I need a new eccentric bolt

Your dealer is correct. Those bolts are NLA.
Do you have access to a machine shop? If so have them copy the washer #4 with the eccentric hole and then weld it under the head of a standard M14x1.5-85 bolt.

or check with a nut and bolt specialist shop.
BMW ETK should have the spec on this bolt listed, and then try to contact i.e http://www.skruehuset.no or http://www.industrisalg.no

If someone still make this bolt they will have it, or be able to get it for you.
Or bring the broken one to them and I'm sure they will find a replacement.

better have a machine shop do the cut. An angle cutter is not exactly a precision tool

Hi all, I dont post much on the e31 sites, so i will say hallow now. if this bolt is available new can you let me know where you got it please, I ruined mine removing it with the impact gun.

I thought you wanted one of these. Shows what I know

8er.org/forum/index.php?attachment/21268/

I am annoyed with the way BMW is dealing with the E31 regarding new spares.

BMW really hates this car.!

Zitat von KANTER;108383

I am annoyed with the way BMW is dealing with the E31 regarding new spares.

BMW really hates this car.!

The car went out of production about 14 years ago, by law they are only required to have parts for 10 years after the production ends.
Things will only get worse in the future, and there is nothing to do about it, it's just the way things are with any car.
Because of this communities like this will become very important for owners in the future.
both for trading used parts, people who know where to get replacement parts outside the BMW system, and people who make parts.

Zitat von Noggie;108401

The car went out of production about 14 years ago, by law they are only required to have parts for 10 years after the production ends.
Things will only get worse in the future, and there is nothing to do about it, it's just the way things are with any car.
Because of this communities like this will become very important for owners in the future.
both for trading used parts, people who know where to get replacement parts outside the BMW system, and people who make parts.

well said Egil.

I wouldn't say BMW hates the E31 but they love to make money (damned shareholder value) and probably never ever made any on this car.

CHheers
Wolf

The parts catalogue currently lists 10177 part numbers for all E31 variants. Of those near 3700 are tagged "E" which means "NLA" (no longer available). Some of those have been reassigned to new numbers which does not necessarily mean it is the same part (e.g. lid for washer fluid reservoir).
6 years ago the figure was 1900 and in early 2012 3300 parts were tagged "E".

For some/many parts a manufacturer follows a "life cycle supply" policy where demand for a certain part over the "life cycle" period is estimated/produced/stockpiled at the beginning of the production and once this supply has dwindled the item will either be gone for good or reproduced depending on demand.

In the early years mostly interior and upholstery items became unavailable but we´re now also experiencing cases like the one discussed here where important mechanical parts run out of stock. It is not in all cases entirely unrealistic to hope for fresh supplies but this will follow certain rules of economical importance and demand definitely is required to pass a certain threshold value for BMW to become active.

For the E31 "BMW Classic", formerly "BMW Mobile Tradition" is in charge of spare parts since 1/2011 and they´re basically the ones to talk to. Unfortunately their idea of important parts that need restocking is following a mostly non mechanically inclined direction. Last year they were rather proudly reporting the new production of black LHD driver floor mats and the all important boot lid M-spoiler!

As such the E31 shares the fate of other soon-to-be-oldtimers and to my knowledge BMW is not the least caring company if it comes to supporting old cars.
Quick reminder: the general businesss idea of a car manufacturer is selling new cars.
Mercedes currently marks the pinnacle regarding the availability of parts for old cars. As it seems they keep everything in stock even for cars from the 50´s. BMW had to follow suit following the Z8 aluminium frame disaster and is offering support for the Z8 for "50 years".

WRT "by law" - of course laws differ from place to place and hence there may be rulings that indeed expect a car manufacturer to supply parts for 10 years past the end of production. Those rulings are not in place here resp. in the EU. By law a new part is covered by a warranty of 2 years from purchase, so one can expect that supplies will last for this period of time once the last produced item has found a customer.
There is an alleged voluntary agreement though that manufacturers will honour that 10 year period - which in the case of the E31 ended in 2009 nevertheless

Cheers
Reinhard

^ So we are perhaps fortunate to still just be in the "golden years", with a lot of new OEM parts available, plenty of used parts cars in circulation and aftermarket specialists producing upgrade/replacement parts?

