New Member X5 V8 Twin Turbo

[JoeyBimX5Din]

So I picked up a 2011 e70 with the twin turbo n63 v8 at the end of February. I also joined up BMW CCA around the same time, as I really enjoyed the 'truck'. So I have finally signed on these forums.

I was in attendance for the Aktiv Automotive DIY event yesterday, as I am turning into a good buddy of that awesome shop. I may in the future attend DIY events, I am at home in a shop.

Anyways, yesterday was cool, and has inspired me to reach out more to the local BMW CCA I have joined, so Hello people.

[pseto]

Welcome! We have a bunch of other fun stuff that you may enjoy too. Check out the calendar and I hope to see you at a social soon.

Also, don't forget about our New Member event at BMW of Sterling!

[JoeyBimX5Din]

When is the new member event at Sterling? Link me please?

[JamesAustin]

When is the new member event at Sterling? Link me please?

The New Member Welcome runs alongside Cars & Coffee and Do It Yourself on Saturday, May 6, 2017. (BMW of Sterling is going to be very, very busy...)

Here's the big poster.

Here's the forum's announcement post.

Here's the registration page on MotorsportReg.

Here's BMW of Sterling's directions page.

Here's a hearty "Welcome to the club!"

[JoeyBimX5Din]

I signed up for the DIY, because I am pretty helpful in a shop, but I also would like to do my TC fluid swap if I don't get it knocked out between now and then. It may be better to attend the new member portion though

[JoeyBimX5Din]

p.s. thanks for the info.

[JamesAustin]

I signed up for the DIY, because I am pretty helpful in a shop, but I also would like to do my TC fluid swap if I don't get it knocked out between now and then. It may be better to attend the new member portion though

You could always change the fluid and then go check out the new members. Or check out the new members and then go change the fluid.

[JoeyBimX5Din]

I'm waitlisted. I will probably change the fluid before the event, and then attend the New members thing. I don't want to be brushing elbows with nice folks in my ragged shop cloths.

[JamesAustin]

I'm waitlisted. I will probably change the fluid before the event, and then attend the New members thing.

That would work.

But don't be discouraged by the waiting list. DIY sponsors generally don't know exactly how many bays they'll have available for us until a couple of days before an event. So all but the very first handful to register get put on the waiting list as a precaution. Offhand, I don't recall ever being on a waiting list and not ultimately being told I could attend.

Beyond that, BMW of Sterling's shop is HUGE. Seriously, you should check it out even if you don't formally attend the DIY. They have two dedicated ///M bays with banks of floodlights in the floor to evenly light underneath the cars. They go around at closing time with one of those walk-behind automatic floor scrubbers (the kind with a squeegee and a storage tank to leave a dry floor). It's been years since my apartment was that neat & clean. (I hope to work on that today...)

Just one thing: if you go ahead and change the fluid, and decide not to attend the DIY to do something else, PLEASE let them know ASAP so they can give your slot to someone else if the event really did fill up.

I don't want to be brushing elbows with nice folks in my ragged shop cloths.

Ignore "nice" folks. As far as I'm concerned, BMW folks would rather rub elbows with someone in shop clothes than someone in fine clothes. Then again, I own no fine clothes, and my regular clothes look like shop clothes, so maybe that's just me...

[JoeyBimX5Din]

That would work.

But don't be discouraged by the waiting list. DIY sponsors generally don't know exactly how many bays they'll have available for us until a couple of days before an event. So all but the very first handful to register get put on the waiting list as a precaution. Offhand, I don't recall ever being on a waiting list and not ultimately being told I could attend.

Beyond that, BMW of Sterling's shop is HUGE. Seriously, you should check it out even if you don't formally attend the DIY. They have two dedicated ///M bays with banks of floodlights in the floor to evenly light underneath the cars. They go around at closing time with one of those walk-behind automatic floor scrubbers (the kind with a squeegee and a storage tank to leave a dry floor). It's been years since my apartment was that neat & clean. (I hope to work on that today...)

Just one thing: if you go ahead and change the fluid, and decide not to attend the DIY to do something else, PLEASE let them know ASAP so they can give your slot to someone else if the event really did fill up.



Ignore "nice" folks. As far as I'm concerned, BMW folks would rather rub elbows with someone in shop clothes than someone in fine clothes. Then again, I own no fine clothes, and my regular clothes look like shop clothes, so maybe that's just me...

I may un-enroll. The whole not wanting to be in shop cloths around nice folks things is solely my own standard for me, not really for anyone else. My shop cloths are beat, I truly mean beat. I actually turn wrenches for a living, so some of this stuff has cleaned the undersides of many quite nasty things, so people in public generally look at me funny when I run around in them. They are the kind of cloths even when they are clean, they have baked in stains. I may come in semi nice cloths, kind of linger in the shop during the DIY, then shoot over to the new member thing. The fact is, I do not need the shop to do this service one bit. I just took the running boards off the X in the rear'ish section of the Walmart parking lot by my house. It also only took me 2 hours to do, I was told it may take a long time, but anyways, I guess one way or the other, I'll be there.

[John in VA]

Perhaps Chris Wootten will share where he got his coveralls, so you can unzip & be like Bond, James Bond! There is a bathroom there where you can change. This isn't a fashion show!

[JamesAustin]

I just took the running boards off the X in the rear'ish section of the Walmart parking lot by my house.

Dang...

That's hard core...

[JamesAustin]

Perhaps Chris Wootten will share where he got his coveralls, so you can unzip & be like Bond, James Bond! There is a bathroom there where you can change. This isn't a fashion show!

Some people don't enjoy that sort of attention. I can certainly sympathize. I quite literally spent decades collecting interesting tee-shirts and built up quite a reputation for my collection. But as my current set has worn out I've replaced them with undecorated monochromatic shirts, because somehow wearing an interesting/amusing tee-shirt has become a standing invitation for total strangers to take my photo and post it on social media without asking.

[JoeyBimX5Din]

Dang...

That's hard core...

To explain that a little bit better, I have been working on heavy trucks since 2013 (I had other technician jobs many years before this, just switched areas) and at the Freightliner dealer previous to me running the shop I am at now, I was a road man, so doing work out in the world doesn't challenge me one bit. Ive turned wrenches in 120 degree heat, -30 degree cold, and everything in between. Walmart parking lot with a little shade and 75 degrees is sweet wrenching.

I also once replaced a cylinder head on a a Mercedes diesel in a gravel parking lot, with about half of the work done in the rain. That was a side job though, my dealer never had me do to much crazy stuff out and about, mostly diagnostics, and a little bit of component remove and replace. Anything serious got towed into my shop.