cowlum

Replace the hose (the booster uses the vacuum so a good hose is required) and drive it a bit to clean the rust from the breaks (5 mins slowely down the road). then worry about the booster not working. best of luck

I disabled my door locks (removed that small rod connecting the lock to the latch) and installed central locking controlled by an alarm. Its rather cheap and much more secure. I put the battery in the boot so that if the battery should fail I can unlock the boot with an old fashioned key and connect up the jumper cables providing the locks with power. Three years later and i have not yet had todo that. + clicking a button on your key ring is soo much easier when you are carrying stuff, its raining or when you are blind drunk (kidding:)..

Hi I found an e21 316 out at my local pick'n'pull. Could anyone tell me if the head in the 316 is any different to that in my carbed 2002.. I forgot to look at the marking on the side of the head... sorry. Are there any other parts from a E21 316 that a worth grabbing??? Thanks in Advance.

What options are there for modifying the front struts to drop the height of the car and improve performance. I know with most modern japanese front suspension setups people simply grind free the sleeve which holds the hub to the strut. they move the sleeve up an inch or two and reweld it. Others (this one may be myth) have the strut that extends out of the shock itself cut off at the top and re-threaded. The second option will work for a 2002 but ofcourse it reduces suspension travel. However it does allow for much a harder/stumpier spring to avoid hitting the bumpstop. Another option people at work have suggested is to find a shock (cateridge) with all the same properties as the original 2002 one but with a shorter body sectiuon. Then have the original strut (outer tubing) cut down and rewelded to the same length as the new shorter shock. I know many people will simply say go out and spend all your savings on performance parts built by a specialist but I don't won't to go down that road yet. I know how the after market method works. I want this thread to be a discussion on other methods. What im looking to acheive is drop the front suspension about 1.5 - 2 inchs. While keeping it safe - no loose springs! Any ideas are welcome (they may inspire other ideas)

http://staging.computerhistory.org/timeline/timeline.php?timeline_category=cmptr

http://staging.computerhistory.org/timeline/timeline.php?timeline_category=cmptr

I agree.. I like to do things differntly aswell. The selling point that made me choose the 2002 was that it lends itself well to modifications by the home mechanic. To me the car is a great opportunity to design and build modifications that often surpass the original design, and thus learn auto engineering. That is the fun in this car for me. I like it as a classic but I would not wont to own it if all I did was replace worn parts with identical replacment parts, thats just not for me. That would remove all the fun for me. If you like doing that with your car thats fine by me. I love orignals, but would it not be soo boring if they were all factory standard. Thanks for sharing esty.. good find!! Im not sure which way ill go when seals become an issue but atleast I now have options.

Is there any reason you need a trendy honda? some cars are simply cheaper because they have no street appeal. I got one of those. I have two cars. My lovely bmw 2002 that gets the garage space and weekend attention. The other is a simple 15 yr old mistsubishi. The mistubishi is queiter, smoother, more fuel effecient, more reliable and more accepteable for passengers. But the mitsi's grand finale, THE THING THAT REALLY MAKES IT A GREAT CAR IS... its a peice a shit. I love the fact that I find it sooo boring i just don't care. It works perfectly! its respectable, its safe. Im happy to leave it in town for a night. Im happy to lend it to people. Im happy to not bother fixing a fault this weekend. Its in perfect condition, but because it doesn't appeal to me I get to use it like a car is meant to be used. "Dirty shoes welcome, hop in".. I bought it cheap enought that I only want 2 more years out of it - then it goes to scrap yard. Let me just point out now that its a very very straight car. Just an ugly mistubishi. The mitsi was cheap because it has an old man look about it (but low mileage). It sits out in the wind and rain and gets used with no maintenance from me for anything other than road worthyness. Although in saying that nothing ever breaks! But for those sunny days on the weekend I go Tearing up the waterfront roads in my 2002 with a big smile. What im getting at is. Spend upto 3000 (hopefully less) on a mildly respectable honda to use and abuse. Theres no greater feeling than a car that has no appeal to you and no real value. This way I miss out on street appeal mon 9-5 (don't care, a new honda is just as lame as an old one imo (unless its an s2000)) and on weekends I get bmw2002 appeal. Cutests little bruiser on the street.

