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Lowclock posted:Nice wheel. I wanted to get one of those with steering wheel controls to adapt to my old e34 but found a really cheap late model one and just used that. How much was it and where did you get it? And out of curiosity, why the external sirius reciever? I didn't want to mess around with trying to adapt a wheel with onboard controls, since I'd rarely if ever use them anyway. It was, uh, a bit more costly than I would have liked ($400), but I figured that any used one I could have found would have had the same problems (deteriorating leather) that my old one does, and I just didn't want to mess around with trying to find a decent one. I got it from Ebay seller tainik, partly because he seems to sell a lot of these and has gotten good reviews in the feedback. I'm using the external Sirius because I like being able to swap the unit between cars / home without having to pay for additional receivers. I also keep a spare dock / mount / antenna / power cord so that I can jerry rig it in rentals, moving trucks, friends' cars, etc. as needed. The wiring visible in the pic is the only wiring you can see at least. I routed the antenna inside the car and have it on the rear deck, the power is hardwired to switched +12v, and the third wire is line-in to the head unit from the rear.
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Jan 8, 2012 00:45
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I have that exact wheel in my E36 M3. I absolutely hate it. The diameter is 385mm and it's humongous. I recently bought a Momo Spark without an airbag and will need to solder in a 3ohm resistor to keep the SRS light off. Anyway, I'd like to know how much you paid for that wheel as well. Mine's in a like-new condition so hopefully I can get close 75-80% of the new price. Edit: Oh, Taink. Nice. Pricey but seems to be quality stuff.
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Jan 8, 2012 00:48
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Black88GTA posted:It was, uh, a bit more costly than I would have liked ($400) That really doesn't sound too bad at all. You bought an air bag at a decent price that came with a free steering wheel.
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Jan 8, 2012 00:49
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Finally hit 90k miles on my car (05 e46). I'm planning on doing everything for Inspection I and hitting some of the other fluids as well (transmission, differential). At 100k, I'm planning on switching out most of the suspension, but I want to keep the general feel of the ZHP suspension - what are some good alternatives in terms of the shocks, etc?
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Jan 10, 2012 18:48
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The Bilstein Sport/H&R Sport/Powerflex/Hotchkiss sways/adjustable end links/HD shock mounts/tower reinforcement/strut bar combo I have had since 2008 is a "thousand times*" more stiff than stock and you will be able to feel even a coin on the road. That being said, it's a beast in the turns and completely flat!  If I had it all to do over again I'd have spring for fully adjustable coilovers that can be dialed way down off the track. *maybe
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Jan 10, 2012 19:10
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Shadowhand00 posted:At 100k, I'm planning on switching out most of the suspension, but I want to keep the general feel of the ZHP suspension - what are some good alternatives in terms of the shocks, etc? From everything I've read, Koni FSD dampers are a huge, huge improvement in every way -- they retain the soft ride of the stock dampers but add a very smart and tricky bit of damping so that low frequency bumps (i.e. cornering) gets a higher valving rate and much stiffer feel. They're magic and, since we'll be keeping our E46 for a while, this is what I'm looking at.
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Jan 10, 2012 19:36
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I've got H&R coilovers on mine. They are stiff* but there is still a ton** of bodyroll. If I did it again I'd have gone with Ground Control or TC Klein. *By BMW owner standards ** It doesn't corner completely flat. BlackMK4 fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Jan 10, 2012 |
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Jan 10, 2012 21:33
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Is there a good resource that explains the options available for suspension upgrades?
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Jan 10, 2012 23:06
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Having a BMW as a winter beater is loving awesome.   Might have to start working on my 325iX again. Also, I'm curious about ZHP suspension as well. I only have experience with mine which has 113k (but still outhandles my 328 with new bilsteins/H&Rs). Are replacement BMW springs ridiculously overpriced like other models? I plan to autocross/track the car but I don't really know if I want to shell out for coilovers.