I´d say we´re having a still beautiful Indian Summer with the 8.
(Not so) many 8ers are still being used as daily drivers and (to me) a prereq to burden a car with the daily chores is that I can replace a broken part with a new one and - if I wanted to - keep the car in ex-factory condition.
With wear parts becoming obsolete downtimes for the car become hard to calculate. As indicated above many parts are not that difficult to manufacture and there will be ways to replace worn items with new ones - no rocket science involved. If all you can do is replace a wear item with a "not so worn" used one reliability will become a factor and breakdown rates will start to creep up which makes it hard on those that use it as their only car. Of course this is talking of gloom and doom when the sun is still shining but parts for "lower volume" markets (including North America & RHD) were the first ones to be phased out (read as sold off cheaply, to be replaced with an "E") and any shortage of specific parts will leave its impact there earlier.

On the other hand... you still have Gerry

Cheers
Reinhard

An excellent over view of how thing are and how they will probably be in the future..!

I all was wanted a 850 CSi and I have one, the truth is you should, as we all know buy the best one you can find.

I bought one that was well looked after till the last owner before me..!
He had it for only two years but that was enough.!

I would punch this guy in the face if I ever see him again, just for the way he repaired things on the car.

That is my story and I will bring my 8 back to where she should be, I was just amassed that the simple things like the nuts and bolts that keep the model going are no longer available.

Mercedes Benz is excellent in this regard.

Two years ago I was in the BMW Museum in Munich, you can find a book about the 8 in the shop on the way out, and a 850i badge hanging with a 100 other badges as some sort of what we built over the years.

I would be interested if that have changed.?

BMW hate this car I am convinced of this, but this is only my opinion. I can’t prove it but I have my suspicions.

Thank God we still have the E32 that BMW doesn’t hate as much and share some of the parts from the E31.

I am pissed with BMW, regardless of the Law, If I was the first owner and after 10 or 20 years was told to look for my spares on eBay after giving them a 100,000 what ever.!

I would be looking to buy a Mercedes Benz next time round.

They should stand by there product.. and in My opinion they don’t with the E31.

This is just my opinion and I don’t wish to up set any one or get in to a debate over this.

Enjoy your E31 and think about buying a 2^nd one to put at the end of your garden just incise you might need that special bolt one day.!

I will get my Coat.

I don't think BMW hate the e31.
There must have been a few in the financial department and upper management that saw the e31 in a very narrow minded way as a money pit and a huge disappointment.
Looking at the e31 alone BMW probably did not make any money on the model, but there are numerous features in the e31 that was later used on other models.
i.e the ASC+t system was later used on all models, the MID was used on the e36 ect.

A lot of the technology developed and introduced in the e31 was later used on other models, so you really can't see the entire development cost purely on the e31.

Most of the people that worked in with BMW back in the 80's are probably gone, today a huge number of BMW employees have never even heard of the e31.

If you tell people you have an 8, their reply is usually "Volvo??".

The e31 is a forgotten car in many ways, the people within BMW with bad experiences with the model is probably gone, you have a handful that see it as a modern classic, and most who have no idea what car it is.

Many other brands are not much better, I went to Toyota and asked for some small parts for my grandfathers -74 Corona (hoses ect.), when the kid behind the counter looked at me and said, "you mean Corolla". Where as I said "No, it's a 1974 Corona 1.8".
So he opened up the parts catalog and looked a little surprised when he found that model, and then turned around and said, sorry, we can't get any of those parts you need for that car.
You can probably go to the shop down the street and buy a universal hose and cut it to length, which is what I ended up doing.

Zitat von KANTER;108419

Enjoy your E31 and think about buying a 2^nd one to put at the end of your garden just incise you might need that special bolt one day.!

For those with the room this may be a very sensible way to go. The recyclers seem to know what they can extract for E31 parts!

Take the bolt from X5 (Ithink it`s e53). It is M14x 1,25x95 .It works without mods. Take the washer too, because screw has two nuts.