Project Cinderella
• Nov. 8, 2006 - Over the pond, into the cold and finally back home !
• Nov. 2, 2006 - Nosejob, ditch the Dumbo's and into the unknown
PNWWF06-Fall was timed just perfect for me. Even though it's one of those you should never take raincheck of, but I was getting ready to move out and had few things to do before.
My plan was to complete the side markers, wiring to be more precise, and complete CSi facelift (front bumper + mirrors) before shipping the car overseas.
Saturday was all about figuring it out. Looks like 1991 (US/CAN-spec) does not have prewired sidemarker connectors so I had to figure the wiring out.
Based on these pics...(click to open bigger):
 
 
...I was able to figure out that there is connector X14 that has
- pin 1 for Left turnlight (Blue & Green wire)
- pin 2 for Right turnlight (Blue & Brown wire)
Grounding is available nearby too.
So what I did is kinda visible here:
 
Left pic is just with left wires connected and right pic with both L&R connected.
Not very good pics but you'll figure it out.
Place is under the drivers side carpet, kick plate to be exact.
Connector X14 is the white one.
Markers: Checked !
Took out the scratched Dumbo-style mirrors and gave them to Mike for further use.
Installing was so easy I didn't have time to take any pics until it was done:
Next day, Sunday was all about "The Nose Job".
Freshly painted bumper basically jumped in even though I thought it's one of the difficult tasks.
There are few tricky bolts, screws and nuts I propably wouldn't have figured out without help from Wuffer, but rest of it fairly straight forward.
Take old one out. Remove bumper. Install new. Install nose.
And the pics:
 
 
 
 
 
 
First pics show the damage i found out on the air boxes. Had to use few zipties and inspirational screws to get them sit straight. Once th nose is installed theres no way air boxes can get out even when they are broken. Anyway, one item more to my To-Do -list.
It was a great day. And to my regret, propably last PNWWF for now.
I moved to Finland few days later and packed Cinderella to container. Here's status few minutes before leaving Canada in a container:
Currently waiting container ship to arrive west coast Finland tomorrow. not sure about the condition, it's been on the sea almost a month. Batteries atleast are empty I think.
Stay tuned, I'll promise to shoot few pics with fresh snow on the background... for calendar project ala "8 of the December" for example  .
C
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• Sep. 7, 2006 - Out in the sun, elbow grease and jewellery...
About time to update.
Enjoyed nice sunny day at German Car Festival with my whole family. We checked some small water falls, got some awesome hot dogs and ran for water or washroom few times  .
Cinderella wasn't that bad either even though had some scary moments when engine temp started going up and down first time.
I think the problem was old clutch-coupler at cooling fan. She stood nice in the front row of the BMW -section:
 
Even though this blog is about my 8, I have to put this pic here 'cause it bring us the side track...
Here I'm fixin' my E32 (740iL) that broke it's waterpump and fan blade one night. Side track is, I got fresh fan blade coupler out of it to replace my worn one in Cinderella!
Having fairly busy schedule lately, I've acquired parts, some long time ago even, but never had time to install them. One was this, CSi -type rear valance. Took short summer afternoon to throw it in and suddenly car looks like it's suppose to look!
 
One step closer, and there's more waiting in my private warehouse 
Drove to Wuffer one day to pick up some parts and while we were shooting sh..stories, we (well Tom actually) noticed that my breather hoses are installed funny and broken !
So decide to fix 'em finally with new ones Tom gave me.
 
Nothing too bad, just good ol' elbow grease.
And another afternoon, new project: replace worn out coupler in cooling fan.
These are the un-official (guerilla-style) tools for completing the job:
Fairly simple job and got rid of any problems with varying temperature.
Next project is more bling-bling than performance... no matter what they say on your favourite E31-forum !
I took old (fairly good) original rotors out to replace them with Brembo crossdrilled ones.
Same time I replaced the all brakepads (except parking brake shoes) to make sure we got fair amount of happy kilometers ahead.
I like working in fresh air. Nice way to meet people too if you locate your "shop" stategically:
And in the end, every Certified and Official BMW-shop puts reminder for owner, not to brake hard within first kilometers .
While the fronts were out, decided to try if I could install the optional side-blinkers. These are not required in NA-spec cars, not even CDN-ones. But they are mandatory in Europe.
Without any further words, let the pics tell the story:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Job well done ! Now I just have to figure out where the original connectors are hiding. I did took the passenger side carpet out and even removed the speaker box but so far no luck. Well, I can always run few extra wires from front blinkers if I have to. After this long and hot day, shower was more than needed 
For log purposes, kilometers now around 147911.
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• Jun. 1, 2006 - Minor steps...
Got finally some time to address minor things.
Took the headlight buckets out for installing new shock absorbers. Same time I was able to replace old broken airducts with brand new ones.
 
Also noticed typical problem with outside air temperature sensor. It was just hanging loose. I pushed it back to it's place and secured the intallation with zip tie (original BMW-part of course )
 
Put the buckets back together and adjusted their position to the hood. This time I took my time and did it with absolute perfection in mind. I'm pretty happy with the result, specially when I figured out how to fix the hood latch.
I've had some problems with passenger side some time ago and what I did I installed some washers under the hook. That seemed to do the trick. Well, just before WrenchFest, driver side rejected to lock and I thought should do the same thing. But no, here's the trick:
Lower the hood so that it locks to first notch.
Using your hands placed just next to headlight buckets, around buckets centerline, push firmly until you hear or feel click.
That's it !
You figure it out when you look at the latch position, pressure needs to be applied right there.
So I''m thinking, I will remove the washers from passenger side before any damage is done.
Did some trouble shooting on gas gauge and looks like the passenger side sensor is dead.
Bad thing is, that is the more difficult side to work with as sensor is attached to package of gas pumps and apparently getting the whole package out in one piece is some what tricky.
So for now, I just took the connector out on passenger side and short circuit it. This will give me atleast a reading of drivers side. Tank being full gives something like this now:
Good thing is, I do have a spare sensor ! I got these from fellow bimmer dude in Finland. He's putting M70 into E30....
See for yourself, E30 with M70 and E36 look
So I got full setup, both sensors, gas pumps, all control boxes (except DME's and EML), new instrument cluster for late night projects maybe and german style OBC.
Some pics of those (and other important things )
Pics of boxes...
What else... I finally got new coin holder installed. Also fixed the old one so there's a spare in case I break this new one. New Brembo rotors are waiting to get in, just can't decide on brake pads (or just feeling lazy) and need to order some more small parts (like new gas door hinge), rear valance (CSi), rubber bushings to rear arms, etc.
Went for minor road trip on Sunday with local BMW club,
see some more pics here:
BMWCCBC Forum - Harrison Fun Run 2006
and here:
My pics - Harrison Fun Run 2006
I was the only eight but met great people and lunch was good too
For log purposes kilometers now around 146400 |
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• May. 1, 2006 - Princess got her shoes...
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