Thats for the e36 im not sure i've seen e30 diffs used, definatly e21.

judging by you name you are from Aus - which means you have a right hand drive like me in New Zealand.. I would appreciate it if you posted pictures of how you got around the steering box when you are done.. cheers

I agree with what some other guy poster earlier - the oil in the spark plugs is probably just oil linking form the valve cover.. With regards to the engine not running - you will need to check compression, spark and fuel. If you are running carbed then checking fuel is relatively easy (i dont know about Tii).. spark can be found by pressing a spark plug with lead onto the block, get someone else to crank the engine. compression is easy with a cheap compression tester.. You really do need a haynes manual !!!!! as for a rebuild. Buy a second engine to practice on - even if the build doesn't work out to well you will atleast learn heaps.. I often panic too when things dont work like I would like. but slow methodical testing always solves the problem. spend a night studying by searching google and bmw 2002 forum. Write it all down and run through it in a systimatical order when you have plenty of free time. You will sort it. best of luck.. ignore the other guys, they just need a moment to feel like big men

I am in the process of selecting a ride height for my 02 currently it sits on standard springs and is ungainly high. I run 14s with 185/70 tyres I would really appreciate if you spent a moment to post a pic of your car. Details of how much you lowered it and what size wheels you are running. Thanks

I am in the process of selecting a ride height for my 02 currently it sits on standard springs and is ungainly high. I run 14s with 185/70 tyres I would really appreciate if you spent a moment to post a pic of your car. Details of how much you lowered it and what size wheels you are running. Thanks

Great! I love these right ups. I slowely collecting parts for my FI project. What are you going to use for a pump.

like its a big secret and all

"look what followed me home"

I've just been running with the overhang and having no problems. I think the best method would be to have the mounting holes redrilled to move the whole caliper closer to the centre of the disc.

How about new carpets? not too expensive and a great way to spruce up the interior!

If I wasnt on the other side of the planet I would so be there.... bring back photos!!!

I have the same problem.. I have just ordered new engine mounts.. But recently I have been thinking the drive train itself is fine and its the engine operating poorly that is causing the problem. My car doesnt idle to well and when held at constant revs (say 2k) I can hear the occasional miss (very light but it is there). In my case (and maybe yours) I feel the engine runs slower than the running gear for a plit second before pulling again for a split second - causing the bucking. What lead me to believe this is a replacement dizzy cap seemed to reduce the problem dramatacly and my engine has never done well at floating point and idle. All other times the engine is smooth (accel,deccel) and there is no bucking. don't go thinking my engine is running rough. It runs pretty smooth and if it were not for the bucking I wouldn't have been listening to the engine quite so much. But then its obvious my engine has a few issues. Also - my cars bucking is rather light. I could almost ignore it. Before the dizzy cap replacement though it was noticible. Let me know if my theory smells like bull

It looks pretty good in the pictures. Normaly I dont concern myself as much with the mechanicals as I do with the body and interior. Mechanicals are cheap and often easily fixed. http://www.bimmers.com/02/intro/buyer_guide.html http://www.bmw2002.co.uk/technical.htm look 1/2 way down the page with the second link regards

I had worked hard for months to prepare my car for its warrant of fitness. When it went through its warrant it failed on dim lights. I had not really noticed but they were only being supplied with eight volts. SO I had one night after work to do all the work before all the mechanic shops closed for the christmas season. I wannted that warrant bad because the car was purring and ready to drive in the good weather (new Zealand christmas is in the hight of summer) after working late into the night, rewiring all the headlight wires, cleaning the chrome reflectors (removing the light buckets). I tested my setup with the light buckets loose - a good bright 12 volts. Happy with my work I then did the final step bolt in lights and align. When I went to turn the lights o after re-installnig the bucket the fuse blew. I searched and searched but never found the short. Man was I stressed. I missed the last day for warrants and ad to wait another two weeks. On a spare day I searched for the short again - found it in 2 seconds.

Have you looked into the big brake upgrade information on this site. Thats the way I went. I spent a few months sourcing my 2nd hand parts and bought new where it seemed sensible (rotor, pads). The calipers I got from a recently crashed otherwise emaculate volvo with clean brake fluid. All up the front setup cost me approx $US200 (I was very patient, though still could have been cheaper had I not run out of time finding hubs - went overseas for a year). Bought 320 rear drums for $US25. The whole setup works great, its firm, smooth and very very hard to overheat (havn't actualy managed it yet). just spend more time researching- the 320i front disc and rear drum upgrade is surprisingly easy and effective.

I have not looked into it. But could you not just use an old emergency light flasher switch and place the spare green knob on it? ie. take a flasher switch from a wrecked center console. pop the green button out from you existing console. mate two together. working switch!

Found the issue - Thanks.. It was the wires around the ignition barrel. The car cut out again today. As soon as I touched the wires around the barrel all the lights came back on. Could not see anything obviously wrong so I removed and tightened everything. Car has been running srong ever since... So no excuse for work on monday.. cheers