New car, new questions

[furwolf]

Hi all!

I have 2 other E30's in the past, but I've always had the hots for the E30 325ix. If any of you saw that black 1990 325ix in Reno for $1000...well I'm that jerk who bought it :)

I love the car, and I'm willing to spend some dough on this thing to make it nice, but I'm a little concerned. I've noticed alot that the diffs, t-cases and axles sometimes tend to be the points of failure for high milage cars. Do they still make parts for these items brand new? Can I buy a new input gear for my transfer case and have a shop rebuild it? Can I track down a new front axle or have my current one rebuilt?

I dont like the premise of having to find more used parts to replace my used parts, and if the shit really hits the fan I dont want to pay an incredible amount of money to have a shop machine me a brand new component out of nothing.

Thanks guys, will be posting pictures soon :)

-FW

[JeremyL]

As far as axles and driveshafts go, I *think* you can have them rebuilt for a fairly reasonable price. Possibly $300 for a CV axle?

[nando]

Hi all!

I have 2 other E30's in the past, but I've always had the hots for the E30 325ix. If any of you saw that black 1990 325ix in Reno for $1000...well I'm that jerk who bought it :)

I love the car, and I'm willing to spend some dough on this thing to make it nice, but I'm a little concerned. I've noticed alot that the diffs, t-cases and axles sometimes tend to be the points of failure for high milage cars. Do they still make parts for these items brand new? Can I buy a new input gear for my transfer case and have a shop rebuild it? Can I track down a new front axle or have my current one rebuilt?

I dont like the premise of having to find more used parts to replace my used parts, and if the shit really hits the fan I dont want to pay an incredible amount of money to have a shop machine me a brand new component out of nothing.

Thanks guys, will be posting pictures soon :)

-FW

how many miles? is any of this stuff already worn? a little maintenance will go a long way - new CV boots all around, keep the differentials filled with fluids (that means replacing leaky seals), molykote BR2-Plus on the front driveshaft splines, tires with equal tread depth (& same pattern) on each corner, etc.

aside from that, yes you can still get new parts for them, but new tends to be expensive. used can be fine if they aren't damaged.

[furwolf]

how many miles? is any of this stuff already worn? a little maintenance will go a long way - new CV boots all around, keep the differentials filled with fluids (that means replacing leaky seals), molykote BR2-Plus on the front driveshaft splines, tires with equal tread depth (& same pattern) on each corner, etc.

aside from that, yes you can still get new parts for them, but new tends to be expensive. used can be fine if they aren't damaged.

Ryan G ( http://www.ryangmw.com/ ) and I changed fluids last week. Things weren't too bad, suprisingly, though the tranny fluid (manual) was about 1/3 of what it should have been. Its not making any sounds, and we did drain / refill it, so I think I'm ok.

We did the jack test, and it passed but I'm told there's only about half of the power to the front wheels that there should be. There's also also of play in the drive shaft, and the cover was pulled back at a certain point, leaving the splines exposed. I'm told a spacer kit and some maintenance will help that out.

New CV's (in and out) are going on in a few weeks, and new outer ball joints and control arm bushings are going on tomorrow. (All of which I'm going to get pictures of).

Amongst other things are a leaky headgasket (i'm dripping oil and a tiny bit of coolant), drive shaft coupler is ready to fall apart, the shifter is shot to hell, and the shocks/springs are almost worthless. I got the car for $1k, so I dont think I got too bad of a deal.



-FW

[nando]

if the shaft isn't ruined yet, take it out, clean up all the rust with a wire brush, re-lube it with the grease I specified and put it back together with a spacer. should be fine after that.

ryan already knows about the grease btw, so he should have some on hand. :)

[furwolf]

He has that and the spacer kit already :)

I plan on taking care of that when the shifter / drive shaft coupler job gets done. In the meantime I dont plan on driving the car too much, I have my other money pit (E39 540i) to drive around and abuse.

-FW