What have you done to your car today?

Akagi · 26 Jun 2017 at 09:34

That colour is awesome. And good job on getting rid of those swirls too.

Amos91 · 26 Jun 2017 at 11:09

Acme said:
That colour is awesome. And good job on getting rid of those swirls too.

Cheers! It does look great when the sun hits!

Invertigo · 26 Jun 2017 at 15:56

Just finished having its wheels aligned... my god the difference is incredible.

Obviously having changed the track rods myself and trying to measure the lengths to be the same, I knew the front toe was miles out, but I didn't account for the rear being red on every measure too.

He said when he first put it on the machine, it had over 2 degrees of front toe as the machine couldn't pick it up, now its at 4 minutes across the entire axle, so some difference!

Save for gearbox and diff oil I think this car is well and truly sorted now

GhostWKD · 26 Jun 2017 at 16:16

Invertigo said:
having changed the track rods myself and trying to measure the lengths to be the same

Been there

Measured the stock arm and set my adjustables to the same value and found them to be absolutely miles out somehow

Invertigo · 26 Jun 2017 at 16:26

GhostWKD said:
Been there Measured the stock arm and set my adjustables to the same value and found them to be absolutely miles out somehow

Indeed! I did err slightly on the side of caution as I didn't know how it was set up before, and having driven a car with toe out at the front before, its a little unnerving! Hence playing it a bit safe and toeing them in... I just went a bit too far! It's all good fun when the wheel doesn't want to straighten up after a corner

Cleisthenes · 26 Jun 2017 at 16:30

Dis86 said:
Lol. Yup. Under a rock. Behind the bushes. Definitely not there.
Took it in to bmw on Friday for some minor things (rear reflector keeps popping out, foam tape underneath was peeling, one jacking point was completely missing) and they were due to have it back to me Friday afternoon. Had a call Friday evening to say they wanted to keep it overnight and work on a previous problem they hadn't sorted.
Come Saturday I hear nothing so give them a call to find that all the service guys have gone home and they don't know what the status of my car is or where it is. Whether it's in the workshop, the yard, or one of two storage compounds they use. Nobody from service is in til Monday so I'm now getting chauffeured around by them instead.

Found it yet?

Dis86 · 26 Jun 2017 at 17:05

Cleisthenes said:
Found it yet?

Nope. Waiting on a call back from the dealer. They're covering themselves in glory.

Didn't call. I've called them and all service staff have gone home.

Frozennova · 26 Jun 2017 at 21:53

Ejected yet another power steering out the back, this one lasted a maybe a month and no more than a couple of hundred miles. Conclusion is Dayco belts suck

Diagro · 26 Jun 2017 at 22:09

collected some more bits for it...
Set of alloys to get powdered.
Some Rainsport 3's for the front.
5w40 engine oil
Oil filter
Some LSD gearbox treatment (groaning whilst turning)
Rear Engine mount - re-enforced with Tigerseal (home made solid.. :eek:

)
Hardrace Transmission mount (Still waiting on this one)
New front wishbones too.. trying to stop a pesky knock.

Booked her in for a new AC condenser on the 3rd. Mines missing most of its fins :O

mrk · 26 Jun 2017 at 22:10

It's been a good weekend. 250 miles from half a tank and V Power at £1.23. Was all going well until a stretchy-wheeled 350Z wanted some.

Diagro · 26 Jun 2017 at 23:23

mrk said:
It's been a good weekend. 250 miles from half a tank and V Power at £1.23. Was all going well until a stretchy-wheeled 350Z wanted some.

Tesco 99 was £1.15 over this way

mrk · 26 Jun 2017 at 23:31

Yeah but you have to succumb to caveman methods to make a payment, like taking out your wallet and inputting a PIN with Tesco. This is 2017, I pay with my phone from the comfort of my seat!

mjt · 26 Jun 2017 at 23:52

I got shafted for €1.73 a litre of VPower on the autobahn last week

Must learn not to drive flat out in Germany. Expensive habit

Rybo89 · 27 Jun 2017 at 07:31

mrk said:
It's been a good weekend. 250 miles from half a tank and V Power at £1.23. Was all going well until a stretchy-wheeled 350Z wanted some.

How bigs the tank? Lucky to see 200 miles from a full tank with mine.

grudas · 27 Jun 2017 at 08:52

mrk said:
It's been a good weekend. 250 miles from half a tank and V Power at £1.23. Was all going well until a stretchy-wheeled 350Z wanted some.

That's pretty good, what were you doing? Sitting on the motorway at 65?

I hardly if ever get 250/tank commuting of mixed city driving and some country lanes.

If I'm having fun its dead in 160miles.

Motorway I can get around 400/tank which for a 3.0 i6 is not bad.

Firestar_3x · 27 Jun 2017 at 09:20

Frozennova said:
Ejected yet another power steering out the back, this one lasted a maybe a month and no more than a couple of hundred miles. Conclusion is Dayco belts suck

You sure the pulley alignment is OK?

mrk · 27 Jun 2017 at 09:34

Rybo89 said:
How bigs the tank? Lucky to see 200 miles from a full tank with mine.

62 litres with 8 litres reserve. This is with motorway combined of course. City driving only yields 250 to 300 miles!

grudas said:
That's pretty good, what were you doing? Sitting on the motorway at 65?

I hardly if ever get 250/tank commuting of mixed city driving and some country lanes.

If I'm having fun its dead in 160miles.

Motorway I can get around 400/tank which for a 3.0 i6 is not bad.

I was on the M25 CCW for the drive up to Hornchurch, and then CW for the drive back. Granted on the way there the traffic could be classed as severe. Was 3rd gear most of the drive there :/

On the drive back though was able t let rip, which was when the 350Z was encountered.

It's 200-250 miles f I am only having fun! Seriously impressed with the economy of the S54, even though that's not why anyone would be driving one lol. My long term average since owning the car is 24MPG.

Frozennova · 27 Jun 2017 at 09:38

Firestar_3x said:
You sure the pulley alignment is OK?

Alignment is fine, but theres a little bit of wobble from the crank pulley. It seems throw belts more often when I end up with a Dayco one, but I think its a combo of the slight crank pulley wobble, 7500rpm and flat shift.

Crank pulleys aren't far off £200 so I'll live with spending £8 on a new belt every 6 months and keeping a spare

grudas · 27 Jun 2017 at 10:05

mrk said:
62 litres with 8 litres reserve. This is with motorway combined of course. City driving only yields 250 to 300 miles!

I was on the M25 CCW for the drive up to Hornchurch, and then CW for the drive back. Granted on the way there the traffic could be classed as severe. Was 3rd gear most of the drive there :/

On the drive back though was able t let rip, which was when the 350Z was encountered.

It's 200-250 miles f I am only having fun! Seriously impressed with the economy of the S54, even though that's not why anyone would be driving one lol. My long term average since owning the car is 24MPG.

See mine is only 55ltr so not as big as E46.

24mpg is not bad at all tbf, I'm getting 23.6 right now over the last 2k.

I'm considering z4m with same engine in the future.

Did 350 keep up?

mrk · 27 Jun 2017 at 10:29

grudas said:
See mine is only 55ltr so not as big as E46.

24mpg is not bad at all tbf, I'm getting 23.6 right now over the last 2k.

I'm considering z4m with same engine in the future.

Did 350 keep up?

You should know the answer to that

Over here in Gunwharf I saw a Z4M pair leaving the carpark and heard one of them with an aftermarket exhaust that I'd never heard before. The stock Z4M S54 isn't as vocal as its configuration on the E46 (different exhaust manifold, different exhaust system, different mapping), but this one sounded properly raw as it pulled away.