When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
One way I make money, is by rebuilding first generation BMW 7-series. Specifically the factory turbocharged, European models. Aftermarket wastegate assemblies, coil springs, performance ECU chips, and more. Sometime in the middle of April, a former customer contacted me telling me he was ‘done with his car’. The transmission had died, no big deal, and the car stopped starting for him. He made me an offer I could not refuse and I shot him the cash via Paypal. Took off to Corpus Christi, Texas to fetch my car!
I go to Houston the night before and drive down from there. Easy drive down. Ate on Padre Island and when going to park the truck started acting odd when parking it. Meh, whatever. Parked. Ate. Had a beer. Etc. Hopped back in it and went to Uhaul, no issues. Loaded the vehicle and off we went back toward Houston. Somewhere along the way the trans started acting worse, still sounded bad. Pulled into a Loves to **** and fuel up…after a 5-4 downshift, the ZF refused to come out of 4th. Awesome! Pulling about 6500lbs and stuck in one gear. Shut truck down as it sounded bad in neutal-ish. Figured worst case I would AAA the truck home and rent a Uhaul truck to pull my car back to the house.
I hung out for a bit looking over the hydraulics, thinking maybe they took a dump or the clutch fell apart somehow. Neither were the issue. Once I was able to pop the shift lever back into the Neutral position, I put the thing over into 1st and slowly let the clutch out. RPM was dropping and I was not moving. Shut down again irritated and took a breather. Did the same again, but this time let the clutch out some and gave it some fuel. Figured F-it. It is already broken, cannot get worse. All of a sudden it popped forward and started to roll. Similar to just dumping the clutch at high RPM. Figuring I had a 3/4 shift fork issue, I started out. 1-2-5. It turns out the damned input pocket bearing finally gave up the ghost after eight months of hard, high RPM use. Hey, it lasted longer than expected. If I had known the bearing was the issue, I would have just driven back in 4th at 55mph. It could have given that bearing a break and just killed the clutch, but eh.
Long story short, made it back to Houston. Dropped the car off. Uhaul can eat my ***. Limped truck back to DFW. Once back to DFW, repairs really became serious!
So, you drove back to DFW with 1-2-5 and hauling a trailer? My hat is off to you man. I had to do somn similar with the last Dodge Cummins I had when it dumped the clutch, on a 6 percenter, towing my travel trailer at 11,000#....yeah that was fun. Jarrett told me about the trans rebuild. Looking forward to seeing those photos.
I drove from Corpus to Houston 1/2/5. Still pretty far, three of four hours. I gave that bottom end and Fluidampr a workout. 2nd at redline to 5th still sucks, went from about 3300 to 800. Combine that with crap uppipes it was S L O W from 800 until 2000 until that turbocharger relit.
Figured while the trans was out, may as well do a bunch of other crap. Tossed on some Competition Cams 910 springs with new stem seals all shimmed to around 134lbs on the seat. Not a hard job, but that Number 8 exhaust was a total *****. Some of mine were so clapped out, I had about 50lbs at the seat!!! I took a few OE springs to my machinist to measure, they were about 20-25lbs low at stock height. That is a stock valve spring. Ended up ordering some Smith Brothers pushrods while I had the OE units out as I have seen bent stockers. Do I spin 4000rpm? No. No better time than now to do this.
Also, prime time to do injector o-rings in the event this was the cause of my oil consumption (they were NOT, info later). All injectors have a big ‘R’ for reman on the top, so I was not hopeful. The o-rings were the updated style already installed. While the rails were drained, I did the updated rail plugs front and rear. In addition to those, Riffraff’s fuel banjo bolts went in all four ports.
Lost my mind and purchased that $300 oil dipstick flange repair kit, too. Once I received it, I can see why it runs that much. BIG time hours involved to design that thing and have it spit out on a multi-axis mill. If you guys buy one, which I 100% recommend it, be careful with that damned inner flange. Mine decided to roll down the mother****ing oil pan instead of falling down the pickup hole!!! I spent a few hours poking it with a coat hanger and a borescope to make it drop down there. Am I worried about it? Nope. Glenn said his has been down there forever.
Jerked my busted-*** ZF out and while out pulled my dead OEM uppipes out of there too. The driver’s unit fell out of the collector, it was crazy loose. Quite curious how hard this truck will run with full drive pressure hitting the turbine wheel and when it will start making positive pressure. Finally opted for Riffraff uppipes in the end. T4 swap is too involved for me at this point, I am not wanting to reinvent the wheel here. Searched all over and found the best price on a TP-38 1.0 A/R housing. Took that, OE collector, and uppipes for local ceramic coating place. Same outfit that did my downpipe. Specialized Performance Coating here in Arlington, Texas did my work. Hell, that downpipe was only about $50 to do there! Aforementioned parts were $130.
Looking good, real good and I have to thank you big time! I would have forgotten the strictly diesel dip stick adaptor 'gold nugget' if you hadn't mentioned that!! Its on my list now to ask about it. Use it or give it back to me, lol.
Well, at least this explains my oil consumption, oil soaked exhaust port, misfiring with smoke show on cold starts in the winter. I have a really low hole! My guess the early CCV and intake boot assembly died, making the turbocharger eat something. Truck came equipped with the later black boot and plastic CCV guy. The compressor wheel had a nick taken out of it. Guess I will live with adding a quart of oil every 500 miles or so. Meh, not a big deal. Walmart or Autozone 15W40 Diesel oil is good stuff.
I was bored yesterday and pulled down my A/C to fully recharge seeing damn hot it is becoming here in Texas for this summer, just wanted it working at peak efficiency since I cleaned the hell out of the evap and condenser. It was cooling fine before, I just vented it, added a bit of oil as I did not before, then hit it with a vacuum. Shot three, 12oz cans in it for 36oz. Factory spec shows 38oz, that gives me 94.7% of factory charge. Close enough for me until I rebuild it to fix the damned leak, then I will charge by full weight.
I had roughly 45psi/325psi at high idle and 55psi/300psi at idle, per my Mastercool manifold. Fan was installed, shroud was not. I was putting out upper 50s from vents with doors wide open and A/C on 'normal', so it was also fighting the heater core as the shut off valve was not closed. It was a bit toasty then, around 95-100F when charged. Hope the pressures will help you guys some if need estimates. Obviously, lower ambient temps drop the head pressures. Remember, this is 134A so head pressures are higher than R12 or 152A (air duster).
07-13-2018, 04:08 PM
2nd at redline to 5th still sucks, went from about 3300 to 800. 
Combine that with crap uppipes it was S L O W from 800 until 2000 until that turbocharger relit.
While the rails were drained, I did the updated rail plugs front and rear. In addition to those, Riffraff’s fuel banjo bolts went in all four ports.
I spent a few hours poking it with a coat hanger and a borescope to make it drop down there. Am I worried about it? Nope. Glenn said his has been down there forever.
