kerrynzl

The Old story: there is a huge difference between "ASKING & SELLING" prices [market value] [no two used cars are alike] Mine is a Coupe,a year older, 1000K's higher & less mods. [a person wanting a 'standard' car can take their pick these days] Depends on whether they are prepared to value your Mods & pay for them I'm serious about the value of my car [if it was a racer with duct-tape & cable ties ,I'd probably value it higher. haha!] My car is very very tidy [& cheap] I originally bought it to cut up for a race-car [but my missus want's it] If you have a friend that is a Car Dealer [get an HONEST opinion of what it's worth] [Honest car dealer???] Just don't trust Loss Adjusters, their job is to screw you [for the insurance companies]

Hey try not to kid yourself here, If the insurance company does a full payout, they will get it valued again anyway [meanwhile they'll accept the higher premiums] they argue that is your burden to value it correctly Years ago they tried paying out $5500 towards my wifes Laser ,that was Sold for $7500 [it was being delivered when it was totalled] [you would assume that market value "was it's selling price"] It took some clever negotiations with a loss adjuster to get the settlement I have a 1995 328 [manual conversion coupe] with 17 x 8 BBS's and Bilsteins and Lowered Etc done 78000K's [mint car in red] I would happily sell it for half the amount you have mentioned [it doesn't have a pod filter or strut brace tho] Insurance Companies & Car dealers know their market values [it's their business]

Try Turpetine as well

The dead opposite mate! As I stated earlier TOO high an octane will only foul the plugs too low octane [for it's compression] is more 'likely to blow it up' My Race-car has 13:1 compression [which makes good power] It NEEDS high octane to survive! [avgas 100-112 octane] The reason the public was sold on low octane, was when lead was removed from fuels [we didn't have the technology to produce high octane unleaded 'cheaply'] Lead ruins a catylitic converter The dead opposite mate! As I stated earlier TOO high an octane will only foul the plugs too low octane [for it's compression] is more 'likely to blow it up' My Race-car has 13:1 compression [which makes good power] It NEEDS high octane to survive! [avgas 100-112 octane] The reason the public was sold on low octane, was when lead was removed from fuels [we didn't have the technology to produce high octane unleaded 'cheaply'] Lead ruins a catylitic converter Thanks for that Cain

Unless your Beemer is running points [which I doubt] don't waste your money heres the difference An inductive system [most car ignitions] is timed on dwell [usually about 8 degress of crankshaft duration for full flame propagation] A CDI is usually timed by so many milliseconds [that why F1 engines use them ,as they're better for high RPM] A MSD is a CDI unit that is triggered [or switched] by an inductive system [it just multi sparks within the dwell time] after about 2500rpm there is not enough time to multi-spark within the set dwell [most MSD's single spark after 2500rpm] I used to run an MSD in my Racecar, Now I run a [GM] HEI with a MSD "CDI module" [& a 53000 volt coil] the first thing I'd do [in your case] is run a good coil [then look at a CDI unit] My E36 cruises at 2500rpm at the speed limit [at this rpm you get a better "coil saturation" from an inductive system] [bMW have always had access to this technology,they chose their system correctly, Try not to Re-invent the wheel]

Heres a basic explaination The Higher the octane the slower the burn time [Flame propagation], the higher the compression the faster the burn time [plus more heat] the more heat=more cylinder pressure [more torque] with high octane fuels you can have higher compression [M50B20's have 11:1 which is 'racing' compression ratio's of 20years ago] with high compression & high octane the Engine can take more ignition advance[which yields better flame propagation,& a complete burn when the piston is exactly at TDC][the point of maximum cylinder pressure] when you run low octane in the same engine it will usually detonate [pinking] under load, what the driver usually does is 'back off the throttle' this effectively lowers Cylinder pressure by restricting intake [a vacuum guage will show that] Incidentally the engine doesn't care about compression ratios [it's cylinder pressure that counts] ,a long duration Camshaft will lower cylinder pressure [cams & compression go together] BMW used a short duration cam for torque, then altered the advance for RPM's [VANOS] If your engine has a knock-sensor, you can run any fuel ,as the engine advances it self up to [just shy of] detonation,which is maximum cylinder pressure [approx 1800psi] An engine makes maximum power at detonation [it doesn't last long tho']

I found the 'comfort Relay' behind the Glovebox [ the red/yellow is fed from it] I bridged from the Red to the Red/Yellow via an inline fuse with spade terminals ,The Sunroof now is working OK [i'll try and get a relay tomorrow] Thanks everybody on this forum for the help I got

In the Wanted to Buy Column under "Bentley Manual' I left a site for a E36 Bentley to download one last thing, Too high an Octane will Fowl Plugs slowly but: Too Low an Octane causes Detonation When in doubt, choose the Higher Number, it's safer

