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

[florida_dirt]

I can't take credit for this, but the PO of my e30 used (small) binder clips to hold the grills in place. Works great and is easier to remove than the oem slide on clips!

Dude I was just trying to think of other options for these that's awesome

[dnguyen1963]

will that work on a temporary fix. like say I'm outta town and a hose gets a small leak? really

Which hose? Vacuum or radiator? I bet that if you put a blob of the putty and wrap it up with duck tape it will get you home until you can have a permanent fix. The one place that this putty works great is the aluminum elbows connecting to the throttle body. A lot of people use JB weld to fix the leak here. I find the putty to be much better and it can be removed very easily.

[Mr. Tasty]

I remembered another one. lol. My E30 is a pile :p

When I did my 5 speed swap, the brake light switch didn't quite reach the pedal far enough to activate it. So I used a washer and some electrical tape to make a spacer that activates the switch. It's been that way since 2006.. I guess I meant to make it more permanent, but it's worked for so long I sort of forgot about it until now.

I did that with my vert when I 5 speed swapped it. I used a nickel instead.

[WhatWentWong]

Discovered my rear "Brake pad wear indicator" senor wire broken at the connector.
So instead of removing the damaged sensor wire and replacing it, I used the copper strands of a piece of wire I had, and jumped the connector on the body side and reconnected the broken sensor wire. No more light on.

This.

[WhatWentWong]

1) E30 late fog light swap to HIDs - I didn't want to ruin the original housing caps with a hole in order to allow the HID wires to come through. So I found two vitamin bottle caps that fit the housing exactly and punched through those instead, secured on with RTV. Dad basically had 2000 Vitamin B3 pills in open bottles for the next 2 years or so :D 9 years now, no leaks.

2) Adjustable Clutch stop - a long bolt and a piece of rubber garden hose ziptied to the end to soften the contact.

3) Strata manager was complaining about my oil leaks. It's the upper oil pan gasket. Not wanting to actually deal with the oil leak (it's a symbol of age for an E30), I fabbbed up a thin plastic drip pan and bolted it on. It held a lot of oil and dirt and the combo would just hold oil and not drip. It got ripped off a few years later and by then the condo was older and nobody cared anymore about automotive fluids being unsightly.

4) alignment done with a meter stick, lazer pointer, masking tape and a large white wall. It's a beaut. I'll let you piece it together :)

[Kershaw]

I used a rubber chair leg cap from home depot and RTV'd it onto the end of the bolt for my clutch stop.

[Northern]

I used a rubber chair leg cap from home depot and RTV'd it onto the end of the bolt for my clutch stop.

:rofl: I used one of the adhesive backed felt ones. 6 years stronk.

[nando]

I bought a bunch of rubber feet for a stool when I made my clutch stop. The first one lasted 8 years, and I still have 4 more in the box.

[4x4_e30]

The manual trans I got for my conversion had the epitome of a worn clutch fork pivot pin. The clutch fork had been riding the metal on metal so long it wore all the way through the bellhousing, in a U shape matching the outside profile of the clutch fork. I ground the crap out of it then TIGed the hole shut. Still running strong.

[rcsoundn1]

It's essentially an OEM zip tie.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...W_3_M20_PL.JPG

woaahh strut bar FTW

[QUKBMER]

Have any of you ever used a bungee cord to use as a throttle cable ? I had my cable break and i popped the hood to open but of course did not open it all the way up. Connected the bungee cord to the throttle linkage and put my hand/arm out the window and pulled on the cable to throttle the car home about 6 miles or so. 1 time temp use of course.

[nando]

I've heard of people using string or fishing line. Good enough to get you home..

[QUKBMER]

I didnt feel like waiting for a tow truck. I said f*ck it and pulled a McGyver.

[nando]

I didnt feel like waiting for a tow truck. I said f*ck it and pulled a McGyver.

of course - that's what makes owning an E30 awesome!

if you had been a new BMW driver, you would have promptly towed it to the dealer - gotten an invoice for $15,000 - and been forced to sell the car at a 40% loss. probably traded in for a new, FWD, 15 speed automatic 3 cylinder turbo model - the iX7M35il, LCI. :p

[petrolhead]

Zip ties on a couple vacuum lines tbh

That's not even close to questionable. That's a solid option.

+1
They can hold on a bunch of things :D. I've used them even to hold CV joints' rubber boots in "emergencies". If you get everything settled nicely there's no way they come off accidentally.