New e30 Owner!

[DanMan68]

I have been lurking around the various BMW forums for a while now looking for an e30. I finally found one in my price/non-junkyness range out in NH. On the drive home to MI however a ended up hitting a bump 10 min form my house and cracking the oil pan. Anyway, that will be fixed soon, but I had some questions about some other things I noticed about the car on the way home.

First what the PO did to the car:

Remus S/S cat-back
IX body kit w RD rear valance, Smoked Euro elips, M3 spring with Bilstien HD's.
Urethane control arr bushings,subframe bushings and rear adjustable control arm bushings.
Eibach adjustable sway bars and upper stut bar.
M3 sport mirrors
Bav Auto Chip

Here is a link to some pics that the owner had on the for sale add as I havent had a chance to take my own http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0BMW/?start=20

Questions
Oil Pan- A new one is on the way. What is the easiest was to replace it with minimal equipment? I dont have a car lift or an engine lift. But I do have various jacks and jack stands. I also have a creeper.

Skid Plate- http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=oilpan Is this a good option? It is kinda pricey, but I dont want to have to deal with any more oil pan issues.

M3 Springs- Apparently these lower the car about and inch? Is this right? I like how the car sits, but should I get different springs with the oil pan issue? The PO also gave me the stock ones.

Intake-Currently the intake is some sort of "cold air" intake. I have heard that the stock airbox is better however. Is this true? How hard would it be to find the stock one?

Gas pedal- Feels kinda stiff. Is this normal for these cars? The only other e30 I drove felt similar but it was a total junker.

Breaks- The PO said that I might need to redo them in a year or so. Is the $300 Ireland Engineering brake upgrade any good? I figure I might as well replace with better than stock at that price.

Rust- There are a few tiny rust spots in inconspicuous places, what can I do to prevent them spreading w/o major body work?

Fix seam- The interior of the car is great, but there is a seam that has split on the drivers side left bolster. How do the seats disassemble so I can fix that?

Leather Conditioner- What do you use to spiff up leather? The leather is actually in pretty good shape, but the drivers seat could use some care.

Kidneys- Should I keep them black or return to chrome? What about body color?

Also, what makes r3v differenf from e30tech? I have always wondered why there were 2 dedicated sites for the e30 in the US.

[Il Duce]

e30tech is for ricers and pussies, r3v is for ego-trippin'-conformists and assholes.

also, you asked too many questions.

[whiltebeitel]

Get an engine support bar:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=96524

Use this to support the engine in the front, taking the weight off the motor mounts. Drop the front subframe, and go to town on the pan.

You shouldn't have issues with too low of a ride height. If you hit one now, a skid plate would be a good investment. Changing the oil pan regularly is just downright masochistic.

For the leather, Leatherique.

For the rust, I've had sucess with cleaning out all the rust (dremel, file, whatever) and applying several coats of rustoleum rust-converting spraypaint. You might want to do a simple "bondo" job to close the hole until you can afford/con/learn to patch the hole properly (welder)

R3v can be a little more opinionated, but we seem to have more old folks, club racers, etc. than e30tech. Still a bunch of people that can be found on both sites.

F*CK, Beaten!

[DanMan68]

[quote=whiltebeitel;1638262]Get an engine support bar:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=96524

Use this to support the engine in the front, taking the weight off the motor mounts. Drop the front subframe, and go to town on the pan.


Thanks! I will have to see if i can find a support bar like that.

[DanMan68]

e30tech is for ricers and pussies, r3v is for ego-trippin'-conformists and assholes.

also, you asked too many questions.

I guess I will just have to get a m3 and go over to s14.net lol

[///m3]

Welcome to the E30 family, I don't think you will go back to any other car after this

[DanMan68]

That's what I figured :D

[whiltebeitel]

Oh, and for the brakes, just stay with stock, upgrade the pads an fluid for now. Massive Lee makes some top-of-the-shelf BBKs for e30's. If you want something in between, a 5-lug swap can give you acess to e36 m3 brakes.

