't cause any issues. I then threw the trailing arms onto the subframe and placed the bolts in without tightening them. The ends were somewhat of a pain to get in due to the bushings being pressed out a little. Only one of them didn't go in all that great, but it will perform fine. I also attached the diff to feel accomplished=)



I think I might clean the bolts up when I put them in for good. While I was at it, I repainted the CV axles. The paint on the shafts was half gone and there was a good amount of surface rust. I cleaned all that up, sprayed on some primer, and then finished with black. They don't look half bad for as little time as I spent on them. They'll look good under the car=)



I believe I will be going back to the shop on Wednesday. My order from ECS tuning is delayed right now due to a few parts. Hopefully that ships soon.

[Earl]

I made a little progress yesterday.

I started off at work by slimming up the headlight harness to make it easier and nicer to tuck around the back to hide them.

Before:


After:


I am going to bend the connections to go at a 90 and then make a cap that covers the connection. I ended up breaking a connector from bending it too much, so I need to find a replacement.

When I got to the shop I started installing the CV axles. It took me a bit to figure out how to get them in with the trailing arms bolted down, but I got it.



You can see that the diff cover is missing. I was sick of how nasty it looked and I didn't want to take the time to polish it.




It is the same color as the trailing arms and subframe main support. I also pressed in the diff mount while the cover was off.



Then I reinstalled it on the diff. (two pictures that are at almost the same angle)




Then I figured I might aswell finish it off with two of the final pieces.



I need to loctite all of the bolts and torque everything down before it can go on. I am also adding a fresh coat of undercoat today after work.

I brought the barrels home with me and decided to set them around my livingroom with the lips on top of them. Some crappy pictures to get the idea:

Fronts (17x9.5 et14)


Rears (17x10 et8)


That is all for now=)

[Earl]

I figured a before and after of the subframe would be a good idea (except I don't have the brake lines or calipers on yet)

[Earl]

I got more good progress yesterday=) I remembered that I would like to reapply undercoat before I put the subframe back in. I bought two cans of Rustoleum undercoat Wednesday night, and did the coating yesterday afternoon.

I started off by removing the sway bar. It had definitely seen better days.



I plan to either remove it completely or buy a beefier one depending on how the car handles with the stock one. I figured I might aswell just clean it up a bit. I hit it with sander to knock the flaking rust off, primed it, and then threw a coat of black on it.



Now it won't look like crap with the cleaned up subframe.

After that I wiped the wheel wells and underside down with lacquer thinner to remove any grease and dirt. I then applied two coats of the undercoat. It layed really nicely and it didn't drip. It was dark under the car so it was hard to get a good picture.




I'm very happy with how it turned out, and I plan to do the front wheel wells and underside when I install my front struts. I need to get some loctite to finish putting the subframe together for good. I might do that today if I go to the shop, otherwise I will do it next Wednesday.

[Mexican]

Great work man.

[Earl]

Great work man.

Thanks bud=)

I didn't do anything Friday besides reinstall the swaybar.



My package from ECS Tuning arrived Saturday. Now to throw all of those parts at the car=)

[244Brick]

Do work

[Earl]

Do work

Thanks you sir=)

I got basically nothing done yesterday. I was making the hole to route my headlight harness through, but I didn't have the right tool to get it big enough. I'm hoping to get that done Saturday. I also did not have the right loctite on hand to tighten everything down for good on the rear subframe. I also didn't have any RTV to use on installing the rear diff gasket. The great news is that Shaun finished powdercoating the Breyton faces and they will be enroute shortly=D