In the years that I've had my E30, the power antenna has never worked. I replaced it with a simple fixed rubber antenna, but the reception was lousy, so now I've gone back to an original power antenna. It works fine, and the radio reception is 10 times better. But I'm thinking that the wiring to my radio is messed up. The antenna raises as soon as I turn on the car, regardless o
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotewodcutr How much bigger is a 195/70/r14 than a 195/65/r14 and would they fit an E30? 3.2% See the handy Tire Size Calculator for details. I don't know whether they would fit. If I was forced to guess, I'd say yes, but it would be just a guess.
Forum: Technical Forum

To me, the E30 M3 is an incredible car. Yeah, I'm a bit dated myself, but there's something about them that you just don't get with more modern cars. I think a lot of it has to do with their relative lightness, in combination with great handling and exciting power. And as icing on the cake, they sound amazing. I just got back from a track weekend at Watkins Glen, where we had two E
Forum: Community Forum

This link might help explain it: Wheel Offset Calculator It's important to note that in addition to the running issues that Daniel mentioned, getting too far away from the recommended offset can also affect handling.
Forum: Technical Forum

Beautiful car! (Nice pets in the yard too. ) Isn't it great having a car with no rust? We have a similar salt problem around here, and I ended up going to Pennsylvania to find a rust-free iX. I'm guessing you didn't find that gem in Ottawa. I'm insanely jealous that you're doing the Targa Newfoundland. I would love to get up there for that some year!
Forum: Community Forum

QuoteEarendilHowever, a few years ago I plunked down some cash for a Canon 20D and a 70-200L 4.0f. Heh... I have that same lens, but with a 10D. (I got it fairly cheap when the 20D came out, and everyone was dumping their 10Ds to upgrade.) One of these days, maybe when the kids are out of college, I'll pick up a 20D or 30D as a second body. I've got a few other lenses too, but that L le
Forum: Community Forum

QuotedanielI'd like to get a dSLR soon, but they are pricey, especially since one must buy the lense(s) also. These days you can get a new Nikon D40 with 18-55 lens for under $400. If you look around for a used one I'm sure you can find them even cheaper. I agree that's still not exactly "cheap," but it's a lot less than digital SLRs used to be.
Forum: Community Forum

This really has little to do with E30s, but I just saw this 1970 BMW 2000 for sale and it's one of the coolest old Bimmers I've seen in a long time. I've always had a real weakness for 2002s, but I've never actually even seen a 2000. I'm trying hard to keep the drool off my keyboard. (I have no connection with this car, I'm just a big admirer.)
Forum: Community Forum

QuotewodcutrThey are the team dynamics pro race 1.3 rims from bimmerworld. Hey, those are my track wheels! I have two sets of Pro Race 1.2 wheels (same as the 1.3 but slightly heavier) for my Miata track car. They're excellent wheels. They are very popular in both the Spec Miata and Spec E30 racing worlds, because they are fairly light, strong, and relatively cheap. (Miatas and E30s use the
Forum: Technical Forum

QuotewodcutrSo is the proper offset 25mm or 45mm? I am looking at different rims and wanted to make sure which offset is correct! The sites seem to have all the 5 lug rims for BMWs with an offset of 38mm...is that just because the E36 and newer cars have 15" rims? The stock offset for E30 7-inch wide wheels is 24mm (28mm for the 6-inch wide wheels), but anything within 4-5mm of that should
Forum: Technical Forum

That sounds like the radiator is doing its job of dissipating heat from the coolant to the air. Hot goes in at the top, cool comes out at the bottom and then goes to the engine. If it was hot at the bottom, it wouldn't be very effective at cooling the engine!
Forum: Technical Forum

I tried to get the ignition key cylinder out once, when I was trying to remove the upper cover to the steering column. I never could figure it out, and I eventually just gave up. If someone here knows, I would love to know too!
Forum: Technical Forum

Well, that didn't last long. The bogus post has been removed. In a nutshell, he was offering a fully track-prepared, lightning-fast, and ultra-sexy 1990 M3 for $6000. (Well, when I say "offering," I sort of mean it in the April Fool's sense.)
Forum: Community Forum

A friend of mine and fellow track rat has a warped sense of humor: E30 M3 for sale He didn't get any takers in the first hour, so he's lowered the price "for a quick sale." Happy April Fool's Day! Seriously, his M3 is the most wonderful thing I've ever seen on 4 wheels.
Forum: Community Forum

