Out of the gold, into the gold

[tig]

It's pretty incredible how smoothly an M20 (I haven't really tried on my M30) will run with one injector not working.

Last time I needed injectors I cleaned them myself. I didn't get proof they were spraying correctly, which I thinks is probably worth the price of admission of having a pro do it.

I spy with my little eye a Venetian Blue '87-88 911 Targa with WA plates.



My Venetian Blue '88 911 coupe with WA plates.

[tseohs]

You spy correctly. 87 targa with light silver (not linen) interior. Very lucky to have found this color combo with low mileage and pretty much untouched but in need of typical 911 maintenance-fuel lines, e-brake, shifter and suspension bushings, valve adjust and general tune-up. Other than maintenance, I added the MOMO and an OEM chin spoiler.

[tseohs]

Back at home. After driving for a few days, fumbling with AFM to smooth idle. New plugs
help as does a little AFM enrichment at idle. Gears are shorter than expected. Good thing I didn't swap in the 3.64


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[lizard]

Very nice!

[tseohs]

Getting ready to send the donor 735 to the crusher and decided to pull this before it goes. Was feeling lazy and didn't really want to do the job and thought I would be happy with the 3.25. However, after driving for a few weeks I think more aggressive gearing would be fun. It's mainly an around town car so not worried about highway RPM.

[tseohs]

Spent some time cleaning over the holiday weekend and want to share some pics.

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And a very unfortunate incident. I try to avoid highways when I can and absolutely avoid trucks but the local routes were packed recently so I jumped on I-5 and here is the result, right in the sight line in an otherwise pristine screen. I've had the worst luck with windshields. I went through 4 or 5 on my old 850R in ~10 years. I wonder if it's related to the high aggregate composition in the road mix used around here? Guess I'll try to get on the list for new windscreens.

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[tseohs]

Rehabbed the rear bumper with a 3/8" thick x 1.75" wide strip of high density rubber. Much slimmer, especially in the corners, than the original.



And the front to match. I think the front looks much cleaner without the plate section and the pieces over the blinkers that were on the original. Lens depth has been adjusted to be flush with the rubber strip.

[Mdreamer]

Rehabbed the rear bumper with a 3/8" thick x 1.75" wide strip of high density rubber. Much slimmer, especially in the corners, than the original.



And the front to match. I think the front looks much cleaner without the plate section and the pieces over the blinkers that were on the original. Lens depth has been adjusted to be flush with the rubber strip.

I've never seen anyone do this before. Great solution!

[Ju@n]

Awesome!! That car looks excellent! and a bargain as well
I do have a question though, how did you end up fitting the oil cooler? were the lines long enough?

[tseohs]

No, there's no room to stuff the e32 oil cooler under the radiator and the lines were not long enough to reach below. After reading that the oil rarely gets hot enough under normal use to necessitate a cooler, I decided to delete it.

Here's the current set-up - original lines with a 90 degree elbow.

[tseohs]

I'm pretty happy with the outcome but this is another of those projects that seems straight-forward and you think will go quickly but when you get into it you realize there are lots of steps and some finesse required to make it look "from the factory".

Manual shade from the e32 donor. Shelf refinished with SEM "desert sand" for interior and carpet. It laid down very evenly with no clumps. I have the factory end clips that screw into the headliner but opted for some simple hook clips for now because I'm hesitant to cut into it. The hooks look and function really well.

[thugginrobby]

I have my sunshade on my parcel shelf but I too am hesitant to cut into my headliner. What hooks did you use?

I'm pretty happy with the outcome but this is another of those projects that seems straight-forward and you think will go quickly but when you get into it you realize there are lots of steps and some finesse required to make it look "from the factory".

Manual shade from the e32 donor. Shelf refinished with SEM "desert sand" for interior and carpet. It laid down very evenly with no clumps. I have the factory end clips that screw into the headliner but opted for some simple hook clips for now because I'm hesitant to cut into it. The hooks look and function really well.

[tseohs]

Even after replacing the front end and all bushings, I was still disappointed with the ride quality so I decided to finally do the struts and springs.

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And low and behold, it's now a proper sports car. And no more jacked stance.

I drove it up and around the Olympic Peninsula Sunday. It performed really well. It was a blast even. It's finally able to really effectively use the power and connect to the road. Oh, and to chime in on an old debate, I used the cut method to get the needed clearance in the rear for the 8" wide wheels. I wouldn't recommend rolling.

With most of the major mechanical restoration complete, I'm really happy with this car. The exhaust is the only thing I may change. There's nothing but 2" pipes between the manifolds and the resonators in the center under the heat shield. The original header pipes, cat, and resonators were so much more massive. It sounds cool but it's pretty throaty up front right after the manifolds. I'll have to investigate the options. Maybe try some interior sound dampening first.



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[Seeker]

You’ve accomplished quite a bit of work to get the car to this point and now you can enjoy the fruits of your labor, well done.
The wheels look good on your car, very stately in my opinion.

[leadphut]

Cat looks great. Nice progress

[tseohs]

Had to replace the selector shaft seal. This gave me a chance to clean-up and paint the exhaust. As designed, it was off the car in five minutes. The seal on the other hand was a hassle. Just hope I got it right this time.



