Update on projects and stuff (Patreon)

Hi folks! I didn't manage to finish the episode yet so I figured an update was in order.

The biggest development and news -- Bendpak 2-post lift finally arrived and it's up and running! Been waiting on this puppy for a year and a half now and I'm so happy that for the first time in my life I have my own 2-post lift! 

Luuk, Bendpak importer from the Netherlands, came again to help me install it and we had some mishaps along the way. He shipped the lift to Frankfurt two days before his arrival. It was 40°C (105F) out that day and we unpacked it without paying much attention and just as we were about to start installing it, we realized it was the wrong model lift.
He accidentally fork-lifted in the shipping truck a wrong package that had a low ceiling lift in it. It lifts up only to 1.2 meters. So he drove back to Amsterdam on the same day, rented a tow truck and brought the correct lift the following day at midnight. Absolute legend. 

We got it installed and to our great disappointment, it didn't work. It was lifting very, very slowly. Managed to lift the E46 only once and then it was done, wouldn't go up or down. We first suspected the pressure regulating valve so we replaced it, no change. Then the power unit/pump assembly, Luuk sent me a new one, no change. I rechecked the whole lift, routing of the cables, lines and lubed up moving parts to no avail.

At that point, I got frustrated and wrote an email to Bendpak. Ended up emailing with their newly appointed CEO Jeff Kritzer, very nice person and very technically knowledgeable, he's the inventor of QuickJack. We concluded that the hydraulic cylinder that lives in the top beam was faulty, clogged or whatever. They air shipped a new cylinder from California and it was here in 1 day. Of course, it took another 5 days to deal with German customs, but today it arrived, I popped it in and the lift is finally working properly! This caused a lot of delays, but I was overjoyed to see it take project Marseilles up and down with ease!

As you might know, the concrete in this old garage isn't the greatest so Luuk designed reinforcement plates, had them made by the machine shop, welded them to the post and then anchored them to the floor as added reinforcement. Brilliant idea and extra protection. Luuk is simply an awesome guy, really went out of his way to help me.

In between all of this, I was out of town for 4 days to attend a wedding and since I came back on Monday, I started working on project Marbais, E30 320i. Hooked up the cooling system and got the engine up to operating temperature. Running as good as it did before the meeting with the tree!
I paint corrected the front end to a gloss mirror finish to match the rest of the car and applied ceramic coating. The paint looks immaculate and guys from Poland did a fantastic job fixing it up. Just look at that paint match between the front fender and the door. Perfection! It is a crazy clean car and the paint pops like nothing else.

I addressed the ridiculous ride height and lowered it with Eibach springs, but I'm not happy. The front end is about perfect but the rear is still too high and it looks weird. I'm waiting on different spring pads to play around and l'll try to level it. I'm also trying to get a complete exhaust system from Simons as the final blueberry on the cake. Hopefully, that video will be done towards the end of the next week.

Jason Cammisa is coming to Europe beginning of September. I told him, take whatever you want during your stay: E39 M5, E60 M5, E46 325i... he said nope. I want the E30. So he'll be taking that on a lovely road trip through the Alps in Switzerland and Italy with his friends. The man says driving slow cars fast is more fun than driving fast cars fast. I actually said the same thing before I kissed a tree in December lol. 

Project Cologne -- got new summer shoes! CSL style 18" rims from VMR and it looks freaking glorious! I bent Style 135 twice and even after straightening them out, they were still shaking on the Autobahn so I opted for new rims and I can't stop looking at the E46 now, absolutely love it.

Project Chicago, Alpina B7 -- stuck waiting on bumpers. Again bad experience with local body shops. The first shop didn't grind down the front bumper to bare plastic and just applied primer. It started lifting the very next day. Then the guy got Covid and after that, he had a 3-week long vacation so I had to take everything to a different shop.
That guy then took 4 weeks to tell me he can't save the front bumper. So I had to buy a used stock E65 bumper and a brand new Alpina lip. The lower section on stock E65 bumper needs to be cut and then Alpina lip glued to it. Stupid design that no one wants to do, but whatever. The lip finally arrived today so I'm taking everything to the shop tomorrow. He promised it'll be done end of next week, but I doubt it at this point

Project X5 -- got all of the parts in stock ready to do valve stems seals. Once I finish E30, I'm starting with that next. I'm also not sure about Style 214 rims that it was originally delivered with, they just seem too aggressive and every single 4.8i X5 has them. I'm thinking of getting Style 333 rims for it, pics included. Let me know what you think.

That's about it! Tomorrow I'll install a winch in the dojo, drag project Frankfurt, E92 M3 inside and have a proper look underneath and dive into the engine. That will be the next episode which I hope won't take too long to make. Oh, I got in touch with the original owner from the US and also the guy from Latvia that bought it at auction and imported it to Europe! Got some great additional info there.

Many thanks for your support and patience as always!