Beiträge von argonaut

  • Steering wheel "comfort" function

    Peter, many thanks for your help.
    I was worried that I was being daft - I was following the steps in the handbook (as you describe for the settings) but I just couldn't get it to work. Turns out that it works for buttons 2 & 3 but not 1 - maybe the button is broken.
    Thanks for your help
    Jason

  • Steering wheel "comfort" function

    This might be a daft question and it might be just me not being completely at ease with all the whistles and bells of my '97 850Ci but can anyone help with the following:


    1) How do you correctly set the memory function of the seats and steering wheel?
    2) I thought that the steering wheel should automatically lift up when you remove the key - mine did but doesn't want to now
    3) Is it normal that the wheel adjustment lever still works even with the engine switched off? (even with the key removed)?
    4) after switching off the engine I can hear something that sounds like a stepper motor cycling for a few seconds - any ideas what this could be and is this normal? It sounds as though it's coming from the engine bay close behind the dashboard


    Thanks for any help :)

  • Repair MID with dead pixels?

    Re: OBC pixels


    Zitat von IvanT

    Hi guys,


    My OBC needs attention. I emailed the pixelartz guy asking if he speaks English. Holger, I believe that's his name, did reply but his English is as sketchy as my German!
    Like someone's already said, seems to get good feedback so I'm going to risk sending mine to him. The question I want to ask you lot is "is the inspection info held on the OBC or elsewhere? Will I still get my inspection reminders correctly if the OBC has been out the car for awhile getting fixed?"
    By the way. If Theo from Oz is reading this, can you drop me a line. Long time no speak... itinspain@yahoo.co.uk.


    Cheers,


    Hi,
    as far as I know, the MID is simply a display and does not store any information itself. It should therefore be OK to remove and still have the data stored - you can still drive the car without the MID in place
    Cheers

  • Repair MID with dead pixels?

    Zitat von Cavey

    £414!!! I think I paid about £235 for mine.


    Not sure where the £414 comes from, the buy it now price is £270.
    There's a chap that advertises on ebay.de - search for "pixelarzt" (which translates as pixel doctor) - he regularly holds an auction to buy a repair ticket - I think he charges around EUR 60 to repair the MID and he has good feedback. Occasionaly he has a computer for sale - I won his ebay auction for one last weekend at a price of EUR 151 - the article description says that the unit has a new display. Once it arrives I'll post feedback on how it is, meanwhile I'll see if I can find the ebay posting for Pixelarzt and link it here
    :D


    Stop Press - here's a link to Pixelarzt's ebay auction posting


    URL pixelarzt /[url][url]


    PPS - shout if you need any help translating German

  • Carbon Grill

    Re: Carbon Grill


    Zitat von TallTony

    God it's slow in here this week. And I'm bored.


    Here's one for the purists...... :lol:


    Nice Tony, did you make that yourself?

  • Had a little accident - 850CSi written off........

    Really sorry to hear about your incident and to see the pictures of the result - I have a copy of the Performance Portfolio book on the 8 series and the last article in the book is the comparison of your car to the Alpina - I hope you manage to get it sorted with the insurance company and get the car repaired.


    I work in the insurance (well reinsurance actually) industry - not in Motor but in marine, my daily work usually involves things that are insured for millions rather than thousands. Not wishing to play devil's advocate too much for the insurance companies generally but declaring modifications etc to the insurer is important. The reason is that underwriters (which is what I am) assess risk based on information given. If you don't tell them that the circumstances have changed they are entitled to avoid the claim due to non-disclosure or misrepresentation.
    Having said all that, in the majority of cases they would only be anal about it if the item in question contributed to the accident - eg you had non-appropriate wheels not capable of handling the power of the car.
    In the example mentioned above with the company avoiding payment because of a stainless exhaust being fitted I would have threatened to take the company to court. Insurers will avoid going to court as far as possible - the reason is simple. There is an accepted practice in insurance related law which gives the benefit of any ambiguity to the insured, the logic being that the insurers are (or should be) professionals and should therefore know what they are doing. The insured is Joe Public who might know naff all about insurance and shouldn't suffer because he isn't an insurance expert. Unless the company have something clearly written - and I mean not buried in some obscure sub-paragraph of an addenda or sub clause specifically stating that "alterations and/or modifications" must be prior agreed I would bet they would lose a court case.
    Insurers don't like going to court because it makes them look bad in the eyes of the public and in many cases, the wordings and clauses they use have not been legally tested and the companies know they are on a dodgy wicket.
    Anyway, sorry for the length of the post, what I was really trying to say was if your insurer gives you hassle, fight back, bluster and threaten. If you have to, a solicitors letter can make a huge difference as the insurer will be unlikely to call your bluff.
    Good luck and I hope the car gets well again :)

