Pablo M

18 hours ago, Lucky 7 said:

I finally finished my custom carpet install!  I’ve been working on this for almost 2 months now. It’s been a lot of effort and a lot of learning, but I’m super happy with how it came out. It all fits and lays well and feels really custom tailored, which is exactly what I was hoping for.  
 

Initially I wasn’t sure I was up to the task and I almost went with an Esty kit, but I’m really glad I took on the project. I learned a ton about sewing and even tried my luck with some minor embroidery. 😬  The German square weave is beautiful, I love the charcoal and brown combo, and the floor mats make me happy.  

Progress!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful work!

As a point of reference I just pulled the alternator from my 1972 2002tii. Mine looks original, and is marked as a 45A unit on the label on side. 
 

I’m relatively new here and it’s been such an incredible resource. I’ve gotten so much help from the members here as well as the Articles saved.
Thanks Steve and anyone else that helps keep this place civil and so useful. 

Almost got it all the way in. 
I had to throw a big wrench on the end to get enough leverage. Older Craftsman. Still slides through though lol. 

almost tempted to shave off a bit of the bushing at this point. Or spend all of tomorrow to take it back out and try again. 

4 hours ago, stephers said:

Put the bushing in first, then press the center sleeve in    They are tight   use lots of lube     I always found that getting the washer and the circlip in more of a headache, ended up buying a bunch of shiner shims to use instead of the washer

 

Use your vice and get someone to help you 3 hand here work much better.

 

Thanks, Rick

That worked fine for the smaller (shorter) bushing. The long one didn’t work like that. The center sleeve polished out the bottom bushing. I ended up pulling it back out with the top bushing. 
min trying the vise, but forgot lube! 
 

3 hours ago, tech71 said:

Dont hammer it! Use a vise or C clamp.

Put a little lube on it. 

Typical "almost fits" scenario with the Urethane bushings, I hate them.

Sometimes "better" is worse.

Got some fitting to do, got coarse sandpaper? Get comfy.

Make sure the Alt bore is clean and sand it out too.

Once those beasties are correctly, fitted make sure the bolt will go through.

Umm, that alternator looks kinda high milage, have you considered a replacement or maybe an upgrade?

I put urethane bushings throughout the suspension and didn’t have these issues. But I knew going in they were a tight fit. 
I did sand the bore, by hand, so it was clean of the remnants from old bushing. 
yeah, alternator looks original. I have receipts on the car back to early 1976 and no alternator replacement in any paperwork I have. So could be original. Also, I may not have all the paperwork. 

It’s working so I’ll keep it for now. Plenty of other things on my list. If it fails I’ll take care of it then. Also, this is after I cleaned it lol. 
oof. 
 

52 minutes ago, Mike Self said:

I had the same problem installing that bushing, even after filing down the exterior a bit.  Finally got it in by lubing it with silicone grease (dish soap will also work) and squeezing in with a large vise.  Funny thing is that I don't remember having much trouble at ll when I did the same urethane bushings on my '73 many years ago.  IIRC they slid right in with no problem.

 

mike

I forgot lube. Damn sleep deprivation. May be too late to get some in there. I may try some dish soap around it. Not sure there’s any space for it to capillary action into space lol. 
 

Thanks everyone. 

Among the many things I’m doing while I have a garage I’m replacing the alternator bushings, given the alternator was crooked in the upper mount lol. 
 

I got the short one in but it was very difficult. It needed a lot of coaxing with a hammer. 
The long one is fighting me. I tried getting the two bushings in first, got them seated, but then counldnt get the insert in at all. Ended up pulling it back out with the bushing. So I tried getting it in with bushing again. Lots of beating on it and this is as far as I got it in. I’m afraid of breaking the alternator ear. 
 

Im

going to try putting it in a vise to squeeze it together. 
many advice for getting these in? 
 

Also note the insulation around the plug in back crumbled in my hands. I looked at it sideways and it came apart. Is this important to replace (or even possible)? 
 

thank you! 

31 minutes ago, Mark92131 said:

 

Yes, great car until it wouldn't smog in CA.  Sold it and scaled down to a 2020 M2 Competition.

 

Mark92131

That’s odd it wouldn’t smog. I think since before 2020 they just plugged in to obdII port so as long you don’t have codes you’d pass. Unless it was modified and didn’t pass visual. Mine has exhaust and passes every time. Also a CA car. 
Shame. A friend also has a 2020 M2c and prefers my car hahaha. 

1 hour ago, Mark92131 said:

I miss my original paint 75 PastellBlau BMW 2002.  One of 3 I have owned in this color.

 

Mark92131

another e39 M5 owner? Is that yours? I had a silver 01 for 11 years, now a Sterling 03 for a year.

5 hours ago, jgerock said:

Very nice!   And the e39 M5 too🥰

Indeed. My daily driver for 12 years now. Absolutely love it. 

Riviera Blue, 1972 2002tii

1 hour ago, Mike Self said:

+1 on this bit of advice.  And FYI, it's usually the outer joints that go bad before the inner ones...

 

And--don't forget the center track rod; it gets just as much action as the tie rods and should also be checked for wear at the same time.  One of my 69's tie rods was so badly worn the only thing holding the ball in its socket was the rubber boot!

 

mike

Mine was the same! The center link was the first thing I replaced when I bought the car October a year ago, lol. 

1 hour ago, ColinK said:

Here's a different thought.

Given your car is at least 48 years old and it sounds like the tie rods are (?) original, I would just replace the entire unit and be done with it. However there is scope creep....the center track rod, then bushings, and before you know it a whole suspension refresh....

Center link already replaced, and I just finished replacing the entire front suspension (center link/shocks/springs/bushings/ball joints), less the outer tie rods. That's the last bit. 

