PranK

It's also worth noting that I am heavily and unconditionally biased. I've had a lot of cars including some GTRs a fair while ago. I love my BMW's now a lot. They make no sense a lot of the time and the guys on here remind me regularly that I could get something else that does what I want better and cheaper. If you're going to take on an older BMW it's definitely a commitment. If you bail on it early you'll lose money and also the ability for it to put a smile on your face. Stick with it and it just gets better. f**k I should get into advertising.

Careful with posts like that around here without the flame suit on @cobo_11! 😂😂 My 330i journal is on here too. That car was so good and super reliable. We still have a 130i in the family which is almost identical to the 330i and easier to find in manual. It has also been almost faultless over the 6 or so years in the family. I used to want an M car a lot more than I do now but if I'm honest and without trying to sound like a wanker, I can get such good performance and handling out of my 335 without needing to worry about all the crap that goes along with M car ownership. I don't need to worry about my bearings or subframe issues or the cost of replacing brakes or suspension or whether it has been impeccably maintained. And I can leave it places and not get upset when it's always filthy.

A pretty cool little feature discovered while restoring my seats.

Massive ups for MTHire also. Could not have done the subframe bushings job without hiring the tool from them. Process was super easy and cost me around 25% of the cost of the tool. If you need a tool to do a one-time job, check them out. (Paid for the rental myself, no sponsorship here.)

Welcome! Looks nice.

I'd much prefer you lied in future pls.

Oh and my rear arms may need some attention too.

Bushings are almost done. Check the date stamp 😂 these are likely the original bushings with 27 years and 243ks on them. Was too dark to get a pic of the worst one.

I'm not sure where you are, but United Terrey Hills has E85.

Yeah but what a ride! Gravitron 3000.

I will. With a flying saucer.

And no, this was not posted on April fools. https://www.theautopian.com/bmw-wants-you-to-drive-with-an-air-compressor-attached-to-your-wheel/ What happens when it's not attached properly and flies off into somebody's head?

Damn this looks so good. I wanna catch the punks who touched the car. That made me angry.

SAU is G rated!

That's not a bushing!

Oh and I got myself a grandpa spec dash mat.

Ok, so first round of maintenance done. I didn't get much history with the car but I know it was well looked after. That isn't enough for me though, so ... I had to do the oil filter housing gasket. It was leaking a lot, and also as part of that I did the anti-return valve and the VANOS oil line (from HEL). But, then I got hit with the while-ya-in-there's. Did both accessory and A/C belts, tensioners and pulley. The accessory belt that came off had a huge hole in it, like somebody hung it up with a nail. The pulley and tensioners seem ok, so I'll keep those just in case. I did water pump and pump pulley. The water pump had a small bit of play so timing was good. I also did fan clutch. I don't know how to test the old one but between the water pump and the fan clutch the car is running a little bit cooler (not much ~2 - 3 degrees maybe) so good result. Unfortunately the thermostat and housing didn't turn up in time so I'll shelve those. I have no concerns at all on the current ones. Then I spent what seemed like 40 days and 40 nights bleeding the air from the cooling system. She also got new air filter, fuel filter and did a Mobil 1 change with oil filter. Hilariously, not an hour after telling my wife how proud I was of myself to be going slowly and meticulously and making sure everything was torqued and nothing missing I went and started it without the oil filter in. The car complained immediately of no pressure and after only a few seconds I turned it off and discovered a shit tonne of oil on the driveway. Sigh. I've driven it since and thankfully doesn't seem to be any problems. AND THEN during the test drive a ratchet extension fell into the battery area in the boot and JAMMED right next to the positive terminal and the car body. Like, just touching it made sparks and it was jammed in there. So, almost killed the engine and then almost burned the car to a crisp. Good start. This was the rails under the splash guards. So stoked, she's straight as and super clean. No rust anywhere. There was a heap of caked dirt that I removed but otherwise looked great. All 4 jacking points are perfect. Next I want to service the gearbox. Sometimes it's a little reluctant to shift up and I'm hoping a fluid change will sort it. I also have 4 new rear subframe bushes. They're as big as a toddler. I'm renting a tool to help put them in. I can't wait for this because its a bit crashy back there at the moment.

Nice. I'm looking forward to the updates!

I've never done dial in's just straight up, whatever that's called. I'm far from a drag (racing ) expert.

Nice one! I was going to take mine down to SMSP drags one Weds night. I'd love to compare it with my GTR which did a 12.3. The bum-dyno in the 335i says its quicker. How was the traction @Lithium?

This, honestly, is entirely BMW life. There's so many little things that once you know about you are either more relaxed or more uptight! 🤣 Fwiw (and slightly in my defence) our X5 has been flawless! The biggest issue we've had was problems with the front diff which ended up with a 2k rebuild but other than regular servicing with good oil and filters we've had no out of the ordinary costs or problems. it's been amazing and we've put 90k on it over about 5 years. It's just the other two. The problem kids.

100% hear you. I won't defend them but I will defend my ability to work twice as hard to keep them running. 🤣

For the record, I hate the colour. Even if I'll never see it again, I know its in there.

This is another issue I'm fixing. This little valve stops all the oil from draining to the sump when the engine is turned off. What happens eventually is that the engine is a little noisy and has the oil pressure light on for a few seconds after turning it on. Basically it takes a few seconds to build the pressure when all the oil has drained. This valve is a non serviceable part and is attached to the oil filter housing, BMW suggests to replace the entire housing if this valve fails. As it turns out this valve can be removed and that means you can get an aftermarket replacement, which I did. The failure, for me at least is that the valve doesn't seat properly after a while, which I've demonstrated. The new one is a ball end and always seats properly.

Yeah I'm happy to talk to whoever, I don't want to take ownership or even manage it if they don't want but I can probably help with hosting on the sau setup. It's a great resource and should be protected.