As I alleged in my last post, I did get all the engine parts back in place, and fired it up! Everything seemed to be fine, so I set about completing the work to put the car on the ground. It had been on my portable lift for over two months:
After putting the rest of the components back in place (mainly plastic stuff - shielding, engine covers, and the windscreen washer), I put the wheels and tires back on. That's a struggle in a BMW, because instead of studs, BMW uses bolts, which means that there is nothing to hang the wheel on while trying to align the holes and get the first bolt started. Bavarian Autosport has a simple threaded rod to help with that, and I'm going to order one next time I order parts from them:
Once I had the car on the ground and the lift put away, I fired it up and looked one more time for leaks or other signs of distress. All looked good, so I pressed the clutch, and... it felt funny. Mushy, and it made a little dragging noise like it wasn't releasing fully. The car wasn't all that interested in going into gear either.
Hmmm... I had bled the clutch when I bled the brakes the first time (after replacing the ABS pump), and it worked great during the exercise to "drive" the car on the lift and activate the ABS about 40 times. However, I didn't rebleed the clutch when I bled the brakes again. The clutch and brakes share a common reservoir for fluid - could I have introduced air into the clutch line somehow?
Well, nothing to do but check, so back on the lift, and out comes the pressure bleeder again. I did notice a couple of bubbles when bleeding, but I can't be sure if they were in the line, or in the catch container itself. Anyway, after bleeding, it was all fine and has remained so, so I must have done something right.
So, this exercise yielded the following:
- Replaced radiator, hoses, thermostat, and the small bleeder hose from the radiator to the expansion tank. Water pump was almost new, so I kept it. I also replaced the plastic cooling fan (I have seen pictures of an old one that exploded), and also the plastic pulley on the water pump, because the one on there was chipped at one bolt hole.
- Flushed cooling system with distilled water, and then refilled with 50/50 mix of distilled water and BMW brand antifreeze.
- Replaced both engine drive belts. Checked the tensioners, which were fine.
- Replaced spark plugs, engine oil, air filter. Fuel filter too - see below.
- Replaced valve cover gasket, and spent a lot of time cleaning up the mess made by the original leaking gasket.
- Replaced ABS pump and controller, and bled the brakes a bunch.
- Removed, cleaned and lubed the hood latches, and replaced the Bowden cable between them.
- Replaced gear oil in transmission and rear end.
Incidentally, when I drained the trans, the oil was not in bad shape, but it was the wrong viscosity. BMWs want a pretty thin transmission oil. The recommended oil is Red Line MTL in the trans, and 75W90 in the rear end. I used almost two quarts of each.
I've driven the car a couple of hundred miles since then, and all is well. Today, I took it out to Jack Miller's shop for another state inspection and it passed with flying colors. I had only driven the car about 250 miles in the past year, because I was spending all my hobby time on the Grant St. Garage project.
Well, there was one more thing left, and that was the fuel filter. It's the size of a large can of lager, and it sits right under the driver's seat. I previously had it in my hand, and was lying on my back ready to change it, and got cold feet. That system is pressurized, and I could see getting myself drenched with gas.
So, I paid Jack to change it. I watched from a safe distance. He put a catch pan under it, but when he released the first connection, it sprayed gasoline over an area about 6 feet long! Paying Jack to do that on a real lift was money well spent.
So, the wheels are down for a while, I hope. Time to drive it!
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