Dumbest mistake youve made with your e30?

[e30onBBSs]

I will share what I just encountered! So for a long while my car hasn't started. Didnt have good spark so I tuned up the ignition, then it still didn't start. Before all this I checked for gas in the tank, and it was there. No fuel at FPR, okay it's probs the pump. Got pressure tester 1 didn't adapt to vaccum hose. Got $15 harbor freight one, not enough PSI. Ordered an adapter for the first one, still in the mail. Here's where it gets BAD. I'm curious if there could be a visible issue with fuel pump, and pull it.
Looks fine! But... Why didn't any fuel drip off when I pulled it out?!
My car has 0 gas in the tank. Hopefully when I put some gas in it it starts!!!!

I learned a lot about the fuel system but what a headache!! Just learned I need to be a bit more thorough. Need to fix fuel gauge/ sender too because wow.

[IronFreak]

[jalopi]

302 swapped my car

[Vincent Brick]

Not putting an S50 in it when my M20 bit the dust over the holidays. I ended up driving a buddy's car for a month anyway, I didn't even really consider it because I was so pissed at the time I was contemplating selling it and just wanted it back on the road ASAP. Now I feel like I've used up all my favors and don't have anyone to physically help make it happen.

[IronFreak]

Honestly though.....building a racecar. be cool when it's done but frankly I would have been happy with the clean car it was, wheels and suspension.

[AwakenNoMore]

Waiting to long to do the timing belt.

[UlrichFennec]

Getting a bunch of work done all at once.

I've been anal about preventative maintenance to the point where I would wait until everything was to spec and to my liking before I would consider making the vert my daily. Months, even.

Now, I'll be waiting a couple days to drive again since I'll be replacing the timing belt, cam seals, water pump, thermostat, O2 sensors, flushing the radiator and replacing the coolant, aaaaand swapping the oil pan for one I found off a junker in great condition. Gasket and plug, too.

[Todd Black 88]

Buying a project M3.
With what I have into it, I could have bought a complete restoration.

[UlrichFennec]

Buying a project M3.
With what I have into it, I could have bought a complete restoration.

Well, that just gives you something to be proud of when it becomes a finished product, no?

[rturbo 930]

Paid too much for it. Aside from that, I actually don't think I've done anything stupid with this one... which is a first!

[ncsubowen]

Buying a project M3.
With what I have into it, I could have bought a complete restoration.

I feel like there's a lot of people who have done this as the prices on these cars continue to go up thinking that they'll save some money in the long run. Problem is, parts are scarce and labor is intense.

In for a penny in for a pound I suppose - at least when it's done you'll have the sweat equity to keep you from turning around and selling it :)

[trippmann]

Today I forgot to more my jack stand far enough away from the fender. when I lowered the car it crushed the bottom.

I was able to bend it back out so no one would notice it besides me, but I still feel like an idiot.

[J.Rizo]

Waiting to long to do the timing belt.

this is gonna be me soon if I dont freaking stop procrastinating.


but mine happened on my first day of ownership iirc.
I was cracking the lugnuts. One was really tight so i bent over, put both hands and all my weight on the breaker bar, and started pushing the bar downward. downward...

after a few pushes it came loose. aaaand my forehead flew into the top of the fender, leaving a nice golf ball size dent in an otherwise perfect fender.
still laugh every time I notice when washing/wrenching.

[dirtbag30]

my wiper motors park position doesnt work, and i had a spare. so i wanted to see if it was any better.
install new wiper motor
install wiper arms
didnt lift arms to check proper alignment
turn wipers on
wipers went too far down (below window-onto hood)
damaged wiper motor.

reinstalled old wiper motor, did it correctly this time.
i got them aligned correctly, but still have a crap motor.

all that crap work for nothing.

[almostacrayon]

Dumbest thing would have happened yesterday. I was working on my ZF 5D320 and was doing preventative repairs and was upto the 5th gear and reverse gear pins. I followed the instructions to deform the old sleeve bushing and in the processing of extracting it, lost grip on it and it fell back into the gearbox... Now its somewhere in there and I'm not sure how to separate the halves of the housing. Worse still, I'm pretty sure when trying to separate the halves I shifted the reverse gear set away from it original seating... I don't think I have done damage (hope I haven't done damage) as it was in neutral the whole time and not spinning.
Now comes the expensive part of getting a transmission shop to help me

Just when I was nearly done with this swap I go like 5 steps back...