Messages

1

Electrical / Cannot Unlock Doors

« on: May 21, 2012, 11:32:49 PM »

Problem Solved.  When back and unhooked the battery and tried the passenger side door lock.  This time it allowed me to manually unlock the door.  Pulled the driver's side lock, then reset the locks once the battery was hooked back up.

2

Electrical / Similar issue-not sure what I did?

« on: May 19, 2012, 06:41:34 PM »

So I was replacing my fuel pump, unhooked the battery etc, and when I couldn't complete the job that afternoon, I locked the car up...but did so by not hooking the battery back up (was just freaked out about rehooking the battery with the fuel pump job still in process)...so I manually locked the doors, driver and pass side with the key.  

I've finished the fuel pump job now and rehooked the battery and somehow I've now locked myself out?  Not sure wtf I did?  What's going on is the central lock via the trunk is not working (e.g., there was no resistance or "clicking" like ususal when turning the key, and no movement from the door locks)...I then went to try the driver's side door lock, and when I turned the key, it locked the only unlocked door..the pass side...so now I can't get in?  Awesome.

I've tried the above recommendations from the previous posts, with no luck.  I've tried unhooking the battery, and have tried different combinations of turning the door locks on the driver's and pass side 45 degrees and then trying the central locking system again.

I'm kinda assuming I somehow manually double-locked myself out?  What happens now is the pass side will not unlock, it wants to, but I'm afraid to put too much pressure and break the key.  The driver's side won't budge for unlock. When I turn the key, all it does is make the locking or "clicking" sound that one would usually hear when you're locking the car either via the trunk or driver's side...so it seems like all I can do now rom the driver's side is lock the doors, but the doors are already locked and all that is happening is the "clicking" sound.

At any rate, am trying not to call a locksmith if I can and the locks worked completely fine before I worked on the fuel pump, so I don't think it's a rebuilding issue...just curious if anyone has any insights or secrets from experience that might work?  Maybe I just bite the bullet, call a locksmith and with him there try and reset the system?

Thank you!

3

Exterior / Valence question

« on: April 27, 2012, 12:00:55 AM »

...so long story short, I'll incurred some damage to my front valance. In trying to track down a new one I'm wondering....

Will any front valence work from e30?  Or should i be looking for specific e30's (e.g., only 318is, or will a 88 325is, 86 325e, 90 325ix, etc work?) to be compatible?

I do know the e30 m3 is radically different so I know enough to stay away from that one (in addition to what I assume is a ridiculous cost).

I am planning to repaint so color doesn't really matter.  I do want to keep the car looking as original as possible though so that's kinda why I was curious if I needed to only focus on the 318is or I could expand my search to other e30's.

Thanks so much for any insight.

4

Electrical / brake lights staying on.

« on: September 28, 2011, 09:23:12 AM »

just for reference in case anyone else experiences this in the future...

I had the exact same issue happen to me as spike318is...what resolved it for me was that collar piece that desktop dave mentioned...on my car, the collar piece was red, I guess mine got pushed in somehow, so I pulled it out til it clicked and locked into place.  That solved the problem for me.  Brakes lights come on and off on comand without having to pull up on the pedal with my toe....anywho, just passing along...thanks for raising this issue spike318is and thanks desktop dave for your response, you both saved me a ton of time chasing it down...

5

Suspension / E36 Steering Rack Swap Question-PS Lines

« on: July 10, 2011, 11:13:26 PM »

Finally got the car done...OMG, what an improvement...so worth doing...I also replaced the control arms, bushings-M3 offsets, new sway bar bushings and end link bushings, new engind mounts and tie rods....sooooo much tighter and more solid....thanks so much for your help!

6

General Topics / Brake Caliper? Girling? ATE? Either?

« on: July 10, 2011, 11:10:19 PM »

Ok, great, thanks so much...I did some research on the rebuild and believe I will go that route...I did double-check mine and found out they are girlings just for the record.  Thanks so much!

7

General Topics / Brake Caliper? Girling? ATE? Either?

« on: July 01, 2011, 03:08:21 PM »

Hello-

So I need to replace my front brake calipers....does anyone know...do we have girlings or ATE or can either be used?

Thanks so much for your insight.

Jay

8

Suspension / E36 Steering Rack Swap Question-PS Lines

« on: July 01, 2011, 03:06:38 PM »

Ah!   No I didn't modify the steering knuckle at all...I think from the research I came across, I didn't think that was something I had to do.  Good to know.  

So what I actually ended up doing was using the bolts out closer to the oil pan and taking a dremmel to widen the pax side a couple mm.  It at my mechanic's right now for alignment and checking everything over.  I may end up coming back to this and modifying the knuckle.  

Thanks so much for both your insight....the car's been down for a couple months so I'm getting really excited to get it back out rattle and clunk free.

9

Suspension / Subframe bolt holes

« on: June 24, 2011, 09:51:26 AM »

...so I finally got around to the swap....just working my way back up and getting everything back in place....along those lines had a question about lining up the bolt holes for the rack to the subframe.

Here's my situation....I'm putting in the e36 rack....I've spent several nights now trying to get the rack lined up so that it fits properly and doesn't cause bind in the steering knuckle.  To that end, I've been playing around with the bolt holes on the subframe that are closer to sway bar and the ones closer to the oil pan....additionally I've been trying just about every combination of washer shims both under and above the subframe bolts with no success.  