Also took the chance to upgrade the cheap trans fluid I used in the initial swap to MTL. Everything was working well, just a bit noisy.

[tig]

I’m a huge fan of this thread and car. Hope to meet it (and the OP of course) someday.

[tseohs]

Thanks for the kind words of inspiration, Charlie.

I also owe a belated thank-you to the rest of you who have chimed in along the way.

While the car is approaching excellence mechanically, I'm not sure I'd have the confidence to show it to many of you. Up close, it shows its scars and failed clear coat.

Peace and take care.

Todd

[Mdreamer]

Don't feel that way, Todd. We are all in our respective journeys with our cars together and this is a no-judgement zone!

[tseohs]

Nothing too fancy, just maintenance and tuning.

This is the Airtex after only a few hundred miles. Upgraded to a single AEM with new lines and cleaned some debris from the pump well.




Car was running really well but plugs read lean so adjusted the AFM another click. Will check after a few miles.




Also scored some sport seats in trade for my extra LSD so should have some real eye candy soon. May be a while because the seats were nearly destroyed. So far has involved welding, adding and shaping multiple thicknesses and densities of foam, painting. Haven't even started reassembly.

[tseohs]

Friday = Drive Day

[tseohs]

Holiday ride and car wash. Happy 4th. Stay safe.

[tseohs]

Scored some e30 seats in a trade. They had sat outside for at least a decade, The leather had disintegrated, the foam was nearly destroyed, and the hinge tabs were broken but all the pieces were there so I had to resurrect them. Between rebuilding and shaping the foam, welding the hinges, rewiring the back supports, reshaping and strengthening the back cards, rebuilding and refinishing the sliders, and of course the recovering, I have a crazy amount of time into these.

But the transformation in feel and the drive experience is pretty incredible.

Does the color match? Not really but I think they look great with the rest of the interior except the rear seat, which I will also recover. I actually prefer light colored interior.

I also find it interesting how close the e30 seats are in size, shape, and especially feel as my 2018 Audi seats.

[tseohs]

Hey team,

Treat yourself or a fellow enthusiast to an e28 t-shirt. Found on ebay (no affiliation). Ordered long sleeve and asked them to print without the 'e28' script. Very happy with the quality and fit.

Happy holidays.

[alps]

Those seats look incredible! Well done.

[SeattleGuy]

Holiday ride and car wash. Happy 4th. Stay safe.

Haha yah I'm too lazy to get a Thule so I end up stuffing my MTBike in the back seat too... it *JUST* fits but only if I put it in a certain way.

Anyway who did your flywheel. People don't know what they are missing unless they had an early 533i, which was my first BMW. While I ponder redoing the head in 2023 it occurs to me that lightening the million-pound flywheel in the 535is will definitely be a relatively cheap way to get some good pop from under the hood. Also my SAAB buddy has an injector cleaner so I'll order up the rings and let him have a go at those.

[tseohs]

Yeah, I was happy to find that my bike slides right into the e28. When biking with the wife, have to use the pickup with fork mounts in the bed, which works really well.

As for the flywheel, a local Olympia machinist cut it down and balanced it. I think it ended up at #16. You sure can feel and hear it spin up quickly. Downside, of course, is that you really feel it while in gear and off throttle but that just takes some getting used to. Idle is smooth. I think most competent machine shops, especially those that do automotive work could do it.

Speaking of that machinist, I should pop by again. He was building a 1000hp Studebaker "Starliner" salt flats car, had a model T flathead hotrod, a few other car projects and a crazy drag boat for which he was building and testing air foils.

[tseohs]

Had to take advantage of a rare and unexpected dry January day her in the PNW.

[tseohs]

Hi all,

Wanted to do a health check on the plugs after putting on a few hundred miles after the rebuild. They look consistent across the 6, not too hot, not oil fouled so all is good.

While I was in there, I had to swap out the nearly new small upper hose. You can see that it actually split above where the clamp sat and more on the lip of wp outlet. The hose was properly seated at the bottom and the clamp was in the correct location. Odd. Definitely not caused by abrasion or cutting. I'm convinced it just split prematurely. Also found that the accordion section between the filter and meter was split open. Made a temp fix with some 2" wide 3M tape. I'll find a coupler to replace it. Will be interesting to see if it was the source of the slight hunting just after start-up.

And wanted to show off the vintage audio-el bazooka and the flex5, ready for summer.

[tseohs]

Happy summer everyone. Decided to match the e28 with some bikes from the same era. Once I got the  retro rack fitted, it was easier than putting the bikes in the back of my truck and the routing of the ratchet strap worked perfectly.

Always trying to improved the car. Added heavy duty cables. The originals had pretty serious oxidation within the strands. Seemed to make the car crank better and run a tiny bit smoother. Replaced the high pressure steering lines. Couldn't find anyone local to rebuild so I used aftermarket. They fit very well and do not leak. Hope they hold up. Relocated the horn and harness. Always hated the original location. Also rebuilt the calipers and used speed bleeders on all 4. Why had I not done this sooner?? One-person bleeding is simple now.

Cheers!