Finally Restoring This E30...

[ZM Blue Devil]

Love it!

[Pino]

Thanks for all the support and kind words everyone :)

Boominchu - I'm in baltimore city. If anyone in the area needs detailing done, hit me up. www.enthusiastdetailing.com I see you're in college park, i've been meaning to do one of your starbucks meets with Richard and Gus for a while. Hopefully I will sometime soon.





Ok so I'm getting a lot of interest about leatherique and I finished the whole process up today so let's talk...

Here's a good step-by-step for anyone who'd like to know more specifics: http://www.detailedimage.com/Ask-a-P...r-care-how-to/

Overall I'm very happy with leatherique's results, but I think I put too much stock in the internet's before-and-after shots. Photographically speaking, my results werent terribly dramatic. The big difference for me comes in the tactile sensation you get touching the leather. What used to be cracked, dry, and rough leather is now pretty darn supple and soft. The driver's seat in particular had some bad wear that of course couldnt be solved, but the damage is definitely minimized. The most important part for me is that further damage will be prevented. Now that the leather is much softer and moisturized, it'll prevent further cracking from my daily use. Remember, these seats have been sitting for a while. These cracks and tears probably happened years ago when the interior was in use. If I were to suddenly start using this leather again, following years of neglect, and without treating it, the cracks and tears would escalate quickly. Not any more. I probably used half of the oil that comes in the 16oz normal bottle on this treatment, and I'll use the other half for when the weather is hot. Since it's pretty cold out, I left the oil to cure for 24hrs, then applied another lighter coating, and waiting another 24hrs. So a total of 48hrs for the oil to work it's magic. Then an hour for the Pristine Clean to set in, and I wiped away with a warm damp cloth that I left behind for my pictures. Here's my result...




The rear seat came out GREAT. Here's the only "before" shot I have, from the previous owner which makes it look better than it really was:



And now:




I also did the same for the leather on my new Mtech 1 wheel. The old airbag wheel was disgusting. Torn to hell and was even so bad that Greg's (now ex, thank god) girlfriend gave him some stupid wheel cover. Plus I hate the idea of a 22yr old airbag punching me in the face. Without a doubt the mtech1 wheel is my favorite bmw steering wheel. Which is odd because it's probably the cheapest and largest of the M wheels. I picked this one up for $75, but I wish I had held out 20 more minutes to check my PM's on r3v where someone was selling a perfect one for $100. Either way, I've always wanted an mtech1 wheel and I'm very excited to drive with this thing now. I treated the new wheel with the same leatherique process, but wrapped it in plastic and regularly heated it up with a blowdrier so speed up the impurity-removing-oils.






That's about it for now. I'm waiting for "B-boots" on e30tech to mail me my Mtech cloth boots but he's a *$#(ing sketchball who decided not to ship and is now ignoring me.

[Pino]

After messing with the front bumper, I finally managed to paint another one I had laying around from my first e30 and mount it. No more cracked bumper! I also painted the front indicator lenses red to match the rear and to go along with the black/red scheme. I really like em. Much more than I thought I would.

Before:



Now:





New mtech boots! I got these from a one of the forums. Someone by the name of Matt-B sells them for $25. Too good to be true, right? Right. They're not cut properly whatsoever for the shape of the boot frames. And that's *IF* the guy ever sends them to you. He sketched out on me twice and on the third attempt finally shipped them out, 2 weeks late. Don't buy from him. He's banned on R3v for a reason.




One of my favorite parts of driving is being able to blast music. I know it's got nothing to do with the car itself, but it definitely ads to the experience of driving. I've always appreciated a good sound system, though I've never bothered to really fiddle with them before on my own cars. Which is odd, because I probably get more enjoyment out of driving with my music than most car items I tend to spend money on. Typically BMW sound systems are good, especially this e30's OE Premium speaker setup, but this one's completely blown out. Plus it has a horrendous headunit in there that eats CDs, is probably 10-15yrs old, has lime green lighting, and arrow-buttons instead of a dial for volume adjustment. So I went on crutchfield to see what's available. I typically use them to feel out the market and see what fits. I rarely will buy from them. This time included.

