Differential Gearing

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GripGreg
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Differential Gearing

Post by GripGreg »

I have gone to realoem with my vin which is 5592605. I would like to know the factory gearing for Buster but,
I just can't find what I'm looking for.
Since I got a front strut brace, I've been sorta hungry to know what I have. I do believe it's an open diff.
Maybe one of you gurus can help?
Thanx in advance,,,,Greg
Hit the apex
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hornhospital
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by hornhospital »

None of the old VIN decoders I've used for years work these days. BMW shut down access to their information a year or so ago, and it effectively killed all the VIN decoding sites.
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dwcains
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by dwcains »

This one works fine: http://www.bimmer.work/
Dean
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'85 635 CSi Euro #9402254
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GripGreg
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by GripGreg »

Thanx Ken and Dean.
Dean, when I tried it, it came up with, 'Something went wrong please try again'.
I also clicked on 'I am not a robot' to no avail. Five times. :(
Hit the apex
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dwcains
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by dwcains »

Hmm, no clue. I tried the VINs from my 635 and M3, as well as a 635 on eBay, and they all worked fine. I tried yours, and got the error message you mentioned, Here are the screen shots:

Image

Image

Image
Dean
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'85 635 CSi Euro #9402254
'87 Spider Veloce
'92 Spider Veloce
'08 350Z

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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by olympia57 »

I've tried several sites to de code my series one and none would offer any info.
I "think" these decoder sites only cater for series two (E28) and later cars .
1981 635 series 1
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by tschultz »

Early cars use the build sheet (literal piece of paper) stuck to the bottom of one of the rear seats. Then the codes can be translated into options when you email: [email protected]

Dear Mr Schultz,

Thank you for your reply. Here’s what we can decode:

Farbe 054 – Ocean Blue
Polster 0108 – Leather Pacific
44.2 – automatic radio antenna
48.6 – radio Bavaria Cassette Stereo Reverse VF
54.2 – electric sliding/vent roof
57.1 – height-adjustable passenger seat
65.2 – electric and heated passenger mirror
75.5 – warning triangle and fire-extinguisher

We hope this is helpful for you.
Most early cars that had AC got green glass. Those without AC got bronze tinted glass. Also those without sunroofs usually got bronze glass.

Early cars with dogleg's usually got sport seats and 3.07 LSD as well. If your car has a overdrive unit and comfort seats, this would be your clue that you probably have a 3.07 open diff.
http://www.Drive4Corners.com
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by Pod »

Come on Greg! Jack the car up, mark the flanges with paint and turn/count :wink:
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Brucey
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by Brucey »

I have owned an almost identical car to Greg's but with RHD instead of LHD. Mine was 11/81 build date; it came with the overdrive gearbox and an LSD. Although you could spec what you wanted, I think the default option for European spec manual 635s at this time was to have an LSD fitted, regardless of manual gearbox type.

You have to remember that at that time the 635CSi was effectively BMW's most sporting offering for the road (barring such exotica as the M1). The M635CSI didn't exist yet and the next closest thing to the 635CSi was the (mechanically similar but saloon bodied) M535i.

They were still plugging the engine similarities to the M1 in press advertisements for the 635 where the acceleration was compared with jet aircraft and all that guff.

But anyway it is very easy to tell if you have an LSD or not, and to work out the ratio too, like Pod says.

cheers
~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GripGreg
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by GripGreg »

Thanx to everyone; especially POD! :D
Because my body is not as limber as it use to be, I don't even change the oil! I give my mechanic the oil &
filter and he does it. Sad,,huh?
Or, I do have an apparatus that allows me to suck the oil out the dipstick tunnel!
I remember what you told me Brucey but, I'm gettin' old! :roll:
So, I would find it rather hard to go under to count the turns. Maybe if Bob has a spare moment to put Buster
on the hoist? That would be a very rare moment though.

Brucey & Tschultz:
As a Grip I'm suppose to see different hues but, I can't really see any at all in Buster's windows!
But, I only inspected the driver's window. Remember when the front windshield was replaced?
He does have what I believe to be a factory overdrive tranny but, when I came along he had I think aftermarket 'pleather' Recaros with leather rr seats.
I will look for the build sheet under the rr seat. I can do that at least! :roll:
I'm proud to say that I did install the strut brace! =D>

Greg
Hit the apex
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by Alpinacsi »

Standard for that model was 3.07 and should be stamped on the housing as 13:40 or 40:13
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OK, I just gotta ask . . .

Post by GRNSHRK »

Greg, what the hell does "Grip" stand for :-k

I could come up with a few suggestions, but would prefer that you reply [-o<

As for what the ratio of your diff is, have your oil changer take a look here, while he's got it up on the lift :shock:

In my case, the 11 38 indicates a ratio of 3.45, by dividing 38 by 11 #-o
Attachments
3.45 sideloader diff ratio markings
3.45 sideloader diff ratio markings
IMG_0107-sm.jpg (98.22 KiB) Viewed 9630 times
:mrgreen:
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GripGreg
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by GripGreg »

Thanx Bobbo, I'll ask him to do that.