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Jan 11, 2012 01:19
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Sterndotstern posted:From everything I've read, Koni FSD dampers are a huge, huge improvement in every way -- they retain the soft ride of the stock dampers but add a very smart and tricky bit of damping so that low frequency bumps (i.e. cornering) gets a higher valving rate and much stiffer feel. They're magic and, since we'll be keeping our E46 for a while, this is what I'm looking at. So if I purchased these dampers, I could retain the stock springs correct? Or would i want to get new springs as well? (I know so little about what parts I'd have to replace vs. others its sad  )
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Jan 11, 2012 01:45
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I'm looking at a 335d listing, but I noted it says "BMW TRADE ASSIST Vehicle". Is this a red flag? The carfax lists: Title issued or updated Registration issued or renewed First owner reported Registered as personal lease vehicle Loan or lien reported Vehicle color noted as Blue Maintenance inspection completed Pre-delivery inspection completed Recommended maintenance performed Transfer case input shaft seal replaced (Title #:X1018695185) (Leased Vehicle) (Lien Reported) 01/18/2011 BARRINGTON, IL
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Jan 11, 2012 03:00
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Col. Mustard posted:I'm looking at a 335d listing, but I noted it says "BMW TRADE ASSIST Vehicle". Is this a red flag? Looks like it probably is: http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61409 I'd never heard of this before, but it looks like trade assist basically equals lemon. According to that thread, BMW will sometimes offer "trade assist" if your car can't be fixed or if the fix would take longer than 30 days. The old car is sold as a "BMW Trade Assist" vehicle, rather than a lemon. This is done because many states will declare a car a lemon if any one problem will take more than 30 days to repair.
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Jan 11, 2012 03:32
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Sterndotstern posted:From everything I've read, Koni FSD dampers are a huge, huge improvement in every way -- they retain the soft ride of the stock dampers but add a very smart and tricky bit of damping so that low frequency bumps (i.e. cornering) gets a higher valving rate and much stiffer feel. They're magic and, since we'll be keeping our E46 for a while, this is what I'm looking at. Shadowhand00 posted:So if I purchased these dampers, I could retain the stock springs correct? Or would i want to get new springs as well? (I know so little about what parts I'd have to replace vs. others its sad
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Jan 11, 2012 18:19
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So I'm a big dumb idiot and bought another e36 M3, a Dakar coupe and I expected it to need some work based on the price I picked it up for. The interior is great...good condition vaders and whatnot. Unfortunately it has had the everloving poo poo keyed out of it at some point...definitely going to need a respray. The really juicy part is the autozone strut brace and walmart intake--more on that later. It drove fine when I test drove it and all the other stuff: control arms, rtabs, rsms, strut mounts, subframe, seemed okay. Sitting at a light right after picking it up, I decided to cycle through the OBC functions and noticed that I was getting 12  MPG. The car was running fine, a little down on power, but I figured it just needed a tuneup at 180k+. Got it home, and didn't do anything. Drove to the train station monday--felt a little more sluggish but nothing major so I decided to grab some MAF cleaner. Blasted it, checked for vacuum leaks and found nothing. Start it up and have a check engine light that wasn't there before. Great. Tuesday--things get really bad. No power below 2000, running rich as a pig. There were several times on my 2.5 mile each way commute I thought it was going to stall and never come back. Pull the MAF again after getting home and stomping the codes out of it--the computer reported it bad--clean it again and look for vacuum leaks again. Well, this time I found this:  Sorry for the cellphone pic, but you can kinda see the two extruded holes at the bottom of the inlet elbow. One of those was disconnected. Hook it back up, and it instantly sounds better but its late and my roomate's car was already behind me so I didn't take it for a drive. That brings us to this morning. Car is running better but won't idle for poo poo...dies every time unless I feather it whenever I put the clutch in. Drive ~30 highway miles (half of which was in sluggish 285 traffic, that was fun) and the car seems to be running fine at the end after the 10 mile leg that wasn't slow. Make the return trip, and the car doesn't stall a single time. It came close, and was a little erratic, but never died. CEL is still on, and I noticed this morning I probably need to replace that intake elbow because I have a crack forming that isn't actually all the way through yet. Wow, wall of text tl;dr S50 ran like poo poo, found a vacuum? hose disconnected from intake elbow, reconnected, car ran better but stalls. After a drive runs better. CEL is for a MAF failure. Question: is it my MAF? ICV? O2 sensor? Or just messed up fuel tables from running god knows how long with that hose disconnected Bonus points: are those hoses present on the S52 intake elbows as well and I've just never noticed them? fake edit: I guess I should also mention that the coolant sensor for the intake is literally jammed inside the cone for this lovely intake in what looks like a dremeled hole. I'm getting an oem intake Friday but I figured it might be relevant, too until I fix this hack job. Oh, actually I found a picture of that too. MAF at top, coolant bung at bottom: 
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Jan 11, 2012 18:44
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If you end up discovering you need a replacement MAF I can sell you one for fairly cheap as I accidentally bought a US-spec one a few months ago (needed an EU-spec MAF instead). The MAF on my E36 M3 wasn't working correctly either and it made it very hard to idle without the engine dying as well.
