The Adventures of Meintii, The "NO CUT" M20 Swap

[Tommy]

The rear end looks really nice now. Front is fine without bumper but rear looks kinda unfinished.

The reason I started writing was that you've found the way I use for bleeding clutch. Fill it and leave it. Try next day and usually it's good to go and will improve a bit still while driving. Very easy. I've learned it by the hard way too :-)

Tommy

[Meintii]

The rear end looks really nice now. Front is fine without bumper but rear looks kinda unfinished.

The reason I started writing was that you've found the way I use for bleeding clutch. Fill it and leave it. Try next day and usually it's good to go and will improve a bit still while driving. Very easy. I've learned it by the hard way too :-)

Tommy

Is is suppose to do that though? I kinda pissed me off b/c that was my LAST AAA tow for this year, and I still have to make it to V@V. lol.

[Meintii]

Finally got to take some pictures of the engine bay, I think it looks MUCH better than before. Everything is running ok.

dont have any legit before pictures :/

Coming up next:

Diff Swap (its a has started clunking)

Center console Re-build

Vdo Gauge Install

Radiator over-flow container install (pic)

and hopefully rusty frame rail/ spare-tire well replacement. (but probably not before v@v)

Thanks for looking!

[Tommy]

Is is suppose to do that though?

I don't know but it seems to work. It kinda bleeds itself but needs time to do that.

Nice work in the engine bay too :-)

Tommy

[Meintii]

Nice work in the engine bay too :-)

Tommy

Thanks Tommy!

I finally had a chance to change out my diff's yesterday. I took the time to replace the output and pinion seals in my spare diff from my 76 and I am very glad I did b/c was not a small job to take the old diff out.

I painted to the "new" diff with some rustoloem gloss black to make it PURTY.

Before i cleaned the "new" diff..

After, and next to the tii's old diff.

See the thread about replacing the seals on this type (early 320) of diff.

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/t,341392/

All in all, the whole replacement took me about 8.5 straight hours of labor (6hrs+ to take it off <2hrs to put it on), I couldnt get a socket to fit on anything, and those DAMN allen head bolts (12) going into the CV axles were damn near impossible to get off with out stripping them. I replaced these bolt with some hex head bolts (M8x1.25x50mm), and putting them back on was a breeze.

One note though: When re-assembling, be sure to bolt the diff in in this order:

1.Bolt the Diff to the sub-frame FIRST (dont tighten all the way)

2.Then jack the sub-frame up, until the bracket on the back of the diff is aligned with the holes in the frame, bolt that down.

3. Bolt the CV Axles back up to the flanges on the diff.

4. Bolt the pinion flange to the drive-shaft (if the two flanges do not line up, put the car in gear w/o the e-brake on, jack up one of the tires so there is pressure on it, and slowly "bump" the other tire back and forth to get just the flange on the diff to turn, until it lines up with the drive-shaft flange)

Thats all for now, I plan to build my VDO gauge center console piece tomorrow, and cover it in black vinyl and well.. we'll see if that happens... I dont want my radio to be flopping around in my center console anymore!

Thanks for looking!

[/b]

[Meintii]

Well heres the V@V Update, only 2 months late

Just pics for now... Ill add some stories and captions later tonight.

[Meintii]

Luckly, I have not had any other issues with my old girl, so there has not been much to put up here

Although I did toss an amp in the trunk and DAMN what a differance! I had to fade my music all back to one speaker in the rear just it would get distorted when I turned it up loud enough to hear... now.. at half the volume i can listen on all of the speaker and actually here the bass! Amazing!

Heres my low key install!

Ill fix those pictures on the first page and add some other stuff ive been up to later.. (the library's closing!)

[Meintii]

Sooo much has happened since my last post.. including:

-Fixed my exhaust that fell off

-Put stock tii air cleaner back on

-The house I was renting burned down (I wasnt home!)

-Installed new plugs, wires, dist cap, rotor, and coil

-Changed both inner, and outer tierod ends, and center link

-Got my distributor rebuilt

-Ditched the pertronix and got a crane xr750

-Changed the Injection pump belt

-Changed the Crankshaft seal

-Spun out of control into a guard rail, smashing my rear (passenger) quarter panel..

