Car looks amazing ! keep the updates coming
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great job ......car looks crazy cool.Comment
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So the plan was to stick with the 4.10 ratio differential from the automatic setup, I thought I'd like the quick shifts through first and second... and I did, but not so much the 3500rpm at 60mph hahaha!
So after a lot of pleading on forums and Facebook E30 groups I managed to track down a relatively rare 3.45 Limited Slip Diff from a late E36ti. Its a straight swap into an E30, exactly the same diff but you just have to swap the output flanges over.
So... cleaned the diff back to bare metal removing all the corrosion, replaced the two output flange seals and the swapped the output shafts from the 4.10 diff over to the new one.
A nice paint job and an oil change over to Redline 75w85 (is there anything on EARTH that smells worse than old Diff oil!?!) and it was time to fit it in the car which is a bit of a balancing act on your own.
The four top bolts are a bit of a pain but I got there in the end, I honestly can't believe how good the car is underneath... even the drive shafts look like new!
A quick test drive and it was night and day, still plenty quick enough but first and second are now actually usable and on the run back it was sat at 1800rpm at 65mph which is about the same as my new diesel F30 daily... totally transforms it to a very usable and civilised car for long runs now.
Next up I had noticed an issue with the fog lights, fronts were fine but the rears didn't work.
Check the bulbs and the harness, all fine. Pulled the switch... ahhh!
Lots of electrical contact cleaner later, re-assembled and it works perfect now, rear fog lights lit right up.
I decided to treat it to a genuine BMW leather gear knob too, after all the hard work doing the auto to manual swap the plastic one felt a bit cheap.
Noticed the Air Con was cool but not cold so took it in to be re-gassed. Turns out the recovery was 29g of gas and refilled with 800g's. Must be almost a decade since it was re-gassed so I'm amazed there was anything left in there to be fair haha!
An finally the only piece of the car that needed a bit of paintwork was the lower front valance... now rust just looking a bit grey. Booked her into BM Refinishing who did some great work on my F30 and its come out looking spot on... gleaming Alpine white II... very happy!
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Wow does the front end ever look clean!
What kind of camera did you use for that front end shot?Comment
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Thanks mate, tts a Canon R5 and 28-70 f2, bit excessive for car snaps lol but I'm a wedding photographer :-)Originally posted by Panici View Post
I took it out on Monday to try and recreate those pictures you see in the 80's BMW brochures haha... I'll post a few pics below.
Last edited by MatBiscuits; 03-29-2023, 11:21 PM.Comment
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Wow that is quite a camera! 🤑Originally posted by MatBiscuits View Post
Any chance you'd share the full resolution pics? Would make some excellent wallpaper for my work computer!
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Sure no problem mate :-)Originally posted by Panici View Post
So, another day another parcel... really looking forward to getting this installed tonight if I can get a few hours in the garage :-)
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Well I got the new exhaust fitted over the weekend (more on that below!) and the sun was out so it would be rude not to go for a blast out and take a few photos on the way home. Soooo without further ado, a selection of gratuitous E30 shots!
Right, thats enough of that... on with the bits Ive been doing, the stock exhaust. To be fair it was in pretty good condition but didn't quite carry the gorgeous strait six tone through as I would like so I spent a few nights researching my options.
Everyone I spoke to on the UK forums suggested Scorpion, I was looking for something just a little louder than stock but not droning on the motorway or waking up the neighbours and this seemed to fit the bill, full stainless through to the centre box.
Thankfully, as the car is rust free the old exhaust came off fairly easy, up on the axle stands, unbolted at the centre flanges, removed the old clamps and fitted the new, offered up the stainless exhaust and just bolted everything back together.
Fired her up whilst she was still on the stands so I could get underneath to check for any blowing at the clamp and it sounded fantastic. Exactly what I hoped for, a nice deep burble without drowning out the straight six engine... no leaks either!
Next up I managed to get my hands on a Vax machine so bought some solution and pulled the seats out.
Again to be fair it wasn't exactly in a bad way but just a little dusty, dirt from shoes and a couple of oil stains from the seat rails which you can't actually see, but I know they are there... and well... OCD.
The Vax is absolutely awesome, really recommend it, did all the carpets, front and back seats, rear shelf... it genuinely looks as good as the day it was built, not bad for a 35 year old!
Before
After
Before
After
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Well, I have been up to quite a bit with my E30 since my last post… but first of all here’s a shot of it I took yesterday looking all shiny under a motorway bridge for no particular reason!
MOT Time
First up some good news, it sailed straight through the MOT with a verbal advisory that one of the rear brakes were binding slightly.
Rear Brake Overhall
They are pretty much the only part of the car I haven’t touched yet so I decided to tackle them after the mention from the MOT tester about binding. New Mintex brake shoes, Pagid pistons, BMW fixing kit and I also decided to make up and fit shiny a new set of rear brake pipes whilst I was under there too.
The hub came off with no real issues but blimey, it was a bit of a mess under there.
Drum brakes on the rear are such a faff, three attempts at getting the auto adjuster set up perfect and then some tweaking of the handbrake adjusters to get it spot on. A few hours of swearing/trapping my fingers/launching springs across the garage and they were done, all fresh and clean.
Quick test drive and the brakes felt much better and the binding was gone!
The Protection Section
Whilst I had the car up I ordered some Lanoguard, it gets rave reviews for protecting the underside long term and applies easily, thinly and dries transparent.
