Toughest job in an e30?

[golde30]

I'm surprised you didnt say swapping an M42 into another M42 car. LOL!!! That was the worst, most pathetic swap, EVAR. :D I can't come close to saying I didn't have fun with it though.

LOL, we could have done that swap in a day if we werent being so retarded...:drink:

[Ray Smoodiver]

Replacing the sunroof cassette.

[einstein57]

when i replaced my dash i noticed i have new heater core lines so looks like i won't have to worry about that. tabs are worse than sub bushings unless you have the special tool. the only pain with doing the rear subframe is the diff. The most annoying thing so far has been the passenger side control arm. That bolt under the exhaust manifold is a pita. Especially when you have to do it twice cause you didn't realize they sent you 2 left control arms. Oh and replacing your shocks and springs w/o removing the shock body was interesting.

[Republic]

Changing the driver-side strut housing and brakes...which turned into outer tie rod... Let me explain.

Here I am, an E30 virgin, conducting his first swap. A buddy and I pull the motor/trans out of a 325i and put it into a 318i. Put a nice 3.73 LSD in and we are about ready to go - however, the 318i had been sitting in someone's damp garage for the past 2.5 years and the calipers/rotors and everything else connected were badly rusted. So my E30-experienced freind leaves for a week on business and I am stuck with the job. I figure, no biggie.

Unfortunately, the outter tie rod is being a slutzor and won't come out of the housing. Guess who didn't know there was such a tool for this? Yeah, this jackass right here. After a while, I get frustrated and start beating the hell out of the tie rod - thereby ruining the bolt. After a couple hours, I say "screw it" and I sawzall the bolt off. I had another tie rod attached to the stripped car - no biggie, I can afford to lose this one.

Well, now I can't get the outer tie rod to pull from apart the inner. Couple hours go by and I am no where close to being sane. If there had been puppies around, I woulda kicked the cute little puppy breath out there mouth, kittens would have been thrown into the dryer, and then I would have called PITA and told them to suck it.

Completely frustrated, I started decided to grill up some steak burgers. It was late, and no one I knew had a blow torch to get this rusted POS apart.

Then, I just realized - I had charcoal.

Fully equiped with my thick automotive gloves, fuel pump access panel, and 6 flaming-red coals, I perched my arse under my car and cooked my tie rods. 10 minutes later, they came apart like butter. Happy as a Lezzy in an all-you-can-eat clam bar, I took the rod off the other vehicle in like fashion.

Now, I am glowing in my achievements - ready to conquer anything that comes my way. I put the "new" outter tie rod on, put up the new strut/housing/caliper thingy, and go to screw the tie rod into housing -


Son of a #%#@%#@!!!! The threads were shot on this bolt also...

This is my nub-story, there are many nub-stories like this one, but this one is mine.

[willybustaE30]

i would have to say, pullin the tranny when you have a stuck slip yoke.
pulled the diff & let it hang on the half shafts, then pull the drive shaft
to get the trans out.
them upper bolts on the diff are knuckle busters.
not hard just a nuisance.

[franco90]

you can swap out the wiper motor without removing the wiper assembly. just be sure to install the motor, cycle it once and then, and only then, replace the wiper arms.

reason: if the motor is out of sequence the the arms will turn down and gouge the paint.

next time I will remeber this part

[einstein57]

This is my nub-story, there are many nub-stories like this one, but this one is mine.[/quote]

A Bronx Tale?

[franco90]

Lol

[ejnight]

clutch was a pain in the ass even with help.

[Republic]

Full Metal Jacket

[einstein57]

this is my rifle, there are many just like it. yada yada yada. jarhead

[bolognablake]

Yeah, not really looking forward to the subframe bushings now.

Thanks.

:mrgreen:

[Jand3rson]

We did a dash swap in less than 2 hours 2 day.

Oh man, the dash swap was a bitch when I did it. Mainly because it's hard to get everything back where it goes originally. We were left with a small handful of hardware when we were done. :shock:

But I agree that everything is hard the first time you do it. Shit, I can have my whole driveshaft out, heatshields and all, CSB and flex disc replaced in under an hour because year before last, I had to pull and reinstall it like 8 times in the span of 2 weeks. Good times.

[einstein57]

my dad was shop foreman for pacific bmw and he waffleswaffleswaffles not understand how i learn to fix things so quickly. After i broke three trannys,two motor mounts, and for axles in four months on my gti i could replace my tranny on the ground within and hour. Told me it takes him close to two but he hates vag.

[franco90]

this is my rifle, there are many just like it. yada yada yada. jarhead

LOL been there done that