visionaut

The Italian turn signal lenses are made of clear plastics (non-tinted) with a transperaent yellow coating over them to make them half-clear/half-yellow. If you've ever seen totally clear ones, they were made by removing this yellow coating - which very easy to do without damaging the plastic. It should be very simple to strip the yellow off the Italian lenses, and add a transparent red coating. (In fact, I'd bet that's what the partial red-tinted ones are.) Nothing preventing even original, one-of-a-kind tintings - multi-color, different color, different sectioning geometry - to be done. Another consideration - in the US, it may be illegal in some states to have red lights on the front if it's not a police/fire/emergency vehicle. ;-) HTH

I'd expect better from B-J... Off white? 6 Cylinders? WTF? ;-)

Wild! They surely aren't racers - must be plain-folk lining up to pay their deutchmarks to drive around the course. Most seem surprised by that turn - obviously. ;-) I concur - besides that really bad orange car rollover crash at the beginning (which didn't look like a 'walk-away'), the scariest was that bug convertible full of passengers. No roof, no roll bar, no helmets - hmmm, brain salad surgery... thx

I think they're great.

I'm running Porsche 911 seats in my 02. (I assume the 944 seats are similar recaro models). Here's a link to info and a pic: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=654048

Sweet, Todd. Very sweet... Kudos!

If your Tii has a 008 distributor, you'll need the 1843 part, not the 1847V...

I've got one, of a sorts, and it's not hidden. I took out a personal loan (not car loan) at my Credit Union when I bought my 02 to cover some fix-up/upgrade costs. The loan's long since paid off, but I keep the direct deposits flowing at that low, per-payday rate into that account, which I now use to cover costs for upkeep/upgrade of my bimmer. Small stuff operating costs comes out of our normal checking account, but larger costs for repairs or new goodies get covered from there. I just had to dip into it big-time due to a recent full engine rebuild/upgrade, but that didn't clean it all out, and it's now accumulating again. With a 31 year old car, and a passion for driving it, it seemed like a reasonable approach to assure I had some rainy-day, or gotta-have-it funds. (And if we ever need some emergency cash for other stuff, it's there too.)

For curious others... 240 Getrag is found in 1983-1985 320i - 318i 5-speed OD 2-piece alum case Very compact, just slightly bigger than a 4-speed 318i trans has no mech speedo drive Gear ratios close to a 245/4 Weight 62 lbs

Thanks, Glen I'll see what I can locate parts-wise, and if I go with any of these mods, I'll report back on the success & characteristics. Your input has been most helpful. Tom

Everyone's valve cover in the pics shown has BMW in big bold letters written on it. Doesn't anyone have this one, like me? (I didn't realize it wasn't the same until now). Curious... BTW, I like the red cover on the light colored cars (white/silver).

Just noticed - when did the design of the cover change from the large BMW letters to the raised Roundel? (or vice versa)

Happy Bday Pedro! Like the cake, but what model bimmer is that? ;-) and who ate the front fenders and kidney before they put on the icing?... BTW, Good luck in your racing adventures! Your ride looks 'ready to rumble'. Tom

Since the car is silver, I'd vote gloss grey metallic (not crinkle - it's a dust/dirt magnet). Then again, I'm biased... I went with a gloss dark grey cover on my cosmos black 02, with red/blue engine bay accents. ;-)

16x7.5, 20mm offset, TSW Hockenheim-Rs shod with Kumho ASX 205/40-16 rubber. Lowered suspension w/ Eibach pro-kits, Bilstein Sports, ST bars, tii struts w/vented rotors, urethane bushings...

Glen - I might try that. Do you happen to know the number of disc pairs each side in the stock configuration, to achieve the 25% lockup, for this diff? (i.e. is it one #8 & one #9 each side as shown in the realoem diagram, or is it possibly two or three sets per side? I'm uncertain, as whenerver one sees a pic like the last assembly pic I posted, it looks like multiple sets per side.). My diff was originally from an '83 320i Sport. Secondly, should I assume the "Outer Discs", #9 in the realoem diagram (which look to be the dog-eared parts, and not the Belleville springs, BTW) are the 2.0mm size in the stock configuration? If the Bellevilles are the #8s, then it looks like there's only one thickness (unspecified), true? So rebuilding the diff with the thicker 2.1mm #9s is what you're suggesting could be done without machining to tighten/increase the preload/static lockup some? Let me know - and thanks for the experienced input! Tom (aka visionaut)

