2nd e30, 87 Lachssilber Revival

[Reichart12]

Well, with a pile of parts, it's time for an update. I've had a bit of a weeping oil leak. It would leave a small drop but never enough to need to add more oil. I don't drive much and would only drip when engine was on or just after driving. I've ignore it but after the second autocross event of the year, the drop become more substantial. I was hoping it was the cam seal or crank seal and figured it's probably time for a timing belt as well.











As I started tearing things apart, the coolant looked fine. I checked the dipstick too and that also looked good and not that low, yet. Pulling the front of the engine apart is fairly uneventful. My oil level sensor wire is pretty trash, I think that's a leftover issue from when I had the stroker engine. Something to think about at a different time. But anyways, I dug deep enough to see the cam seal. It looks fine/dry enough. The head is covered in grim but doesn't appear to be originating from the cam seal. I replaced it anyways.











I had bought a timing belt kit from Race German so I also had a valve cover gasket, t-stat, and water pump so I installed them "while I was in there". Took a few minutes to clean the valve cover, makes a big difference. Maybe this summer I will paint it black and polish the ridges. I think that's the best look for a valve cover, extra points if it's wrinkle black.







I get the timing belt and other items back on. Timing is still good, no mistake there. Didn't get around to changing the crank seal. I thought I had something to hold the crank hub but maybe that didn't make the move to the West coast with me. Wasn't feeling strong enough to break the crank bolt loose and didn't think that was my main leak, so I put that off for another time. Once I got everything back together, I went to bleed the coolant and before the engine could get to temperature, I noticed a healthy oil leak coming from the head gasket tab area near the front header. It was more of a constant stream than I remember so I quickly turned the engine off. Pulled some pieces back off and the cam seal looks dry so I don't think I messed that up. But now I'm leaning towards the head gasket being bad. Not too sure of my next moves or things to test but looks like more repairs are in my future. I don't think this amount of a leak can be ignored or managed by topping the oil off.

[AWDBOB]

Good to know. I keep an eye out but I'm stuck with west coast tax. I think about reshelling but don't see it as an immediate need to do. I'd like to give rust repair a shot, even if the chassis gets tossed after my attempt. Why not try to learn welding on something junky to begin with. Unless a crazy deal pops up, I'll own this car for at least a couple more years. At this point I'm sentimental so I would like to make it last.

Agreed- if you have the ambition to delve into rust repair, the best option is often to fix what you have.

[Northern]

At least the rust pictured is mostly stuff that you can buy repair panels for - front jack point, fender arches (although probably painful to repair with the pinch/schutz/restricted backside access)

[Reichart12]

A rust free shell with hoopty paint is not out of the question, but will take more time and resources than anticipated to reshell as you’ll want to do everything while you’re in there.

I sold two very low rust bad paint coupe shells in ‘23 for around a grand each, so when you find the right shell they don’t cost much.

Good to know. I keep an eye out but I'm stuck with west coast tax. I think about reshelling but don't see it as an immediate need to do. I'd like to give rust repair a shot, even if the chassis gets tossed after my attempt. Why not try to learn welding on something junky to begin with. Unless a crazy deal pops up, I'll own this car for at least a couple more years. At this point I'm sentimental so I would like to make it last.

[AWDBOB]

You point out a very real problem of someday rust repair and painting this car... I would then care more about how it looks and would no longer be able to be rough with it. I'm not sure I'm a person destined for clean shiny cars.

My general hoopty rule of thumb is to keep them safe and water tight. Slow down the rust as much as you can, and enjoy it for as long as you can.

As soon as shiny is the objective things are typically harder to enjoy by way of driving unless you are a psychopath, have F U money, or a combination of both.

A rust free shell with hoopty paint is not out of the question, but will take more time and resources than anticipated to reshell as you’ll want to do everything while you’re in there.

I sold two very low rust bad paint coupe shells in ‘23 for around a grand each, so when you find the right shell they don’t cost much.

[Reichart12]

That's awesome progress on the brakes!

The rust is concerning, but fixing that leads to paint, which leads to not being able to use the hood as a work surface, and that just wouldn't be efficient in a small workspace.

You point out a very real problem of someday rust repair and painting this car... I would then care more about how it looks and would no longer be able to be rough with it. I'm not sure I'm a person destined for clean shiny cars.

[roguetoaster]

That's awesome progress on the brakes!

The rust is concerning, but fixing that leads to paint, which leads to not being able to use the hood as a work surface, and that just wouldn't be efficient in a small workspace.

[Reichart12]

Pretty lengthy photo update. I've been working over the past two months to replace the brakes, yeah I'm slow. But I am doing pads, rotors, calipers, lines, parking hardware, and master cylinder. Only things I didn't change were the ABS unit and brake booster. Spread out everything on my workbench to work through it all in order.









