The Bimmer Basement

[Mpower5266]

You still happy with that steam cleaner for cleaning dirty grimmy engines?

I am, I might get a more expensive better quality unit as I use this much more often than I thought I would.

Started off the long weekend by going over to a friends house for a couple of beers Friday night. His neighborhood is kinda cool so I stopped for a pic of course.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Saturday morning I went to a local car show and hit some antique shops with my wife afterward. The BMW 2002 trunk can hold anything and everything.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

After that I went out and did some polishing on the E9. I ordered a pneumatic polisher from CHY-NAH with 1,2, and 3 inch backing plates. It is garbage but it got the job done.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I also gave the underside of the hood a quick compound and polish.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I started a boston **** on the smoker late Saturday night so I got up to check on it early Sunday morning. I ended up having a few cups of coffee on the deck and watching the F1 race.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I was pretty lazy Sunday but my replacement gasket for my FFF watch project showed up early. I got excited and tried to put the watch back together, but they sent the wrong gasket again. Both of these should be 29mm.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Monday I woke up early intending to knock out some projects. I started by cleaning and dyeing the last leather piece on the e9.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Then I knocked out the oil change on the wagon.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

After that I wet sanded and polished the trunk on the e9.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

After compound.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I went ahead and polished it out since it was looking good and I wanted to see what the finished product would look like.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

There are still some light straight line scratches from sanding likely. I may go back and hit the whole car with a more aggressive compound but Im not sure. I will likely pull it out into the sun when I am done and look it over. The trunk is looking killer though.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

 

[Arclitgold]

Wow your sanding and polishing is looking fantastic!


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[Mpower5266]

The plan last night was to put my watch back together since the correct gasket was supposed to be in and go polish on the e9 a little. Well on the way home I stopped to get gas in the wagon, and as I pulled away from the gas pump the car started really funny. Apparently I filled the car with diesel....... nah just kidding. I had a slight misfire that got worse the closer I got to home. I ran the codes and found a cylinder 4 misfire so I pulled it in the garage and let it cool before tearing it down. Its always fun to use your scheduled project(the garage cabinet I need to assemble) to set your unscheduled project on.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I swapped the #4 coil pack with the number #2 coil pack, erased the codes and the misfire moved to number #2.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Cylinder 1 had what looked to be a new coil pack, but the rest looked oem. I pulled the plug from cylinder #4 and I was surprised to find what looked to be an original plug. The car is about to roll over 90k miles so it could have had plugs done before but this looked pretty old.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I went ahead and ordered 6 new coils and plugs, which were surprisingly cheap through FCP euro. And they were even doing a sale on their shipping so I paid for next day and I should have them tomorrow.

With my evening plans ruined and my bank account about $250 lighter I turned my attention to putting this damn watch back together. The gasket showed up while I was at work so I had my wife measure it, after she said its about "2" around." I am glad that I didn't fire off a nasty email..

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I seated the gasket and pressed it in with my new expensive press that really wasnt worth the money and once flush I reassembled the watch. Who ever put the dial in kinda botched it, and I was worried I would have to change it out. Changing the dial out would have lead to another $50 in tools and changing the movement out "while I was in there." I was thankful that once assembled the dial is secure and the watch functions correctly. It came out awesome but I don't know if it was worth the aggravation, I am going to hold off on watch mods for a little while.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

 

[TX4runner]

$250 for 6 plugs and coils is really good. Maybe it's the M premium but I thoughts coils were like $60-100 each

 

[Mpower5266]

$250 for 6 plugs and coils is really good. Maybe it's the M premium but I thoughts coils were like $60-100 each

Yea and $20 of that was overnight shipping. "M" makes stuff Mspensive.

 

[Mpower5266]

Got the plugs an coils in last night.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Of course the last plug I pulled had oil on it. So I will put a cover gasket on the list to do soon. I may do it and the disa valve soon.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I got to use my vac line trick to put the plugs in. It makes life a lot easier.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I buttoned the car back up and its running great so far. I drove it to work this morning and the idle wasnt fluctuating like it used to. So I guess I will plan on the Disa and cover replacement soon.

 

[davidstutler]

Nice job Nick. I love doing coils and plugs on my non-M cars. Feels like you're doing "something" but it's dead simple. Just did mine a couple months back on my E39 525i Touring while I was on a conference call.

