What did you do to your 2002 today !

[SydneyTii]

cant wait to see pictures of that on the ground Barney!

Those wheels look cool.

[BenjaminSmith]

Instrument cluster upgrades - remove fascia faux wood grain in favor of flat black ( the wood grain always felt cheesy), add chrome trim ring, paint gauge needles instrument orange, change all lighting to LED. Lubricate all bearing surfaces.

[bublinki]

47 minutes ago, BenjaminSmith said:

Instrument cluster upgrades - remove fascia faux wood grain in favor of flat black ( the wood grain always felt cheesy), add chrome trim ring, paint gauge needles instrument orange, change all lighting to LED. Lubricate all bearing surfaces.

..Cheesy... ha, ha, ha! Make mine a Mayor McCheese, then. I still like the diving boards and my faux wood on the cluster.. it makes it so, so 70's!

Seriously though, I really like the orange on the needles and the chrome. Hmm, now you got me thinking about a change. 

Nice work!

Philip

[JFM]

where did you get your gauges?  Looking to replace mine and want to have a line in the water so when I do I can just pull it in.,  

[BenjaminSmith]

2 hours ago, JFM said:

where did you get your gauges?  Looking to replace mine and want to have a line in the water so when I do I can just pull it in.,  

They are the original gauges from my '75, no changes.  Just a little Testor's florescent red on the needles.  Trim rings from dido tuning/ebay, but the rings were meant for the old style cluster (without the cheesy wood grain ) and only one fit, so one it is. 

[bento]

Tore apart the front hubs to install new wheel bearings. Right side was definitely getting hotter as the grease had changed color from red to black. Left side was still mostly red. 

 

Edit: My local track is mostly left turns, so I suspect the right side is just taking more abuse. 

 

I had also planned to just remove the dust shields to try and get a bit more airflow on the brakes. After seeing how much brake dust was coating the lip that protects the inner bearing/seal though, I decided to cut the dust shields down to allow more air to the brakes for cooling, but retain some level of protection for the wheel bearings.

 

Before;

 

After;

 

Won’t find out whether this makes enough of a difference until my next track day in late March, but it can’t hurt. Worst case, I might just regret chopping them up if I decide I need ducting and won’t have anything to attach it to. 

 

 

Edited January 21, 2018 by bento

[jlb]

I found a few hours today to work on "undeleting" the rear bumper on my 02. The PO from about ten years ago had welded in some sheet metal and used a bunch of body filler to smooth out the stock bumper channels. 

 

The smooth look has bugged me since I bought the car, and I finally pieced together a good plan to 'undelete' it, using a beat-up shorty chrome bumper and a pair of custom brackets from fellow FAQ member Anton. 

 

Pretty nerve wracking trying to accurately measure and cut holes in the sheet metal without knowing if my locations are correct, or if the whole plan is going to work at all. Luckily the measurements were pretty much spot on, and I've got everything just about together.

 

The next challenge is figuring out how to cleanly seal around the slightly oversized square holes where the brackets go through the sheet metal. It'll be somewhat visible, so I can't just glob-on sealant. I'd love to find a rubber grommet meant for square tubing, but that doesn't seem to exist. Any bright ideas?!

[Bibm5]

Door edge moulding may work around the inside of the opening. Might have to use a heat gun on the corners but it would probably look ok.
Similar to this:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F182582312829

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[John_in_VA]

26 minutes ago, jlb said:

The next challenge is figuring out how to cleanly seal around the slightly oversized square holes where the brackets go through the sheet metal. It'll be somewhat visible, so I can't just glob-on sealant. I'd love to find a rubber grommet meant for square tubing, but that doesn't seem to exist. Any bright ideas?!

 

A piece of black fuzzy rubber gasket that goes around the metal sunroof panel of an E24/28/30 might do the job.  I'd look for a used piece at an auto recycler, from a fellow member here, or model-specific forum.  The shortest E30 gasket is ~$50 new.

#3 in diagram- FRONT SLIDING/LIFTING ROOF COVER GASKET    

Length = 930MM            

Part # 54128106928

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1113-USA-11-1987-E30-BMW-325i&diagId=54_0128

 

[jlb]

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll take another look at local hardware stores and auto parts places to see about those seal materials.

 

I'm also thinking if 3D printing a square rubberized plastic grommet that fits exactly. Shapeways has a material that might work, but no idea how flexible or UV resistant it'll be. Worth a try though...

[d.hitchcock]

12 hours ago, jlb said:

 

Bingo! I also am figuring out how to treat non-standard bumper bracket holes, and 3D printing seems like the best solution. I'm about ready to start working with my buddy to design mine. Will post when they get done.

[jlb]

3 minutes ago, d.hitchcock said:

Bingo! I also am figuring out how to treat non-standard bumper bracket holes, and 3D printing seems like the best solution. I'm about ready to start working with my buddy to design mine. Will post when they get done.

 

Getting the right material properties seems like the biggest issue. I've only used shapeways, so there may be another good source out there, but the only two options that they've got are 'strong flexible plastic' and 'elasto plastic'. The first one looks fine, but is still pretty brittle. The latter is in their experimental material line, so likely has some kind of quality issues. 

 

My plan is to print three or four different sizes in the elasto-plastic, and see which one gives the best seal.

[d.hitchcock]

You know WAY more about it than me. lol

I was wondering about the materials too, not sure how they work. The plugs need to flex enough to snap into place.

 

Edited January 21, 2018 by d.hitchcock

[jlb]

Snow is falling and I don't want to work on our bathroom remodel - so I decided to go ahead and 3D model these bumper grommets, and send them out to print...

 

Since there's a bit of double curvature going on at the portion of the rear bumper skin that these grommets need to fit into, I decided to first model the grommet as if it would fit into a flat opening, and then deform the whole thing after the fact using some 3D cage editing tools to get the right curvature. I'm using Rhino3D for this, and luckily this type of semi-organic transformation is one if its strong points. 

 

I guessed at the necessary wall thickness, since I don't know how much flex the material will have. I sized the inside diameter to be .5mm smaller than the square tubing that this will fit around, thinking that a very tight fit will be a good thing. I'll probably have to enlarge the holes in my bumper somewhat to receive these grommets once they arrive. 

 

I sent it off to print in "elasto plastic", which in theory should be flexible and strong enough to work. Unfortunately, it only comes in a sort of off-white transparent color, so i'll have to paint these once they arrive - probably using plasti-dip or some other black flexible paint. ETA mid-february, so i'll need to find a short-term solution to keep water out in the meantime.Total cost, shipped: $16.07.

 

Here's hoping they work!

 

 

 

 

[visionaut]

@jlb - nice work.  Interested to see 'em installed...

 

Since it was snowing here  all day, I've been playing with some new mushrooms 

 

Tom