Dirty plugs and grease

I seem to be finding myself tackling one major service procedure a week now and this week the main task was to swap out the spark plugs.

Okay, I may have lied, swapping spark plugs really isn't a big job reality, but considering I've always paid someone else for my previous cars, I was a little tense while doing the swap.

Ordered 6 of these...because the internet told me to (and as we all know, the internet is never wrong!)



(Well I ordered these because they seemed to be the favourite choice by many and apparently are the oem ones used by BMW, according to other owners)

Started taking them all out, one by one, and yep, these plugs were black.



Lined them all up to compare them all (all consistent, must be a good sign at least, I hope!)



Put it all back together and started her up. To my surprise (just kidding, I was quietly confident) it all worked as it should. Success.

Went in and had a bite to eat and proceeded to start studying, and then I remembered the intake manifold.

So when I was cleaning the throttle bodies, I noticed some oil in the intake manifold. Obviously this is normal, but I wanted it to be clean, purely for my own satisfaction.

Proceeded to pack the books up and went out again to tackle dismantling the intake manifold. Leaving everything plugged in, the manifold came out relatively easily (surprisingly, I didn't actually look up how to do this and just winged it!)

I guess I adopted this attitude based on the fact I knew I have an m50 which I'm on the fence about fitting (for those unaware, it's basically bigger...allowing for more air to enter the engine resulting in more power with the right configuration)

Draped a towel over the inlet to prevent dirt and such falling in.



Placed the manifold in the tub and attacked it with a 50:50 mixture of APC (all purpose cleaner) and degreaser, neat of course, before leaving a clean manifold to sit next to a radiator to dry off naturally (will give it a blast of air before fitting again)



And fitting is a reversal of the removal process. No major issues to report resulting in the car running smoothly with no issues!

Well that was after I had the engine unable to idle on it's own (plenty of swearing ensued) after refitting the cleaned intake manifold. Only to find I had forgotten to fit one of the vacuum lines! Fool!

After reconnecting the hose up, the car just starting up and revving it (even on idle) all sounds and acts much healthier. It's actually amazing what a difference new oil, new filters, new spark plugs and a clean air intake system all makes! Pretty chuffed with myself so far but there's still a fair bit of work to get done before the car is ready for MOT and the track.

Also ended up ordering some new discs and pads. It needed to be done as the current set-up is shot (putting it nicely!) Next week's update should be interesting to say the least! (Purely because as with nearly everything so far with this build, I've never done it before!)



Oh, and filled her up a little too...



And yes she's missing a foglight, because I was experimenting with different options for increasing brake ducting (will be reusing my auxillary lights from my old Smart Brabus most likely (really do miss that car).



Aaaaaand, that's a week!

New parts and service

Given the intended use for the car, I thought it would be wise to get the whole car in decent shape. Last week while giving the car a tear down, I made a list up of all the parts needed.

Ordered everything up and received a nice delivery of 4 boxes.



Checked everything was included. There was more in the boxes, but the parts below are relevant to the track build. Starting from the left and working across, the parts are as follows:

• off-side indicator housing
• air (x1) and oil (x2) filters
• carb cleaner
• brake cleaner
• throttle cable
• cheap oil for the first oil change
• Castrol Edge to be used for the car

After taking five to play with the bubble wrap (not pictured) I decided to make a start on the car, firstly with the indicator housing.

Take one broken indicator:



and one replacement...



will leave you with a respectable looking vehicle.



Then I made a start with the throttle cable. Stripped everything off and removed the old cable (surprisingly an easy job). Ran the new cable through without any issues either.



Whilst there, the throttle bodies (one serves as the traction control throttle body), were given a clean and a check to ensure they were in adequate working condition.

Before:



And after:





There is a noticeable difference in the throttle response but the pedal still feels a little soft. This will be easily rectified with the new spring on order from BMW.

Content with the work completed, I refitted the throttle bodies and MAF leaving an oil change left to do. In time there will new coolant and spark plugs but given the steep learning curve, I'm taking things slowly and ensuring that all the work is being undertaken to the best of my ability.

A new day rolled along and a new task came with. My frist attempt at an oil service. Pull the drain plug, swap out a filter, refit the plug and fit new oil in. How hard could it be?

Not very at all as it turned out.



Left the car for a good 40 minutes to drain as much of the old crap out as possible.



It was super blaaaaaaaack (Mighty Car Mods reference!)



Opted for a Mann filter. Decently priced considering how often the oil will be changed.



Tightened everything up, left it to idle for a while and checked the level a few times. All good so far. The plan is that once the car is on the road, will be undertaking another oil change pretty soon after, this time with an engine flush. Seems like it could use it.

Then came the clean up operation. Stripped back all the bits I could take off, and got to work with the degreaser and brush.





And lastly a new air filter.





Next step was to put everything back, chuck another 5l of fuel in and call it a week!



EDIT: V5C Came through today, new spark plugs, discs/pads, and a couple of rad bleed screws also ordered.

Sitrep: One week in.

Yes, the car has now been owned for a whole week. The obvious thing would be to see how far it's coming along.

Since the last update where I tackled cleaning the interior, there has been some more weight shedding, cleaning, and spending (to put it in a nutshell).

The cleaning came in the form of the air intake system in an albeit amateurish attempt at being a mechanic. (My skills pretty much stop at mechano sets for kids)

Ended up having a play with the traction control valve, removed all the plastic around the throttle pedal, saw the spring was in a bad way and ordered a replacement from BMW.

Long story short, all the parts needed a clean so that was at least progress, but ultimately it was the throttle cable that had stretched to the point of of needing replacement.



In addition to the throttle response, I decided to order up all the service items for the car. Having not known when the car was last serviced (the guy I bought it from was super sketchy with info since the car was in his ownership) I decided I'd end up changing the oil twice, drain it out completely, run fresh oil for a few hundred miles and change again after adding engine flush.

Filters was another hurdle I needed to get around. Given that the car will be approaching 100k and will be seeing gurling track days for most of it's life now, I thought it would be wise to swap out the fuel filter as well. Only issue is that BMW feel the need to charge a substantial amount for them. (No thanks, this is a budget build here). The same principle also applied to the oil filters, BMW charging twice the price for one. Given the application for the car, it would have more regular oil changes anyway so that wasn't an issue opting for a cheaper Mann filter from ECP.

The driver's side indicator was broken, so a replacement was ordered in for MOT purposes and I think that pretty much is a week of ownership now!

Will leave this here, because racekor obviously.