Well feast your eyes on this lunacy! 6-1-19 tinker

[greenelekta]

So if anyone fancys coming round to get the other gearbox out and this one in i'd like that!

If I was 10 years younger and you were 100 miles nearer I'd have done it! Good luck and hope all goes well with the box this time round.

[simon13]

You wouldn't Dave!

But thanks for the kind offer, i've had messeges of help and it speaks volumes of this forum/community we have on here

[simon13]

Merry Christmas All how ever yours planned out. Boris tier 4'd ma ass so being off work and no where to go what do you do?


Get E34ing a few jobs had built up to do and some house DIY forced a break and much happyness sanity for my wife. I needed the break as well a bit to renew the enthusiasm


First job was to get these gearboxes swapped, great job on axle stands




Took me about 7 hours, it wouldn't come off the bloody thing. In the end i made this bodge puller which popped it off





The pilot bearing had come out the back of the crank!





My thesis is in my sheer excitement last time when i fitted this i cleaned up the splines so the clutch disc moved freely and for got about the end of the input shaft. The bearing didn't really want to fit it. This also explains my other faux pas when i fitted it and the box slid on nicely but for the last 10-15mm. This was it then, so i eased it on with the bolts. Which you shouldn't do. Silly boy





Things should be easier with this one!!

[simon13]

A shot of the pair as, well you won't see 2 of these next to each other for a while. Bloody things. So fill the new one with oil and move all the bits over to this box ready to fit





I fitted a new pilot bearing just in case, the old one felt fine. The advice of my car friends via whatsapp who know more than me suggested this. Again to stop excitement of just getting it all back together!






Worlds heaviest dual mass. I didn't weigh it but it must be getting on for 20kgs, its a beast. There was a reason why Alpina deliberately fitted it which i can't remember now. It might be to help save the gearbox

[simon13]

With a wiggle the new box just slid straight up, happy days so as you do on a rainy 23rd of December you crack on. I got it to the stage where crimbo eve i just needed to get the exhaust on. So prop shaft heat shields the rest all in place






Another boo boo, i fucked the clutch slave. Again not thinking straight. The brakes needed a re bleed from originally as they felt like a bit of air was in them. So rather than do this job first with the gearbox on i tried it with the eazi bleed and the gearbox off. BANG! the pressure shot the rod out the clutch slave cylinder as it shares the hydraulic system with the brakes. Like all cars now.

So i had this old new genuine slave from my old 6 speed M5 i never fitted to it, but the thread on it is bigger on the slave housing. So i had to make a custom little pipe with a normal M10 thread one end and M12 on the other and just see how it works feels to the 535i one





exhaust back on, and a re bleed of the brakes. I got a fair bit of air out of brakes and new clutch slave and fire her up

[simon13]

wowsers, gearbox is ultra quiet it didn't want to select reverse at first. Which had me very worried and pissed. Then a bit of working the box around the gate on axle stands with the engine running going through the forward gears seemed to get it all going.

The brakes now feel spot on and strong and the box is dead quiet so thats transformed the car now, very excited. It drives very well now i must say. It needs a plate welding on the front passenger floor pan and its ready for an MOT. So fairy desperate for this now but i can't weld and Boris has tier 4'd my area before crimbo so we shall see


There's been more to crack on with as there always is but even i can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. A big set of 11's to laid up the road soon!

[Frosty]

This is such an ace project and a car I would love to see. I remember the dual mass on my old B8, they are quite something and shows how Alpina engineer these special cars.

Would love to to this in the flesh if we ever get out of lockdowns!

[simon13]

its no prize cosmetically frosty, but its straight and not rotten. Thats always a good start, it would be nice if we can all get out to outside shows or something next year put some miles on the cars

[davettf2]

Have been following this with interest, and hopefully we will be able to get out in 2021, suspect later rather than sooner, and get together. Personally as long as it is tidy is fine, you can use it with little fear. Look forward to be able to see it in the flesh.

Cheers
Dave

[greenelekta]

As usual great work Simon, even got the sunroof tilted. Looking forward to the MOT!

[simon13]

As usual great work Simon, even got the sunroof tilted. Looking forward to the MOT!

funny you say that.....i've awoken the sunroofs from their 10 year slumber



Its bugged me that the sun roofs are dead and this is normally for good reason as the twin e34 sunroofs have a notorious reputation! the switch was un plugged so naturally i plugged it in and things started to move make noises






Wow it all seemed to work go, the roofs move in sequence if a little slowly. Strange i thought why was it unplugged?

[simon13]

As suspected 1 front 1 rear, so i've given them all a poke rinse out. Old TV aerial wire is the perfect size for this job. Then i thought i'll take the motors off and get some new grease in there see if that helps. Which i did a few times as you can only access the worm drives by taking the motors off. then wind it all back and forwards and keep repeating throughout the cylce. Grease the runners





Well it just got to here and it was stuck, the front motor seemed tired so i thought i'll strip it see if it needs some new grease. Bad idea, they aren't really made to come apart - well they do but you can't get them back together. I can't anyhow. Then i tried to pull it down manually and it just won't go. Its took 2 days and then new brain wave was try the rear motor see if that pulls it down, and voila it has!

We had that storm last night and i'm pleased to say my rain buckets were empty! So probably best to leave the roofs for now, well get a new motor and play again!

[simon13]

Another e34 touring weak point the wiring snapping. Amazingly none of the wires had broken, but a few had started. Owners of E61s and E39 tourings will know about this also! It started on these lol







my shock dust covers finally came from Bilstein only a 6 month wait and i've got a set of H&R springs, these are for M5s and lower a touch over M5 ride height. The S38 in M5s is also a boat anchor like this engine so i reckon they will work well with this

[simon13]

be glad for newer cars and their pollen filters! Bit of a saga on an e34 only about the glove box and 5 bits of trim to remove. RHD cars must be the stuff of nightmares!





then a tip off from a friend and a lucky find on ebay! Some M mirrors i fancied. I got them off a guy locally who was a total car nut with many cars, his favourite seemed to be his e34 M5 touring 6 speed. A man of similar taste! Anyhow they were supposed to be Avus blue but they aint






building them up was a bit fiddly












A bit of before and after. I'm not sure, i'll get the other one on and see.

[greenelekta]

You'll be better off with the original mirrors as its a LHD as the M ones don't show much.