New member, my first E30, from the Bay Area. NEW QUESTIONS EVERY DAY!

[Navarone]

Didn't notice is better than noticing it looks like total shit. It's a win in my book, albeit a shallow win.

[Navarone]

Looks like pelican parts had that dome light bracket. Part number 54-12-1-884-483-BOE and I bought the last two. They're in the mail with two brand new dome lights. YAYA!!




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[Navarone]

New member, my first E30, from the Bay Area. NEW QUESTIONS EVERY DAY!

Hey thanks blunt tech!! Got my composite oil pan gaskets.



Anyone want to chime in and recommend anything else to check, fix, replace while I have the oil pans off? I notice the oil pressure light stays on for about 10 seconds when the engine is cold.

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[Navarone]

Any tips on oil pan stuff before I dive in?

[Navarone]

New member, my first E30, from the Bay Area. NEW QUESTIONS EVERY DAY!

Crack a Fat Tire.


Open a box of freshy fresh parts.


Break stuff, open another bottle.


Get annoyed at wiring.


Fix it and save the princess!

[Navarone]

More new parts!


Hanger bolt isn't long enough?


Drill and grind it out, use old one. Can't weld so I added lock washers to both sides.


New hangers!!!


No more bailing wire.

[Navarone]

New member, my first E30, from the Bay Area. NEW QUESTIONS EVERY DAY!

Gross sun roof track.


Foamy foam.


Brushy brush.


Greased with white lithium, works a treat now! But what's this broken piece?


Didn't take a 5th pic, so here's one that shows just how happy I am with my new dome lights, sun roof, and exhaust hangers!

[2mAn]

Isnt it nice when the little old things start to work again?... reminds me that I need to fix my dome lights, amongst a million other things

[Navarone]

Careful, if it's old plastic they'll just crumble in your hands.

[Navarone]

What's the deal with the plastic thingies?


Why don't they match up?

[Navarone]

Finally got new tire smell spritzed on my wheels!


While it was on the lift I was able to poke around at the suspension.

Bad bushings.


Bad ball joint on left side.


Rear shocks look factory, just black with no markings. Didn't get pics.

[Navarone]

New member, my first E30, from the Bay Area. NEW QUESTIONS EVERY DAY!

Got the new ball joint in, now the wobble is 90% gone. Also put just the driver side M3 bushing in because I didn't have time to do both, can't tell much difference. Old bushing was pretty bad, but not torn through. I'm guessing all the wobble was from the ball joint and not the best alignment. Tomorrow I'll put in the right bushing and see if I can tell any difference, and get it professionally aligned.

Taking out the control arm was easy. Jack up car, set on jack stand, zip off some nuts and bolts, hammer it a little and it drops out. A word of advice, the inner ball joint was in pretty good and I had to hammer on it and ended up messing up the thread a little bit. Luckily my buddy has our combined weight in snap on and matco tools. Like a metric thread file.... What?! Look it up. The right way would be to leave the nut on to protect the thread and hammer on that. Inner ball joint was me only stuck part, California car that leaks like a sieve, so almost no rust or corrosion, only rust was inside the lollipop bolt holes. Nothin spun either, that's always nice!

The hard part was yanking off the old bushing then finding something the exact size to press it out. I ended up cutting a piece of bar stock the correct length and it came right out. I used the same size bar stock to press in the new one and dented it, but it's only cosmetic.

The ball joint just pressed out after we found the right size socket and lined it up on the shitty shop press we had. New one went in after we started it with a hammer to make sure it went straight. Used a big ol' socket to protect the cap.

Sorry, no pics, didn't want to be late for another date. You can imagine my hands covered in grease, a bunch of cursing, some lube, a shop press, a big fucking hammer, and a wheel that doesn't clunk. Oh and a big smile on my face. And I fixed my car. Badumpish.

[Navarone]

Got the other bushing in, had to drop the control arm, it makes the job way easier.


Haha not pushing out.


New and old.


Still drives the same as with one. Pulls to the right a little, tiniest bit of shake. Very happy to get it done though! Now I only need a dozen other bushings to get the thing to stop clunking.

[WarpedRotors]

Nice progress man. I'm about to replace the control arms, bushings, etc on mine.

[Navarone]

Thanks, it's coming together. I still haven't done the oil pan gaskets, I'm kinda dreading it. Good luck with yours!