my kid's future e30

[jaye30]

do like.

(edit* your e30)

[jhowell]

Found a hood! Installed the other night, already looks 100 times better. Still working on straightening the fender, but it's close. Valance should be a snap and then I'll get the lip mounted.

Recently I've replaced lots of little bits; I have a ton of parts collected to replace over the next couple weeks (ignition, cooling).

Recently DONE: brake switch, trunk roundel, OBC relay & lightbar, hood shock, hood, foglights, trunk seal, shift & ebrake boots, various fuses & relays, oil cooler grill, fuel filler rubber, weld seat tabs, new gas & oil cap, rear shock mounts, probably some other stuff.

Need to ASAP: finish body work, fan clutch & fan, thermostat cover, weld seat frame, aux fan resistor, coil/rotor/cap/plugs/wires, antenna & grommet, oil filter housing seal kit.

Need to SOON: head gasket, oil pan gasket, various other assorted seals & gaskets, motor mounts. Probably in a few months when I do timing belt & water pump.

[jhowell]

Just finished replacing rear shock mounts - I did the e46 w/ Z3 reinforcement plate upgrade. The old mounts looked good until I pulled them off - there was about 1/2" play in each one and the inner sleeve just fell right out (pics soon). Awesome. That might explain the clankity-clank I was having. Feels pretty solid now.

On the left (driver) rear wheel there's some play when I grab at 9 & 3 but not 12 & 6. Not wiggle & shimmy play, but side to side like forward back play. Is that wheel bearings, or maybe trailing arm bushings? Or is that normal?

Thanks for any input!

[chelelise]

amazing!!

[ZM Blue Devil]

more pics to go with the text on this beauty!

[jhowell]

:) wow - thank you!

I've had the car for 10 years, but I've only been working on it myself for about 8 months. It got some pretty bad damage about 5 years ago that was purely cosmetic, I kept changing my plans with the car and never fixed anything - now I'm finally getting it back in shape. The pics above don't show the right front corner where the damage was - I'll throw up some before and afters.

[jhowell]

Before:


I'm scheduled to have someone pull the fender and valance better than I could sometime this week.

Here're some before & afters of shifter boot & shock mounts:






I'll try to get some full car shots tomorrow. Poky Little Puppy FTW.

[jhowell]

Finally had a chance to wash & wax and snap a night shot:



I'm moving north in a few weeks so all projects are on hold until then. As soon as I'm settled I've got head gasket, oil pan gasket, and some other drips and leaks to take care of.

[jhowell]

update

Long overdue update:

Finally got settled in Portland. Took awhile to find/unpack/sort all my parts I've slowly been collecting. Installed some Corbeau GTSII seats - I really like them so far but they sit a little higher than I'd prefer - my head clears the headliner by about 1 inch. I've heard that over the next few months they should settle a little so we'll see.

I'll take some pictures later today (damn it's cold).

All maintenance is finally up to date - I had the chance to do everything I've been wanting to bumper to bumper. Replaced all fluids (Redline for diff., Swepco for trans.), transmission seals, motor mounts, timing belt/water pump, thermostat and cover, all ignition components including coil and wires, fuel hoses & filter, water hoses, fan & fan clutch, oil pan gasket, oil level sending unit o-ring, camshaft seal & o-ring, center support bearing (flex disc was in great shape, was replaced 2 or 3 years ago), adjust valves. Car feels amazing - it's NEVER been this smooth in the 10+ years I've owned it. Mighty impressive for 230,000 miles - German engineering ftw!

MUCH thanks to Ric at Sheltie Motorsports for picking up where my experience & confidence failed.

Cosmetically I've replaced the foglights, got the IS lip mounted, & pulled the fender as best I could. I'm still trying to decide if I want to straighten the fender or just replace it. I have some euro grills waiting for the fender repair. I did the super ultra ghetto Autopal H4 lowbeam upgrade - they're definitely better than the stock lights I replaced. Winter studs should be mounted tonight (picked up some cheap b-caps - was going to paint 'em black but they're in great shape so we'll see).

I'll edit with pics hopefully tonight.

[vlad]

this kid knows which car is going to be classic soon



Racing

[jhowell]

Incredible! Great kid there Vlad - he's got a mean stare! How old was he when you started him on the karts?

[jhowell]

Winter tires are on. Here are some pics, I know - they're not that great. Hopefully I can do a proper photoshoot soon.

[scabzzzz]

Nice to see some adult style posting, with a clean and classy E30 to boot.

Good job!

[jhowell]

Nice to see some adult style posting, with a clean and classy E30 to boot.

Good job!

Haha - thank you mr. Scabzzzz sir, I do appreciate it!