Beiträge von steve

  • New cars are boring

    New cars are not just boring but they are also fell victim of two major forces behind their development:
    1) Financial pressure
    2) Legal requirements


    1) Means: produce them cheap and they should not last much longer than the warranty period.
    One of the best examples for this is BMW. 30 years ago Reitzle would have thrown the engineer out of his office if he would have proposed the cheap engineering and manufacturing solutions BMW using nowadays.
    BMW was one of the best car manufacturer for suppliers back then. They let the suppliers live well and so the products were high quality. Then one day they created a system which calculates the parts prices with a big red pen and leaves nearly no air to the supplier. Ever since, quality is constantly going down and the profit for the Quandt Family is raising steadily.
    They rather spend some money to keep up a service car fleet and this way they keep themselves out of any official breakdown statistic. People still buy their cars because the emblem still shines brightly...


    2) Legal pressure from Brussels ties the hands of the development engineers.
    All the stuff car makers put under the hood to satisfy the environmental requirements are making the cars more and more complicated and prone to failures. People want big cars but these should be gentle to the environment. This can only work on paper.
    You have now small engines, whit twin or triple turbos, complicated exhaust cleaning and rerouting systems which are barely managing to satisfy the required emission values. The whole system is so heavy and complicated that it eats up all the proposed economy which it should achieve. (It's no wonder why VW is cheating...)


    Pedestrian protection and NCAP requirements are prohibiting stylists to sketch unique and exiting looking cars.
    From the front most cars look the same nowadays only the "decals" in form of different cooling openings and the lamps give some hint which car you see actually. The side of the cars are rather the opposite and are over loaded with all sorts of lines, sharp or smooth, deep or shallow. That's the only place where designers can be "creative".
    And on the rear you see those chromy, plastic, fake exhaust pipe frames masquerading those tiny pipes two inches behind.
    Marketing wants us to believe that everything is exiting, new and 21st century but as soon as you look under the facade all is cheap plastic and fake.


    Gone are the days of a "shark nose" 6 series, pop up headlights or the sleek elegance of an E38...


    I must admit that I would have rather worked half a decade earlier in this industry.
    Those were the exiting times and most people I ask think that old and young timer are much nicer looking and better cars.
    So let's preserve and enjoy our 8's as long as we can. :)


    Cheers
    Steve

  • Wheels

    Zitat von NickF;129137

    Thanks Angus, I did see those but wasn't sure if they would fit? Are the hub sizes the same on the E34? They are pretty nasty looking for £500 but maybe that's what they cost. I might offer to cut my e39 M5 wheels in, see if he'll swap.


    Vic: never been a massive fan of the split rims but I may change my mind if I can't get the throwing stars or M-pars. Thanks.


    The E34 Styling 21 wont fit the E31. They have the same hub size but different offsets.
    E34) Front: 8*17 Offset=20 Rear: 9*17 Offset=22
    E31) Front: 8*17 Offset=10 Rear: 9*17 Offset=19


    I was also looking for this wheel a couple of years ago.
    I bought one E31 set where the "stars" were missing and bought a cheap set of E34 ones and used the "stars" from them.
    The "Stars" are identical. Be aware though that they are made of Magnesium which can corrode badly and are then hard to repair.


    Cheers
    Steve

  • Rear n/s fog light failure.

    Some Suggestions based on my experiences:
    - if not yet damaged, don't cut the outer black tube. If you grease the outside of it, the rubber plugs slide up or down easily. Then you can pull it up to see the damage. It's a bit of a hassle to get the rubber back on this tube after the repair is finished but with grease and some wood sticks it was no Problem for me. This black tube (I don't know the proper name) is not available from BMW and have to be sourced elsewhere if damaged.


    - cut the wires far away from this area (underneath the fender rubber plug and above the boot lid rubber plug). This way the rigid soldering point will stay out of the area which get bend all the time. It's the rigidity of the original PVC insulation which makes the wire break. The copper wire alone would actually not break as the bending radius is large.


    - use the old wires to pull in the new ones trough the rubber plugs. After you cut the old wires further down, solder the new ones to the old and pull the wires trough the rubber plugs. Saves lot of hassle.


    - if possible, use silicon insulated wires. PVC plastic has softeners which disappear trough the years and therefore it hardens and breaks.


    Cheers
    Steve

  • Rear n/s fog light failure.

    It sounds like your wiring in the boot lid is broken. There is a rubber tube where the wiring loom leaves the boot lid and enters the fender.
    Here, the wires got bend every time you open and close the lid and after so many years the PVC isolation of the wires get brittle.
    Then it's only a matter of time before the wires break as well.
    You have to replace this portion of the broken wire.
    Do not try to solder the two broken ends together as this would only last a short time.
    Inserting a new (preferably silicon-insulated) wire piece solves the problem for a long time.


    Cheers
    Steve

  • headlight adjuster motors with life of their own

    Maybe your wiring in the headlight is broken.
    The PVC around the wires gets brittle over time and then the wires have no isolation causing all sort strange behavior.
    This could happen inside the lamp (due to the heat generated by the H1 bulbs) or outside where the wiring enters the lamp housing.
    Disconnect the connectors beside the fender and also in the lamp as well.
    Check the wires in the connector with an ohm-meter. When both sides are disconnected, there should be no conduction between two wires.
    If there is, the isolation is broken.


    Cheers
    Steve

  • Russian Arctic Coast 2015 trip.

    Thanks Andrey! Great journey and travel report! :top:
    It's nice to see an 8 series in areas where such a car rarely been seen.
    It must be a joy to drive on such empty and well maintained roads. (I wish I could have that feeling on my daily commute... :laugh: )
    I'm used to the crowded places here and so it's hard to grasp those vast spaces.


    Thanks for sharing!
    Cheers
    Steve

  • Looking into an OEM radio

    None of the radios and speakers built in to the 8 series can be considered Hi Fidelity... :laugh:
    The same goes for the E39 and therefore I built in a little subwoofer from Pioneer.
    It fits nicely underneath the seat or in the boot and supports the original radio (which has no bass at all) very well.
    It is small but has a surprising "punch".
    Of course it is no match to a real high end audiophil setup but it's cheap and it makes a standard radio sound a lot better.


    Cheers
    Steve

  • Zukünftige Ausfahrten des Münchner Stammis (wir suchen Hobie immer noch)

    Ich bin ehrlich gesagt nicht so ganz überzeugt.
    Über die Reichweite kann ich nichts aussagekräftiges berichten, da ich nur eine Innenantenne hatte.
    Im Kolonnen-fahrt war der Reichweite natürlich ausreichend.
    Was mir nicht gefällt ist die Sprachqualität. Ich hab oft nicht verstehen können was die Gegenseite gesagt hat.
    (Und das lag nicht unbedingt an Schwützer Deutsch :laugh:)


    Ich denke bei der nächste Gelegenheit nehme ich auch mein alte CB Funk mit der Virgin Antenne mit. Dann können wir erneut testen...
    Was angenehm ist, dass es nicht rauscht und dass es andere nicht reinlabern.


    Ich weis es nicht ob meine Probleme mit der Sprachqualität eventuell an mein Gerät lag.
    Martin und Christoph meinten dass Sie keine Probleme damit haben.


    Grüße
    Steve

  • Norwegian West coast Tour 2015

    We just arrived at home after this magnificent week and would like to thank all of you for the wonderful days. :top:
    Thanks to everyone who was involved in the organisation of this event. It was one of the best 8 Meetings ever. :adore:
    I will sort trough my images in the next days and put some up here. (first a lot of :sleep2: tough... :laugh:)


    Cheers
    Lilly & Steve