Car Work

It's been a while since I've posted anything about my baby doll, but this weekend I did a bit of work on it with Zac and Big Hoffman.  A lucky trip to a junkyard rendered some pristine condition parts for the Bimmer and a lot of happy moments ensued.  My sunroof is now fully functionaly (and better than it was when I received the car), the front bumper has been replaced/repaired from its stint with an unknown car, and the distributor cap/coil and spark plug wires have been replaced.

Needless to say, she's a happy Bimmer at the moment, and I'm a happy owner.  ;)

 

- Andy

The Club Grows!

One of my favorite things recently has been meeting up with Zac and Brendan and just doing things that BMW owners do (making fun of other cars, making fun of each other, making fun of other cars and people, admiring BMW...and fixing up my beat up baby when Zac and Brendan aren't too busy). The last time (this past weekend), we accidentally parked our three bimmers in a row, so as with any good fan club, picture taking ensued. For reference, I am the one on the far left, Brendan and Meg are in the middle, and Zac is on the far right. Here are the pictures taken with a decent camera:


All three cars


We weren't exactly ready yet


And the money shot (notice the strange White Snake reenactment on the middle car)

- Andy

A Tune Up

After getting my car back recently, I've been having more issues with it. The engine hasn't been getting the greatest gas mileage, has been making a whistling noise whenever I depress the accelerator, so on and so forth. After a discussion with Zac, we decided it was time for me to start learning how to work on cars. This past weekend, I pulled my car into his garage and we (along with a few zBMW friends) set to fixing up my car.

Upon opening the hood, we found that there was no air filter, our first clue. As we investigated further, one of us accidentally leaned on the throttle body, which caused it to seperate slightly from the intake manifold, another clue. After about 6 hours of work and $140 worth of parts (and food), we had fixed up my poor E30. The throttle body had 4 lug nuts as opposed to the 1 it has entered the garage with. The air filter was attached and...filtering. The oil was changed (switched to using Valvoline Max Life Synthetic Blend...the car is a bit on the old side with upwards of 280,000 miles), and all of the spark plugs were replaced.

There's still more work to do on it, but it will all come in time. My baby is happy now that she knows I'll be taking care of her (and her gas mileage is back to 32mpg+). Here are a few pictures of the event, I'll keep posting updates whenever we have them.


Me setting up the work lights over the hood


Zac doing the cha-cha with my new wiper arms


Me playing with my new spark plugs


Zac checking for a jack point prior to changing the oil

- Andy

The BMW Club

For those of you who know me at all, its no secret that I am the proud owner of a 1987 BMW 325is. It is my baby, and I love it to death. I spend a good amount of time preaching the good word about BMW to those around me as well, mostly in the form of witty quips and jabs at other peoples' cars, but always with the hope that they will all wise up and get their own baby to love, their own BMW.

I'm proud to announce that today the BMW Club (at least the imaginary one that I have around me) has a new member. Many congratulations to Zac, one of ZibTech Computers' Production Managers, on his purchase of a 1994 BMW 325i. I know he'll enjoy it, and when I finally get my poor car back from the hospital we'll get some pictures of the two cars together.

- Andy