Firstfives.org

Seconded - as Eric says, R12 is great. I'm running it in mine with all original setup including original condenser. Having said that I know my way a little bit around HVAC. I changed filter/dryer and the oil in my original compressor and re-gassed before this summer, and it has been icy cold, even o...

You can quieten the external pump a little with some rubber or foam between the pump and pump bracket. The rubber mounts for the assembly have probably hardened up. Sometimes the pumps will be loud if the suction pipe is bent or kinked as it's struggling to draw fuel and can starve the engine under ...

Yes Eric's right, a while ago I upgraded to one of those cheap ebay central locking kits. But unlike Mike's car (maybe different year?) I found the wiring colors in mine to the rest of the car are standard (blue and white) just with an extra brown ground that can be ignored. As the drivers' door is ...

I've been meaning to get a 'hockey puck pad' from RaceGerman, I don't know if these fit but I'd imagine they're close, and if not they're cheap.

https://racegerman.com/products/e30-jack-pad

Gary, I've done that too - taken out the valve body, cleaned all of the sand and muck out, replaced all the gaskets and reassembled, and it didn't really change much unfortunately (there's a post here somewhere about it). I had flaring from 1-2nd, then lost 2nd entirely due to basically dislodging y...

Great write up, thanks! I need to do this too. The extra bulb space for the inner lens is for the rear fog lights, which were an AU option but mainly for the Euro market, not available in the US. I've considered adding extra taillight bulbs each side in there because people tell me it's hard to see ...

Thanks! I plan on following the guide for the back seat as well, make it matched set and will redo the parcel shelf while I'm there.

Thanks for the post Lock. I recall many years ago on FirstFives someone said their boss put e28 power seats into his 1976 e12 530i. E34 might be better because you don't have that handbrake console with the seat switches. :) That's a good point, I took it for granted that these seats have the seat ...

So it turns out e34 seats are a bolt-in solution for e12s up to 1980 models (after this they are e28 format, slightly different body mounts). The earlier model has a tilt function which is a separate mechanism that the passenger does not. The driver seats don't bolt to the floor, but rather to the t...

I'd say the best, easiest way would be to go to Motronic 1.3. That's what they used on E34s. You would still need to (in an easy installation) retain the distributor, although once reasonably close you could just literally have it distribute the spark, not generate it. No need for a different flywh...

For what its worth, my e12 will be mostly e34 underneath soon. Today it has e34 manual gearbox and engine management, also e34 power/heated seats. These were essentially bolt in parts. Once the engine and rear end swap are complete, it will have: e34 trailing arms, e34 LSD center in e28 case with e2...

Interesting, I thought the twin was an e28 thing but they probably always had the cutouts on both sides in all the cars. Just like how all e12s have the e28 door handle cutouts. I mainly went for e28 units because they're currently dime a dozen on ebay and identical just without the switch, unlike t...

A lot of the vacuum lines were eliminated going to motronic 1.3. The only one left is the one connected to the FPR. What I did forget was the wire that runs to the tach but that's a detail that will be addressed once the speedo is converted to the e28 impulse type and the 4hp22 install is complete....

Definitely. I used an e34 license plate light which is slightly too large for the hole, but does mean it's snug.

I always thought it was an odd choice for BMW to only put one side. It looks assymetrical, and doesn't work the best. Even if there are two bulbs in it.
Clearly they thought better about it with the e28.