I wanted this sort of finish as the car is superb underneath and I didn’t want thick under seal making it look like there is anything to hide. It was a full day of the car on stands and laid underneath cleaned up and a final wash off with the presur washer and then Lanoguard applied like a dream.
Its no where near as messy as I feared and the finish is very professional looking. Finished off with the shiny new brake pipes fitted!
Door Card Rattle
Next up, rattly drivers door card had been annoying me for some time so I tracked down these anti-rattle door card plugs.
I added a little Dynamax to the inside of the door whilst I was there too, greased the window mechanism and applied a new moisture protection membrane as whoever had been in the door before left the original plastic with holes. Very pleased to see no corrosion and lots of clean paint on the inside.
Everything put back together, no more rattle, the door feels nice and solid and just to keep everything tidy I did the same to the passenger door.
The Original Supplied Specification
I made some enquiries with the original supplying dealership for the car, Park Lane as I wanted to find out what the cars original spec was when it was supplied. They were absolutely amazing and I now have the full supply list as below… apparently it had an MTech II sport steering wheel optioned… so where’s that gone haha!
It transpires that one of the unique things about the SE model is BMW allowed you to specify individual MTech accessory options to be chosen when ordered.
Finding, fixing and fitting the original supplied stereo
The main thing I wanted to know though was what stereo did it come with… a little more investigation with Park Lane and it turned out to be a ‘’Blaupunkt Dusseldorf SQR49’’.
These sell for bonkers money now, £300-400 for a mint working example. I tracked down a really nice clean one for a good price which had a faulty display and a second one which was still boxed but listed as not working spares or repairs only, hoping to make one mint stereo out of the pair.
The issue with the first one was missing display elements on the display.
Dismantled, cleaned, applied pressure, tightened screws, no luck. A little investigation with the magnifying glass and I found this break in the PCB trace to the LED screen. Fixed the trace and the display improved significantly in brightness and some of the acronyms started showing but still had missing elements on the big numbers.
Issue with he second one was it was completely dead haha! Replaced fuse, still dead.
Dismantled the spares or repairs radio, swapped the screens over and hurrah, perfect! Cleaned the tape heads, replaced the internal bulb that lights up the volume dial, put everything back together and it just looks and sounds absolutely perfect!
MTech Steering Wheel
Having seen the MTech II steering wheel on the original supply list I had to source one. These also cost a lot of money now but I tracked down this lovely example and after a couple of hours of leather cleaning and treating it looks like new.
The old steering wheel
The new MTech Sport II steering wheel before treatment
After two hours of cleaning, some black leather dye and conditioner it looks like a new one!
Absolutely love it, I have to admit it feels so much better to drive with, the standard sport one always felt a little slim for my liking, this feels much more chunky and usable. I’ll obviously be keeping the standard wheel too.
Two New Rear Tyres
The front tyres are shiny new Continentals, the back two though were dated about eight years old so I thought I’d replace them for peace of mind.
Two new Falkens fitted, very impressed so far, they seem very grippy and are rated ‘A’ for wet road performance although hopefully the car won’t be seeing much rain.
Front Valance Grill
I also ordered a new front grill cover, the one on the car is a solid cover but it should have the pass through grill as it has the air conditioning compressor radiator lower behind the front valance.
Direct from BMW Hamburg!
Rear Quarter Trim
Also this off side rear bumper trim had been randomly painted by someone in the past, presumably it had a little scratch fixed, but it was annoying my OCD so I paid £78.. £78 bloody English Pounds! for a new one direct from BMW and fitted it.
A little bit of wall art for the garage :-)
New fitted mats front and back
New rear exhaust hanger
Ive been wanting to do some (slow) moving long exposure shots so have welded this bonnet camera boom and set up a fixing kit for the camera so looking forward to give this a go in an underground carpark in the near future.
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wow, you've been busy! Great updates and improvements to the car.
I didn't know the 320i also came with drum brakes. I thought only the 4 cylinder car got the drum brakes?Comment
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Nice work! Only thing what bothers me is the color of the brake lines. I never liked the copper looking brakelines. But its probably the taste thing. :) Because mine is long way from hitting the road, i have lot of details to think about. I know there is possible to buy original brakelines and if i remember correctly they come painted and made steel not copper ? Those are much more hard to bend than copper ones. Correct me if im wrong ? But overall it looks just perfect in every way. :)
Mine is also 320i from the factory and has also drum brakes instead of discs.Originally posted by D.Martijn View Post
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Yeah its a good point, I'll get them painted black... I only left them for the MOT test so the mechanic doing the test could see shiny new metal and hopefully inspire some confidence in him haha!Originally posted by MarkoEST View PostComment
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Car looks gorgeous.
Your description of the Scorpion setup is what sold me on one for my R56. Hope my results match the promises.Originally posted by priapismOriginally posted by shamesonComment
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Not really an Es0 update but it now has a little grey german friend :-) Completely stock apart from the 15inch BBS which by complete coincidence are exactly the same as I have on the BMW!
I have had three previous Golfs but never a MK2 GTi so looking forward to getting to know it. All the underside is absolutely mint, just had the rear axle, subframe bushes, KW shocks, springs and all new front links, arms, bushes and mounts done so a great starting point.
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Great job with the headunit. I love a period-correct upgrade like that!
Interesting about the Lanoguard, can't even tell it's on there from the pictures. Did it dry with a matte finish or anything?
I wonder if it's available in north america? 🤔Comment
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