Haven't posted in a while, some updates;
I was getting a grinding from the front of the car, checked the brake pads.. Hmm perhaps it's time for new brakes
So luckily I got a freebie brake upgrade, A friend had put 330 Sport brakes on his Z3 so I got the stock Z3 brakes with good pads, which are the same diameter as the Ti brakes but are vented. So a nice free upgrade.
Next, Safetycone randomly started leaking a huge amount of oil. I left the car running one day to warm up and walked back to the car with oil running out from underneath it. Figured out it was the oil filter housing. I replaced the gasket and the petrified turd O-ring (this was the source of the leak)
Also don't believe anything online you see that says to torque the oil filter housing to 12 or 14ft/lbs or whatever I saw. I broke one of the bolts torquing that tight. The correct torque value is... 53 in/lbs. I couldn't find this information in the Bentley Manual.
I found a cool thing in the junk yard. I think it was $5 or something
Time for install! My drill was a piece of crap, so I bought a new Dewalt beast
that could fit the 13.5mm drill bit. I like tools (said like the 'I like turtles' kid)
I ordered the riv nuts needed for the subframe brace from McMaster Carr along with all the other necessary hardware. I didn't want to use the 'BMW' rivets everyone uses because they don't have the 'ridges' that keep the nut from turning, also mcmaster is cheaper than the kits have I have seen.
I made a rivnut 'tool'. The piece of steel is a long flat piece with the appropriately sized hole drilled. This is against the rivnut and keeps it from spinning during installation. I used red locktite and the rest should be self explanatory
Riv nuts installed
Out with the old, in with the...old.
Stock frame brace
I had to drill out the middle bolt holes for fitment.
I've driven the car a couple of times since installing the brace, I didn't notice a difference in the way it drove. (even during a spirited drive)
One day I was exploring wreckage of the Titanic and I dredged this rusty relic from the bottom of the ocean;
(Actually it came from a salty 1989 325i)
Limited slip, 4.10 gear ratio. I'll clean it up and install new seals and clutches. I'm curious to see what the Ti is like with a 4.10 LSD. It will probably rev too high but it will be fun until I can find a 3.73 (hopefully not from the bottom of the ocean)