[eljay]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

I soaked my soft touch cup holders from e82 with rubbing alcohol and went over it with a sponge for washing dishes and it came out great. No marks no scuffs. I used the sponge side only not the more abrasive side. It might take a little more elbow grease in some spots(corners) but it was totally worth it without damaging the plastic underneath.

Goo Gone soak works as well.

[lowrydr310]

M-sport steering wheel trim freshly wrapped in matte black vinyl and installed:



+10HP, I can feel it already!


Here's the old piece:


I wrapped this 4 years ago. 3M vinyl holds up very well even with a high contact area such as the steering wheel. I planned to wrap all the wood trim in this pattern but after trying a sample on the steering wheel trim I realized it's too "busy" given all the other textures on the dash and console.

[DBShiznit]

So went under the car today and I love that no DIY i read told me it would be impossible to fill the transmission with the front driveshaft in the way on a xDrive car.. Needless to say I wasn't happy however, there was a positive takeaway from this. While looking over the front driveshaft I noticed play on the U joint closest to the xDrive. This actually gave me some peace of mind as I might have finally stumbled upon from front noise issues. Now I'm going to source a driveshaft and do it all at once since I need to lower the driveshaft to do the job anyway. Hoping to have it done soon so I can use the xDrive in the winter months IF it even snows here again...

With that being said I need a driveshaft because the u- joints are not serviceable. I noticed FCP has a new one for $240 but also have noticed people go A/M and use serviceable U-joints however I'm tuned and plan to go single turbo and I dont want to blow a front driveshaft because I went A/M.. Any input would be apreciated!

[evensis]

New top hat mount finally quietened ride down, transmission fluid and filter change, massive difference in shifting, and in particular not getting booted in the back coming to a stop. Also done front axle brake hoses changed to steel braided. Rear is rust central and everything seized up including hoses, lanoguard'ed liberally to slow down degradation but another job, for another day as hoses aren't perished, yet...

Also installed digital dash conversion, really makes the car feel a ton newer and well worth it.

[Runnin'Rich]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

Texas driveshaft make a great replacement in the USA with servicable joints. Great price

[3PedalJake]

Had to take a break from working on the Bimmers to take advantage of the last few weeks of working outside weather. I can't fit my trucks in the garage so forced into driveway DIY, had to fix some assorted stuff and gave them both a good polishing and wax to get them through the winter.

Truck 1 is a 2006 Ford F-350 crew cab dually. It's got a Powerstroke 6.0 completely bulletproofed with a KC stage1 turbo, Banks "technicooler" ported intake manifold and 4" exhaust. It's a beast

Truck 2 is a 1993 F-250 with 7.3 IDI N/A diesel. The truck was originally owned by King Ranch long before they had the partnership with Ford for the "King Ranch" trim package. This truck is slow but the 7.3 has a lot of low end grunt, and it would survive an EMP blast, the only transistors in the truck are in the aftermarket stereo. The truck itself is the essence of simplicity, spray diesel into cylinder, compress it, BOOM, repeat. I love this truckie

[colorado.e9x]

Looking mint 3P!

MPG update: after BG EPR engine flush, Mobil 1 0-40, and NMF additive I am now hovering between 30-31mpg on the highway.

As a recap, previously I took my roof bar setup off to bring my mpg from 23-25mpg to 28mpg. Not bad!

[BMW Guy]

Originally Posted by colorado.e9x

Looking mint 3P!

MPG update: after BG EPR engine flush, Mobil 1 0-40, and NMF additive I am now hovering between 30-31mpg on the highway.

As a recap, previously I took my roof bar setup off to bring my mpg from 23-25mpg to 28mpg. Not bad!

Do you think something like Liquid Moly engine flush would increase MPG? I'm thinking of using that next time I change my oil.

[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by BMW Guy

Do you think something like Liquid Moly engine flush would increase MPG? I'm thinking of using that next time I change my oil.

If it's gunked up enough in there it could. I tried it once before but didn't notice a difference. The oil was dark though. Of course I didn't put it through its paces like the BG EPR stuff, so results could vary.

When I used the LM flush I let it idle for 15 minutes. When I used the BG EPR I kept it at 1200-2000rpm for 30 minutes.