The E9 looks absolutely incredible. Wet sanding and compounding has to be one of the more rewarding things to do when you have the guts to do it. I remember the first time I wet sanded I thought I had ruined the car - even though I was YouTube certified.

Love the small pneumatic orbitals - I have a HF one as well. I just recently splurged (for our birthday) on the Flex battery powered one with the quick change head. Pretty slick.

 

[Mpower5266]

Nice job Nick. I love doing coils and plugs on my non-M cars. Feels like you're doing "something" but it's dead simple. Just did mine a couple months back on my E39 525i Touring while I was on a conference call.

The E9 looks absolutely incredible. Wet sanding and compounding has to be one of the more rewarding things to do when you have the guts to do it. I remember the first time I wet sanded I thought I had ruined the car - even though I was YouTube certified.

Love the small pneumatic orbitals - I have a HF one as well. I just recently splurged (for our birthday) on the Flex battery powered one with the quick change head. Pretty slick.

Which Flex did you get? I think I just need to give in and get the 1" and 3" combo one.

 

[racerboy]

I have a non-car question about your garage. I see that you have the door opener hugging the ceiling. I was just starting to get quotes to replace my standard door openers with the LiftMaster jack shaft style, and while I will need the additional headroom in the shop, is it possible to repurpose the existing one in my garage and get it to hug the ceiling like that? Or is that a special type of opener?


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[Mpower5266]

I have a non-car question about your garage. I see that you have the door opener hugging the ceiling. I was just starting to get quotes to replace my standard door openers with the LiftMaster jack shaft style, and while I will need the additional headroom in the shop, is it possible to repurpose the existing one in my garage and get it to hug the ceiling like that? Or is that a special type of opener?


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Its a standard opener but I have a low ceiling hight track on the door. Since this was an addition, the garage ceiling height had to match the hight of the basement ceiling.

 

[davidstutler]

Which Flex did you get? I think I just need to give in and get the 1" and 3" combo one.

I got the Flex PXE 80 12-EC kit from Autogeek. It wasn't cheap but it's really, really convenient to have.

https://www.autogeek.net/flex-pxe-80-12v-ec-kit.html

 

[Mpower5266]

I got the Flex PXE 80 12-EC kit from Autogeek. It wasn't cheap but it's really, really convenient to have.

https://www.autogeek.net/flex-pxe-80-12v-ec-kit.html

That's the one that I was looking at too. I may have to pull the trigger on it. I keep buying watches though. Haha.

 

[Mpower5266]

I spent the vast majority of the weekend watching football and doing little projects around the house. The twins are likely coming at the end of the week so we did some final prep stuff to get the house ready. I mounted the baby monitor cameras and did some other little stuff. I also got a watch that I had ordered earlier in the week.

I always wanted a flieger watch and this Laco was much cheaper than a Stowa or IWC.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

The lume is awesome on it. It looks like an iwatch when its lit up in a dark room.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

I also ordered another watch. I know I have a problem. I have wanted a vintage Heuer Chronograph for a while but I couldnt bring myself to spend the money. I was watching watch videos over the weekend and someone mentioned the "Poor Mans Heuer" and after some research I found LeJour chronos. Much like my Wakmann, its a rebrand of a better known watch brand. The Wakmann is a Breitling 9122 with a different face and the LeJour is a Heuer Pasadena without the branding on the face. I am really excited to get this in. It has a little patina but its going to look amazing on a leather rally strap.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Alright enough with watches. I did very little work on the e9 yesterday. I compounded the back panel around the tail lights and the top of the passenger rear 1/4. Its coming out nice but very slow going. I am going to try some stronger compound I am still getting some marks that I can't get out.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

But like I said earlier, the twins will be here this week more than likely so progress may slow a little. I am hoping while I am off work my wife will let me take them or one of them to my parents house to play with grandma while I polish the E9. Looks like I am going to be smoking these soon.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

 

[tennesseewj]

Mmmm Weller 12!

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[nicholam77]

I also ordered another watch. I know I have a problem. I have wanted a vintage Heuer Chronograph for a while but I couldnt bring myself to spend the money. I was watching watch videos over the weekend and someone mentioned the "Poor Mans Heuer" and after some research I found LeJour chronos. Much like my Wakmann, its a rebrand of a better known watch brand. The Wakmann is a Breitling 9122 with a different face and the LeJour is a Heuer Pasadena without the branding on the face. I am really excited to get this in. It has a little patina but its going to look amazing on a leather rally strap.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

Nice Laco. And the LeJour is awesome. You have a killer little collection coming together. I kind of gave up having a watch "collection" but I was always scared to go chronograph or vintage (plus the $$$). I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through you! One thing I did want to do was get a watch to mark the birth of my daughter two years ago. To pass down, to attach some sentimentality to it. You could do the same with your recent acquisitions, or if those aren't the right ones then I guess you'd have an excuse to get two more. (just trying to help the cause here!)

