Messages

1

Suspension / H&R sport spring?

« on: January 19, 2011, 10:29:55 AM »

That depends on how much you want to lower your car. I'm running the 50404-55 which is OE Sport for the 325i/is but what I believe you will get as sport for the 318is with Bilstein T/C and I like it for a street setup. The roads around here are not so good so lower and stiffer setup would not be ideal.

This will give you about .5 in drop all around if you want a solution that will lower your car more than that then you should probably with the 29664 which were designed for the early 318i wich was a lighter car.

2

Exterior / Trunk lid adjustment

« on: May 24, 2010, 09:50:28 PM »

Hello,

I was looking at the adjustment for the trunk lid on my e30 cabby see that the adjustment for height at the hinge is by shims. My left side is too high at the hinge but there is no shim in place, I was wondering if the hinge itself has an adjustment where it attaches to the body.

3

Suspension / Whoops, wrong springs. Will they work?

« on: April 04, 2009, 08:24:10 AM »

US spec 318i/is cars had the same suspension. BP states that the 318is had shorter springs but he is referring to euro spec cars.

4

Interior / Airbag Wheel Removal

« on: February 28, 2009, 05:58:43 PM »

You should also wait at least 10 - 15 minutes after disconnecting the battery before you start removing the air bag. You want to make sure there is no charge left in the system that could cause the air bag to deploy while you are removing it.

One other thing, if you are going to use a M-Tech 1 wheel you will find the turn single and wiper control levers to be a little too close to the wheel. The levers from an airbag car and non air bag car on not the same. The air bag levers are a little longer on the part that extends toward the wheel to bring them to the correct position.

5

General Topics / Default opinions on this 91 318is please?

« on: June 05, 2008, 02:34:47 PM »

engine is a noisy on startup, it dies down slightly but not that much, perhaps Lifters? is the M42 HLA? otherwise, i would assume timing set?

It's probably a defective timing chain tensioner (BMW part #11311743187). Easy to replace and should be done to every M42, the original part was a poor design and was replaced with a new part in the later years. It has hydraulic lifters that do not need adjusting. If the tensioner doesn’t help then it could be the timing chain guides that are worn (caused by a poor tensioner) this repair can be costly if you can't do it yourself.

6

General Topics / Sick and tired of Craigslist !!!

« on: May 31, 2008, 05:06:04 PM »

I bought my 318is through CL all the way from Arizona and I live in Montreal. I had a friend that was 2 hours away go look at the car and finalize the deal. Then I had it shipped to the east coast. All in all it was not a bad experience. On another occasion I made an appointment to see a car a half hour away just to pull up and have the seller tell me that he was inside his house signing the car over to someone else. So just goes to show you, you can be dealing with a stand up guy 3000 miles away or an ass in your erea.

7

General Topics / How wide can you go?

« on: May 29, 2008, 10:55:46 AM »

I have 205/55/15 on my 318i with some 5 spoke 15" x 6" and they work great. On my 318is I'm running 205/60/14 on the basketweaves and they are great as well, they look a little wider because of the 6.5" width on the wheel, height wise there is very little difference.

8

General Topics / How wide can you go?

« on: May 29, 2008, 08:42:06 AM »

14" baskets are 6.5"
14" bottlecaps 6"
15" euro baskets 7"

9

General Topics / How wide can you go?

« on: May 23, 2008, 08:39:52 AM »

They are a summer only tire, but I only drive my car in the summer.

15" would open up your choices. I'm running 205/55/15 on my other car and that size is a great fit, they are 24" tall same as the 195/65/14.

10

General Topics / How wide can you go?

« on: May 22, 2008, 09:36:19 PM »

You can go with a 205/60/14 on the basketweave and it will be about .4" shorter than the original size and they fit without any rubbing. A 215/60/14 would be just a touch taller the the original size and I would imagin that they would have no rubbing issues either. The problem with these sizes is that you don't have many choices in tires. I went with the 205/60/14 Sumitomo HTR 200 from tirerack.com for $46 and for a daily driver they are pretty good.

11

General Topics / How many of you run 87 octane fuel?

« on: May 20, 2008, 12:28:28 PM »

Those of you who think it's a cheap car and you can run it on whatever crap you find and don't believe it's worth maintaining properly, I thank you. Because of you my well kept 1991 318is will be worth more money sooner.

12

General Topics / How many of you run 87 octane fuel?

« on: May 16, 2008, 08:37:03 AM »

I don't think this has anything to do with affording a BMW. I started out using low octane fuel out of curiosity. I wanted to see if there was a way to make this car run reliably on 87 octane without any compromises. So far so good. If ever kill it I'll buy another. But I doubt octane will have anything to do with this car's demise. My next experiment involves water injection.

Water injection will eliminate detonation but the down side is less power, water does not burn. Back in the 80's I used to drive a 1971 Trans Am, even though it had 8:1 compression, with the timing advanced I would get some pinging. I used a water injection system but added methanol to the mix it was believed that the methanol would help with HP but to tell you the truth I never tried it at the track or on a dyno so I can't say if it worked or not.

13

General Topics / How many of you run 87 octane fuel?

« on: May 15, 2008, 03:00:57 PM »

Another reason that 91 octane fuel is recommended is that back when the E30 was produced, gasoline quality was not nearly what it is compared today. The E30 was produced towards the end of the era when gasoline was being transitioned from leaded to unleaded.

The octane rating tells you how much the fuel can be compressed before it spontaneously ignites. Higher compression engines like the M42 need 91 octane fuel, the M20 has low compression and runs great on 87 octane.

I would guess that now, with current technology, you could run 89 octane or "Plus" gasoline and it would perform the same as 91 octane or "premium" back in the 80's

I agree technology has changed since the early 90's so in today’s cars you can run a lower octane rating on a higher compression engine. Unfortunately our cars do not benefit from the latest technology available in the industry.

14

General Topics / How many of you run 87 octane fuel?

« on: May 14, 2008, 11:56:37 PM »

Some of you guys should go work for BMW because it's obvious that you are way smarter that the top engineers that BMW hires to design there cars. It's amazing that these terribly designed cars still have such a following 17 years after they were first sold.

They state premium fuel because these are high compression engines with no knock sensors. While you may not always hear the detonations that does not mean it's not happening. You may not have engine failure in the next few thousand miles that does not mean your engine is not getting damaged. Even if you are not one to push the limit you probably still put the car under load enough to cause pinging, for instance going up a hill in a high gear.

If it's recommended to run premium that's what you should be running. If you want to save $200 a year sell your e30 and buy a Corolla, my wife's gets way better mileage than my e30 does and Toyota recommends regular fuel.

15

Exterior / Post your SINGLE best pic!

« on: April 03, 2008, 09:31:22 AM »

Here's a pic of my recent acquisition. I already removed the bra and sunroof bubble.