What did you do for your ZHP/ BMW / MINI today? #2

[Hermes]

I'll be in SD this week. We can put it together.

Yeah, but some of the parts won't be here until next week. Besides, Ben is a master engine builder so I'm just gonna let him do his thing and stay out of his way.

[Imola.ZHP]

Friday, I threw the BMW cross bars I bought and mounted the Thule 725 ski holders I have. Used them the past two days, worked out nicely. Anyone know if there's a Thule fairing that will work with the BMW rack?

You have to modify the brackets and basically screw them to the underside of the OEM rack, I've had mine for several years now, its wider than what is recommended for e46 but with some extra patience I got it to look very nice IMO. Its not flat like most fairings, bowed out some due to the extra width. Let me find a pic...



Before I re-worked.



After

Link to fairing... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I used the 44" because I thought the 38" was too short, but I think thats what they recommend for the OEM rack. The ends on my fairing cover my front posts.

Noticed this on the boot lid.

Then I noticed this. Got hit by ice off of a semi today

"No flamesuit required"

Wow, you should see my paint on the front of my car, yours looks amazing!

----

I finally got to drive mine again yesterday! Been on vacation in Puerto Rico for a week, and had a few days off before and after. Catching up on my ZHPMafia threads!

[squashman702]

I like it- I see a lot of people suggesting the 38" fairing, good to know the next size up works well too.

[UdubBadger]

You have to modify the brackets and basically screw them to the underside of the OEM rack, I've had mine for several years now, its wider than what is recommended for e46 but with some extra patience I got it to look very nice IMO. Its not flat like most fairings, bowed out some due to the extra width. Let me find a pic...



Before I re-worked.



After

Link to fairing... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I used the 44" because I thought the 38" was too short, but I think thats what they recommend for the OEM rack. The ends on my fairing cover my front posts.




Wow, you should see my paint on the front of my car, yours looks amazing!

----

I finally got to drive mine again yesterday! Been on vacation in Puerto Rico for a week, and had a few days off before and after. Catching up on my ZHPMafia threads!

Mine fit pretty well I just put on some Gorilla tape around each bracket to make sure it's secure. Been 4 years never had an issue. But mine is the 38" version.

[az3579]

Had my horrendous slamming noise diagnosed and it was exactly what I thought; blown strut in the front. Sounds truly horrible when hitting the smallest of bumps, like someone is hitting my hood with a hammer.

I love Bilstein; having my shop order a replacement and I'll deal with the warranty claims process once I have the old one in a box.

[Imola.ZHP]

I like it- I see a lot of people suggesting the 38" fairing, good to know the next size up works well too.

Thanks, it does take some extra effort and work, the outer two brackets are actually attached at the same location as the posts with longer bolts (longer than the bolts that bolt the posts to the crossbar). The middle two brackets I just drilled and used self-tapping screws.

Mine fit pretty well I just put on some Gorilla tape around each bracket to make sure it's secure. Been 4 years never had an issue. But mine is the 38" version.

Wow, props to Gorilla tape! I didn't like how the 38" didn't cover the posts but it's probably just my OCD; I'm sure the 38" gets the job done just the same.


--Marcus

[slater]

After

Link to fairing... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I used the 44" because I thought the 38" was too short, but I think thats what they recommend for the OEM rack. The ends on my fairing cover my front posts.




Wow, you should see my paint on the front of my car, yours looks amazing!

----

I finally got to drive mine again yesterday! Been on vacation in Puerto Rico for a week, and had a few days off before and after. Catching up on my ZHPMafia threads!

congrats on the trip, that must have been NICE!

fairing looks good, i think i need to do this as well - the one trip i used our roof rack and thule carrier on last year, my MPGs were horrendous - do these help much?

and yeah, my paint looks BAD up front. dane's car looks pristine compared to mine, even with the damage!

peter

[LivesNearCostco]

Replaced all the power steering hoses and PS reservoir on my E36. It only has 3 hoses and none of the special push-on connectors, because one hose has the cooling coil built in. (The E46 has 4 PS hoses and two have special connectors to connect to the cooling coil.) I had a bad leak, replaced the high pressure PS hose only to discover that wasn't the one leaking--the return/cooling line was failing. On the E46, the high pressure line is the long one with the metal elbow on the bottom; on the E36 the long one on the bottom that looks similar with the "trombone" metal part is the low-pressure return line and cooling coil.

Also installed the front Stoptech stainless steel brake lines on E36, ones I got from Smilez. Installing rear lines will be more work because the E36 M3 has 2 soft lines on each rear corner (E46 has one soft line per corner).

[stephenkirsh]

What's the point of two lines per corner?

[LivesNearCostco]

Not sure why but I can explain the difference between E36 and E46. In both models the hard brake tube ends on the body near the middle of the rear trailing arm. On the E46 one long line goes to the rear brake caliper and passes through a support grommet bolted to the inside elbow/bend of the RTA. On some E36es, there is a short hard line at that RTA elbow, so one soft line runs from body to RTA and other soft line runs from RTA to caliper.