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7 minute(s) of a 81 minute read
11-22-2014
Time for the first update. I'm taking care of some important maintenance items and a couple upgrades to make the car safer and easier to drive. Links to the DIYs are included below.
Items completed:
1 - Oil Change
2 - Spark Plugs
3 - Headlight Replacement
4 - Shifter Rebuild/Shift Knob Replacement
Oil change was typical for any car for the most part. The oil filter housing is on the top of the engine, it takes some care to not drip oil everywhere when removing the old filter.
Spark plugs required the removal of a couple covers and brackets, as well as the passenger side cabin filter intake plenum. This was an easy job, from the look of the plugs they haven't been replaced in a long time.
One of the plugs had oil on the plug wire side, thankfully not on the cylinder side. A new valve cover gasket is needed soon.
The transmission needs a shift pin replaced. This causes the shifter to want to shift into 5th instead of third. It is noticeable but not terrible, you quickly learn to push the shifter in a more forward direction instead of to the right from second to catch third gear. My grand plan for the car is to eventually swap in a new engine with a 6 speed transmission. Instead of spending a few days tearing the transmission apart for a small issue, rebuilding the shift mechanism will tighten things up making it easier to shift accurately. The leather covered, weighted ZHP shift knob feels better in the hand and updates the interior a little bit.
Away with the old knob. There were many layers of foam and fabric insulating the cabin from the bottom of the car.
Overall taking the shift mechanism apart is easy except for one step. On top of the transmission is what is colloquially known as the "bitch clip". This complicated clip is in a location that is hard to see and even harder to access. Fighting this clip can take over an hour, you will swear so make sure any children or sensitive individuals are out of earshot.
The offending clip, removed after much anguish.
The parts on the operating table.
Old vs. new
Reassembly went much quicker than dis-assembly. There is a good amount of room to work even with the driveshaft in the way.
The rebuild kit made a big improvement. The shifting mechanism had grown vague with age which compounded the shift pin issue. Everything feels more solid, the new bushings took out most of the play and rowing the gears is much more enjoyable. The ZHP knob is perfect, has a good weight to it and spiffs up the interior by a lot.
Last item on the list is replacing the headlights. The current ones have become dull and full of moisture. The broken levelers made the beams drop to right in front of the car, a safety issue making this replacement a priority. The stock headlights are the "pre-facelift" without the famous angel eye halos so an upgrade should make a big improvement in how the car looks.
OEM Hella replacement lights cost well over $1000, even used ones regularly cost over $300 each. If this was an M5 it would make sense to drop a significant sum on the "correct" headlights. Since this car is closer to the beater end of the spectrum a $200 pair of aftermarket headlights is more fitting. I was a little apprehensive ordering the lights, especially seeing the ricyness of the company's other options. We will see how they turn out.
The old headlights are easy to remove, just a handful of bolts and some harness connections.
Don't forget the strip of silver trim that runs underneath the headlight.
Wiring is fairly easy. The halos on these lights are on the embarrassing side. A handful of dull lights distributed around the halo don't even create a full illuminated ring. If you didn't know what angel eyes looked like, these headlights wouldn't give you a great idea. Many people upgrade these cheap headlights with better halos, something I will do in the future.
These headlights actually point forward, a marked improvement over stock.
So here is the new and improved look. Although these aren't OEM they are a big appearance upgrade over the foggy stock lights. The front of a car is like a face, and us humans are wired to detect even minute differences in people's facial expressions. If the headlight proportions are even a little off you notice and it can look extremely awkward. This is why aftermarket headlights are so hit and miss. So far I'm pleased with these, certain angles can look a little off compared to stock headlights but overall they look good. Worth the $200.
As you can see below the angel eyes are pretty lacking. I wired them so they aren't on all the time as it looks chintzy with them on. There are several ways to upgrade them so I'll be looking into that.
