How hard can it be? m20b20 Touring in CA

[KIRIEIW]

Very interested in how this turns out for you, I've always considered importing a e30 touring but recently settled with a e46 touring instead. I did a ton of research on importing one, but just never went threw with it. Shit I have family in Germany AND my Dad works for the airlines so I could potentially fly over to Europe for free!

One of my family member's has a property up north in Lake County and like you said, they don't require smog, you just pay the registration fee each year much like other states HOWEVER it is required to have one smog before having the car registered/ title transfer to that county. Thats right, you need to smog the car 1 time and it will be exempt from smogs forever, as long as it stays in your name. We have a few cars registered up there, one being my Grandpas 88' 735i. He hasn't smogged it in nearly 20 years. I do however see in the near future CA requiring smog in all countys due to people taking advantage of the system, and more importantly the god awful growing population. You could say we're taking advantage, but for what its worth he's MAYBE put on 2,000 miles on his 7 in the past 10 years alone.

Good luck figuring this out, and please we all beg you not to be secretive on how you get it registered here.. To many people purposely don't post info on the subject on importing cars/ registering them because they want to make a quick buck and do it for you.

[2mAn]

I've heard either Napa, Humboldt, or Sonoma county--depending on who I'm talking to--doesn't smog test. So that might be a good route to go if I run into more trouble than I can handle. There's a big cars and coffee on the 21st so I'm sure there will be people there who've made it through this kind of issue, and I'm hoping they'll be able to steer me in the right direction.

I really don't understand the lab testing thing. On top of it just being ridiculous in the first place, there's only one lab in the state and they're free to decide whether they even want to look at the car or not. Not to mention that the test is pass/fail. The estimates on cost vary a lot. I've heard, as was noted earlier in this thread, figures like 7 and 10 thousand thrown around a lot. The importer guy said 4.5k but it sounded like he either didn't know what he was talking about or knows way better than anybody else.

What's the weight like on the s50/52? It seems like it would be heavy



My friend has Rallyarmor mud flaps on his e30, and it looks like they'd probably screw right on the same way, cheap too. So I'm hoping it'll work out nice and easy.

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/smogfaq

Which counties require a smog inspection for the registration renewal?
Counties that Require a Smog Inspection for Vehicle Registration Renewal
Alameda Butte Colusa Contra Costa Fresno
Glenn Kern Kings Los Angeles Madera
Marin Merced Monterey Napa Nevada
Orange Sacramento San Benito San Francisco San Joaquin
San Luis Obispo San Mateo Santa Barbara Santa Clara Santa Cruz
Shasta Solano Stanislaus Sutter Tehama
Tulare Ventura Yolo Yuba
There are six counties that require smog certifications within certain Zip Codes only. These counties are:

El Dorado, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Sonoma.

In a very quiet way they are saying that within these 6 counties there are areas that do NOT require smog

My buddy bought a set of rally armor mud flaps for his E30 then sold the E30. He will sell them cheap, just lmk

Its not impossible to make the touring legal in CA, but its not going to be easy. I wish you luck

[MortyCrock]

Oh man, and it's a slick top??? Dang... Uber lucky.


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[Chalk]

It's so beautiful 😭

For your viewing pleasure:

[Chalk]

Hah! It's a pain in the butt to quote the way I do it, which is to manually copy and paste the QUOTE tags repeatedly and format everything. I've been posting on forums for a long time; it's an old habit now. O.G. ;D

So I was doing it right! I guess that muscle memory must help a lot, it took me like 45 minutes for those first five responses. That doesn't even make sense actually so now I really want to know how I pulled that off

Unplug the cruise control. I don't think we ever had it hooked up, and it's definitely the cause of the issue. Troubleshooting that will be a pain, but with your future plans for the car I wouldn't even worry about it. :o

Sounds good to me, I have just about no interest in cruise control anyway, I just plugged it in because I felt like I should since it was there lol. That was almost a week ago and I still haven't tested it, so I'm pretty sure there's literally no way I'm ever going to miss that feature. Besides, keeping a constant speed isn't good for fuel economy anyway :p

I would be royally pissed if I hit a patch of road like that.

