What to do about state inspection???

[silversleeper]

I recently bought this E30, and began to do research on her. I am really liking the car, but it seems it will be quite painful (financially) to get her through inspection, thus, making me fall short of my dreams. I know I need a new exhaust, dunno if there is a header leak but I doubt that. Just a catback I suppose. New headlights, turn signal lenses, new brakes (rotors + pads) all around, new window motor for my rear right power window. And I bet there will be a shitload of bushings and stuff that will need replacing as well. I wish I had a hookup somewhere. I only bought the car for $2000, its a 1989 325i sedan with 65,000 on the clock. If the repairs exceed that $2000 purchase price, wait wait... if it gets to even half the purchase price, I will not feel like going through with it, and sell the car. MD state inspection is such a joke, too many minor requirements. I guess I am asking if there are any locals that may know of a older BMW friendly shop that will be a little more leniant as far as the small stuff goes. :roll:

[Charlie]

Pfft. Who needs all that shit? Brakes, lights, turn signals? That's all queer shit.

Sounds like you bought a cheap car that was cheap for a reason. That being said, it's not like those are "optional" items.

-Charlie

[PanamaE30]

Dude, I'm sure you can all of that work done yourself.

I bought my cabrio for $2600 (it was overpriced, i know).

Right off the bat I had to replace brake discs and pads, brake master and slave cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, fuel pump, throttle body gasket, intake manifold gasket, plugs, oil, filters, etc..

That ran me up about $2000 in parts in labor. Now, had I done this all myself (which now that I've actually worked on the car some I know I'm perfectly capable of) I would have only spent about half that, if that much. Just get off your lazy ass and do it. Believe you me, you have a far greater capability to get a wider variety of parts at better prices than I do here. I don't even have a wrecker to go to; nor do i have easy, economical access to parts from websites or mail order.

[silversleeper]

Dude, I'm sure you can all of that work done yourself.

I bought my cabrio for $2600 (it was overpriced, i know).

Right off the bat I had to replace brake discs and pads, brake master and slave cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, fuel pump, throttle body gasket, intake manifold gasket, plugs, oil, filters, etc..

That ran me up about $2000 in parts in labor. Now, had I done this all myself (which now that I've actually worked on the car some I know I'm perfectly capable of) I would have only spent about half that, if that much. Just get off your lazy ass and do it. Believe you me, you have a far greater capability to get a wider variety of parts at better prices than I do here. I don't even have a wrecker to go to; nor do i have easy, economical access to parts from websites or mail order.

I supppose you do raise a good point. I will try to swing it by an inspection station and see what exactly fails, and then work on those parts. I guess my post was more of a vent than anything else. Fucking MD Inspection sucks monkey ass. How do they expect poor people like myself to buy a car and actually get it on the road with high registration fees, inspection fees, and all the crap petty repairs they force you to do before handing you a good set of stickers to slap on the rear plate. Fuck MSI. :evil:

[jht3]

uh, you have to pass MD safety inspection ONCE. what are you complaining about? in VA and many other states it's a yearly deal.

that being said:
fix the lights, brakes, tires, and leaky exhaust and you should pass

[EtaSport]

uh, you have to pass MD safety inspection ONCE. what are you complaining about? in VA and many other states it's a yearly deal.

that being said:
fix the lights, brakes, tires, and leaky exhaust and you should pass

word.. but it still sucks. Plus we have to do the emission test every 2 years. A bit of an inconvienence when your trying to get yout 88 460 carbed, camed, exhausted dually to pass. That and I dont think the e30 will make it with flying colors this time around.

That being said, take it in and they will tell you what it needs. Tires need to be within a certain tread depth, all lights need to work (no cracked lenses), brakes need to be pretty new, exhaust needs to be there/ complete, all switches and buttons need to work. Anything electrical should be checked and the car should run. Its not too much work to do. My 87 passed with very minor work probably 150 dollars worth of stuff, most of it was just maintanence.

[silversleeper]

uh, you have to pass MD safety inspection ONCE. what are you complaining about? in VA and many other states it's a yearly deal.

that being said:
fix the lights, brakes, tires, and leaky exhaust and you should pass

its not THAT easy... because they demand all this other shit to get replaced. like various bushings throughout the car, or if you have a rust spot on the car, its got to be repaired, little things like that.

[silversleeper]

uh, you have to pass MD safety inspection ONCE. what are you complaining about? in VA and many other states it's a yearly deal.

that being said:
fix the lights, brakes, tires, and leaky exhaust and you should pass

word.. but it still sucks. Plus we have to do the emission test every 2 years. A bit of an inconvienence when your trying to get yout 88 460 carbed, camed, exhausted dually to pass. That and I dont think the e30 will make it with flying colors this time around.

That being said, take it in and they will tell you what it needs. Tires need to be within a certain tread depth, all lights need to work (no cracked lenses), brakes need to be pretty new, exhaust needs to be there/ complete, all switches and buttons need to work. Anything electrical should be checked and the car should run. Its not too much work to do. My 87 passed with very minor work probably 150 dollars worth of stuff, most of it was just maintanence.

in that case, can I borrow your exhaust and headlights+lenses for a day?? :twisted:

[KDZROK]

Call Neil at Quality Car Service in Rockville...

He was my mechanic. It's a small shop and he is a great guy, he would point you to a friendly State Inspection shop.

As for your windows... I think only the front need to work. I had a REALLY friendly shop in Falls Church. But that is VA.

They passed me with no rear sidemarkers, BLOWN struts cracked rear tail, cracked fogs, a BARELY working front drivers window and a leaky muffler.

lol

ACTAULLY, I showed up there with one sidemarker in place and the other missing. The inspection guy said he wouldn't be able to pass me with that, I said. "How about if I pull the other one out? There are cars out there with out markers on their sides...mine could be one of them!" He said "HA! I guess that works!" and pulled it out himself.

:) They are GREAT!

You should move to VA. lol

[EtaSport]

in that case, can I borrow your exhaust and headlights+lenses for a day?? :twisted:

that bad? If you have cracked foglights take them out, if you have cracked headlights get a set of sealed beams, as they are extremely cheap, people cant even sell them because they arent worth much. For exhaust, buy a muffler from an auto store. A thrush is only 15 bucks.