Messages

1

Engine + Driveline / Cams worth it?

« on: December 25, 2008, 12:31:37 PM »

ohh hell its an automatic AND the dead heavy 318is E36 body.

the car is not your life, really.
go on a two week vacation without the car, and you'll start to get your brain back.

2

Engine + Driveline / Cams worth it?

« on: December 25, 2008, 12:23:23 PM »

posting deleted

3

Engine + Driveline / eliminate a/c

« on: December 25, 2008, 11:53:23 AM »

Hi, please do us a favor, when you get that stuff off the car, put it on a scale and let us know how much weight that saves.
I'm tempted to do the same, not much need for AC here either; betting the compressor alone is over 30 pounds, and with all associated, condenser can, hoses, pullies, belts, should amount to close to 50 pounds.
Still running my 14" BBS rims, and need tires, just read on tirerack that my Goodyears weigh 21lbs each, and going to other brands in 195/60 r14 will take me down to 15-16 lbs each. 5 pounds times 4 tires is a lot of unsprung weight to yank off a little car.

4

Engine + Driveline / Help Lost compression between #2-3 cylinders!

« on: December 25, 2008, 11:44:46 AM »

Got the car back,
runs ok. Integrity had a 20% off labor coupon in the newspaper the day I brought the car in for work.
owner refused to honor coupon. He told me $95 per hour is the discount rate, and if I want to use the coupon he'd charge me $140 per hour.
(considering three other BMW shops charge $95 and Peter Pan BMW Dealership charges $125, Whats so integrity about this place?)
So, the next day, the power steering is making noises, AND there is Power steering fluid drops all over the Airbox.
They say its not their fault, and want to charge me to look at it.
Integrity Motors?
Blaaaa, right.

5

Vendors / GB / COP Conversion Brackets

« on: December 03, 2008, 05:09:58 AM »

nice coil on plug conversion, too bad someone painted the german color strip on the valve cover to match the Audi race logo, did you kick that guys a$$ when you caught him?
Not to ,mention the heat and oil stain discolorations its going to get on the white if anyone actually mounts this on a car for a few weeks.

6

Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / So lets talk cheap turbo manifold solutions.

« on: December 03, 2008, 05:02:41 AM »

Turbo on an M42?
or 3x for a stroker motor?

there is something very wrong here, are we all so rich that we have saved up all the money we need for a very long time that we can go pissing away money we will never get back on mods which might break the rest of the car?,
How about taking your turbo or stroker money, pus all the future money for the cool-stuff we think we're going do, plus the money we are going to need to fix what's going to break,  or wear out and save it all up for just a little while, then march down to BMW and get a new 128 coupe with 230 hp and a factory warranty?

7

Engine + Driveline / Cams worth it?

« on: December 03, 2008, 04:45:39 AM »

I'm always going through a list of performance mods and calculating the dollar cost ov the mod vs. the horsepower gain.
for example, the Turner/Conforti chip I bought new on ebay for $37 bucks with shipping; if the chip is worth 8 hp, and i can do the labor for free, (yes) then, the mod cost me $4.62 per horsepower.
Do a cold air intake with a cone filer and get 6 hp for about $100 then you have a $16.67 per horsepower mod.
Buy a good muffler, for $60, replace the over 100k catalyst with a hi-flow spun metallic type for $100  and have a good shop weld it all up with a nice smooth pipe between cat and muffler for $75 , plus a 10 muffler tip, and get another 8 horsepower, for $245 and you have a $30 per horsepower mod, and something the old car probably needed anyway. Maybe good plugs ($25) 8mm wires  ($170) and new coils ($180) are worth a few hp for $375, so thats about $100 per hp if you do it yourself, and again you probably need plugs wires and coils with over 100k miles anyway
Schrick Cams?
$449 each from Korman, $900 and I really want a good shop to do this bad boy, since If I F' this up its the motor, so I'm into also a valve cover gasket and ..., this is going to be a $1200 mod, on a car I bought for $2200?
Dude, Did you max out your 401k, your Roth IRA, do you already own your own home, AND snap up a deal on some foreclosed real eastate, Hire a personal trainer to work of the gut we all have, Rent some really fine women buy the hour, AND go to Europe or Asia or Latin America on vacation,
AND AND AND still have money left over to throw $1200 Schrick Cam work at your 19 year old E30is which the dealerships wont give us $1000 in trade for a new BMW128 coupe.
This car costs me as much per month to run and do performance mods as the monthly payments on a new BMW 128i coupe on Euro deliver with the BMW CCA discount ($28,000 with sport suspension)
If I had not lost my business, and credit rating, Thats what I'd be driving NOW.
The E30, 318is is a fun little car, but its not going to ever  get the hot and fancy chicks like a new BMW coupe (or a used boxter or....)
Call me crazy, but;
Hell the economy is in the TOILET, maybe I just wanna hang onto my $1200 for when I get laid off and the rent is due.

8

Photoshop, Media, & Artwork / "Back With A Vengeance" Poster

« on: December 03, 2008, 04:16:47 AM »

Hi. I'm an architect (duh) and he have this rocking Oce color printing machine....
and I can buy a color  toner cartridge and a roll of glossy paper and, I have keys to sneak in at night...
I''m sure BMW NA has made its money on the E-30 by now, and then there's the whole M42 profile gasket fiasco, sell me the digital and I'll make a load of posters, and figure out the cost per.

9

Engine + Driveline / Most bang for buck to do with cylinder head?

