Bringing my dad's car back to its former glory and beyond

[Codym42]

Good job on the e30! Was the car garage kept? The paint looks really good for the age and mileage.

Also digging the Probe. I recently got into the Mazda world (I have an MSP). The KLZE seems like a great engine from all of the swaps/builds I've read about

[sam_]

looks awesome dude

[dadsbmw]

Aaaand update time.

I havent updated in quite a while because things were kind of on hold due to my stereo.

Started off by getting keyless entry from a guy here on the forums, I forget all the details at the moment and I'm a bit too lazy to find it, but it's just a generic keyless entry that has the awesome design feature of having a key/remote in one piece, ala mid 2000's vw's. It's a great design and works well, but after having it for close to a year the original key/remote is pretty much done for. I moved on to the backup remote a few weeks ago...


Somehow when I smoked my front turn signals the wiring got mixed up and despite my efforts I couldnt get the driver side signal to blink correctly. Eventually I decided to cut my losses and just buy Depo smoked turn signals to replace them, which not only fixed the problem, but also look better.


Before


After


And in the sun. The slight orange coloring of the signals doesn't quite look right with the yellow laminex on the fogs, so I'm considering replacing it with clear...


Another idea that really started growing on me was Euro grilles. For some reason people are frequently trying to sell these used in the $100 price range, when in reality you can buy them new for $70. Wasnt gonna fall for that one!


Passenger side US spec, driver's side Euro


Euro all around


Oh yeah, much more aggressive


Oh! And my girlfriend got me a GearSwitch cupholder as well! It's a great design and has the added benefit of holding my gigantic 1.5L Nalgene as well as a cup of coffee. I will say the idea is great, but honestly the fit an finish leaves something to be desired. The fact that its 3D printed leaves a very specific texture to the piece that to me seems more like a prototype than a finished product. Eh, what are you gonna do? It can even hold Safeway soup and oyster crackers!


Although Nothing was actually wrong with my antenna, there always seemed something amiss. Upon further inspection, I realized that there was some sort of fused link that made it look like it never fully extended.


Plus it was obviously old and worn and wasn't looking it's best. Look at that stubby little weirdo.


So I went on antennamastsrus.com and ordered a ~$13 replacement. Must say I'm very happy with the end result and ease of installation. It's also fully chrome, which keeps with the general color scheme I'm aiming for with this car.
Old antenna retracted... all black


New antenna retracted... bright and shiney


And fully extended... nice and erect


Now lets move on to the stereo. I decided I finally wanted something good sounding in the car and to see what I could come up with that would be relatively inexpensive, but still good quality. Started off with a Pioneer DEH-80PRS head unit, as it seemed like a pretty great price/performance ratio.


Then went for the crowd favorite Dayton Audio ND25FN 1" Neo Silk Dome Tweeters




And after searching around for Dayton 5.25" woofers to match the tweets, I ended up with Silver Flute woofers via a suggestion instead. They have rave reviews and only cost ~$20 a piece!




For the trunk I purchased a Hifonics BRX5016.5 5-channel amp, Image Dynamics ID12 D4, and a 12" Lukebox. While it seems to be the usual practice to get a 10" Lukebox, I wanted a 12" as I don't have a rear ski pass and it vents thru the parcel shelf instead.

After running this setup and having problems with the box/install and the amp failing after 6 months of use, I decided to push the envelope a bit and ordered Precision Power P900.4 and P1000.1 amps as well as a Sundown Audio SA-12 D2 sub. Thankfully I was able to completely offset the cost of this purchase by selling some old audio equipment that I had sitting in my garage and which would most likely never be used again.

What a monster!


In the box


Amps mounted


Wired


And installed


After turning the "gain" on the amps up to ~33% the sub cut out on a low note on one of my first practice listens. I immediately looked up possible culprits, and came to the conclusion that at the very least the "Big 3" would need to be performed. While doing research I observed the general consensus that E30's really only need the a "Big 1" performed, which consisted of replacing the stock (and likely worn) engine to chassis ground, and upgrading the alternator to starter power cable.

First I removed the grounding cable, as it was by far easier to take off. It's not super clear in the below picture, but that is one worn out busted piece of wire.


Fresh and clean 2 gauge welding wire.


Copper terminals


Crimped and heat shrink wrapped


Side by side


Then I moved on to the alternator to starter power cable. It's run in the wiring harness so it's removal was much more difficult, and eventually involved cutting and pulling from either end. I'll also add that while the ground wire looks to be 2 gauge (or at least very close) this power wire is much smaller... something along the lines of 8/10 guage? Seems pretty weak considering the rest of the wire from the starter back to the battery is ~0 gauge.


