Video: Blue BMW 1er Coupé 123d with M sport package

[Nixon]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgerMitFries

That's a soft spot with me because it was my first BMW inline 6. I got extremely good at adjusting the valve lash (remember when you had to do that?). When my car would idle, the loudest sound you heard was the injectors firing. It was beautiful, it was the quietest engine I ever heard.

I'll buy anyone in here a beer who did their own valve adjustments to the ETA 6. I still have the tool if anyone needs one.

Maybe my ETA wouldn't have sounded so much like a 123d if I would have adjusted the valve lash...

I loved my ETA 325e. It was such an amazing car. There were a set of cars I've dubbed the "econo-rockers", and this was my first. For a car to be an econo-rocker, I had to be able to get 30 mpg out of it on the highway, and it had to handle and accelerate very quickly. And it had to have a reasonable price tag to buy. I've run into very few cars like this. Besides my ETA, I had a Saab 900 Turbo that fit the bill, and my current A4 mostly fits. I think the 123d would be the ultimate econo-rocker.

[WolfsburgerMitFries]

Originally Posted by Nixon

Maybe my ETA wouldn't have sounded so much like a 123d if I would have adjusted the valve lash...

Oh what a shame my friend...as the valve train loosens up (valve lash increases), the valves do not open as much as they should and you loose power. I learned where the minimum valve lash spec really was (a few thousanths less than the published specs in the Bentley manual), and that's why the engine was so quiet, and was more powerful than your average ETA 6. It was like getting a slightly bigger cam (for free). You would have liked the 325e even more if I was around to make it sing. There's no valve lash adjustments from E36 cars forward, though. I prefer the older mechanical system, but those days are long gone.

The original owner of my "college BMW" also did a ECU upgrade. That's when you had to pull out the ECU and mail it off to get a physical change of your PROM chip (desoldering involved) from a tuner like Autothority.

[Nixon]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgerMitFries

You would have liked the 325e even more if I was around to make it sing.

I definitely believe that! I didn't learn the benefits of valve adjustments until years later when I had a Honda Prelude 2.0Si. It reacted the exact same way you described. It got quieter and quicker when the valves were adjusted to the tightest side of tolerance within the official spec range. The difference was shocking.

I would have counted the Prelude as an econo-rocker, if it weren't for the crappy handling from the front wheel drive. That was the Prelude's fatal flaw.

[bimmer_fan]

iuno now. i wanted blue, but it seems like im still getting white.