Touring International

[Earl]

So Saturday wasn't too bad of a day.

I started by mocking up my e46 skirts



It is really hard to tell how they will look with no front fender on, and the car in the air. I would also really like to shave the raised center to give it a nice smooth look similar to the AC Schnitzer skirts.

After that I lubricated my cams, timing chain, and chain guides with engine assembly lube before buttoning the covers up. I then installed my upper timing cover


And then installed my water pump and thermostat housing


The thermostat housing is only on hand tight at the moment because I got the wrong gasket and my thermostat didn't come with an o-ring.

The valve cover is only one because I had to tighten it down to seat the timing cover on the profile gasket properly. I was told that the pressure down on it should seat the end of the profile gasket that wasn't sitting well. I sure hope it works out. I put a large dab of silicone on the inside edges like the Bentley specifies. I also put a small dab on the outside edge. If it leaks it still shouldn't be a hard fix=)

My buddy Greaser Kyle made it out and shaved all of the unneeded holes in my radiator support that you will be able to see



I found a great condition black carpet that should be shipped out today. I have also been contemplating buying aftermarket rear strut mounts since my e46 m3 vert mounts don't look like they held up too well. I was looking at either choosing Rogue Engineering mounts of the Ground Control mounts. I ended up opting for the Ground Control mounts because they are poly and seemed to be made a little beefier. Those should be shipping out today as well=)

Here is my canvas of a back window


Hopefully all of the microscratches will buff out lol

[Tuck&Poke]

Drawing dicks in window dust seems to be a universal thing

[Randomofodication]

Loveing the work going into this! Also that crinkle black on the engine looks fantastic

[Earl]

Drawing dicks in window dust seems to be a universal thing

There are multiples all over the rest of the car. lol I think that once a car has dust on it, wangs ensue

Loveing the work going into this! Also that crinkle black on the engine looks fantastic

Thank you=) I just like how simple wrinkle black looks while not being boring.

[Earl]

Achieved zero progress over the weekend. The girlfriends rear drums brakes proved to be a weekend long endeavor.

These came in however:



I will be installing those Saturday, as well as installing my new sway bar endlinks, bushings, brackets, and hardware.

I will also be getting the inside of the valve cover cleaned out and then installing it for good on the engine.

I gave my friend Greaser Kyle the pass code for the garage door so that he can work on the bay/shaving while I am not there so we can get this done=)

[244Brick]

Such an exciting build!

[Earl]

I made the purchase of a more period correct steering wheel yesterday=)

This means that my Grip Royal Grain with the horn button will be for sale shortly.


Obviously it is in brand new shape since the car has never been driven with it and I bought it brand new.

The new wheel is an Italvolanti that I found for an excellent price and it was one of the only wheels that I could find that I thought would flow well with the OEM+ vibe and is 350mm.

I will post a pic once it arrives and is installed so that I can make sure it looks as fitting as I am hoping.


Other than that I painted the proper side of my waterpump pulley last night since I painted the wrong side before=P


Saturday should involve me installing my Ground Control RSMs, swaybar endlinks/bushings/brackets/hardware, and possibly starting to replace the wheel bearings.

[indiejack]

[QUOTE=Earl;1305241]
This means that my Grip Royal Grain with the horn button will be for sale shortly.

Earl - Shoot me a price, it's the exact color combo I was going for (and ironically almost ordered last night)!

[Earl]

I got my Ground Control rear shock mounts installed Saturday.

Here is the set of e46 m3 vert mounts that I replaced (less than a years worth of driving on them)



New versus old





Installed top plates




Then installed the shocks with the mounts






Also installed the new lower shock mounting bolts



After that I removed the rear sway bar to sandblast, repaint (not happy with how it looks from before), and then to prepare for the new bushings, brackets, end links, and hardware.

I noticed that the under side of my diff surface rusted through the rust reformer/paint and that my trailing arms are starting to do the same around the edges. I have been thinking of dropping the sub frame again to replace all of the bolts with new and this has me wanting to repaint it all again. I am not sure why said rust reformer would not have neutralized the rust like it looked like it had=/

After that I got the thermostat and housing installed with the gaskets, as well as the water pump pulley


The pile of scrap from the end of the day


After that I cruised up to Oshkosh for a BBQ at a friends house to celebrate his e30 being done





Super stoked with how it came out so far=)

I now have an m44 crank pulley on the way and will have my new steering wheel and misc parts within the next month.

[Earl]

My m44 crank pulley showed up yesterday=)

I gave it a quick wash


Then I gave it a coat of paint

[Earl]

A while back I was working on getting some vinyl cut to make my custom "Touring International" badges. A guy on Instagram saw my idea and told me he could make me a set of badges from lexan. He told me that he made a "BMW Compact" set by hand painting it from the back side and painting black over the top. I asked how much he wanted to do them and said he would make my "Touring International" badges and send two "BMW Compact" badges to me for free. I was excited. He never sent me any teaser pics but he mailed them from Europe around a month and a half ago. I was excited for them but lost hope because we both thought they got lost in shipping. The mailman came yesterday and dropped them off and I couldn't wait to open them.



They turned out amazing. I thought he simply hand painted them from the back but it is much more than that. He actually machined the letters out from the back and then painted them in. This makes them 3D just like the OEM badges. I will take pictures of the backs when I get home and also some of the "BMW Compact" badges.

[DER E30]

That's really awesome! Looks oem!

[floatingdino]

Looks swish

[Earl]

More front and back pictures of the badges



Saturday I started by installing my m44 crank pulley


I was very happy to see that the trigger wheel was the same as the m42 pulley. I never even thought to make sure before switching over.

After that I threw the intake manifold on temporarily to get it off of the bench and to see how it is all coming together.


It is much bulkier than I would like but it is about as good looking as it is going to get without making a log style manifold.

After that, my friend John arrived and I decided to attack the rear wheel bearings. These were a nightmare. Getting the hubs out was pretty quick and simple. The inner races were on them pretty tight and pounding them out wasn't working. We set them to the side so that we could work on getting the outer races out of the trailing arms.

We were having a terrible time removing the snap ring for holding in the bearings. We ran to Napa to get a snap ring pliers in hope that they would work great. Well the pliers design for holding the tips wasn't exactly up to par and they kept turning when we were removing the snap rings. I ended up getting fancy with a straight pick and two screw drivers to work them out.

After that, we figured the outer races would come out with brute force. That wasn't working. We then tried multiple ways of pulling them out of the arms with no luck.


The piece of uni-strut bent before the race even budged.

We went off to the hardware store and bought a dremel, figuring it would be our saving grace. It worked excellent for removing the inner races from the hubs. We moved onto the outer races and couldn't quite reach all the way through.

The new neighbor to the shop then came home and upon introduction, recommended we use his air chisel. He walked on over with it and zipped them out in a matter of seconds........I should have introduced myself sooner.

After all of that, John pressed in the new bearings. I brought the hubs to work so that they can be sandblasted and repainted. I will install them Saturday afternoon.

How the car currently sits

[Earl]

Before



After



I painted them last night and will take pics of them dry today.