Jeff said: +1 Great advice I would like to add a picture of oil changes done regularly at 10k miles like recommended by the dealer. No matter the brand it all breaks down in the end. Oil still collects dirt and no engine filter will ever filter it all out. [image: 074c497f0c9eaf8bd1ef9ba8be187beb.jpg] 10K oil changes are BS. Been working on machinery and vehicles for along time and my dad/mentor/teacher has been ASE certified master tech for longer than I have been alive; German cars= 5K max OCI.

I will NEVER buy another Horror Freight jack EVER again. I jacked up the passenger front corner, had the jack stand at the ready to place under seam and was momentarily distracted by a wild phone call (probably some hot tail at the time) when I hung up and went to finish putting the stand in the proper place the BRAND NEW jack had drifted down under the weight of my 5'er and put a very LARGE crunch into the lower door sill [image: :(] into my pristine rust free California fresh door sill! I pitched that jack, bought an AC hydraulics jack, made in the Netherlands!, and never looked back. It was expensive, actually very expensive, BUT three lessons learned that day; never trust a big butt and a smile, always have your mind and eyes on your work AT ALL TIMES and invest in quality tools (unless in a pinch, then the left handed cable stretcher will do)

Jeff has very solid advice here. Distance between crank and cam centerlines is quite critical in maintaining proper tolerances so your pistons do not eat the valves for lunch, preventing detonation during periods of high load with low(ish) RPM etc etc.  Also, Get the Mahle or JE custom pistons, W do it right the first time and then smack the redline silly with the tach needle for years to come. Wiseco also makes a decent product. I opted for factory Goetze rings when putting my M30B34 back together and she purrs like a kitten.

I am a mechanical engineer and work with a couple dozen of other engineers ranging from mechanical and civil thru structural to signal and electrical. I have not found a person at my firm that i can talk to about cars. Its all black magic to them. Its all about passion. You love something, you commit yourself to it and become an expert. I guess there is no love for cars where i work. Some people do not want to know how stuff works. They are happy as long as the product meet their expectation. I personally spend weeks researching before i select the parts for my builds to the point that i have most of the parts including critical dimensions and sometimes part numbers memorized. For me it was simple: Read and learn and make educated choices or let somebody else decide for you or translate the car-nerd'ish to you so you can decide. The bottom line is that things get lost in the translation and if you do not know what you need you better have somebody you can trust to guide you thru the process. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If it was printed with a metal printer, yes.  Usually these have the same properties as a sintered metal.  It would also probably be prudent to give some work to the ring grooves to verify consistency all around.

Boris3 said: With electrical parts knowing that is was working when it was pulled and/or dealing with a reliable seller is the safer bet. Sensors can get trashed. E30 ABS module in the earlier models had an external relay under the dash. The relay has a fusable link inside that can get shorted out but easy to replace, some folks replace by resoldering the link or replacing the relay with an inline fuse. So if you have a module issue check the relay first.  Later model e30s (1989-on) don't have that external relay and instead have an internal relay in the ABS pump unit under the plastic cover.   https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=107828 Thanks! That's a great reference. Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Just found these on Bavauto's site.  On sale! [image: A2uOondZm3WIAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC]

When I’m home over break I’ll have to trace the wire through the firewall, I know the car had an alarm at one point but it wasn’t an Alpine but I suppose there isn’t any reason they couldn’t have used factory plugs for certain parts of the system.

Definitely running a closed face. I don't want tire dust in my contacts and mouth lol

I don’t recommend them to be honest. The wheels came out excellent but the first time was TERRIBLE clear drips everywhere. Made them come back and I supervised like a hawk lol. I’m happy now though.

Probably not helpful, but I've heard that if you hook a 6 volt horn up to 12 volts they're extremely loud.

