no wonder why people wants to race me all the time lol. :rolleyes:
yeah his car is a 2.0 with K&N CAI, is faster than stock 1.8t :eek:



loooks like a PITA to swap that wiring harness

looks good phil. does your engine have the vanos or no vanos? if it does i would get the dr. vanos kit.

1. debadge
2. Lamin-X
3. LED license plate bulbs(much brighter)

beer.

nightshades'd my tails and side markers... think i wanna do my front corners and my 3rd brake light lens too.
ripped all the OE intake plumbing off and slapped on a cone. require cleaner engine bay.

Last Friday oil change and filter Mobil 1 15-50 @ 3,000 miles (Turbo so I do oil changes a lot). This Friday Front brakes and I did it in 1 hour just like "Just Brakes(r)" but didn't come back with the bull crap extra bill "you need to rebuild your calipars and replace all hoses and springs and valves and muflers bearings and gutinator valves, etc. It's going to cost you $2,899.95.". "Please bend over while I slide this in, it will only hurt for 3 months while you pay it off"

Only cost me $59 for the brakes and I did the sensor too. WaHoo...Got 60,000+ out of the fronts which I changed w/rotors when I purchased the car and I've never changed the backs since I've had the car still got 50% on them:biggrin:

Went to Tisher BMW (getbmwparts.com) and picked up all the coolant hoses, clamps, and a glovebox latch that I ordered. I dunno if I will do local pickup again unless I am driving my BMW. I felt quite embarassed showing up at a BMW, Porsche, and Audi dealer in a beat up, mud covered, half interior gone Protege5. :oops: Even if I was wearing my BMW Motorsport lanyard.

Today I was introduced to putting my window back on the guides and tweaking the rails! Was taking the family to Legoland down the street, looking cool as usual, lowered my window to show them my pass and when I raised it back up...clank....pop....and I was looking at the back of my window pointing straight up! Went home and pulled the panel off and got it back to working order in about 30 minutes. I have a feeling I might be doing this a little more often than I would want to. Thanks to COOLJESS with his step by step window repair thread it was a snap and not a crash(of glass)!
Jeff

Trust me, you will probably be tweaking it for awhile, mine has been messed up for awhile and I have tweaked it about 10 times and it still pops off.

Right, well I am a week late in posting this but might as well:

Replaced the two small plastic cooling parts. Quite frankly the one on the back of the engine was easy to install and not really that much trouble [reach through the battery holder hole.

Replaced starter and replaced the 4th fuel injector [these two were done at dealership].

Needless to say; I replaced all of the necessary gaskets / O-rings as well.

I fixed the oil filter housing gasket leak as well. The top left bolt snapped on me and since this is common I would recommend you get some Freeze Off. This will enable you to take it right out.

Also, another note: The alternator is a real pain to get out and put back in. So, what I did was filed down the mounting brackets on the alternator and lined them with White Lithium grease. Alternator slides right on now without a problem.

Changed the Oil [5W-30 Castrol Syntec...got it for $26.99 at Advanced Auto on sale. Vs. the typical $58 price tag.

Bleed cooling system as well. Tightened up the throttle cables. Cleaned out the upper and lower intake manifold completely. 5 cans of Carb cleaner and some patience does wonders.

Repaired rear hatch door lock. It stopped working [i.e. wouldn't open unless you slammed it]. Easy fix btw.

That's it for now.

Next on my agenda:
Replace control arm bushings, replace brake pads, rotors [front, if necessary], and bleed brake system.

I put the passenger door back together after finishing the window slider/track fix. I also did the extra tail light mod. And worst of all found out that while doing the cooling system rebuild (replaced everything but the rad) I did something to the knock sensor wiring, so I have to take the intake off yet again.

I had the exact issue when I did the housing leak.

I'm glad I didn't have the broken bolt problem.

Today - wash and wax.

i got to test out my new wiper blades today... and got sideways while "enthusiastically" accelerating out of the parking lot from work... then turned ASC back on cause my tires suck and I have a heavy foot

Why not just hammer the steel inserts back? On the backside those inserts are supposed to move a little.

I didn't feel like taking a hammer to the mounting bracket; lest I damage something.

Ah, interesting thought.