3/2/2007, 160363 miles: 22.9MPG

So after a month of driving about 30 miles per day, I'm hitting just around 22 miles per gallon. There's tons of work to do on the car before I could even consider taking it out on an HPDE. Namely:

1. Under braking, car pulls to the right ... but that's because the cheap-ass ghetto previous owner put different sized tires left and right! L: 195/65-14 (stock size), R: 185/65-14. Man, talk about cheap! This'll be remedied soon with a whole set of 5 ultra gummy sticky Hankook Ventus R-S2 Z212 (the full size spare is toast also)
   
2. Tie rods are scary. Underneath the car the other day, I grabbed the center of the tie rod end (where it's threaded for toe adjustment) and I could move it back and forth 1/8"!! Definitely not safe.
3. Possible driveshaft wobble. Right around 85MPH there's a really high Hz vibration that shakes the rear view mirror. I'm guessing guibo and center support bearing (known to go bad around this mileage), but won't know for sure until I fix #4 and #1 first
4. Blown shocks. This is the biggest dilemma of all...shocks are total toast. So bad, that when I hit rough patches on the 101, the car starts drifting into the right hand lane (also partly because of #1)!! Dilemma because I'm not sure whether I should go all out with the full SpecE30 suspension now, or go daily driver/non fun mode with a set of cheapie KYB GR-2s.
   
5. Brakes need to be replaced. New OEM rotors and new dual-purpose street/autocross pads (probably Porterfield R4S) and a spare set of dedicated track pads.
   
6. Bushing replacements everywhere. Under acceleration, the rear end is "squirmy". But to be honest, this can probably wait. I just think urethane is cool.

Despite all the shortcomings, it is SO much fun to roll around in a 17 year old beater. I don't have to worry about car dings, I can drive the bejeezus out of it, I don't have to worry about following anyone (because of the rocks they'll kick up, marring the hood finish), I can kick the tail out everytime I go around corners... hehheheheh, what a blast. It's so utterly completely different from the Q-ship barge long-haul luxury liner M5.

I can't wait to get this car sorted out!!

1/27/2007, 159342 miles: Timing Belt, Water Pump

It pays to read.
There's plenty of resources out there on doing the timing belt service, and I got them all. Picked up the Bentley, the really good book from Pelican, a Haynes (useless, not worth it), and a Chilton (same one I was using for the M5). I also read and re-read the write-up on E34.net and on E30.net.

Parts arrived earlier that week, and with the missing tools bought that morning, I felt I was ready. With the hood removed, it was pretty easy to get at everything. I was working slow, and got off to a really late start (12:30ish) so it took almost 5 hours to finally get the belts and crank pulley off. The biggest hassle of all was the radiator fluid...I'll never understand why engineers can't design the engine block drain to make less of a mess. This is the third car I've done the block drain, and it's the same result: fluid EVERYWHERE. So I spent a chunk of time cleaning up the floor on the (borrowed) garage.

One other hitch was the accessory drive belts (power steering, alternator, A/C). I was rushing things a bit and forced the toothed adjuster nut, ended up stripping the teeth on the mounting bracket for the power steering pump (doh!). You're supposed to loosen all the bolts first and then loosen the adjusting nut. So now I gotta order a new bracket (was able to tighten the belt OK, though).

I've been working on Nissans so much, I got really used to the socket sizes...the most common ones are 10mm, 14mm and 17mm. But on the German car, I spent SO MUCH time relearning the different sizes. Turns out they like to use a lot of 13mm nuts/bolts. That took a while to get used to, reaching 3 or 4 times for different sockets and wrenches.

Other frustrating thing is I didn't read closely enough. To remove the camshaft sprocket, you need a T-50 torx SOCKET, not the bit. I wasted at least 90 minutes trying to find this special socket (really tough to do on a Saturday night). So instead of delaying the project any further, I decided to postpone replacing the camshaft seals (damnit) until the next timing belt change. Hopefully, not too much oil is leaking out of that area.

All in all, with a 2 hour dinner break, I ended up calling it quits at midnight, with the motor pretty much wrapped up, leaving only the coolant fill & bleed the next morning. It was waaaaay too late to be firing up a loud ass 2.5L with no cat.

