I do on the 325ti without issue, but make sure that your fan clutch works and your aux fan works if you have and will use AC, otherwise you might have overheat issues.
You can jump out the aux fan switch on the radiator to check if both low and high speed work. For the fan clutch, run the motor until it is hot and try to stop it with your finger. If you still have a finger, it is bad and needs to be replaced. If you pull back a nub, at least you know the fan clutch is good. <for those who found this on google and are complete idiots, that was a joke>
If you have the E30 Bentley Manual it gives a very nice description on how to test the aux fan. Did you loose the fan shroud in the accident? You might be able to get another one from ebay for cheap. Or better yet, check the back of Roundel for BMW dismantlers and see if they have one. Eurodepot, 2002AD, BMW Wholesaler, Vines are a few that come to mind. I know there are others.
Paul, You're too funny. Grant, The more I keep reading on here, the more I feel I need this Bentley manual NOW.
I actually did lose the fan shroud in the accident..had to cut it out when the radiator got pushed into the fan. I'll have to try and check the fan clutch, but if i don't use the AC (i dont even have the belt on the ac compressor) then the aux fan serves no purpose and i dont need it to work?? I found a red E30 with plastic bumpers in the junk yard that I'm dying to take parts from. I'm just waiting for them to drain the fluids and get it ready to actually put in the yard. Once that comes out there should be all kinds of parts that i can get from it. I am driving my car again. I went to get an aligment done and goodyear said everything aligned perfectly and nothing seemed bent or damaged, which is really good news. So the plan is to take the parts from the junkyard, saving a ton of money, and have my neighbor whose a mechanic help me put everything back into place. I can get an entire bumper for $20 bucks at this place vs like a few hundred if i were to buy new.
Yes you should get it now! I use mine all the time. CJ, sounds like you have got a great find there in your local junk yard. Get all you can off of it. Nothing comes cheaper than your local junkyard. Pull stuff from the interior too if you need it or think it might break in the future. I was able to get a big 9 button OBC for almost nothing from the junk yard for my 318i. I took the wiring harness and all the need pieces. Temp sensor, turn signal stalk, computer, etc.
Junkyards There's a junkyard here in the Bay Area called 002 Salvage which I want to check out. There's another one in Richmond that apparently has quite a few BMWs. I'm hoping to go when the weather gets better. The cherry on top would be a taco truck sitting outside. CJ mentioned that the car he wants to take parts from has plastic bumpers. Since I'm still new, why do people seem to prefer plastic over metal bumpers?
The great thing about CA junkyards is that the cars are not rusty!!!! So you can get parts that would not be available here in the east. People like the plastic bumpers for a number of reasons, here are a few. Lighter weight. Smaller, don't stick out as much, Most like the look, they are painted to match the car, they don't look they were an after thought. They make the car look newer, less bright work, i.e. bare metal. With plastic bumper the E30 finally looks like it's Euro counter part. Some benefits to the diving boards. great for parallel parking, they protect the car better. Lots of room to mount powerful rally lights! I don't mind the bright work, but at some point I do want to replace my diving boards with early euro bumpers. Which also have the chrome look, just much smaller and lighter. However I will have to come up with a new way to mount my Hella 500s, since there will almost be no over hang in the front, since I have a BBS front spoiler. So I am toying with the idea of getting an M-tech I or hartge front spoiler with integrated fog lights. See attached picture of what I want to do. This is not my car.
Oooohhh...I'm all about the Alpine... But I think it needs some side skirts to complete the look...the black rockers just stick out too much. You may not have as much of an issue, Grant, because yours is black...
Yea, I really like that car. It is actually a Hartge though. This is what an early Alpina looked like. The front spoilers are a little different. Also the wheels are different. The white one has the classic Hartge star spoke wheels. As the Alpina has the radial spoke ones.
Okay, which looks better to you: or Top one, right? Thought so. That answers your question. I'd give anything to get rid of these Gawd awful diving boards, or to at least tuck them and paint them the body color...
I see now. But in all honesty, metal bumpers aren't horrible looking. Like with any ride, you want to personalize it, and in some cases lighten the load. For now I'm staying stock, and I'll slowly start changing things. Maybe I'll get some ideas at bimmerfest. Is that you in your ride Botond?
Melyssa you have one advantage over other metal bumper E30s. On the cabrios the plastic bumper surrounds where always painted the body color. So it really looks much better than the hard top cars. Although the cabrios got the big bumpers two years longer than the hard tops. I think that is a factory photo of the red E30 Botond posted. It is a 1988 model, you can tell by the front lower spoiler. Later style spoiler and tail lights with big bumpers, only year they did that was 1988.
