I'm Down To One E30 (And New Daily Driver!)...

[Ben Carufel]

x2

I think our pal was high on some good stuff while posting.

[kellie]

WTF?

x3. Bears aren't blue.

[VacMan]

I do believe he's talking about the Green Machine, Carufelites.

Tim

[Farbin Kaiber]

Maaaaybe INS logos with the close-ness to da border. But forest fires? Bad joke for San Diego-ites right about now.

[UCBeau]

x3. Bears aren't blue.

blue bear r teh watching u masterbate!

[Ben Carufel]

Bump for an update. Here's the post I wrote out for Bimmerfest just now:

I don't think I've ever actually posted pictures of her, so why not...

I just spent the better part of 4 days (spread out over 3 weekends) in my garage, laying on the ground underneath her replacing a few things:

- Transmission.
- Transmission Mounts.
- Exhaust Manifolds.
- Motor Mounts.
- Oil Pan Gasket.

A few of those things came about as "While I'm In Here..." types of fixes, but all were definitely needed.

The story is:

My girlfriend is a Master Tech at a local BMW dealership. The car was traded in to her dealership with 260,000 miles needing a new transmission and exhaust manifolds. One owner, bought from that dealership and serviced there all it's life, etc. When the owner received the quote for the new transmission and manifolds, she decided to trade the car in and buy a new 5-er Touring. My girlfriend immediately started pestering the used car manager at the dealership, since she knew I had been on the hunt for a decent touring for a while...

I ended up buying the car and driving it for 5,000 miles before the transmission finally gave out for good and the exhaust sounded like open headers. Parked her for a month and located all the parts I'd need, then set in on the work.

She needs a good detailing as well as a few other mechanical things -- a couple of power steering hoses, new underpanel & fender liners, etc.

While she was up on jackstands getting her transmission replaced, I sent the wheels out to be straightened (yes, Style 5's with 260k+ miles get WAY out of round), centers sprayed Nogaro, lips polished, then reassembled with cadmium plated bolts. I then had new Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position tires mounted. Treadwear of 180, I believe -- they're not gonna last long...

Future plans include OEM '01+ E39 headlights with angel eyes and HIDs, an M5 front bumper and mirrors from DDM Tuning, and a really, really thorough cleaning. After that, who knows...

Anyways, on to the pics. I think she looks damn good for having 265,000 miles. I've got to have the paintless dent guy give me quote to do her -- I think there's only one panel that has no dings or dents to speak of.

[eric (^__^)]

My girlfriend is a Master Tech at a local BMW dealership.

daaaaang

[Ben Carufel]

daaaaang

That's the usual response. Fact is, she's just a normal girl who likes normal girl things, it just so happens that she is mechanically minded and chose to go into the automotive field.

[eric (^__^)]

my reaction was more "dang what a catch"

not "dang girls aren't supposed to like cars"

[NC325iC]

i think its gettin close to changing the name of this thread to oh no i dont have an e30 i cant see that deal getting passed up

[zookie]

I know the feeling. Girl down the street models, drives an e39 528i, and oh, wait, who's takin her to prom?

<---- This guy! ;)

[eric (^__^)]

the thread title really should be "Bet with God. He lost."

[James Crivellone]

you swapped ANOTHER automatic into it? Pansy :p

[kellie]

you swapped ANOTHER automatic into it? Pansy :p

We thought about the 5-speed swap, but the problem with that is that we're just too damn lazy. It was enough of a pain in the ass to replace the automatic, and that's a pretty straightforward R&R. I guess I'm spoiled, but if I'm going to do a 5-speed swap on a car, I want a lift and air tools and Perrier and a man with big muscles in a grass skirt to fan me while someone plays the harp.

[Ben Carufel]

We thought about the 5-speed swap, but the problem with that is that we're just too damn lazy. It was enough of a pain in the ass to replace the automatic, and that's a pretty straightforward R&R. I guess I'm spoiled, but if I'm going to do a 5-speed swap on a car, I want a lift and air tools and Perrier and a man with big muscles in a grass skirt to fan me while someone plays the harp.

+1. What she said. I wasn't about to deal with the nightmare that would be swapping a modern BMW with all those fun electronics over to manual...