Napier_E36

hi, thanks to all the moderators - this site is all good - Its primo to be able to post a problem or an idea or somthing similar, and have a range of ideas/thoughts/suggestions back on how to resolve the problem. I didnt join this site for the cruises - Aucklands a long way away. Initally I joined for the help I would be able to get. But the meets that i have been to (whangaparoa and taupo) have been awsome - Its great catching up with the people who give all the feedback on whats happening etc. (It also makes events that are run by the BMWCC a lot better, because you actually know some of the people that are going to be there.)

that sounds like the way to do it!! cheers andrew - you done a ripper job! :-)

I saw that too - your right - the audi looked like a car that ANYONE could get into and thrash without pushing the limits of their abilities too far. Then when they did that comparison - M3 -vs- S4 - the M3 smoked it! and probably best of all... you can get an M3 sideways!!! that is a big factor for me - Ill take the bimmer over the audi cheers.

I aint that good at the sideways stuff - i mean, i can get it sliding, and get it back into line etc, but if you want to see classy sideways action, watch my mate in VHELLL - turbo skyline powered VL Commodore, man hes ace at skids. Grant, those are some nice pics! My E36 looks sacked as at the back!!!! cheers Blair

excellant - cheers man! I am trying it out now - ill let you know how it turns out!!! Thanks Blair

nice car man - love them low!!! and the wheels really suit it! (look old school on an old school ride!) well done and full credit bro!

My 325 says the same thing on the inside of the drivers door. Im not sure what its meant to mean, but I have 235/40/18s on my car and its no problem - Im sure that the tyre width doesnt matter, but the wider the tyre the better the handelling! My car went from sliding easy to having to be pushed to slide! the guards can accomodate the big tyres - trust me, it looks really close, but the more people i put in, the lower it goes and still no rubbing. You just may need to have a bit of a hack at the inner guards, but thats easy. with big wheels - E36s look cool as! (actually, even standard, but...!!!)

what about the look alike carbon fibre stick on stuff? I like that stuff - can you make them out of that? might get a roll of that stuff and try it. It looks good gus, and I can finally see what you mean by a "milocan" exhaust!!!

the way to work thru this gus is to go buy some new chromies.... at magwarehouse where i got my 18s, they gave me (yes GAVE) a set of chrome wheel bolts. Just get them powdercoated black and you b sorted!!!! (not to mention another set of chromies up...) a set for every driving condition, off road, on road, wet, dry, burnouts, track, ya mumma, drag strip and also a set of curbed up and damaged as wheels for parking in dodgy areas.... youd be sorted son!

from memory - cutting out cats and putting in straight pipes is about $40 - 50 per cat - most cars have only one - but my bimmer had 4 - 2 on each pipe, but that didnt matter - i was putting in whole new pipe too. But it shouldnt be all too bad grant - will make a big difference (should do anyway!)

theres some potential in it - just no rear wing! the 22b style wings look odd on bimmers.... and that is a hell of a lot of money to be spending on doing a widebody kit.

ive heard that if you take the cat out and smash all the ceramic out then put it back in, it is just as good as cutting it out all together. however it is probably easier to take that out and replace it with a straight pipe. either way not cats gives more power and a nice sound!!! how has it changed? the way gus sounds, it sounds like youve done something to it and made it go better, or is it just the same as always?

I sincerly hope that your not doing burnouts in your car grant - not on the public road anyway... They were up a driveway a? yeah I saw those (even tho im in Napier!!) they were done on a driveway, behind a closed gate werent they???I have had that experience before - I have a mate who has this huge shed in the middle of no where and we do burnouts in there - the cops turned up, and they had a go at us, then my mate was saying that its private property and all that, to which the cops replied that as long as the gate was shut it was fine, but with the gate open it was technically a road still. (aparently a public road is anywhere that the public can access without being impeded - things such as gates impede public access, therefore with a closed gate its not public road) - messed up I know - but thats what they said. Back to your topic Grant - have you got DOT 5 in or just the 4? either way, im glad that its all sorted, that way there will be no excuse for you to not be on the track getting whooped by the dirty ole E36! (just watch me on the corners - i will have skid tyres on, and therefore be pretty loose!!!)

sweet - what have you done grant? just knocked the cats out? or have you done a full system? Did you keep your cats? Ive heard a nasty rumour that they are going to bring emission standards in as part of the Keyoto(spelling?) Agreement. The Keyoto Agreement (for those who dont know - Im one of those people, but Ill tell you what I know, and if Im wrong I hope someone can correct me!) is like a treaty signed by a group of countries in the Pacific, and basically its like a contract saying that each country will take steps to help make their countries cleaner and greener etc. Part of that is to bring emission level standards, and that means having Catalytic Convertors in cars. Japan is part of that agreement, and that is why all cars that come from Japan have to have cats. It sucks that this is the case - you gain extra power by removing the cats, less restriction = more power. (you would have noticed this wouldnt you Grant?) However, having said this, I have also been told that Vehicles already in the country wont have to worry about installing a cat, just vehicles imported after a certain date. Pretty similar to how the government bought in the new frontal impact standards, where vehicles must conform to a certain crash test standard before they can get a compliance thru the LTSA. Im sorry if I have details wrong here - this is just how I have understood what was told to me. Cheers Blair

it is only a couple of cents more expensive than normal 96 - well worth the money is how i found it!

hahahahahahaha thats soooooo classy!!! damn - guinea pigs are UNITS!!!!!! is that owned or what?

