What did you do to your E9 today?

[Willem Tell]

Nice and neat!
I didn't have time to do the wiring to the console yet, as I'm driving to Oldenzaal tomorrow to install a newly rebuilt Getrag 265 5-speed, balanced drive shaft, and rebuild the diff while there!

 

[adawil2002]

@Willem Tell, most excellent! You are going to absolutely love the 5-speed! Made Athena much more enjoyable to drive.

 

[Willem Tell]

I just got back from my 1800km (1118 miles) journey from Switzerland to the Netherlands to have my tranny replaced with a 5-speed.
The Unicorn ran great the whole way, and the performance/enjoyment was greatly enhanced by three things:

1. The warm hospitality of Keshav and his wife, Ute. I stopped to say Hi on the way up, and they offered their hospitality for a stop-over on the way back, as my 4-hour first (return) leg had turned into an 8-hour traffic jammed marathon!
2. The electric fan mod, which proved its worth in an hour-long traffic stall near Köln (Cologne). Temp stayed steady through it all.
3. The heater bypass valve from Old Air Products. I was able to drive comfortably at 120-130 kph the whole way with the windows fully closed, and relatively cool air being pushed in through the console fan with no heat from the heater box ~~almost like air conditioning!

Germany requires masks in all public shops so...


The tranny builder in the Netherlands, Michael Hullemann, had already sent me some "tranny porn" of the build process:



When I arrived the Getrag 265 was all ready cleaned and prepped, so we set about getting The Unicorn on the lift and getting my 4-speed out.




Mike pulled the bell housing to clean and sand blast my bell housing to match the clean gearbox.



He got the tranny mounted,



then set about rebuilding my diff with all new bearings and seals:


Then the newly cut and balanced driveshaft was installed:


The conversion was definitely worth it. You know what an M30 sounds like @ 3500 rpm... I literally roared my way to NL @ 120kph/3500 rpm. The ride back was a "cool, calm, and collected" 2500 rpm at 120 kph. Very nice change!

I went for a spin with Keshav at the wheel of the Unicorn after the tranny change. I was pleased to hear from him that "it drives even better than it looks"!
Even more so since it now sports a genuine Petri leather CSL steering wheel thanks to Keshav!

 

[Stevehose]

How long did they take to do all this? Spectacular

 

[adawil2002]

Knew you'd love that 5-speed!

 

[Willem Tell]

How long did they take to do all this? Spectacular

We started on Monday morning around 10:00 and were done with this by Wednesday afternoon around 5:00pm. That included cutting and modifying my linkage for the shorter E12 shifter mount,


and fabricating a new mount for the exhaust after the downpipe. Michael came up with a clever mount using a big transmission mount from a 2002, so it's better than before! Fortunately, Oldenzaal's exhaust fabricator uses a pattern that anticipates a 5-speed, so no modification of the pipes was necessary.


But with the added 5th gear, that original mounting point moves 10cm rearward to the curved part so Michael cut/used the bracket and mounted it to the forked tranny mount location at the end of the tranny:

He pulled the diff, separated it, replaced all of the bearings and seals and had it back together between 09:00 and maybe 2:00pm on Wednesday, including a lunch break.
After that he did a great valve adjustment, helped me to correct a big patch of paint lost inside my wheel well from a master cylinder leak long ago.

We cleaned up the pipes and got really good seals on all of the joints (for the first time).

Michael rebuilds boxes and can send them out as a kit with the shifter, Guibo, etc. He did a lot of added-value work, all as part of our original agreed price. He didn't even charge me for "helping"!
Michael Hulleman email: mailto:[email protected]

 

[Willem Tell]

Replaced the fuel lines on the injector rail AGAIN!
I noticed the morning of my drive home from NL that I had a strong fuel smell. Checked everywhere, but did not see any leaks. Next morning at Keshav's, same thing. Again, both of us checked and did not see any leaking fuel.
This morning I got up, and with the engine hood open, I checked immediately, with everything cold. Sure enough I saw #6 injector body was wet, then checked again, and found fuel spraying from the hose of injector #4.

I took the runners off for access, and tried just hitting the key to run the pump for it's primer cycle (several times), but not leaks visible.

I got the bright idea that I could use my spare fuel pump to apply pressure to the lines, so I rigged up an alternate supply system. I remembered that I had just trashed a used MBZ filter, so I dug it out of the bag (I had not yet tossed).

Even with direct pressure on the fuel rail, I couldn't force the leak without the injectors operating. I find that those smooth, unbarbed ends of the fuel rail are difficult to seal, as they are not truly 8mm, like the Gates Universal Fuel Hose.

