bmw.maniac

Happy Birthday

Is that an e36 325 badge? The i looks e30.

Not my taste, but it looks like you've put in a lot of effort for quality-looking mods. Well done.

It is, but after the damn auto electrician installed it when fixing my alarm, he used a normal allen key aswell and pretty much rounded the screws heads completly. I can still make out the 5 sides on the screw head, so I don't really want to remove it then put it back in with an allen key to completely munt the screw head.

We are talking about the 318iS, a rare e30 that's quite different from a 318i.

Yes, but remeber the sharemarket crashed in '87. That probably explain the lack of facelift 325i's compared to pre facelift.

I'm after one of those radio removal tools for an original e30 radio (Although I think they're the same with the e36). It's the one like a small allen key, but the 'key' only has 5 sides - like a pentagon. PM me. Thanks, Eddy

It would be worth a lot more if it was a facelift, as there are heaps (and I mean heaps!) of absolutely mint pre-facelift e30s around. I was looking at a one-owner, absolutely immaculate Luxor Beige 325i auto pre-facelift last year. It had 60,000km on the clock, full history with Team McMillan and was spec'd out with almost every NZ option (bar things like OBC of course). The owners daughter (the original owner was in his 80s and had graduated to a mobility scooter) was struggling to get $6K for it. IMO, an auto 325i would be worth a hell of a lot more than an auto 318i.

On my '88 318i I seem to have a horrible vibration sound at 3k rpm exactly. When you accelerate, it sounds alright until just past 3k rpm (around 3100rpm), where it makes that sound for about one second, and then sound normal right to redline. It sort of sound like a rattling, I was wondering if it was anything to do with the exhaust mounts? I was flicking through the old reciepts the other day, and I notice that just before I bought it there was a leaking seal at the rear of the gearbox that required the exhaust to be removed. Could it be that the mechanic meerly didn't tighten up a bolt enough? Also, i've just remembered that when driving through town sitting on exactly 2,000 rpm for an extended period of time, it makes the same noise but with a slower vibration sound. The car is not physically vibrating at all either times, it just sounds like something is vibrating. Thanks

I scored some off Team McMillan today, although it probably helps that I spend $170 on parts for my 318i and dad's 530i. It's a shame they have the website on them now, I really liked the ones with the BMW emblem on them.

Ohhh now I get it.

How was that post a 'warning?'

My factory manual 318i has a nice springy clutch, no slow build up of pressure. I push it down, and it comes straight back up, nice and quick.

What e39 Motorsport wheel? The bigger looking one, that is sort of flat on top, or the more modern one (used 2001 onwards) thats like the late e46 wheel without the wood?

Could you replace a Jatco with the ZF?

Oooh I like the look of this. I might be spending a bit of cash though! E36 BMW Business CD in E30 dash. Looks amazing! Here are the wiring diagrams. Although the first one doesn't apply for our cars, as we don't have that ugly brick of an Amp like the US ones, it looks a relatively easy hook-up. Hmm tempting!

Pics aren't working for me. Can someone screen shot them? Cheers.

Okay well it's still doing this on and off. Seems to like stuffing up in the afternoon, but never in the morning. Maybe something to do with heat? I bought one of those tape cleaners and the sound is fine now, but it still has the MTL sign up when not working, and always seems to stay on side '1.' When it works, it appears on either side 1 or 2, but always without the MTL sign. When its not working it sort of acts like you push the 'PROG' button to change sides without removing the tape - i.e. the song doesn't fast forward, just the head/tape reader removes itself from the tape and then clicks back on the tape to play again. I'm not really keen on an aftermarket unit, I don't give a toss about sound quality (at the moment I only have 2 speakers!) and as I absolutely hate the way the aftermarket ones stick out from the dash. I only bought this one off a member a few months ago to replace the 10 year old Sony crap CD player that was in the dash. I'm going to pull it apart this weekend, otherwise it looks like i'm in the market for a new (to me) e30 radio.

Okay so heres the story. I don't usually play tapes in my car but found a iPod > Tape adaptor today so tried it out. I used it for about 10 mins driving to the gym, but when I started the MTL (Metal) light came on but then went away after about 20 seconds. It worked fine the whole way to the gym. When I try it now, the MTL comes on and stays on, and about every 5 seconds the tape fast forwards about 10 seconds then stops. It does this automatically and constantly. In the 5 seconds actual playing time, I can hear the music but in really crappy quality. This automatic fast forwarding also means the damn tape is incredibly hard to eject, and you have to push the button like 10 times for it to work between the automatic fast forwarding. I tried another tape, and it does the same thing. Is it just time for a clean (i'm asking because I don't have a tape cleaner and will have to buy a new one) or has the 20 year old radio finally died? Cheers

New Zealand starts/stops at the Bombay Hills

Maybe the American company didn't like them using their name? Look at at carfax.com

Yet there is no price listed.

I wouldn't recommend going Will's way. I did it like this to replace the bulb in my clock, and had no end to trouble trying to put it back together. Apparantly there is a way to remove the OBC by removing the glovebox, and leaving that front control panel intact.

Heard of Google? I'll place my money at 15 l/100km

That's funny, I didn't know BMW made e34s in 2008 :S