slowdude

New winter beater. 2024 228i x drive. Paint is storm bay metallic, which is nice but not sure on the $1,200 cost. I broke it in on a drive to Florida last December. I've currently got 4600 miles on it since late November. As far as less expensive BMW's go, I'm smitten with the FWD biased car. It's one of the few non-m cars where you can feel the limits of the front wheel traction. The bias does change a bit based on the situation and I've had no problems in the snow. Overall I'm very impressed with this over the 3 series, which is fantastic, but a larger sedan.

I had an M5 for 2 months, absolutely loved it and it's the definitive super sedan for families, but the caterham scratches the itch better. I couldn't drive the M5 without putting myself in speeding ticket land. Much rather have one functional car or SUV at the opposite end of the spectrum as the 7. If you have the space and money, why not something sensible and the caterham?

Uniroyal Rain Expert tires here. They went through some gnarly standing water at 70mph in northeast winter. Absolutely will replace them when I can find a place stateside.

Hey All, Misread my instructions, got my 1995 de dion chassis center a frame bushing out of the de dion tube only to realize its too big to fit in my de dion and I need a PF8-903. So, my dumbess is your gain. $15 + shipping. Includes lube, nylon washers etc. Can add photos if needed.

You can also grab anything from a MK2 Cortina. Burton Power may have something as well. Locally, only places that may have are FF Builders (Ivey?) And Dave Bean. There was a dude hoarding MK2 Cortina parts on CL in the SF Bay area, not sure if he's still posting his parts stash.

Welcome welcome fellow DVA K series member! Do you know which tune it is / what it has? Dave can give you a pro format invoice so you know what you're working with. Whatever you do, do not get rid of the head. Dave does some magic on these heads and it's not as easy as replacing with a new head. Is it an EU2 or an EU3? A common thing he does is add the larger 170 injectors. The rover MEMS is too dumb on cold start and can't recognize the fuel going through at idle, so you'll run rich. Tap the gas after a minute or two and you'll fool the mems out of the injector dump. Emerald will fix that, Dave Sent me his map for the engine. I've gone down the rabbit hole as I just rebuild my entire engine due to the piston rings being fried and redid almost everything, including the wet sump baffle mod. Any questions feel free to ask and make sure you wring the damn thing out. I'm in awe of the torque curve from 2500 on, and it sounds incredible at high RPM. I'm by no means an expert, just a research nerd.

500 miles later (and a significant road trip for the holidays and the new motor is incredibly strong). Been doing a lot of 3k to 5k pulls. Will have to do an oil change and review the oil pressure gauge which is acting up. I did put in new LED headlights from Classic Car LEDs in the UK. Plug and play, bulbs have rectifiers on them so draw is the same. Very pleased with this $75 upgrade.

We need to waxoyl the bottom and then road time!

Yep, I need to wash when I get back on Saturday. The rainstorm I just drove 50 miles in definitely didn't help.

Weather is scarily good this winter. No salt on the roads and I did 200 miles the other day. If the weather cooperates, anyone down to do a meet up in Northern NJ / NY / CT and start the year off with some good mileage?

This. The MSO flips to a title. In certain states we ship bikes to, only dealerships can convert to a title, not a DMV. If you have an MSO, you'll be fine to get through the paperwork.

Piloti is running a sale. 60% off and they help driving the caterham for us wide feet folks. Cheapest shoe is 80$, which isn't cheap, but it's a decent shoe you can wear without race boots etc. https://piloti.com/collections/shop-all

Wierd, bumped one of my mirrors off a few weeks ago and going through the same exercise. I have copies of the cad files for the Eccles mount and access to a 3D printer via a colleague. If I can get him to do a big run, I'll let you know. Part of what I have seen on blat chat is that the windscreen mounted ones affect the door operation. I'm also going to screw around with some left over motorcycle mirrors and see if they'll fit on the door stalks too.

I think it's you. I've been following your build challenges for the past year and a half and my heart goes out to you when a new issue sets you back.

