Japandrew73's OEM Euro Restore

[CorvallisBMW]

wait, so there's only a fog light on one side?

[Japandrew73]

wait, so there's only a fog light on one side?

For me currently yea. I am supposed to wire in the second one tomorrow I just didn't have enough time to do it so I took pics of what I had. From factory, euro e30s had 2 rear fog lights. There isn't any differences between the left and right rear fog lights I just didn't have enough time to wire in the right rear fog. Tomorrow I will do the right rear fog along with a few other things

[Jean]

What's the part # for this?

[Japandrew73]

What's the part # for this?

Haha I wish there was one. I searched for a while trying to find one and they only sell the maplight mirror in whole, or in just the light/switch assembly. I went to www.e30zone.net and posted a wanted ad. if you go there now you can probably still see it. Some guy had one left over and was about to throw it away. he sent it for free he just wanted me to pay shipping. $6! :)

[Japandrew73]

Continuing where I left off yesterday...
I have yet another edited wiring diagram.

I learned that you cannot tap into the front fog light's power because, just like i had originally thought, when you press the rear fog switch, the front fog cluster light comes on and it all gets messed up. You must find somewhere else that is hot on ignition. Originally the rear fogs are hot only when the lights and ignition is on, but I had no idea which wire that could be. So I just wired hot to ignition. Close enough for now.

So anyways, back to where I left off yesterday...
I tapped into the wire going into the left rear fog

Tucked it back neatly along with the factory wiring going across the trunk

fixed the slack in the wire behind the carpet

Behind and through the locking mechanism

Behind the tab just like the factory wiring

out the other side

Factory connector again

Into plug housing again

I connected the wire to 12v just to see both light up and it is very hard to see in the daylight, but you can slightly see them in this pic

Like I said, I ordered the correct connectors and plug housing so I don't start an electrical fire behind my fog light switch, but this was my original setup I thought would work. The power wires splits into two and connects to the corners and the fog lights go into their tabs. This did not work as I described above.

I didn't know which alternative wire is hot on ignition so I tapped directly from the ignition (big solid green wire)

Here comes the functionality. More pics in the daylight (hard to see)



Now the final part of the job was to make the indicator on the cluster light up. I took the cluster out and was ready to put the bulb in there (yes... i spelled bulb "bubbs" on accident) and I saw there wasn't any provisions to put a rear fog light in! that pissed me off majorly. I need a new cluster anyways but I am going to order a little peanut bulb and just tap into the rear fogs power and ground it and stick it through the unprovisioned hole and that will light it up when they are on. I still wish the cluster had the provisions though...

Here is the night time photoshoot. I played a game called how many lights can I turn on at one time.



Here is what it looks like driving with my lights on and rear fogs on...


Here is a video of the rear fogs on in the daylight. It's always better to see things on video. Don't mind the stupid house radio playing in the backround.... I hate that song with a passion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH51bBhaZ84&feature=channel_page

Overall, in person the rear fogs look really cool. I'm actually glad i did instal them. I was a bit reluctant at first but it is definitely worth it.

I can't wait to piss the shit out of tailgaiters by instead of tapping the breaks just pressing my rear foglight switch and they'll mistake the rear fogs for break lights and then hopefully they will brake and hit the car behind them:p

[RobE30]

Wow man.... Now I'm inspired to go out and clean my car top to bottom and undo some "mods" I did 6 years ago....Nice

[Japandrew73]

Small update I forgot to add in to the previous post. Toolkit continues to grow, however took a hit in the process. The red screwdriver is sold because I desperately needed the money, but 3 brand new spanner wrenches have made their way into the kit. (spots in foam and discoloration on wrench is only from the sun glare. they are both very minty)

Brand new wheel comes tuesday!:p

[Japandrew73]

Got my brand new 370mm (smaller and rarer) leather-wrapped tech 1 steering wheel today! :D

The wheel looks awesome. It has that flat leather look rather than my old wheel has that leather that's been soaked in re-conditioner and product. It may look like a very small difference but it feels way nicer in the hands. It doesn't feel like driving a school bus anymore. By far the best part about it is the smell. It smells like new-car smell, which is new leather. The smell reminds me of the time me and my dad went to the BMW Welt in Munich. The whole place smelled like new leather because of all the newest models...
The wheel also came with a new hex nut and a little pamphlet all in german.
I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking, although they really don't do it justice...














Here is the pamphlet along with the new hex bolt on the left and the old one on the right. The only English word I made out was BMW Motorsport

380mm on left and 370mm on right

Now for those of you who don't know, the visual way you can tell the difference between the 370mm and the 380mm is the left and right handles. On the 380mm, there is a gap between the leather and the center, on the 370mm, there isn't a gap.

380mm


370mm


380mm


370mm


380mm on left 370mm on right




The sizes in inches are roughly 15"=380mm


And 14.5"=370mm


The bottom of this is centimeters and for you math wizards you can figure out how to go from centimeters to millimeters *Hint*= Multiply by 10

[e30this]

You should have bought the one on ebay 2 weeks ago with the tri color stitching. That shit was bad ass.

[Japandrew73]

You should have bought the one on ebay 2 weeks ago with the tri color stitching. That shit was bad ass.

yea that was 380mm though. and that sucks

[Bimmerista]

I don't like how the leather material doesn't match wtih your interior personally. Are you going to do anything about that?

[Japandrew73]

I don't like how the leather material doesn't match wtih your interior. Are you going to do anything about that?

hehe... yeesssss... eventually i'm getting my whole interior re-upholstered in leather with heaters for the front seats, but that's a while off. If anything, the next leather item is the Illuminated leather gear knob that's round, not oval. The round is more period correct and matches the overall tone of my car

[Jparkr]

New BMW dashboards middle and center counsels are all in E46 vinyl, that will match your wheel.

I also conformed that early models had one rear fog unless someone wired in two later on.

[Japandrew73]

New BMW dashboards middle and center counsels are all in E46 vinyl, that will match your wheel.

I also conformed that early models had one rear fog unless someone wired in two later on.

Your saying if I buy a new center console from BMW it will come leather-wrapped? That's not true unless I don't understand the question right. I just ordered a new center console for my sister's e30 and it came new but in the same material they always come in. Now that I think about it, it actually did look like the same material as my wheel (even though the wheel is leather)...

Hmm.... I eventually did want a tape cassette holder for the center console and to do that I would need a new one.... after I get the euro bumper for the rear I think I might do that. Thanks for the tip! It never really occurred to me




Where did you confirm early e30's had one fog? Almost every person on e30zone.net says for all e30's it was two unless the buyer specifically asked their dealer to remove one. Either Way I'm sticking with two. I like it

[evilnickwong]

Was it a big diff moving from the 380 to the 370 wheel in terms of steering feel? I have the 380 now and was thinking about getting a 370 as well.

Nice attention to detail so far by the way, keep it up! :)