Touring International

[Earl]

I finally got some work done. Friday I went to the shop and removed the battery tray. I then had a go with removing some of the seam sealer.

Here it is:


Here is where it was:



You can see some seam sealer was removed there too. I only had an hour to spend at the shop so I didn't get much more done.

I then thought about how my Recaro Trophies would be great in the car, but they're not black=(


They're mint. Only one cigarette burn on the passenger side.


Back to the engine bay. I went back yesterday, and removed the rest of the sealer I could get with the drill and wire cup. I also got rid of the ABS.

Before:


After:


Passenger side tower:




Drivers side tower:




Full bay so far:


Next weekend I should be able to get a majority of the rest of the seam sealer out. I really need to pick up the pace to get this all done by June.

[Rob&co]

ohhh man sell me those seats! OMFG! now! lol i like the griproyal too!

[Earl]

ohhh man sell me those seats! OMFG! now! lol i like the griproyal too!

Thank you sir. And I would sell the seats to fund black ones, but they're in my POS dd Mk3=P

[Earl]

I just sold a wastegate that I was selling. Time to buy the COP kit=D

[Earl]

Quick Update:

I got out to the shop Saturday for a little bit and ended up getting the brake booster out, as well as getting the fusebox unbolted. Now I need to get some wire bundles free under the dash, to give me enough slack to pull the box up and out. I'll get some pictures on Wednesday hopefully.

I have some somewhat good news about wheels too. I might be building two sets for the car now. I can get a sweet deal on some OZ Breytons from the homeland=)
I'm either going to build them wider, or flip them. Here is a picture of them for those who do not know what they look like:



They're pretty rare, but I have seen them on a few e36's. I've always had a soft spot for them=P We will see what happens.

[Earl]

I got out to the shop last night and worked on a few more things.

I got most of the spot welds roughly smoothed out. The 60 grit wheels wasn't ideal, but it took them down quick.





You're probably wondering about the plastic bag in the last picture (You probably aren't but I'm going to explain it anyways)
I managed to get the lower half of the box out. This left me with a mess of wires. I do not want these wires full of dust/debris.
I will hopefully be removing all of the fuses from the box, labelling them properly, pushing them through the firewall, and placing
them back into the box this weekend. It's not going to be fun. Here is the said mess of wires:


That makes it looks like less too. That ball of wire is massive....

[Earl]

So I was not in the mood to do wiring today. I then decided to go pickup an engine stand, and tear the motor down.

I started off by picking up, and then assembling, this engine stand from Harbor Freight. $50=)



I then finished removing the wiring harness from the engine.




Once that was done I started removing the accessories (alternator, power steering pump, a/c compressor) This led me to find most of my oil leaks as well.






I noticed a wet spot by cylinder 4 under the head. I'm going to do a compression test Wednesday. I also went to take off the trans and realized that I do not own any e-torx sockets=/ My bushings are still stuck in Polish customs, and my COP kit first shipped yesterday.

More updates to follow after Wednesday.

[Earl]

My rear bushings arrived today from Silver Project. It takes a bit for a package to come from Poland.

I asked them if they could draw a picture of anything they want on the box, to see how down to earth they are. I like doing this when I order parts Here is what I was welcomed with.




My COP kit got sent to my parents by accident. I should have it Thursday. Tomorrow I will be at the shop getting things done. Hopefully ill have another update.

[Earl]

I managed to get my transmission and flywheel off yesterday. I then went to mount the motor on the stand, and found out the top transmission bolts are too short to use to mount it=/ I picked some longer bolts on the way home. I won't be able to make it out until Sunday, since Saturday is my mums birthday.



I also have some other exciting news. I officially sealed the deal on the Breytons. Now I'm looking at lips to order. Hopefully I'll have everything to build them as soon as they hit stateside. I'm currently waiting on the purchaser to pay for the Style 5's still as well. Hopefully that gets cleared up by the end of the week=)

[bimmerbabe]

brake cleaner helps a lot to remove the old shit and exactly spot the leak... Just clean it and wait a day or two

As for the color of the Recaros... there's something called fabric paint. We painted our grey fabric armrest with it, too... works great, even on seats or floormats...
think about it... at least for the outer parts

[Earl]

I would dye my seats but theyre just too clean to ruin. I really want a leather set to go in the compact. I finally sold the Style 5's today. Now the profits will be used to buy lips and hardware for the Breytons. I also got my rear subframe out, and the motor got a nice amount of cleaning. I'll upload some pictures tomorrow.

[Earl]

I got out to the shop yesterday=)

I started off the day mounting the motor on the stand.




I then removed the coolant lines and sensors from the intake side.




At this point I got a phonecall from a potential buyer for my wheels. I meet him and his grandfather in a grocery store parking lot, and arrived back to the shop with this.



I spent some on gas=) It was $1200. I just wanted them gone to fund building the Breytons. I also took that picture because it is obligatory when you have trap house money.

I then returned to the shop and my friend Jake had arrived. He got to cleaning the block a bit more and I tackled removing the rear subframe.





Diff looks like it was leaking a little 0_o Jake also only took one picture of the motor. The other side is clean too...
I will hopefully be dropping the subframe on Wednesday. All that is left and the lower subframe mounts.

Tah Tah for now.

[Earl]

Yesterday proved to be a successful day at the shop. (for how little time the girlfriend let me stay there)

I got the rear half of the driveshaft off and started to drop the subframe. I took an hour working from side to side, pounding the subframe down with a hammer and woodblock. The bushing sleeves weren't stuck, but the subframe was at a slight angle so they didn't want to just slide down=) All of that work provided me with this:



I then removed the diff, trailing arms, and brakes from the subframe. That took a while, since I couldn't figure out how to keep the diff from turning while I removed the axle bolts.
I also tried removing the axle from the hub, but couldn't get a socket to sit on the nut far enough. I found out after I got home that there is a locking plate that goes around the nut......I felt stupid, but will be removing it today.




The diff was definitely leaking. Hopefully it is okay. That will get cleaned up today, as well as many other things=)

[Earl]

I got an email from my German friend Kitty today. It included this picture:



That is all.

[DinanDave]

looking good bro!