Took me a over a year, but I finally got my first e30

[z28]

I didn't show it earlier because I was busy with some stuff, but my gf got me a momo indy woodgrain steering wheel for christmas. I'm so lucky to have a girl that appreciates my passion for cars and puts up with my "projects".

New steering wheel being put to good use.

[z28]

Verily passed the smog, the NOx at 15 mph was really close to the max but the good ol e30 managed to pull off a pass for the team. Now I don't have to worry about the smog for another 2 years.

[z28]

I just got that letter from the DMV letting me know its time for a smog and registration :curse: this is the first time I have to do the smog on this car and Im nervous. At least the car drives great with the new rack.

[z28]

Got the rack done this morning, it was annoying as hell trying to line up all the bolts and collapsable column by myself, but I managed to get it done. I got a shit picture of the bracket that holds the column seal because when I had everything back together I just wanted to go for a test drive and I was tired.


Things I did to swap the e46 rack (e46 inner tie rods with e36 outer tie rods) into my 91 318
1. Trim firewall
2. Make a new firewall seal bracket
3. Lightly bend the high pressure power steering line to fit e46 rack
4. Bend the two bottom mounting tabs where the rack mounts to the crossmember to be able to take in and out the racks
5. 14mm spacers on top of the rack

I started by trimming the carpet and getting the column nut loose but the collapsable steering wheel nut was a giant pain in the ass to get loose.



Got the old rack next to the new one to measure and try to have them set at the same length. The new rack is way better then the old pos because it is only 3 turns lock to lock instead of 4 turns lock to lock.



Painted the firewall after trimming it with the dremmel.



Here is the shit pic of the bracket that holds the firewall rubber seal, its hard to see because the floor mat and footwell panel is back on.

[z28]

Gonna tackle the e46 rack swap tomorrow in the morning, hopefully it all goes well. Decided to center the steering rack tonight to cut down on the install time tomorrow.

[z28]

I have not driven the e30 in a couple days so this morning I decided to take it for a drive after the last couple days of rain. As soon as I got in the car I noticed that there was a pool party going on in the front passenger side, the foot well was completely flooded... Of course, the first thing I did was try to dry it out and then I took a quick look at the "elephant trunk" under the hood. The "elephant trunk" thing was completely clogged with dirt from top to bottom. I was so annoyed that I never took the time to clean it to avoid all that water getting into the car. If you guys have never cleaned that thing, clean it, it takes like 5 minutes to clean and its well worth it.

[z28]

Congrats dear :)

Thanks ;D

Might try out rackdoctor to get me a z3m rack , i believe they sell rebuilt ones right?


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Yeah they sell rebuilt racks, they have a lot of options available. They do add a core charge though, which sucks, and the core has to be the same as what you order.

[JeLani]

Might try out rackdoctor to get me a z3m rack , i believe they sell rebuilt ones right?


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[Astha]

took me over a year but i finally got my first e30

Congrats dear :)

[z28]

I just checked with rack doctor and got it all straighten out, I should be getting the correct e36 outer tie rods soon.

[z28]

The e46 steering rack and tie rod ends that I ordered from rack doctor are finally here. I thought I ordered a purple tag e46 rack but I got a gold tag instead, which is better because the gold tag is for the zhp steering rack.... Free upgrade I guess . As for the tie rod ends, I asked for e36 tie rods but I think I got e46 tie rods instead. From the light research that I have done, e46 racks work on e30's with a combo of e46 inner rods and e36 outer rods, but not with e46 outer rods because they are too long. My question is, how can I tell the difference between e46 tie rod ends and e36 tie rod ends?


Here is a pic of the two tie rods that I got. The one on the right is thicker and heavier then the one on the left, but they are about the same length. If they are both from an e36 then I prefer having the thiner one to avoid any clearance issues.



Here is another pic of the two tie rods from a different angle. As you can see, the one on the right looks to be more beefy.




Here is a pic of the e46 "zhp gold tag" rack that I got, and you can also see at the bottom right the 14mm spacers that go on top of the rack.

[GilbertCarr986]

Its a 4 door 1991 318i 5 speed with a good amount of mileage, but its clean for its year. Previous owner was super cool and chill, and did a lot of maintenance with some mods. The car is lowered on vogtland springs with blisteins, so it rides nice. Once the shocks wear out Im planning on getting some coilovers, but thats gonna be a while from now. Im just making this thread to have a record of the things I have done, and will do in the future. I haven't done anything big to the car yet, just a couple kill switches, alarm, clutch lock and other little stuff. Anyways... Im happy to finally join the BMW family, especially the E30 family.

I have big plans for this car, but those big plans will have to wait, because Im on a college budget :-(. When I graduate I plan on swapping an ls1 with heads and cam into it, but for now, little appearance mods will have to do.

Mods I have done so far:
Shorty antenna
Yellow high beams
Yellow fog lights
IS lip splitter
Adjustable clutch stop

Here is a picture of when I first got it. Sorry for the crappy pic, its the only one I have at the moment.

Looks hot congratulations!

[sampayne]

Cool build. Sub'd. Cant wait to see it sitting on the new wheels.

[z28]

Getting tired of the 4 turn lock to lock :SOS:

[z28]

Got my tires today, nothing fancy just some 205/40r16's falken ziex ze950. Im probably gonna get the tires mounted on the weekend if I get some free time.