Nice! Congratulations. I'm a sucker for wagons.
Forum: Car Talk

QuoteCab TreadwayAll that said, I wouldn't buy it again, only because if I were shopping right now I'd be getting a Jetta TDI wagon. In 2006 in Massachusetts, I could not buy or register a diesel, as that was back before they had the "50-state legal" diesels. Now I could get a TDI, and I think the 40+ mpg in those would be awesome. I think that would be a great commuter. B
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteArcheo-peteriX How has the Mazda been for you as far as reliability? An older(2002) Protege hatchback has caught my eye and it falls much better into my limited budget than the E46 cars of the same vintage. I'm not Cab, but I'll answer anyway. We have two Mazdas in our household: an '04 Mazda6 that is my wife's daily driver, and a '90 Miata that is my track toy. B
Forum: Community Forum

From time to time, spambots manage to find our list, despite my best efforts to prevent it. It doesn't happen all that often, and so far it hasn't been a big deal for me to delete the posts and ban the offending spammers. The important thing about this system is that it depends on everyone to report spam when you see it. There's a handy "report" link right next to the &qu
Forum: Announcements

QuoteArcheo-peteriXPerhaps it has an airlock... Peter, you're a genius. That's exactly what it was. I was quite thorough in bleeding the system after filling it, but it was not enough to get the air I had introduced to the system way down by the heater core. Taking inspiration from a hint I found elsewhere on the Internet, I raised the front of the car up on ramps, and after running the
Forum: Technical Forum

I'm resurrecting this one from hibernation for a report and another question. Now that winter is coming again, I just finally replaced the heater valve. It wasn't too bad except for one of the five screws being almost inaccessible and requiring me to do the oh-so comical standing-on-my-head-under-the-dash dance, accompanied by considerable swearing. Now that I know how all the pieces
Forum: Technical Forum

Well, just today I managed to answer my own question, and it was such a stupid solution that now I feel like an idiot. I had checked all the wiring in the trunk, and it was all the way it's supposed to be. I checked the wiring behind the radio, and everything was OK there, too. Then today it struck me -- I've done this before! I've had the same problem previously and just manag
Forum: Technical Forum

Oh yeah, and for how-to instructions, check the BMW325iX Club archives, but also check the 325iX section of E30tech.com. I found some good info there when I replaced my front CV joints. Check the first sticky in that forum, which gives a pretty thorough description of the entire process, with pictures.
Forum: Technical Forum

Like most of the front drivetrain on the iX, the front halfshafts/axles are iX specific, so there really isn't any other substitute. You'll save a lot of money looking for a used one. There are a few places to look: 1. The messages section of the BMW 325iX Club. Join up and post a message. Someone actually just posted a message looking for a front axle last week, and another reader r
Forum: Technical Forum

OK, all you folks with power antennas that still work, please answer me this: Does your antenna extend whenever you turn the car on, or only when the radio is turned on? Mine used to extend only when the radio was on. Then I had some body work done on the rear (repairing damage from our ill-fated winter rally in Ontario last winter). When I got it back, the antenna now goes up whenever the car
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteCab Treadway Mrs. Cab was disappointed after all the news coverage. She wanted to see houses flying by on their way to Oz or something. Come on up to Vermont. Or, better yet, just go to YouTube and search for "Irene" and "Vermont" and watch the excitement. As "easy" as Irene went on the coast, she walloped the mountains hard. We got 6-9 inches of rain in 15 hou
Forum: Community Forum

Outstanding! Mine has been doing the exact same thing. I've just been pushing the button whenever it happens, but it's good to know there's a simple fix. Thanks!
Forum: Technical Forum

Congratulations, Michiel! Enjoy the adventure!
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteJose PintoThose are proper little cars, on the other hand the "seven" replicas are a design from the fifties, when popular old cars were striped form the rusted saloon body to be rebuilt as lightweight roadsters. Actually, the Lotus Seven was an original design from Colin Chapman, and was quite successful in its little niche. They weren't made from stripped parts of anything;
Forum: Community Forum

