Category: Vehicles

I was feeling my oats enough to get the Bimmer tires re-organized a few weeks ago. Then it came home with this, the 1st time time I took it out on the Bridgestones:

The funny thing was, I did not know it was dead flat before next time I almost got to the highway, except for the TPMS warning. Love the runflats! I’m starting to work through the process of some long term maintenance, coming up on 150k miles. It’s going to need belts, bushings, balancer, tensioner and maybe some new motor mounts and turbos. Bimmer Haus has a big job coming next month…

So with the little one outside, the big one came down from it’s lift perch for the 1st time in probably over 2 years. Accelerator pump is toast again, so I guess I’ll put another carburetor on it this time. Replacing the accelerator is a trivial, inexpensive task I’ve accomplished 3 or 4 times on these things, but it’s time consuming and I’ve never been able to get the carb(s) – on it’s 2nd AVS now) – tuned properly for altitude, so we’ll try a newer model Eddy 750. A 3-car garage holding 4 vehicles including a 91′ Dodge Cummins is tight. But with the 20-foot-long land barge on the lift, everything fits with the doors closed.

Well, the two that came off the front were. The reason for that was they were on the rears back when I was still driving the Bimmer to work on a daily basis. They wouldn’t last this long, if it wasn’t for the electronic traction control. Winter treads are soft and don’t last anyway, but those tires only had about 10k miles on them! The way it’s setup and how I drive it (mildly) is very hard on the tires.

The tire wear generator appears to be dialed in to the Öhlins coilover settings now. I thought “damn, is this thing that far out of alignment?” -when I took the first one off. It’s still tracking perfectly, feels tight and solid, like the BMW it is. Turns out they all wore on the inside, just more so in front. The suspension setup lowers it about a half inch, with some pretty aggressive negative camber.

So I’m not really pushing it, as far as the suspension goes – the extent to which I haven’t found. The car is scary fast, with limits I’m obviously not approaching on a regular basis, judging from just the tire wear. Mashing the skinny pedal at the dragstrip is something anyone with even the slightest nerve connection to their right foot can do, but safely generating lateral g-forces on public streets can be pretty dangerous and is generally frowned upon.

They weren’t going anywhere except the tire pile after I put them on last fall, and they’re runflats, so what the hell. New daily driver, with the Bimmer relegated to weekend road course duty? It’s beat up enough now after somebody learned parking in it a couple years ago, swappin’ paint at the track is starting to sound like a great idea. Hmmmmm…

So apparently the Nittos on the ’91 were sitting on the rack for a long time before I bought them.  They were only halfway worn down, but hard as rock.  When Coronavirus arranged for an extra shot of government money, I had no trouble deciding where to put some of that.

Seems like tires are always a compromise of one sort or another, especially when it comes to the trucks.  Cooper has a new design minimizing those comprises, for me at least.  This tire runs smooth and quiet on the highway, with big side lugs to make it good in the snow, as well.  Gonna have to break them in with a fall homecoming again this year.

I finally got to the point a few weeks ago where it felt like my back was healing up pretty good, so it was time to challenge myself in that department.  Moving and mounting the 100+lb tires is probably one of the most physically demanding tasks I have around here.  The only real difference now is I need a ramp to get them up on the truck.  Got ‘er done!

It wasn’t much, and turned out to be too much from a convalescent viewpoint, but we did manage to haul a few pieces of PVC back from Home Depot yesterday – first time using the new  headache rack:

Looks like at least another week or two before achieving higher activity levels.

“Normal” was never an issue, so yeah.

I’m gobsmacked.  At first I thought it must be a misprint, or maybe the R&T people got some bad dope.  It can’t be true.  Hyundai garners 2020 Performance Car of the Year! Up against the perennial stalwarts, some costing more than 3 times the sticker price, the Veloster N is a real phenom:

“The Veloster was an outlier—outgunned and outclassed by nearly every other car in this test.”