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Jan 11, 2012 18:54
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Was it 1215 that you got when you did the stomp test? That doesn't necessarily mean it's dead, it's just not reading what it expects. If it has been driving on a huge vacuum leak for a long rear end time, it's probably adjusted itself for it. I bet if you looked at it in DIS the adaptations are way out there, but the MAF is actually reading ok. It's getting better because it's adjusting again to values that are correct and not all hosed up from the leak. Once it gets used to those, it should stop throwing that MAF code. E: and I think that's the ICV hose that you rehooked, which would explain the idling since it was previously unmetered. Lowclock fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Jan 11, 2012 |
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Jan 11, 2012 22:24
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Yeah, I had all those MAF troubles a while back. Running the car with it unplugged fixed pretty much all of the idling issues and was pretty inconclusive. I guess unplugging the MAF and starting the car to see if it will idle without it might tell you something. And then if you plug it in while it's idling and it immediately kills it, then welp. Stupid MAF was the only time my car made me walk home, because I was too dumb to think to just unplug it :\
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Jan 12, 2012 00:02
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Kenshin posted:If you end up discovering you need a replacement MAF I can sell you one for fairly cheap as I accidentally bought a US-spec one a few months ago (needed an EU-spec MAF instead). Thanks for the offer, I'll definitely keep it in mind if I do have to replace. Lowclock posted:Was it 1215 that you got when you did the stomp test? Lowclock posted:It's getting better because it's adjusting again to values that are correct and not all hosed up from the leak. Once it gets used to those, it should stop throwing that MAF code. AlternateAccount posted:Yeah, I had all those MAF troubles a while back. Running the car with it unplugged fixed pretty much all of the idling issues and was pretty inconclusive. It only has to endure one more short commute tomorrow (thermodynamics gods, forgive me, please) and then its a nice long 50 mile trek home from school where I hope it clears itself up and doesn't strand me on the side of 85.
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Jan 12, 2012 04:25
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It wouldn't be a bad idea to take a pipe cleaner and some carb cleaner or something and clean out the vane part of the ICV. Hold the motor part up while doing it so you don't wash out any grease or anything in the motor.
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Jan 12, 2012 04:54
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Crustashio posted:Having a BMW as a winter beater is loving awesome.  gently caress YES!    
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Jan 12, 2012 04:55
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SuperDucky posted:I see what you are saying but wouldn't you eventually just get the problem I ran into? No power, running rich, etc? Well, power was alright, it ran rich as hell though. My original trouble is that it would die randomly sitting at idle at stop lights and such. It was more just to diagnose that information coming from the MAF was wonky enough to stop the engine from idling. Then I ordered a spare on eBay, didn't notice it was coming from Estonia. Took a while.
