Mike J's 65 Corsa project - in limbo due to lazyness

[TonyL]

Looks fantastic Mike. I like the gold inserts in the wheels. (I'd like body matched brown too, honestly)
But it looks and fits awesome! Did you use any hubcentric rings when you bolted those up? I had to on mine. 70.3 mm to 73mm

[Mike J]

Thx Tony. Nope, just bolted them up. I'm using "bulge" short lug nuts. Didn't really think I needed to go the hubcentric rings on these. The spin (and roll) true so I'm not worried.

[TonyL]

I have a friend running magnesium wheels for a new vette on his 68 camaro. Just like BMW wheels, the bolt circle is so close you can hardly tell.

Last week he hit a pothole in the bay area, and sheared 3 wheel studs right off! A hubcentric ring would have prevented that. Take a micrometer, and measure the center bore of the wheel you have. If its not exactly 2 3/4 you MUST get a ring to be safe. My rims were 2 7/8 centerbore. Im guessing factory BMW wheels are too, since that's the kind of car mine came off of. You might think that 1/8 of an inch isnt a big deal, but seeing the kind of damage that can result, and be prevented by an investment of 25 bucks, its best to be safe than sorry.

I dont mean to be preachy, but the last thing I want is to see someone who's put the blood sweat and tears you have into your car see it damaged over the lack of such a cheap part.
Tognotti's sells them. They're 25 bucks shipped. And they could save you thousands in damages, and potentially your life too.

[Mike J]

I'll measure them next time I work on the car ... which may be on Monday.

Thx

[Mike J]

Well, I climbed under the car to find out what the noise was in the rear end ... I couldn't find anything. Everything seems tight and in proper working order.
Working on the front end now. Front coils may not have been seated when I dropped the car down from the jacks. The front tires are too big so I'm triming the fender lips (don't cry too loud) down to 1/2" for clearance. I'm hoping that helps the front tires turn? Or I'm going to have to swap out the springs for another set. Mine are cut 2 coils. I might have to go to 1.5 coils instead. ?????

[Mike J]

Well, had a friend come over and blow the cobwebs out of my head. lol. We figured out all of the issues I was having with my car. Just a few more things to do and I'll be driving it around town.

Here are some of the latest pics (probably the same as before, but I'm happy now)

[Scott H]

Looking sweet! I'm glad you got the issues worked out.

[TonyL]

Oooh. Looks mean! =)

[Vanman]

Good to hear. Just in time for spring.

[Mike J]

Good Guys in Pleasanton this Saturday, but I have a few things to do first, so I won't make it. I took the car in for a 4 whl alignment and the shop told me the front ball joints need to be replaced, so they didn't do it. I have all of the parts, but wasn't ready to do the front just yet.

Soooooo I need to set the camber and toe on the rear end and just drive it like that for a bit. It seems to be running real good, but again, still has a few issues. I'll try and hammer some out tomorrow and go from there.

Raining right now big time, so that blows. And I left the car out last night (rained then too) and the neighbor's tree blossums are now doing the poka dot thing all over my car. Grrrrrrr

[Mike J]

Okay, it didn't make it in time for the Good Guys show. Last night I started doing the alignment and what a pita it is. I (apparently) had to go back and re-set all of the camber to zero, then set the toe in, now I'm going back out to re-set the camber (1 deg neg) once again and see how all that worked.

I also had my VA hooked up to the wrong port on the carb (full time vac vs ported vac) so we'll see if that helps too. Once the camber is set - it's time to do the final valve job & oil change. New pan gasket seems to be leaking. And I need to trim down the inside of the dip stick tube. After that I think I'll take the wife for a long cruise?

[Gregory_Miller]

What's your PCV setup look like on that? Maybe not quite enough draw.

[Mike J]

Greg, it's just a 3/4" tube out of the back of the air cleaner that goes over the PVC tube coming from the motor. Nothing special.

[Gregory_Miller]

So it sounds like you don't have the little orifice thingy drawing a bit of vacuum on the PCV system? Maybe that's why it's burping a little oil, at least that's what it sounds like it's doing from your post.

[flat6_musik]

New tires & wheels on my Corsa now too. Waddaya think?

Those look really nice!! Do you know the offsets of the front and rear? Are they 17's?

[Mike J]

Yep. 17"x8" all 4 with a 5" bs ... they fit perfect (if my car wasn't lowered so much) and if I wasn't such a cheap ba()^%&ard I would have bought the correct size tires, but these were such an unbelievable deal I just couldn't pass them up.

Oh and Greg .. the tiny (.089) tube is connected as well. I thought you just meant what did I do with the new air cleaner. New heads, rings, etc and it still spits oil. I still have a couple of more tricks to do before I rebuild the spare 140 though. ;-)