New member/long time owner

[PRIME 1]

First off what a great site. Since finding it I think I have read almost every post. My wife and I bought the car about 19 years ago because we loved the body.We did not know then about rust or other issues with the e9. We put about 2000 miles on it the first few years, then it has been towed or pushed mostly for the remainder. Always had work done to get it running untill something else would happen.
Recently after about 6 years of sitting I got it running again.The motor sounds strong but found no reverse gear.Any suggestions?
By the way the car is a 72 3.0 cs automatic. Its been garaged as long as I have owned it, but does have its rust issues.

thanks

 

[61porsche]

Welcome!

You live in a great place and great that there are other coupe owners nearby.

Your auto trans- I assume you've checked the fluid level with the car parked and running?
Are all three gears active in auto?
Are the dentents- the selectors, 1, 2, auto releatively at the position indicated?

Anything you can tell us in particular might help point to a given problem or fix.:-D

 

[Arde]

Looks nice. Keep fixing it and before 5000 miles it will be reliable...

When mine was automatic it had an incredible amount of play on the gear selector and it
would fail to engage the gears as expected. It was cured replacing some circlips I recall in the selector linkage under the car.

 

[PRIME 1]

Thanks for the kind words and suggestions. As far as more information,
the fluid is topped, the forward gears shift fine. The selector on the steering column is lined up. It will go into reverse for a few feet then nothing. I will get underneath in the morning to look at the linkage. Again thanks for any help.

 

[vince]

Welcome aboard!

Great color combo on your coupe.

 

[E911]

Short a pedal...

I believe adding a pedal to the left of your break will fix this problem?

 

[shanon]

welcome. nice car.

nice to see another on this side of the tunnel.

;-)

-shanon

 

[61porsche]

Slipping in reverse

Prime1,

Do you happen to know which type of auto trans you have? There were two. There's a small metal tag on the trans that identifies it. Borg Warner was one.

It's possible that it just needs an adjustment of the bands which isn't hard and noted as a maintanace item every 18,000 mi. Since all three forward gears are working- that possibly could be a good sign.

But would like to know which make pls.

 

[blumax]

Make of A/T is----

Surely a Borg Warner--we have sometimes called it the "Borg Worst" as its life was not too long wh en driven on surface streets with its many starts and stops. Use of the B/W AT continued through most of the 1973 models for both E-9's and E-3's--then BMW changed to the ZF--a more robust and smoother shifting A/T.

This is based on my experience in converting a 1973 E-3 from a B/W AT to a ZF AT in my 1973 Bavaria--since sold. The changeover was challenging in several respects but the result was a noticable improvement in AT performance. The ZF I used was from a hi-mileage 528i but proved superior in shifting smoothness and feeling of being more robust compared to the original 67,000 mile B/W that it replaced.

I did this changeover at the suggestion of Jim, an owner of Mesa Performance in Costa Mesa, CA. and an acknowledged guru of the E-3--keep in mind that drive line mechanicals in the E-3 and E-9 were virtually identical throughout their production runs. I'm sure Carl Neson, "Bimmer Doc" is also knowledgable on this conversion.

 

[PRIME 1]

Slipping in reverse

Thanks for the replys last week. I was hoping to get the car up last week and adjust the bands, but between kids in high school football, youth football,and bidding construction work in the bay area no time.
Finally taking a 4 day weekend and got under it today. The tag looked blank,tried to take a photo. I adjusted it following the manual to 5 ft lbs. Is that the correct amount? I have another manual that said 50.61 ft lbs. Got it on the ground and no difference. Any Ideas? Thanks again for any help and suggestions

Richard

 

[61porsche]

AT band adjustment

Prime1,

The 5 lbs is correct; but also loosen 3/4 of a turn. Since you're shifting on the forward gears which means the control passages on the body are clear, it may mean that a control valve/ ball/ seal isn't shifting open the the combination of passages to effect reverse.

The only other thing- is to manually move the shift points trying to see or feel if reverse position is rough or smooth.

Wish I could help more...