E30 Zone

Actually have a genuine reason. Existing clocks have died so bought a replacement from someone on the forum. Mileage shows 121K, just want to take it back to the original 93K that were on my old clocks.
Can this be done pretty easily?

Thanks!

Remove the casing do it manually?
if not put on car and shove it in reverse

Or just swap the speedo gauge over to the new cluster??

willnz wrote:Refer to the pic below. I have arrowed the teeth on the side of each dial. You need to be rather brutal with a small screwdriver by putting it on the tooth and forcing it to rotate. Dont worry, it will not damage the mechanism, just be careful you dont slip and scratch the number. Try it out on your old speedo to get confidence. I have done this dozens of times without any mishaps.

Nice lesson in clocking there!!!!

?? frankly an e30 with low milage and no history is a red flag in itself, hardly worth clocking these old'ens now.

6potpower wrote: if not put on car and shove it in reverse

the signal comes as a pulse unit sent from the diff, the diff pulses are same irregardless of the direction of the rotation, so while driving in reverse you still add positive miles to your clock.

march109 wrote:?? frankly an e30 with low milage and no history is a red flag in itself, hardly worth clocking these old'ens now.

Theres still people out there who would pass a 180k clean sport off as a low miler "70k on the clock guv" car to a newbie looking for one.

That ain't right in anyones book surely!

The zones all about trust and we'd soon gun for anyone on here selling such a car and getting found out would we not?

I understand your point BUT a fool and their money, would you believe the milage especially if its very low and the car had no history??

Frankly there are lots of genuine reasons to clock a odometer, the above is one of them, I also set one to 000000 when the engine under went a rebuild however the mileage upto that point is meticulously recorded within a very substantial history folder and along with the original clocks would be given to any future owner.

And lets face it if the OP had actually bothered to take the unit apart before asking they would have worked it out in little to no time. Its no digital dash, its not even a reasonably sophisticated analogue dash either.

Doing it for nefarious reasons however is unforgivable, but buyer beware.

march109 wrote:I understand your point BUT a fool and their money, would you believe the milage especially if its very low and the car had no history??

And lets face it if the OP had actually bothered to take the unit apart before asking they would have worked it out in little to no time. Its no digital dash, its not even a reasonably sophisticated analogue dash either.

Doing it for nefarious reasons however is unforgivable, but buyer beware.

Ahhhh a fool and their money. A sellers dream. I would ALMOST never buy a low miler not supported by any history. But I do know of one VERY low mileage Sport in Mint condition that has NO history. But it's blatently obvious when you see the car that it is was it first appears. A Minter with sub 50k up that was owned by a guy with his own workshop.

But I've met literally hundreds of unknowing, inexperienced (in the motor game) people that have had there hands burnt by unscruperlous (sp!) sellers and I've seen the pain it can cause. One famous C2 springs to mind?

Putting a photo up explaining how to clock a car is surely not what the zone is all about?

Believe me, I know how to clock a car for sure (and hide the tell tale signs ) but all the OP needs to do is remove his old speedo and fit it in the new clock set.

march109 wrote:?? frankly an e30 with low milage and no history is a red flag in itself, hardly worth clocking these old'ens now.

so it is worth clocking newer ones then? remind me never to buy a car from you

jon

jon552 wrote:

march109 wrote:?? frankly an e30 with low milage and no history is a red flag in itself, hardly worth clocking these old'ens now.

so it is worth clocking newer ones then? remind me never to buy a car from you

jon

I believe that March was referring to all E30s with that. Do you have a new one?

i think anyone that wanted to clock a car for suspect reasons will be more than able to work it out for themselves. i dont think well be seeing a rush of clocking just because of willnz's post.

fuzzy wrote:i think anyone that wanted to clock a car for suspect reasons will be more than able to work it out for themselves. i dont think well be seeing a rush of clocking just because of willnz's post.

agreed

Well I for one am very happy with this advice Willnz. I didn't mean to start a tit-for-tat, like I said it was merely for the sake of both clocks matching up. I would never clock this car (or any other car) but then I wouldn't sell it either after 8 years of ownership.

Thanks again to all those who offered the advice. I have enough to go on now. Thanks

it used to be the case that clocking a car mileage was only illegal if your intentions are dishonest. otherwise its perfectly ok. i dont know if thats still the case?

My old scooter had a digital dash and whilst rideing it to work as normal the dash reset itself, from 4500miles to 0miles.

When it came to MOTing it i told the guy but he said he has to mark the MOT cert with the milage shown on the dash. Clocked itself and it ended up getting nicked anyway.

lets be honest, how many look at milage when buying a 20 year old car anyway?

you look for the body, engine, interior and drive test

as for the post on how to change the odometer it has been posted many times in the past, even by mr moooore on occasion who wanted the new dash to reflect the cars milage.

and as for new cars they can be changed with the right laptop and software anyway. its probably harder in an E30 than an E90

mrLEE30 wrote:

6potpower wrote: if not put on car and shove it in reverse

the signal comes as a pulse unit sent from the diff, the diff pulses are same irregardless of the direction of the rotation, so while driving in reverse you still add positive miles to your clock.

I was just joking around

eko wrote:Or just swap the speedo gauge over to the new cluster??

Hiya Eko mate long time no hear! Just realised this wouldn't work I guess because it is the speedo that has actually died on my old one.

fuzzy wrote:i think anyone that wanted to clock a car for suspect reasons will be more than able to work it out for themselves. i dont think well be seeing a rush of clocking just because of willnz's post.

well said!...........

willnz wrote:

B7 wrote: Believe me, I know how to clock a car for sure (and hide the tell tale signs ) but all the OP needs to do is remove his old speedo and fit it in the new clock set.