Props, Korean car dudes and dudettes – you have arrived!

So I got this diff plate from a guy named Dan on n54.  It was undoubtedly the easiest mod ever –  strictly bolt-on, fit perfect.  It eliminates the acceleration squirm I’ve been noticing ever since getting the thing tuned a couple years ago.  I thought it would need M suspension parts to fix that problem, but never got around to it because they just didn’t appear to be worn in any way.  Best 100 bucks ever spent on a car mod.  No NVH to it I can tell, so not sure why BMW did not properly mount the diff to start with.

Couple other things of note in the pic.  For the guys having trouble getting exhaust lined up, mine was a little uncooperative, but that aluminum adjuster brace did the trick.  It was only maybe a half inch off, but refused to line up until I added that little doo-dad.  The catch can drain can be seen in the bottom-right.  I re-used the old DEF tank line there in what felt like an appropriate thumb-nose to the emissions systems.  It used to muck up the bottom of the car when it pushed out a bit of oil every so often – not anymore, just a spot on the floor to clean up from time-to-time.

I get asked this question every so often, the answer is pretty simple and goes far beyond the obvious difference shown below. I suppose I’m lucky enough to have evolved into a “best of breed” sort of guy when it comes to my vehicles. I could use a few more categories, but still working on that elusive independently wealthy goal. The pickup truck category is a big one for me, though, so I’ll proceed to compare and contrast the 2 trucks shown below:

Work Truck – Play Truck
Family Truck – Personal Truck
Big Truck – Little Truck

The 07′ is obviously just a much larger vehicle. The back wheels on both trucks are the same distance away in this picture. It is larger, with greater capacity, comfort and all-around capability, no doubt – work truck with the best overall performance in every category, except one. The 07′ is an automatic transmission, which qualifies it for the family truck role, as well. Nobody drives the 1st Gen without ascending a steep learning curve of manual everything covered by a myriad of switches, buttons, levers etc. It is not for the faint of heart, to include an early RWAL (rear wheel anti-lock) system, suspension and brakes that, coupled with 700ft.lbs. of torque, can easily get an inexperienced driver in trouble pretty quickly.

So why even keep the old rattletrap? Simple – the fun factor! Despite making a little less power, it is a half ton lighter and just a blast to drive with the 5-speed stick. It has lower gearing (4.10), so the thing is a real torque monster, outrunning most anything else on the road from a 3rd gear roll-on. It’s no drag racer with the balky Getrag stick, but pulls like a train when it’s up on the turbo – pure forced-injection vehicular fun!

Had a great time racing the Bimmer down at High Plains Diesel Shootout in Pueblo yesterday. They have a really nice motor-sports park with just about everything you could ask for in the off-road wheelin’ fun category – dragstrip, road course, HUGE dirt track and a dyno. The car ran well, consistently posting mid-13s on street tires fighting traction control for 100′ off the line. Won 3 of 4 runs, coming close to the money, posting the 2nd fastest time (13.44) in their “True Street” class. The winner was almost a full second faster than everyone else, but that’s how it goes with heads-up racing. It would be good in a bracket with traction control, but I was greedy, going for the big purse.

I decided against getting on the dyno after watching the guy running it almost drop a truck off the loading ramps. Bimmer was the only car-type vehicle competing and raised alot of eyebrows. People kept asking stuff like “what’s in that thing?” and “Is that really a diesel?” This confirms what I knew ever since finishing the upgrades – she is a beast. It will easily be into the 12’s with slicks or drag radials, traction control off and somebody who knows how to launch it.