In rummaging through my hose collection to make my jury-rigged system, I found a half meter of MBN 73379 B fuel line from my Mercedes. That hose is 7.5mm ID, and much "stickier" that the Gates hose. So I made up new sections and replaced all of the injector hoses and had enough left over for the rail connections. Everything sealed perfectly!

I had a real heart-stopper moment when I restarted the motor, as I had a really loud tapping, like a valve hitting a piston. I immediately shut off the engine after about 3-4 seconds. I inspected to see if I had left anything loose in the engine compartment, nope. I tried it again for about 4 seconds, same thing. Oh crap!

I set my phone to take a short video and restarted the motor. Before I could hit the video start, the noise stopped and the engine smoothed out.

Fuel absent from one cylinder causing the valves on that cylinder to behave differently? I hope I didn't hurt anything, but it's idling like a dream now!

While I had the runners off, I noticed that the connector for the air sensor was beat up, and wrapped in tape. I cut off the connector and replaced it with a new connector and proper boot.

 

[HB Chris]

The overdrive is 18% taller so rpm at 3500 should drop by 600 at the same speed.

 

[Eric V]

We started on Monday morning around 10:00 and were done with this by Wednesday afternoon around 5:00pm. That included cutting and modifying my linkage for the shorter E12 shifter mount,
View attachment 97700

and fabricating a new mount for the exhaust after the downpipe. Michael came up with a clever mount using a big transmission mount from a 2002, so it's better than before! Fortunately, Oldenzaal's exhaust fabricator uses a pattern that anticipates a 5-speed, so no modification of the pipes was necessary.
View attachment 97699

But with the added 5th gear, that original mounting point moves 10cm rearward to the curved part so Michael cut/used the bracket and mounted it to the forked tranny mount location at the end of the tranny:
View attachment 97701

He pulled the diff, separated it, replaced all of the bearings and seals and had it back together between 09:00 and maybe 2:00pm on Wednesday, including a lunch break.
After that he did a great valve adjustment, helped me to correct a big patch of paint lost inside my wheel well from a master cylinder leak long ago.

We cleaned up the pipes and got really good seals on all of the joints (for the first time).

Michael rebuilds boxes and can send them out as a kit with the shifter, Guibo, etc. He did a lot of added-value work, all as part of our original agreed price. He didn't even charge me for "helping"!
Michael Hulleman email: mailto:[email protected]
View attachment 97702

@Willem Tell I have been disappointed not to be able to meet the E9-ers and see their cars at social gatherings this year but posts like yours are helping with that a lot. Really great stories and photos! Your car is awesome. Enjoying from afar.

 

[Willem Tell]

The overdrive is 18% taller so rpm at 3500 should drop by 600 at the same speed.

I'm sure your math is right... I didn't makes notes, but I believe I was at 3500@130 kph, and that came down to 2800(ish)@130kph according to my tacho. 120kph was a comfortable 2500 or so.

 

[mulberryworks]

So today is the birthday of my 2800CS, Hedwig. It's July 24th, 1970 so that makes her 50 years old. I had hoped I'd be able to take her for a nice drive on this day, but life has conspired to keep me from completing her rejuvenation.

No matter, it will happen and I marked the day with some garage cleanup and presenting her with the new windshield I've bought for her.
I put on my best 70's style shirt to go with my 70's hair growth and posed for a photo.

Not only is this the 50th year for this car, I bought her in Hawaii, the 50th state.

 

[shanon]

Manipulated her...............

 

[Michael Kaye]

Quick drive, alfresco dinner and then joined by George our local celebrity fox.

 

[boonies]

So I have had this car only a few months, and it was sitting, mostly unused for many years. Today I finished polishing the interior chrome to remove the pitting. Very successfull for the most part. one of the rear window switches as an example.

As I pulled down the rear grips on the headliner I noticed how incredibly dirty the headliner was (underneath the fasteners was extremely clean), so I used Einzett heavy duty cleaner to clean the headliner from front to back. What an amazing difference!

Also a copy of the headliner clean and the passenger sum visor, not yet cleaned, but a fair comparison of what the rest looked like before clean up.

 

[Michael Kaye]

Today I finished polishing the interior chrome to remove the pitting.

Fantastic job. Looks great.

What did you use as a metal polish?

 

[boonies]

Fantastic job. Looks great.

What did you use as a metal polish?

Thanks, I am using Flitz BU 03515 with 0000 steel wool, I am pleased with the results so far.

 

[Michael Kaye]

Thanks, I am using Flitz BU 03515 with 0000 steel wool, I am pleasant with the results so far.

Thank you. Will check it out.

 

[shanon]

Port matched and polished intake manifolds...they're 'smoothier'

 

[Stan]

Washed the grime off. Had to use real water and soap after the dirt boggin trip!
Never trust those Audi guys...

 

[adawil2002]

Yeah, those Audi guys...Great tour, in the wrong car.