First e30, road trip, spares?

[einhander]

Water pump. You won't be able to replace it yourself, but you can take it to basically any garage and they can get it done without having to wait for a replacement to come in.

[TehRaydarlover]

Nice, looks good! Look forward to seeing this thing in MKE. Are you on WIBIMMERS?

[BobombETA]

Rubber tubing, gas, saw, gloves, cuffs, razor wire, hatchet, Gladys, and your mitts.

[BenDem]

Nice, looks good! Look forward to seeing this thing in MKE. Are you on WIBIMMERS?

'

Not yet, but soon will be :)

[808e30325i]

Tow a spare e30 just in case all else fails!

[BenDem]

I think I've got everything ready for the trip. Thanks again all for the input. I'll be doing a little write up of the trip once everything is underway.

I'm still on the fence about getting a fuel pump. The car runs well right now, and the pump isn't making any nasty noises. I've got no idea how old the pump is.

Do fuel pumps fail without warning, or do they typically start making noise before they crap out? I don't mind getting a new one now as a spare if I'm likely to need it anyway down the road. On the other hand, $200-ish for something that might not fail for years...

[BlackSpeed66]

Is it likely that I'm going to need the fuel pump and voltage regulator in the next few years? If so, I'll just grab 'em now, since I'd be buying them anyway.

If your car has higher mileage and the original alternator, it's not bad idea to do the voltage regulator since they're cheap (about $40). I did mine at about 200k and the brushes only had about 1/4" to a 1/2" left on them. Takes about ten minutes to replace.

[e30vert]

Zip ties!

[BenDem]

Zip ties!

I never leave the house without zip-ties.

[BenDem]

If your car has higher mileage and the original alternator, it's not bad idea to do the voltage regulator since they're cheap (about $40). I did mine at about 200k and the brushes only had about 1/4" to a 1/2" left on them. Takes about ten minutes to replace.

Yeah, I figured for 40 bucks, it's worth just having.

[BenDem]

Well, we made it -- no real issues! The auto transmission had an odd dissappearance of fluid -- was about 1.5 quarts low when we left on day 2. I kept it topped up and checked frequently during the trip and it seemed to settle down OK. Now that we are back, I can start investigating.

Anyway, thanks all for the input. Now the real adventure begins!

I'm still sorting through images from the trip and working on the writeup, but my brother posted some instagram pics on twitter, instagram and facebook under #redbird2wi of anyone is interested.