I guess those wheels just grew a little on me! On a black 6er, like yours, I thought they looked quite good.. And definitely against the grain or whatever it is called
Now it's my turn to thank you, for complimenting on my 'fine' 6er. It really isn't that fine just yet, I have a lot of work in front of me. Bought it a little over a year ago, the PO said it was a fun winter beater, can you believe it!?
It has rust on the front inner wings, floorboards along the sills and in the spare wheel well. Apart from that, I think it looks pretty good
The pictures turned out very big in the preview, so I excluded them for now. If you email me, I'll be happy to send you some for your amusement!
It currently sports some sort of metallic black paint, but is kastanienrot met. underneath. The plan is to restore it to the original color. The head gasket is busted, I hope the head isn't cracked. Runs fine....
Let me know if you'd like some pics!
All the best,
Martin
Martin,
How big are these pictures? You do know that Big Coupe has a site for posting them, yes? Also, you can do what I did and put them up on Flickr and just throw up a link to that.
I feel your pain regarding rust. Those of us in Southern California often forget just how privileged we are. I'm almost ashamed to confess that the baby has no rust, anywhere. Um, what is kastanienrot? Also, someone posted a link to the Wheeler Dealer's site and the episodes of them purchasing a 6er WITH those wheels on it. Ugh!
I send good thoughts regarding the head on your car. Okay, gotta run!
Regards
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
If you look at those rims you may note that would take only 3 seconds to wash them! Now compare that trying to wash a set of BBS RS rims! Or more correctly, a set of BBS RAs as they were the contemporary of these Centra Type VI rims as seen in the late 70s and early 80s.
Centra is a German rim manufacturer and of course have many other rim styles but the Centra Type VI may have been the most popular....ha ha!
Those Centras were surprisingly popular in Germany and I have seen several grey market sixers with those rims. The staggered Centra Type VI rims are the same size and offset as the staggered 16" Alpinas by the way (16x7 et11 & 16x8 et24). And they were also available in a 14x7 size in both 4 bolt and 5 bolt BMW fitments.
Well SS, I have to agree that cleaning these wheels is easier but I still gotta look at em and let's face it, if any of us were looking for "easy" we damn sure wouldn't have bought a 6er, n'est ce pais?
Martin, nice car! Gawd, I do NOT envy you snow and wet. I grew up in snowy Michigan and everything rusts there. I am jealous of your 5 speed.
Today I try to gather parts for a bit of a fixing flurry. I need a new thermostat, water pump, hood shocks or whatever they're called, and maybe get some help reattaching the torsion springs in the frelling trunk. Oh and it seems I've a hot start issue. She won't turn over at all sometimes when she's at operating temperature. Everything comes up but no cranking. The previous owner had a wire going from a starter wire to the positive post on the battery, touch it to the post and up she starts. ~le sigh~
Laterz all
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
Well, I finally watched the 'Wheeler Dealers' episodes about the Red 6er with my wheels on it but what I can't figure out is WHY they gleefully put TRX wheels on the car? The Centra's are bad enough but why would you put metric wheels on? Do the tire companies make metrics that they don't export to the US?
I ordered my thermostat, water pump and hood springs from Autohaus in AZ. I should have them by Wednesday. Can't get this thing smogged till it will idle without overheating.
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
Well now I'm a bit frustrated. I've changed out the thermostat, the water pump and yet the baby still runs hot. Not AS hot, seems to hover around 5/8ths but bloody hell, I thought this would bring it down below 1/2 Damn and Blast! Any opinions lads?
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
Yes I am. Not precisely 50/50 but I couldn't find the block drain plug so I didn't get everything drained.
Today I ran the baby up over the Sepulveda pass to Northridge and in some stop and go traffic and the gauge didn't creep past about 9/16 BUT then when I stopped to get some groceries, I returned and started her up and as I drove off I glanced down and the gauge was just below the red zone and I heard the auxiliary fan kick on. I slammed on the heater full blast! The temp dropped like a stone but what was up with THAT? Most disturbing
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
I would recommend switching to straight distilled water with a bottle of Redline Water Wetter. In southern California, there is no need for coolant. Just make sure you use distilled water, as regular water can lead to corrosion of the block.
You also need to make sure that the block is fully drained.
When you stop the car and start it right back up again, the engine will heat soak and the coolant will pick up lot of that excess heat. So its normal for the temperature to go up if you stop in and then start it 10 minutes later.
Heat soak, eh? That makes perfect sense -in retrospect- but at the time my heart rate went thru the roof. I could hear Vince warning me of the dangers of overheating and cracking the head!!!
Wait what? Straight distilled water with Redline Water Wetter? Seriously? That just sounds SO wrong in so many ways. But part of that is based on my coming from a cold climate where you'd better have coverage to -15 at least or you're in deep doo doo. Might it be just a hypersensitive heat sensor? I mean it is probably 23 years old...
George, thank you for your insights, I am taking it to GT International this week so they can give it the once over and I'll report back on what they say.
Keep the shiny side up!
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
Phillip, you have to ask yourself: When was the last time it dropped below freezing point in Southern California? Hell, most people think its freezing cold the moment it drops below 55.
Anti-freeze only reduces the coolant's ability to transfer heat. Look up the look up the coefficient of thermal conduction and you'll see. Just make sure its distilled, as anything else will give you problems in the long run.
Phil,
welcome to the club of fun driving paid for with agrevation. I know exactly what you are going through since I am going through some frustration with the cooling myself. You said you changed the thermostat; was it the 80 degree celsius or the 71 degree celsius? I had a 71 degree one in and changed it with an 80 degree and now my temps go to the middle if not close to the red at times. The car also blew coolant out after each drive. No, it was not excess coolant and I ran low. Don't know how we are doing now since I bled the system and have not run low on coolant yet. Ran hot yesterday and the temp went down when I turned the heater off (!) How weird is that? Ran fine this morning though. With the heat on and off the temps went just to the center of the gage. I plan on doing one of those engine/radiator flushes this weekend and also put a new 71 degree thermostat in even though I have to admit, my gas milage has improved since I put the 80 Degree one in.