Thanks. Good point on not being able to tell what might be tweaked with everything still attached. I rechecked my records and we went with rubber eccentric TABs in the rebuild as the quickest way to get me back on track. Turns out that these are notorious though for being hard to get alignment correct on install which could explain the passenger side numbers, and especially for going out of adjustment which could explain the change in the driver's side.  It also looks like the trailing arms were not replaced after the wreck. Probably one or both tweaked given the hit.  Anyway looks like rear end suspension drop/rebuild as project for the off season.

stealthbimmer said: Tried resync. The only thing that happens in the windows pulse down inch by inch. No movement or noise from anything in the top. None of those videos had the same problem. Mine literally has nothing in the vert top assembly move...just the windows I would go to the motors in the trunk, disconnect the battery, and using some alligator clips or prongs and ad 12v to both the top and tonneau motors seperatly and see if you get movement. If yes- trace the wires back to the next integral part of that particular circuit. Keep going until you no longer have 12v going to the motor. You can also do this with an ohm meter which I highly suggest. you can do the above starting at the fuse as well, but I find it easier to start at the component you are testing.  If no- you have a bad motor.  Also grab another human to help you and have them test the fuse to see if it gets 12v when you push the button. Also make sure the car is in park or the parking brake is engauged, and you have the key on RUN. Sounds dumb but I have taken alot of things apart when it turns out im just an idiot. LOL. If the car is NOT in park or the switch for the selector is not triggered nothing will move.

Didn't have time to drop the exhaust and do the weld. I was able to get the car jacked up and threw some Permatex Puddy. It does sound a little better, but still has a ratty tone to it. Looks like I'll be picking up a cat or a resonator to clean up the sound all the way.

Ok boys.. I believe I solved the problem today. I was thinking last night about when the issue occurred. This started happening about halfway though the first day of a 2 day event. Now, Friday night when I arrived we swapped the valve cover that was on the car to a spare that I had that was uncracked, the existing one was cracked. So the uncracked one was on the car for the entire event. Now when i was cleaning the uncracked one the previous week I removed the baffle that is under the outlet on the VC that goes to the catch can. I didnt think anything of it considering the system had a catch can in it rather than the CCV. With that being said my logic thought that maybe the large open gap now allowed oil being thrown around in the head to be sucked into the catch can tubes easier due to the engine vacuum being drawn through the catch can. I made one last attempt to solve this today and re-installed the cracked valve cover that still had a baffle in it. Started the car and instantly it smoked less. Drove the car a few miles and once I was back home blipped the throttle a few times and nowhere near as much smoke came out. Let the car sit for 20ish minuates and started it and almost no smoke came out, and I did this multiple times throughout the night and the smoking on start up has ceased and same with when the throttle is blipped. I will attach a photo of the valve cover with the baffle that I removed. So for anyone that was interested in the outcome, I saved myself alot of time by not having to do valve seals. lol [image: 20170827\_171330.jpg]

Did you try taking the wrapper off [emoji16] I searched and found someone from the chevy world that received a few rogue rings in a set so its not impossible

Looking for some help. Recently purchased a 2003 330xi and have found a few issues. I tried searching but didn't find anything that seemed helpful. I'm currently having what seems to be various electrical systems. Often the blinkers will work outside the vehicle but not display on the dash. Another related problem is the dash indicators will continue flashing after turning the blinkers off. After unlocking the vehicle, the blinkers will flash ask around the car as if my hazards were on. The climate control system will occasionally turn itself up randomly or change the temperature it is set to. I also have problems with the cluster saying doors are open when they are not. I will occasionally also have to rebuckle my seatbelt when the cluster says it is not buckled. If anyone has had a similar problem and found a solution, I would probably fall in love with you if you led to me figuring this out. But currently I'm looking to see if there are any independent shops in the area that can reprogram some of these systems or rub a PA Soft scan. I'd like to avoid paying the dealer for this service because they will likely charge for more than the amount of work done.

wasnt m3 said: Not sure on swapping internal parts but you can swap in the halogen lights, no problem. They have the same main plug.  Thanks for the reply! I actually just found a entire bi-xenon assembly for the side I needed on eBay for $125 shipped!

Hey pat, sorry i didn't see this till now. As for pictures, I only took some on snapchat and sent them to my buddies because they were pretty skeptical about it as well. I think the main reason why mine wasn't so gunked was because I travel almost every weekend and so the carbon doesn't really build up on my valves. I don't have a catch can or anything of that sort yet (external PCV set up coming next month). I would say that for myself, I try to maintain the car as best as possible. Other cars and owners might be different, but since the last walnut blasting, I've only put around 23k on the car. My valves were a lot cleaner and easier to clean. I could just spray it down with brake cleaner and the residue would just wash away after letting it soak in B12. The hard part was actually scrubbing the back of the valve itself. That had a lot of hard carbon build up.

I have a couple used but I think working m50tu ones if you need one.