Today on my Bimmer I...

it drives me crazy to see the cig lighter without something in that port!

Originally Posted by TheFinanceGuy

it drives me crazy to see the cig lighter without something in that port!

A starter button has crossed my mind just to fill the hole but I'd feel silly turning the key and then moving my hand to hit a button. I just leave an old cig lighter in there to cover it up, mine doesn't even have power running to it because I stole it for my power seat retrofit.

Yeah i leave the old cig lighter there too. mine does work, I just don't really use it for much of anything.

sometimes i'll plug my phone in, but haven't really taken this car on a long tirp yet. Nothing more than 1 and 1/2 hours.

Originally Posted by SlimKlim

A starter button has crossed my mind just to fill the hole but I'd feel silly turning the key and then moving my hand to hit a button. I just leave an old cig lighter in there to cover it up, mine doesn't even have power running to it because I stole it for my power seat retrofit.

Heres the ones I got from rally road. Dont mind the hideous armrest..getting a all black one soon. That one was the ebay special lol.

Ever since I accidentally dropped a dime into the cigarette lighter of a previous car and fried a fuse, I've always kept the lighter in place. But yes, those gauges are yummy. I want a similar setup as well.

I have one of those mini flashlights in my cig outlet, looks nice and is handy.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Bimmer App

Originally Posted by B1MM3R

I used the power for my shift knob.
Heres the ones I got from rally road. Dont mind the hideous armrest..getting a all black one soon. That one was the ebay special lol.

Oh you fancy witch'ur quad stitching.

That e-brake handle is sexy too, might have to get one of those whenever I decide to replace the knob.

Originally Posted by SlimKlim

Oh you fancy witch'ur quad stitching.

That e-brake handle is sexy too, might have to get one of those whenever I decide to replace the knob.

O you know son

What kinda gauges are those? Best E36 gauge match I've seen.

They're just VDO gauges. Fairly common brand, but it also happens to be the case that VDO also makes the instrument cluster for our cars.

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

They're just VDO gauges. Fairly common brand, but it also happens to be the case that VDO also makes the instrument cluster for our cars.

I really want to do that to my car, but isn't it fairly a PITA to wire them up?

Well, it's all relative. You need to find places drill/tap a few holes for installing the various sending units, but that's about as hard as it gets. So while it's not a simple plug & play affair, hot rodders have to do this sort of thing all the time. I think people make it out to be a much bigger deal than it is.

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

Well, it's all relative. You need to find places drill/tap a few holes for installing the various sending units, but that's about as hard as it gets. So while it's not a simple plug & play affair, hot rodders have to do this sort of thing all the time. I think people make it out to be a much bigger deal than it is.

Yea, seems like a good idea for one of my next mods. However, first I must replace the oil pan gasket and I want to refresh the rear bushings and then the front end componets before anymore mods.

Yes, by the time you buy all the gauges, sending units, etc., it ends up getting somewhat expensive. I've always wanted one of these in conjunction with gauges down under the HVAC:

http://store.bimmerworld.com/ati-epo...lder-p899.aspx

I'd put water temp and oil pressure up high where your eyes can see them easily/quickly, and then oil temp and battery voltage down low. As cool as they look & seem, putting gauges down behind the shifter is actually one of the worst places you can locate them. Looking for your water temp behind the shifter while at speed in a track setting would be pretty sketchy.

I'd get the rallyroad one Karl. I plan on one sometime.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Bimmer App

I plan on getting a simple pillar pod for the important ones and throw a few others behind the shifter.

People always seem to think the pillar stuff is ricey but I always thought it look cool and useful.

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

Awesome! You should move out here. We auto-x all year long, even in the rain!

I'm jelly. Moving out west is in the works within the next couple years.

Been working on Eddie's 633CSi. Painted the horrid chipped, faded and brake-dust-covered wheels after cleaning them up. Need to finish the cut-and-polish on the rest of the car, but we've been so excited driving it we dropped the pretty-up campaign for a bit. Ordered $850 worth of bits and pieces for it yesterday, mostly maintenance and suspension stuff.

For comparison, the last picture is a "before" of one of the wheels.

Nice work on the wheels.

Fixed my stripped coolant tank with a brass bleeder screw... self repairing threads

I always enjoy updates from Ken's BMW farm.

Originally Posted by ZeGerman

I always enjoy updates from Ken's BMW farm.

so funny to call it a farm...but i can sooo ototaly see that.

i also enjoy these updates, though. secretly i am jelly...



but i do like the console guage set up, and i like the a-pillar. not sure i like the column mounted deal, though...would probably have to see it in place.

would want to use an a/f, coolant temp, oil pressure, and maybe some others (not yet sure) but i *do* want them to match the oe style of the instrument cluster.

will have to go check out vdo's....


brb....




df

I also like Stack gauges for European cars:

Today I installed two new center caps on my wheels. Makes the other two look *warn* so ill probably order two others...

And I looked at all my parts that came for the rear shock refresh. Except the shocks.... Le sigh. I'll have to wait till November for those.

Bummer to have to wait like that. At least they'll be super easy to install when you finally get them.