KelsoCorp Auto

Well, here we are again. I had gotten myself into another s12 about this time last year. After driving up to Nowhergo, MI, to snag the car from TurboTurtle, I immediately got separated from my girlfriend (at the time) who was supposed to be leading so I could focus on the floaty extremes of driving a new car with blown shocks home in the winter. Anywho, I made it home. Alone. Drove the car until thaw and worked on a couple things.

Previous owner told me it had a cracked exhaust manifold. No biggie. Score a new one from a club member; couple gaskets, too. Actually look into what's to be done.. no chance I'm burdening myself with changing it. I'm an adult now. I work. Just take it to a shop. Fuck.....

Hour away from home one week later- I have no oil. Apparently, cutting a line from the turbo was the easiest way to get it done. Thanks, dudes. You'll be hearing from me again.

In the meantime.... I've gotten this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B85qVR9Frp7lcGROVWE4ZnliWjQ/view?usp=sharing

Which is destined for this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B85qVR9Frp7ldW01emREMloydlE/view?usp=sharing

One more: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B85qVR9Frp7ldW01emREMloydlE/view?usp=sharing

Awesome!  Let me know how the swap goes! I'm in the works of getting all my stuff together for a KA swap.

Sure will. Just as soon as my mechanic (new guy- significantly better) finishes the swap. I'm trying not to get too optimistic, seeing as he has a business to run. April feels right.

Well, it's back. Still need to get the tach and the speedo working properly. I recall this car had some trouble with the speedo before it went down two years ago. Not sure about the tach and whether it ever worked or not, but I may take the path of least resistance and try to source an analog gauge and get it talking to the SR. Seems like people have had decent success with that. 

I think the very next thing that needs to happen though is some suspension. I'm taking suggestions on shock/spring combos that work for a spirited daily driver without making me hate myself on every bump. S13 swapping for coils is tempting but I don't want back problems from my daily.

Also considering swapping the front end of my '84 onto this car so it isn't as snaggle toothed.

Take summma that! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDEEpz0GeYk

I'm calling her Regina George because right now she's a Fugly Slut. Might be a bad omen. Bring this up if I get hit by a bus in this car.


You can see some of the snaggle tooth here.


Not the best photo but you can see that the paint is a little tired.


This fender has been repainted at some point and has gone full white on me.


Some more snaggle.


There's that.

Cool. Doesn't look to fugly to me - I'd drive it.

What fmic is that and where did you get it? cost?

What radiator is that and where did you get it? Cost?

I'll have to look at it or talk to the guy who put it on. It's weird not knowing a damn thing about your own car. I do know that they work pretty dang well. The car runs at about quarter temp, if that, and only gets halfway hot when you shut it off and things stop moving.

This asshole wanted to trade me cars yesterday. Told him I don't need that many cylinders.

Still have no tach, and it'd be nice if my speedometer was accurate again.

Do both of these lines need to be connected? The one on the right goes upwards and is connected to what looks like it could be cruise control (can be seen in the top left corner of this photo. The one on the right is presently hanging free. I'm going to try hooking it in to where my boost line is currently t'd into the intake.


Closer look. So Black/White goes upwards, and Black/Red is currently disconnected.

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Pretty cool e30 behind my s12.

I've rented a garage to store/work on cars.

You'll see these two:


Pretty well robbed my parent's garage of all the fun stuff.


Welcome to KelsoCorp Auto! We could probably fit five or six cars in there if you didn't need to work on 3 of them, but the inventory will probably be four cars at any given time.

1ea - s12 or 325i convertible depending on what I'm driving
2ea - 89 Saab 900 Turbos - manual swap and general engine refresh
1ea - 1987 325is my buddy will most likely store through winter
 


Last but not least, Nissan Consult. Going to try and make an digi dash panel for the s12 reading directly from the sr20 ecu since my speedometer and tach don't work presently. Should be cool if I can get it working the way I imagine.

Diodes from after your igniter and swap the gear sender cog for one that matches your diff ratio and all good?

Hopefully throwing the tokicos and CM springs on this weekend.

Got this thing back with a new top so I can safely daily it during Indiana's soggy fall while I work on the s12, which then becomes the winter car.



