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The official WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO YOUR BMW thread.


Ryan...

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yeah the driveshaft nut was a PITA - i had a 52mm wrench but I think it's 50mm nut, so I had to wedge a stubby flathead screwdriver in to keep from rounding the nut. With a big enough pipe wrapped around the wrench it came off eventually. Other than that it was a pretty straightforward install. 

 

Some of the DIYs online involve dropping the entire driveshaft out, removing the exhaust - that's crazy. I just dropped one exhaust hanger on the back, then the front-most hanger on the axleback was welded on to a small plate that was attached to one of the mounting bolts for the differential, so I just undid that (cuz i had to anyway) and was able to slide that part of the exhaust off to the side and balance it (as seen in the photos). Just bent the heatshielld back a bit and had easy access to drop everything. 

 

First time doing it on this car and getting factory torqued bolts undone taking my time I finished in about 5 hours. Now I think it could be done in half that time. Probably 1.5 hours if you have air tools ( i don't :(  ) 

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Evo 3 short shifter installed last night. 

 

I cursed a lot. I stabbed metal plates in the shifter housing so hard with a screwdriver that sparks flew. 

 

I eventually got everything installed with my wife helping me. 

 

I now know why everyone says for the 135i it's a PITA to install an STS. The instructions call for removing the driveshaft carrier and midpipes which certainly would have made it easier but also would have taken way longer. It's rather unnecessary. 

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I had a leak on my 95 E36 M50 that I chased down to one of the water pump bolts. Removed and applied gasket sealer (or something like it) re-install and never had another problem. I have a telescoping inspection mirror that I bought to see things that I normally cannot and found it that way. It's a cheap buy at Harbor Freight. I hate chasing leaks, rattles and other things. It does feel good when you do find it though. 

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I think they are at least a litte different. The low end cars with the singles are probably different from the duals as well. I don't think the euro cars have side-markers either.

 

I took the parking light wire from the directions to power he city lights. I must have euro directionals as well because the only take a single filament bulb, but there are 3 wires at the connector.

 

My grill and lights are an aftermarket setup made by Hella, which I think was intended as an upgrade for cars with singles, so nothing quiete plugs in the way it's supposed to. 

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Thermostat housing? 

I thought so but Usually cracked thermostat housing caused overheating? Atleast it did when I changed it on the GFs focus. I will have to look into it when I get home tomorrow, worst case Ill just bring it in to work and have them fix it. But the riced out neon is already set up for last of its brake repairs first. :/

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk

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Do the Euro and US spec E21s use the same harness and just have the feature disabled with sealed beams?

 

Not sure I correctly interpreted what you were asking the first time. The 7" euro lights are not sealed beam and do have city lights in them. The US lights are sealed beam with no city light. Not sure about the euro dual setup.

 

Also of interest is that I'm told many of the newer cars that use the same parts worldwide have a spot in the light for the city lights, but they are not installed.

 

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I guess my question was if your car was pre-wired for city lights.

 

Nope. In the euro cars the parking lights at the front are wired to the city light instead of the directional. When adding them to a US car many people wire them so that both the city light and the directional come on.

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They are small bulbs that illuminate the light without having the headlights on.

 

I have been told that it is for driving around in town in parts of Europe at night where there are street lights and using headlights in those towns is illegal at night. Don't quote me though

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They are small bulbs that illuminate the light without having the headlights on.

 

I have been told that it is for driving around in town at night where there are street lights and using headlights in those towns is illegal at night. Don't quote me though

That is what I had always thought as well.

 

City lights:

post-2787-0-37289600-1407427538_thumb.jp

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