Project ETHREEO

[blocke]

So thought I'd finally share the story of my E30, and its progress to date. I recently almost sold this car after buying a house..just no more time to work on it. But My interest has been renewed, and now I'm going at the project again full bore.

Started out as a non-running 1990 Calypso 5spd Coupe from craigslist.
Went and checked the car out, had a bad fuel pump. The previous owner had wanted to get into E30's, but was not mechanically inclined. Having done serious research for 1.5 years before I finally convinced my wife to let me get one, I was able to determine the Fuel pump was bad. So fairly confident that was the issue, I bought it without even hearing it run..had it towed home.



Fast forward two years and over 5k later in various mods and maintenance items.. Now sitting on h&R sports/Billy sports all around, fully re-done suspension, new exhaust, Miller MAF, HID's, pretty much have replaced everything under the hood except engine internals...Car is still in need of a paint job, and a good set of rims.
Also planning on getting the entire interior re-done. I had retro-fit a set of E46 Powered sport seats in here, but I think I'd rather just have the sport seats.


Car in it's prime, before sitting for 6 months while I bought my house and lost the time to dedicate to it.



Most recently had to get a new cat installed to pass CA smog. $335 OTD for a magnaflow. Car sounds gnarly with it. Pass smog with flying colors.


So I spent today ripping my tranny back out to fix a persistent leak that's been going on since I did the clutch job last year. I'm thinking that I put the input shaft seal cover on wrong, and the oil channel was pissing out down and out the bell housing. This would be the third time the tranny has been out, but previous 2 times were with access to a lift and help. Now that I can't get on base anymore..I had to settle for ramps and jack stands, and go at it solo.

Car as it sits now, awaiting an SSK from Blunt, some redline, and time to re-install everything.




Next after this will be new rotors/pads/lines all around.
I can't believe I almost sold thing thing, would have taken a huge loss. I've done everything myself on the car with the exception of the tint and welding up the cat.

More to come!

[rares]

nice looking ride, i would be interested to hear how you retrofitted the seats..

thanks

[drutt23]

Looks good man! Keep it up! I love the calypso. Are you gonna repaint it that or something else?

[blocke]

Originally Posted by drutt23

Looks good man! Keep it up! I love the calypso. Are you gonna repaint it that or something else?

I dunno. I have kind of grown to hate this color. It wasn't on my list of preferred colors in the first place, but I couldn't pass up the deal.
After several weekends spent wet sanding, buffing waxing, etc..It still never looks good enough that I like it.

I would like to get it sprayed another color eventually, but don't want to deal with pulling the engine to paint under the hood, and the doorjambs, all that mess.. so I might just choose another BMW variation of red.

Paint will likely be the last thing I do to it.

[kingston]

Go Henna!!

Car's coming along really nicely!

[Mike The Bavarian]

how could anyone hate calypso....

[Harry's E30]

nice start calypso = win

[kingston]

Meh. Not one of my favorites, either...

[blocke]

When its faded and dull it looks like shit, and when it's new and shiny, It looks like it belongs on some cholo's donk. Just doesn't do it for me.

[Cinnabar325is]

Any updates on the input shaft seal issue? I just put my engine and trans back in the car and it seems I have the same problem.

Do you know for certain you didn't install the seal cover right?

Are you pulling the trans out by itself or pulling the motor and trans together? Thanks.

[ck_taft325is]

Any reason you're not happy with the E46 sports? They look super comfy and recently I've been toying with the idea of a new(er) model sport seat for DD'ing.

[blocke]

Originally Posted by Cinnabar325is

Any updates on the input shaft seal issue? I just put my engine and trans back in the car and it seems I have the same problem.

Do you know for certain you didn't install the seal cover right?

Are you pulling the trans out by itself or pulling the motor and trans together? Thanks.

Well I know for a fact that the cover was not lined up correctly. And I failed to use loctite or some type of sealant. I dropped the trans by itself. Just got in the rest of the parts to complete the job (ssk from blunt, 2 qts of redline).
I'm going to re-install the seal, cover, etc. this weekend, allow it to dry, and then do a test fill and make sure it doesn't leak. No way I'm dropping this waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleser again.

[blocke]

Originally Posted by ck_taft325is

Any reason you're not happy with the E46 sports? They look super comfy and recently I've been toying with the idea of a new(er) model sport seat for DD'ing.

Well eventually I would like to have the entire interior re-upholstered. At that time, I'd like it to be all original..the E46 sports are comfy, but my car came with torn up comfort seats with springs poking through into my ass...so anything was better.
I hear the power E46 sports are about double the weight of the OE sports, so that's another factor. Also, the install was completely custom and based off of my height (6'0) , so the seats are biased towards the back to give me legroom. My short friend was driving one day, and could barely adjust them forward enough to depress the clutch all the way. They are also taller than E30 sports, so I have maybe 1'' of headroom.
Perhaps for a shorter person they would be better. I dunno.

[Cinnabar325is]

Originally Posted by blocke

Well I know for a fact that the cover was not lined up correctly. And I failed to use loctite or some type of sealant. I dropped the trans by itself. Just got in the rest of the parts to complete the job (ssk from blunt, 2 qts of redline).
I'm going to re-install the seal, cover, etc. this weekend, allow it to dry, and then do a test fill and make sure it doesn't leak. No way I'm dropping this waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleser again.

Just going by my rough memory, I don't see how the cover could be bolted on more than one way. The bolt holes aren't evenly spaced, correct?

I'm pulling my trans back out tomorrow... I have the stuff to redo the cover on order. I didn't use sealant around the cover either, just assumed the oil seal would keep the gear lube behind it.

The weird thing is I don't think the cover had any sealant on it when I took it apart the first time.

[blocke]

Originally Posted by Cinnabar325is

Just going by my rough memory, I don't see how the cover could be bolted on more than one way. The bolt holes aren't evenly spaced, correct?

I'm pulling my trans back out tomorrow... I have the stuff to redo the cover on order. I didn't use sealant around the cover either, just assumed the oil seal would keep the gear lube behind it.

The weird thing is I don't think the cover had any sealant on it when I took it apart the first time.

I still have yet to get an explanation of why the cover has that oil groove in it, and why there seems to be an extra open hole that lines up with it. All I know is this time I'll weld a bead around the whole thing before I deal with another leak.