JJohnsen88

So here's the deal, had airbag light come on some time ago and finally found someone locally with a excellent code reading tool to pull the codes for me. Turns out it is fault 002 Drivers airbag firing circuit. I've had a bit of a look around on Google and what not as to how I would go about fixing this issue and nothing is really helping a lot. Has anyone else had this issue or more knowledgeable on this than myself able to point me in the right direction? Ever since I bought the car it's had a squeek when turning the steering wheel and I have a hunch that possibly a loose wire has been rubbing on the slipring and finally been severed as it sounds like the kind of squeek a wire would make on bare metal so maybe that's a place to start

As per title I'm after some mirrors to suit a coupe, second hand, brand new, aftermarket or genuine in any colour doesn't matter. Just want a price for the pair.

Hey Brent, I'm looking for E36 RH Tie Rod from the rack to the hub, coupe LH Door RH Door RH Guard and RH Rear Quarter M trim and if possible to get out without breaking them the white clips that hold them all in aswell. Cheers

This is a joke, I just failed a WOF the other day for an insecure gear knob and people can run around on dodgy old tyres like those. Wow, just wow.

Driving at night I've never had anyone give me the highbeam flash and we all know that means someone's pissed off with brightness. In my old A32 Cefiro I got it all the time due to the HID's I had in that, even I admit they were f'ing bright and was little to no difference between low and high beam. But these are purely on low beam only the high beams are the 'Intense Blue' Halogen bulbs (or whatever their new equivalent is called) from Narva, I also use the headlight tilt switch to minimise PITA factor. The visible light beam on the road infront of me is barely 10m ahead of me.
Too many times I've had SUV's and the like up my ass on the open road with factory HID's now they are the real blinder, mine are quite tame in comparison.

There's too many haters on here it's quite concerning. Why do you have to hate on a fellow BMW drivers car? Just appreciate someone has a good taste in what car to buy instead of what headlight a guy chooses to use. I mean sh*t there's plenty of riced up peanuts and Honda's out there to rip on, like the sack of sh*t beater that just drove past my house, running rough as guts coughing and spluttering with no rear muffler, I think that's well more deserving of a bitch session.

I don't know what you mean about glare I don't notice anything, but HID's with ballasts aren't legal anyway but it's a 5min job to take them out and put the halogens back in for wof time

I myself am in two minds about them. Occasionally they look semi ok on an E36 with standard headlights, but mostly they just don't suit especially the atrocious crystal clear aftermarket headlights, they look quite fugly. I was humming and harring about them for a while but decided a nice set of 8000k HID's would suffice and I'm happy with my decision. They don't look as blue at night as they do in the following photo

Sounds great, the budget factor is a real buzz kill when it comes to obtaining what you're really after.

My love for BMW's started with an '85 E30 318i sedan which belonged to my dad as I learned to drive in. Sad part about it was I decided to back into a pole, somehow missed the rear end completely and took out the majority of the rear passenger door without shattering the glass. Was not a popular 15yr old that night that's for sure haha

So say the 3.07 that Brent has could be a nice option. The 3.15 would be better as I wouldn't lose as much acceleration, as marginal as it would be, but I know one of those would set me back well over 1k because I'm sure I've seen some regular LSD's up around the $900 range for the E36

Ah well, guess I have some additions to do to make it full m-spec.

The parcel tray seems to be covered in anthracite, when ya swipe ya hand across it, it goes from a dark greyish black colour to a slightly darker shade almost black but all the rest is the same light grey shade even the trimmings around the edge of the roof, sunroof, and windows so if it has been recovered then they have done a thorough job of it. Apart from the missing LSD what else would make it full m-spec optioned? I will do some research and remove that part if I find the answer I'm looking for

Definetly not going for a higher ratio diff, this one is a tad too low. What's the next highest ratio after 3.46? Would be ideal if I could LS the diff I have now, but make 5th a bit longer if that's even possible without messing with the other gears too. Whatever path I take for better traction and/or lower rpm I'm going to have to dig to a part of my wallet I haven't found yet, the part that contains the money!

If an M3 with a 325 engine in it isnt allowed to be called an M3......

Decoding your vin will say whether it had the full motorsport package or not. Anthracite headliner is a giveaway iirc (although if its been relined due to sagging, who knows).

Yeah it's the Anthracite from factory but it's a very grey colour no mistaking it for black which I thought anthracite liners were black? It is sagging in the very front where it meets the window on passenger and drivers side also the same on the rear but passenger side only. Has the same material on the underside of the sunroof too so I'm clueless.

I don't think I've owned 1 car that hasn't been odd in more ways than one.