Interesting. I've seen lots of different Lotus Seven kits (e.g. http://www.windingroad.com/articles/lists/ten-lotus-7-replica-kit-cars/), but never one with a BMW drivetrain. But of course it's no surprise that someone would build one! There's a guy in my track club that owns a Locost Seven kit car with a Mazda Miata drivetrain. That car weighs next to nothing and is stupid fast
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteEarendilIt was only dishearting to have every car blast by me. I was supposed to be learning things like letting up on the gas a little to let them pass, and how to properly pass people myself. I never had to let up on the gas, because most of the cars out there had 2x the hp, some of them had near 3x. They passed me like I was standing still. Oh, I understand the frustration completely. I d
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteEarendilYep, my first time on the track! Only my 3rd time visiting a track! Welcome to the addiction! Your bank account will never be the same again. QuoteIt was kind of hard to have EVERY car on the track me significantly faster. It would have been nice to have a few out there that were close so that I knew if my lines were close or fast. Don't worry too much about that. Too often, b
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteMichiel 318iS Hmmm... I went karting with a couple of colleagues last Friday, I think every muscle in my back hurts. A couple in my arms as well, but that's partly from working in the garden on Saturday. Yeah, driving karts is a whole different matter. You use a lot more muscles doing that. With cars, at least cars with a racing seat and harness, there's a lot less physical work
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteArcheo-peteriX It sounds serious or expensive or a pain in the back High Performance Driving Event (a.k.a. "track day") You're right about the "expensive" part, at least once the addiction has taken hold, but mostly they're just lots of fun, and when done correctly, should not involve any pain anywhere.
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteFerdinand It's up on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gs6TPbwvi0 Go grab it now, because it'll surely be taken down soon for copyright violation. Got it. Thanks!
Forum: Community Forum

QuoterkjJust found this from 1983, speaking of shapes; Another cool car. And you survived driving it! Regular 911s scare me. Turbo 930s terrify me.
Forum: Community Forum

Cool! I hope I can find a way to see it!
Forum: Community Forum

It just happened again -- this time it was a college student. As I was getting out of my car after parking it, he called across the street to me: "Great car!" He was even looking at the dented side, too. This kind of thing seems to happen a lot with this car. Funny, it's never happened with any other car I've owned.
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteFerdinand Pressing the 1000-button and 1-button simultaneously on the OBC will display the amount of fuel remaining in the tank. If you run the car until it is nearly out of the gas, a low-fuel warning light comes on in the gas gauge in the instrument cluster when there are about 6 liters (1.6 US gal) left in the tank. At that point, press the 1000-button and 1-button on the OBC to see
Forum: Community Forum

It sounds like you've already put a lot of thought into this and have most of the bases well covered. Good for you! I wish more people approached this as carefully! Just a few comments: I heartily concur with the Dunlop Z1 Star Specs as a street/track tire. On our LeMons racer we are restricted by the rules to tires with a treadwear rating of 190. After trying a few different tires, w
Forum: Technical Forum

My friend Jeff, who does ice racing over in northern New York State, just sent me a link to this cool video that was show recently on Speed TV: http://www.grid1.tv/videos/featured/ice-racing I've never run these events (despite Jeff's best attempts to get me over there), but I love this video. I think it does a good job of capturing what is great about grassroots motorsports, in this
Forum: Car Talk

QuoteArt Munson I have the Chilton's manual I realize this won't help for today, but for future jobs if I were you I would still get the Bentley manual, and then take the Chilton manual and use it to start fires, line a bird cage, prop up a wobbly table, or anything useful. There's really no comparison.
Forum: Technical Forum

Quoterkj But there's no oil in Libya. what gives.. Umm, where did you hear that? Libya is a member of OPEC, and Wikipedia tells me it's the 18th largest oil producer in the world. Qaddafi's wealth and power is pretty much 100% oil-derived. So yes, there is a good reason that markets react when there's political instability in any resource-producing region. I realize it
Forum: Community Forum

QuoterkjI see the door/quarter gap is bad, is that difference in the 1/4 only. I suspect it is, another vote for replacement but not totally necessary even so. If the outer quarter was bent in that bad (middle of the wheel) the inner is going to need some reshaping too I would think, and by the time everything's back in place a new 1/4 always makes it easier to use as a guide for fitting oth
Forum: Technical Forum

Quoterkj Hey Dave, Is your 1/4 that bent it cannot be straightened? Got a few pix to send this way?, was there any damage inside the trunk or rear pan area?? I'm thinking Vermont may not be the easiest of places to get real body work done but I'd love to see what it looks like. QuoteEarendil We can all have a little "Who has the worst fender" competition ;-) I'll sho
Forum: Technical Forum