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

[ZHPizza]

It was pretty close to $1,500 for the diff (MF had a 15% off sale, but they hit me for shipping) and $150 for the cover and, yes, it was DIY (a garage would probably charge about $300). This is the second diff swap I've done, and I actually think it's a relatively easy mod. The hardest part, of course, is getting it back in. It's funny... the first time I used a conventional jack, and it went slow but smooth. This time I tried using a floor jack but I just couldn't get it positioned right, so I finally got pissed, pushed the jack out of the way, put that $@&?! on my chest and benched-pressed it in there! Quicker that way...

u flexin bro?

[Rovert]

you guys. I think it was just roid rage.

[Reasoned1]

Naaaah... Any young stud could do it. Just making the point it can be done without screwing around with a jack.

On a different note, I got one of my rear springs out today and discover that my new ST "lowering" springs are actually taller than stock (they also have more coils). What do you make of that? If they do ultimately lower the car, they must not be as stiff, right? In which case, I'm beginning to question changing them out.

[Sockethead]

If they're progressive springs they'll have more coils

[Reasoned1]

Installing a set of Koni Yellows. Tackled the rear shocks today, and I'm having the damndest time trying to adjust them--even after reading the piss-poor instructions and watching a bunch of crappy videos. I have the internally adjustable ones... I push the rod in, cannot feel any engagement, but turned the cylinder body CCW a bunch of times (trying for full-soft) while pushing the rod down--not an easy task. At this point, I'm ready to just install and hope for the best. Not at all sure how you'd balance the setting left to right... Frustration is setting in. Any knowledgeable input wild be much appreciated!

[704sw]

Installing a set of Koni Yellows. Tackled the rear shocks today, and I'm having the damndest time trying to adjust them--even after reading the piss-poor instructions and watching a bunch of crappy videos. I have the internally adjustable ones... I push the rod in, cannot feel any engagement, but turned the cylinder body CCW a bunch of times (trying for full-soft) while pushing the rod down--not an easy task. At this point, I'm ready to just install and hope for the best. Not at all sure how you'd balance the setting left to right... Frustration is setting in. Any knowledgeable input wild be much appreciated!

I would say “you have to be pretty damn strong to do it,” but you routinely bench press rear diffs so strength isn’t an issue.

IIRC what I did was depress the rod with a hex bit in place (it is hex, right?) and use my stabilizing hand to rotate the entire tube around it. I could be dead wrong, it’s been a year since I did it. I also used the welcome mat in the garage to keep the concrete from destroying the bottom of the shock.

[Rovert]

but you routinely bench press rear diffs so strength isn’t an issue.

[Reasoned1]

Strangest thing about lifting that diff was my skin turned green...

[704sw]

Strangest thing about lifting that diff was my skin turned green...

Oh god, I don’t think I’d like you when you’re angry.

[Oltorf]

I've been soldering a lot of stuff recently, and I used my new found soldering skills to repair the rear tail lights in my X5. They have a strange issues where the bulb holder comes kind of loose from the tail light housing and causes arcing which makes the housing corrode. I scraped out all the corrosion and found holes that were close to a millimeter (!!!) deep and filled them in with solder. Now the "check rear light" and "check brake light" error messages are gone. Only 2 error messages to go.