Questionable repairs that you have done, which have lasted a long time..

[4tDX]

At one point I managed to pinch a throttle cable jacket which locked up the throttle cable. I removed the f'd up bits on the jacket and JB Welded the jacked together between some Pex pipe. Then, to be extra sure I McGyver'd it properly, I wrapped it in duct tape.

[Matt-B]

I do recall now using a self tapping screw to stop a leak n a gas tank. It was in an 80s Camaro if that helps.

Sounds like you were almost










Screwed

[Aleman]

At one point I managed to pinch a throttle cable jacket which locked up the throttle cable. I removed the f'd up bits on the jacket and JB Welded the jacked together between some Pex pipe. Then, to be extra sure I McGyver'd it properly, I wrapped it in duct tape.

I knew it was only going to be a short while before someone mentioned JB Weld LOL. I loved that shit in high school working on my 81 Accord.

Lately though, my front subframe bolts snapped, so I drove the car to my local indy shop with the subframe held in place with click straps. Not that I left it that way for very long.

[CaliDazze]

Rear swaybar mounts tore out of the mounting location. Left a nice hole where they used to bolt up. I used a small piece of steel as a back plate and just bolted up some new IE mounts. Probably should be welded in, but 1 year and couple sets of rear tires later, they havent budged. :D

[Das Delfin]

clear plastic tubing :p

I always just fixed it, but I think those special screws are NLA now and so are the housings which tend to corrode.

Those things are not NLA but the housing is expensive. Hex screws always strip on me so I would replace them with torx or regular bolts if you can find the right size and thread

[Kershaw]

Holy crap! Realoem lists that little piece at $40!

I bypassed it simply because I didn't want coolant heating my throttle body, it wasn't leaking or whatever. I actually have a brand new gasket sitting in my new gaskets box. I was considering cutting the tubes off and smoothing it over because the TB looks weird without it, but fuck it, weird it is. I'm not cutting up a $40 part.

[nando]

pretty sure they are torx screws. they must have replaced them because they were definitely NLA a couple years ago.

oh, my car still has the original rear swaybar bushings. I check on them every so often and they are still fine.

[Kershaw]

They are torx, I removed them last night while cleaning up my TB. Hopefully my newly powdercoated intake and vc will go in today!

[LJ851]

I keep my E30 repair work legit.


After my scout sat unused for about 7 years I was getting it running and fired it up on 7 year old fuel. It ran fine for about 20 minutes but the next day i fired it up and it sounded horrible. The old fuel had turned to varnish and stuck two valves in the guides and did this to two pushrods. I wasn't sure if I had damaged the engine so I put the pushrods in my press and got them as straight as I could. Reinstalled, the engine sounded fine so I ordered two good used pushrods to replace the bent ones. It's going on 4 years and tons of miles and the "new" pushrods are still in the box , lol.

Pic

[nando]

dude I would have totally done that, lol.

so you're saying you've never taken a single shortcut on an E30? come on now. be honest. :p

[jeffnhiscars]

I've used zip ties to hold rack boots on and to secure all the skins on a sport seat. They may not be authentic but they are def not questionable in my book

[2mAn]

Replaced my slightly bent front valence with my freshly painted valence and to my surprise, besides the two bolts on each side holding the fenders to the valence there was only one other bolt holding it on. I didnt have my spare bin so I thought,"well... its worked for the last 3 years at least :rofl: "

[audiquattrot]

not a long term repair to date (only did this about 4months ago), but used a modified washer to hold down the rear e-brake shoes to the backing plate. Has held up.

Also on one of my front shocks, i had stripped the threads & used a stack of washers until the nut grabbed at the top of the shock......that lasted about a yr until my OCD kicked in and replaced it.

[rmdashrf]

a lot of rack boots i have bought for other cars come with zip ties standard. I always use clamps though.

In my last E30, the speedo lead that goes to the diff broke. I needed to wire it back together, but for some reason it was too tight.

I went through a junk drawer and found an original game boy charger. i cut a piece of that and got the length of wire i needed to reconnect it. Of course, twisted and electrical taped. on the underside of the car.

It worked for nearly two years until the car was rear ended and totaled.

[Panici]

When doing springs and shocks, I was surprised to find that both of the lower spring perches/trailing arms had rusted bad enough that the center locating piece was no longer attached!


Made some new ones from 1/8" wall tubing and welded on some caps, only to find that the perch was too rusty to start an arc (even after grinding down the scale.)


Used some two-part "cold weld" epoxy (This stuff was supposed to be stronger then JB weld) to put the new ones on.

They've held for two years - I've been checking regularly. (granted I haven't put that many miles on in that time)





I don't feel too bad, the previous owner was driving the car for years with no spring perch center pieces.
Unless you completely unload the rear springs, they aren't going to move around on the perch. The H&R Sport springs are still long enough that even at FULL droop with the car jacked up and the wheel off, the spring is still seated top and bottom.

Subframe refresh is happening this spring, along with better condition used trailing arms.