Daily life, but now I know I have an excuse for being angry all the time! :D

Yuck! We'd have replaced that jack for you if we'd caught that.

:rippedoff: Nah, I figured you guys probably just didn't see it. Out of curiosity though, how did you guys get the rear wheel up to do the valve adjustment? My "low profile racing jack" can't even get close to the jacking point in back. I ended up using the scissor jack from my FR-S and it was so small on that rusty jacking point that I was worried it would punch through. I have a picture but I'm afraid you'll judge me for going through with it x.x

It wasn't leaking when we had the car, so it's very recent, and we've both spent more time with our heads in the footwell than we'd care to remember, so the leak has to be occurring outside of the cabin. Throw some cardboard under the entire length and width of the car and pump the brakes with the engine off, wait 15 minutes, and look for drops of brake fluid.

That might be why the drip test wasn't working, I did it with the car running. I mean that and I could have missed the right drip while sticking my finger in all the water drips because ADHD. I still can't believe I steered straight for that puddle when I knew that my whole purpose for going outside was a drip test I think I have enough cardboard to do it that way, so as soon as it dries up outside I'll do so--much better than looking for unspotted parking spots.

It's a beautiful state, but that's one more reason I'd rather visit than move there. ;)

And I'm with Shock(/\)ave... I'll just visit CA. Liked it when I lived there, but glad I got to keep Oregon plates on my cars.

I'm always halfway between wanting to leave and wanting to stay

If you're weight obsessed you should definitely seek out an all aluminum M52 and make yourself a frankenmotor:

Thanks for the video! Unfortunately I don't have any idea how to even begin to convince CA to let me smog something like that. It sounds like years of hell just to get them to approve an engine swap through the proper channels, and that's with a stock engine.

I've seen this touring in person and absolutely loved it. If I hadn't just purchased a 318is I would have probably jumped on this one!

And I can attest to how awesome the sellers are. Great people for sure!

See! I'm not crazy! This guy knows! :)

Sounds like it's swap time!

A friend of mine imported a 320i touring and wasn't able to get it registered in California. They said because we never got the 2.0 engine it wouldn't be allowed. He ended up swapping the motor to a 2.5 m20 and was then able to get the car bar'd and registered in California.

Did your friend post about the process he went through anywhere? I'd really like more info on how he pulled it off, because this is starting to look like the most feasible option. I've been playing around with this idea for awhile, so it's really interesting to hear that someone actually did it!

I can't believe I almost missed that! Have you been watching The Grand Tour by any chance? :nice:

I've gotten as far as the fourth episode. I don't have prime so I watch it at my cousin's house, much to her dismay :devil: I've been watching Top Gear UK in reverse for at least a year and a half now though, and I've made it down to season 8. Lately I've been binge-watching

When I was entertaining the idea of importing a touring from Hungary, where I'm originally from I was doing extensive research on registering the car in CA and all car import brokers told me the same thing. If it was not originally sold in the USA, California more specifically, then the car will need to undergo lab testing, which only a few places are certified to do and the cost is between 5-10k$.

A loophole people were talking about was that the car gets registered out of state and stays registered for up to a year there, then CA should be able to register without the import problems.

Either way, please do document your progress and experience so others can benefit from it too!

I'm really interested in the out of state loophole, because that's the first I've heard of anything having to do with other states helping to register a car in CA. I mean really, it wouldn't be that hard to "live" in Nevada for a year if that's what it took. Though living in Oregon for a bit might even be a nice change of pace.

I've collected a few more resources for you to check out. :)

I remembered reading about some of the insanity of classic car ownership in California, but there's so much of it on Bring A Trailer and other California based websites that I now tend to filter it out and create a mental summary of "typical big government making everything more difficult and expensive".

With that stated, I recalled a few excellent articles on how to completely bypass the issue - there are alternatives to dealing with the ridiculous and completely unreasonable requirements that California imposes:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/02/exotic-cars-and-montana-plates/

DeMuro's an expert on the subject, and you'll find additional articles written by him with further details. Given what you're looking at with the insane lab testing fees, and that some companies are offering complete registered businesses with mailing addresses for very reasonable money, this looks like a great option.