Thanks, guys. I've followed all the tech info - great stuff. (I wasn't belittling any of the input, BTW, I don't know how that got construed J/. Clearly the input/info was from someone way more knowledgeable/experienced that I.) OK, so there are no shims that are different than the clutch discs, it's just clutch discs one can add... I had assumed they were something different, as I'd read you can add shims and not need machining, but adding clutches involved machining the housing (?). As I'm not looking to do any machining - either to change the ramp angles (which seems to be the best approach if one was looking to really get in to tailor/tune the engagement/disengagement performance of the diff), or to add additional clutches - maybe I should just leave my LSD stock. It seems to work fine - I was just looking to get a little additional perfromance if it was an easy mod while 'in there'. I thought it was just a parts addition one could do in the rebuild - and if was as simple as adding a few shims, I'd go for it. (Also wasn't looking to fab my own parts, but to buy 'em). The info I had gathered prior to my post told me I could add shims to increase/alter preload (and that too much preload would increase understeer). It said the shims come in pairs - one being a Belleville spring 'as big as the discs', and are approx 2mm thick and the other being the dog-eared plates to shim up/increase the static locking. I saw that BMW/ZF uses the same angle for the coast and power ramps to drive the pinion shaft (arrow in pic), and shallower ramps and/or altered ramp geometry would increase the mechanical advantage increasing the lockup %. (and that increasing lockup this way, vs. just altering the static preload is really the better way to go.) As for the differences I'd get between 25% and 40% lockup, I looked into the engineering to try to figure out what it might mean as far as driving the car. (I grok the ZF way of citing the LSDs perfromance - 25% LSD meaning 25% of the torque applied to the faster wheel is applied to the slower wheel). With the 25% lockup LSD the high torque side provides as much as 62.5% of total, while low side could be as little as 37.5%. This yields a bias ratio of 1.67 (1.67 times more torque is applied on the high side). A 40% LSD would have a 2.33 bias ratio. It would increase rear tire wear on the inside wheel during cornering. It would increase understeer in tight corners in the dry, and increase oversteer in slippery conditions. It would get me less inside wheelspin accelerating out of corners and more power being translated to the ground in that situation. This seemed like a reasonable tradeoff - and if I could get it 'for free' (cost = an additional set of "shims"), it looked like something to go for. If I can't increase the % lockup without machining (i.e. if adding any additional discs beyond the default included in the stock 25% LSD config would necessiate machining the housing to fit them) I guess the 25% limited slip will do as is. I appreciate the info - I learn from the knowldege of others here, and try to share things I know too. It's great to know if I wanted to add discs, I could get them via Maxmillian or Aardvarc. Also good to learn that if I really was interested in altering/tailoring my diffs performance, machining and the use of an expert diff builder is required. Tom (aka visionaut)

I recently dropped big bucks with IE for lots of nice hi-perf goodies for my engine rebuild. Yes, great advice and service - they really know 02s. I couldn't be happier - I send all the business I can their way. I also really like the fact they're continually coming out with new stuff for our 30+ year old cars.

Thanks, Lee. Any idea of the combo needed for 40% lockup?

Thanks for the tech info. I'll try to find the thinnest Outer shims I can find. However I know that it's possible to get from 25% stock to 40% lockup with just the addition of shims - no machining, and no additional clutch plates. I know another alternative is to go after the ramp angles, but I'd prefer not to do that. I also researched that MM increases lockup by adding clutch plates - but that requires machining too - again not my preference. Still the original Q - where to purchase shims/discs? Doesn't anybody still stock those part numbers?

It's a replacement Tii mech adv distributor manufactured by Bosch. There's more info on that model vs. original 2002tii distributors in this thread: http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,57/page,viewtopic/t,284287/highlight,/

Hi all, Anyone know where I can buy the shims (aka discs) to alter the % lockup of my 3.91 ZF Limited Slip Diff? I'd like to go from the stock 25% lockup to 40% by adding additional shims. I've heard they're NLA from BMW. I've also read shims from a ZF diff that was used in some Ford Escorts use the same parts (anyone know for sure?) I beleive the shims come in pairs - one round and one fingered per pair. I also think I need to install them symmetrically, i.e if I use 2 sets on the right, I need 2 sets on the left of the gearing in the center of the LSD unit. (that's the way I read the diagram, right?) The parts are identified as #s 8 & 9 in this realoem diagram. Per the parts listing, it shows three different Outer Shim sizes, 1.9, 2.0 & 2.1mm - any idea which combo I need? Any help is appreciated. I'll be rebuilding my LSD soon, new bearings/sels, etc and would like to do this mod at the same time. TIA! Tom (aka visionaut)

Just got mine too. Very nice. Definitely porcelain, BTW. THX!

Yep - VDO Vision series is what I've got too, installed in my center console (seems to match the stock guages very well). Oil Temp (Part: 310 106D), Oil Pressure (350 108D) & Voltmeter (332 103D). Oil Temp Sender (323 066D), Press Sender (360 023D) and Press Adaptor (240 043D).

Yep - these are the OMP pedals. I like them a lot - they're not a clamp on over the orig pedals, they replace those.