1 hour ago, Mikesmalaga72 said:

Yes, you should be able to reuse the castle nut if serviceable and use a new cotter pin. Lock nuts are generally one time use.    

The ball joints I got (Delphi) also had lock nuts instead of castle nuts, but no hole for a cotter pin, so no option to reuse castle nut.

By the way, is it important to fill that cup, the steering arm well where the ball joint nut goes, with grease? Didn't make sense to do so. 

5 minutes ago, BLUNT said:

Sorry youre having issues Pablo. If it happens again shoot us an email at sales@blunttech.com  We answer in 5 minutes, even on the weekend

No worries. For some reason I had trouble navigating your site before posting this. Sean has been great answering all my questions in the past, in my multiple orders. I tried the same searches just now and not having any trouble finding parts. Odd, but all good now. Thanks!

41 minutes ago, TobyB said:

pelican is now owned by ECS, too.

 

t

sadly

I heard. I stopped shopping at ecs ages ago. As long as pelican keeps up the good service I’ll remain a customer. 

2 minutes ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

 

I usually just use the "select your vehicle" option

and type in year/make/model,

then click on "shop for parts"

and use the category menu to find them. 

 

I went to "Steering" to find the inner ends.

Thats what I usually do. Today it only brought up valve stems. It was frustrating lol. 

1 minute ago, tech71 said:

 

If you have the skill to replace the tie rods, you have the skill to align it yourself.

When I looked for a shop locally to do an alignment all I got was double talk... "Our rack is too big" 'We dont have the proper equipment" "No data for your car in our data base"

A perfect example of technology steam rolling knowledge and common sense, they had no actual understanding of the what and why.. only could do what the screen on their state of the art alignment set up told them.

Anyway, its not hard to make the tooling, (couple of 1x2s, little metal hooks, rubber bands and an old tape measure).

Theres a good post on this I think by '76mintgrun'02

I may try that one day. But for now I will take it to the shop that used to align my race car. They do know what theyre doing, no double talk.

Thanks everyone. I do have to say I've had trouble finding parts on Blunttech website. Searching for tie rod ends, and other variations of that, did not bring up those parts. 

7 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Blunt has them. Personally I wouldn't buy a bottle of water from Pelican since ECS took over please support the boards vendors. 

Blunt doesn't have the outers and inners individually, only the full tie rods and only as part of a full suspension refresh kit (which I don't need). 

And I buy from Blunt often, as well as IE, more Blunt these days. They're great. But so is Pelican, and Pelican carries lots of parts for my other cars: volvos, my e46, my e39, my sons e30. They're also local to me so I can do curbside pickup and usually get the parts next day. 

11 minutes ago, '76mintgrün'02 said:

 

No.  The inner end has a bend.

 

Last time I looked, Rock Auto had a few outers to choose from, but no inner ends.

What brand ends are you buying?

Was going to buy Lemforder. That’s a trusted brand for my e39 parts so I trust them. But I don’t see any of the inners available. Boo. 

One more question:

They're listed as right hand thread, outer left or right. Are the two ends of each tie rod the same? So I would just need 4?

44 minutes ago, 2002iii said:

You are correct it's cheaper to just replace the outer tie rod end.

 

Some people don't mind paying extra for a complete assembly, just for ease. I would rather spend my time and save some money.

 

Don't forget to mark the threads so you can put the new part in the same spot.

Perfect. Seemed everyone replaced them as a unit. No point to me. I'm with you on just replacing whats needed. I have plenty to spend money on with this project otherwise lol!
 

25 minutes ago, Son of Marty said:

Yup, mark and count the turns for each should get you close enough to drive for about 50-100 miles before getting it aligned.

Exactly what I was planning to do. Get it close enough to test drive it around and go have it aligned. 

Thanks!

Pablo-

Last bit that needs replacing on my front suspension are the outer tie rods, the left and right ones. Center link is new already.

Looking the parts up I see the tie rods are available whole as well as just the ends. 

Is there a reason one would opt for the whole bit vs just the ends? 

Each side is ~$100 new, vs $12 each end. so $200 vs $48...

Whole tie rod

Tonight started one of my remaining list of projects: ball joints and spring pads. 
 

Finished driver side tonight. Pulled strut, took it apart and replaced the spring pads with new. They literally disintegrated as I was handling it lol. 
While strut was out I replaced the lower/outer ball joint. Hard to break it free of the steering arm but not as hard as expected. And the nut came off with impact just fine. They’ve been replaced before-no rivets. 

Other side tomorrow. 

Timely as I was about to post the same! 
 

I’ve ordered more than a few things from them recently and they’ve been fantastic help on sorting out exactly what I needed. Sean in sales is particularly helpful. When I was ordering the 5 speed swap kit, but had a e21 240 trans, they helped me sort out what I needed, including a trans mount for the 240 they don’t have on their website. 
Multiple questions on parts, sorting orders, most recently not receiving an order so they just sent me a new order without question. 
I love them. 

2 hours ago, TobyB said:

2nd gen Jetta here, goin' on 25 years...

 

t

 

You got photos?

8 hours ago, zambo said:

I was in email contact with him last October - it took him a couple of days to reply. 

2 hours ago, Fensterbrett said:

@Pablo M If Pierre isn't still around, I have a set of these that I likely won't be using.  Ping me if you don't hear back in the coming days/weeks.  First option should be buying directly from Peirre... so lets give him a chance to respond.

To be fair, it’s been several weeks already of multiple attempts of communicating with him. That’s why I stalked him on Facebook and messaged him there too, without a response. 

Nice. Looks OEM, or more OEM than the LED strip I have in my pile of parts to install. Got a link?

I was also wondering if an e30 third brake light would work. I think the rear glass is more upright on our cars though. 

Im not opposed to installing a trunk mounted one like on the e30 convertibles either.