The joys and struggles of DD’ing a rwd teenager in New England... ‘03 540i/6sp content

Keith Tanner said:

Seat is the cable. You disconnect it, shorten the sheath and reassemble. It’s a well known problem. The passenger seat on mine just requested this service, I did the driver side some time ago. 

Thanks!  Yeah that seems to be the culprit for sure.  Watched a bunch of YouTube tutorials and it's on the list for next weekend when the garage isn't -50 degrees.  
 

I did manage to readjust my headlights and replace a faulty reverse light this weekend though!  Small projects getting checked off makes me happy.  

So no real mechanics going on, but it was very nice to get into the car today, after 2 straight days of driving rain, and find dry footwells!  I swear, it's the small victories. 

Also, for some unexplained reason, my windshield washer fluid spray is what I'd consider 'normal' now...?  I did nothing except order new gaskets and filters from Amazon. Maybe the car sensed me trying and decided to heal itself.  Or maybe it's because it's now 50 degrees out today and something was frozen/slushy in the tank.  Either way, I can now see again. 

I also got an unexpected bonus from work this week, so I firmly told (begged and pleaded with) the wife that I was getting a short shifter with a portion of it.  Definitely a luxury purchase, but that is one of my biggest gripes on this car thus far-  The feel on the gearbox is anything but 'sporty', and borders on '1990's jeep'.  

So after a few weekends of predictive maintenance/fluid changes/niggly bits, I'm gonna do a couple of 'fun' things to the car.  Short Shifter and muffler delete, which I've been told is a mandatory mod.  Emissions Schmemissions, amirite?

In reply to golfduke :

What short shifter are you going with? I'm relatively certain I have an E60 kit in my E39 M5, PO installed it, and that makes for a much tighter and shorter throw shifts. My car also has a muffler delete and it's not unreasonably loud inside of the car. As long as you leave the resonators alone you should be very happy with the results. 

MTechnically said:

In reply to golfduke :

What short shifter are you going with? I'm relatively certain I have an E60 kit in my E39 M5, PO installed it, and that makes for a much tighter and shorter throw shifts. My car also has a muffler delete and it's not unreasonably loud inside of the car. As long as you leave the resonators alone you should be very happy with the results. 

I was going to go with the Racing Dynamics kit because I've heard good things, and that it is basically the E60 kit, just with all new bushings and retainers... 

Regarding the muffler delete- what did you do to extend the pipe back to the stock location?  I figured I'd just fabricobble something together, but if you know exactly what you used, I might be able to pre-order some materials. 

The muffler delete was also done by the previous owner.

I like the result, but maybe not so much the execution. Here's what it looks like on the car. Fabricobbled sums it up pretty nicely.

There's some sort of valve in the clutch of the 540 that can be removed for better shifting. I don't remember the details, but if you're after shift quality I'd look it up.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Most likely talking about the clutch delay valve. Most cars these days use them and they frustrate the hell out of me.

Keith Tanner said:

There's some sort of valve in the clutch of the 540 that can be removed for better shifting. I don't remember the details, but if you're after shift quality I'd look it up.

oh, I had a Kia with something like that and it was a pain. It was a flow limiting valve, such that you could only ever let the clutch out so fast. It was basically a fuse to help protect the drivetrain. if the 540 has one, definitely either ditch it, or teach C to drive a stick in this car first, then ditch it 

also, 

In reply to preach :

I'll have a picture of my Subaru with one this afternoon. No snow cause it's NC and suddenly 80. Smh. Sorry to thread jack. Cool car!

That's the thing. Not on the M5 IIRC, but the 540 has one.

Innteresting.  I definitely have that, and will be deleting that ASAFP.  Thanks guys!

Another issue/question for the hive- 

I got pulled over this morning for no front plate (I hate NH sometimes).  While they are correct in that I do not have a front plate- the bumper isn't drilled to accept one...?  I see where it is normally stock positioned, but nothing is there but pristine, untouched plastic.  I suppose I have to drill it to accept a plate mount, but damnit do I feel bad.  Another option is a tow hook mount, but those look so stupid to me... 

Gah.  Front plates are dumb.

You can use 3M tape to attach a plate mount if you don't want to molest the plastic.

I also run without a front plate for the same reason. My S2000's front bumper got absolutely ruined by a terrible plate install, so I'm also not keen in drilling holes.

I've never had an issue with getting pulled over for it, but I have considered the tow hook mount if it did become an issue. The tape idea is a good one though.

In reply to golfduke :

Ohio is a front plate state, too.  I was amused that the car never had one.

Some people request dealers to not install a front plate bracket on new cars and accept the risks.

Alternatively, if there's a standard tow hook thread up front, the FRS/BRZ community has a plate mount that threads into that.

Knurled. said:

In reply to golfduke :

Ohio is a front plate state, too.  I was amused that the car never had one.

 

Some people request dealers to not install a front plate bracket on new cars and accept the risks.

 

Alternatively, if there's a standard tow hook thread up front, the FRS/BRZ community has a plate mount that threads into that.