GLAM!

Got three out of four corners done. Fronts went pretty smoothly being that I'd had everything apart two or so years ago replacing struts.

Rear, however.... Jeez. Everything is rusted the F*$#K together down below, then I couldn't get the interior body panel off to access the 14mm nut up top, so I just wedged an open end wrench on the nut and against the body and twisted the greater shock proper from below.  Putting the new 17mm nut on for the Tokico was fun, about 1/8th of a turn at a time in the tiniest, pokiest space available under the speaker.

I do really like how stiff it is though. Everything is set to 5 and hopefully the rear never needs adjusted. I should probably just put more time into getting those body panels off.

Today's lesson: Have A Plan

I intended to follow our latest guide on cleaning out the interior blower. Didn't score any cash; nuts....



HAD A COMPLETE POST READY TO SUBMIT WHEN MY COMPUTER CRASHED!! AACCCKKK!!!

Anyhow, here's more from the author of "Nuts!"


So then the s13 ECU fell out, and I hooked up my Consult to see if it would talk to my PC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUNklbUYRAQ

More nuts....



Being thoroughly defeated, back to dash removal... No idea how this car works but I trust the guy who did it wholeheartedly. If these labeled wires are dangling, it must be ok.





Gonna ask him what this is about. Remote light for easier code reading?


Left it like this after getting my butt kicked. I'll be back tomorrow to finish shocks and springs.


Action shot from doing the fronts last weekend




Big ass vice I stole from work saved a bunch of time/effort. Easily the heaviest thing I've ever touched.


Vanity plate came in. Decided to go ridiculous on the red convertible and get a plate in commemoration of my fictional multi-national conglomerate, "KelsoCorp, Inc.". I'm calling the BMW a company car.



Lastly, random picture of my buddy's 325is. His first manual transmission car so it sits mostly until he's more comfortable driving it on public roads. It's good inspiration for things I can do to the convertible, and having more community knowledge about e30s helps, even if we're both new to the chassis.

Got the interior put back together and finished the rear. Oil pressure gauge decided it was done working so i got scared and cut the test drive short, but it's a night and day improvement. Very stiff now.

Here's how it sits on CM Springs and Tokico shocks as of this morning, for Czech's reference. It's a night and day difference but for daily driving I'd probably set the shocks to 4 and see how you like it. I installed mine on 5 and it's really stiff; maybe too stiff for daily.

Would dropping the fronts to 4 upset the suspension terribly?

I still don't know what direction I will take with the suspension on my car. I think the CM springs would probably be too stiff for me but the ride height looks perfect in that pic.

They really aren't that stiff in my opinion^^
I really like your e30 btw!

Really? Hm.. I feel like they're one step below coilovers on the current settings. I can't hardly push down on any corner of the car whatsoever.

Maybe it's because they're new and I've only ever had stock suspension on my cars so it feels REALLY stiff to me.

Thanks for the e30 love!

Minor update: Magnaflow 3" oval muffler arrived today. Fired the car up to check before/after sounds and saw fuel flowing from the top of the gas tank. Hoping that's just a loose hoose and nothing tank-dropworthy. Suspect it sprung last weekend while I was crawling around in the back of the car.... Either way, free mpg's!

That muffler's gonna do me good though unless it takes an entirely different note at higher RPMs. Goes from turbo tractor to.... Something else. I'll report back once it's formally installed.



P.S. New ECU brought the BMW back to life. It's shelved for the winter while I consider what the hell to do with it.

I'll clean these up once I figure out how to embed a dang video. I may be dumb, but I (usually) ain't stupid.

Before 3" Magnaflow + gas leak: https://youtu.be/kEn_HQfcDm8

After 3" Magnaflow (sort of) + gas leak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqYhy0yfRYE

Test drive demonstrating ride quality of Tokico (Stiffness Setting #5) + CM Spring setup. Sorry it's long, skip through as you'd like. Didn't get the finger guns in frame like I'd hoped..... FUCK! Camera gets re-adjusted at 6:15 and the video inverts from then on.. Deal with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsuY0bpLG-U

Lastly, here's the trend plot of my RPMs through that test drive. Fired up ECU Talk an started logging just after turning on the car to pull out of the shop:

Here's the first attempt at fixing a pesky gas leak that's developed for no apparent reason. I haven't driven the car to test, but let's hope I got it.