Came in the next morning to fill the coolant, bleed, and reattach the hood. All was well.

Except I didn't read how much coolant the system held (11 quarts). And I only bought 1 gallon of BMW antifreeze. For a 50/50 mix with distilled water, that leaves me 3 quarts short of full. Doh!!! So the mix is actually more water than antifreeze, but it should be OK in this climate.

It sure was a nerve-wracking moment preparing to turn that key! My mind raced through the checklist: any bolts missing? Timing checked and rechecked? It was definitely a relief to hear that motor spring to life with a roar. (And a slight squeal of a fan belt - damnit - I'll get to that next time)

Next up, valve cover gasket and ignition (distributor, rotor, coil, plugs, wires). And after that, the go-fast suspension goodies, then tires, then LSD, then new seats.... oh, the fun never ends!

To Do List #1 - Daily Driver Mode

First thing's first. Get the car usable:

1. Replace rear wheel bearings - too difficult without the right tools, so leaving it to the trusted mechanics.
   
2. Do timing belt job - no records when this was last done, so forced to do one. Might as well do the whole shebang too...water pump, hoses, tensioner.
   
3. Make it waterproof - There was a missing gasket on driver side door (WTF?) , $10 Kragen special ghetto fixed that. Antenna gasket is missing...parts on order
   
4. Fix valve cover gasket leak - will do same time with timing belt
   
5. Inspect suspension - shocks are definitely blown. Not sure about the bushings, tie rod ends and steering rack.
   

The Paper Trail

So first thing Monday I took the car into my newly discovered favorite BMW shop (thank you E34M5 mailing list!) to look at the bearings. I had originally considered doing the job myself, but research showed it would be quite an undertaking and worth the labor cost to have someone do it (especially since they have the tools). Quick drive around the block with the mechanic showed that it was indeed the right bearing. Insider tip: weave car left to right to isolate which bearing is bad. They quoted a reasonable price, but couldn't do the job that day, so I decided to head off down the street to the DMV to square off the paperwork.

Having not scheduled an appointment, I braced myself for the worst; bringing along my trusty iRiver and several unread magazines. But even without an appointment, the lines were surprisingly short. My number was called in about 10 minutes.

I was a bit nervous given the strange ownership trail that the car would end up stolen or some other weird crap, but luckily everything checked out. Big problem, though...I (stupidly) put down the wrong sell date on the back of the title. The guy tells me, "you'll have to go back and get a revised bill of sale from the seller with the right dates." Oh, great. That's not gonna happen. I ask, "Could I change the date I wrote down on the title?" "Sure," he said, "but you'll have to pay late registration fees". Great. I don't care, I just want the paperwork done with. Turns out that it was only $16 in late fees (woo hoo!). And so, after some typing in his computer and a $54 debit on my card, I was good to go. Registered! I love buying ratty old cars: forty-odd bucks in total registration fees and taxes! As opposed to the two thousand something initial layout and $300+/year for a brand new car.

How Not To Buy A Car

I must have been desperate.
On the road to acquiring my future race car, along with a bunch of other rules, I've managed to break my biggest rule of all: Never buy a car at night...

On Saturday afternoon, Shirley and I took a nice little drive to Sacramento to look at a potential little gem in the rough: a 1990 325i with a relatively clean title (more on that later), 160K miles on the clock, and a reasonable $2K asking price. Leaving Fremont at about 3:30, and staring at stop-and-go traffic at the 238, I was doubtful that we would beat the sun. 2 minutes of deliberation and I made the commitment: "The car will be gone tomorrow", I told myself... "You'll kick yourself if you don't go". "At least you'll have spent some nice quality time with your woman in a quiet drive through the country"... "We could pick up Mexican food along the way"... And on and on...

I motored that little 2.2L in Shirley's old Accord as fast as I could. But there was no way I could beat that sun. And to top it off, right around Vacaville, I look over the median and the 80 westbound was absolutely deserted...a quick call to 511 revealed that the freeway had been shut down. And sure enough, we began to track a long line of cars stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way out to Dixon(!!). Great, that means we won't be able to get home. Well, too late now.

