Geeto67

so it's lighter then.

dammit you beat me to the joke. Honestly, unless he decides to do something positive like become a spokesperson for cures and charities who cares. Its sad and it sucks for him and I wish him well, I cast no dispersions on his lifestyle and he has my sympathy. This happens to millions of people the world over, lets hope can turn a negative into a positive.

wow...is it 1977? Also I think you mean Hi-Jackers. I have heard that GM now sources the delco replacements from Gabriel for caddy's and pontiacs so spending the extra money on a delco might net you the same shocks. From my somewhat limited experience with these almost 20 years ago I would suggest that you put some air in them and see how that affects the ride. Start with about 30psi. I hear the VW people put about 60 psi in them for the busses. They aren't bad shocks, just old technology. It is a design from the 1970's that hasn't really gotten a major update - just more modern materials. They do require a little fiddling to work.

Yeah but this is a little high even for an American car. The similarly powered Malibu doesn't lose as much value that fast. What most cars lose in five years the ats loses in 2. maybe it takes time to build up a residual value, who knows. Jay Leno's garage this week is the new CTS-v and ATS-V. I don't know why but Nissan puts a turbo v6 in the GTR that makes good power and I think "nice". Cadillac squeezes 400+ hp out of a v6 in the ATS and all I can think about is "I wonder if that bottom end lifespan is measured in minutes or hours".

So the car has been out since 2013 and taken an almost $20K hit in depreciation in that time (an almost 50% drop). Anybody else find that a little unsettling?

I don't know anybody who has anything nice to say about Rich Christensen. he was a complete dick to a few friend of mine who were participating in Pinks All out at Englishtown (2007) and Atco (2009). He's not douchebag, he's the factory that pre-fills douchebags that are then sold in Japanese vending machines next to the used panties.

I am assuming yours is not one of the lifetime fill models and had regular trans fluid changes. how many vanous and pcv valve repairs have you had to make on it? not being a dick - genuinely curious as I don't hear of many E38s that make it past 100K miles before they need something in the top end. I was thinking of the 3 and 5 series cars from the 80s through the early 2000s, where for every 5 nice ones on ebay there is one with a blown trans or a trans in limp mode. finding an e30 or e36 with a blown or limping automatic is only limited by how far you can throw a rock.

1999. 2 door. Sport package. manual trans or diesel if you can find it.

I dunno, electrical in that car is way easier to diagnose than say an e46 or e90. While I am a fan of using old cars like cars, with all the salt they pour on the roads here it would be a shame to use that shark as a winter beater.

So it depends on what you want to do with this engine. People hate the 400ci small block because of the siamesed cylinder bores which can sometimes run hot depending on how hot you gave built the engine (pun intended). I had a built up 400 we put in my buddies 1977 firebird and it made good power with a cam, intake, and headers but he spun a bearing trying to rev it to 7 grand (something we could do with a well built 302, 305, or 327). I think of them as truck and station wagon engines, larger stroke and bore than a 350 small block so all torque and grunt but none of the appeal of a big block. I have heard of the rods being weak and the blocks sometimes having core shift if beaten hard but I've never seen it, only rumors. In the old days (the 80's and 90's) the rotating assembly was sought after to make 383ci hot rod stroker engines using a 350 block. Now a days the 383 stroker kit is cheap and widely available so the market for the stock 400 cranks has gone down the toilet. It's a good crank but the aftermarket has taken most of the market. I'm with Flybye on this in terms of value: $300-500. There are guys who still look for these blocks and there was a surge in interest in them a few years ago. They supposedly have high nickel content which makes them pretty strong. With the advent of the LS engine however, most old small block Chevy stuff is in the crapper in terms of value. If you get the chevelle engine mounts and a Chevy bolt pattern transmission you can use it in you Oldsmobile.

