Drum brakes on rear of my 318ti?
 

I just bought a 1996 318ti with a build month of 06/96. It appears to be a base model (5-speed, no sunroof, no cruise control, has steel wheels) and has 177k miles, but it passed CA smog with flying colors and seems to run great. I hope to replace the entire cooling system this weekend as a precaution; just waiting for one more coolant hose to be delivered. I'm also replacing the Guibo, because it is cracked around the bolt holes & I get a vibration in second and third gear (similar to other postings here on this forum). I'm replacing the center driveshaft bearing and support while I'm in there, too.

Two weird things about the car:

It has a tan & dark brown "sisal" woven headliner and A-pillars. It looks factory, but I've never seen ones like it and I doubt someone would go to the trouble of making a custom set. I can take pics if someone wants to see 'em.

The kicker is that it has rear drum brakes! The BMW part number is 1162401 clearly stamped on the outside of the drum, and 1162400 clearly stamped on the inside. The drums looks really worn (my calipers are in my storage unit right now), based on a quick-n-dirty tape measure check and the big lip on the outer edge of the drum. The stamping on the inside says maximum wear diameter of 229.5mm & my tape measure shows 9-1/8" (or roughly 231.8mm). Anyone else seen a drum brake setup on their 318ti? More importantly, where can I find replacements?

I did a VIN decode on it, and it says it is a USA model. But it did come with a set of Italian language owner manuals. I plugged the part numbers into www.realoem.com but couldn't find matching parts. Any advice?

Geoff
SLO, CA

hmm, this is a first for me. Sounds like you may have picked up a "grey market" car.

The 316's came with rear drum brakes, but those were never imported to the US. I'm not sure why somebody would retrofit a disc rear to drum, but I've certainly heard of stranger things happening. Something definitely doesn't add up here. Have you run a CARFAX on the car to see if there is any history that doesn't jibe?

With regard to the driveshaft, make sure to also replace the locking ring and center bushing in the front yoke while you have it out and MAKE SURE you mark both pieces of the driveshaft so that you put it back together in correct alignment to prevent it from being out of balance. You also might want to check for excessive play in the u-joints before you take it apart- if the u-joints are shot, replacing the flex disc and center bearing may help but may not remove all of the vibration.

I have factory sisal floor mats in my ti, but I've never seen a sisal headliner or A-pillars... would definitely like to see pictures of those!

Welcome to the org!

would be fairly trivial to get the suspension off another TI or Z3 and put it on...
Sounds like a oddball...

Dave

Interesting. Looked in the archives, searched USA/Europe on realoem...nada.

Any E30's come with drum brakes and 5 lug? Would be interesting to see if it's grey market or some interesting repair job.

seems like quite the car, welcome to the org

Thanks for the welcome. I'm pretty active on the 914World site, as I've got a '73 Porsche 914 that I've converted to Subaru WRX engine & modified trans. I picked up the 318ti as a commuter until my daughter turns 16 next September.

After some more searching, I found the correct parts on www.realoem.com by choosing "Europe" instead of "USA". The parts are spendy, though, in comparison to the USA disc brake setup. Anyone have a rear suspension, including disc brakes setup, for sale in the Central California area?

Yes.

PM me the p/n's from realoem for all of the parts you're looking for when you have 5 posts.

I placed an order with the local BMW dealership Friday for the dust shields and lockring. Boy, they really put it to you in comparison to the prices from Pelican Parts and other vendors... but I thought I'd at least start a relationship with those folks. They smiled when they bent me over!

Geoff

Okay, one more fluff posting to get to the magic number 5. Hopefully, I'll be able to PM you now...

Nope, still no PM privileges. So below are the parts for the drum rear suspension from www.realoem.com. Note that I had to choose the European 318tds with the M41 turbo-diesel engine or the 316i Compact with the M43 to find the drum brake setup.

Repair kit brake shoes with springs: 3219067127, $147.63
Drum: 34211159486, $105.11 each
Left adjusting lever (mine is wasted!): 34211159143, $8.00
Right adjusting lever (while I'm in there): 34211159144, $8.25
I also need a passenger side parking brake cable: 34411160873, $22.43.

www.realoem.com also shows the rear trailing arms as being distinctly different for disc vs. drum brakes. The left side is 33321091151, $920 with core.

So we're talking over $350 for parts (not including the drum brake cylinders ~$64 each), so the idea of disk brakes is sounding better-n-better.

A sidenote: I found a bunch of Euro coins in the car today. So this is sounding more and more like an imported car, even though the VIN says it is a USA car.

Anyone got a set to sell from a 318ti or 1.9L Z3? I found a guy on Craigslist in LA that has a wrecked 318ti, but the driver side trailing arm is apparently bent.

Geoff

Does the glass have DOT printed on it by the logos?

It may be a car someone in the Mil brought back to the states... You used to get a free pass ont he inspections for some cars.

Dave

Also does it have a VIN tag behind driver's side windshield? That's missing and blacked out on a European car.

Yes, on both accounts -- VIN under w/s, and DOT on all windows. The engine is definitely not a diesel (M41) or SOHC (M43), so my car is an enigma!

I found a pair of NOS BMW drums, as well as aftermarket brake shoes and one replacement brake cable, on Ebay-UK. All told, it'll cost me about $250 with shipping for all these parts. I'm leaning toward this; my rear brake setup is probably the lightest in the USA (drum brakes are typically lighter than their disc brake counterparts!)... unless someone can steer me toward a complete trailing arm / brake setup. Maybe I'll post in the classified section.

I'm currently parting a ti that is in Lompoc and has most, if not all, of what you are looking for. A few things I am unsure of: 1.) Whether or not I have all of the brake lines (there may be some differences between disc/drum); 2.) Whether I have parking brake shoes/hardware; 3.) Whether or not the rear calipers need a rebuild (they seemed to work fine when I pulled them)- rebuild kits are about $50 per wheel for these calipers from Pelican, even more from the dealer! (seriously).

...and a couple of questions: 1.) Do the drum brake trailing arms have provisions for the ABS pulse generator; and 2.) Do you know if the axleshaft p/n's are the same for both drum and disc?

I know that I have the swing arms, calipers, brackets, rotors, etc., but you may have to purchase new parking brake shoes/hardware, as well as new brake pads (which you would probably do anyway...)

PM me if you're able to do so...