cameras ready prepare to flash

[s14brent]

Took the e30 out on a short drive, theres a few things I still need to check, brake bias feels good now. The rears definitely don't lock up like they used too (which is a good thing! - under hard braking the car stays straight, so that's a win!) I'm only going to run the 235/45's in the rear for a while, I got a bunch of tires in decent shape during this wheel swap, so I'm going to hopefully burn them up and get my monies worth! Going to raise the front of the car also, I hate the rake, but wouldn't mind the extra pan/skid plate clearance. I'm too old for that low life apparently! Pretty excited with the progress!! I'm definitely feeling like I made the right choice by keeping it and all these little things should have been done long ago except I lost motivation for whatever reason.

[Ryan...]

Thanks! I'm wasn't sold on the pmc knob. Also, when I ordered my PMC shifter they did not offer lengths at the time, so I'm not sure the size without measuring.

Once they get back to me I'm going to order the larger knob, if I don't like it I'm going to copy you and find a nice wooden knob :)

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[s14brent]

I absolutely love that shifter setup and the wood ball :up:

Thanks! I'm wasn't sold on the pmc knob. Also, when I ordered my PMC shifter they did not offer lengths at the time, so I'm not sure the size without measuring.

i have to admit i never liked the center caps. I always put 70mm roundels (the ones that go into the center caps) directly onto the wheels. It' easy on the e30 15s, because they directly glue on, but a bit more challenging with these wheels (i have the same on my e30 m3), as the center hole is larger. I'm going to have a cap machined that only covers the center hole.

I don't plan on going to shorter studs just to run caps, I'll just leave it the way as is. This car is far from a good looking car right now. I'd love to see the machined caps for it though, so keep me updated!

[Ludwig]

[...] I'm so dumb though, I forgot I have 82mm stud conversion on there, so I won't be able to run the center caps unless I change those and my lug nuts...UGH

[...]

i have to admit i never liked the center caps. I always put 70mm roundels (the ones that go into the center caps) directly onto the wheels. It' easy on the e30 15s, because they directly glue on, but a bit more challenging with these wheels (i have the same on my e30 m3), as the center hole is larger. I'm going to have a cap machined that only covers the center hole.

[Ryan...]

I absolutely love that shifter setup and the wood ball :up:

[s14brent]

I went to get my e39 airbags checked out since I got the free inspection for the takata recall. The service tech called my car a classic, I'm not sure what that makes my e30 lol!



I discovered a leak in my e39's radiator (the one part of the cooling system that wasn't new of course!), so I ordered a new Behr radiator from FCP and got in on Saturday and installed it before work, what a dumb idea that was!






the comparison photo was taken at an angle and the new radiator was on top of the box, so it appears larger, it is not. It took a little under 2 hours to swap and bleed the system while taking a/c breaks.
The radiator and clutch fan were the only two things in the cooling system that I didn't replace during the swap, but the clutch fan was actually replaced not long before I acquired the car and is still good, but the radiator was in much worse shape than I remembered it being the last time it was out.



either way...it's nice and new, and with a fcp liftetime guarantee. While the radiator was out, I noticed that the fittings for the factory ps cooler had enough leakage around it, which was enough to get me curious and pulled off those lines just to see how bad the o-rings were...both o-rings were basically disintegrated / basically non existent... so I ran to my local bmw parts counter and got 2 of those, and finished a 2hrs before work. Everything is working great, no more seepage from both areas. All in all today was successful!
--------------------
I'm not a huge fan of the racing dynamic wheels on the e30 or pretty much the wheel choices I have for my e30 with e36 m3 front suspension/5lug. I may have impulse bought some style 5's today. The fronts are 17x7.5 +41 e36 fitment which I guess is pretty rare, rears are e39 17x8's. I'm so dumb though, I forgot I have 82mm stud conversion on there, so I won't be able to run the center caps unless I change those and my lug nuts...UGH






the top pic was from the for sale ad. 2nd one is inside the e30 in case I decide to swap the tires over ASAP. I don't think there's a shop in town i'd trust to take apart the wheels and polish them right now, nor do i want to pay for that really so I decided to fix the curb rash here at home. started rough at 80 grit then moved up to 220, 400, and stopped with a 400 wet sand because it was actually getting shiny and all i really wanted to do was fix the edge.




I'll have the fronts mounted first, I may have found a deal on a set of 17x8's with tires that I could use for burners.

---update----

here are the fronts mounted up




rears with cheap 235/40/17



I wanted a front strut bar purely for reinforcement of the front towers. I got rid of my UUC bar and picked up a cheap megan racing bar. I'm still not sure if I'll run the actual bar, but definitely wanted the endplate that covered all 3 holes vs just 2.