WARNING: WEAR EYE PROTECTION WHEN REMOVING GAS TANK FROM OLD ASS VEHICLE! YOU WILL GO BLIND WITHOUT IT AND GET AN EAR INFECTION REGARDLESS!


Didn't see aything up top that would indicate the infamous o-ring was leaking, so I started dropping the straps holding the tank by removing 2ea 17mm bolts running through each strap on the front side of the tank. Also removed the three 10mm(?) bolts from the gas tank filler. Open the gas door and they're right there.

I took off one 10mm(?) bolt from the front tank shielding by the passenger tire so that I could pull the strap through and drop the tank enough to see the hoses up top. Whatever that is was loose, so I snugged it back up and put everything back together minus the rubber strip lining on one of the straps. Guess I'm writing that down for posterity or something.


Better view of where I reattached a hose that was not visible from the access hatch.

Today's lesson: Listen to Occam - I've got the Keith leak. Tried tightening those baby bolts holding the pump cover down and some were loose, one was absent,then I snapped one off...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plXtarr8UtU

Do I go ahead and spring for a Walbro since it will be out, and I'm planning on upping the boost eventually? Would this be what I need?
https://www.amazon.com/WALBRO-255LPH-PRESSURE-GSS342-Authentic/dp/B0098MC3GU

Gonna start researching the installation and look into fuel friendly RTV vs. a replacement gasket. Want to get this fixed SOON since 6" of snow fell last night. The BMW does not like snow.

The fuel pump takes some serious force to remove. It's wider than the hole it's coming out of, but I got it after much cussing and fussing.

Here's what I found.


Here's what I did:


So help me God, this better fix this leak.... I do not want to remove that pump again now that this nasty gasket stuff is all up in that mess. It's setting overnight with some stainless steel screws holding it down real tight. I know they aren't the ideal fastener, but I wanted to get this done today before the world freezes over and just grabbed something that would thread from Lowe's.

Hope that fixes it.  That's a sad O ring. I had to fight to get the pump out as well. Why would they make the hole smaller than the pump housing?? I turned it 100 different ways figuring it had a special way to come out but ended up prying & praying nothing broke.

Still wants to ooze out around around the fuel pump lid. I'm hoping what's happened is when I was re-installing the fuel pump yesterday I also managed to wreck the bead of Perm-Blue at the 12 o'clock position of the pump cover. When I went to test today it looked like the fuel started seeping up at that 12 o'clock position and then drained down and around.

Pulled the pump cover enough to see that there was no turd-like bead of gasket goo there. Instead it was a nasty runny gassy compound. Cleaned and dried that out real good and dropped a new nugget of gasket maker..... let it set up for about ten minutes contemplating my station in life ..... screwed everything back down real tight with minimal lateral movement in the process. Hoping to let it continue curing overnight in the sub-zero temperatures and praying it doesn't leak tomorrow after work.

Any pro-tips should I not find success tomorrow? I'm getting close to sending it out to the pro; need this car on the road right now.

Get a new o ring!  Also don't think that stuff will cure properly in cold weather, sorry - Red

I'm with Red. The northern Indiana cold will very likely keep the sealant from curing properly, especially during this cold snap. Anyway, RockAuto has O-rings for $11.

Message received. I'll make the necessary calls tomorrow and get to work cleaning up the mess I've made in preparation for a new ring.

I replaced mine when I changed pumps; no leaks!

For future searchers this gasket is P/N: BOSCH 68203

http://www.rockauto.com/en/cart/?a=Referer+www.google.com+URL+%2Fen%2Fcatalog%2Fnissan%2C1985%2C200sx%2C1.8l%2Bl4%2Bturbocharged%2C1208607%2Cignition%2Cignition%2Bcoil%2Bwire%2C7072

https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-68203-Fuel-Pump-Gasket/dp/B000BZIA1U

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/bosch-fuel-pump-tank-seal-68203/20770643-P

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