Replaced a few vacuum control lines

In my quest to make the engine run a bit smoother still, I recently replaced a few of the vacuum lines that attach to a check valve which, in turn, attaches to the brake booster.

The hoses were all hardened with age and in my efforts to pull them off said check valve, the valve splintered into three pieces (made of plastic).  On hearing that the replacement piece would be a whopping $42.- I decided to try what my friend Karl calls "shadetree mechanic" and got out the old twin tube Epoxy glue and glued the pieces back together.

Initially, it didn't work.  However, it then occurred to me to try and pressurize the bond, so I cleaned it all up, re-glued it, and then, over two days, put each bonded part in my vise and clamped it down fairly tight.

Tada!! After the second day, I *could* not pull it apart even though I tried, so I figured I'd give it a try...  It's now all put together and the engine, as expected, is yet another tad bit smoother...  Hopefully, if my taxes are approved, major suspension upgrades coming soon, stay tuned!

Transmission fill-up

This has been a while, but I managed to fill the transmission back up with Valvoline 80W 90 gear oil (a bit heavier than the usual 75W 90) in the hope that the leak would lessen, but that didn't really work...

Oh well, it isn't bad enough to not drive...   There was a little problem involving the local Pep Boys selling my a gasoline siphon pump to use to pump gear oil into the transmission (they took it back readily enough), but other than that, once I had the proper hand-pump, it was a matter of about 30 minutes total to get the transmission filled.

I should mention here that I called a local BMW dealership to ask about the capacity of the manual trasmission (oil-wise) because the capacity listed in the manual (1.25L) seemed a but small... BIG mistake... Upon being told that the capacity of an E30 MANUAL transmission (I asked twice) was 8.1L (!!), I went and bought 9 bottles of the gear oil, only to find that after a couple of bottles, the transmission was full!  So much for infallible info from the dealer...

But all that is in the past and the car's running well now!

Small transmission scare

So I figured I'd check the oil level in my transmission, considering I'd noticed that the back of the housing's been pretty wet...

So I put Liesel up on jackstands and took out the filler plug.  Normally, the oil level is supposed to be flush with the bottom of your finger.  However, as far down as I was able to reach, there was nothing...  So I pulled her off the jackstands (to allow for level ground and all that), STILL NOTHING!!  

The only thing I've noticed so far during driving, however has just been that the transmission is a tad louder when completely cold, but that noise goes away when it warms up.  In order to play it safe however, I left her at home today, will fill up fluid (and possibly add leak sealant) and then take her out again...

Will also monitor for rate of leakage, I know I'm going to have to replace the output shaft seal sooner or later...

Hesitation is fixed!!

Fixed!!  It's finally fixed!!  Turns out that the "hesitation" I was experiencing when coming out of a standing start was due to the platinum spark plugs I put in when I did the head job!  And I thought they were the best to get...

Everyone on the BMW boards kept saying that the platinums were no good and that I should ditch them since they don't conduct electricity as well (and I guess the spark isn't hot enough).  They also kept saying that everyone who had tried them had nothing but bad things to say.

Turns out they were right.  This morning I put in the Bosch Supers (plain ole copper conductor plugs) and boy!!  WHAT a difference!!  The hesitation is completely gone, the acceleration is smooth and strong, just... overall SWEET!!

Now that the engine saga is FINALLY over, I can concentrate on other smaller stuff and hopefully get started on the suspension soon.