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Big updates for the car! I'm up in WI visiting family so progress is halted.
We'll start with the shit.
SO. When I was replacing my AC pulley, I bumped the cooling fans into the upper radiator hose and broke the nipple for the reservoir/overflow hose. Bought a Gates replacement and had it on in a few minutes. Started leaking where the rubber hose was crimped onto the plastic (specifically at the oil filter housing). Got that warrantied. Then I noticed I was still losing coolant, much less than before but there was still some liquid on the belly pan. Did some investigating and turns out the upper hose neck on the radiator had a pinhole crack/leak. Guess it was from when I yanked the hoses off. Tried using the O'Reilly brand one, it did not match in the slightest. Then I tried the Autozone one, which is for automatic cars and has the extra port on it. There was some official BMW part number to replace the drain plug on one side, I suppose to cap off the line internally. Really didn't feel like dicking with it at that point, I returned it and bought a Mahle-Bear OEM one off ECS which is probably sitting at my house now. Also got a new lower rad hose and a thermostat->head hose.
But now I got the Bilstein B12 Pro kit installed!!!! Got new top hats and rear shock mounts to go with it - picked up the upgraded upper rear shock mount from Monroe (907984) as well. Old mounts were in decent shape - nice to see normal wear and tear and nothing surprising. Install went quite well - there were a few 'BMW tricks' I had to learn. Used a real stubby flathead to spread the spindle for the front - literally the perfect side. The tip fit in (wide-ways in) but then I just had to use a mallet to push it in. Then for the rear it was cumbersome squeezing the shock then moving it into place before it expands.
Also definitely 110% absolutely didn't forget the washers for the tophats (one of 2 that spreads the load across the bearing). I thought it was just the bearing seal that broke off or something, then I looked closer at RealOEM and saw it did indeed need to go in. Also forgot one of the dust boots for the rear upper shock mount. Basically had to redo the front and 1 rear but the 2nd time around took like 45 minutes (for 3/4 corners) vs a few hours. ALSO one of the front control arm bolts stripped. Got that sitting in the mail too.
Cannot wait to drive it.
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