Where did the summer go? Days are getting shorter, nights are getting colder and the kids are back in school. Well not mine, but maybe yours. We don’t start school in Michigan until after Labor Day so families have one last hurrah to pump up the tourist industry. Speaking of pump it up – tourist-based segue! – I finally installed the power steering pump line on the Bavaria. There was a leak I had repaired at a local tractor supply shop. He cut out the bad section and crimped on a union to hold the remaining pieces together. Those tractor people fix a lot of hydraulic lines. It could blow the second I turn the wheel, but it’s fixed for now. See that shiny little part just above the brake master cylinder in the pic below? That’s it installed. I think I paid $25 bucks vs. not finding an original.
The BMW has been on hold for months while I worked on another project that was in a barn for 25 years. More on that later.
“Whatever, you tease.”
What did you call me? As I was saying, I don’t want to talk about the Toyota now, back to the BMW.
“Oh la la, so it’s a Toyota.”
Yeah, smart pants, it’s a Toyota. But that’s all I’m going to say about the front engine rear-wheel drive platform ok?!
“Fine. Tease.”
The very bottom pic is the top of the strut tower. The 50 mm x 1.5 mm threaded nut that holds the shock inside broke apart when we tried to torch it and crank it out. Yes, we soaked it for days. Then we tried to cut the shock out to gain access to the threads. That didn’t work. Then I turned it over to the mechanical mind of Alister. More on Al later.
“Again with the tease?!”
Yes, get passed it. Al da’ man, short for Alister, took a drill to the shock and then slipped in a sawzall to cut the threads apart and now I’m back in business. The business of spending more money.
The final pieces of the completely rebuilt-front-end-puzzle are new shock tower mounts. Shouldn’t be a big deal. Shock mounts are like $40 bucks a piece right? Nope. $300 a piece. This four door saloon doesn’t have a typical ball joint set up for steering. The entire tower rotates at the top via a bearing pressed inside the mount. Since all this rubber is close to 50 years old and one bearing race was rusted out, I ponied up the cashish for two new ones… plus dust caps… plus a new spacer plate… plus another set of threaded nuts…
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