NOR-CAL General Chat.

[CarsonE30]

Where's everyone been?!

Sorting through 2300 pictures from the airshow last weekend, leave me alone

[jpod999]

Damn that's a lot of work! Where was said airshow Carson?

[CarsonE30]

Damn that's a lot of work! Where was said airshow Carson?

It was here in Salinas, I only went on Sunday and only did pics for the Alpha Jet and the Thunderbirds but with shit that moves at 400mph constantly, the pics add up quick lol

[BlackbirdM3]

I just found the exciting way to find the leak in the a/c system on the M3... When the can of compressor oil and leak die reads "flammable" They mean it.
I cleaned every inch of the hoses, fittings and hardlines on the system so any of the dye that glows under black light would be easy to find. Followed the directions on the can of compressor oil and dye. Attached it to the suction side of the compressor, and started the car. I didn't expect the leak to be aimed right at the headers (wasn't a fitting or O ring at all) and when the atomized oil found the leak it went directly onto the hot headers.... Yeah. You can guess what happened next. Good thing I had the hose right next to me.
The good news is that I found the hole, and I didn't burn the car up. I did lose a little hair off my arm however. That wasn't exactly the way I thought that would go. I had the system working briefly a couple weeks go. I couldn't find an obvious place for it to leak prior to this afternoon.

Anyone have the a/c line that runs to the low pressure side of the compressor? Its the one that goes around the front of the strut tower with the fill port. The hole is in the rubber flex line that goes into the compressor. New they are like $300.

Will

[Toodaloo]

I just found the exciting way to find the leak in the a/c system on the M3... When the can of compressor oil and leak die reads "flammable" They mean it.

I cleaned every inch of the hoses, fittings and hardlines on the system so any of the dye that glows under black light would be easy to find. Followed the directions on the can of compressor oil and dye. Attached it to the suction side of the compressor, and started the car. I didn't expect the leak to be aimed right at the headers (wasn't a fitting or O ring at all) and when the atomized oil found the leak it went directly onto the hot headers.... Yeah. You can guess what happened next. Good thing I had the hose right next to me.

The good news is that I found the hole, and I didn't burn the car up. I did lose a little hair off my arm however. That wasn't exactly the way I thought that would go. I had the system working briefly a couple weeks go. I couldn't find an obvious place for it to leak prior to this afternoon.



Anyone have the a/c line that runs to the low pressure side of the compressor? Its the one that goes around the front of the strut tower with the fill port. The hole is in the rubber flex line that goes into the compressor. New they are like $300.



Will

I'm not sure if they're different from the m20 to s14, but you're welcome to have mine!

[BlackbirdM3]

I'm not sure if they're different from the m20 to s14, but you're welcome to have mine!

I'd love to come take a look. Seeing as how the E30 chassis is the same for both, they might work. There are only so many ways you can place a a/c compressor in an engine bay.

Carson, have you seen the stuff I've been posting in the Aviation thread? Here is a little taste. Only going 400mph? That is easy ;)






I look forward to seeing what you got. By the way, one of the best P-51 Mustang restoration shops in the world is at Salinas. One of these years I'll make it down to that show.

Will

[freeride53]

solid. glad you were able to find one.

DS is great

Sina this is your change to upgrade your new car to an mtech2 o.O

Nice Sina! Glad you got what you were looking for!

Thanks everyone! It's really been a turbulent month but a lot of healing now.

Probably going to be arguing over the valuation with insurance for a bit (they gave me a laughable initial offer) but I'm just happy to have a new clone of my old car, to transfer every single good part over and into.

It's also nice to physically have the car back, it's sitting on dolly's on top of a tarp in my garage in LA.

Currently in Munich, got here yesterday (Saturday) evening. Since then, it's been non-stop BMW spotting, and Oktoberfest.

I think the only way I can describe the experience thus far is LOTS of beer and LOTS of BMWs.

Became friends with a guy at my table in the Pauliner tent who is a manager at the BMW Regensburg factory, where most of our E30's were built.

He's offered to give me a little tour on Tuesday (tomorrow's a holiday) so VERY stoked about that.

Met a lot of E30 fans today during Oktoberfest which was pretty cool. I must say though...found it a little odd how much Germans love American cars..

Tomorrow morning, picking up my rental (Manual F30 or Benz C-klasse) and heading down to visit my great uncle and cousins around Bavaria. Then Tuesday, visiting BMW Welt/Museum, and heading down through Austrian Alps, Swiss Alps to Lake Como. Wednesday Como to Zurich. Thursday Zurich to Stuttgart, and up to Dusseldorf. Friday/Saturday is Dusseldorf and Nurburging on the way back down to Munich.

Cheers for now,

Sina

[Thizzelle]

go any tricks to get ignition lock cylinder out? turn to position 1 and put in and nail and a paper clip and nothing pops. Tried on all 3 of my cars.

[jpod999]

T
Became friends with a guy at my table in the Pauliner tent who is a manager at the BMW Regensburg factory, where most of our E30's were built.

He's offered to give me a little tour on Tuesday (tomorrow's a holiday) so VERY stoked about that.

Met a lot of E30 fans today during Oktoberfest which was pretty cool. I must say though...found it a little odd how much Germans love American cars..

Tomorrow morning, picking up my rental (Manual F30 or Benz C-klasse) and heading down to visit my great uncle and cousins around Bavaria. Then Tuesday, visiting BMW Welt/Museum, and heading down through Austrian Alps, Swiss Alps to Lake Como. Wednesday Como to Zurich. Thursday Zurich to Stuttgart, and up to Dusseldorf. Friday/Saturday is Dusseldorf and Nurburging on the way back down to Munich.