This was as good as it gets in terms of stability control, back in the day when automotive electronics seemed to cause more problems than they solved. 1st Gen Dodge Cummins pickup steering was good for what it was – over-boosted, vague, light and sensitive – great in a new truck on smooth pavement! Put big tires on one with all that weight up front and it gets pretty busy on less-than-perfect road surfaces. I replaced the steering coupler/shaft with an aftermarket upgrade within a year of owning this truck, due to the poor coupler design’s tendency to wear prematurely. It was fine after that, just that old-school over-boosted feel typical in hydraulic steering gears of the time. This is just what the truck doctor ordered to make it feel much better:

They sold aftermarket kits, one of which I got used from a forum member. But it was a single, and I suspect it was already worn out before I installed it along with the steering shaft upgrade. Did not notice any difference when I took it off and noticed a BIG difference with the new model. It feels a bit heavier and tracks much easier without constant correction like before. That passenger-side bracket was tricky. Took probably over 10 trips up and down getting it mocked up. I was actually glad the weather had changed by the time I was done yesterday. Mother nature gave me a much-needed break!

After being outside and back on the road again it became clear the CTD’s rear springs were in need of another adjustment (3rd since new). My guess would be it got some improperly hardened Chinese rear leafs from one of their sweatshops lacking quality control. The fronts are fine, but the rears seemed to continue slowly sinking over the years. they will probably need replaced again at some point if I put some more miles on it. There is a good suspension shop I found in Denver where I can get better springs. In the meantime I thought I might get a couple more years out of the Skyjunkers by just putting in new U-bolts with 2½” blocks. This amplifies the high-torque axle-wrap issue, so on inspection I noticed the TorqueLinks didn’t look right and found half the rail bushings worn completely away in just under 10k miles. That explained the increasing noise level I noticed from them. They work great, but are noisy, heavy and obviously did not wear well. It makes little sense spending 4-5 hours rebuilding the rails if they won’t last more than 10k miles. So I ended up basically rebuilding the whole rear suspension and went back to the drawing board for a crack at TorqueLink-II.

The rear mounts only needed cut off and modded a bit to accept a bolt and re-finished. The main, 20lb portion of the bar(s) itself was scrapped in favor of 5lb. steel tubes, made possible by the new front link design. It is a simple slide joint made from an old shock mount, a 2x⅝ bolt and 3 big flat washers. After assembly it allows movement in any direction except forward. The shock bushing part has an inside radius to hold the bushing in place after being pressed in, so the slide fits through closely with static play in any direction. It should wear better over time because the link is not being constantly punished like the old design.  It works like a slide hammer in reverse, moving around as needed with suspension flex, but stopping at torque-induced axle-wrap forward motion. A 1/4″-thick nylon washer in the 2003 Torquelink-III™ model provides the impact surface, mitigating any potential noise problem.

I put about 30 hours into the fabrication over a 9-day period, spending maybe $20 for a few bolts, washers and paint. The rest was all scrap metal I had onhand. Anyone seen bars like this before?

I almost forgot to post this after being way too busy scrambling to get finished with the truck early last summer. Timbrens are basically big, compressible rubber bump stops. They work really well as helper springs for carrying heavy loads. The Skyjacker SoftRide springs make the truck’s ride bearable, but only just. It just rides like a softer buckboard. And cargo capacity was down, at least in terms of stability while handling heavier weights. The ass-end of this truck has numerous issues caused by my modifications making it squirrel-y under many conditions, exacerbated with higher power output. It could probably literally tear itself apart pushed hard under a heavy enough load. Dodge was testing the limits of light truck tech when they decided to put a Cummins in one of these things.

The first thing I decided to do when it came time to address the rear suspension (this time around) was upgrade the Timbren install. I adjusted the stops under them twice before along with the spring sag issue already. But it was a non-optimal process of basically rebuilding the part, so I designed a better, adjustable piece. Making the stops adjustable has 2 benefits and eliminates the Timbren’s only real drawback. They make the rear a little too bouncy sometimes with the stops positioned at the recommended 1/2″ clearance. It was only noticeable running empty on bad roads and speed bumps, so not that big a deal. Now I can leave a full inch of clearance and adjust them in for heavy hauling only when needed. And of course, any ride height issue from spring sag is easily compensated for now, as well.

