OV9

Started off refitting the repaired bumper bracket and polishing out some of the impact marks. After backing into a fence while picking up some alfasud parts. Went reasonably ok. Bumper definitely needs painting at some point, the left corner now matches the right which was scuffed before I bought it…

Then, as the mot is due end of the month I thought I’d replace the brake pipe which runs over the rear subframe. It was dodgy last year, I rubbed the flakey bits off and smothered it in a mixture of grease and stonechip which had held up remarkably well.

Utter sod of a job. Spent ages removing a huge underside guard to get better access. It didn’t help at all. Ended up dropping the subframe to get the pipe union. Even then could only get 1/3 of a turn at a time on it.

Finally got the wheels back on and dropped it to the ground at 7:30

At least I won’t have the worry that the rusty pipe could pop at any moment any more

Tyres are wearing thin on the inside edge, all x5s do it to some degree, mine being lower doesn’t help and there’s limited adjustment in the standard suspension. Need to decide whether a set of adjustable upper arms will pay for themselves in reduced tyre wear

Picking up the Merc tomorrow from the garage - they've been attending to a couple of warranty items for the last few days.

i) My drivers door lock sometimes didn't unlock, despite the 'pin' rising in the door card when I unlocked it - new door lock under warranty.
ii) One of face vent motors has failed and gone all noisy - I had one of the others replaced under warranty a few years ago, and now this one failed. It's a dash out job to replace. Total £800+ for these two pieces of work.

I'll be happy to get it back after driving the Yeti since last week. I will swap out the battery in the next few days as Covid killed it.

Hoovered and cleaned the interior of the Galaxy. Reckon it sits an inch higher after removing all the child-created muck.

Noticed that the paint on the O/S front wing is rather sad. It was replaced after someone drove into it five (I think, can't remember) years ago. Not great workmanship, annoyingly. There are four chips where the paint has just fallen off. They're not big, but enough to be noticeable.

8x OEM BMW coil packs from the land of freedom

The invoice the seller produced for shipping purposes

There’s still some good people out there

Warning – possibly the most dullest post in ov9’s history.

So back in December 2023 I used an ebay kit to chemically blacken the Evora’s rusty wheel bolts (to make them prettier, and to provide some level of corrosion protection).

Just a few months later (Apr-24) I posted an image of one of my wheels and Mito noticed the wheel bolts were showing surface corrosion again. And he was bastard correct. Another Lotus forum user who had used the same cold-blackening process on a brand new set of bolts seemed to have far longer lasting results.

(Aside : you can of course buy aftermarket bolts that are already blackened, but none of them incorporate the captive tapered washer - designed to avoid damage to the bolt seat area on the wheel. Which I’d obviously much prefer to keep).

So I finally relented and bought a new set of OEM wheel nuts, with the intent to purchase another cold-blackening chemical kit. Then I decided that - since I was splurging out for a new set of nuts - I might as well spend a little more and do a proper job. I got Eliseparts to send a new set directly to a metal finishing/electroplating company to have them zinc coated with black passivation.

They are now black. Which is good.

And should not corrode. Which is also good.

As per the very exciting images attached, I also took the opportunity to purchase a wheel mounting alignment tool/pin thing that I should probably have bought 30+ years ago. For less than a tenner it makes removing wheels marginally easier (maybe?), and replacing wheels far easier (when you have a car which uses wheel bolts as opposed to captive studs plus wheel nuts and could really do with 3 arms).

Eagle-eyed readers may also notice that the latest Lotus bolts are longer than the original ones. 31mm thread vs 26mm. So that’s 5 better per bolt. But on top of that – due to different bolt geometry the new ones are 3g lighter…. a 60g overall vehicle weight saving! Colin Chapman would be proud of me.

I sat bolt upright when I saw this post, can honestly say I was riveted! It is nuts how well you screwed the narrative together, simply nailed it.

10/10. Would read again.

Mik, you’re nuts. i’ve read (and posted) far duller. I think we should torque about this sort of thing on here more.

DeskJockey wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 6:39 pm I sat bolt upright when I saw this post, can honestly say I was riveted! It is nuts how well you screwed the narrative together, simply nailed it.

10/10. Would read again.

Those puns are shameful, you fucking spanner.

Beany wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 7:45 pm

DeskJockey wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 6:39 pm I sat bolt upright when I saw this post, can honestly say I was riveted! It is nuts how well you screwed the narrative together, simply nailed it.

10/10. Would read again.

Those puns are shameful, you fucking spanner.

You're just jealous I got there first. You wingnut.

You are such a tool.

I bought one of those locator pins a while ago - they do work well but I find it annoying to screw in and out and ended up not using it.

Do the longer bolts still seat fully and not project out of the back of the hub?

Jobbo wrote: Wed Mar 12, 2025 8:38 pm Do the longer bolts still seat fully and not project out of the back of the hub?

Yeah - they were standard fit on later 'vora 'pparently.

Having a knurled finish on the end of something you want to protect the wheel, silly.

Dave!

The one supplied in the standard bmw tool kit is just a nice shiny shaft.

New ones probably don’t come with one

V8Granite wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 9:45 am Having a knurled finish on the end of something you want to protect the wheel, silly.

Dave!

Agree, but it's not sharp, isn't the part you sit the wheel on, and you need some texture to grip it with your mit (as there is no tooling feature).

I've never seen a pin thingy like this before. Where do you screw it into?

I bought new wheel nuts for the 968 when I had the wheels refurbed years ago, was nice replacing the slightly tired old ones, with shiny new ones. Little things like this are pleasing. And yes, I put a layer of wax on the wheel nuts before putting them on the car, I really am that sad

Marv wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 11:01 am I've never seen a pin thingy like this before. Where do you screw it into?

Before anyone tells you, i’d love to hear your ideas for how it could be used!

Dropped the Dakar off to get the window replaced on Tuesday. Plan was to pick it up last night then drive home today.

Good news... its covered under warranty.

Bad news... the window mechanism is faulty (which might explain how the window cracked) so that also needs replaced and there's none in the country. And there's no loan cars despite talking about booking this in for what seems like a couple of months.

So I'm off back up the road with no idea when the car will get fixed or how I'll get it back

I have to say, getting this booked in has been an absolute pain in the ar$e. I even tried to get Porsche Centre Perth to do it as it was an hour closer to us, but after 2 weeks of trying I didn't get a single email or call back.

I'm starting to have doubts that the Porsche sales experience is great because "give us your money" but that its lacking in the aftersales...

Marv wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 11:01 am I've never seen a pin thingy like this before. Where do you screw it into?

The E46 M3 had one but not sure if your CSL even has a tool kit?

Carlos wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 11:41 am

Marv wrote: Thu Mar 13, 2025 11:01 am I've never seen a pin thingy like this before. Where do you screw it into?

The E46 M3 had one but not sure if your CSL even has a tool kit?

Did it? i don’t remember ever seeing one in any of my bmws tbf!