Oh very much so grant - open that exhaust up and let her breathe!!!!! lol I had the exhaust done on my 325 from the headers back with a single 2.5inch pipe - never looking back - they cut the cats out, and with the sensor inside the cat they cut a hole in the resonator with a gas axe and welded it in to the side of it. No worries... that way if it was required it isnt going to matter too much!

i did notice that when i ran my car on the 98 up in auckland - it runs smoother and it has more power and all that - they need to get 98 availible in Napier - I know a lot of people that would go out of their way to get some a!! we do every time we go to a town that has the higher octanes...

your computer isnt chipped is it? if it is that may be why... or is your car carby'd? if thats the case they dont usually have limiters do they? my little brothers old charade didnt rev limit and it was a carby job - it would valve bounce tho!! If your carby'd chuck a cam in and some twin side drafts or an IDA and it will be fooking apeshit!!!! I take it from the fact that youve only just discovered you have no limiter you dont rev that high that often - so it shouldnt matter if it dont cut - unless your cataclysmically stoned and cant change the gear in time... (mind you, when your in that state you usually aint going much quicker than 30k anyway a?)

When I bought my bimmer it was on Bridgestone grid IIs and continentals - the grids were ok - understeer central in the wet tho.... and the continentals, well, uh, they didnt last long - too many skids.... I put some Formula 901s on the back - good traction, just the way I drove they died really quickly... I found for rear tyres on my standard wheels, buy cheap hard compound tyres like the Sava Intensas - take a beating, and let you get sideways BIG TIME!!!! On my 18s, I got it with Kuhmo Exsta Supras (235/40/18) and they are really great - good tread wear etc... Never before has a set of tyres lasted me more than 6 months!!! I had to get 2 new ones for a WOF the other day (inside shoulder - go the camber!!) so i got 2 goodyear GS-D3s - they cost $310 each (discounted) which is cheaper than I was expecting to have to pay for them. I had them on my Pulsar when I sold it - they wore well and they give good traction in the wet and in the dry - they have a really awsome looking tread design - looks agressive as! (but as they cost so much, Im not going to push their traction boundries too much until they are due replacements... Ill post a pic if I can find one... This is what the beaurepairs website has to say about them: " Eagle F1 GS-D3 Combination high performance tread compound, V-tred pattern design and new casing shape delivers maximum resistance to aquaplaning and extreme levels of wet handling. Continuous centreline delivers improved on-centre steering feel, improved steering precision and fast steering response. Asymetric rib angle design increases lateral stiffness with consequent improved steering performance Very long tread grooves running perpendicular to the footprint edge and optimised tread design provides reduced noise on smooth road surfaces" Pretty encouraging... I cant get the pic of them to work - ill just post the URL GS-D3 tyre

Grant, going back to your earlier post about wanting to stop before you hit the grass... do any E30s have ABS? It would be right about the time that you hit the grass that you will be wishing you had ABS huh... As for the stripping the brake components down, that sounds like a hell of a lot of work, maybe you could like fill up the resevouir (spelling sorry - been a long day!) and just let the bleed valves go, then pump the pedal a few times to get the dot5 into the system. Is there an easy way to tell the difference? like does it appear different to the dot4? or perhaps you can try filling you brake resevouir with an eythol alcahol and pump that thru? could be pretty dodge tho... and putting the dot5 in, and pumping that thru until the brake fluid comes out, that should be easier to spot.... But dont listen to me - unless you run my theories past a mechanic who knows what hes doing.... hehehe obviously i dont, ive probably just given you the ultimate way to wreck your brakes once and for all!!!

that would have been a good thing to do, but the problem is he stopped doing burnouts when i jumped on the horn, and got out of there as quickly as his pus diesel would take him... otherwise he would have been given the choice - pay for a car wash (not one of the servo ones eiter - they scratch cars) or end up a bit sore.... People like that need to learn respect - they may not care if they mess up their own ride - but when they do it to someone elses thats entirely different a...

haha yeah that will be helpful. its like insurance a, you spend money in the hopes of not needing it, but its there for if you do a! id rather be able to stop beofre hitting somthing, and thank myself for the extra money spent than hit somthing and kick myself for not doing it a!

I did not know that - Ill remember that for when I next do brake fluid. (both for the wagon and my bimmer)Bleeding brakes are easy, just dont do what my old man did to his truck - got fluid on the discs, made stopping a bit interesting for a little while!

one quick point back off the topic - most bus's sound like wap wap wap. And they are as was stated - in a differnt class. As for reliability - all my mates who have had them have looked after them - they break down a hell of a lot more than any bimmer i know of (excpet maybe gus's one!!) That the last i will say about it. Back on topic: Does the DOT thing of the brake fluid used make a difference to brake fade? My brakes dont fade too badly - just when im nailing it at high speeds and giving the brakes a workout. Also, brake dust - with the standard bimmer brake pads - i had chronic brake dust buildups on the wheels. But the monday before I came up to Auckland I had to get new brake pads. My mechanic put some other brand in - I cant remember what they were, but Ill find out for you all when I go in to get my WOF tomorrow - but they have cut down on the dust hugely - as in my chromies are still shining after a weekend which involved about 250km of driving and some highish speeds. As with the valve leaking, Im not too sure that replacing the O-rings would be the solution - hopefully (for your wallets sake!!) it is somthing that simple. As grant said i think your best bet will be to hook it up to the diagnostics computer and find out why it is doing it. Maybe it could be in need of a tune up? Does it sound any different when its hesitating? could it just be missing a bit? When you say that the car wont start, do you mean it cranks over and over without starting, or does it just not turnover at all? Anyway, good luck, and as for shelley - I dont like Subarus, never have, never will, nothing you or anyone else says will change how i feel, so to avoid more arguments, please just leave it as it stands, again, opinions vary.