My vehicle lineup has been pretty stable for the past few years. The women are driving new Jettas, and I’m like the neighborhood truck guy who keeps a radical BMW hidden in his garage.

The ’91 is about done, for the time being. I still need to put some more time in on that door to get the lock working correctly and it needs a trim moulding after painting, but that stuff can wait. I think I will prioritize work on the Chrysler going into 2019. It needs the electrics gone through to get the windows working again and a few more things sorted. The rear axle will get a 3.91 Richmond locker and new set of Caltracs. Then I’ll finish it up with frame connectors and seal the underbody. The factory paint will stay for now and no fancy interior work – it is and always will be just a driver. I did find and remove a broken sway bar link after taking it for a warm-up yesterday, so I guess that project is now officially underway…

It’s pretty amazing to me just how far cars have come in the last 50 years. An engine and 4 tires wrapped in glass, plastic and metal is the only real comparison.

So I was left with a 80lb, seemingly useless ’91 Dodge truck bench seat in near-new condition after the interior upgrade. I offered it for free on the truck forum sell/trade pages, but nobody wanted it. So I scrapped it. In the process, I noticed that with a bit of cutting, bending and welding the large back frame piece might be a good candidate for a headache rack. I had more steel tube from some other scrapped furniture, so another fabrication project took shape.

The main front section is 1 1/8″ O.D, the sides are 1″ and the braces 3/4″, all assembled and contoured to match the cab shape(s). I spent a week putting it together with most of the time invested in grinding and going over the welds for a smooth, 1-piece look. The headache rack is nice for carrying long pieces of pipe or lumber more securely. But the two really cool things about it is how it works with the toolbox and being the mount for a new LED light bar. Every rack I’ve seen for sale involves some sort of compromise with the toolbox, either needing it moved back or just won’t work at all, depending on the design. Custom was really the only acceptable answer, to me. The light is a 150-watt Cree spot/flood combo and really lights things up well.

The light cost $49.99 off Amazon, bringing total project cost to 30 hours of my time and $80, including maybe $30 worth of welding wire, gas, sandpaper and paint. The truck now only just fits in kissing the weatherstrip under the 8-foot garage door after another rear spring adjustment. The skyjacker springs held up well in front, but the rears sagged quite a bit over the years, requiring several adjustments. So it is staying outside from now on while Phoebe’s new Jetta gets the CTD’s old garage spot.

It was the 1st car I ever bought new, back in 2002. Made it to 195k miles including a tough last few years with the girls driving it. It was a fairly good car and I intended to keep it going for as long as possible, but finally got to the point of being plagued by too many issues to make further repairs palatable to me. So we donated it to the Colorado Make-A-Wish charity for children yesterday, with a cracked windshield, weeping water pump seal and the last straw appeared to be either a serious transmission issue or possibly a wheel bearing. They evaluate them for possible repair and then either re-distribute to a needy family, or sell them at auction donating the proceeds.

It took us to the Grand Canyon and many other places over the years. I felt like we should have had a retirement ceremony or something while I performed the annual ritual of swapping out wheels for the near-new Blizzak snows. Those American Racing wheels are for sale cheap, if anybody wants them:

I still want a winch under the front bumper and there are a couple miscellaneous upgrades like a front diff locker and a new dual steering stabilizer I’ve had sitting in the corner of the garage for probably almost ten years now. The old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra will start getting overruled if time ever gets on my side. But the console/cupholder was the last thing I think it really needed. It was put together with just metal scraps I had laying around (never throw anything out!). The lock and cupholders were the only parts purchased for the project:

The lock-box is not exactly vault-grade high security, but definitely alot tougher to get into than the plastic junk adorning most vehicles. It was tricky getting things positioned to not interfere with the shifters. I was not even sure how the sub was going to be in that respect until I got it in there and started mocking things up. Good thing I did not get the 12″ model, because the 10″ only just barely fits.