02 Mar Through The Looking Glass
We’ve always prided ourselves on providing looks into the shop that you might not even get on one of our shop tours.
Since many aren’t privy to the behind-the-scenes work that takes place when their car is in for service or performance work, we’ve always tried to provide a much more transparent look into the world of the automotive garage. Whether it’s the internal structure of a Vibrant pass-through resonator that is in the middle of your midsection, or some artsy close-up of our welds, we like showing off things that aren’t exactly seen every day. Speaking of which, here are some pictures of exactly the two things we mentioned. Also, because we’re trendy and have seen some people showing off their weld size in comparison to a coin, we’ve done the same. Either that, or we’ve chosen to weld a quarter to the next E39 M5 midsection we make. Which is it?!?! We’re not telling.
In a nice little hybridization between the topic du jour and things brought up earlier in the week, we have some close-ups of the cam gears, which play an obviously pivotal role in timing the 2.3L Merc motor we discussed in blog posts past. In order to give you an idea of what it takes to time this car, the chain must be positioned correctly prior to putting on the front cover. Once you have the chain held in place with zip-ties, bolt the cover back on. From there, the cam gears have to be aligned exactly correctly. On the chain, there’s one link that’s darker than the rest. That link must land on the cam gear’s teeth so that the L or R is directly beneath it (there’s an arrow on the R to help you out). From there, the other cam gear must be positioned so that the two yellow lines straddle the dot/line on the other cam gear. And this all has to be done in conjunction with the correct positions of a few other parts. Kind of a pain in the ass? A bit, but there’s far worse. Plus, we have the added benefit of being able to sit down while we time it, since the motor’s out. Working AND sitting? Sign me up!
Finally, there’s almost one place we never show you on the blog. It’s our ‘parts graveyard’ that consists of old parts that have been either left behind by the owner, or left out to die since they don’t work anymore. While we do have a fair amount of OEM exhaust pieces (midsections, mufflers, the whole shebang), the piece we probably have the greatest number of is springs. OEM or aftermarket, they’re all represented in this collection.
Have a fantastic weekend!
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