Jacob's other Wagon

[BLUE]

I kinda dont like buying parts for the BMW... I want to spend money on the Datsun! But alas, I need a noble steed to take me to the place that I earn my moneys.

Looked over the engine bay a bit, noticed the belt was a little weathered. So new Continental Contitech belts (OEM supplier and model), and everyone says to replace the pulleys while you are in there, so INA brand (Again, OEM supplier) Idler pulley and Tensioner Pulley. Probably will buy the tensioner puller for the AC belt later... Most people complain about squeals and squeaks, which I don't have. Also, while I am in there, the Water Pump pulley is plastic, known to be a problem, like a ticking time bomb, when it cracks it explodes taking both belts and other pulleys with it, So ordered an Aluminum pulley for that.

This order is through a company, FCP Euro, which seems pretty legit, offering a good selection of brands including Genuine BMW, offers a lifetime warranty on all (And they mean all) parts, and the forums seem to like them decently. Definitely had the best price for everything I was buying with the exception of 1 part (which Amazon had for 1 dollar less...).

I have the same brand of belt on my Volvo ! I quite like FCP Euro. Have only ordered twice , but the parts came quick as well as professionally packaged. Pretty good parts for a great price. Woot ! Very good looking wagon Jacob !!

[Laecaon]

Decided the Factory CCV system is convoluted and unnecessary, well at least compared to a standard PCV system. So Im converting it. Supposedly this will result in an additional 3-4psi of vacuum across the board, but behave the same.

When the components are silly expensive, and have a tendency to fail, I like to avoid them.

Surgery tomorrow? Should be fast. With the exception of needing to remove the dip stick guide and weld shut a hole... But that is probably plugged anyways...


Also, this car has made a friend decide to buy a BMW as well. Looking for a 02ish 540i Touring manual with sunroof.

[Laecaon]

Ok I did the dirty deed. And it went horribly wrong...

So the work was easy, less than an hour. Too bad I over looked one thing, and then BMW designed something else weirdly... which resulted in my oil not being in my motor... but on it...

So what happened is this, I did the work. Assumed all was ok, and that it would be ok to leave the tubes I disconnected open as the CCV itself would provide enough resistance to avoid an air leak and lean misfire. Well that would have been ok, except... the hose I installed had a kink that I did not see, which resulted in no vacuum on the crank case, and in fact it actually plugged the crank case and now I was building pressure...

So where does this pressure go? Well BMW made this awesome dipstick design. Its 2 tubes, one inside the other, and they go all the way down, like into the oil. The inner tube is the dipstick guide itself, no problems there, ish. The outer tube is the drain for the Crank Case ventilation system... well I am assuming the pressure in the crank case pushed down on the oil, which then resulted in it pushing up the outer tube, into the CCV and then out the tubes I cut...

So on my way to work today, approximately half way up the hill I start seeing smoke out the back, a lot of it, white/blue color. Oh shits. So I take it easy, and baby it up the hill. By the top of the hill I can hear my lifters with the window open. Popped it in neutral, and coasted all the way into Newberg. Stopped and bought a 5 qt jug at oreillys, now the lifters were screaming. I dumped 3 qts in at the store, I was on hill so I didnt even bother with checking the level... Drove the remaining half mile to work gingerly. Topped off the oil with the rest of the jug, hit the full mark... lost probably 4.5 qts (in a 7qt system) of oil on the way in to work, no low oil pressure light though... how low does it need to be?

At lunch I pulled the valve cover breather tube to vent to atmosphere. Started the motor and observed. Most of the lifter noise went away right away. Nothing was puking at me now. Drove to find some food, in the drive-thru I could hear a lifter not being quiet; car was plenty warm. So then I parked, opened the hood with engine running and still didnt notice anything odd. Hopped back in and going back to work, redlined it twice. Back at work I popped the hood, again nothing odd this time and now the lifter was quiet.

Came home early, car drove fine the whole way, no smoke at all, oil level is the same as when I left work, it was quiet the whole time...


That was stupid close to being a terrible mistake. Time to fix my mistake, and BMWs stupid dipstick.

[Laecaon]

Got under the car. Holy shit there was a ton of oil under the car. The back of the car has a film over it too.

Its under the knife again. Dip stick tube is out. Time to modify.

Forgot to state a few things, usually the problem with the CCV is that it gets full of mayo like substance and fails. Mine didnt do that. But when i removed the tubes from the intake earlier there was a noticeable amount of oil there, convincing me i dont have a ring or valve stem seal problem.

[Laecaon]

Welded shut the extra port on the dipstick. Also put a couple of holes above the oil level so it cant go up the dipstick tube.

