Linear springs: Linear springs require the same amount of force per inch of compression throughout its full travel. Almost all OEM’s use linear springs for three main reasons: 1.The automaker has the luxury of designing the strut, tower, and suspension geometry around their spring and shock. Therefore if they want the car to be...
Read More »

These are from technical specification drawings for stock E30 springs straight from BMW Germany. The spring forces and lengths were from BMW Germany, while I calculated the spring rates to accurately compare the springs per inch of travel. Only looking at spring force does not allow you to compare springs because it only signifies the force...
Read More »

      Engine Torque Specs: Camshaft chain tensioner rail Securing nut……………………………………………………………………….35 ± 5 Nm (26 ± 4 ft. lb.) Camshaft drive belt tensioner to engine (Bolts)………………………………………………………………………….…………..22 ± 2 Nm (16 ± 1 ft. lb.) Camshaft oil carrier to cylinder head M6 bolts …………………………………………………………………………..…….9 ± 1 Nm (80 ± 9 in.lb.) M8 bolts………………………………………………………………………………22 ±...
Read More »

*If you have .bin files for chips or XDF files for these ECU’s please email them to me at admin@rtsauto.com and I will upload them to this page as a resource for others.* Bosch Motronic 1.3, 1.1, 1.0, 1.7 are the primary ECU’s that power all E30’s. 1.3, 1.1, 1.0 for M20’s (6 cylinders)...
Read More »

The used car market in north america is a very saturated market and therefore heavily standardized. Below is some information that will make you a better informed buyer:   Where do original and used car dealerships get their cars from? Used car dealerships leverage either of two systems: Buying cars from dealership auctions  The...
Read More »

There are many online based ETK systems like realoem and bmwfans.info for BMW parts and most work great, however none are as accurate and up to date as the ETK directly from BMW. Luckily BMW has their ETK available online with a general login. To access it just press the link below and enter the...
Read More »

BMW (including E30’s) and some Mercedes drive-shafts particularly of the 80’s-90’s vintage have what are called non-serviceable staked in u-joints. Over-time the grease inside the u-joints drys out, get pasty or otherwise stops performing its job; this causes the u-joint needle bearings to bind. Binding u-joints will cause vibrations to be felt at a...
Read More »

Many months ago I took out a 380 ECU out of my E30, expecting to find a 153 ECU, that I changed with a 173. The Vin sticker on the ECU reads: WBATE5FFHA1716242 It seem that this VIN does not exist? When I search the last 7 digits in realoem/BMW ETK I get an...
Read More »

On a 25 year old E30 it is hard to know what options were original to the car and what options were added later by previous owners. Take for example my E30, it has the original white exterior with a cardinal red interior. However after decoding my VIN I discovered the cardinal interior was not original to my...
Read More »

I recently acquired another E30 and am officially back in the E30 scene. Unfortunately the car had an overheating problem among other things, and facing a 2500 mile trip ahead of me, this overheating problem needed to get sorted. Basically at idle and while driving the heat gauge would climb right around the 3/4 mark (should be at 1/2)....
Read More »