WTB: E30 microfiches

[cyckl]

Is anyone in possession of the older microfiches containing repair manuals and parts catalogs for the E30?

I’m really hoping for 01519770421 (English) or 01519770420 (German), as those (I think) contain official repair documentation on the M20.

Additionally, I’m looking for 01519770561 (English) or 01519770560 (German), which are the E30 chassis-specific repair manuals.

The parts catalog would be great too: 01509770670 (German). I don’t know if there’s an English version and if it follows the same format of turning the last digit into a 1, but I reckon there is.

Trying to do some type of digitization and documentation effort for these things.

Thanks!

[Tzantushka]

If you're looking for a parts catalogue - the best place I refer to is realoem.com.
Even better with an adblocker.

[elenagilbert]

Hi Cyckl,
What format are you planning to digitize the microfiches into, and do you need any specific scanning equipment recommendations?

Retro Bowl

[cyckl]

If you're looking for a parts catalogue - the best place I refer to is realoem.com.
Even better with an adblocker.

Yeah, I’ve owned my E30 for two years now so I’m familiar with all that, but I’ve found that some P/Ns can be missing from the updated catalog—specifically NLA parts.

[cyckl]

Hi Cyckl,
What format are you planning to digitize the microfiches into, and do you need any specific scanning equipment recommendations?

I’m planning to get them in as high of a resolution as possible (probably a raw bitmap), after which I’ll try to create an optimized PDF copy with highlightable text.

In the long run, I want to comb through it all and rip out the information and toss it onto a dedicated site I just bought a domain for last night.

I live in a major city with a major public university, so I reached out and they seem to have microfiche scanning equipment available for me to use—fingers crossed it works with the format the microfiche is printed in, since it looks non-standard.

If you have equipment suggestions or perhaps a technique I can replicate on a budget I’m open to hearing any suggestion out—I’ve dabbled in basically everything at this point.

[Vincenze]

There is a guy who sells repair manuals on FB.

https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/1154172606201771/?media_id=0&ref=share_attachment

I have multiple BMW Blue Binders Factory Repair Manuals asking $200 each picked up or $225 Shipped in US List I have few of each 3x e21 320i 3x e23 733i - 735i 4x e24 633i - Including M6 2x e32 735i - 750il 1x e34 525i - 535i 1x e30 318i US 1x e12 Copies in Black Binder $100

[cyckl]

I went ahead and purchased some German-language microfiches I found on eBay (01519770560 and 01519770420), but I'm still looking for English-language ones.

[strickland]

Nothing to add except I love this approach lol. Shoutout physical media 🤓

[cyckl]

I’d have updated sooner but the microfiches I bought a few weeks ago are still in the mail—eBay seller sent them as registered mail so we’ll see when I receive them

[strickland]

Are you a microfiche aficionado? (A-fiche-onado?) Or just in it for old E30 documents?

[cyckl]

Are you a microfiche aficionado? (A-fiche-onado?) Or just in it for old E30 documents?

Just in it for the historical value of the E30—I mean I did a lot of research on the format before buying and I think it’s a really neat way to essentially do file compression in an analog manner.

That and the tooling required for magnification, scanning, proper preservation, etc is quite fascinating as well.

Not an aficionado, but definitely interested in learning more. I’m relatively young compared to the general population of E30 owners so its great learning the more traditional methods that preceded what we have today.