E36 M3ter’s Full

Aeromoto stopped by this afternoon & helped me pinpoint the whining noise I've been hearing is coming from the rear end. He didn't think it sounded too bad, but since it probably still has the original 18-year old fluid in it I'll drain/fill & check for any metal and/or damage. 
 

I also started on the next project - getting the over-cab area better setup for our gliders' cages. First step was ripping out all the carpeted panels & trying to sort through which wiring is still in use. 
 

Then a bit of CAD work(of sorts).

Since there's no insulation up there, the first step will be to adhere some 1" pink/green foam board to the inside of the fiberglass cap. Then I'll weld up a 4' x 22" x 20" rack to hold the cages, which I'll also use 1" foam board as the walls/partitions, then finish it off, as well as the rest of the open space, with Polywall so it'll be easy to keep clean.
 

I may be able to reuse one of the doors I removed to make an enclosed storage space to the right of cages. it would be a convenient location for shoes & hats. 

Since this weekend is spring break & we'll basically be stuck at home, I went across town before work today & picked up 50' of 1" square 16ga tubing. I haven't bought any in about 15-years, but it seemed cheap to me at $78 including tax?

I got all the steel cut to length today.
 

I'll need to true up the ends a bit before I start welding, but fortunately I'm a better grinder than welder, so that shouldn't be a problem. 
 

I also have about 6' of leftover tubing, plus some small scraps, so I lay a few practice beads & make sure the mig is dialed in before I ruin any of my work from today. 

Well I'm apparently not that good of a grinder. I need to remind myself before I take on another project like this to invest in a decent miter saw, as the one I own now is so flexible it's basically useless. 
 

I did manage to get some steel stuck together. My welds still suck & I had some blow-through, but I think part of that was due to E36 M3ty fitment of the joints. It's definitely easier welding with this welder & gas than it was with my old HF flux box. 
 

Here's the first section welded up - except for a bar across the top that will be flush with the remaining wood above it. But I'll wait until I have the whole thing assembled & know exactly where the final position will be before welding that in. 
 

And a rough approximation of how the cages will fit into it. I need to shorten the cage handles after I know exactly how much room there will be. 
 

Pete, is this going in the overhead?  Be aware of noggin bumping on that, if so.  Also, if you can "rattle proof" it a little bit.  Might make you nuts while driving.  The rack looks good, paint covers a multitude of sins.  By the way, how's the fuel situation turning out?

In reply to Dirtydog (Forum Supporter) :

Yeah, I'm definitely going to be adding some padding to the bottom of it! With the insulation that'll be between the rack rails, Polywall covering, and the cages being latched in, I think the rattles will be pretty minimal.

Other than the sketchy fuel filler hose connection - I barely got the pipe inserted the width of the hose clamp - it seems to run well. 

I still need to drain/check/fill the differential, pull the rear wheels & check the brakes, replace the grey tank dump valve, de-winterize it & probably several other things I'm forgetting, before storm season arrives on June 1st. 

I finished fabbing up the critter cage rack this evening. It's right up there with my typically shoddy quality of work, but it's bound to be safer & more secure than just sticking their cages up there with a couple bungees to hold them in. 
 

I may have to find a lower profile ceiling light, but I need to get it finished & mounted to see where everything ends up. 
 

Somehow it looks like I spent the day working in a coal mine...

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Where's the smiling Pete we all know? I think that's the first time I haven't seen you smiling.

In reply to Stampie :

I was way too tired, filthy, sweaty & hungry to smile at that moment. 

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

I understand that.

I was pretty beat from yesterday & didn't make it to Home Depot until afternoon, but I did make a little progress. 
 

Thanks to nocone's tip I picked up a roll of builders board, which I used to make a rough template of the fiberglass fairing. 
 

Then a test fit & some more trimming. 
 

Then I transferred it to the insulation, and after a couple test fits, ended up here. 
 

It doesn't fit perfectly flush with the sides, but that's ok. I'm planning on anchoring it with liquid nails, then add a 2nd piece of insulation board on top of this(bringing it to 1" total), and adhering Polywall as the final finish. 

So I can now use this piece as a template for the left side, and a rough template for the next 2 pieces. Then I'll use that piece as a template for the Polywall.  

I'll have to address this cavity down at the front, but I'm hoping a few layers of foam will get it fairly close to level with the shelf that's already up there. 
 

Also, the DSM has officially been upgraded from "project cad" to "shelf". But that's ok because "I'm gonna fix it up someday".

Progress has been slow, but I got both pieces of 1/2" insulation cut for each side & glued into place. 
 

I stopped posting updates, because honestly progress had been pretty minimal. However, I took this week off, and after spending about 3x as long as I expected it to take, I finally got it done. Well, mostly... I still need to cut & paint the 1" square tube that will hold the cages in place, and I need to work out exactly how I'm going to modify & mount the new handles to the cages. 
 