The bar is silly high. I might be able to fit a fist under there, but it does the job and the plates/fitment is spot on! also....I do have a megan racing carbon bucket seat...but I usually don't like talking about that much lol

[s14brent]

i really like how your e30 is sitting, and although i'm no great fan of overfenders, they look great on that car!

Thanks, I wanted more wheel clearance but in all honesty the standard kamotor flares don't add much at all. In hindsight I probably should have gone ultra-wides, but I thought the standard ones looked better lol.

--------------------------------------------

I should have done a few things differently, but now I'm trying to put this thing back together and have some fun with it even if the changes are minimal, more creature-comfort things.

I put a red bulb sleeve on the coolant temp gauge to match my somewhat fading gauge cluster. I might need to look into fixing the bulbs on the cluster in the near future.



threw the nakamichi cd400 back in and ran an aux cable since I decided to keep the car



I decided to upgrade the oil cooler thermostat....I noticed one of the fittings on the derale thermostat was sweating after a 20-30 min drive. I went with mishimoto because it came with fittings and the heat sink, the earl's was the same cost (no fittings) and both earls/mishi have different thermostats you could throw in there 165/180/200F, but I kept with the 180 temp (close or same as derale). Anyways, I ordered it on amazon and it arrived with 3 of 4 fittings, so they had to send me a new one which got delivered today (sunday).



added high temp thread sealant, mishimoto includes dowty seals also, but the oil cooler thermostat is such a pain in the ass to remove (not to mention the waste of 6.5qts of oil). hopefully this fixes the last real issue I know of.



Install was messy and unavoidable....going to fill up with oil before the sun comes up and check for leaks when the engine noise won't piss off the neighbors.



got kind of annoyed at the way the cooler line was routed and decided at least one of the fittings needed to be changed from straight to 45 or 60 degrees. Only thing I could find locally was a 45 degree.



I also trimmed one of the hoses to the oil filter cap (not shown) just happier with the cleaner setup now.



Here's one of that corner all put back together



also....another thing happened today, sold my s1000rr - pretty bummed but happy the e30 will be getting attention.



the e30 will have a safe place here as long as I can get some use out of it! can't wait to dial it in and do a track day already!

[Ludwig]

i really like how your e30 is sitting, and although i'm no great fan of overfenders, they look great on that car!

[s14brent]

Same thing happened with my Recaro SEs

https://www.2002parts.com/bmw/recaro-seat-parts/rec-strap-kit.html

These straps are great but they started to tear up the foam underneath

PERFECT!! Thanks, btw did you order 1 strap kit and 6 hooks? I'm getting kind of confused by the verbage on their site.



"If you're converting from the single sling-type suspension to our 3-strap version, you'll need to order 12 securing clips to fit the straps to your seat pans.)"

[2mAn]

I also fell through the passenger seat recaro bottom seat support while doing a thorough cleaning (when listing it for sale), I need to order new straps/hooks (only found some on ebay in poland or something) - so meanwhile I swapped the seat rails and I'll order the replacement parts next time I need something off the bay.

Same thing happened with my Recaro SEs

https://www.2002parts.com/bmw/recaro-seat-parts/rec-strap-kit.html

These straps are great but they started to tear up the foam underneath

[s14brent]

Super lucky finding that front in a junkyard!

sure did...but i held onto it for almost half a year before I found the rear. Ebay has the copy rear bumpers for $300+, I think I paid $150 so i'm about $500 in total with paint supplies which is phenomenal since I wanted to keep the costs down on the daily.



---------------


I also decided to work on the e30 during the storm last night. I swapped out the vdo temp sensor and the 52mm coolant gauge works again. I also decided to make the car more enjoyable for me and put the cheap race seat back in after doing some adjustments on the seat height. Also threw my wood shift knob back on. I definitely think keeping it is the way to go. I don't know wtf I was thinking







I also fell through the passenger seat recaro bottom seat support while doing a thorough cleaning (when listing it for sale), I need to order new straps/hooks (only found some on ebay in poland or something) - so meanwhile I swapped the seat rails and I'll order the replacement parts next time I need something off the bay.

[jpod999]

Super lucky finding that front in a junkyard!

[s14brent]

Where'd you get the bumpers for the touring?

I got the apparent rattle canned front bumper at the junkyard for $50







The rear bumper I sourced locally (luckily) in a part out (i picked up a bunch of interior bits and the rear lowering links from him. The rear bumper was alpine white. I got both bumpers prepped and painted by a friend of a friend who did a great job paint matching.



Both bumpers are not oem, but the rear fits great for a k/o and the front is decent enough to get my by for the price.

[jpod999]

Where'd you get the bumpers for the touring?

[moatilliatta]

/\

I recently acquired a wood wheel and knob.

Its and interesting feel, but feels right in its own way.