With respect to your fuel injectors, here is the service I had in mind:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=266477

He's based in your state, too, which is great. I'm even thinking of using his service for my cars, and I have a border crossing and very poor exchange rate to contend with.

Given that I've already paid an arm and a leg in taxes to CA, it wouldn't even be fraud. I'm going to be really seriously considering that one; I don't see what would actually be illegal about it in my case.

Thanks for the link to the guy to see about the fuel injectors!

[BFT_Boyle]

It's so beautiful 😭

[Shock(/\)ave]

I've collected a few more resources for you to check out. :)

I remembered reading about some of the insanity of classic car ownership in California, but there's so much of it on Bring A Trailer and other California based websites that I now tend to filter it out and create a mental summary of "typical big government making everything more difficult and expensive".

With that stated, I recalled a few excellent articles on how to completely bypass the issue - there are alternatives to dealing with the ridiculous and completely unreasonable requirements that California imposes:

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/02/exotic-cars-and-montana-plates/

DeMuro's an expert on the subject, and you'll find additional articles written by him with further details. Given what you're looking at with the insane lab testing fees, and that some companies are offering complete registered businesses with mailing addresses for very reasonable money, this looks like a great option.

With respect to your fuel injectors, here is the service I had in mind:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=266477

He's based in your state, too, which is great. I'm even thinking of using his service for my cars, and I have a border crossing and very poor exchange rate to contend with.

[bobaflesh]

When I was entertaining the idea of importing a touring from Hungary, where I'm originally from I was doing extensive research on registering the car in CA and all car import brokers told me the same thing. If it was not originally sold in the USA, California more specifically, then the car will need to undergo lab testing, which only a few places are certified to do and the cost is between 5-10k$.

A loophole people were talking about was that the car gets registered out of state and stays registered for up to a year there, then CA should be able to register without the import problems.

Either way, please do document your progress and experience so others can benefit from it too!

[Roadrunner]

It may be obvious from the title that I have no idea what I'm doing and decided to jump into the deep end

I can't believe I almost missed that! Have you been watching The Grand Tour by any chance? :nice:

[MortyCrock]

A friend of mine imported a 320i touring and wasn't able to get it registered in California. They said because we never got the 2.0 engine it wouldn't be allowed. He ended up swapping the motor to a 2.5 m20 and was then able to get the car bar'd and registered in California.

Sounds like it's swap time!

And I'm with Shock(/\)ave... I'll just visit CA. Liked it when I lived there, but glad I got to keep Oregon plates on my cars.


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[Bmwdayz]

A friend of mine imported a 320i touring and wasn't able to get it registered in California. They said because we never got the 2.0 engine it wouldn't be allowed. He ended up swapping the motor to a 2.5 m20 and was then able to get the car bar'd and registered in California.

[Powling]

It may be obvious from the title that I have no idea what I'm doing and decided to jump into the deep end I bought this car through some awesome sellers on this forum and am eternally grateful for how helpful they've been.

I've seen this touring in person and absolutely loved it. If I hadn't just purchased a 318is I would have probably jumped on this one!

And I can attest to how awesome the sellers are. Great people for sure!

[Shock(/\)ave]

I'm going to have to stop quoting and just respond because I think I'm doing it wrong since it's proving very difficult.

Hah! It's a pain in the butt to quote the way I do it, which is to manually copy and paste the QUOTE tags repeatedly and format everything. I've been posting on forums for a long time; it's an old habit now. O.G. ;D

It wasn't happening at first, but now it seems like the gauges don't move until they should have gone a certain distance. So I'll be driving along and when I let off the gas the tach will stay at 2000rpm until I hit 1600rpm then drop down to where it should be. Smilar business with the temp and economy gauges. I don't think the speedo is doing it, but I'm not sure the gas gauge isn't.

One thing I thought of is I don't think I noticed that until the only cruise control wire I could find was plugged in, but online it looks like there are supposed to be two, and I haven't tested to see if it's working.