Been driving it with the valve cover breather hose off. Car seems faster, engine revs like the car is lighter.

Now I just need to get the valve cover breather hose hooked up to the PCV and intake. Too bad everything is so tight under the intake manifold (they hid a bunch of stuff).

[BLUE]

Glad you're getting it worked out Jacob. I ended up cleaning the return port leading into the engine on my Volvo octopus ccv system , and replacing a few hoses (not all) then all was well before the heart transplant. Pulling the intake is easy on my Volvo to play with all that goodness , but I have no clue on yours. Keep at it

[Laecaon]

Car is still perfectly fine... But it smells a bit like oil... haha. Oil level is staying higher than it ever has...

Anyways, I actually finished my subwoofer box, and installed it. And I think I took pictures, but I have been supremely busy this week and I am exhausted, its time for relaxation.

Anyways, I installed it, wired it all up. And the amp isn't working. I don't know why, it turns on, but I cant get any output, I am assuming I broke one of the electrical components inside since I cant see any damage. So I ordered a new used one. Current model Alpine, single channel, 500w RMS! that should do.

[Taterhead]

I'm assuming, since you ordered one, that Alpine is as good as it's always been. Did you ever say what sub you had?

[Laecaon]

I like alpine. This one has a 5 star review on crutchfield and amazon, with a ton of reviewers. Mrp-m500. As far as sub, I have an infinity 8". Had it in the Saturn, hit pretty decently and it was being under driven. Its good for fill, and not being silly heavy.

[DRIVEN]

Alpine has treated me well over the years. Haven't run any in a while though.

[Laecaon]

I would say Alpine/infinity/JL Audio are all the best of the name brand (Rockford fosgate is pretty decent too), but of course there is better, but those brands people are less familiar with and cost a lot more. MB Quart being probably a step up.

[Taterhead]

Sounds like the setup will sound nice. I've had Alpine units and JL Audio speakers before. They do sound good. Right now I have a Kenwood unit (first decent one I found with a USB port that was in my price range) with the Rockford Fosgate amp I posted somewhere on here right after Christmas a year ago and a sony xplod 12". Sounds pretty good in the pathfinder but I like my music to be clear, not to rattle bolts loose.

That Infinity 8" should have a nice crisp punch to it especially with that amp. Not too deep & not too high.

Something I'm sure you know is the position of the speaker, which way it's facing, will affect the way it sounds as you sit in the seat. Personally the best for me is pointed towards the back window at an angle. Depending on the angle of the back window.

[Laecaon]

Its a sub, I don't care much where its pointed. In fact its going to be pointing at my spare tire well cover. You wont even see it from within the car. As far as the rest of the car, its got the Harmon kardon sound system, with its own amp to drive each speaker individually. Its really clear if you don't turn it to ear piercing status, but it starts to loose clarity pretty fast the louder you get.

[Taterhead]

Mmmmmmm. Harmon Kardon. So nice.

[Laecaon]

Fyi, Harman kardon owns infinity/JL audio. That is why Harmon doesn't sell directly to the aftermarket and only OEM.

[Taterhead]

I thought I read that somewhere but it wasn't from a credible source. Now I know.

[Laecaon]

Alright, stock deck barely pushes the sub frequency. With a stronger amp, my sub is barely moving... The rear 6x9s are more bass heavy currently. And since its a stock deck, I have no sub equalizer setting. So looks like I need a bass processor to amp the signal to the amp... Sigh.


And then I remembered I have $50 to Amazon. So Rockford Fosgate remote bass boost ordered. the remote should install nicely in the ashtray.

[Laecaon]

Ok, its all done. System works. The Alpine amp I bought was bad as well... So I bought a JL Audio 2 channel new (it was on sale).

The Sub bumps Hard. Like I need to dial the Amp back nearly all the way.

The Amp is capable of pushing 360W RMS @ 4ohm bridged. No idea what the peak power is as its not stated, but its probably safe to say its about 720W

The sub is still the same 8" Infinity 4ohm, capable of handling 250W RMS and 1000W peaks (which seams like rather high power levels compared to other 8" subs).

So I need to be careful to not overdrive the sub, but also sudden spikes shouldn't matter too much.
I do find it funny now that My sound system is entirely Harman, Harman Kardon factory system, JL Audio amp, and Infinity Sub. Though I think the factory deck is made by Blaupunkt.

Ok I had it wrong, JL is not Harman, JBL is Harman. Whatever, JL is usually considered to be one the best brands, even though I bought a cheap amp.

[Laecaon]

Pictures.

Now you see it


Now you dont



Yes, I need to do some cable management. I was waiting to run the last of the wires (remote sub knob).

[draker]

Looks really good! How much clearance do you have between the sub and the top cover?