Just Bought My First E30

[blunttech]

Just checking to see how youre coming Clay. Looks great. Are you bringing this to Vintage?

[e30trooper]

very good! Welcome

[MT325is]

Wow your doing some work, i love it. Keep it up man!

[geoffp]

Great build thread, car looks great!!

[coolflow]

cup holders are perfect.

!

[agent]

This is a proper build thread. Keep up the good work!

[Norwegian]

Love the cup holders dude!!!! :D

[ClayW]

Voltmeter

I decided that I needed a voltmeter. Who doesn't want a constant, digital monitor of their car's operating voltage?

I ordered some inexpensive digital voltmeters from China and did surprisingly little work to fit one of them into a disassembled E30 stereo fader. Since there is not simpler wiring than that of a voltmeter, the installation took less time than a battery swap.

Here are the results:





*Yes, I can see that I need to screw in my knee bolster.

[djmoska]

Great built... might have to steal a few ideas from you keep it up :0

[ClayW]

Does the antenna bolt on directly to the bracket of the original?

No. This replacement antenna secures itself at the body mounting point and comes with a universal mounting strap to secure it at the bottom.

[korky]

Digging the cupholders. Might just steal that idea.

[ClayW]

Cupholders

It seems that, even by the early 1990s, BMW still maintained the preposterous presumption that one should focus on the road when driving instead of eating, drinking or engaging in the most appropriately set version of the board-game "RISK". I have a busy life; when else am I going to catch up on emails, shove a full meal down my throat and/or knit a sweater? So, Bavarian engineers sought to force their "road safety" agenda on we the drivers by not including cupholders, stand mixers, blenders or card tables in our cars. I decided to remedy the first one; I'll let you know when I get around to the others.

I bought a couple of plastic cupholders from eBay for about $5 shipped. I then cut up a perfectly good emergency brake console. I scribed out the circles for the cupholders, then made some seriously ugly holes.



This was also a good opportunity to learn how to use fiberglass and Bond-O. Ever wonder how people get really good at something? They suck at it first.



Some body filler for the imperfections:



Then a whole lot of sanding with a few Bond-O coats in between:



Then some paint and installation:



Though the color isn't such a contrast in reality, I'll likely repaint it to a darker gray. It could also use a little more "bodywork."



Most importantly, it holds beverages.

[JinormusJ]

We have similar builds hah
I really like the documentation of all the little things; anyone can drop a cat and make it look good, but all the small attention to detail things are what's really cool.

Loving the drop height, and the engine bay looks fantastic. Keep it up!

[ClayW]

Next up: Brakes

The brakes seemed okay when I got the car, but when going through the suspension, I noticed some cracks in the soft lines. So I ordered a set of stainless soft lines and some caliper rebuild kits for good measure. As it turns out, I really needed them.

Front calipers removed:



Check out the sludge inside:



The rear calipers were just as gruesome:




Cleaned, honed and with new seals installed, they went back on the car with the new braided lines.





This job was an enormous pain to do, especially the rear brake lines that should have been done while the subframe was off. It's nice to have a functional and safe set of brakes on the car.

[ClayW]

Marc and Dudley helped to finish the suspension rehab, which included the front control arms, control arm bushings, tie rods and new power steering low pressure hoses and reservoir for good measure. Here is one of the old control arms.



Now for the control arm bushing. The bushing kit from www.blunttech.com came with a pair of M3 offset control arm bushings for a little negative camber.



Not having a press, I used more primitive installation method.







Then, Dudley and I set about the daunting task of squeezing these bushings onto the control arms. I've heard of people using using a wood block and a sledge hammer to pound these into place, but that method simply did not work for us. Instead, we used a set of spring compressors and a 2002 control arm bolt to force the bushings into submission.

This is only half as dangerous as it looks.



Here we are; ready for installation.



I didn't bother to document the tie rod installation, since it was pretty straightforward. Here is everything in place. Blunt's kit came with new swaybar links as well.



With it all settled in, the ride height is just right and everything feels tight.



I've identified the steering shaft U-joint as the source of the last "clunk" in the suspension and steering, so that will come soon.
Marc also came over and helped to install low pressure power steering hoses and a new reservoir.