Lots of questions...

[SteveR80]

Hi, Newbie here.

'90 318iS, lovely nick, just resprayed, however... advice and answers required please.

The black roof gutter trim that runs up the passenger side of the windscreen and along the roof is lying, mangled, on the M1. It blew off on Friday. Is this available new? If so, where?

Next, manual headlamp adjusters are rusted solid and the remote height adjuster inside the car doesn't work. Can I buy new manual adjusters or do I need to replace the whole headlamps? Is the remote adjuster fixable?

Black rubbing strip on the driver's side front wing - £7.99 from a BMW dealer, surely? Cotswolds BMW?

E46 3 turn steering rack - about £50, I see from this wonderful forum. Can that be true? Do I need any more bits to fit it to my E30 or is it a straight swap?

LSD - none fitted judging by the inside wheel spinning. How much roughly for a second hand one?

Thanks in advance,

Steve.

[polsta]

Head lamp ajusters from BMW

The auto hydraulic ajuster- forget about that

The e36-46 racks are 50 , but with the other bits needed it comes in around 350-400 to do it properly, danthe on here supply's the bits

You need a small case lsd quite rare and about 400 I think

[capnmchl]

1.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=51&fg=20

Number 1 in schwarz is what you want for your gutter trim. Doesn't say it's NLA but I doubt it's cheap. You might want to see if a seller on here has got one instead.

2.
You can buy the headlight adjusters from BMW, but they aren't cheap. About £10 each, so to do both dip beam headlights will cost you about £40. It's also worth getting the bushings that go in the headlights.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=63&fg=05

I can't remember which is which, but 9, 10 and 11 are to do with headlight adjustment. I think 9 and 10 are an either or situation.

3.
Don't understand your rub strip question? You think that's expensive?

4.
Steering rack is more than a steering rack. It's new track rods and track rod ends, new pipes, linkage made out of various parts and tracking. Polsta's £350-400 guesstimate is probably right.

5.
LSD; even if your's does have one, or you buy another one, chances are the friction plates are worn out and it doesn't work anymore.

[daimlerman]

Gutter trim may be available from a breaker,but check out the dealer price first as you may get a pleasant suprise.

Headlight adjusters are also available from the dealer,check the on-line parts list sticky'd at the head of this section for part numbers,I paid about £60 for enough bits to do two car sets three or four years back.As already said,abandon the in car adjuster and buy the bits for E30's that were not equipped,much easier than trying to convert to E34 type electric adjusters.

LSD,may be one fitted that's had the wrong oil! Should be a tag on one rear plate bolt,if it's got an S,you have a shagged LSD....Gareth can re-build,but it costs more than sixpence.

[Brianmoooore]

Do the manual headlamp adjusters that are rusted actually need adjusting? The failed hydraulic adjuster cylinders have a coarse and fine adjuster built into each of them, which don't normally seize, and these are the only ones that normally need adjusting to keep the MOT tester happy.
The steering rack conversion can be done for little more than the cost of the rack, depending on how handy you are in the workshop.
The advantages of an LSD tend to be over rated.

[SteveR80]

Thanks Guys. I'm seeing prices of $140-$170 for the black roof trim, so a second hand one looks very attractive, but I'll check BMW first.

I thought a quicker steering rack and an LSD might be useful for the odd track day. Having driven the car 'in the manner intended' over the weekend I think the power won't warrant it. I can't see it powering out of the Old Hairpin at Donington smoking both back tyres. I'll keep it standard and save the money.

Steve.