New member: 84 Henna

[HennaE30]

Hey R3v, new member here. I've been a lurker here for a long time. Im a 16 year old guy. I have always loved the E30s. Me and my dad are building a Spec E30 for him (and eventually me) to race in BMW CCA. So I know a fair amount about E30s, but bear with me if I have questions.

Now onto the car.

She is an '84 Hennarot 325e, 5 speed manual. She runs pretty strong, although the motor has a misfire. The interior is pretty good, couple panels under the dash are loose or broken. There are a couple cracks in the dash (but my dad said I can have the almost perfect dash from his SE30 and he will take mine) but overall the interior is alright. there are a couple problems though. It needs a shifter bushing (and the carrier is loose, so ill have to look into that, any help on troubleshooting? plan on troubleshooting it tomorrow after class), It has a misfire, the passenger window wont go down (planning on troubleshooting within the week) and it needs a wiper motor. Overall I think its a good platform to build on. Future plans are to drop it, get some wheels, euro or plastic bumper swap, and a motor swap (a buddy of mine is gonna sell me his S52 from his M3 as an excuse to get an S54, or I may swap an M30 or M5x motor, I am open to suggestions). Consider this my build/resto thread.

Please excuse the crappy phone pictures


This was at the POs house when I picked it up.


On the trailer ready to go home


ETA motor, PO installed a Spectre cone intake


Interior isn't too bad, couple panels are broken, crashs in the dash, the shifter boot is torn, there are no tears in the seat though


Dash shot, the car has 243,xxx miles on it


Me in the car


PO's bumper tuck. Opinions on this? im still in between on it


Took the sunroof screen off and gave her a bath. This is how she sits now.

Will post more in depth pics tomorrow, but that's all for now

[JJe30]

Henna is a good color. Welcome

[HennaE30]

Thank you, appreciate it. I agree, it's one of my favorite colors along with Delphingrau. I'm thinking about bout getting some ESM 004s or Varrstoen V3s

[codrum]

Looks like a great platform. Henna with euro bumpers is one of my favorite setups, but it's hard to make Henna look bad.

[mbonanni]

I vote m30 swap.

Super clean car, what seats are those? As for the bumper tuck, I think it looks good to an extent. I think yours are pushed in a little too far for my liking.

Welcome!

[einhander]

84 Hennas need chrome kidneys.

Good start. Enjoy it.

[lambo]

Man I want a henna so badly...

[HennaE30]

I vote m30 swap.

Super clean car, what seats are those? As for the bumper tuck, I think it looks good to an extent. I think yours are pushed in a little too far for my liking.

Welcome!

Thank you, im not sure what seats they are, I will have to look into them. Im not sure whether im gonna hold onto them or pick up some iS seats or something cheap like Ciphers or Corbeaus. And im really between M30 and S52 because ill also be doing a buddy of mine a favor by getting his motor off his hands so he can go through with his S54 swap. The bumper tuck was PO's doing, they are temporary until I can find some plastic or Euros.

84 Hennas need chrome kidneys.

Good start. Enjoy it.

Thank you, I definitely plan to enjoy it and already am, I love my car. And the I thought the same thing before I bought the car, but its definitely growing on me. the plasti dip is peeling off so Im gonna see how it looks with the chrome and ill make my decision from there.

Looks like a great platform. Henna with euro bumpers is one of my favorite setups, but it's hard to make Henna look bad.

She is a great platform, I havent found a single spot of rust on the car other than about a half dollar sized spot near the battery tray. I will be jacking up the rear of the car tomorrow to look for any rust or worn out parts.

[HennaE30]

So today I got home from school and Jacked up the front of the to do some inspection on the front suspension and to change the oil.

Doesn't look to bad overall, brakes look good, about 45% wear on the pads. The tie rod ends are going to need to get changed within the next 1000 miles or so. Steering racks leaks on both ends so thinking instead of rebuilding this one im thinking of getting an E36 rack for the shorter ratio. FCABs look in pretty good shape, assuming they've been redone in the last 10,000 miles or so. Shocks and springs look good, will probably swap em out pretty soon for Bilstein Sports and H&R sports respectively, or I may buy some BC Racing coilovers, haven't made up my mind yet. Both the motor and tranny mounts are still intact but pretty worn. (Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of this stuff)

Changed the oil and oil filter while the front was on stands. I used Mobile One high mileage full synthetic 10w-40 oil and a Fram high mileage oil filter. While taking it on a test drive before I bought the car heard the power steering pump whining so I talked to the PO about it and he said he drained the PS fluid because he liked driving without PS, so I filled that up along with oil change.

While the car was up I also looked at the shifter problem and discovered that the carrier was loose as well as the shifter bushing being shot. So after a little looking I found that Pelican Parts selling a complete OEM shifter rebuild kit for $112 so im going to compare that to an aftermarket short shift kit and decide which I want to go with (looking at Rogue Engineering's shifters mainly). Also noticed the guibo was completely shot, and theres a bolt missing as well, so that's going on the list as well.