If you car has seen a lot of stop and go, sub 30 minute trips in its life it wouldn't be a horrible idea. These cars are meant to be highway warriors, they don't like low rpm quick trips

[BMW Guy]

Originally Posted by colorado.e9x

If it's gunked up enough in there it could. I tried it once before but didn't notice a difference. The oil was dark though. Of course I didn't put it through its paces like the BG EPR stuff, so results could vary.

When I used the LM flush I let it idle for 15 minutes. When I used the BG EPR I kept it at 1200-2000rpm for 30 minutes.

If you car has seen a lot of stop and go, sub 30 minute trips in its life it wouldn't be a horrible idea. These cars are meant to be highway warriors, they don't like low rpm quick trips

Guess my car most hate me then since my daily commute is only 4 miles and it is city driving. I try and take it out at least once a week and get it up to temp on a longer drive. I think I'll try it next time.

[colorado.e9x]

Originally Posted by BMW Guy

Guess my car most hate me then since my daily commute is only 4 miles and it is city driving. I try and take it out at least once a week and get it up to temp on a longer drive. I think I'll try it next time.

I know mine do lol, that's how it is here too. Lately the car doesn't even make it to 160° before it's off again. I try to make an effort to take a day trip on the weekends when I can. Burn off all that condensation

[Efthreeoh]

These rodents are driving me NUTZ!!!

[Efthreeoh]

This will cause a knock sensor code...

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

These rodents are driving me NUTZ!!!

My brother is doing some maintenance on his 335d and sent me this text today:

"F#@k... The mice found a nice nesting area between the intercooler and the radiator"

[RealJ22]

Oof. I’m glad I do not live in the cold anymore. I did have a rodent chew a headlight plug on my ct200h.

I cut off the other lens for my headlights. The black background looks good so I’m going to do gloss black. Also it matches the car.


Not sure what color I want to do on the brow.

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by RealJ22

I cut off the other lens for my headlights. The black background looks good so I’m going to do gloss black. Also it matches the car.

Any tips for breaking the permaseal to remove the remaining part of the lens after cutting? That's on my to-do list... already did the E93 lenses but they were easy, no cutting needed.

[RealJ22]

Originally Posted by lowrydr310

Any tips for breaking the permaseal to remove the remaining part of the lens after cutting? That's on my to-do list... already did the E93 lenses but they were easy, no cutting needed.

This side seemed harder for some reason. I used a screwdriver and fully went down the seams inside and out. Then I took a small retractable blade and went through it quite a few times. Pulled the lens with a pliers.

[RealJ22]

Need to figure out a color for these. Right side is stock. I’m thinking gloss black the bottom to look like the left. Not sure what to do with the strip. Maybe I’ll just spray it gloss black as well. Think I’m gonna make a bmw logo for it.

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by RealJ22

Need to figure out a color for these. Right side is stock. I’m thinking gloss black the bottom to look like the left. Not sure what to do with the strip. Maybe I’ll just spray it gloss black as well. Think I’m gonna make a bmw logo for it.

I saw a post somewhere within the last year where someone painted the top strip a silver color. It looked great, far better than black or yellowed plastic.

I heard you can use a mild hydrogen peroxide solution to remove the yellowing from clear plastic. I wouldn't want to experiment on those headlight strips though as they're not available separately if you mess one up.

[Onizukachan]

Fk300788 came up for sale. Trying to figure out how I can swing buying it back…

[Bims328i]

Originally Posted by RealJ22

This side seemed harder for some reason. I used a screwdriver and fully went down the seams inside and out. Then I took a small retractable blade and went through it quite a few times. Pulled the lens with a pliers.

Can we see some close ups of the seam? Curious how you managed to wrangle the lens off.

[lowrydr310]

Originally Posted by Bims328i

Can we see some close ups of the seam? Curious how you managed to wrangle the lens off.

You need to cut the lens off (Dremel, oscillating tool, ultrasonic blades etc.) Then there's a remaining piece that's perma-sealed to the housing. You need to break that seal and pry the remaining lens piece out. That's why they need to be cut; if you just break the seal on the outer edge it's still held in place by the inner edge.

I have a razor sharp 1" wide chisel for woodworking that I plan to use. It did a great job scraping the butyl out of the channel on my E93 lights, I imagine it would be very useful to break the permaseal on the E90 LCI headlight lenses as well.