Gas pedal is fine, maybe lube up some of the joints iof it bothers you.

The stock airbox is easy to find for cheap.

Keep the kidneys black, it's easy to scuff them up and re-spray them.

[gtdragon980]

The oil pan can be a bitch to replace, but it can be done with just jackstands! Raise your car up as much as possible so you can have enough space. You are going to have to go about it by raising the engine unless you want to drop the subframe, which is more work imo. remove all necessary parts to acces all oil pan bolts like the tranny skid plate and the bellhousing at the front of the tranny. From there its pretty much unbolt and remove. But you gotta unbolt the oil pump while the pan is still on there, then just wiggle the damn thing out! Use RTV on the gasket to hold it in place on the new one! This is going to be the most convenient way to do it without using much tools!

I have been lurking around the various BMW forums for a while now looking for an e30. I finally found one in my price/non-junkyness range out in NH. On the drive home to MI however a ended up hitting a bump 10 min form my house and cracking the oil pan. Anyway, that will be fixed soon, but I had some questions about some other things I noticed about the car on the way home.

First what the PO did to the car:

Remus S/S cat-back
IX body kit w RD rear valance, Smoked Euro elips, M3 spring with Bilstien HD's.
Urethane control arr bushings,subframe bushings and rear adjustable control arm bushings.
Eibach adjustable sway bars and upper stut bar.
M3 sport mirrors
Bav Auto Chip

Here is a link to some pics that the owner had on the for sale add as I havent had a chance to take my own http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0BMW/?start=20

Questions
Oil Pan- A new one is on the way. What is the easiest was to replace it with minimal equipment? I dont have a car lift or an engine lift. But I do have various jacks and jack stands. I also have a creeper.

Skid Plate- http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthr...ghlight=oilpan Is this a good option? It is kinda pricey, but I dont want to have to deal with any more oil pan issues.

M3 Springs- Apparently these lower the car about and inch? Is this right? I like how the car sits, but should I get different springs with the oil pan issue? The PO also gave me the stock ones.

Intake-Currently the intake is some sort of "cold air" intake. I have heard that the stock airbox is better however. Is this true? How hard would it be to find the stock one?

Gas pedal- Feels kinda stiff. Is this normal for these cars? The only other e30 I drove felt similar but it was a total junker.

Breaks- The PO said that I might need to redo them in a year or so. Is the $300 Ireland Engineering brake upgrade any good? I figure I might as well replace with better than stock at that price.

Rust- There are a few tiny rust spots in inconspicuous places, what can I do to prevent them spreading w/o major body work?

Fix seam- The interior of the car is great, but there is a seam that has split on the drivers side left bolster. How do the seats disassemble so I can fix that?

Leather Conditioner- What do you use to spiff up leather? The leather is actually in pretty good shape, but the drivers seat could use some care.

Kidneys- Should I keep them black or return to chrome? What about body color?

Also, what makes r3v differenf from e30tech? I have always wondered why there were 2 dedicated sites for the e30 in the US.

[whiltebeitel]

Remember: Be thin with the RTV. Big globs are just gonna force you to re-do it later.

[DanMan68]

Thanks guys, hopefully the pan will get in this weekend and I can be back on the road Monday! I will keep you posted. Might also take some of my own pics for your viewing pleasure :)

[M-technik-3]

That's the car from the greater Boston area correct?

[DanMan68]

That's the car from the greater Boston area correct?

Yes it is. The PO is a great guy and took great care of it.

[Philipangoo]

car looks really good. Welcome to r3v and the world of E30's. Sorry bout the Oil pan.

[DanMan68]

car looks really good. Welcome to r3v and the world of E30's. Sorry bout the Oil pan.

Thanks! I try to do things right ;) The oil pan should be fixed soon and have a nice skid plate to prevent any more damage. Hope fully I can keep the car from rustng out up here in MI though.