Anyway, here's the finished product. 

I created an access panel in the left bay, just in case I ever need to get to the A/V system wiring. 

And on the right hand side I created a small storage cubby. I took this pic before installing the rack, because you can't really see much of it afterwards. 

My plan is/was to reuse one of the original storage compartment doors to cover the opening for this one, but I don't remember where I put the hardware & haven't found it yet...

I'd estimate it took 60+ hours to complete, while I was expecting half that or less, but I think it's a solution that will work. 

Now I need to get the half-dozen other projects done before hurricane season on 6/1, or at least before our next trip later that month. 

So doing it in double time means that you've beat the average of completing a project in 10 times the estimate.

In reply to Stampie :

Honestly a lot of it was spent with my head tilted sideways looking at it, trying to remember what all I still need to do, while simultaneously trying to figure out what I should do next. Oh, and sweating, a whole lot of sweating...

Oh, I did have one small "oopsie" event this week. I was trying to adhere the Polywall tub surround material to the xps foam board, both of which are made of polystyrene. I used Liquid Nails, since it worked well for the xps & says it works on "most construction materials". I glued the 2 parts together with weights on them & let them set overnight. The next morning I removed the weights & started assembling things only to notice them slowly moving.

glueguy was able to point me toward 3M spray adhesive, which worked great - after redoing these 2 pieces, obviously. 

I admire your dedication to your pets.  After having various pets most of my life I've found my happy place with one cat, but each of us has their own happy pet place and your animals are so lucky to have you to care for them.   

In reply to Sonic :

Thank you! With sugar gliders(and some other exotic pets) you really need to go into it understanding the dedication that's required. Unfortunately many people don't, and many exotic pet dealers also don't bother to educated their customers. Which is why 4 of our current 8 gliders were surrendered by their previous owners. 

I did get the first pair of handles reformed & installed on one cage. I ended up having to mount the front handle differently than the rear for clearance inside the rack, which I kind of expected. 
 

Front:

Rear:

The cage fits nice & snug in the rack. I tried all-3 positions, and was happy/surprised it clears the ceiling light in the middle spot. 
 

And here's a pic showing the clearance of the rack relative to the side door. The rack hangs about 10" out past where the edge of the over-cab compartment was, but fortunately doesn't quite intrude on the entryway space. 
 

Interesting update. I got the differential sealed & filled, and was going to take it for a drive after work, but it wouldn't start & the gas gauge barely reached the E when I turned the key on. I poured in about a gallon & got it to start, but when Aeromoto stopped by on 4/2 it still had about 1/2-tank. 
 

I'm pretty sure someone siphoned our gas... Unless it could have some how evaporated in 2-months?

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Pretty sure you'll need to deputize the raccoons to catch the thief.  Unless they were the ones that did it.

In reply to Stampie :

I think you meant "weaponize".

Oh I also discovered today that the headlight assembly on the 2004 E450 RV is a completely different design than the ones on the 2006 E250. 

Ok, so I'm a dumbass and/or this RV is berkeleying with me(probably both).

After discovering the missing gas, I went out Thursday to see if it would start any easier. It didn't, so I didn't bother trying ether, but the gas gauge was still on E. I got a locking gas cap Friday & attempted to start it again - the gauge went up to 3/4 tank when I turned the key. Although I still had to use ether to get it to fire, it ran fine afterwards, just like the first time. 

I did a bunch of work to it yesterday, but most of it was spent trying to get the retracting steps working again. I'd read online that it used a power window motor, so I cross-referenced the p/n on mine to a Ford E-series. Convenient. No one had the motor in stock, but I found a complete regulator/motor assembly. Unfortunately after getting it home & disassembling it, it's completely different & wouldn't work. Finally, I went back to the web & found the step motor cross referenced to a 90's Taurus. I pulled up pics online & it looks identical, so that's currently on order.

However, I had the motor completely torn apart while trying to find a way to make the regulator assembly I bought work, so while it was apart I cleaned/lubed it, and clocked it about 90* from where it was. So of course it works perfectly now. 

I also finished de-winterizing it & purged all the air out of the water lines. In the process the bathroom faucet started leaking under one of the knobs, so I picked up a new one & got it installed. 

Finally last night I took it for a short drive. I had to use ether again to get it started, but the fuel gauge still showed 3/4-tank, and it ran fine...for about 5-miles. Then it developed a miss & would barely run, and by the time I got the 2-miles back home it could barely idle. Joy. 

There's no CEL, but we're thinking it could be fuel related. I just downloaded Forscan & already had the correct OBDII connector for Ford, so I'll see if I can pull any real-time monitors this week that might indicate the problem.