My "Great White Buffalo" restoration.

[goskidmark]

Clean looking e30, the cluster is killer.

Good work! I like that you choose to rebuild instead of replace.

(And yes, also jealous of your cluster :) )

Thanks guys for the compliments, I could not have reached this level of completion without this forum and the people that are apart of it. I still have a ways to go yet.

[goskidmark]

Back in business.

The new plug wires came in yesterday from Jegs, after nearly three months of the kit being on back order.

The Lego car now?


I must say it was worth the wait. Back in an earlier post I pulled out cylinder #6's spark plug(Pictured Below) and came to the conclusion that It was not getting any spark. I was right and wrong at the same time. It was getting spark, but not enough to even ignite the mixture during combustion.

Before the new wires. #6 (You know... 40 posts ago)


I am now firing on all cylinders. No more idle stutter, throttle lag, and all the power is back. I now know that I was down two cylinders now instead of one. Those plug wires were shot. A few Ohms checks on the bench and it was all over the place. Continuity checks on #6, #4 failed, while #1 was a weak positive. I guess 250,000 miles on one set it pushing it anyways.

[dugly52]

Good work! I like that you choose to rebuild instead of replace.

(And yes, also jealous of your cluster :) )

[325isman]

E30

Clean looking e30, the cluster is killer.

[goskidmark]

Not much new besides a shifter that was overpriced. Also, sport seats! I'll wait until the leather is worn out to put the new fabric kit on from 9 Stitch.

[goskidmark]

I performed some general maintenance the past few weeks. I replaced the right rear bumper trim along with a new rear parking light. I also had the time to take the valve cover off and snug up all the rocker arms clearance to the respective 0.25 they needed to be at. I did some minor rust repairs to various metal brackets in the engine bay and painted them with some pretty neat corrosion preventive aircraft paint. a new gasket was installed as well.

I did not want the color white, but that's all I could find at my local hardware store, but it will prevent further pitting of the aluminum surface.



The oil cap was also replaced. I was at the scrap yard and I yanked it off a 2002 BMW 7 series. It fits, and seals better than the round cap. I will be doing rust repairs soon in the most common areas. I will post pictures of the process in steps so it can be used a guide. Most people find it extremely daunting to perform rust repairs, but all it really takes is time and a proven step-by-step process. Aircraft... E30... Same same if you ask me.

[goskidmark]

I decided to search some scrap yards for a "new" LSD. Sadly, there's not much left of any E30 a few days after it arrives to the yard. I did however find a few E36's with prospects of a nice engine swap.

New badges for the Buffalo.


Toolbox I found at the scrap yard. I excellent condition too!


Better condition non-clogged fuel vapor tank.


My fuel tank was becoming highly pressurized after a 30+minute drive. I hope it was due to the clogged tank, and not the charcoal canister in the engine compartment.

On a side note: I don't think I will be stripping the car just yet. There's just a few spots of rot, that I can patch up until I decide to spray on new paint. Instead, I will be acquiring an E36's M50 and fully rebuild it on my stand.(Maybe set it up for a small amount of boost.) When I do the swap is when EVERYTHING will be refreshed. It's not going to be cheap, and I understand that.

[goskidmark]

Back home.

I'm back home from my final deployment, and I wanted to address a few issues with the Buffalo.

New tires and a detailing job that took quite a while. I have new side markers that are awaiting installation as well.


#1 The sunroof.




I will rip it out and repair and replace everything. I think the E30 looks pretty lame with out the sunroof in my opinion.

#2 The nasty headliner.


This eyesore will be fixed right after the sunroof repair.

#3 The radio. DONE. The unit is dirt cheap, but it's the closest modern head unit I could find that fits the time-period look.


#4 Fuel gauge problem. Fixed. These things are expensive. The picture below is the old units.


#5 Back seats. Finished. I'm no wizard, so fitment is as good as I could make it.


#6 Get an ODB I reader. My reader is a damn good one, but this adapter did not work with my ODB II reader, nor my friends. You can gamble if you'd like, but I could not manage to get a single reading off of it.


So I plan to disassemble the entire car this year and make all the metal repairs myself using a rotisserie. I will be mounting a few cameras for a time lapse/explosions video that I will upload with some tasteful music so you all can watch if your interested. More updates to come!

P.S. I like these rims!

[goskidmark]

Drivable.

Many man hours later, she's off the jack stands and back on the deck. I cleaned up the garage so my wife could finally have a parking spot after five months.


The side view with the sport springs:


The list is far from complete. It still leaks oil from the oil pan seal, and I have a small fuel leak. I just need it to drive to my next duty station. I also have to "tap" my cluster for the cooling gauge to work.

[goskidmark]

Don't shiny parts make you feel better?
Of course surrounded by non-shiny parts leads to mission creep!
Where are you getting your parts from?

I do enjoy shiny parts, but it takes pretty penny to make everything new. I don't make much, so getting new parts is budgeted to "need" most of the time. I splurged on the coolant tank, when I could have restored it myself, as I did with the brake fluid tank. Most of my parts come from Pelican, but almost always a third party that copies factory specifications.

[doorman]

Don't shiny parts make you feel better?
Of course surrounded by non-shiny parts leads to mission creep!
Where are you getting your parts from?

[goskidmark]

The waiting.

I tore apart the M20 to find the leak. I found two hoses that were leaking and the stock water pump was shot.


Fixed, and installed. Torqued to 22nm.


I'm still awaiting on the timing belt kit to show up, and a slew of other parts. I'm sick of looking at the nasty coolant tank so I ordered a new one of those as well. I still need to perform a compression test, as well as the leak down test.

[goskidmark]

New things. Waiting on more to come in.



Update on the oil coming out of the exhaust: It's most likely the valve seal. Fun stuff. Still have to do a leak down and compression test. I will post the results when time permits.

[goskidmark]

I had the time to take off the oil filter housing and replace every o-ring and orientate the housing a little above a 45 degree angle.



I took off the remaining exhaust header and found oil leaking out of the number one exhaust port.




The plug is clean. Too clean. I suspect a no fire on this cylinder. Time to replace the spark plug wires, and check the output of the coil. It ran like this for a while it seems. All the other plugs indicate normal wear and some darkening of the ceramic insulator from it overheating.


I only noticed a jumpy idle when warm. It bounced from 800 to 1400 at times, and other times it idled smooth. The jumpy idle is mostly due to a vacuum leak. I will do a compression test as well as a leak down test to monitor the condition of the piston rings. I know the compression will be lower than normal due to the mileage and wear on the motor. The oil build up in this case would be normal if the motor ran without number one firing for a period of time. Worst case is that a valve seal is shot, and oil is leaking into the cylinder. However, this is unlikely, due to the plugs appearance and electrode being so clean. Then again... I could be dead ass wrong.

[goskidmark]

While I was waiting on a few little parts to come in, I thought I'd figure out my idle problem. Yoink! I managed to rip the booster grommet while removing the vacuum line. It was old and crusty anyway.


I found one of the problems. I might have to tap this and make my own fitting, or cap off everything and only keep the booster vacuum. I want to delete most of this crap.


I know I chose a lemon to restore, but I love lemonade. I'm also pretty sure someone at Pelican parts drives a new Porsche because of me. Your welcome.