But like I said earlier, the twins will be here this week more than likely so progress may slow a little. I am hoping while I am off work my wife will let me take them or one of them to my parents house to play with grandma while I polish the E9. Looks like I am going to be smoking these soon.

That's the understatement of the century

Grandparents are a huge help. Good luck to you and your wife, it's a wild (but fun!) ride. And it goes FAST. Faster than you can imagine right now.

 

[Mpower5266]

Nice Laco. And the LeJour is awesome. You have a killer little collection coming together. I kind of gave up having a watch "collection" but I was always scared to go chronograph or vintage (plus the $$$). I guess I'll just have to live vicariously through you! One thing I did want to do was get a watch to mark the birth of my daughter two years ago. To pass down, to attach some sentimentality to it. You could do the same with your recent acquisitions, or if those aren't the right ones then I guess you'd have an excuse to get two more. (just trying to help the cause here!)



That's the understatement of the century

Grandparents are a huge help. Good luck to you and your wife, it's a wild (but fun!) ride. And it goes FAST. Faster than you can imagine right now.

That was kind of the plan. I have my "Poor Man's" collection to eventually pass down. My grandfathers Wakmann, which is a relabeled Breitling 9122 and my LeJour, or Heuer.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

 

[nicholam77]

Those are two gorgeous watches! Even cooler that the Wakmann has been in the family for awhile.

 

[Mpower5266]

Super boring e9 update.

We ordered some tools to replace the missing ones from the kit, and the holder for the tools since ours was cracked. He also pulled out the panels from the trunk, cleaned it well and put some rust encapsulator paint down. Not original, and there wasnt a lot of rust but this will keep it from rusting and it will be covered.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

And one of the floor boards in the trunk was rotten so we pulled the elephant skin off and we are building a new one.

Untitled by Nick Wood, on Flickr

The updates may be slow or few and far between for the next few weeks. The twins are coming weekend, so I may not have a ton of time to work on the car. My dad will still be plugging away though.

 

[Arclitgold]

Awesome!! Congrats!!! Enjoy it as best you can. It’s a blur!


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[Mpower5266]

Awesome!! Congrats!!! Enjoy it as best you can. It’s a blur!


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I'm completely nervous but I know its going to be an awesome thing. I cant wait for them to come "on line" and start liking cars and dinosaurs and stuff. I feel like that will be when it gets fun.

 

[wout]

Calm down and enjoy as much as you can! It's awesome to have kids but they're big before you realise it. Hope all will go fine and you all get on a wonderfull 'pink cloud'.

Wout

 

[Mpower5266]

They are here and they are perfect. More to come soon.


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[Purist]

Congrats bud!


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[eljay]

Amazing!
Congratulations! They will be your biggest accomplishment!

It will be tiring, but enjoy this time as much as you can.

 

[tennesseewj]

Congratulations!

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[loganb]

Congrats! My first is almost 2 years old and has been a whirlwind but loved it

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[Horror Business]

Wonderful. Congratulations!

 

[wout]

Well done ��! Congratulations!

Wout

 

[111R]

This will totally change your life and priorities. What a blessing to have one of each the first time out. Congratulations!

 

[Boosted1]

Congrats!

 

[M-technik-3]

Congratulations, now I hope you and yoursupport team are in place to give your wife a break. Once again Congratulations and enjoy your time with your family!

 

[smschriefer]

Congrats!

 

[XJSuperman]

Congratulations!

 

[T-handle]

Congratulations! They look cute. Your thread and garage stuff is amazing too!

 

[gearhead1960]

They are here and they are perfect. More to come soon.

Congratulations! Just like cars, they will give you many years of joy and pain, all at the same time..... In the end the joy will outweigh the pain and make it all worthwhile!

 

[jon72vega]

Congratulations!

 

[Jyzze]

Wow, Twins! All The best!

 

[davidstutler]

Congrats Nick! What a blessing.

 

[RADcustom]

Congratulations!

How's momma doing?

 

[billscamaros]

Congratulations!