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Old 01-19-2019, 04:21 PM   #128
John V
No more BMWs
 
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Carmudgeonly Ride: Ram, MS3, CX-5, RX-8
Location: Glenwood, MD
Posts: 14,753
Deep annoyance overtook me when I got my ECU back ... and the immobilizer was still active. Long story short, there was a new release of the tuning software that the shop uses and the update flipped the polarity of the immobilizer. So basically the guy got my ECU, coded it for an active immobilizer, and sent it back. He is sending me one of his test ECUs that he verified works, so I should be able to try to start it soon. Still... annoying.

Still lots to get done anyway. I got started on making the rear upper shock mounts. I got this idea from Tamra and Drew, and used the same spherical bearings they did. This eliminates the factory rubber donut mounts for the rear shock shafts. I shortened the housings by a couple inches as well to get the desired bump / droop numbers relative to static ride height.

Factory rear shock hat:



Top cut off:



New top plate mocked up, with the hole for the bearing cup cut out:





Not my prettiest welding, but whatever.



I turned some simple pieces to adapt the 0.550" Penske shafts to the spherical bearing. I know people say the Grizzly mini-lathes are useless but if I can whip stuff like this up in an hour, it's totally worth having.



Next job I've been putting off is re-making the lower front crossmember. This piece braces the back of the subframe to the unibody and spans the width of the unibody rails. The stock one ran into the 2.5L engine's oil pan. I cut the center out of it and replaced it with a section of 3/4" x 1.5" x 0.063" rectangular steel tubing, then braced it with another couple of pieces of tubing. It's way stiffer than the stock piece and only weighs a half a pound more.









Needs a prime and a coat of paint and it'll be good to go back on the car.
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