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Jan 12, 2012 20:18
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Nevermind! So if you're doing your rtabs and they're the stock ones, they may have a flange on them. If you think you've cut it off, you haven't. Once I started trying to push it the other way, everything went swell. Before though, I managed to snap a 3/8" grade 8 bolt. The rtabs are MUCH easier to get out than the rear diff bushing, they aren't nearly as pressed in.
Deceptor101 fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jan 13, 2012 |
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Jan 12, 2012 20:34
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I posted on the local section of e46fanatics when I needed to borrow one and someone helped me out.
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Jan 12, 2012 21:07
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AlternateAccount posted:Well, power was alright, it ran rich as hell though. My original trouble is that it would die randomly sitting at idle at stop lights and such. It was more just to diagnose that information coming from the MAF was wonky enough to stop the engine from idling. Then I ordered a spare on eBay, didn't notice it was coming from Estonia. Took a while. If this drive doesn't clear it up then I will do that and report back; I'm hopeful I won't have to mess with it anymore, though, because it finally decided to start idling respectably half the time when it got up to operating temperature yesterday. Fingers crossed.
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Jan 13, 2012 15:29
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So in general the car feel smoother now that it's been aligned and the rtabs have been replaced. However I still have one issue that's bugging me. When it's cold in the morning and I'm just getting going (my commute has me on the freeway long before the car is fully warmed up) I get a decent steering shudder/shake/whatever until maybe the tires warm up? It happens around 60-75mph. Since dec-10 I've done: Front control arms and bushings Tie rods (inner and outer) shocks/struts/springs and all associated things (spring pads, boots shock/strut mounts) Rear trailing arm bushings Only thing I haven't done is swaybay end links, but that shouldn't cause this. I've tried rotating my tires front to rear and I still get the same thing. Once the car is warm everything seems fine, but it's really annoying me because it shouldn't be doing it! It wouldn't be a steering rack problem right? That wouldn't go away. Any ideas are appreciated! On that note, if anyone needs their rtabs done on a e36 or 346 in the bay area, I now can do them really easy and fast if you ever need help!
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Jan 13, 2012 18:49
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Onward with the BMW search, I found http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/2786524009.html Looks nice except accident reported on the carfax. Accident reported Vehicle involved in a rear-end collision It hit a motor vehicle Looks like the car drifted around the midwest before returning back to CA. 02/03/2010 35,500 Online Listing Vehicle offered for sale 01/05/2012 37,340 Dealer Inventory Vehicle offered for sale Thoughts? Dealer is willing to lower the price if paying cash.
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Jan 15, 2012 01:56
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quote:Dealer is willing to lower the price if paying cash.
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Jan 15, 2012 02:16
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37K miles is nice, but isn't california swimming in accident free ZHPs for the same price? With more miles obviously.
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Jan 15, 2012 02:29
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revmoo posted:Never heard of that before. If you pay cash, some dealers lower the price because they get the money instantly as opposed to over time if you finance it through them. But nowadays with banks run by manufacturers, dealerships get the money instantly no matter what, so it doesn't matter how you pay.
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Jan 15, 2012 02:39
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Thats a really good deal for SoCal. Like, I had to chip away for 45 days at a 23k initial asking price for mine with 58k miles. It was literally immaculate and had a full service record because it was traded in at the same dealership as the original sale but drat that initial list price was hilarious.
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Jan 15, 2012 06:50
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moondabor posted:
This makes it looks like it hasn't been driven in literally two years. I'm not exactly sure if that's a good thing or not.
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Jan 15, 2012 06:58
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evensevenone posted:This makes it looks like it hasn't been driven in literally two years. I'm not exactly sure if that's a good thing or not. That's the fishy thing about the car. It said it was repo'd and floated around for 2 years.
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Jan 15, 2012 08:43
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Saw this on another forum - Amazon has a crazy deal going on Pentosin right now! 6 liters of CHF 11S for $32.65, or CHF 7.1 for $29.10 with free shipping. Not too shabby, considering this poo poo is normally $20+ per liter. Needless to say, I just stocked up.
