Reliability mods?

[Jean-Claude]

I just purchased my first e30 w/ a m20. I was wanting to know what I should do first to help make the car reliable?

The clock shows 166k miles. It has more, not sure how many more though. The odo isn't working.

The car had a pretty strong oil leak up high on the drivers side. I pulled the valve cover and saw this:



Here's what the plugs looked like:




The car has boat-float when moving. So the suspension needs some work as well.

It's nice that the coolant system is air-tight.

Here's a list of stuff I figured I would need to handle soon.
Valve cover gasket
Timing belt
Headstuds
Throttle body needs to be replaced due to crack
Shocks
Springs
Suspension bushings (which ones in paticular should be replaced?)
New cluster(get milage working)
Power steering system flush/fill
Coolant flush/fill
Oil change(d'uh)
Tranny fluid flush/fill
Spark plugs, plug wires and distributor

I currently have a e36 m3. But I want this e30 to become my track toy and daily driver. I am mainly looking for reliability.

With that said, what else should I do to help make the car reliable?

[StereoInstaller1]

Generally, E30's have pretty leak free bottom ends from what I have seen.

Maybe pull the head, do valve guide seals, maybe valve guides if needed. Pressure check and surface, too.

Carefully check all electrical connectors, clean all of them with CRC, get out all signs of corrosion. Most common on the late models on the injector harness directly under the throttle body, as well as the TPS.

Injector O rings, full top end re-seal, new gaskets on the intake manifold.

Check the rocker arms carefully when pulling the head apart, you might find something binding on the adjusters. I know most of the ones I did on the GFs car were binding, a few seconds with a small file fixed that.

These are such relaible motors it is amazing.

GL! Get pics up soon, and welcome to R3V.

Luke

[RobertK]

Generally, E30's have pretty leaky bottom ends from what I have seen.

Fixed.

Seriously, every E30 I've seen usually has some kind of oil leak. Not to say the engine is not reliable.. but to find an oil leak free E30 is hard to come by these days even decently maintained.

[Jean-Claude]

Fixed.

Seriously, every E30 I've seen usually has some kind of oil leak. Not to say the engine is not reliable.. but to find an oil leak free E30 is hard to come by these days even decently maintained.

What's the most popular source of those oil leaks?

[netcsk]

Mine doesn't leak or burn a drop (anymore). It's never burned, but I've leaked from the headgasket, the rear main seal, and the oil pan gasket.

I'd say the headgasket, oil pan gasket, cam shaft seal, and valve cover gasket.


And that snapped head bolt sucks. Did you find the head? I see the washer. Those hex bolts were known for snapping, so yeah no big surprise.

[Jean-Claude]

Mine doesn't leak or burn a drop (anymore). It's never burned, but I've leaked from the headgasket, the rear main seal, and the oil pan gasket.

I'd say the headgasket, oil pan gasket, cam shaft seal, and valve cover gasket.


And that snapped head bolt sucks. Did you find the head? I see the washer. Those hex bolts were known for snapping, so yeah no big surprise.

The head is just right on the stud it broke off of.

[FredK]

The car has boat-float when moving. So the suspension needs some work as well.

Suspension bushings (which ones in paticular should be replaced?)

All. Fortunately this is an E30, so there aren't that many bushings. I see you have an interest in tracking the car, so you really should do all of the bushings. You can go with stock rubber pieces, or with some aftermarket polyurethane bushings if you can deal with extra NVH.

There are

2 front control arm bushings
2 front sway bar bushings
2 rear subframe bushings
4 trailing arm bushings
2 rear sway bar bushings
1 differential mount bushing (replace if it's messed up)

Nothing a long weekend of wrenching can't fix. ;)

The bushings are fairly inexpensive. If you go with stock rubber, you could probably do this job for less than $200.

[SnowFiend]

nvh?

[Jean-Claude]

All. Fortunately this is an E30, so there aren't that many bushings. I see you have an interest in tracking the car, so you really should do all of the bushings. You can go with stock rubber pieces, or with some aftermarket polyurethane bushings if you can deal with extra NVH.

There are

2 front control arm bushings
2 front sway bar bushings
2 rear subframe bushings
4 trailing arm bushings
2 rear sway bar bushings
1 differential mount bushing (replace if it's messed up)

Nothing a long weekend of wrenching can't fix. ;)

The bushings are fairly inexpensive. If you go with stock rubber, you could probably do this job for less than $200.

Thanks for the info. Saved me alot of searching time once the car was up on jackstands.