Track prep for Bumblestook

First track day of the season is coming up so it's time to get Bumblestook ready. Took her to SJF to get brake fluid flushed and new StopTech cryo slotted rotors installed. I actually ordered these rotors over a year ago. I got half of them a few weeks later but the other two got backordered over a year so I had been running regular blanks end of last year. I prefer the cryo because so far they've been reliable.

Brake fluid flush

new rotors

fresh brake fluid

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 67,274

- 1L Motul RBF 600

- 4 StopTech Cryo Slotted Rotors

Washer Fluid Pump Strainer

Over the winter I noticed a pool of fluid under the Jeep. Thankfully it wasn't oil but rather just washer fluid draining out. Turns out the strainer for the washer fluid pump has a plastic "seal" that distorts over time. I read that I can replace it with a BMW part number equivalent that uses rubber instead. Easy 2 minute fix and no more leaks. 

pulling the washer fluid pump out - 
leaking strainer at the bottom

Replacing the failed strainer with the new BMW part

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 82,120

- New washer fluid strainer - BMW Part Number 61667006063

High Performance Water Pump

A common failure point on the 987/997 is the water pump. The impellers eventually wear out and disintegrate. The good news it that the impellers are plastic and don't damage the engine if it goes but it could clog somewhere and cause cooling issues. The best way to avoid this is preventative maintenance and replacing it regularly. One of the previous owners of my Cayman replaced it at 25K miles but that was many years ago now (close to 10 years) so I figured it was time for me to do the same just for peace of mind. I went and got an FVD high performance water fuel pump with a plastic composite impeller. The kit included new gaskets and a lower temperature thermostat.

FVD High Performance water pump with plastic impeller

FVD High Performance water pump with plastic impeller

Lower temp thermostat

Lee at Hybrid Motors made quick work of this and obviously changed the coolant as well. The condition of my old pump was good. No chips or missing pieces from the impeller so that's always a good sign that everything is healthy.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 54,007 miles

- New FVD High Performance Water Pump
- Lower temp thermostat
- New belt
- New coolant

Racer's Edge Camber Plates

One thing I wanted to fix on the 944 was the ride height. The rear sagged too much and the fronts were too high. I also didn't have enough camber. To fix this I bought a pair of Racer's Edge camber plates

I took the car to Lee at Hybrid Motorsports and had him install it along with reindexing the rear torsion bar (which I'll note appears to have already been upgraded to 27mm at some point) to raise the rear for a more even ride height.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 98,271

• Racer's Edge camber plates
• New OEM caster blocks
• Rear ride height raised
• Alignment

Oil Change on Scarlett

Finally getting a break from the snow. Time to prep the cars for Spring starting with an oil change for Scarlett.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 173,690

- 11.5 quarts Driven GP-1 20W-50
- Mahle OC54 oil filter

New Battery for the Mini

The Mini is now 5 years old so I was expecting the battery to start going bad soon. Well it seems the cold weather has started to finally reveal its impending doom by borderline being unable to start in freezing temperatures so I wanted to get ahead of it and replace it before it truly dies. 

Original BMW is finally dying

Removing it is a bit fiddly with a few panels that need to get taken out for clearance but I'm glad it's not really as bad as some videos made it out to be where they even removed the intake. I'm not sure if it's because I have the Eventuri intake but after I removed the front panel, it was easy enough to slide up and out.

New Duralast Platinum AGM battery installed

I replaced it with an equal capacity Duralast Platinum AGM battery then used Bimmerlink to register the new battery with the system so it knows it's new. 

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 78,416

- New Duralast Platinum H7-AGM 80Ah 850CCA

New Antigravity ATX-30-HD for Bumblestook

The battery in Bumblestook is about 5 years old now and while the battery still seems ok, I didn't really want to risk having it die on me at a track day so I picked up a new Antigravity ATX-30-HD battery to replace the existing ATX-30-HD.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 67,235

- New ATX-30-HD battery