I pushed the accelerator even harder.

2 and a half hours later, we arrived in Sacramento and came across the car dimly lit by the green apartment lights and the Accord's headlights. Not bad, I thought. Armed with my trusty MagLite, I proceed to do the usual checks for rust, wheel bearings, sludgy coolant, strange smelling oil, bad clutch, body panel VIN tag matching (all except for hood and fender), and oil leaks (a bad one at the valve cover gasket). The paint is pretty much jacked, but no concern -- I just need it to survive a year, then I'll consider a respray. No record of timing belt change neither.

Now the interior...seats: jacked (but I don't care); water damage - none that I could smell or see (in this light); dash cracked (again, don't care); sunroof slow/barely operable (also don't care); locks, windows, mirrors, radio are all working (surprisingly!); steering wheel jacked (don't care). No holes in carpet either. Hmm...not bad, just a bunch of little stuff and I could drive this thing to work.

OK, now the road test... Fire it up, whoa. Bad muffler. Owner tells me exhaust was replaced with a ratty one. Fine, no problem. I look underneath and sure enough, brand new stainless steel B-pipe connected to junky old (I assume original) muffler. But wait...what's this? Even in that dim light, anyone can see that the tiny tube under there shuuuure ain't no catalytic converter. I ask the owner for a smog check receipt, and sure enough, it passed. How da heck did they get this thing to pass smog? Whatever. I'll decide later if I wanna be green and save some trees for the next year until it becomes a dedicated track machine.

Idles great, ease into first, roll down the driveway. Pull out onto the street, accelerate. Wow, lots of power with no cat. No missing, and no strange pulling side to side. Brakes and transmission are solid, no bad whining from rear end. Whoa...what the @#*&$^*@# is that noise! Get it up above 40 and the moaning is even louder. It gets loud enough that we could barely hear each other talk. Owner claims it's related to the exhaust, but dipping in the clutch and rolling in idle shows it's definitely not engine speed sensitive. Rear wheel bearings are a common fail point in these cars, so my entirely amateur and unprofessional diagnosis is a $50 bearing and $200 or so replacement job. And hooooieee are these shocks blown. This thing feels like a boat. Perfect, I was going to junk the suspension anyways. But I might have to do it sooner than I hoped.

Lastly, the paperwork. And here's where it gets kinda weird. The car was donated to charity in May of last year from the second owner (who owned it since about 60K miles). Between May and now, not sure how it got into the current owner's hands. But basically, there is no real proof that this owner actually owned the car. The charity had filled out the paperwork to sell the car to someone in November, but left the buyer fields blank. Hmmmm. The CarFax ran clean (car isn't stolen, no salvage title, mileage all looks good) and she seems like a decent enough person living out of a well-settled-in apartment. She talks a lot...but doesn't come across as a crook. To top it off, there's no service records. At minimum I'm staring at a timing belt & water pump job. At worst, I'm looking at a new motor. I can't believe how much I'm rolling the dice on this thing. But then again, I'm not thinking straight...

So I do the math in my head and offer her $1700. Big mistake...she immediately accepts. I kick myself for not following the rule of starting out well below your best price and work your way up from there. It's late, it's freakin' freezing in Sac, and I'm tired.

Shirley laughs at me, but God bless her, is entirely supportive through this whole ordeal.

Traffic on 80 westbound hasn't cleared, so we U-turn at Dixon and head south on 113 (to 12 West). 2 hours with bad bearings gives you a really nasty headache, especially when you're sweating bullets over the prospect of an unknown timing belt that's libel to snap at any moment (or 40 thousand miles from now). We stop somewhere in Vallejo to take a break (Auto Mall Parkway?) and get surprisingly very very good Thai food at Cha-Am (their soup special was amazing!). Head back on the road and finally get home around 10:30 at night.

And with a fairly long winded introduction, my road to wheel-to-wheel madness begins.

Up next, dealing with the paperwork police and taking full inventory of what I'm getting myself into.