Glad to hear all is fine! My wife is from California and it's quite interesting seeing the difference in her reaction to earthquakes versus mine. In my entire life I have felt exactly one earthquake. We don't get many earthquakes around here, but almost exactly 7 years ago we had a 5.2 earthquake centered in the Adirondacks about 40 miles from our house. It came at about 6:00 a.m., a
Forum: Community Forum

Quoteigor325 I am still debating if this is sick or cool No debate here -- that is really cool, and ingenious too! B)
Forum: Community Forum

There are also wiring diagrams here, in a little more organized and easier-to-find format: http://www.armchair.mb.ca/~dave/BMW/e30/
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteAndy 90 325iI wouldn't trust any plug gap to be right out of the box. Always check the gap on every plug before installing it. +1 I always check the gaps. It's a habit I developed years ago when spark plugs never came "pre-gapped." Even though they're supposed gapped correctly now, I still frequently find plugs that I need to tweak a little.
Forum: Technical Forum

Hmm, perhaps we will never know for sure. There's good reading on this in this article from Pelican Parts: http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/Mult-Air_Bag_Lamp/Mult-Air_Bag_Lamp.htm From that article: QuoteMany people have told me that the airbags will not deploy when the airbag lamp is illuminated. This is an area of much controversy, as I have also been told by more than a few
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotewodcutr I may be a dumb dumb, but I have no idea what dum dum is! Maybe he meant these:
Forum: Technical Forum

It's the first Tuesday in March, which means that here in Vermont it's Town Meeting Day, an official state holiday. It's like a second Election Day, only more interesting. Like many towns in the state, my town holds its annual meeting on the Monday evening preceding Town Meeting Day. Despite the snow today, many of the town's 1100 residents turned out tonight and packed the el
Forum: Community Forum

Quoterkj But Dave, our hand brakes are shoes that go against their own drum. Has nothing to do with the normal street brakes. Doh! Oh yeah. Forget I said that. But the idea is the same anyway.
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteArcheo-peteriX Often what happens is the rotors and pads will be come extremely hot and if the wheels stop with the brakes pressed for more than a second; some of the pad material actually becomes transferred to the rotor and becomes part of it. Yup. It's for this reason that if you ever drive on the track you need to remember not to set the e-brake when you park it afterwards. The brak
Forum: Technical Forum

I went through this same decision with my iX. The previous owner had put on 16-inch wheel to replace the stock 15-inch basketweaves that were all bent. (As Michiel said, the iX came stock with 15-inch basketweaves, though the offset was 42mm instead of the usual 30mm (?) offset for normal E30s.) IMHO 16-inch wheels on an E30 just look wrong, and worse, are unnecessarily heavy. I replaced them
Forum: Technical Forum

QuoteMichiel 318iSThe steering wheel locking nut has a plastic ring in it, preventing it from getting loose. Honestly, I never bothered to replace that one after removal, as long as you feel the plastic part is still keeping it from getting loose. Me neither. I've had my steering wheel off twice, and used the same nut both times. It's still holding fine (knock on wood).
Forum: Technical Forum

OK. I'm late into the long fray here (long day of karting yesterday, woohoo! ), but I will jump in here. There is no one "perfect" tire pressure. The best tire pressure to use depends on both the kind of tire you're using and what your primary goal is: comfort? handling? fuel mileage? That said, the maximum tire pressure written on the sidewall of the tire is just that: a
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotedaniel very stupid that he is driving with one hand on public roads though. Fixed it for you. (rant)Seriously, idiocy is idiocy, and I hope no one here thinks street racing is cool. In a perfect world he would kill himself before he kills anyone else.(/rant)
Forum: Community Forum

Boston BMWCCA is a good group. I have never run with them, but I know many people who have, including quite a few COM members. There's a lot of similarity between the two groups, and some overlap of members. The main difference is that COM allows timing of laps, and offers a competitive aspect to their events with time trials. At COM events, Day 1 is a driver's school like BMWCCA, and D
Forum: Technical Forum

Quotedanielohh...should i go change it back? You can if it makes you feel better, but I doubt anyone would notice. It will just display however people have their preference set. Of course, if someone hasn't set a preference, then I suppose it would display in hybrid view. So on second thought, I guess it would be better set to the forum default (flat).
Forum: Suggestions and questions

QuoteFerdinand QuoteDave_GI'm thankful for the rule that says we must drive with our windows down. I've always wondered, what is the reason for that strange rule? Flying glass. In an accident, the chances are high enough that the side window would shatter that most sanctioning bodies require the window to be down. Somewhere in YouTube-land there's a video showing exactly that effec
Forum: Technical Forum