What have you done to your car today?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Perfect Balance
  • 6,674 comments
  • 415,912 views
It was sorta warm out today, so I finally got cracking on the wiring for the battery relocation. Got the tranny and chassis grounds, as well as the power to the starter done. Next week some time I'll take care of the last wire, the power to the fuse box.

Still waiting for the email notification of the engine mounts I ordered in November to be shipped out. It's still within the time frame I was told of, but I'm anxious.
 
Profoxcg
I finally finished installing my boost gauge, and euro-dash pocket and a silver glove box handle. The car is a 2011 GTI, suspension was taken care of when I got the car 2 months ago after a lady ran a red light and killed my 2008 4 door civic SI with a my Type-R front end conversion.... =(

But I like the GTI.
Click to expand...

Sucks. Got a pic of the Si?
 
After a year, I finally got around to grabbing a kit & hardwired the radar in the TL. I plan to do the same in the 3 Series, but I'm going to pay someone who knows BMWs to do that.
 
Got bored and added horsepower to the intake. I might be spinning the wheels all the time now, but iss'okay!

Intake.jpg
 
Punknoodle
Anyone know where I could source an ST205 gearbox? I've decided I'm going to do the power steering rack and gearbox at the same time, but I'm going for the better box and getting it rebuilt before it goes in
Click to expand...

What was the cause of the break down?
 
Woke the GTO up from it's winter nap to recharge the battery and make sure it still started.

(Videos below... click the picture.)

Cold Idle


Warmed up a bit
 
Had to perform an unplanned emergency brake job on the Grand Prix.

I was coming home from work last night and coming up to a red light at about 35mph. Hit the brakes and I hear a loud "ka-chunk" and the brake pedal goes to the floor. Brakes still worked, but there was a loud grinding metal-on-metal noise. I was a few blocks from home so I limped it home.

Popped the wheels off and found this:
100_0283.jpg

(Notice the pad on the far left, which came off the drivers side)

The pad material seperated completely from the mounting plate. The other 3 pads on the front looked almost brand new, which they should since this set has about 5k miles on them.
 
Adamgp
Had to perform an unplanned emergency brake job on the Grand Prix.

I was coming home from work last night and coming up to a red light at about 35mph. Hit the brakes and I hear a loud "ka-chunk" and the brake pedal goes to the floor. Brakes still worked, but there was a loud grinding metal-on-metal noise. I was a few blocks from home so I limped it home.

Popped the wheels off and found this:
100_0283.jpg

(Notice the pad on the far left, which came off the drivers side)

The pad material seperated completely from the mounting plate. The other 3 pads on the front looked almost brand new, which they should since this set has about 5k miles on them.
Click to expand...

What brand is that? Because I definitely DO NOT want to buy anything made by the same company....
 
niky
What brand is that? Because I definitely DO NOT want to buy anything made by the same company....
Click to expand...

Those were Autozone Duralast Gold pads. Don't remember if they were metallic or ceramic. I had Duralast Gold's on the car before this set and they performed just fine, so I guess it was a defect.

The ones I put on today are NAPA ceramics.
 
Adamgp
Had to perform an unplanned emergency brake job on the Grand Prix.

I was coming home from work last night and coming up to a red light at about 35mph. Hit the brakes and I hear a loud "ka-chunk" and the brake pedal goes to the floor. Brakes still worked, but there was a loud grinding metal-on-metal noise. I was a few blocks from home so I limped it home.

Popped the wheels off and found this:

(Notice the pad on the far left, which came off the drivers side)

The pad material seperated completely from the mounting plate. The other 3 pads on the front looked almost brand new, which they should since this set has about 5k miles on them.
Click to expand...


OMG thats so fooked, i have never seen or heard that happening! Thank God you wernt going too fast...
 