86GT635 wrote:Coolant also raises the boiling point of water. You need coolant in your engine. It has anti corrosive ingredients. Use a non-phosphate product.
-DJ
The boiling point of water is also increased by the pressure within the cooling system. The boiling point of water given the added pressure of the cooling system should be ~250F (or 120C).
My '89 turbo is making more head than 99.9% of M30's out there and its run in a very hot climate and I have yet to see the coolant temperatures rise above 250, even after drag racing, autocrossing and such. I am measuring these temperatures with an auxiliary VDO gauge and sender.
The only need for anti-freeze is to lower the freezing point of coolant in the appropriate climate
Hey Rainer! I replaced it with the 80 degree thermo because that's factory spec and right now I am focused on passing smog, so I reasoned, (perhaps correctly) that with an 80 degree unit, everything will work more harmoniously? We'll see. I won't know what my mileage is until I can get the frelling odo to work.
George, two questions. What does the Redline product do? I read their website blather but why do you recommend it? Also, you said your M30 is, "...making more head..." I'm not sure what that means. Do you mean making higher head temperatures?
I had thought one of the properties of coolant was to lubricate things like the water pump to extend its life? Yes no? I'm open to straight distilled water as a coolant, I just have no experience with it.
Gentlemen? Again, thank you ALL for your input, advice, words of caution, etc. They are deeply appreciated.
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
I did the 75 deg thermostat from Autohaus, and i saw an improvement. I don't know if you saw this, since you only mentioned the 71/80. It's a middle of the road compromise?
EDIT: Did you find the radiator drain plug? It is located on the passenger side at the bottom of the radiator, and above the frame.
Wishbone? I did find the radiator drain plug no problem, it's the engine block drain that I couldn't locate. I confess that I was loathe to get down on the garage floor in the leaked coolant and other bits of goo to really search thoroughly, it was raining, I'd have been hanging out into the rain, blah blah blah. I did see the 75 degree thermo but opted for factory spec. Nice 633 by the way.
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
Masked Man wrote: Also, you said your M30 is, "...making more head..." I'm not sure what that means. Do you mean making higher head temperatures?
That was a mistype. It should have said, "making more heat."
I'm making about 375-400 crank horsepower (and even more torque) and I have no problems maintaining cool temperatures even when I push the car into extended boost in hot weather.
As for Redline, from a chemical standpoint, it reduces the surface tension of water. This is a good thing. If you have a "hot pocket" in the head or the block (just a localized area) and the local temperature rises above boiling point, you are obviously going to induce vapor bubbles into the system. Essentially what water wetter does is reduce the size of those bubbles. Back to the talk about the coefficient of thermal conduction: air is a great insulator and a terrible conductor. So in other words, it is beneficial to have a smaller boundary of air in between the coolant and metal that is being cooled. Water wetter does just that.
You can't go wrong with a few gallons of distilled water and a bottle of water wetter.
If the SAE says so it must be true. I'm too broke to spend the $12 on the whole article but maybe when some $$$$ comes my way I will help spread the knowledge.
George? Holy crap! Is there a DOWN side to using disitlled water? Because those figures sound too good to be true. I mean if I can lower my engine running temperature, increase my torque numbers and lower my cholesterol, why doesn't EVERYONE in climates where they're not in danger of freezing temperatures, do this? To go back to my one concern vis a vis using water. Am I going to shorten the life of my water pump because of relinquishing the lubricating properties of glycol coolant or does Redline water wetter take over that task? Or does my water pump not need that sort of lubrication?
Keep the shiny side up
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
Masked Man wrote:George? Holy crap! Is there a DOWN side to using disitlled water? Because those figures sound too good to be true. I mean if I can lower my engine running temperature, increase my torque numbers and lower my cholesterol, why doesn't EVERYONE in climates where they're not in danger of freezing temperatures, do this? To go back to my one concern vis a vis using water. Am I going to shorten the life of my water pump because of relinquishing the lubricating properties of glycol coolant or does Redline water wetter take over that task? Or does my water pump not need that sort of lubrication?
Keep the shiny side up
Phillip
I've never seen any data that physically showed that the water pump needs a glycol lubricant. Until I do, I call bullshit. So long as its not leaking and there is no air in the system the water pump will work just fine.
You have to figure that there aren't too many places that never see ambient temperature drop below 32F. Even then, manufacturers can't assume that you won't travel to a place that does drop below 32F.
If you having problems with your cholesterol I recommend eating some Cheerios and oatmeal. If that doesn't work try this:
Question for all of you brain trusty types. My 85 Euro has a spiffy BMW fire extinguisher attached to a bracket on the front of the driver's seat. Was this standard equipment, an option or an after market thang? Also, it appears to still be fully charged after ?? years. Anyone have knowledge of these?
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
Alrighty then! The nice folks at GT International have examined my car and pronounced it, "pretty good" no glaring issues. But they did observe that it has plugs that are spec for the American engine, not the Bosch W8DC's that it should be running. Soooo, my question is, were these likely put in to enhance the likelihood of passing California smog or thru ignorance?
This question is of more than academic interest to me since I DO have to pass smog before I can move forward with the project.
Hopefully
Phillip
Masked Man
85 635CSi Euro
Big Brake Upgrade
Ireland stainless exhaust
Upper & lower control arms
New tie rod kit
I am jealous of your 5 speed.