Sounds like an awesome trip!

[ohthejosh]

go any tricks to get ignition lock cylinder out? turn to position 1 and put in and nail and a paper clip and nothing pops. Tried on all 3 of my cars.

Gotta really jam the pin in that little slot is what I found to be the issue.

[CarsonE30]

Carson

I've seen your shots, they're amazing! Unfortunately for me, my zoom lens is a teeny little 75-300 and I'm using a "basic" T6 that I got about 3 weeks ago lol. I was shooting at 1/3250 with the ISO at 3200 as well. I got some really cool shots by my own standards but nothing near as close as yours! I only did pics for the alpha jet and the thunderbirds but they're currently sitting in lightroom on my computer and for some reason, won't sync with my phone. I'll post some up hopefully today though! As for the P51 shop, it's actually at the Salinas airport and I drive past it every day and work about 1/5th of a mile away from it but I've never stopped in or met anyone there, not sure why!

[BlackbirdM3]

I've seen your shots, they're amazing! Unfortunately for me, my zoom lens is a teeny little 75-300 and I'm using a "basic" T6 that I got about 3 weeks ago lol. I was shooting at 1/3250 with the ISO at 3200 as well. I got some really cool shots by my own standards but nothing near as close as yours! I only did pics for the alpha jet and the thunderbirds but they're currently sitting in lightroom on my computer and for some reason, won't sync with my phone. I'll post some up hopefully today though! As for the P51 shop, it's actually at the Salinas airport and I drive past it every day and work about 1/5th of a mile away from it but I've never stopped in or met anyone there, not sure why!

What on earth were you doing shooting at 1/3250? ISO 3200? Those pics have to be grainy as hell, and if you could see the compressor turbines in a jet engine, you would have stopped those! Dude, Propcicles are bad, digital noise is bad. Those settings were insane. You only need ISO 400 at most, and 1/400 (even that is too fast really). A 75-300 is fine, I've shot a 70-300 for years. Low end cameras don't like high ISOs, and there is no reason to shoot a shutter speed anywhere near that fast unless you are trying to catch a bullet fired from a gun. (Good luck with that. my hat is off if you manage to capture the shot.) If you want to talk aviation photography, just shoot me a PM (unless other people want to learn about it as well.)
Have a look at my settings for these shots.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/47309961@N03/30032684535/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/47309961@N03/29921616182/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/47309961@N03/29691072402/in/dateposted-public/

Shooting at mega ISO at warp 9 shutter speed does more harm than help. Yes, like everything else, shooting slow shutter speeds takes some practice and patience. Heck, Reno was a learning experience for me. You don't need to shoot warp speed shutter speeds to get good sharp shots. (In my book, 1/400 is warp speed, and everything beyond is ludicrous speed. The only time I shoot super high shutter speeds is when I'm trying to shoot a solar eclipse, or trying to capture sunspots while still using a stupid dark filter.) Think of shutter speed as a way to control the light in the exposure, based on the ISO. The higher you crank the ISO, the brighter the pic will be. So, ISO 3200, an image is going to be blown out because the sensor is too light sensitive. In the case of shooting the sun, even at an ISO of 50, the sun is WAY too bright to shoot even at max shutter speed. A 10 stop neutral density filter makes it possible at max shutter speed.

I shot that (the sun with 4 sunspots and Venus) at ISO 125 at 1/3200 with a 10 stop ND filter on the front of the lens.
At 8000 feet higher elevation, I shot this...

ISO 100, 1/6400 F22 with the same 10 stop ND filter. YOu see how much brighter it is even though I shot a lower ISO and double the shutter speed? Less atmosphere to dim the light. Both pics were shot with a POS $100 70-300 lens.
I shot this from half a mile away, with my better 70-300 lens. 1/200, F8, ISO 125 at 300mm, and a 3 stop ND filter.

The slower the shutter speed, the more light is allowed to reach the sensor. To keep it from being blown out, you have to push the ISO down, giving you less noisy/grainy pics and often more vivid color. The darker the location is, the more exposure you need.
There is a time and place for mega fast shutter speed, but the mega ISO really isn't needed. If its so dark you need that high of ISO to get the shot, it will be so noisy that you won't be able to see what is in the pic in the first place.


Will

[Thizzelle]

Gotta really jam the pin in that little slot is what I found to be the issue.

thanks.
I was able to finesse it with a bobby pin and was able to get it on all my cars, just to see if I could and it became easy.
slight little bend at end, turn key up just enough to allow pin in then you rotate it down. Super easy now.

But pulled out the ignition shaft and everything seemed fine in there, turn key in tumbler seemed fines there no sticks. Put back together and it sticks. Think it has something to do with the wheel lock lever part.

Anyone have this issue? gonna have to mess with it Saturday

[BlackbirdM3]

thanks.
I was able to finesse it with a bobby pin and was able to get it on all my cars, just to see if I could and it became easy.
slight little bend at end, turn key up just enough to allow pin in then you rotate it down. Super easy now.

But pulled out the ignition shaft and everything seemed fine in there, turn key in tumbler seemed fines there no sticks. Put back together and it sticks. Think it has something to do with the wheel lock lever part.

Anyone have this issue? gonna have to mess with it Saturday

Have you tried a little silicone spray or graphite in the tumbler. It might just need to be lubed. It could also be that the pins are worn to the point that the key doesn't quite fit correctly.

Will

[CarsonE30]

Not as much grain or distortion as I expected there to be, this is just a raw file from camera to phone, no edit or anything. I wish I could get the TBird pics synced but I'll work on getting them up somewhere tonight, I was impressed with myself for never owning a camera or having any experience with moving object lol