Unplug the cruise control. I don't think we ever had it hooked up, and it's definitely the cause of the issue. Troubleshooting that will be a pain, but with your future plans for the car I wouldn't even worry about it. :o

So at night I'll be driving along on the freeway and then bam, 2 inches of asphalt to hit at 65 (conservative estimate of speed).

I would be royally pissed if I hit a patch of road like that.

Yuck! We'd have replaced that jack for you if we'd caught that.

I'll check to see if I've gotten a rock stuck in there, thanks! At some point I just started adding things to the list stream of thought and I probably jumped ahead of myself in more than one case in my post. The leak really does make me nervous, I went through a whole bottle of fluid (it was only good for two top ups) in just over two weeks. I tried to do a drip test, but of course I got excited and drove through a puddle on my way to find a spot I'm actually thinking it may be the slave cylinder for the clutch, because the gear engagement feels smoother when the brake fluid is topped off. But then again that may not be how that works because I'm piecing it together from things my friends told me.

It wasn't leaking when we had the car, so it's very recent, and we've both spent more time with our heads in the footwell than we'd care to remember, so the leak has to be occurring outside of the cabin. Throw some cardboard under the entire length and width of the car and pump the brakes with the engine off, wait 15 minutes, and look for drops of brake fluid.

I really don't understand the lab testing thing. On top of it just being ridiculous in the first place, there's only one lab in the state and they're free to decide whether they even want to look at the car or not.

It's a beautiful state, but that's one more reason I'd rather visit than move there. ;)

What's the weight like on the s50/52? It seems like it would be heavy

If you're weight obsessed you should definitely seek out an all aluminum M52 and make yourself a frankenmotor:

[Chalk]

I just jumped into the deep end with my E28 528e - I've been working to get it to pass a safety inspection, and am now down to chasing an inoperative speedometer. More bloody gauge cluster issues! Argh!!!

Did BMW list the service intervals for replacing gauge clusters? It seems like they're a wear item! That's a shame about those inspections though, it really seems like a targeted move to subject people to that.

The only time I managed to pop a fog light blank out was when I unexpectedly encountered a gradually increasing snow drift in our driveway. Were you aiming for potholes? :p

Well, there's this one really fun twisty road by my friend's house, but it's a bit bumpy. I didn't actually think it was too rough, but I guess the missing blank disagrees with me x.x

Come to think of it, the only place I didn't look is where I stopped because a bird had cut it really close (before the bumpy part of the road), but I couldn't find any signs of contact, or any bird. I wonder if I just didn't notice the blank was out there.

GARGH!!!

Could you please elaborate on this issue for me? After I stop twitching I'll see if I can help you sort it out.

It wasn't happening at first, but now it seems like the gauges don't move until they should have gone a certain distance. So I'll be driving along and when I let off the gas the tach will stay at 2000rpm until I hit 1600rpm then drop down to where it should be. Smilar business with the temp and economy gauges. I don't think the speedo is doing it, but I'm not sure the gas gauge isn't.

One thing I thought of is I don't think I noticed that until the only cruise control wire I could find was plugged in, but online it looks like there are supposed to be two, and I haven't tested to see if it's working.

Potholes again? They just press in, so it shouldn't take you long to reattach it.

I think one of the clips may have given way, but it definitely isn't popping back on, I'll be taking a better look at it pretty soon to see if I can just bend the tab back or something.

It's not really so much potholes though as mating between different surfaces. Like they just dump asphalt on top of a problem and don't smooth it down, and entrances are way too steep a lot of the time. The front bumper of the FR-S I'm trying to get rid of has a lot of scars because of that last one. So at night I'll be driving along on the freeway and then bam, 2 inches of asphalt to hit at 65 (conservative estimate of speed). When I went to Reno a couple years back I was shocked at how driving over concrete that had been repaired with asphalt didn't give the feeling of any imperfection at all. We need some of those road workers over here.

Could you post a picture of the rust when you get the chance?

I'm going to have to stop quoting and just respond because I think I'm doing it wrong since it's proving very difficult difficult.