  • Some pictures of my 8

    Thanks Alx - I was admiring your CSi on Roadfly earlier today - very nice car.
    I need to renew the rear shock absorbers and change the exhaust and then I'll be on the road with my 8 - looking forward to it too.
    Cheers

  • Bilsteins rear shocks

    I know this one has been up before so sorry for boring anyone - I did search but couldn't find what I needed to know.


    I need to replace the rear shocks as one of them is well knackered. Prices here from BMW for OEM (M-Sport suspension on my car factory fitted) work out at CHF 300 or so plus another CHF 50 or so for the additional absorber. I've just got a price for Bilsteins at CHF 329 so there's not much in it on price.
    My questions are:
    1) Is the Bilstein swap the best?
    2) Do I need the "additional absorber thingy" or do the Bilsteins make do without it http://www.realoem.com/bmw/sho…&btnr=33_0360&hg=33&fg=45 refer item 07 here to see what I mean


    Thanks for your help :)

  • M70 -->M73 Swap

    Re: M70 -->M73 Swap


    Zitat von BznDzn

    Does anybody have any information on the compatibility of a 1991 M70 motor and a 1995 M73 motor? Is this an easy swap or a nightmare? Any information on sensor placement and other technical information would be greatly appreciated.


    Hi, if you go the 8 Forum on Roadfly there's a thread on this topic there right now. This swap apparently has been done in the past but it's not easy. First off, do you have an auto or manual gearbox - M73 was never supplied for manual gearbox and no flywheel exists. Next up, M73 is OBD II whereas M70 is OBD I - this means that both engine have various sensors only some of them are in differing places and some exist on one but not on the other - that means a bit of imagination required in refitting/relocating sensors and some re-wiring work needed too.
    I'm by no means any kind of expert on this and the above is what I recall from reading the Roadfly posts - your best bet is to refer directly to Roadfly.


    Cheers

  • CSi front suspension


    Cheers Tony, I'll have to my Limbo-dancing up to scratch so I can have a good look around underneath the monster.

  • CSi front suspension

    Zitat von steveirl

    I have a De Tomaso Pantera also, and it had poly bushes when I bought it four years ago. i changed them all back to factory fit, some of the poly's had wornin an oval pattern resulting in suspension slop, they were noisy and the ride was too harsh. my pantera is a widebody GT5S and front tyres are 285 width, rears 345, so the car generates a lot of g thru corners, polys were too inflexible.
    Steve


    Hi Steve - I think I spotted your Pantera lurking behind the 8 in one of your gallery pics some time ago. My mate (Derek)'s car is a 1973 pretty standard one, not the wide wheel arch version. Nice car, lots of fun but very very thirsty

  • CSi front suspension

    Zitat von TerryY

    I have Grunts poly bushes on the top and the standard spherical bearing arms on the bottom to good effect.


    My front suspension set-up is a bit loose - it passed the test fine and everything works well but I have the feeling it could be a bit tighter. There's a few light clonks on bumps but I can't find anything loose so I suspect soft bushes. I'm thinking about poly bushes but I want to check one thing - a friend of mine has a De Tomaso Pantera, nice car, exceedingly quick and it has poly bushes. Great when the car is cold, very tight, nice response etc but when the car is hot after a bit of a run it squeeks and groans like a well worn rent-by-the-hour hotel bed (I'm just guessing on that last point obviously). The squeeking was so bad that people would turn to see what was making it, eventually my mate changed all the poly bushes back to rubber.


