Salty's 2005 330Ci ZHP Jet Black Coupe Restore

[slater]

good work, salty. i've got a lightly sticking FR caliper... i'm going to replace both fronts with reman'd units.

[ZHPizza]

Nice! I went with gloss black on my calipers too. I did it on the car, though, and my results matched my effort. Excited to see this thing come together and drive straight for once!

[johnrando]

Good stuff

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[SaltyNC]

good work, salty. i've got a lightly sticking FR caliper... i'm going to replace both fronts with reman'd units.

They were only $54 each (but do require a $70 refundable core charge), and even though Bavauto says calipers are excluded from free shipping, they shipped mine for free. Two calipers and two cans of brake fluid weighs 34 lbs! Ouch. That was probably close to a buy one get one free deal when free shipping is factored into it. Of course, now I have to pay to ship the old ones back. 2 thumbs up for Bavauto. They shipped them fast. I didn't have any vacuum caps handy, so to seal off my brake lines while I worked, I cut the fingertips off a mean kid in the neighborhood and stuck them...oh wait, wait, that's not right. I cut the fingertips off a nitrile glove and put a tight fitting o-ring around it. That did the trick. A vacuum line cap assortment would be a lot easier.

Salty

[SaltyNC]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas. I chuckled when I read ZHPizza's drive straight for once comment. I knew the tie rods needed to be adjusted away from the original setting, so I matched their length when replacing them, and added a little on one side and shortened the other side, and truly just fudged it to see how close I could get without getting out some mason line, etc (I'm going to have a proper alignment -- this is just temporary). So, the steering wheel used to be like this ( \ ) and now it's like this ( / ). So much for eyeballing it.

BTW, this is a really cool video explaining how to straighten steering using tie rod adjustments. However, this has to be reversed for our cars, because our tie rods mount to the front of the wheel rather than the back as in this training rig. Still, this video kicks butt for clarity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-44Hrfdgn8

It looks like we're in for monsoon season here in NC. Have you seen the forecast, ZHPizza??? We have no sun literally until Feb 24. Whaaa? So, I had to git while the gittin' was good, and get my other tie rod installed this afternoon.

Man, that tie rod looks worse than my granny's wrinkled pantyhose. Maybe the work of a pipe wrench? I had to make liberal use of PB Blaster for these last couple of projects, so you'll probably see areas of wetness here and there. After these projects, I need to wash it and get it out of the weather. It's a muddy, nasty mess right now.



Tie rods are actually a fairly easy job with the right tools, but the tools make all the difference. A 34mm crows foot is nice for the inner tie rod, so it can be torqued properly, and a ball joint puller makes removing the old tie rod a snap. I stuck with those single use Oetiker crimp style band clamps. Having a set of offset Oetiker crimpers is nice when working on the tie rod boots.


I went with Lemförder tie rods. As far as I know, they are identical to OE right down to the same yellow and red seals.


Tomorrow, I'll put on a rain jacket and get out the string and do a hillbilly alignment to get the wheels and steering wheel pointing straight , and then it will be off to the alignment shop.

Salty

[John in VA]

Of course, now I have to pay to ship the old ones back.

Check the USPS flat rate box deal. I shipped some E28 calipers cross-country for a great rate (at the time) in them.

[SaltyNC]

Check the USPS flat rate box deal. I shipped some E28 calipers cross-country for a great rate (at the time) in them.

Great idea, John. I didn't think about that. Thanks!

Salty

[Sockethead]

It's not uncommon for the tie rod adjuster sleeves to seize. That's probably why they are so beat up. I little antiseize compound should take care of that

[SaltyNC]

The forecast for today is rain, but it's actually more misty than anything, so I took the opportunity to do the temp alignment. ZHPizza, I have a straight steering wheel, and my tires are pointing in the right direction. Woot!

While I had the front lifted, I installed the new stainless lines on the front and did a quick bleed. If the rains holds, I may do the rear lines and a complete flush, today.

By cranking the car and pressing the brake pedal, then wedging the brake pedal down with a cloth-wrapped pipe against the seat, not a single drop was spilled from the hard brake lines, and I didn't need the vacuum caps. I placed a Motive bleeder bottle on the nipple and loosened it to remove the fluid from the old brake line before removing it. It made for a quick and clean brake line swap. While I was under the car, I replaced the quick-lock screws in the belly pan and replaced some of the clips that had rusted, and replaced the oil drain plug cover that was missing when I bought the car. And finally, I replaced the screw cover in the passenger side door pull. How people lose things like that is beyond me.
The ECS stainless brake lines are nice looking and appear to be high quality and well constructed


Happy Saturday!

Salty

[johnrando]

Good stuff. Lol on your temp plug solution.

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