It's maybe like a 1.5" bit lengthwise along the seat, it's not separated so it might just be wear that I'm confusing with a tear in my memory. My dogs are being so crazy right now that I don't really want to walk through the house again to go look. I'm definitely putting sport seats on the list though!

I've heard either Napa, Humboldt, or Sonoma county--depending on who I'm talking to--doesn't smog test. So that might be a good route to go if I run into more trouble than I can handle. There's a big cars and coffee on the 21st so I'm sure there will be people there who've made it through this kind of issue, and I'm hoping they'll be able to steer me in the right direction.

Yeah getting the injectors cleaned seems to be the route to go, I'm mostly thinking it'll be something to do to help pass smog.

I'll check to see if I've gotten a rock stuck in there, thanks! At some point I just started adding things to the list stream of thought and I probably jumped ahead of myself in more than one case in my post. The leak really does make me nervous, I went through a whole bottle of fluid (it was only good for two top ups) in just over two weeks. I tried to do a drip test, but of course I got excited and drove through a puddle on my way to find a spot I'm actually thinking it may be the slave cylinder for the clutch, because the gear engagement feels smoother when the brake fluid is topped off. But then again that may not be how that works because I'm piecing it together from things my friends told me.

I really don't understand the lab testing thing. On top of it just being ridiculous in the first place, there's only one lab in the state and they're free to decide whether they even want to look at the car or not. Not to mention that the test is pass/fail. The estimates on cost vary a lot. I've heard, as was noted earlier in this thread, figures like 7 and 10 thousand thrown around a lot. The importer guy said 4.5k but it sounded like he either didn't know what he was talking about or knows way better than anybody else.

What's the weight like on the s50/52? It seems like it would be heavy

YEAAHH!! I'm so excited to see this thread! :mrgreen: I absolutely loved this car, and I'm thrilled that it ended up with such an awesome new owner.



Maybe it's a tradition, now! ;) Give yourself some credit - you've already accomplished a lot.



I'm so glad that everything worked out the way it did! :)

I think Shockwave covered everything already, but as for cupholders, the ones I used in that car were from Gearswitch. They're 3D printed and fit right into the center console. I've also been looking for cupholders for our E28 while taking a break from working on the mechanical issues (I have my priorities straight), and found Ultimate Cupholders which they make for E30s as well. With the low center of gravity set up, they would work well for "spirited driving" or driving on pretty much any of your local roads from the sounds of it.

I'm interested to hear if you find mudflaps for the touring - I'm considering getting them for my new touring since it's impossible to keep it clean on the roads around here.

Great job with everything so far! :up: Love the pictures - can't wait to see more!

My friend has Rallyarmor mud flaps on his e30, and it looks like they'd probably screw right on the same way, cheap too. So I'm hoping it'll work out nice and easy.

Thanks for the cupholder links! I'm planning on taking care of a lot of this stuff as soon as I can a) get the car registered and b) have more in my bank account than the coins I deposited the other day x.x

I also forgot to put on the list that I really want to get a third brake light in there before someone who's too busy with pokemon makes it a coupe!

[Roadrunner]

YEAAHH!! I'm so excited to see this thread! :mrgreen: I absolutely loved this car, and I'm thrilled that it ended up with such an awesome new owner.

It may be obvious from the title that I have no idea what I'm doing and decided to jump into the deep end

Maybe it's a tradition, now! ;) Give yourself some credit - you've already accomplished a lot.

I bought this car through some awesome sellers on this forum and am eternally grateful for how helpful they've been.

I'm so glad that everything worked out the way it did! :)

I think Shockwave covered everything already, but as for cupholders, the ones I used in that car were from Gearswitch. They're 3D printed and fit right into the center console. I've also been looking for cupholders for our E28 while taking a break from working on the mechanical issues (I have my priorities straight), and found Ultimate Cupholders which they make for E30s as well. With the low center of gravity set up, they would work well for "spirited driving" or driving on pretty much any of your local roads from the sounds of it.

I'm interested to hear if you find mudflaps for the touring - I'm considering getting them for my new touring since it's impossible to keep it clean on the roads around here.

Great job with everything so far! :up: Love the pictures - can't wait to see more!