New TI owner San Diego

[Shadowhunter]

Hey guys my name is Ed. I just picked up my TI last week It's my first BMW and I love it.
It's a 97 1 Owner car, 101k with active package.
Just had the headgasket and whole coolant system replaced and I bought it from a BMW mechanic For $4050. This car is amazing on gas, love the hatchback and handling is superb. Best Daily Driver I've had in a while.

Some quick questions:
What are the stock obviously non sport model swaybar sizes? I want to replace mine with Urethane ones.
What is the best place besides RealOem to get the hatch struts, is there a better priced alternative?
My one complaint with the car is that it's too quiet. Would you guys recommend an intake on these cars? I've read some posts on here in regards to them but have not seen any feedback from people who actually had one.

Thanks in advance.

[zoner]

Looks like a very clean example of a ti- welcome to the forum!


To answer your questions:

- IIRC, the non-sport swaybar sizes are: 25mm front, 14mm rear
- You can pickup hatch struts at pelicanparts.com or getbmwparts.com
- I would NOT recommend an aftermarket intake on these cars... there are at least a few threads on the forum as to why it isn't a good idea.




Also- if you need any interior pieces (it doesn't look like you do), I have basically an entire interior in that color sitting in my garage that I'm looking to get rid of.

[Shadowhunter]

Thanks for the reply! Found the right bushings. I did read about the intake and heatsoak and was thinking of doing one of the ram air setups that I saw someone do on here.

I also saw that some people remove the lower baffle box Not sure if that would help. I just can't stand that the car is so quiet and don't want to spend 400 on an exhaust right now.
The interior on this car is surprisingly perfect and the headliner was replaced recently as well. I'll for sure take you up on that if anything breaks.

[FunElan]

Clean car! Much cleaner than mine. Jealous!

[lazoh]

Welcome to the org and keep us posted on any modifications that you make to the most beutiful car ever made

[Coyoteh]

That interior looks flawless! I'm jealous.

Open your airbox and remove the sound-deadening foam lining the inside. That will give you a little bit more sound, but I never noticed much difference. It's a good idea to remove it anyway since the foam starts falling apart at this age.

I'm sure you'll have tons of fun with the car!

[Shadowhunter]

Thanks guys, all the other Ti's I was looking at were over priced and crappy and I was searching within a 500mi radius. I don't know why when I saw the car I just fell in love and wanted it.
I still can't believe I lucked out on this jewel and how clean and well taken care of she is. I stalked this car for a while, when I saw it pop up on Craigslist I saw it that weekend.
I didn't have all the money and told the owner I would be back next week. He said he would keep her for me and didn't want a deposit, but I insisted so he had no choice but to hold her for me. I had to wait another week to get paid before I could put all the money down, I was really anxious the whole week. So glad it worked out in the end

I've been a racer for years and the 240sx in the picture is mine as well. I plan on doing some tasteful mods to this car. So far I ordered some Carbon Fiber badge replacements and polyurethane swaybar bushings. And I plan on getting Black Kidney girlls,smoked fogs and some Hid's and an exhaust later down the line.

[Bobtail_Bimmer]

Welcome to the forum. Got my hatch struts off ebay over 2 years ago and have no complaints.

[jca]

Cleanest interior I have ever seen. The new headgasket and cooling system replacement goes for about 3k. Ask me how I know!

[Shadowhunter]

Pardon me for my ignorance,Can any of you guys tell me what I'm looking at? I'm guessing that there should be a bracket holding this throttle looking cable in because it looks loose. I see where the throttle goes, and I'm pretty sure the car does not have cruise control, so is this some drive by wire? Can anyone tell me what I'm missing and if I can find it on pelican parts?
Also can you guys tell me which service manual is best to buy so I can figure out this stuff on my own?

Thanks in advance.

[zoner]

What you are looking at is the secondary throttle body for the Automatic Stability Control (ASC+T) system- There should also be a switch labeled 'ASC' on the lower dash panel to the left of the steering wheel that activates/deactivates the system. When the system is deactivated, a yellow warning light located in the middle of the instrument cluster will illuminate.

The bowden cable on my ti looks exactly like that, so I'm not sure if it's normal or if both of our cables are broken, but I never use ASC anyway (first time it activated, it scared the hell out of me so I leave it off now) and I never bothered to find out whether or not the cable or a clip on the cable needed replacing.

[Shadowhunter]

That totally makes sense. I always leave it on because the yellow light is super annoying haha. I've never had a car with traction control so I've never seen that before. My other cars are the 240sx and Miata which are pretty raw driving cars from a technology perspective.

[touring intl]

Hi from a fellow San Diegan with a White 97 Ti

[Shadowhunter]

You don't live in Rancho San Diego do you? I saw a white Ti with HID's a guy and girl in it last night when I was making a run to the store.

[touring intl]

Originally Posted by Shadowhunter

You don't live in Rancho San Diego do you? I saw a white Ti with HID's a guy and girl in it last night when I was making a run to the store.

Not me, I got Z4 wheels on it right now but changing them soon,I don't drive the Ti that much still working on it.