90ish or so before the engine came out and the extended overseas work trip. 6 months later and ~150 miles on the new engine and looking forward to quadrupling that next year. I drive a lot, for context I put 1500 miles on the GS this year, 350 or so were offroad. Maybe 25,000 miles a year on the daily.

No worries. Will holler when I'm starting to regularly take it in to work in spring.

I'd be interested but I'm maybe 4 hours north of you in NNJ and winterized. Only problem is I am a regular S3, may not swap?

Ahh I saw you on 17 this spring and tried to flag you down. I work in Bergen.

2900USD + shipping. I mean it isn't that bad for a 3 season car..

At roughly 25k over his BaT auction. Healthy margin.

Absolutely, need some time at palmer or Thompson together! Price was not too bad. Machine shop which did majority of work listed above was 1100, labor plus installation of radiator + timing + reassembly was another 1800 and has a warranty on labor and parts. Not cheap by any means, but better to spend the money to do it right, vs kicking it down the road as the past 6 (out of 9) owners have done!

Car is finally back together and I have about 100 miles on the new Engine. I didn't realize how poorly it was performing before. K series is straight linear power from 2k. I had the following done: Piston rings (omega) Mahle Crank Bearings New Valves Valve stems cut to spec Valves lapped Lifters replaced Water pump / tensioner / pulleys / timing belt Piper vernier for the cams Radtec heavy duty radiator installed Have 100 miles on it in 2 days of good weather. 60 was a round trip to work, alternating between 3k and 4.5k every 5 or so with occasional slow pulls up to 5k. As I start to get more mileage in, I'll get a bit more bold as the engine is incredible. Next up at some point this winter (after getting a good amount of mileage in on the engine), install the new de dion + powerflex bushings and install my emerald ECU. Next spring will be considering what to do with the lifters. It's back and even better than before, what a car.

I've seen a few on Instagram, they slide back on hatchback door pistons, then slide forward when you sit in them. Very clever and prevents the wierd shrimp move I do when the soft top is on.

No worries. I'm on the UES 1x a week to visit family, weather (and patience) permitting, I could maybe bring it in. I work maybe 30 minutes from the city in northern NJ, which is a bit closer. We can figure something out. It's an imperial S3 RHD 1.8 L series with the T9 box. I need to put the new A Arm and bushings on in the back. A bit tired but slowly getting there. I have the wide track front suspension, and I think it's a road sport based on the ARB's. I need to go through the caterham paperwork to find out what it exactly is. I second everyone's thoughts on the wider track front - gives you a bit more stability. I've got a heater / full weather kit and drove until it snowed last year. Work sent me oversea's for a good chunk of the year so I wasn't able to get as much driving this year. Regarding parking in NYC, we have a spot in our building, I think it's 860$ a month. It went up drastically since covid... combined with the road quality and traffic, you'll most likely be miserable getting to the driving roads to enjoy the car. For the monthly price of parking (especially if you rent in the city), you may be better off street parking the daily (if applicable) and storing at Haggerty or Motorcar Manor in NNJ. I was quoted at 550$ a month including tender etc. The peace of mind of having the car on a tender where you're not going to get rats / other parking garage junk in it is worth it. Especially if it's a new, 60k 7. Reading between the lines on your weather gear questions. Don't try to rationalize the car as being weather practical. It's like driving an antique. Give a lot of braking distance in wet and the wipers are more of a suggestion. I keep a good sailing jacket in the car for bad weather. If you go into a car this extreme with some justification of practicality, you'll be disappointed. It's the perfect foil to whatever appliance I daily.

Hey Rachit, I'm in northern Morris county. I'm similar to you, 5'7" with a 32 inch inseam (wierd proportions when you think about it). 😀 I'm still in the process of my unexpected engine build BUT hoping to be done soon. Engine was rebuilt and sent back to shop on Monday. Hopefully I'm back together soon and you can come by for a drive.