« on: December 03, 2008, 04:08:40 AM »

so the head is off for a blown gasket, and I am sending out to a machine shop for pressure testing, resurfacing, cleaning, and if necessary any valve work.
While we're cracked open, who knows best what the most bang for the buck improvements are to be made with the M42 head while we're at it?
Thanks!
Looking to spend a few hundred; not thousands, its just an old car nowadays.

10

Engine + Driveline / blown head gasket

« on: December 03, 2008, 04:04:08 AM »

about 3/8" long chunk of head gasket between cylinders 2 and 3 was gone, sending head out for inspection, pressure test and resurfacing.
Integrity Motors in San Mateo CA doing the work.
Imad, the owner seems to be very knowledgeable.
We'll see how it goes.

11

Engine + Driveline / forgot to mention

« on: December 01, 2008, 04:37:30 PM »

to determine where the lost compression is going,
have a shop perform a leak down test.
here is the overview of what that is from "Car Craft " Magazine

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/116_0406_cylinder_leakdown_tester/index.html

12

Engine + Driveline / looks like we are in the same boat.

« on: December 01, 2008, 04:33:16 PM »

I just dropped to 60 psi on cylinders 2-3 (the center two)
so I'm running on 1-4.
We did the following test, which you can do also.
Along with the compression test, squirt a little oil in the spark plugs holes, wait just a minute or two, and re-test. if the pressure increases more than about 20psi, then the oil just created a temporary seal for the rings, indicating the rings are bad.
on mine, the oil trick did nothing to improve the psi.

Next, if the culprit is not the rings, then the remaining options include Valves and the head gasket.

Its better news if its the head gasket, you can "band-aid" that thing for a pretty long time, like a year or more, with "steel seal"
http://www.steelseal.com/

(just stay away from the products which claim to do the same thing and contain solid particles)

If its the valves, then its time for a cylinder head rebuilt or have your machined, "an as an added bonus" you end up with a new head gasket, and a new valve cover gasket.....

If we weren't both broke, we could afford to also send the head out to be ported, larger valves, and gasket matched.
However, for us mere mortals,
These guys sell a basic rebuilt head for $700, and a performance stage 1 head for $849.
rebuilt
http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=vacmotors&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=527950465&Count2=445090889
stage 1
http://store.nexternal.com/shared/StoreFront/default.asp?CS=vacmotors&StoreType=BtoC&Count1=527950465&Count2=445090889

good luck, its not fun.

13

Engine + Driveline / Thanks

« on: December 01, 2008, 02:06:40 PM »

That's exactly the feedback I was looking for.
saves me from buying new coils.
Off to get the leak down test over lunch...
We'll see.
Thank you.

14

Engine + Driveline / question?

« on: December 01, 2008, 08:01:30 AM »

Still cracking my head trying to figure out if I can solve or fix this short of pulling the cylinder head.
Will get a full leak down test to find the source of the lost compression.
Questions;
Will the 2 cylinders fire on 60psi compression with good spark?
Should I replace the coils first?*(135k miles)
any other thoughts?
anyone
anyone,
Buhler?

15

Engine + Driveline / Help Lost compression between #2-3 cylinders!

« on: November 30, 2008, 11:29:58 PM »

Ok, so in the category of better to have left it alone (but why); please read

I had larger sway bars put on my 91 318is Friday.
Well returning back to my apartment building; I decided, for the first time EVER (dumm) to drive the car down the ramp to the underground to take my old parts etc.. back to my basement storage, instead of coming in the front door and using the elevator.
The ramp transition scraped bottom and broke the catalytic converter pipe, just ahead of the cat, and then suddenly car ran really rough.
So I figure it also created a blockage, so the next day I rumble down to the muffler shop and have a new hi-flow cat welded on.
This did not fix the problem.
Went to my local mechanic, found out its running on 2 cylinders. (2?? Hell my ducati can barely run sometimes on 2 cylinders!)
So we test the plugs, (some iridium crap I thought was a good idea), and its only putting out a feeble yellow spark, but we did a compression test, and cylinders 1 and 4 are at 175# and 2 and 3 are at 60#(oooooh noooo!) .
Today I swapped out to new NGK plugs to see if it helps, much better hot blue spark, but not enough to light up cylinders 2-3 with 60#compression.
we did the "squirt oil in the plug hole" trick and compression did not come up, so its NOT the rings.
So what s left to cause loss of compression if not rings?
Valves and/or head gasket? or???
No symptoms of oil in coolant or coolant in oil.
I am looking for a cause; but have a lame, novice theory.
The old cat-converter was pretty gummed up, at 133k miles, putting a flashlight at either end shown ZERO light looking in the other end.
So is it possible, I have a leaky exhaust valves and the back pressure from the cat was the only thing holding back enough compression for combustion on cylinders 2-3?
So then when I bottomed out on the ramp and broke open the pipe just ahead of the cat, i relieved this back pressure by allowing it to leak out everywhere, and thus revealed the problem with the compression.
Not a clue.
Previous owner claims to have replaced head gasket, but did it himself, and he was clearly no BMW tech, more a Chevy/Ford Pick-up truck guy, who bought the car for his daughter.
previous history also included a cracked lower oil pan he unsuccessfully re-welded, and I have since had replaced.
(another theory, daughter of PO ran the thing dry and burned some valves, blew head gasket.......)
Well now that I have this bucket of bolts to fix, who has a method to clearly diagnose whether its valves or head gasket or other, short of taking the head off?

Thanks