YEEEEA. Not the best month.

[Meintii]

Ok so I mentioned that I changed pretty much all of the ignition related components... found out that my distributor was slap worn out, sent in to advanced distributors and had it rebuilt, re-curved, and optimized to work with a crane ignition. Only set me back $150, and I had it back in less than a week.

The new parts..

The old distributor

The Rebuilt, better than new distributor!

[jgerock]

Wow Zac -

You've been busy. Sorry to hear about your house fire and the accident.

Glad you like your rebuilt dizzy. Where's your sticker - other side??

You'll need to get a new o-ring (if you didn't do so before installing it).

[Meintii]

I was going down a hwy at about 70 on the way to school one day and my exhaust decided to break off at the headers.. got to lay on the road and pull my exhaust out and roll with straight headers for about a week. Ended up getting a straight pipe from the header to the ansa.

At the exhaust shop.

Also reinstalled the factory air cleaner now that my battery is and has been in trunk. I just did it for originality, plus it looks really cool.

Old vs new filters (was not driving with the old filters)

Installed

Tie Rod Ends

Figured out that the reason my cars steering wheel had so much play in it was because the drivers side outer tie rod end was completely shot.. went ahead and replaced both of them, and the center link that connects them together. It was a huge PIA. Several hours of hammering and cursing to get them out, plus there was about 6 inches thick of grease under there so that made it even moooore fun.

Old Tie rod (complete with grease!)

New one

Injection Pump Belt/ Crankshaft Seal

This turned out to be a MUCH MUCH MUCH bigger job than I thought it would be. Had to take out the radiator, loosen the altternator belt, take the fan off(4 10mm), take the center grill out, unbolt the k-fish covers (6 10mm), unbolt the crank pulley (4 10mm), and then the KOO DEGRAW... finding a socket that would fit the big bolt that holds the crank pulley on.

The socket I used that worked perfectly is a 30mm (non deep well) from Napa auto parts. Ill get the brand later.

Anyways, after I got all that off I noticed that most of the leaking oil looked like it was centered around the crank seal, so I went ahead and cleaned all of the oily stuff up (with WD-40) and put the new seal in.

At this point, its looking like that seal is and has been the cause of all or most of the oil leaks I was having.

Pics!

Dirty...

Clean!

And just a cool picture or two to take your mind off the hard crap Ive been through lately

Outside the art studio

Getting ready to leave her stall mates (72 V12 E-type and '07 GT3)

[Meintii]

Hey dude.

The sticker was on the other side when I took the pic .

My car has WAY more power than it has since ive had it (6 years). That was part of the reason for the accident, but Ill explain that in the next post.

[Meintii]

So heres the story... and let me start by saying I know this was my fault and not the cars

I was running a few minutes late for work the day after I got the tii running again with the rebuilt distributor. I had rained all night and the roads were still wet. I bought new tires for the front of my car when the new tie rod ends I put on distroyed the old tires ones I had on there (from being out of allignment).

Go around a corner that I always go around pretty fast (55+) at about 45 because of the wetness, and when I let off the gas to slow for the stop sign ahead at the end of the turn, the rear kicks out, I do a full 360 and end up sliding about 60 feet down hill in wet grass against the guard rail, going backwards on the wrong side of the road (there were no other cars)... and smashed the rear passenger quarter panel and badly scraping my fender flares.

It turned out alot better than I though it was going to be right after it happend... i was sure it was totaled.

Ill post pics when I feel like I can take them without crying.

[jgerock]

Sorry to hear the guardrail kissing incident. Hope it didn't damage the car too bad.

Did you lose all your stuff in the house fire? Are you back at home now?

[Meintii]

Sorry to hear the guardrail kissing incident. Hope it didn't damage the car too bad.

Did you lose all your stuff in the house fire? Are you back at home now?

Yea pretty much everything I owned (including my cat) was destroyed completely. There was literally nothing left but the stone foundation and a flat pile of ashes.

Im staying back at my dads house right now, and enduring the 45 each way drive to work. :/