Ok, that's cleared things up even more. It was assembled in Regensburg, Germany, but then shipped off to Japan and in 2005 made it's way over here so would highly likely have the 3.46 ratio. I have a hunch I have an open diff aswell, again, I haven't done anything apart from driving it to see if it is for sure or not. So what should I look out for in the LSD range to match what I have now without altering engine speed too much if at all? Might have to lift the ass up tomorrow and give a wheel a spin just to be sure.

Welcome, I hope these forums turn out to be as informative to you as they have been to me, don't know where I would be without it really.

I'm sure I seen a few manual E30's on Trade Me the other day when I had a look, just might have to travel or organise shipping. There's an awsome looking one on here in the For Sale section but it's set up for show more than racing as it has airbag suspension and all, very nice car though.

Not that hes likely to blow it up with the mind blowing torque of the 328.

Hey now 280Nm isn't that bad

Look, enough with the badge hate, your opinions are just that, opinions. Neither party is right nor wrong so there's really no point discussing it any further. I like MY car the way it is. Think of it as dressing up in a nice suit (or dress if you're that way inclined), it's not who you really are but It's nice to feel upmarket for a change.

On another note, would love to find out who converted it so I could ask them a few things about it, I have been told it may have been originally from Dunedin or Christchurch, from 2005-2012 it had the plate CSP126, it had a change of rego in May 2012 so that may have been when it was converted. May have even been done overseas for all I know

So that's why I thought I saw an m3 badge on it yesterday morning. Naughty naughty!

Eh, even the old man with his mid life crisis vert 328 made a comment along the lines of "but it's not an M3". In time, engine upgrades should have her moving like an M3 would, not just half appearing like one.

Yes now that combo is far more deserving of an earfull . Also would never have got the badge if it wasn't manual either, I have a sort of M-spec 325i aswell (which has me wondering if it's really an M-spec as the rear bumper is a normal one but has M suspension, steering wheel and sport option seats all from factory) but auto, no way was it having the privilage of sporting a better badge

Thanks for the info I wanted. as for the other well not so wanted comments sort of asked for it. I considered keeping the 328i and ditching the "3" in M3 and have M328i as I have seen on alot of other M-spec'd models. But it's my car I like it how it is and general consesus can suck my left nut. I hate conformists!

Bummer dude, just keep the illusion alive and tell everyone its Factory =/

well I have debagged the 328i and cheekily replaced it with the M3 badge and also added the M grille badge the other day, all I need are mirrors and side trim to say M3 not M and on the outside she'll look exactly like an M3.

I'm not sure how long the conversion has been done for but it's been in for well over a year as I had been eyeing it up on Trade Me since august last year and it's been a manual since then, I do admit I have put it through it's paces a few times and everything seems tight.
Where would I find the part numbers and would they be model specific part numbers or series generic?

Hey guys,

This topic has probably been beaten to death so my apologies if some are sick of seeing this type of question.

So I've had my 328i M-Spec for a couple months now and I have noticed a few things that make me question if it was factory manual. Firstly these are the things that make me believe it has been converted:

Short shift kit
ZHP gearknob
Manual stick surround doesn't fit properly
VIN Decoder says it's automatic
Seems very low geared, 5th gear only drops the RPM by about 400
At 100km/h it's sitting just over 3100rpm
Top speed maxed out is a little over 210km/h

It get's off it's ass far quicker than any other 328i I've driven and still pulls in 5th at 100k going up a decent hill (Could just be the 280Nm )

I'm thinking the gearbox is a maybe off a M52B28 but the diff is from the automatic, I'm guessing they all match up. Haven't jacked her up and had a look but would there be anything on the diff or gearbox that I could check up and see what they came off?

As per title I'm on the hunt for some E36 M3 mirrors for a coupe and it would be most convieneint if they were in Arctic Silver and electric. Shipping to Dunedin.

Seen a few on TradeMe but they are all black ready for painting and most I've seen are non electric

According to some TradeMe auctions, the base plates are different between coupe/vert and sedan/ti/touring. Is this the story with factory M3 mirrors or just the aftermarket replica types?

So it's a 328i with auto dual climate control, I get very mildly warm air coming from all vents, heat doesn't vary between switching vents like my other E36, and it's not thermostat as temp gauge sits at it's normal position, the AC works blowing chilled air but still no hot only luke warm. I have done a bit of searching and leaning towards heater control valve. I'm just fishing for any things I could look at or maybe a way to bypass the control valve to see if that helps. I don't have a volt meter which would make life alot easier I know but any ideas would be helpful. I'm sick of freezing my ass off in the car!