Pioneer headunit
Crutchfield price: $115
BestBuy: $60 shipped

Pioneer 5 1/4s speakers
Crutchfield price: $120
BestBuy: $63 shipped

So for $123 I got an awesome bump in audio performance. Even if the original premium speakers were functioning well, as in my red e30, there would still be a noticeable difference. I'm no audiophile, all I know is it sounds awesome. I'm very happy. This was also my first experience wiring/soldering speakers and a headunit which was fulfilling. Couldn't have done it without Richard.





Matching amber lights!




Gus, Richard, and I absolutely had to knock out the guibo. The vibrations were horrendous. On my first trip driving the car, I made it only 50yrds down to our neighborhood stop sign before I heard the *clunk* *tink tink tink tink....* of a guibo bolt falling off onto the road. I heard it once more on the highway a week later. So yeah, that's right, I only had one bolt holding the guibo onto the transmission. I ran it like this for about 60 miles too haha





Irrelevant cleaning of the driveshaft shield haha





A Z3 shifter setup was absolutely necessary on this car. We did it while the driveshaft was out and there was plenty of room. I can't emphasize how sloppy the shifter felt before this. That side-to-side motion you get in neutral was the same for when you were in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. The shifts were like rowing a canoe and it vibrated like crazy when you went into 5th gear. For $100 you can completely revamp this part of the car with a shorter z3 1.9L shift rod, cup, connectors, etc. And when you think about it, you as a driver only have 3 points of contact with the mechanics of the car: steering wheel, gas pedal, and shifter. Improving the shift sensation means a world of difference for a driver's car. I also did a simple $10 clutch stop to remove that absurd pedal length. I havent driven it yet, but I'm very excited to report back.





Other car updates...

Gus's car: still broken thanks to Bavarian Auto Recycling's incompetency for the second incorrect shipment in a row. Great job guys.



Richard's car: still broken too. After replacing every hose and belt he could think of, it's the m42 head that's cracked. No bueno.




I gotta have the exhaust welded up to fix a major crack, then she gets all buttoned up and I can finally drive her safely with all these new upgrades!!! Yay!

[thowes24]

Sub'd! Can't wait to see more results from the project!

Your projects are making for some good inspiration as well! Can't wait to get started back on my E30. I've read through your red E30, E24, E46M3, and now this project tonight! You've done some awesome work man! keep it up!

[MazterDizazter]

Moving right along with this project; nice! I like how the cardinal seats have a pleasant "well-worn" look to them. Reminds me of an old leather armchair :)

[kamotors]

great job

[BavarianAddict06]

oh my. keep it uop!! sooo clean

[MikeDE]

Nice work....it inspires me to get to work on the Touring i've had sitting around for a year.

[leaf...]

Just awesome. I love the story that goes along with it. I've had cars that I 've followed for quite some time trying to buy them, so I know that awesome feeling once it's finally yours.

[M-technik-3]

Brrr, looks cold outside there working in the dark. I've been there and don't want to venture down that path for working on my cars. Heated garage is where it's at.

[deutschman]

Nice work man! Great detail in all that you do. Cant wait to see more.
4th point of contact, and maybe the most important: your ass

[el bimmer]

Awesome story and the car looks great!

[getouth]

This thread is what it's all about "grassroots". Keep it going !

[kid325e]

These are the kind of stories that build "character" for the car itself. It's almost as if fate kept it in good hands untill you could ultimately save it. The results make me want to hit the garage and get to work..Well done, sir.

[Kcaps]

This is an awesome thread!! Great build man, and as many have said, great motivation for my new project. I'm sub'd and am looking forward to your updates. BTW, I love the stalker aspect, it's awesome.