Help. VIN plate MIA.

[tournesol]

During the last couple of weeks I've gotten the m-tech II into pretty stable running condition. Did all of the maintenance, blah blah blah. So yesterday I went to get an emissions test and turns out that the VIN plate on my dash broke off and fell into the vents....??????

Those of you who know the e30 like the back of your hand, is there any chance in hell that I'll be able to find it through the vents on the dash or is there no hope at all? I can't get an emissions test without either taking off the dash and looking for the plate or going through hell and back with BMW to get a replacement plate made.

The dash is all cracked so I have to and wanted to replace it anyways. Just want some input as to whether I should go ahead and replace the dash first or get a new VIN plate.

[moberg12]

The VIN should be visible on pretty much every body panel. Do they have to have the one off the dash?

[tournesol]

That's what I said, but Georgia law states that the VIN has to be taken off of the dash.

[Dutty30]

is there another VIN plate on the car somewhere? I know that on most the body panels its a sticker right? Maybe you can just take a plate from somewhere else and put it on there?

[aaronhoy]

Or slip the smog guy a little cash?

[DLite]

I'm not certain if the VIN plate material is ferrous; it most likely is, such that a magnet could pick it up...so first thing I would try would tie a small magnet to some string and go fishing.

I'll check mine in a couple hours and let you know if a magnet will work..

Never mind...I just checked, and the tag is aluminum or some other non-ferrous alloy...so forget I mentioned the magnet idea

[tournesol]

Originally Posted by Dutty30

is there another VIN plate on the car somewhere? I know that on most the body panels its a sticker right? Maybe you can just take a plate from somewhere else and put it on there?

That is a great idea, but I'm pretty sure there's only one VIN plate on a vehicle.

Originally Posted by aaronhoy

Or slip the smog guy a little cash?

Shhhhhhhh.

Originally Posted by DLite

I'm not certain if the VIN plate material is ferrous; it most likely is, such that a magnet could pick it up...so first thing I would try would tie a small magnet to some string and go fishing.

I'll check mine in a couple hours and let you know if a magnet will work..

Never mind...I just checked, and the tag is aluminum or some other non-ferrous alloy...so forget I mentioned the magnet idea

Damn I got excited for a minute, so much so that I took a magnet and some string from my physics laboratory. I tried the magnet on the VIN of my eta and it seemed to pull a little. Not a lot, hopefully it wasn't my imagination. I'm about to try it though since I'm home from school. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Thanks for all the input.

[DLite]

Originally Posted by tournesol

I tried the magnet on the VIN of my eta and it seemed to pull a little. Not a lot, hopefully it wasn't my imagination. I'm about to try it though since I'm home from school. I'll let you guys know what happens.
.

I noticed the same thing when I checked, but I think the metal structure that's part of the dash is what the magnet is being attracted to...

Good luck anyway....

[5percentEuro]

Originally Posted by tournesol

That's what I said, but Georgia law states that the VIN has to be taken off of the dash.

Actually you can get the VIN off the door panel. I live in Georgia and it has never been a problem.

[tournesol]

I tried the magnet thing, and failed.

Originally Posted by 5percentEuro

Actually you can get the VIN off the door panel. I live in Georgia and it has never been a problem.

Where do you go to get your emissions?

[aaronhoy]

I think it must depend on what part of Georgia. I used to live there and there was no smog or safety inspection of any kind. You could register just about anything.

[vern320i]

Originally Posted by aaronhoy

I think it must depend on what part of Georgia.

Yes.

"If your vehicle is a 1985 through 2006 model year gasoline-powered car or light-duty truck (8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight rating and less) registered in Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding or Rockdale County."

http://www.cleanairforce.com/motoris...iontesting.php

[meforprezz]

Yeah, I never had to do emissions on the car. When I got the VIN I got it from the door or if you pop the hood and look at the metal frame above the firewall it is right in the center of the car. I would just try a different emissions place. Especially just one of those small ones that sets up tents and does it, they are usually pretty leinient.

good luck.

[ddavidv]

VIN is stamped in the firewall of the car as noted above. You can't alter that. Dash tags I can swap around in 2 minutes. So if they really care about it being legit, they should use that one.

[Wojtek79]

I can probably get you a picture of the dash hvac tubing since I have my dash out at the moment. Just send me a pm to remind. This way you can figure out which vent to pull out if you are going fishing. I am going to work now, but can do it when I come back.

[tournesol]

Hey sorry I haven't had the chance to get on and update on the status of things.

First of all, mad thanks to 328ijunkie for selling me a crack-less dash and helping me install it. Anyways, we removed the dash, looked for the VIN through the tubing but didn't find anything. Then proceeded to give up, and install the new dash. Ran into a lot of trouble through the entire process because of the most ridiculously retrofitted aftermarket blower I have ever seen in any car, ever...that doesn't work. I'll let you guys know more about that later.

For now, a teaser.


Old dash.



It's missing the two holes where the vin plate should be attached. So we've come to the conclusion that either there was never a VIN plate on my Euro E30, or it was originally stuck on there with some sort of substance that sticks it to the dash.

Afterwards I found a jiffylube that would give me an emissions test, and it failed.