Alright, this may be an odd question, but what is the red-line supposed to be on an 83' 320is? I suppose the tach showing about 6k is the red-line but today I told my little brother to hit the limiter, and well, at 7.5k still nothing....is it possible to remove the limiter? The car is in progress of a semi-restoration. I drive it about once a week...still don't have tags on it...

My '82 non-iS has no limiter. I have DEFINATELY put it past the red.

there's no limiter, but at 7800 mine started making some funny noises, fwiw, it keeps making those noises up to the max on the tach ;)

The redline is 6400 rpm.

I accidently pegged the tach past 8k once, no problems.

Stock motor is 6400. If you have ever had the valve cover off those springs by the rockers just screem valve float. So be careful, if its stock theres really no reason to go past 6k.

7000 rpm is safe on stock springs, but your not making any power there.

In autox it's nice to be able to push that far so you don't have to shift again before making a turn around. With a limiter installed you can just keep your foot in it and ride the limiter till applying the brakes and making the u-turn:D

Nice limiter for the 80-83 models is the Pertronix limiter. It's a little box that you set the limit at what you want. Can be purchased at Jegs, Summit, etc.

Rocker arms can break after the 7000 range, so keep that in mind. If you want to make power till near 7k, install a cam like the TEP regrind 286, 288, or schrick 284, 292.

BTW spinning a stock 1.8L motor to 8K won't do much damage for the first few times, but will eventually spin a rod bearing. Spun mine to 10K once due to a faulty throttle cable and gas pedal. Spun 2 rod bearings and floated the exhaust valves into the pistons. It still ran enough to drive 30 miles home on the interstate rattling like hell. These are some tough little engines.

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product2_10001_10002_752461_-1

http://www.jegs.com/images/photos/751600.jpg

sweet, figured there would be some issues. its stock, about 240k on it. I dont expect it to last long. I want to get a M10 out of a E30, I got a turbo kit I want to install.

That rev limiter idea is brilliant.

yea it is im putting that unit on my list!

That rev limiter idea is brilliant.
i agree.

wow autox320...10k rpms!!? how did that thing sound when that happened? :eek:

what did the M10 based F1 engines run, does anyone know?

With as oversquare as that motor is and as high as F1 engines generally rev to, I would guess somewhere in teh 15,000-16,000 rpm range.

i agree.

wow autox320...10k rpms!!? how did that thing sound when that happened? :eek:

what did the M10 based F1 engines run, does anyone know?

Well it can happen with the stock gas pedal. The top hinged portion snapped off and jambed the pedal into the floor. The engine sounds on it's last leg at 8k, but near 10 it actually sounds silent. Probably cause it stops sounding like a well running engine when you have bent exhaust valves:cool

If you want the last ignition setup you'll ever buy.

Bosch RED coil (TEP)
Accel 8.8mm STAINLESS wire kit (Jegs 110-8025) (2 full wire sets)
1977 distributor cap and rotor (bimmerparts.com)
Autolite AR52 spark plugs (advanceautoparts.com)