Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    672
    Power steering system dealt with after noticing the high pressure hose was also leaking from various joints. Such a mess, but the garage is clean now. Noticed that the inlet transmission cooling hose is leaking as well...yay. Ordered the part from FCP, they had it on sale.

    Got the front and rear bumpers fixed and resprayed. Shop could not get the front bumper 100% flush, even after replacing the bent reinforcement bar behind the bumper cover. Still it is loads better than before.

    Got the lifetime alignment at firestone. Apparently the camber bolts on the rear control arms are "broken", so they could not fully adjust the camber on the rear wheels. They wanted to replace the control arms for this reason...

    Did a couple fun little DIYs to reduce wind noise and reset the pretension on the coupe windows to make them not wobbly anymore.

    http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=647631

    http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=986621

    Im gonna get it detailed and tinted before March. Can't wait to post before and after pics...

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Kitchener, ON
    Posts
    6,036
    Quote Originally Posted by papa_g View Post
    Got the lifetime alignment at firestone. Apparently the camber bolts on the rear control arms are "broken", so they could not fully adjust the camber on the rear wheels. They wanted to replace the control arms for this reason...
    yeah, it's not the arms that are the problem - that's kind of a lame suggestion on their part.

    the camber adjustment bolts - which connect the lower control arm to the hub - are eccentric. the problem with these bolts is that over time, they rust, and the eccentric lobe on the bolt corrodes away, making them either totally frozen in the bushing, or not eccentric anymore, which means no adjustment can be done.

    easiest solution? buy a new pair of bolts from BMW. i think they're ~$10/each.
    peter

    2004 330i ZHP
    2005 330iT ZHP
    2010 328iT M Sport

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    672
    Nice I had a feeling it was as simple as replacing the bolts. My concern is gonna be getting the old ones out, i heard it can be a bicth.

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Kitchener, ON
    Posts
    6,036
    Quote Originally Posted by papa_g View Post
    Nice I had a feeling it was as simple as replacing the bolts. My concern is gonna be getting the old ones out, i heard it can be a bicth.
    they can be. here's what i've done when they're really stuck:

    1. obtain new bolts, and nuts
    2. loosen the old nut, but don't remove; loosen enough that the top of the nut is just past flush with the end of the bolt
    3. try turning the nut back and forth at the head with a long breaker bar, kind of in a 'human impact wrench' style (it works for me); if you can get them loose, then remove the nut and tap them out. if you can't get them loose, proceed onto #4
    4. get a 5lb sledge and give the nut some good whacks until it breaks free; then remove the nut and tape the bolt out.


    that's worked for me in the past. but i imagine mine would be way rustier than yours, given climate differences.
    peter

    2004 330i ZHP
    2005 330iT ZHP
    2010 328iT M Sport

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    672
    Quote Originally Posted by slater View Post
    they can be. here's what i've done when they're really stuck:

    1. obtain new bolts, and nuts
    2. loosen the old nut, but don't remove; loosen enough that the top of the nut is just past flush with the end of the bolt
    3. try turning the nut back and forth at the head with a long breaker bar, kind of in a 'human impact wrench' style (it works for me); if you can get them loose, then remove the nut and tap them out. if you can't get them loose, proceed onto #4
    4. get a 5lb sledge and give the nut some good whacks until it breaks free; then remove the nut and tape the bolt out.


    that's worked for me in the past. but i imagine mine would be way rustier than yours, given climate differences.
    Nice! I am going to have to do this soon and go back in for realignment. They wanted to charge me over $1600 to do all the brakes and rear lower control arms.

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    Washington, DC
    Posts
    1,983
    Quote Originally Posted by papa_g View Post
    Nice! I am going to have to do this soon and go back in for realignment. They wanted to charge me over $1600 to do all the brakes and rear lower control arms.
    Good lord

    Slater’s idea is perfect

    The good news, the eccentrics are on the outboard side of the control arm and not up in the subframe
    - Stuart


    /_________\
    OO=[][]=OO

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    672
    Quote Originally Posted by 330i ZHP View Post
    Good lord

    Slater’s idea is perfect

    The good news, the eccentrics are on the outboard side of the control arm and not up in the subframe
    haha yeah I can't wait to try it out. I want to see if I can't just remove the old ones and clean them up a bit before I decide to buy new ones. If the firestone staff say they are broken, I am going to take it with a grain of salt.

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    672
    Going into the garage to try my hand at this. Wish me luck.

    I am going to check my brakes and measure my rotors while I am there. I suspect I might have a stuck caliper(s) somewhere.

    Also, in other news, turns out my fan clutch is dunzo. Found out when a friend stuck his hand in my fan and repeatedly spun it the other way, while at operating temp. Also, the radiator facing side was covered in oily dirt when I took it out for the first time. Ordering a new one from FCP.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    672
    It is as I suspected. The bolt is not "broken". Using some PB blaster, I eventually loosened the nut and was able to adjust the camber. Nothing was seized. I even tapped the bolt out to take a closer look at it. It looks great! The one thing is the camber washer is a little frayed; the tooth looks like it got thrashed a little, so i will order a couple new ones. In the mean time, I put it back on, lubed up the bushing and put some antiseize on the bolt threads. I will be having a word with the guys at Firestone haha... broken my ass. They said they maxed out at -1.5º. Is this an ok rear camber? according to my report, I want to be at least at -1.8º. I know it depends on what I want from my car blah blah but i just want to be as close to factory spec as possible.

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    Last edited by papa_g; 02-19-2018 at 05:47 PM.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Kitchener, ON
    Posts
    6,036
    nice work, man!

    crazy how clean they are...
    peter

    2004 330i ZHP
    2005 330iT ZHP
    2010 328iT M Sport

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