Bought this steering wheel off ebay for $80. It is the same exact one I have on my car now.

b18k2kkgrhqjjgepzook4yb.jpg





and will be sending it to a place in Singapore for core charge ($400 core charge!?!.......and I don't want to send my current one because I want it for being stock and $80 to double up isn't bad) for this steering wheel if I don't find a place in the USA that does the same thing for similar pricing. Should be $775 before any shipping of core. Considering doing it myself, but doubt I can get a finished product that nice.

bmw20e9020oem20steering.jpg
 
Slick Rick
OMG thats so fooked, i have never seen or heard that happening! Thank God you wernt going too fast...
Click to expand...

The pad material falling off is a new one on me too. I have heard of pads cracking or shattering, but its very rare and only under the most extreme circumstances. (on the race track, or towing heavy loads).

I was able to stop the car just fine. And since I was close to home I didn't damage the rotor.

I was also lucky that Friday was 50°F so I didn't freeze while changing pads. It did start to rain a little though.
 
Adamgp
Those were Autozone Duralast Gold pads. Don't remember if they were metallic or ceramic. I had Duralast Gold's on the car before this set and they performed just fine, so I guess it was a defect.

The ones I put on today are NAPA ceramics.
Click to expand...

I'd consider mailing the set to the company with a letter stating how they failed. Might get a free set of pads for your trouble.

That wheel is nice. I know a local company that can possibly do it for cheaper (also in the ASEAN), but not quite at the quality of the one in the picture. What place are you sending it?
 
niky
I'd consider mailing the set to the company with a letter stating how they failed. Might get a free set of pads for your trouble.

That wheel is nice. I know a local company that can possibly do it for cheaper (also in the ASEAN), but not quite at the quality of the one in the picture. What place are you sending it?
Click to expand...

Don't think I'd need a letter. Duralast pads have a lifetime warranty. I could probably just bring them to Autozone and get a free set.
 
niky
That wheel is nice. I know a local company that can possibly do it for cheaper (also in the ASEAN), but not quite at the quality of the one in the picture. What place are you sending it?[/B]
Click to expand...

If you're referrin to me, the place I am looking to go through for this is

http://www.robson-design.com/index.htm

Like to get it without carbon fiber pieces as I have no other carbon fiber on the car and do not want any.....and hopefully they lower the price. Found on ebay UK the exact version of the wheel I want though (just black ..rubber?..grips where you see carbon fiber in pic) and may try that. Although they are $4 more expensive...and probably higher shipping, for a product using less expensive pieces. Strangly, ebay US does not offer BMW wheels like this for anything but sport-models which would mean I'd need a different airbag and multifunction buttons+covers. My main concern though is dealing with a company I know nothing about in a country far away through channels that offer me no protection. I wouldn't worry doing this on an item @$100, but this is going to be over $1k.
 
I took the Lincoln to the shop to have the driver rear tire taken off and balanced. Since the previous owner decided to shear off 3 of the 5 lug nuts...then I et to take it to the Ford dealership for a recall speed thing....
 
Well, it was Sunday, but I finally took the V700s off of the Miata and put the street tires back on, so I could put the race tires away and then get the BMW into the garage so I could put the snow tires on it. Of course, starting the Miata after a few months of sitting took some fussing. I had to clean the battery terminals, then charge the battery, then slip the belt on the stiffened-up blower so the starter could throw it over with enough force to fire the car up. If I had done all this when I should have it would have taken half the time.
 
Adamgp
Had to perform an unplanned emergency brake job on the Grand Prix.

I was coming home from work last night and coming up to a red light at about 35mph. Hit the brakes and I hear a loud "ka-chunk" and the brake pedal goes to the floor. Brakes still worked, but there was a loud grinding metal-on-metal noise. I was a few blocks from home so I limped it home.
Click to expand...