That's her up on stands for the first time


The destroyed guibo with missing bolt, a new one will be ordered by the end of the week as well as a new timing belt, and cap and spark plug wires (if changing the spark plugs and running injector cleaner doesn't fix the misfire)


PO's exhaust, it sounds pretty nice, any idea what it is? I couldn't find a brand or anything when I looked at it, will post an idle and rev video if you guys are interested.


Spectre cone intake, anyone got any comments on this product?



This is my dads beauty of an M3, its an 05 Interlagos Blue E46 M3 with the competition package and it is the current track rat. Will post more pics of it and the Spec E30 if you guys are interested in it.

[HennaE30]

So today was pretty uneventful, changed the spark plugs (didn't fix the misfire). I jacked up the rear, all the bushings looked good. Got some good news about the shifter though, apparently Z4 shifters will fit on E30s? The guy is for sure about late models, but doesn't know about early models, can any of yall say if this is true or not? itd be a big help.

I vote m30 swap.

Super clean car, what seats are those? As for the bumper tuck, I think it looks good to an extent. I think yours are pushed in a little too far for my liking.

Welcome!

To answer your question, I found out they are E30 comfort seats. I will probably be getting rid of them, looking for some iS's.

But I need an opinion from the R3v community, about my kidneys, I grabbed the chrome kidneys off my dad SE30, just to see what it looks like. Now keep this in mind, I plan on doing a plastic/euro bumper swap and shadowlining.


How she is now, with black kidneys


snatched my dads kidneys, just to see how it fits, what do you guys think?

[2mAn]

Nice car, I love Hennas and early models. great first car. I vote with the chrome kidneys, it will work better with either of the bumper choices, but especially if you get euros. Cant help you on the shifter problem, but early models do have a different carrier than other, and I also dont think the short shift kit will fix the problem, unless the kit includes new bushings. I'd get rid of the intake also, the stock airbox is fine, and all that one does is draw in hot air from the engine bay. Exhaust looks like a cherry bomb muffler and random tip. That wont help or hurt anything, Id just keep that until you swap the engine. Good start though!

[e30_luv_]

To answer your question, I found out they are E30 comfort seats. I will probably be getting rid of them, looking for some iS's.

The seats are not comfort seats, due to the two tone cloth fabric pattern, and also the style of the seat. They are an upgrade over comfort seats in most minds, and also mine. If you could post a picture of the seat itself, that could aide in identifying what seat they are, and help you in selling them with a proper description.

Thumbs up on wanting sport seats [iS] and also for wanting to M30 swap. A torque monster and a good platform if you ever wanted to go forced induction.

[HennaE30]

Nice car, I love Hennas and early models. great first car. I vote with the chrome kidneys, it will work better with either of the bumper choices, but especially if you get euros. Cant help you on the shifter problem, but early models do have a different carrier than other, and I also dont think the short shift kit will fix the problem, unless the kit includes new bushings. I'd get rid of the intake also, the stock airbox is fine, and all that one does is draw in hot air from the engine bay. Exhaust looks like a cherry bomb muffler and random tip. That wont help or hurt anything, Id just keep that until you swap the engine. Good start though!

Appreciate it, and after talking to my dad, he said i could have his carrier equipment out of his 88 SE30 (because his is going to bolt straight to the trans) which will allow me to have more options for a shift kit (and ill buy all new bushings when i do it). I will be going to a local Pick N Pull junkyard, so ill look for an OEM airbox while im there, and thank you for the exhaust info. It sounds pretty good so ill hold onto it, i don't plan on doing any motor work (besides maintenance/getting it running right) due to the fact that it may not fit my M30/S52.

The seats are not comfort seats, due to the two tone cloth fabric pattern, and also the style of the seat. They are an upgrade over comfort seats in most minds, and also mine. If you could post a picture of the seat itself, that could aide in identifying what seat they are, and help you in selling them with a proper description.

Thumbs up on wanting sport seats [iS] and also for wanting to M30 swap. A torque monster and a good platform if you ever wanted to go forced induction.

I stand corrected, the comforts were the closest i could find, so i assumed, and you know what they say about assuming. And being a poor high school student, i wont be going for forced induction for awhile, M30/S52 (getting a great deal on the S52) is the most i can stretch.

[F34R]

Put the s54 in it from the e46 M3, just wait for your dad to go out of town or something.

Nice Henna and welcome!

[HennaE30]

Put the s54 in it from the e46 M3, just wait for your dad to go out of town or something.



Nice Henna and welcome!

Lol, my friend from school said the same thing. My dad would kill me even tho it'd be wicked, and to be honest I could pull it out, I love that car too much. And it's too amazing to pull apart.


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