Overall, it all went mostly smooth. Rockauto sent me a wrong caliper so after trying to get that on for a couple hours I measured it and noticed it was too small. Exchanged that but had to wait a couple weeks for the new one to come in.





Progressively got more and more sad as I looked under the car at various areas of rust. Some of which are junkyard worthy write-offs for the car. Who knows what will happen with this chassis moving forward.







Because I've had the front to rear hardline develop multiple spots of rust holes, I wanted to run new lines everywhere. I fresh purchase of a flare tool from Eastwood and cunifer lines (as recommended a couple years ago in this thread), lines were so much easier to make than with Harbor Freight or Craftsman items. I matched the general shape of the old lines but my bends are not as precise or tight, leading to some wonky looks once everything was back in. If I were to redo, I would probably go off script, bend what I want, and progressively check the fit as I go.









Went for a E32 master cylinder. It's slightly larger than stock E30 and should have a stiffer pedal. I think. We shall see if I can notice it after this is all done.









For the rears, I changed the parking brake hardware. Would probably recommend new backing plates as my driver side one was rusted and the lock pin took a bit to sit in the whole properly. It wanted to tear through the weakened material. New parking cables required pulling the old ones out. They were seized into the body tube pretty good. Used some vise grips/ locking pliers? to grab the cable where it meets the tube and twisted with a lot of force to break loose. Entertained myself by watching the Rolex 24 while doing this part. I need a garage TV.











Almost done now. Still need to adjust the parking brakes and bleed the system and I'll be back on the road.

[Reichart12]

Just a few days shy of 10 years of ownership. Figured I'd post some recent photos for the occasion.

I've been able to enjoy the car in the late summer through the fall and would occasionally just go out drive to take some photos. Parking the car for the next couple months to hopefully get around to replacing the brake line and I got a timing belt kit to put on. Can't believe I've had this engine as long as I have. Also still debating if I should replace the gas tank or not. It's rusty and had leaking issues a few years ago but now I never fill up completely and always park on flat surfaces so I don't see any leaking.

Looking into doing the E32 master cylinder with the brakes. And probably sticking to the early model tank with dual pump set up. Undecided on stock booster or change there. Would really want to remove ABS module so I can put an air filter box to the end of the ITB plenum but dang, should probably stop deleting work parts.

Anyways, on to the photos...




















Had some fun taking photos of the car with different focal lengths so the next three are 18mm, 70mm, and 200mm. The car didn't move and I tried to maintain same amount of frame coverage in each for a better comparison.











Made calendars again for next year but switched from landscape photos to car photos I've taken. I think it turned out pretty nice.

[Reichart12]

Long time no update. Not sure why but I just haven't been motivated to do anything with the car lately. I did get a new TPS put on. Genuine BMW 13-63-1-721-456. Fixed the wiring too, well got the order correct. I don't know any better so if someone has comments about the connectors I use or a better way to set that up, let me know. One other thing I noticed was tightening the bolts down hard, squeezed too hard and hurt the smooth sweep. So tighten all the way, back out just slightly. Perfect sweep and readings now.

Made it to a cars and coffee with the car. People seemed confused with the engine. That's what it's about.

And the local auction house does a collector car auction in May every year. One of the cars was a M3. Euro's don't typically do great in this crowd. Made it to 52k, I think, but reserve not met. Not sure if sold after or not.

[digger]

Considering I didn't even realize this was a thing, good chance my issue is here. I'm using the e36 vTPS that was recommended by RHD.

Last time I had everything apart I was adjusting the throttles but had the TPS installed on the end so maybe that started it at the wrong spot. Looks like a have something to do this weekend now.

I don’t know about that particular sensor and setup of it whether it’s slotted and needs to be clocked etc but need to check voltage open and closed and that it’s continous. Then make sure the 0 and 100% in the software has the right voltage

[Reichart12]

You will never get it tuned with tps dead spot. I don’t know what tps you have etc but Are you sure it is clocked correctly?

Considering I didn't even realize this was a thing, good chance my issue is here. I'm using the e36 vTPS that was recommended by RHD.

Last time I had everything apart I was adjusting the throttles but had the TPS installed on the end so maybe that started it at the wrong spot. Looks like a have something to do this weekend now.

[digger]

You will never get it tuned with tps dead spot. I don’t know what tps you have etc but Are you sure it is clocked correctly?

[Reichart12]

As long as it sounds badass at WOT it’s worth it.

That's coming eventually. Haven't had a good chance to really get on it yet!

[2mAn]

As long as it sounds badass at WOT it’s worth it.