mws

Dammit Slick! There goes the element of surprise!

I think you meant to say seals, not seats? What I purchased and replaced (not counting the aforementioned DOHHH camshaft and pulley): - intake valves (6) - exhaust valves (6) - valve seals (12) - cam seals (2) - head gaskets (2) - valve cover, intake, exhaust, EGR gaskets I found it most cost effective to just buy a full Beck-Arnley head set from Rock Auto. Very good gaskets. And then of course: water pump, belt, belt tensioner, and bypass hose. I did not replace spring retainers. Quick easy way to check valve guides and seats: - Remove old valves. Visually inspect ends of guides for cracks or broken out chunks. If good: - Slide new valve into guide. Twist with fingers while moving up and down. It must spin freely from fully closed point to being open 1/2" or so. - Grab retainer end of valve and wiggle back and forth. A tiny amount of side to side (just enough to be felt, but not really seen) motion is normal. All valves should feel about the same. If it is really noticeable (visible) movement, or if some feel noticeably worse, then it is time to get proper measuring equipment and help. - If all good, lap the new valves in. I use hand operated suction cup lapper. Clean thoroughly. - Install springs and retainers. - Prop the head up on its side with exhaust ports pointing straight up. Fill with water. No dribble into combustion chamber? You're golden. Small dribble, lap again. Big dribble, start crying - something's bad (seat, bent guide, etc.) - Repeat on intake. Can also use water test to check for bent valves. If the port holds water, valve is sealing pretty darn good and all is probably OK. If leaking, something is amiss.

That would be AFTER our incredibly valuable learning experience. And please, you forgot to mention we broke the cam AND the pulley. Give credit where credit is due, dammit!

I've had good experiences with Forward Air. They are depot to depot only, but competitive pricing.

Nothing special about the heads - they are a very straightforward design. If you can successfully get them off, you can definitely handle the rest! Getting the intake and accessory drives on and off are 90% of the work. If the valves are only mildly bent, it is just a matter of using a standard spring compressor to remove the keepers and swap the valves. Of course, it IS possible that a guide may have been cracked or a seat damaged, but I believe that is pretty unlikely. My guides and seats were beautiful. I just cleaned her up, installed new valves and new stem seals, and bolted her back together.

Remember, 98% of Americans can't....

Can I use power from one location as a trigger for all the switches? Yes. The activation coil in the relays will draw about .25 to .5 amps each, so even if all 4 switches are on, you have 2 amps or less total. Use a 5 amp fuse and 18 awg wire and you are more than good to go. (Actually, you could go as small as 24 awg and a 3 amp fuse, but small wires tend to get broken more easily.) However, as I read your note, I see a need for only 5 fuses to be used? One for each relay and one for the switches.

Do your inner tie rod ends have zerk fittings? On one of my pathys. they did and the driver's side zerk passed very close to the frame at certain angles of steering. With sloppy centerlink, I could see it hitting. Check for witness marks of something like that hitting.

Just replaced one. Cost $80 with core exchange. Time: About 2 hours taking my time. Remove wheel. Remove hub. Remove snap ring and washer. Remove shock. Remove upper ball joint. Pivot hub down and forward. Remove 6 bolts holding axle to diff. Remove axle. Put in new one and re-assemble in reverse order. TORQUE everything properly.

I used the $50 Dynomax ultra converter and welded it to the stock flange.

Have you tried removing the hubs and looking at the guts? Maybe it is as simple as dried up/gunky/dirty grease that is not letting the auto lock activate smoothly.

And I've yet to hear there is anything significant to gain in doing that.

Ok.... Muffler. Most of us are running Flowmasters or Dynomax (my personal choice). Most purchased through Summit Racing and had a local good ol mom and pop shop weld it in. If the stock piping is OK, leave it be. If piping is rusted out, we have pretty much all had custom pipes bent at the local mom and pop shops. Avoid the chains (Midas, Firestone, PepBoys, et al) unless you know for a fact that yours is the 1 in 1000 that actually hires people skilled and careful enough to do a good job! Most have been severely disappointed when going to the big flashy shops. I think stock on '88 is 2" piping. 2.25" is arguably ideal for stockish 3.0 L engine. 2.5" may give up a little torque, but still OK. Anything bigger or duals is wasted money.

Hmm... that explains that unmarked can of mystery fluid I found in the box of parts you gave me.... Everlovin' piss, huh? Wanna fill me in on what it's good for? Can I add it to my steering shaft on my pathy to make it handle even better? Or is too much a bad thing? Our current schedule has us heading north on June 8. I am still planning on lugging a TH700R4 with us!

Maybe! Give it a try. You may want to try blocking the air inlet somewhat to reduce air volume. Hair dryers have about the same amount of heat output as a gun, but with a whole lot more air volume so the air coming out is not as hot. Blocking some of the input will raise the temp. But use care that it doesn't melt down.