    Any squeeking problems with Grunt?

  • Test failed :-( (longish post)

    Zitat von arnie

    How much of your exhaust has been replaced? Is it just the rear boxes or the catalytic converters also? If just the rear boxes you are more likely to find some temporary cheap replacements. (In the UK, even original ones from BMW I think are about £270 each.)


    Hi Arnie,


    from what I can see laying on my back and doing imaginative things with a torch it's only the rear boxes that have been changed. I'm starting the search for scrap yards but I'm going to need some help with that one - Switzerland is rather clean - they probably export all their rubbish somewhere.


    Does anyone have a picture of the underside of the car showing the exhaust set-up? I just want to check the line up compared with the Remus set-up which seems to have sleeves to connect the rear boxes to the mid pipes.
    Cheers

  • Test failed :-( (longish post)

    Zitat von sandwich

    Probably cheaper to bring it back to Blighty, get it reregistered and take it back out there!


    Nice idea but it's a no go. You don't even want to think about the hassle of importing a car into Switzerland - our family car is a Renault Laguna, 2002, 1.9 diesel and I've spent lots of time this week trying to finalise the import process - it's a total nightmare and we're still not finished. Anyway, the 8 is an original Swiss registered car so I'd to first export from Switzerland, import to the UK and re-register it there (not easy as I don't have an address in the UK anymore) and then bring it back here where I'd be allowed to drive it for a maximum of two years and then have to import it and then....yep, you guessed it...it would have to conform to Swiss regulations regarding err, exhausts etc. :o

  • Test failed :-( (longish post)

    Re: rims + exhaust


    Zitat von michel nydegger

    Hi Argonaut,


    I bought some 19 Breiton rims. The import company or the dealer where you buy your rims has to give you a yellow paper called "Eignungserklärung für Räder" or certification for rims. He will write the exact size etc, sign it and put a stamp on it. If you have this paper, no problem with the Mot.
    Concerning the rims I got, they are also 17" so you could put you tires ont them.


    Concerning the exhaust, why don't you find some original pipes from another 850 for the test and than put you Remus back on. Drive for 2 or 3 years until your next Mot check?


    Hi Michel,
    the rims were already on the car when I bought it but there is some good news finally, I know the guy at the tyre shop a little and asked him if he could help - I should have the Eignungserklärung later this morning :lol:
    Regarding the exhaust - I will do that maybe but first I have to see if I can find some standard 850 rear boxes - any ideas on that point?


    Cheers and thanks for your help

  • Remus exhaust swap anyone? (Refer my post on Test failure...

    Looks like bad news folks - Remus confirmed that they never got type approval for the Type 604 silencers for the 850Ci, only the 850i and the Swiss Importers for Remus confirmed that the exhaust is "nicht zugelassen" / not allowed.


    So, anyone interested in swapping a brand new (well a few months old) Remus system for standard BMW rear silencers? Look at my Avatar to see what they look like.
    Seriously, I'm considering this option - someone in Switzerland / Germany would be ideal because of distance and sending the boxes by post etc would be bloody expensive. Bear in mind the silencers are ONLY allowed for the 850i - doesn't matter a damn in the UK where you probably get away with a drain pipe stuffed with Brillo pads and call it an exhaust system.


    Let me know....

  • Test failed :-( (longish post)

    Remus exhaust swap anyone


    Looks like bad news folks - Remus confirmed that they never got type approval for the Type 604 silencers for the 850Ci, only the 850i and the Swiss Importers for Remus confirmed that the exhaust is "nicht zugelassen" / not allowed.


    So, anyone interested in swapping a brand new (well a few months old) Remus system for standard BMW rear silencers? Look at my Avatar to see what they look like.
    Seriously, I'm considering this option - someone in Switzerland / Germany would be ideal because of distance and sending the boxes by post etc would be bloody expensive. Bear in mind the silencers are ONLY allowed for the 850i - doesn't matter a damn in the UK where you probably get away with a drain pipe stuffed with Brillo pads and call it an exhaust system.


    Let me know....