If you knew what you were talking about it would be useful, instead all you seem to have achieved is opening your mouth to change feet.


I suggest that, in future, if you have nothing useful to add, stay away instead of trying to stir up a hornets nest with ill-researched comments!!

Thats nice! Thanks

I've done several dashes now and it's never been every dial at fault!!!! 9/10 times it's a PCB fault or the SI Batts. Everytime I've swapped the speedos straight over and theres never been an issue.

nice thread !!!

one of the biggest scams in the motortrade is 'clocking', and here are the instructions on how to do it

give it 2 weeks before 4 door brum sports and M'sport cabby's turn up on ebay and pistonheads with 'low mileage'

e30topless wrote:nice thread !!!

one of the biggest scams in the motortrade is 'clocking', and here are the instructions on how to do it

give it 2 weeks before 4 door brum sports and M'sport cabby's turn up on ebay and pistonheads with 'low mileage'

My point exactly. I would say most on here know how to clock a mech odeometer. Those that don't, don't really need to as it's rarely the speedo unit actually at fault!

e30topless wrote:nice thread !!!

one of the biggest scams in the motortrade is 'clocking', and here are the instructions on how to do it

give it 2 weeks before 4 door brum sports and M'sport cabby's turn up on ebay and pistonheads with 'low mileage'

Oh come on, did you read the thread? anyone who can't work it out anyway is a dumbass, any one who would buy an unwarrantied low milage e30 is a dumbass (withought knowing the car), anyone who buys a car from Brum is a dumbass, and that comes from someone who HAS bought a car from Brum.

IMO E30's are too old to worry about, the m20 and m10's are barely run in to 100,000 miles anyway, most are high milers and the loved and cherished ones will come with proper history AND will no doubt recieve many new whole or part panels and/or engines and the milage becomes relatively irrelevent.

The most important part of an e30 is the whole package, we're not talking sub-40,000 mile cars here.

Could we all calm down now or I'll do a full FAQ on ALL the methods of clocking an e30 spam you all with it and be done with it.

316i motorsport cab .

And?

Think there has been a slight over reaction to Willnz guide tbh, but as a way of an antidote to any potential clockers, how about someone posting up a guide of tell tale signs of a clocked
car Trev, you sound like the ideal person to do just that.

gooner1 wrote:Think there has been a slight over reaction to Willnz guide tbh, but as a way of an antidote to any potential clockers, how about someone posting up a guide of tell tale signs of a clocked
car Trev, you sound like the ideal person to do just that.

Good idea, and add it to the buying guide.

However for reasons I've already outlined not really 100% foolproof, who hasn't replaced their steering wheel or gear knob? How many e30s still have the original seat bolsters and there plenty running about with those metal plate thingies on the pedals.

Obviously check past MOT's and garage receipts, and check for general wear and tear

Take my car for example, rear end rebult (new inner, outer arches new boot, new rear panel, new boot floor) 12,000 miles ago approx, engine rebuild 7000 miles ago approx, second hand 5stud setup (milage unknown),New bonnet new front wings (brand new and unfitted 0 miles), refurbed BBSs (unkown milage) ect ect ect so how is milage a fair indicator of condition??

My first e30 was a dog, thats how I found what to look for. Maybe we should have a zone buyers guide based upon a complete dogs arseof an example!

gooner1 wrote:Think there has been a slight over reaction to Willnz guide tbh, but as a way of an antidote to any potential clockers, how about someone posting up a guide of tell tale signs of a clocked
car Trev, you sound like the ideal person to do just that.

Are you sure???? Some zoners would never sell another car if we broke out all the secrets

B7 wrote:

gooner1 wrote:Think there has been a slight over reaction to Willnz guide tbh, but as a way of an antidote to any potential clockers, how about someone posting up a guide of tell tale signs of a clocked
car Trev, you sound like the ideal person to do just that.

Are you sure???? Some zoners would never sell another car if we broke out all the secrets

You make that sound like a bad thing Trev.

e30topless wrote:nice thread !!!

one of the biggest scams in the motortrade is 'clocking', and here are the instructions on how to do it

give it 2 weeks before 4 door brum sports and M'sport cabby's turn up on ebay and pistonheads with 'low mileage'

My last post. Amazes me the amount of spare time guys like you have. How does showing how to modify the mileage constitute 'clocking cars on ebay?!' I suppose any tips on how to MIG and TIG weld is going to encourage cut and shuts too?!
Thanks again Will and those that actually tried to help. The rest, well it's nice that you're trying to protect and serve the E30 car trade, but why don't you just go out and drive your cars this bank holiday weekend?

Thanks!

E30325imanc wrote:

e30topless wrote:nice thread !!!

one of the biggest scams in the motortrade is 'clocking', and here are the instructions on how to do it

give it 2 weeks before 4 door brum sports and M'sport cabby's turn up on ebay and pistonheads with 'low mileage'

but why don't you just go out and drive your cars this bank holiday weekend?

Thanks!

I have been thanks

B7 wrote:

gooner1 wrote:Think there has been a slight over reaction to Willnz guide tbh, but as a way of an antidote to any potential clockers, how about someone posting up a guide of tell tale signs of a clocked
car Trev, you sound like the ideal person to do just that.

Are you sure???? Some zoners would never sell another car if we broke out all the secrets

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