Yeah, normally I would, but I'm already at higher risk of being pulled over and have had some bad police'ial interactions (I'm a brewer, work a lot of nights leaving a bar, and apparently some police officers can't de-lineate smelling like beer because you work with it and aren't always hammerfaced)... so I'd like to avoid any reason at all for not being pulled over for something stupid and ruining my night trying to explain stuff.  

So cheapie amazon tow hook plate mount it is!  Underwhelming review likely to follow. 

So I went to get the car inspected yesterday and had a chance to really inspect the underside.  Someone definitely did suspension bushings, and relatively recently.  Everything is beautiful and without any excessive play.  I still can't believe how clean the undercarriage is.  Like... I feel bad daily driving it through a New England Winter, but oh well.  Cars like this are meant to be enjoyed!

The bad news is the car failed inspection.  Rear Brakes and rotors (which I knew from Knurled), and front window tint (Which is freaking annoying, but easy enough to remedy).  Otherwise, the car got a clean bill of health.  I'm really enjoying driving this car now that some of the little things have been handled. 

Just roll the front windows down. Tint problem solved.

TX is front plate also, but its not, or maybe it is again.  Anyway I don't do use a front plate on my nice cars.  My Boxster front bumper is so beat up from a botched install, I bought the Porsche aero kit that will replace it entirely.

Who do you brew for?  I like to support my local breweries!

golfduke said:

So I went to get the car inspected yesterday and had a chance to really inspect the underside.  Someone definitely did suspension bushings, and relatively recently.  Everything is beautiful and without any excessive play.  I still can't believe how clean the undercarriage is. 

That's the really cool thing about higher end niche cars around here.  The people who own them generally can afford to keep it as a sunny day car.  Lots of immaculate no-miles Corvettes and stuff, while the cheap cars like F-bodies and Mustangs dissolve.  One of my customers here has a sub-50k C4 Corvette that looks as clean as your new ride.  (Also, for some reason, not one but two different people with immaculate NA Miatas...)

I had a rap in my head today about the people who said "yeah well it's in the north so what you consider clean is our scrap metal lol" and I completely forgot it between then and now, which has me greatly annoyed.

I forgot if you said you got the paperwork that my shop provided.  Do mind the power steering fluid - it was empty when it came to us, and I filled it with the wrong fluid (BG Powerclean) instead of the proper CHF-11S because I was expecting it to flow right back out again.  Nope, everything was dry after running it a long time and driving it a bit.  The only leakage I could find was a bit of seepage at the junction block to the cooler, by the radiator.

I did lots of things today!  Rear brakes are installed and now ricey as ever-

Note-  it was cheaper to buy the 'kit' that came with drilled and slotted rotors than it  was to buy pads and smooth rotors.  Hopefully they don't snap, but they should be fine.  Not going hardcore tracking with this car.  Everything went in super smoothly and I was again impressed with how not rusty things are on this car.  I don't know what to do without rusty tears. 
 

shot of my woefully disorganized, but HEATED single car garage...  note- there are jack stands on the rear jacking pads.  I just also like having a jack on there for extra extra fallback.  
 

I also tackled a few easy projects-  goo-gone'ing the front windows that I had to tear the tint off of, fixing my windshield washer fluid issue (a split hose in the engine bay, easy fix), replacing the filter and grommet on this tank of unknown purpose... any ideas?  It's routed to the hood, but I have no idea.  None of my other bmws had it-

Anyways, it's fixed and holds liquid.  What that liquid should be is beyond me, however.  
 

Also installed my 20$ amazon tow hook front license plate holder-

Verdict?  Not bad at all!  It seems sturdy and well built.  I loctite'd every screw and bolt, so hopefully it won't vibrate apart, but overall I am pleased with the placement and quality.  If I have to run a front plate, this is about as unobtrusive as I've found.  
 

Finally, I pushed all new brake fluid through all four calipers.  Brake fluid was nasty, and my drivers front bleeder was clogged so I made a mess, but everything looks better now and seems to be much firmer and responsive.  Pretty sure I had actual water in one caliper, so I'm gonna keep an eye on it and rebleed in a month or two just to make sure I don't have a bigger issue.  Side note- I just cracked open my last jug of Superblue... I thoroughly will miss it when I run out... why more people don't dye their brake fluid so you can visually see fresh vs dirty is beyond me.  Such a useful, easy tool.  
 

more tomorrow!

The tank is for the washer concentrate that you can (and should) add to make the washers work lots better on nasty stuff, like giant bug splatter.

02Pilot said:

The tank is for the washer concentrate that you can (and should) add to make the washers work lots better on nasty stuff, like giant bug splatter.

Thanks!   Any link to purchase it by chance, or should I just google it, haha? 

Forgot to add my favorite pic of the day!  My two integral helpers and brake bleeding assistants-

she's got solid grasp on trail braking

They don't dye the brake fluid because the US Gov't doesn't allow them to.  That's why Super Blue went away.  I like Super Blue but the previous owner of my 911 left it in the car for 6+ years, it's stained everything!  I've run 4 quarts of fluid thru and it's still coming out green.