Life sucks, officially

[ryan roopnarine]

crapedy crap crap crap

sorry to hear about your transmission peter....

i gotta threadjack, however. about 26k miles ago, when dropping the pan, i retrieved one of those plastic washer deals from the pan. is this something i should be extraordinarily concerned about? the car had 111,111 in january (when i did it). it now has 140,xxx, no sign of pendulum shift, perfectly fine in all other respects. i change the tranny fluid every 3k or 6k, depending on whether or not i change with synthetic or conventional motor oil. any comments? TIA.

[Bimmer Nut Ed]

I love my BMW Motorcycle. Actually I've got o0ne and wifey has one too, but hers does not get a lot of riding time. Next to my e34, its the most fun to drive. Mid-life crisis sure worked out well for me.

Rebuilding a manual tranny, actually sounds like fun. I've done an auto Volvo tranny once and always wondered how hard it is do to a manual. My daughters manual tranny in her 1992 535im occasionally grinds when going into 2nd no matter how nice you shift. It's very occasional, but I'd imagine, that over time, the more it grinds, the more likely it'll need to be repaired. I don't know a lot about manual trannies, but I'd suspect a bad syncro or something, correct? it's weird, cause most of the time the shifts are butter smooth. Really it's about once every 2 weeks you get a grind, and thats not with hard shifting, just real easy shifting, so it's quite a suprise when it happens.

Any way you can: Ride hard, pedal hard, drive hard.

[George M]

that's right brother...any way you can...stay hard...or at least as hard as you can :-)
You got a great toy collection Ed...the mark of a man who enjoys life :-)

[warton]

Not me doing the rebuild, though it looks pretty easy from those pictures. ;-) Seriously, I don't have the time/experience/tools/inclination/guts to do a job like this. My mechanic sends me pictures of work as he's doing stuff.

Micah...don't think you know Peter like we know Peter...don't think that Peter is doing the rebuild...however wielding the camera quite nicely :-)
George

[warton]

I trust my mechanic, so I'm assuming the rebuild will be good for many more miles. Rest of the car is in good shape, except a sagging headliner in front. In the grand scheme, for yearly costs that approach car payments of a new Corolla, I get to drive a confident, luxurious, attractive enthusiasts car. It's worth it to me (or so I keep saying). Though this would have been the perfect time to drop a 535iM drivetrain in!

Re: bikes - I'm 5'9", I ride a 56cm frame. The only things I've got that I'm not using right now are a Concorde Aquilla ('89 World Champion paint, Columbus SLX, Kestrel carbon fork, 8-speed Ultegra STI, Topline cranks, Ringle hubs, nice bike) and a 56cm Bianchi cyclocross frame/fork (aluminum). I really should sell the Concorde, but it needs a little work first. The Bianchi would make a great cyclocross/commuter bike when built up, but probably not a very good choice for recreational road riding.

Nice to see you back posting George.
Peter

Hi Peter,
Looks like you are deeeeeeep. Maybe you want to sell one of your road bikes...you got any on the block that a working stiff can afford?...or is all your stuff carbon and unobtainium. If so...what frame size you ride?
Thinking about biking more in '05....life's short...ride hard.
Good Luck with your tranny...its always a matter of time with older BMW's...you are still ahead...you will get another big block of miles out of it.
Cheers,
George

[warton]

In the garage, that is, putting together a transmission with a stiff egg nog and hat. Ho ho ho!

I assume you're going to rebuild it yourself? I've secretly always wanted to rebuild an auto tranny. I've done a manual, which had a very low part count compared to the auto.

I've never secretly wanted to do that, personally. Seriously, it's way beyond my ability... I've done a clutch once, many years ago on an International Scout Traveller; accumulators on the Touring self-leveling suspension; brakes; thermostats/hoses (no radiator yet); electrical work (including "patching" the rear hatch harnesses, that didn't last BTW); a few other things here and there, but I'm not even a shade-tree mechanic - just a hack with enough tools and not enough sense to do some of my own car repairs.

Peter

[warton]

.... he was going to see if a machine shop could clean it up. The gaskets were cooked, and the "rear apply band" showed signs of overheating. I'm waiting for an update today. Thanks for the information!

Peter

Those thrust washers are a fairly common problem in those transmissions. The soft parts are all readily available at any trans supply shop. BMW does not service those pieces individually - are any of your hard parts damaged ?

[warton]

I've passed this on to the mech.

Cheers,
Peter

There are metal replacements available for that plastic thrust washer, check around. I also suggest replacing the 3rd gear drum (right side of main pic, next to case). The lip can break off, and if fragments get between any gears the damage is severe. No upgrades available for that part, unfortunately.

Good luck

[warton]

...that run on bagels. ;-) Since we're curretly out of the house for the new floors (which I'm also not doing myself ;-), I'm not getting much riding in right now. But in the "good" years, I'll put anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 miles in on the bike. This is what allows me to drink as much egg nog as I like this time of year.

None of which is to say that mixing it up with traffic on a bicycle is a low risk activiy... I've been hit twice in my 10+ years of commuting.

Peter

Peter, what ever he says, don't let George Mann near any motorcycles....

You can get that idea out of your head now George....=) more than once, when I would get a raging case of wind in the used to be hair, you would come along to remind me of the idiots, blonde perched SUV's gabbing on cell phones and the like that made riding dangerous. So now it's my turn to pull you from the lure of danger...=)

Sorry Peter, I would be no help whatsoever with your transmission. I do know a lot of people that could help you with your hardwood floors however...

Think it's time for a 5 speed conversion???

Jr

[warton]

My local mechanic seems to be very "Bill R" like - thorough, straight forward, and highly competent. Honestly, I don't think I would still have the Bimmers without him.

Peter