I'm proud to say that in the 15 odd years that this crap has been invading our living rooms, I haven't sat through 1 complete episode [i've caught a glimpse thru the corner of my eye now & then] Rumour is that if you watch this sh*t, you might dematerialise and transform into a suburban neurotic The plot is easy to predict on these things [some Hypochrondriac Whiner, on some sympathy trip,has an affair with some Medical staff, they hang out in a Caffeteria and the Bitch behind the counter knows all the gossip] Hey It could be worse, your missus could be watching "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" ,You could end up with a Mauve [whatever that colour is?] Shirt for Xmas

If the comfort relay is Toast, wouldn't that affect my windows as well ???[mine are working fine]

does it hurt to wire this live?

Take the Air filter off! It'll be louder but sometimes they work better [Mine fills faster with no filter] Remember it's cheap ,so who cares if it flogs-out

Thanks for the offer Brent! My sunroof works OK if I bridge the fuse from another power source in the Fuse-box. I just need some Info on where the power source for the Red/yellow stripe wire comes from.[eg; a relay that is controlled by a delay or whatever] this wire goes thru the firewall if it is a relay, where is it? Regards Kerry

Anything Shiny that you "Romance" your car with [or your girlfriend. haha!]is Bling! Mind you,I prefer the Dull Aluminium & Rivets look.

OOPS! 1993 320i Coupe

The Corvette ain't too good! It's good to see the old HQ Holden Kingswood Rates up there Statistically it's one of the safest cars on the Road,["More People have been Conceived in them,than killed in them" ] So they actually contribute to the population. Haha!

Little problem here, The Sunroof on my E36 has died. I probed it with a multi-meter, and there is no power at the fuse Now,behind the fuse, there is two wires a Red/purple stripe that goes to the Sunroof and a Red/yellow stripe that goes to a power source somewhere Does anybody know where the other end of this power wire goes to [it goes thru the firewall] or should I wire it Direct to the battery [at the fuse box]as an easy fix cheers everyone. . . . . .Kerry

Hey you're right! these are just "bling bling" The fact is : A strut-brace is to prevent chassis [tower] flex under hard cornering loads, to see a noticeable difference you'll need ,Race Tyres,Stiff Springs,Hard Shocks,Solid Bushings & Rose Jointed Towers [no suspension compliance] The Stock Rubber Mounted Upper Strut Tower will flex long before the chassis does! So if you are only after the 'looks'[& to tell bullshit stories], you might as well buy one of these cheap pieces of crap

Simple: Buy a spare console & cut that up [where did you get the pics from? LHD!]

At 19 years of age it depends on how mechanically inclined you are [at that age I had owned over 30 cars & tinkered with all of them] For a first time young buyer, try and get the simplest car available [eg: 318 manual E36 vs 735 older sedan] get the colour you want,the trans you want etc.[$7k should get you a nice reasonably low mileage E36] try and get a car with the sounds & wheels already fitted ,its cheaper than installing them later[let the seller tip his/her money down the drain! not you] Check out how many 3 series cars are for sale lately [eg:Trade-me] you can take your pick,and they are mostly in good condition. like most fashions,Cars go through phases [beemers are no longer flavour-of-the-month with the Blue-rinse/mutton-dressed-as-lamb set] so right now they are cheap and in good condition at the same time. As for reliability: I'd rather Own a Beemer than a Subaru

Almost as good as the "Hi-Tech" Hands-free I found [you can drink'n'drive,and talk on the phone with ya shotgun & ciggy in your hands at the same time]

Download it for free mate [ its 92mb and 759 pages] go to http://hosting.data.bg/bmw/BMW/E-Books/ all the E30 stuff is in foreign languages but the E36 'Bentley' is in english

$200-00 shoes? and you go thru a drive in? Forget the cup-holders [wrap your shoes in plastic bags, Haha!]

The best sound system I had a a twin cam alfa with 11mm of lift and 308 degrees of duration on 12 to one compression, full racing headers and 65mm straight exhaust. Mother in law was not keen on it. Yeah ,You are a true admirer of classical music! My current sound system is a little more 'Heavy Metal' Big Block Chevy taken out to 482" [8 litre] Dry sump, Roller Cam,1000CFM Holley,ZL1 heads,5" Sidemount Headers Etc Has Lovely "Snickety Snick" sound from the cams when she idles,[Makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up,under full throttle]

That's Great Service [At Least they ask you the questions Haha!] 2 hours????? Try buying a 40 cent stamp from NZ Post these days You have to line up in a Queue for about 15 minutes,waiting while some geriatric swaps meteorological comments about the day [the weather] Then they spend 5 minutes dithering around getting you a stamp for 40 F**ken cents [how much profit do they think is in a stamp] At least the motor industry is efficient!