blalor's ZHP project journal

[danewilson77]

^ Awesome!

+1

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[blalor]

I'd hoped to have the new control arm bushings installed and have swapped back to the stock wheels by now, but I haven't been able to get into Ratchet Head just yet. Maybe later this week. I *was* able to spend a little time under the car and replace the sway bar end links, however.

The old ones were probably original and the boots were torn. I ran errands afterwards and didn't notice any difference in either noise or handling. Didn't expect anything, either. :-) I knew the control arm bushings were shot, but I could easily make the control arms move around in them just by wiggling the wheel by hand a bit.

I was disappointed to find that the little door that should hide the plug on the oil pan was missing, and also that the aluminum reinforcement panel is pretty banged up. Looks like it's contacted the ground at least once, and the jacking point is mangled. I dropped the splash tray to make sure I was jacking on something substantial, and ended up trimming a hockey puck to fit into the rectangular indentation so that my floor jack didn't make it worse. For all the awesome engineering of these cars, you'd think they'd pay a little heed to the guys who don't have a lift. I also found both jack pads on the right side of the car are gone, so I had to repurpose one of the "jack buddies" (don't Google that) I made for my BRZ (just a hockey puck bisected and bolted to a 1x2" piece of steel to straddle the body seam that you're supposed to support the car with. Horrible design.). I drove onto a set of Rhino Ramps first and then raised the car from there, but when I was done I had a hell of a time lowering the car back onto the ramps. The wheels push the ramps out a little, but my driveway's uneven and I ended up with one of the ramps distorting a bit. I finally just used a pair of 2x6es under the wheels. In the future I'll skip the ramps. I hate doing it that way, anyway…

We drove to dinner last night and I realized that the shocks really need to be replaced, but I'm trying to take a somewhat scientific approach by only fixing one thing at a time. I'm looking pretty hard at Koni Sports right now: importrp.com has them for just under $600 with free ground shipping. I'll replace all the mounting hardware when I do the job, so figure another couple hundred on top of that; there's a bit of a thunk from the left rear over broken pavement (which is basically everywhere right now) that may be the rear shock mount. This car will see the track, so I figure it'll be best to freshen up all this stuff.

I think I identified the source of the windshield washer fluid leak: the pump feels pretty loose in its grommet. The reservoir itself looks fine.

Finally, I blew out the fender cavity that the hood hinges drop into. So much crap in there. Seems like it could be a good spot for rust to start. :-(

Hopefully I'll get the bushings and wheels taken care of by the weekend, and then I'll be looking for a home for the 3 remaining Style 269 wheels.

[ELCID86]

That door didn't come on a lot of cars. Many of us have ordered a replacement. I'm sure someone here can post the part numbers.

That sway bar had seen it's better days. Nice work.

[danewilson77]

That door didn't come on a lot of cars. Many of us have ordered a replacement. I'm sure someone here can post the part numbers.

That end link had seen it's better days. Nice work.

End link.

OP... Did you go with Lemforder?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[johnrando]

You talking this:



and this?



Both are available from ECS and other places. Also, you can buy jack pad adapter from ECS but it sounds like you made your own. I'm looking for the oil door part, but BMW did stop putting them on the car but they are cheap to buy.

[danewilson77]

So, as summary, the only two part numbers you need are
51 71 8 212 164 (screw clip)
and
51 71 7 036 493 (trap door including screw and washer)


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Site..._71_8_212_164/

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/ES127041/

[johnrando]

Thanks Dane, you beat me to it.

[ELCID86]

Thanks Bosses. Or get them from a dealership (online or B&M).

[blalor]

@johnrando: yes, those are the bits I'm talking about. < $20 for the door and parts from ECS. Jack pads are ~$11 each if you shop around.

I just needed something in the short term so I could support the car without damaging the floor so I used hockey pucks. I'll be buying the replacement pads. I have a set of Craftsman jack stands that sit well directly on the factory jack pads.

I bought Meyle heavy-duty end links from ECS.

Last night I went out and started to clean the Alcantara steering wheel. It has the texture of dried boogers. I started to wipe it down with a microfiber cloth and hot water. It was …*just …*so …*disgusting. I almost wish I hadn't started doing it because it was purely exploratory. The rag came away black almost immediately, and a couple of spots were actually foamy when I rubbed. And the spots that I merely got wet turned sticky.



I'm thinking about pulling the wheel off so I can work on it in the basement. I have half a mind to run it through the dishwasher.

[ELCID86]

there is a thread here. Use magic erasers.