///Mock3 "Luxury" Edition

[VS_Pete]

nice***************************************

 

[hakhawk]

so its been progressively getting worse to change gears in the car, and seemed to go from crap to downright stupid in an instant not long before i dropped the car off at the panel shop.

i decided to finally pull the gearbox and see what was wrong, and replace some other bits while it was out

got home friday and put it on ramps(who can see my problem, seeing as im removing the gearbox)

so it seems i neglected to take many pics this time round, but heres the important bits.

remove the fork and throwout bearing and im greeted with a nice dusting of bronze EVERYWHERE, a broken fork retainer spring and next to no pivot pin left

heres a comparison of the new oem bmw steel pin(only used on certain cars, m5, 850ci, etc) and the "better wearing than oem plastic" silicon bronze pin that i put in ~80,000ks ago when the engine went in.

the wear on this actually managed to let the throwout bearing spin 90deg and make changing gears shocking

you can see the marks in the fork(theres wear on the proper pads, so it did go in correctly in the first place)

little bit of wear on the pressure plate fingers but still a decent amount of material on the clutch, so it stays for now

gave the box a quick scrub down, as there was fluid all over the top of it at the back, coming from the breather, so rigged up an extended breather for it, checked some of the seals and replaced the end piece on the shifter shaft

also threw some fresh fluid in, last lot wasnt too bad, but hey, its out might as well.

box ready to go back in. guibo and mounts were fine, so didnt bother replacing.

changed the starter motor, original one was starting to feel a bit sad, and again, box is out, was easy enough to do. no pics, its only a starter

and installed my mid section exhaust, been waiting to do this for a while. took some fluffing about, drilling out the front flange bolt holes, modifying brackets.

but its in, lighter, sounds better, high flow cats lets motor breathe a bit more too. unsure how many ks on the mid section i had in there, but i dare say they werent pretty inside.

old pic of exhaust, didnt take pics today, was busy messing with it

overall car feels better to drive, feels more alive with the exhaust, and gears are a dream to change compared to before.

i'll try and get some video of the exhaust once it breaks in a bit more

 

[Jecs]

awesome work hakky, much swearing pulling the box out without a hoist?

 

[hakhawk]

surprisingly wasnt too bad. would easily have it out and reinstalled in a day if i was just doing a clutch.

a hoist would be easier on the body though lol, gonna be feeling it for the next day or 2

 

[hakhawk]

looks like ive finally got my ongoing vanos issues licked, after fully rebuilding the unit, replacing solenoinds, it turns out my "spare" vanos ecu was faulty, threw the original back in and shes all peaches for now. will see how it goes

and today after work i installed a set of trackspec motorsport bonnet vents.

install went nice and easy, few cuts, bit of paint, couple holes and some rivets and an hour later they were on.

first cut(drilling the initial holes was far less daunting than one would think). they come with measurements in the instructions, which i missed(who reads the instructions anyway!!), but turns out i wasnt far off anyway.

i covered the bay with a big ole piece of cardboard, worked for the most part

and all done

think ill get some of the plastic caps to keep water from settling around the strut bolt holes

 

[hakhawk]

so i cant really be bothered getting into the details, but i have my car back after spending the last ~2.5 months getting the fenders reinstalled and the car repainted.

today was spent reinstalling parts and installing some new parts.

installed a new rear diffuser, had to trim it a bit to clear the rear muffler

mmmmm paint

went out for a few photos, then after parking it at home, it decided in typical e36 fashion to break the door lock mechanism. so in order to fix that i had to remove most of the window and door lock parts in the car, which gave me the opportunity to replace the window rail with a better condition spare, and door latch. blessing in disguise one would almost say LOL

anyway, have some crappy iphone pics

 

[GetToDaChopa]

just turn it into a race car already

 

[Jonesy484]

did you push the tail lights closer to the end of the fenders?

 

[Sabbath']

There's a lot of rear tyre showing from the back. Is that going to be an issue?

 

[hakhawk]

did you push the tail lights closer to the end of the fenders?

fenders are blended in better, so less excess material at the outer edge of the lights

There's a lot of rear tyre showing from the back. Is that going to be an issue?

least of my worries

honestly, before the fenders, tyre overhang was similar on my other wheels, never had an issue

*touches wood* giggity