Warped needle is not uncommon in really hot places. When it gets really hot, the plastic tends to warp and the needle bends backward and the tip drags on the face of the gauge. I removed the instrument cluster, then the clear cover, and then used a heat gun to (very carefully) soften the plastic just enough to bend back forward.

Oooooohhh...... Another successful attempt at defying the laws of physics. Hoo boy. Moderators, clean up in aisle 7! Block them NOW, please.

True dat, but the key word is "NEXT" to impossible. After four tries, I have my camber to within 1/8 degree of what I wanted! With my Rough Country UCA's and only about 1.5 to 2" of t-bar crank (to minimize CV boot failures), I had problems getting camber dialed in. My solution was to CAREFULLY ovalize the upper ball joint bolt holes to physically move the ball joint about 1/8". And then backfilled the hole with some welding and then finish filed the holes so there was no slop. Took a bit of time and experimentation, but I got it dialed in perfect with about 1/16" to 1/8" of shims so I have future tweakability.

The challenge with paint is getting any dirt and oil out of there so it can adhere properly. If any goo left in there, it will make the paint ineffective. Any oil (engine, gear, STP, etc) diluted with a suitable solvent to make it sprayable will do. And for those without a sprayer, there are aerosols available (at much higher cost per ounce) that will do the trick. There are quite a few products made for machine shops and industrial factories. For instance: http://www.theruststore.com/Boeshield-T-9-...rosol-P3C4.aspx

Dammit, I can't be there to help.... But maybe I can participate anyway! I have my '87 parts Pathy (aka little black). I could pull the steering shaft out of it (assuming '87 is the same as yours?) and get it broken loose and somewhat pre-extended for you. If yours is frozen, you could use this one. The only pain part is that I would need you to send one or the other back to me so I can keep little black mobile. Of course, it may be just as cheap for you to get one out of a local JY as to pay shipping back and forth on a free part. One way or the other, I would recommend having an unfrozen one on hand before you attack so that little annoyance doesn't become a show stopper. Tip on extending: I soaked and soaked with PB. Then I removed the shaft entirely. I slid the rubber cover up out of the way, and took to my vice. I set the jaws jusssst wide enough to let the smaller diameter section of the shaft slide between them. Then I would slide the shaft up, and rapidly yank down. When the larger diameter section hit the jaws, it hit hard. Hard enough to move it about 1/32" per impact. Without risk of bending or damaging shaft.

Make a 10" body lift and you'd have, err, a rolling joke. Rolling in at least 2 axes...

I think the presence of the locker is a significant factor. Quick disconnects? Yep! Spent more time brainstorming last night. My latest concept is to replace the passenger side link with a "hinged" link with the lock/unlock being operated by a cable. Think of a 1920's style friction damper, with a spring loaded dogged pin arrangement. \ / Pull the cable (or actuate solenoid or air cylinder) and the dogs are disengaged so the link is free to pivot so it varies in effective length. This effectively eliminates any sway bar action. Push the cable in and a spring pushes against the dogs. As soon as the pivot sweeps past the right point (probably at about a 90 degree angle), the dogs engage preventing the link hinge from pivoting so it is now a rigid link. The link arms will have to be much beefier than stock to prevent flex, but doable. Still designing the actuator/dog part to be easily manufactured AND to have as close to absolute zero play as possible. Nothing I have come up with can be done nearly as cheaply as the pin style, but maybe there will be a market for a more expensive disconnect if it can be remotely operated.

From day one of my ownership, little red had an annoying handling quirk. The rear end would feel like it was steering side to side while accelerating. At every shift, she would do a little side to side sashay - never enough to steer me out of my lane, but enough that I could feel it and anyone driving it would question or comment on it. It felt somewhat spooky. She had over 200K miles, a lock rite, and a body lift. 31" tires. JGC springs, good shocks. After a thorough inspection to assure there was nothing bent or broken, I started attacking it. With all the miles, I figured some TLC was in order. Shocks are fine. First thing I did was replace every single bushing in the rear suspension. Helped, but still sashayed. Did a full rebuild of front suspension and steering. Still sashayed. Starting to think it was related to the lock rite and lift and something I'd just have to live with. I need to haul a heavy load off the hitch in a couple months, so I finally crawled up under there to put the rear sway bar back on. Voila! Problem solved! Now she acclerates straight and true. And corners with noticeably surer footing. The bad news is that I will have to mention this as a possible risk when removing rear sway bars!

Correct. Yes. However, they can be a bit of a bear to connect up! Very little room in there, so take your time and use extreme care not to cross thread or tear up the threads. It helps to completely disconnect the air tube so you can align it properly. And disconnecting the stock parts can be a bear. Getting the EGR pipe out of the stock manifold was a real challenge for us. We disconnected the pipe from the EGR itself and removed the manifold with pipe attached. And then spent several days getting it to crack loose. Lots of PB, heat, and patience. Yes. Is the long tube header (464-1) better for low end torque than the short tube header (464-2)? In general, long tubes are always better, but it is only an incremental increase.

And many BMW's use ATF in their manual transmissions.