Big Sky Euro

Picture time! I know you were all desperately awaiting more.

Turns out, a 225/50 tire fits. Who knew? I mounted up the remaining good tire on a wheel for a test fit. Sure enough. Not a lot of room left. But a 225/45 will definitely work. A 215 should be about perfect.



In addition to getting all of the stainless steel brake lines on tonight (thanks to MT Ghetto for the tool help!), I managed to finally reseat the front air dam. You'll also the work I did with the heat gun this weekend to get the bumper cover to lay back. Almost there ...
The grills are also all mounted back up.
I just need that remaining fog light to get here so I can get that put in.



My guess is that the reason that the front air dam was so tweaked is due to the underlying valance being out of whack. So while I got the spoiler to fit mostly flush with the bumper, there's still a noticeable gap on the passenger fender well. I'm tempted to take to it with Dremel, remove the excess material and glue the flange back on. But at this point, it doesn't rub the tire, so I'll leave be.
You'll also see a peak at the 5 spoke wheels I'll be running.



Not pictured is the trunk seal which turned out great. We'll see how it holds up when this thing is on the road and sees some rain. I also re-affixed the driver's fog light. It's not pretty, but it will work ...

Also, after letting some engine degreaser sit on the blown shock (pictured above), I did learn that it is in fact a Bilstein. Thought it is stamped with a BMW roundel which leads me to believe that it is OEM. So while not critical, I'll see how she rides and sits with the new sway bar links and tires on and make the call as to replacing the rear shocks.

Still waiting on the rear brake rotors, brake lining sensors and brake reservoir cap. After that, tires and I'm back in business!

Whelp ... the rotors finally arrived. Actually, they've been here for over a week, but because FedEx takes the FAILbus to work, they had my address wrong and no one thought to notify me.
In other news, my brake lining sensors, sway bar end links and brake reservoir cap came while I was skiing in Jackson Hole.

So what has two thumbs and will be wrenching tonight? This guy!

I also found some tires that I'll be picking up Friday. I could be driving by the weekend!

As promised, some photo love of tonight's work.

I started with tearing out the sway bar end links. Once I pried the sway up enough so the links would clear the trailing arm, they came off easy enough. The rubber bushings were pretty roached. But what the Bentley manual doesn't tell is that the new bushing holes are about half the size of the sway bar. The solution? Lots and lots of dish soap to get 'er lubed up. After that, it went on nice and easy. (That's what she said!)

Old, roached out links:


After those two came off and the new went on, the new rear rotors went on, along with the brake lining sensors.



Sensor and SS brake lines


Oh, and the new brake reservoir cap with the switch.


Now, just as soon as I get the tires on and the battery charged, I'm back in business! The rear shocks will probably have to wait. Same with the short shift kit ...
The dash will go in once I get a rivet gun and the weather gets a little warmer.

Made some serious headway this weekend.

The tires were mounted and balanced on the new wheels. No pictures yet, however.
I did take my first stab at bleeding the brakes. I didn't get it right as the pedal is far firmer now, but pushes all the way to the floor. I either need a helper (I'll buy the beer) or a speed or vacuum bleeder.

I have a vacuum and a home made pressure bleeder.

MT-Getto wrote:I have a vacuum and a home made pressure bleeder.

Perfect. I need to return your flare nut wrenches, anyway. I'll be in touch. Thanks!

Well ... some progress.

The car starts up great and runs much better since I replaced/rebuilt much of the intake components. Attaching the vacuum hose certainly helped.

Brakes were still junk after a second attempt at bleeding. So I gave up and took them a local shop. They should be done today.

And still no pictures.

MT-Getto wrote:I have a vacuum and a home made pressure bleeder.

I have these ready to give back to you. Thanks for lending them to me!

I actually broke down and had a shop do the break bleeding. I just couldn't get it to work myself.

The good news is that I need lower control arms for the front. This also means upper control arms. Oh, and the front rotors are cracked.

The actually good news is that it's up, running and driving. I'll get pictures tonight.

In other news, anyone have a pickle fork and/or a rivet gun?

I have a fickle pork but no rivet gun.

MT-Getto wrote:I have a fickle pork but no rivet gun.

Trade you for your brake bleeding tools.