Got a good picture of the crimp this time. Had to buy a special tool and clamp it in my vice to make sure its on there tight!


Finished product


I'll add that I had to order this stuff in quantities larger than I needed, so if anyone's interested I have enough left over to make 1 more positive cable and 12 more grounds.

After installing the new cables I took it out for a test listen again. While it was able to hit MUCH harder with the new cables in place, I think the fact that I have 2 large amps is simply drawing too much for stock alternator. Thankfully I realized this was probably going to be an issue and ordered a 115amp alternator last week. Should be here Wednesday!

Lastly, one of the issues with the stereo install was that the template which came with the box was written upside down, so unfortunately this resulted in some very nice initial cuts with a 3.5" hole saw


And ended up with some very unfortunately looking ovals


Today's project will be to recover the above parcel shelf, as it needed new fabric anyway, and fix the ugliness... stay tuned!

[dadsbmw]

Thanks! 205/50/16... says in my signature and was asked earlier in the thread

[bmwsone01]

Nice! What's your tire size?

[dadsbmw]

haha no, me. Whats up Steven!

[Polaris15]

Oh hey, I sold you a glove box latch!

Who me?

[Steven]

Oh hey, I sold you a glove box latch!

[Polaris15]

Awesome! Best looking Probe I've ever seen. I used to love the look of these back in the day. Must be the pop up headlights :)

[dadsbmw]

Couple pics and description of the Probe? Love the e30 but I'm curious as to what a highly modified Probe entails.

So for those who don't know a Ford Probe is essentially a Mazda Mx6. Has a Mazda KLDE 2.5L V6, quoted as being the smoothest 6cyl BMW never made! haha!

-completely gutted interior
-motorcycle battery
-yonaka coilovers
-17x9 style 5 replica wheels
-245/40/17 Fuzion tires
-Mazda 626 rear sway bar
-Mazda 6 full brake swap I believe 12.5" up front and 11" in the rear?
-ss braided brake lines
-3" cold air intake
-75mm Mustang throttle body
-custom built IM with 3" neck to ~ 4" plenum with velocity stack runners
-Ebay OBX headers
-custom 2"-2.5" downpipe
-2.5" electric exhaust cutout
-2.5" exhaust piping to g35 muffler to side exit exhaust (sounded pretty good on my old PGT project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkYLQiHrX7w )
-75hp wet shot of nitrous
-Fidanza 9lb flywheel
-Clutchmaster stage 2 clutch?
-Megasquirt 2 (if I can ever get the damn thing running)

Pieces waiting to go in:
-Japanese KLZE engine (200hp instead of the 165hp stock)
-race grind Colt cams
-Interprep upgraded valve springs (these motors can rev upwards of 9k with basically just valve springs and an external oil pump... of course cams and a better IM help as well)
-Mercedes C32 AMG twin screw clutched supercharger (needs to be rebuilt and a mounting plate/intake piping built)

hoping for roughly 200whp NA in current setup revving to ~7500 tuned with MS and around 230whp with the KLZE, cams, and springs revving to ~8500. In stock form the car weighed in at 2760, so completely gutted and stripped I would have to guestimate its closer to 2500 now, which should make for a pretty decent hp/weight ratio... especially when adding nitrous or *gasp* 14psi of boost from the supercharger (which with the stock crank/snout pulleys is pretty much what it would make)

People have made upwards of 550whp (not for long) and a good number running over 350whp reliably on a stock internals KLDE.


Engine bay as a quick fit before the KLZE goes in. Want to get the car running with MS and the new IM/TB first, so things are rather messy...



Yonaka's and Mazda 6 brakes



Ignore all that is "wrong" with this picture... its purpose is to show the side exit exhaust



and a better view of the side exit



With Yonaka coilovers when the STR wheels/tires first went on, before fender rolling



Front view


Keep in mind it is completely in project mode right now...

[cali_e30]

awesome.

[DesktopDave]

I really enjoyed that thread. Great work! I did the same with my Dad's car after he passed away. I always felt both proud and sad, somehow. I'll bet your Dad would be thrilled with your work, and glad that a car he clearly loved was well-kept.

[Polaris15]

Couple pics and description of the Probe? Love the e30 but I'm curious as to what a highly modified Probe entails.

[dadsbmw]

I lived in California and my dad lived in Colorado, when I was growing up so he and I did tons of interstate trips over the years. He was big on road trips...

[evoDRichie]

Im curious as to the mileage! where did your dad get all them miles??? looks great BTW keep it up!