I've had this happen twice last year on 2 cars both wearing AZ gold pads which AZ then refused to replace, on one car, saying we waited too long to replace them. I asked him how it was possible to go through a set of pads in 3 weeks.
The first came off on the highway but wasn't much of a scare, the other came apart during a brake line replacement. 2 sets out of 15-20 I've used ain't bad.
 
eSZee
I've had this happen twice last year on 2 cars both wearing AZ gold pads which AZ then refused to replace, on one car, saying we waited too long to replace them. I asked him how it was possible to go through a set of pads in 3 weeks.
The first came off on the highway but wasn't much of a scare, the other came apart during a brake line replacement. 2 sets out of 15-20 I've used ain't bad.
Click to expand...
10% failure rate on basic safety equipment? That's horrific.
 
eSZee
I've had this happen twice last year on 2 cars both wearing AZ gold pads which AZ then refused to replace, on one car, saying we waited too long to replace them. I asked him how it was possible to go through a set of pads in 3 weeks.
The first came off on the highway but wasn't much of a scare, the other came apart during a brake line replacement. 2 sets out of 15-20 I've used ain't bad.
Click to expand...

I didn't have time to try and return them, I just put them out in the garbage this morning. I remember they had a "lifetime" or "million-mile" warranty though, so they should have taken them back.
 
Today I (well, the girlfriend was driving, she's a learner, I was supervising) provided a cushion to a 74 year old tourist who thinks we shouldn't have stopped at a round about to let a car through.

12012011.jpg


12012011002.jpg


12012011001w.jpg


Just to put it into perspective, what it looked like;

26565572568468174224968.jpg


Pretty sure it will be written off, bit of a shame. After 312 000 kilometres, it was still running strong, not using any oil. Still 100% driveable.
 
Shouldn't actually be a write-off... not with that little damage... but if it's 312,000 k's on the clock, it might be worth less than the repairs...
 
The boot floor has a crease in it, plus there are millions of these things running around. They aren't worth much, not an economical repair. I'll have to remove the rear bumper tomorrow so I can still drive it around a little bit.

Its actually bent quite a bit out of shape.

I'm eyeing off some new run around cars now, cause I'm pretty sure they will write it off. A shame, cause I was getting kind of attached.
 
Too bad. Hopefully the insurance will pay you enough to upgrade to something newer...
 
The workshop rang me today, to discuss what happened to my car and why it no longer performs its primary function (running). It seems the timing belt got so completely shreaded that it slipped. They found this after performing the compression test that came up very, well, average.

So the next step is the heads been taken off, and tested. Doesn't seem to be anything glaringly wrong with it but best to be safe. However while its in the shop I told him I want the gearbox removed and reconditioned (syncros are stuffed) and the power steering rack all sorted. Then, we discussed what I should do with the engine while its apart, I stated that I don't want to do work twice, and that while its open we should do everything that needs done.

At this stage, i'm planning to get a CNC porting of the head, new valves and heavy duty valve springs, and a new cam. The bottom end looks ok they checked that the previous owner wasn't lying and it actually has forged pistons and shot peened rods. The engine already has ARP head studs too. They said it obviously has had money spent on it in the past, so thats good.

Problem is that if I do that, the factory management won't be up to the task, so I'll have to install a new computer with all the sensors etc. Thats going to be the most expensive part. With all that done though, it'll be ready for stage two, whenever I can afford it, which is an upgrade to the turbo, intercooler and fuel system.

They showed me another GT Four that was there, made 250kW at the wheels, but they said thats around the limit for the engine. That one actually broke. If I were to put an appropriate turbo on and tune it safely I should be able to make around 220kW at the wheels, without stressing the engine too much. Thats a big jump in power - to put it in perspective on the dyno around a month ago the car put out 136kW at the wheels.

But yeah, thats stage two. Realistically I shouldn't expect too much power gains when I get the car back this time, if indeed I end up doing everything, but the new gearbox, power steering will make the car feel a lot better, and the computer should make it a bit more responsive. Looks like my new wheels will have to wait!
 

Latest Posts

Back