The local BMW club sponsored a dyno day at a local tuners shop. Some one else went with an engine just like mine, M50 2.8L with M52 cams and 3.5 in MAF. The result was 201 Hp to the wheels. The conversion for crankshaft hp is + 18% so that means my new engine will be close to 230 hp at the crank. That is a nice improvement from 167 of the M20.
Forum: Car Talk

Great article. Thanks for the link. On a weekend soon I will try to get the old one out and see if I can disassemble to the broken belt. I like fixing things.
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Maybe if one left a little of the plastic thing with the teeth on it to give it some friction it may stay extended. My thought is that it would not stay up by itself. I have begun to enjoy the automatic function so may try to repair or replace but am concerned that the antenna will have to be cut off to get the assembly out of the car.
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The engine came from a 1996 E39 and has been converted to OBD 1 so some of the sensors came from my old engine. The engine management computer came from and earlier model and has a custom chip to account for the M52 cams in the 2.8 Liter M50 and the 3.5 inch MAF. The engine fits and would have fit better if my car had not had some previous front damage that repairs did not get the radiator supp
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There you can see the cone filter. I think the stock air box looks better and maybe I can make it fit. Notice there is a fan behind the radiator but had to put it on backward to get it to clear everything. It was getting warm in slow traffic so the electric fan would have to come on. Now it does not . The radiator has to be out to get the fan in place. Very little clearance. Some previous f
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I hope it is large enough to see well. I am not enthralled with the cone filter and would like the 3 inch MAF and adapt to the original filter box I think.
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Could you post a picture of the insides and the belt? I might find a substitute belt. I can hear the motor running for the time it is supposed to run. The belt must be the part that slips when the antenna is at max position.
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The E-30 definitely is the chariot of the gods. With a few more ponies under the hood, it is absolutely awsome. The only problem with it is that the catalytic converter is touching the heat shield under the car and the noise reminds me of the extra power lurking under the hood... the temptation to excercise a few more of the horses is unresistible. The swap went well with only a couple of
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I am thinking that the valve adjustment may be the problem. I did just what you described in adjusting the valves before the head was bolted and torqued to the block. Once I had it torqued down, checked and found that the valves were all out of adjustment again. Suggest you readjust the valves now and they should not be completely quiet. Some slight clicking should be audible.
Forum: Technical Forum

I wonder how one gets the power antenna out of the car when th actuator has failed and will not extend the antenna fully. It is a bit more than half way up. The motor runs but the antenna will not move up or down even with some encouragement from myself. It seems like the antenna must be removed before the actuator can be removed from the car.
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Hey, thanks for posting the pictures. I saw mine in one of the lines of cars on display.
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That is quite a collection. I am invious as I only have two.
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When you say low temperature, how low do you mean? Below freezing? or less?
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That is good to know. I thought about some Pilot Sport 3 tires but since I already had the X ice on a set of wheels for winter, I went for the Pilot Super Sport summer tire. Not sure what they will be like in wet weather. I will find out come October when the rain comes back.
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My snow tires are the Michelin X-ice tread pattern with lots of sipes in them. They seem to do ok on wet pavement and when it is cold here. The temp is pretty cool from November to March so a Summer tire is not likely to do as well. Our pavement gets quite worn and slippery too. Not much agressive driving since the misty rain keeps most roads wet.
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I too have just bought some new tires. I had some 6 year old Michelin all season tires that were nearly to the wear bars. They were not very good in any weather any more but the new set of summer tires are very sticky on dry pavement. Probably not so much on wet. Will have to go back to the snow tires when the rain comes back.
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Here it can be done if you buy all of the plates at the same time at one office. The clerk could pick them all at once.
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I like having a nice looking car but it does not need to be new. I like the simplicity of the older cars and continue to enjoy my E-30.
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A few days after the event there will be some pictures on the BMW CCA Puget Sound website. Maybe I can post a link here after they are available. Got to get the car polished up in preparation.
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The world's largest gathering of E-30s will be June 28 this year. Over 200 expected. Some from the far East (Tennessee) and South (California). Should be a great time as always. Hope to see some of you there.
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There does seem to be a trend for that here too. Car shows I have been to recently usually have a few examples of unrestored cars that are running well enough to take to show.
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It does seem like we are confused and unstable. The situation on Dakar probably demanded a change of venue.
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These type problems are always the last place you look. My son had a similar problem and found that when he put a new battery in the car the problem went away.
Forum: Technical Forum

The engine rebuild is complete and road tested. Running smoothly and much more quietly. New clutch, new trans seals, and all new bearings in the motor. So my oil leaks should be over for a while. Gasket sealer on all the flat gaskets. No drips, no runs, no errors.
Forum: Technical Forum

Got the engine back into the car last night and filled the fluids. This evening put the drive shaft and exhaust on and crossed my fingers. It started up after a couple of tries. Only one small faux pas with the ignition wire connections being crossed. Sounds like I did not quite get the valve adjustments just right as a couple of them are noticably noisy. Tomorrow will readjust and put the h
Forum: Technical Forum

I did not do plastigage. I measured the crank journals pretty carefully. They were all withing limits and did not appear to have any flat spots. The cylinder ridges were barel perceptable. There were still some hone marks in all the cylinders. The engine is assembled and setting in the car. almost all hooked up excpet for coolant. Oh, and the drive shaft and exhaust is still laying beside
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Made a few more checks during assembly. The rings have the maximum end gap due to cylinder wear probably. If I have to do the engine over again it will mean a bore and oversize pistons. Hope I can get a few more years out of this rebuild. The engine is going back to gether well enough. Head is on and timing belt. Now to hang it on the hoist so can put the new clutch on. Have to put new
Forum: Technical Forum

Really I do agree with you that new ones might be best but the cost of standard size pistons seems pretty high. I decided to go back with the same old pistons but had a set back today. The last piston was just about all the way in and the middle ring came out of the compressor and broke the edge of it. So I have to order up a new set of rings for that piston. New pistons would have doubled
Forum: Technical Forum

Yes, I have been using the Bentley manual for specifications. The top of the pistons appears to be round and larger than the skirt sides perpendicular to the wrist pin. The large diameter skirt matches the diameter shown in the Bentley. All of which means that none of the pistons meets the ovality requirement. Not sure what it means though. Should they be replaced or just use new rings and m
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The noise was a deep sound like the lower end. Only once every other rev I estimated. When first starting the engine, it would be quiet for about 3-4 seconds and then gradually get louder for a few seconds and stay that way for a couple minutes then slowly get quiet. Once warmed up the engine did not make the perceptable noise. The stock clearance is about 0.0018 and one journal had 0.0039
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