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Jan 15, 2012 10:52
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Cojawfee posted:If you pay cash, some dealers lower the price because they get the money instantly as opposed to over time if you finance it through them. But nowadays with banks run by manufacturers, dealerships get the money instantly no matter what, so it doesn't matter how you pay. Ended up going with a private sale one who I'd offered even less for (again, in cash), but still. It works.
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Jan 15, 2012 19:02
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Hey MINI folks, if you have a turbo Cooper S, your car is likely part of a water pump recall. In homage to the car's British heritage, there is a chance your water pump may catch on fire. More info here: http://www.motoringfile.com/2012/01/15/mini-usa-announces-water-pump-recall-affecting-79000/
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Jan 15, 2012 23:04
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R3v'd my car! Hit black ice right after getting on the I-5 NB express lanes...went into a double tank slapper before t-boning a Toyota. All in all, could have been way worse, I'm not hurt but my wife says her neck isn't feeling too great today.    Fender was pushed back far enough into the tire to puncture it...car didn't really want to start after the accident but i was able to get it started and over to the shoulder. Anyone know how fault is determined in black ice cases? I wasn't doing anything wrong and there were other vehicles spinning from black ice in the general vicinity. Whatcha think, totalled?
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Jan 16, 2012 18:01
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Fender-door line/gap looks really good, if the shock tower is okay you might be able to get a good shop to straighten out the fender rail. Make sure you stress how much these cars are worth to your insurance company if you don't want a salvage title. It looks like most of the force was focused low, which is better than high.
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Jan 16, 2012 18:36
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Yeah that looks pretty straight still. Let's hope you can get it fixed and back on the road easily! This is what I'm terrified with having happen to my E30.
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Jan 16, 2012 18:42
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Has anyone here had any experience with owning/driving both an e36 m3 and an e46 zhp/330 sport? I'm starting to question my zhp purchase after deciding to commute year round with my 328. Originally bought the zhp as a commuter/weekend/autoX car which seemed to be its perfect role. Now that I've taken the commuter part out I'm thinking the e36 is a better fit. While the e46 is incredibly civilized, I still don't like the dbw throttle. There are also the massive 18s with expensive rubber, lack of LSD and just overall heaviness. The handling is sublime but I would like to cut down on ownership costs if I'm gonna drive it hard. For what I paid for the e46 I could get a low mileage e36 and have a few thousand left over. I haven't sunken any money into the zhp so I won't take a big loss in resale. The only drawbacks to the e36 that I can see are the shoddy interior which I'm already familiar with, and a supposedly harsh ride which is what I want out of second car. I did a little bit of Google research but most of it seems to be a bunch of armchair racers comparing stats without having driven either.
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Jan 16, 2012 19:05
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Crustashio posted:e36 M3 vs. e46 330 sport Depends on what you're doing with the car. Having owned both and tracked numerous examples of both E36 and E46s, I can assure you that the E36 M3 is head and shoulders above the E46 in any kind of motorsports situation. The suspension, engine and LSD are supremely well calibrated. If you are getting a car primarily as a track toy/weekend car, find a cheap example and get it mechanically sound, then take it to the track. It will take you 6 track weekends to even approach the limits of that car in bone stock, worn out condition, and the engine/drivetrain are drat near bulletproof. I keep saying over and over that the performance per dollar of the E36 M3 is absolutely unbeatable right now. That's because there is no reason to spend $$$ on a low miles E36 at this point -- just budget for suspension refresh and save yourself a few grand. An aftermarket suspension is so far superior to stock in every way (ride quality, handling, adjustability) and will only run you $2k at most. Edit: this afternoon, I could take $5k in cash and buy a '99 M3 with nice racing seats, order $2k in cooling and suspension parts, and be competing in TT classes by this weekend. Now if you're looking for a competent daily driver, an E46 is unquestionably superior. The interior refinement is miles above the E36 and the car is the standard against which the rest of the automotive industry should be measured: 30mpg highway, room for four and their stuff, side airbags, great mechanicals. Sterndotstern fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Jan 17, 2012 |
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Jan 16, 2012 19:41
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