so you know. for how simple it was it always blew my mind that my E30 325i convertible was a $35,000 car in 1991. compare it to a newish convertible 3 series and the cars seem to be about the same in price but the new car is so technologically advanced it feels like a value....for the first 5 years. Something else to consider - if you are just looking for a beater the 318ti is universally hated and I happen to think it is just about the best small bmw made in the modern (post 1993) era. It uses the the e36 front and the e30 rear (like the z3 roadster) and because they are so maligned they are usually $2500 all day long. it's either a shitty winter car or the most epic winter hoon mobile due to the tendency to oversteer but I think you just need to drive one. it's probably one of the last simple bmws made period. Call me crazy but if you are seriously going to consider a 100K bmw, don't buy an autotrans one. maybe it's just me but I don't trust their autotragics to be as reliable.

I think as I get older it gets better with every year. I had a 1976 2002 in 1996 in that that metallic rose' color (I wish I could remember the name of it) that had just started to have the rust issues they are all having now. It had been sitting for a number of years in a garage but it took almost nothing to get it running again. I was used to driving big heavy American lumps so the car was light steering even without power and it handled ok even though it was slow. I think when I was a teenager/early 20's I didn't really appreciate how much fun the car was. If I had it back now I would put delorto carbs on it, minilites, and an ansa exhaust and blat around everywhere. but back then I was focused on how much I could get for it and turn that into pontiac parts for the GTO. They were fairly common back in the 90's and nobody wanted them so it wasn't very many GTO parts. I desperately want another one but the prices for clean ones are pretty nutsy and I don't really like the stock M10 4 cyl. it's a perfectly fine engine and all but I fell like it needs an S14 our of an M3 or at the very least an M42 out of a e36 to really make that chassis dance. My budget obsession along these lines is an E21 320i with an m42 swap. The M10 engine is a dog (making 90 hp at best), but the E21 actually has all the suspension improvements the 2002 should have had, esp in the front and is a better handling/driving car. It needs the extra power because of the added heft of being a physically larger car, but the 6 cyl M20s make the car too nose heavy and it's still light enough that 138hp is a lot of fun. The 2002 is certainly a nice vintage place to be but at $10K for clean ones to start, a $2500 e21 that is basically a stretched 2002 with a better front suspension doesn't warrant the $7500 premium for how I want to use the car.

here you go....nice cheap solid E34: http://dayton.craigslist.org/cto/5283911798.html

not to throw more fuel on this fire but some of the years you have mentioned fell within bmw's "Lifetime" trans and gear oil recommendation. BMW foolishly said their rears and transmissions never needed a fluid change and as a result many of them failed right around 100K miles (for the record even ZF recomended against this practice). Most of the cars you have to worry about will have taken themselves out of the market through mechanical failure by now, but make sure that you check the history of any car you are looking at to see regular rear end and trans flushes. Every friend I had with an e46 had frequent sensor problems over 100K miles. I know this may sound crazy but if you want a true cheap reliable beater I would look older. Like an E30 or E34. The E36 (1993-1998) was right about when BMW started to focus on tech over tank like reliability. I would actually take a 150K mile E30 325i over a 100K mile E46. My last E30 was at almost 200K without burning or leaking any oil when I sold it. The kid I sold it to drove it 500 miles to canada that night. I have had a '76 2002, an E30, and 2 E34s - all of them were dead nuts reliable (none of them were nikasil v-8s) and easy enough to maintain if you are handy. E30 325E's are esp cheap and then you can swap the head to a 325i head and get a 2.7L 327i (the ETA engines are actually bored out to 2.7L not 2.5 but have a shitty head that keeps them from reving over 5K). E30s are like tinker toys. Every bmw eats control arm bushings for some reason, esp if you live on the moon. my E30 needed them, both my E34s needed them, mom's E90 needed them, and all my friends with E46s needed theirs done as well. This was all NYC driving. I know I am going to get crucified for this - but I see plenty of automatic E36 M3s for fairly cheap (esp convertibles). I mean if you are just going to drive it into the ground like a rail road spike might as well have fun doing it.

the first fiche I looked at said NLA, after you said the dealer had it I went to Real OEM and it turns out it is still available but is $775.35 at that site. Holy Shit snacks, There is a reason people joke that BMW stands for Break My Wallet. I know it is fun to have everything working on a car but thinking back to my E30 and E34 I don't think I ever used the OBC for anything other than telling time. Might be something you just wait till a nice replacement comes up on ebay.

