Another weekend, another 10,000 braincells lost
Both cars are still gone, the racecar at Behe's, and the '02 at Northeast. But that doesn't mean it's time to get fat and lazy. Oh no, still plenty of work to keep me busy. This weekend was all bimmer restoration work, but a variety of tasks.
I started off with more work on the transmission. This is all "pretty" work, making it look good. I'm not going to do anything to the internals, even though the 2nd gear synchro's are shot - a common 2002 failure. I'm going to throw some new Redline MTL in to the box and call it a day. Task #1 in this restoration is "Avoid Mission Creep!"
It's all too easy to say, Hey, since we're here, let's replace "xxx". Not going there.... Well, maybe a little bit. I did buy a new water pump, it was only $70. And if you are going to replace it, might as be now when you're stripping the engine block. And a new starter, and a new fan blade, and a .... Stop! Must refocus. Oh yeah, the tranny.
At the back of the tranny is a structure that supports the shifter mechanism. Replacing those pieces is not an option. See that support rod angling from the bottom? That's 70 bucks. That's silly money for that. It's just a bit rusty. Nothing a few hours in the shop can't fix.
Time to unbolt it and clean it up. This is the part where braincells start to drift away.
All the various pieces get taken down to the bare metal - usually with my wire brush in my power drill, prepped, primed and shot with a paint bomb. Some very volatile and nasty solvents in that stuff. If I forget my respirator I'll soon be working the counter at Mcdonalds, not writing code.
When the tranny is back together again I show the final results.
Spent more time on the engine block, more cleaning, though it doesn't really show it. All the bits, like the intake, water pump and webers are off. I'm out of plastigage, so until that shows up I won't do the rod bearings. I did clean and paint a lot of the little bits like the intake and cooling system.
I did paint the oil pan, so at least part of the engine looks nice.
Sunday afternoon was spent working on the Webers. My motor has dual DCOE 45's. At first glance they don't look that bad...
Up close, the story changes. You need to click on the pictures to see the true condition. These little pictures make them look better than they are.
I borrowed a soda blaster from my buddy Edward and had at it for a couple of hours in the driveway. Man it was cold out there in January. But the results were worth it. Here's a picture of one done, and one original.
After another hour, here's both.
T'aint perfect, but it will do. And other than being covered head to foot in a fine white powder, I hardly lost any brain cells doing it. A win-win! Now where was I? Whose house is this? Where did I put my car keys? ...
I started off with more work on the transmission. This is all "pretty" work, making it look good. I'm not going to do anything to the internals, even though the 2nd gear synchro's are shot - a common 2002 failure. I'm going to throw some new Redline MTL in to the box and call it a day. Task #1 in this restoration is "Avoid Mission Creep!"
It's all too easy to say, Hey, since we're here, let's replace "xxx". Not going there.... Well, maybe a little bit. I did buy a new water pump, it was only $70. And if you are going to replace it, might as be now when you're stripping the engine block. And a new starter, and a new fan blade, and a .... Stop! Must refocus. Oh yeah, the tranny.
At the back of the tranny is a structure that supports the shifter mechanism. Replacing those pieces is not an option. See that support rod angling from the bottom? That's 70 bucks. That's silly money for that. It's just a bit rusty. Nothing a few hours in the shop can't fix.
 |
| A close-up of the shifter structure |
Time to unbolt it and clean it up. This is the part where braincells start to drift away.
All the various pieces get taken down to the bare metal - usually with my wire brush in my power drill, prepped, primed and shot with a paint bomb. Some very volatile and nasty solvents in that stuff. If I forget my respirator I'll soon be working the counter at Mcdonalds, not writing code.
 |
| Top piece being worked |
When the tranny is back together again I show the final results.
Spent more time on the engine block, more cleaning, though it doesn't really show it. All the bits, like the intake, water pump and webers are off. I'm out of plastigage, so until that shows up I won't do the rod bearings. I did clean and paint a lot of the little bits like the intake and cooling system.
I did paint the oil pan, so at least part of the engine looks nice.
Sunday afternoon was spent working on the Webers. My motor has dual DCOE 45's. At first glance they don't look that bad...
Up close, the story changes. You need to click on the pictures to see the true condition. These little pictures make them look better than they are.
I borrowed a soda blaster from my buddy Edward and had at it for a couple of hours in the driveway. Man it was cold out there in January. But the results were worth it. Here's a picture of one done, and one original.
After another hour, here's both.
T'aint perfect, but it will do. And other than being covered head to foot in a fine white powder, I hardly lost any brain cells doing it. A win-win! Now where was I? Whose house is this? Where did I put my car keys? ...
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