And, in my case the title Grip means I use to work in the film biz. Grips who know what they're doing, as in my case, of course, :lol: can be the glue that holds the production together.
We are sorta the glue between the Camera dept. and the Electrical dept. The electricians bring in their lights and the Grips fine tune them with scrims on the bottom & the side. Imagine either one or two layers of
netting on a three sided frame. They're called single scrims or double scrims. The 'bottomer' allows the actor
to read the same up close as they read at a distance from the light because the light is usually seven ft. high on a stand. The larger the light the higher it goes. The Gaffer, head Electrician, uses a light meter to read the light intensity at both distances. The bottomer only goes halfway up from the bottom of the light, hence the title 'bottomer'. The 'sider' does the same thing from the side. Then there's the 'topper' which is usually opaque. The other way to say it is, Grips sorta create the mood needed by the Director & Cameraman or Cameralady. There's more but, moving on.
Some more accomplished Grips are also called Dolly Grips who move the camera in the right spot at the
right time on a camera dolly. I was also a Dolly Grip. That takes a special person with timing & patience.
Which is where I tend to get my 'suavicity'. :wink: Is that a word? :-$
Sometimes, when we went outside to shoot using a car, Grips are the ones to rig the lights & the camera on
the car, which is why I know about the suction cups mentioned here that people want to use to mount bikes on their cars.
There's more but, I'll stop here. But, you'd be surprised what else the production needs a good Grip crew for.
Like when at the last minute, the director thinks of a trick shot; he or she comes to the Grips to build something. So then we become on set carpenters for a while. The Key Grip is the big dog, like the Gaffer in the Electrical dept. They are equal in their respective departments.
We also help the stuntmen rig whatever they need. Yes, I am still a Local 80 union member but, retired. \:D/
WHEW! Greg :D

Ps; There's more but, I'm really through this time! More later if you're still interested.
You'd be surprised knowing who I've rubbed elbows with! And, we mostly had fun,,,sometimes maybe not!
Cybil Shepard, very warm, James Brolin, very warm, Steve Mcqueen, very kool, Charlton Heston, hell no!

PPS; To whomever can, please put this post in the 'Saloon'? I will continue from there.











t
Hit the apex
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by brtele »

Cool stuff Greg. Thanks for sharing. I learned my one new thing today, now I can go back to sleep.
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by Pod »

GripGreg wrote:Thanx to everyone; especially POD! :D
Or, I do have an apparatus that allows me to suck the oil out the dipstick tunnel!
Careful, Greg, a mouth-full of oil isn't very pleasant! :-&
GripGreg
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by GripGreg »

Good thinking, Pod! :lol:
It's the pump I bought from BavAuto. I stick a tube down the dipstick tube & pump the plunger
provided on the plastic can which sucks the oil out.
It works well enough for about three oil changes, then, I take it to Bob to do it the right way.
It's time for a valve adjustment so, it'll be done altogether. 8) After I buy Castrol 20/50 from Walmart at the
price of $19.95 for 5 quarts! =D>
I tried to adjust the valves when I bought Buster but, just couldn't get it right. I use to adjust my '73 '02 valves with no problems but not Buster! :roll:
I'll ask Bob to look at the rr end markings at that time.
Greg
Hit the apex
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Brucey
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by Brucey »

BTW if you know rpms vs actual speed (i.e. as checked using GPS) then you can calculate your gearing.

FWIW I think it will have a standard 3.07 back end, because if it had been changed, you would either have a wildly inaccurate speedo (because the speedo drive is off the gearbox on pre 5/82 builds) or someone would have had to rebuild your speedo with different internal gearing.

If you can say what (exact, GPS-confirmed) speed you do at (say) 2000rpm in top gear we can figure out your gearing.

cheers
~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GripGreg
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by GripGreg »

Thanx, Brucey. Good info as always.
Greg
Hit the apex
in Long Beach, Cal
Buster/'82Euro6 Build Date 9/81
Rosallina/'80 528i Build Date 4/80
GripGreg
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Re: Differential Gearing

Post by GripGreg »

UPDATE:
We both looked for numbers anywhere on the diff and came up empty! Bob said too many layers of paint?
I showed him your picture, Bobbo so, he even sanded in some places, down to metal with no info.
What does this indicate?
Bobbo, is you picture from the left front of the diff? It looks like it to us. :roll:
Or, is it upside down? What is that red object at the bottom of the diff?
Thanx to all,,,,Greg

BTW: Dwcains; thanx but the years indicated on the 'build sheet' you show is not
the same as Buster's, which is 9/81 sold as an '82 Euro.
Last edited by GripGreg on Fri Mar 04, 2016 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hit the apex
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Rosallina/'80 528i Build Date 4/80
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Right hand side, down low towards the back

Post by GRNSHRK »

I think back in the day they stamped the numbers in numerous places, pun intended #-o

That red object is actually part of the hydraulic jack, it's just a plastic jack pad :-k

But that shot is not upsidedown or anything like that, as it's sitting on the jack in position to raise it up into place =D>

Weird 8-[
:mrgreen:
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