The 11 button OBC's are known for dead pixels and back-lighting. There are fewer of them and most of them are dead by now. There is a chance you can find a good one in junkyard but I wouldn't call it a good chance. I would consider upgrading to the 18 button unit as it is way more common - you can then wire it so only the 11button functions work (plus the average speed making it a 12 button) or you can run the rest of the wires so all 18 buttons work as the car already has the sensors. When you get the unit, make sure you get the connector. BMW has this part listed as NLA and when they were available new they were about $500. What's wrong with your 11 button? is it just back-lighting? I would take the unit out and have a look as it uses 4 blubs to illuminate the unit and if they are blown - you won't be able to see the display. This happened on my E30 where the back-lighting when dead and when I replaced the bulb the thing became readable again. I hate to say it but even BMW's info on this is sketchy. I think you are going to have to remove the switch and then look at and order the correct part. If you don't want to be down, you can always order both and then return the one you don't use - just don't buy from a place that has a restocking fee. I think these switches are $60 new from BMW but aftermarket has them as cheap as $7. If you don't have bavarian auto works and pelican parts bookmarked on your computer for BMWs then I don't know what to tell you. bavauto.com pelicanparts.com

I hear going into bad neighborhoods and pretending to siphon gas for a youtube prank show gives a pretty good adrenalin rush.

agreed. I don't know if I would buy a piston from there, but a set of TRW rings? sure.

One of these days clay I'll convince you buying OEM parts is a much better way to go for some things.....

Chances are if he/she is handling one traffic offense then he/she's caseload is almost all traffic offenses. It isn't like he/she does murders on monday and traffic court on tuesday, as a prosecutor you likely work your cases by subject matter. Also, conviction rate is a metric for job performance in a prosecutors role. Its actually a national problem as it incentivizes bad behavior on the part of the prosecutor in releasing exculpatory evidence. Despite being pro law enforcement, a lot of judges are very hard on the prosecutors for minor professional mistakes. The reason you might see a traffic court case get bounced is there are enough things leading up to the judge possibly dismissing it (like frequent requests, forgetting to ask for a stay etc...) that it is better for them to have "settled" it than have it negatively affect their conviction rate. Again, as to the accident in question, you might find that the only thing the ticket did is delay things as an ins company may not pay when there is an outstanding legal action. It doesn't mean he is any less at fault for the accident, it just means there wasn't enough evidence to convict of a criminal charge.

Sucks indeed, sounds like you got the prosecutor who is on his/her second day of the job. however, if it makes you feel better it doesn't mean he is automatically not at fault. The accident and it's settlement are a civil matter, his ticket is a criminal one and they have different standards of proof. put it out of your head and don't worry about it on vacation. deal with it when you get back.

sounds like the K member might be offset or tweaked. have you measured it or checked to make sure it is square? I think there is some wiggle room in the engine and trans mounts that might allow you to clearance it. Also do you have the correct stock oil pan? I think there is a specific stock one for wedge motors in E-bodies. A buddy of mine put a hemi 6qt pan, windage tray, and pickup in his 440 powered 71 chally, had no issues. 440source and mancini racing both have hemi pants and pickup kits. Moroso makes them as well but I think they also have an 8qt pan that I hear hits every bump in the road.

is this a stock rack or one of the unisteer rack and pinion conversions?

congrats on 15 years. Tell me more about the motorcycle dyno. Any upcoming dyno days?