My e30 rack was using the subrframe holes closer to the sway bar so I'm wanting to use those if I can.    

In getting things lined up, I intentionally didn't put the lower 13mm head bolt into the lower part of the steering knuckle...this is allowing the spline coming out of the rack to move up and down in and out of the knuckle as I try both sets of holes...(well, that's what she said?  Whoops?  Did I say that?   ) ...at any rate, my plan is once I determine which set to use I will then tighten down the 13mm bolt in the knuckle to secure everything in place.  

From what I can tell, the knuckle bind is occurring when the spline coming out of the rack is pushed too far up into the knuckle.  This is happening when I use the set of holes closer to the sway bar.  When I use the holes closer to the oil pan...no binding...but it's not fitting right...for some reason I can only get one subframe bolt in and the other I'd really have to work at it or dremmel out a bigger hole or something that makes me feel like I'm trying to fit a square peg into a round hole which could be disasterous down the road.

I have done some research on the swap and did find some comments about that big compression nut inside the cabin and that it helps to shorten the steering column to relieve binding.  I have tried numerous times on several occassions and just cannot get that damn nut to budge...my only thought if I have to loosen this nut is to take the whole steering shaft out and take it into a mechanic to loosen....if possible, would like to avoid that.

At any rate, it's been several hours of fiddling now with frustration so I thought I'd throw a couple questions out there about it.  

Just curious...is everyone using the set of holes closer to the oil pan or the sway bar?  

Also, any tricks on how to loosen that damn compression nut (I thought I read somewhere that it was "reverse threaded" so I've tried going both ways but it's just not going anywhere.  

Lastly, there is a 13mm head bolt on the upper end of the steering knuckle...if I take that out, can the steering knuckle be moved up closer to the firewall?  I thought that may be another way to shorten the steering shaft in lieu of the compression nut issue.

Thanks so much for any insight you can provide.

Jay

10

Suspension / Steering Rack Swap-E30 vs. E36 Tie rods

« on: April 10, 2011, 06:32:45 PM »

just wanted to thow this out there as I've seen answers go both ways....if swapping the E30 rack for an E36, do you have to use both E36 inner and outer rods or can you use E30 outers with E36 inners as long as you use the E36 locking plates?

I bought new controls arms, bushings etc, that came with E30 outers...this was before I realized I was gonna do the swap, the e36 outers that came with the rack need to be replaced so am trying to decide if i can still use the e30's or bite the bullet and order e36 outers...

Thanks for any insight you can provide...

11

Suspension / E36 Steering Rack Swap Question-PS Lines

« on: March 31, 2011, 11:43:42 AM »

Ok great, thanks so much for the information...I greatly appreciate it...I have read the r3v thread on the swap several times (the taco guy one) ...so I did know about the required mods with shimming and the firewall...I think where I confused myself was the diff b/w the low pressure lines and high pressure lines...I've got it all straight in my head now...Desktop Dave...thank you for the clarification on the four different lines...that helped tremendously.

Thanks so much for the info...will do the swap in a couple weeks, if I run into any issues I may throw another question out on there.  Thanks again!

Jay

12

Suspension / E36 Steering Rack Swap Question-PS Lines

« on: March 30, 2011, 04:15:13 PM »

Hello All-

I'm getting ready to do the e36 steering rack swap and had a question about power steering hoses...

First, wanted to clarify, I need to get one high pressure hose and one low pressure "return line' hose, correct? Does anyone happen to have a part number?

Also, stupid question, but I need to ask...when buying new hoses, since I'm putting in an e36 steering rack, I'm assuming I need to get e36 power steering lines? Or will the e30 lines fit?

Thanks for any insight you can provide!

13

Exterior / Front Panel Insight?

« on: November 28, 2010, 11:28:37 AM »

Wanted to throw out a question for some insight on what I believe is called the "front panel"  (It's #1 below)...if you know of another name, please let me know...

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=AF93&mospid=47305&btnr=41_0129&hg=41&fg=10


At any rate, the PO got into a fender bender that crumpled the front driver's side QP and bent that front panel on the driver's side.  From what I can tell, the force of the impact just pushed the front panel back 2 inches.  The structure for mounting the headlight buckets is in tact, it's just pushed back a little.  It was a low speed impact b/c it didn't do any other damage to the body panels or inner structure.

Next spring/summer I'm gonna repaint so am doing research now and gathering new body panels in prep for the repaint.  I have a new hood and QP, grills, kidneys' etc so I'm getting close.  I know though that I'm gonna have to replace that front panel in order for the new hood and QP's to fit straight.

Just curious if anyone has had any experience with removing and re-assembling that part?  Specifically, is it bolted on or riveted?  I've done some inspecting, but just can't tell.  

Also, I'm assuming I could pick one up from a junkyard?

Thanks for any insight....

14

Exterior / Front Bumper respray question

« on: November 28, 2010, 11:14:23 AM »

OK great, thanks for the insight.

Yes, I'll definitely be careful on that bumper....just doing some research now in prep for next spring.  I did see on a couple other threads that bumper removal is a tricky to say the least.

Thanks again!

15

Exterior / Front Bumper respray question

« on: November 26, 2010, 06:57:40 PM »

...wanted to throw this out there...I'm planning on repainting next spring.  I have some front end damage that includes the front bumper so am planning on picking up a new one.  

Dumb question, but if I pick up any color front bumper, can it be repainted? Put another way, will the paint that is being used on the body panels also work on the plastic bumper?