80k 325i Convertible Barn Find "Sun Machine"

[KIRIEIW]

Well I got the convertible top all lubed up now to hopefully prevent it from breaking. I oiled and greased it on Monday with some stuff I had around the house, but today a Foreman at work gave me a can of stuff he uses on customers Z8's, 335i's, basically any convertible that comes into work needed maintenance done on the top. It's called "PolyLube 255".

[KIRIEIW]

Well I meant to post some sooner, but here are a few pics from the show. The drive back was pretty fun, the past 3 years now I've always driven back by myself but this year I/We got a little group of people together who where heading back the same way to the Bay Area. I was the only e30, but not the only R3v member in the group. I got to meet "Carsone30" which some of you may know, he was in his e36 M3. It was a long drive back but the car made the 950 Mile journey (round trip) burning zero oil, and didn't loose any fluids. Happy to be home non the less. Oh, I did get really badly sun burnt though, make sure your wearing sunblock when you drive in a convertible for 9+ hours!

The event was really entertaining, they where hosting a track event where anyone could take a ride in a brand new F80. I wasn't too impressed, but it was defiantly a cool experience.

















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[JZM3]

looks fantastic! Glad to see you're out and enjoying it.

[Bggdnssnguy]

This car is so simple and clean. I love it. Plus the license plate is awesome! Keep up the awesome work!

[KIRIEIW]

Well I made it to LA! Well Past LA I guess, most of the caravan including myself stayed at a hotel in Rancho Cucamonga. The ride down was pretty interesting, definitely not as big of a turn out as last year, which has to be partly due to the fact that the caravan organizer barely posted any updates until a week or so before the show. I'm sure a good amount of people ended up going with other caravans in the end.

So the interesting part about all this? I guess I should call it the shitty part. My Hot co worker's car broke down on the way and I was the only one in group willing to lend a hand. Her expansion tank hose, from the reservoir to the radiator was leaking fluid from a crimp on hose clamp (weird hose design, there's a crimp where two hoses meet. It's all one piece/ part number from my research). Luckily we where all stopped at the gas station in the pic's bellow so I told her to buy a hose clamp and she could be on her way, however once removing the crimped on clamp I realized the plastic nipple had actually cracked that goes into the hose, and on top of that the plastic was so damn brittle the more I tried to stuff it back into the other end, the more it cracked away. I decided to plug up the end of the hose thinking once the coolant was low enough, coolant wouldn't come out of the overflow but nope it just kept pouring out for another 5 miles until we where stuck on the side of the road, which is where I suggested to her to just get it towed to the dealer because of my doubt's that a independent in the area would carry a hose for a e92. At that point I left.. I found out she had a boyfriend who had absolutely no idea how to work on car's, driving a brand new M235i.

I lost the caravan after all this, as soon as I got to the lunch spot where everyone was heading, they where leaving and I still wanted to grab lunch. I did have a chance to stop by Ireland Engineering like I do almost every year, I found out Andrew left which was a surprise but things happen. Pics of the adventure bellow, some of you might even know the girl if you have a, what's it called, instagram? No clue don't use that crap.















I've driven the car over 1,000 miles now!




Her Car broken with me helping out



And limping it behind me with her soon to find out boyfriend



Ireland Engineering Parking lot!

[KIRIEIW]

My 13 Button background lighting was bad, along with the light bar so I just got finished replacing them. I'm realizing how much faster I'm becoming at all these little repairs compared to the last couple e30's I owned. Replacing the Light bar, bulb, and reinstalled took 15min. Those two bottom screws are still a bitch non the less.

[KIRIEIW]

It's a shame Bimmerfest isn't at the Rose Bowl anymore, I feel like everyone just heads strait to the vendors now rather then walk around on the grass and look at people's rides like previous years. Regardless I'm still looking forward to meeting e30 guys in the LA area!

So not a really big update, but it's definitely something people tend to over look.. I scrubbed the wheel wells clean. Man are they clean, you can see the factory black undercoating really clearly now. I also applied the BMW soft top repellent. Only complaint about the application was my cheap sponge started to fall apart and left pieces all over the top. Luckily it all came off with a brush rather then stick/ dry from the repellent. Over all I'd say it made much less of a mess compared to aerosol sprays.

[robrez]

A beauty! Looking forward to seeing it at bimmerfest.

[KIRIEIW]

Not really a interesting update, but I was able to keep the plate's. I also threw on a R3v license plate frame I had in the garage. I think I got just about all the maintenance the car needed done, so I'll be taking a chance and driving a nearly 1,000 mile journey in it to Bimmerfest 2016.

Edit: Added some more pics from this evening

[KIRIEIW]

It was really hard to take a pic of the dent but it was definitely worse in person, you can actually see it in my sig pic if you look close enough (or pics on 1st page). I'd never tried paintless dent removal, but I'll tell you it was in the back of my mind "what if this guy cracks the paint banging the dent out". Sure glad that didn't happen.. Results where totally worth it.

Man I didn't even have time this weekend to put the soft top repellent on! I did a wheel bearing on my Co Workers car on Saturday (let me tell you, that was quite a story.. Had to remove the CV Axle along with the strut knuckle and bring them to a shop to get them pressed out.. Not even a air hammer we had at home would separate the two). Then today I did a rear wheel bearing on my white coupe/ tranny fluid and filter change on this. Oh, and got new tires mounted on my euroweaves because Yokohama sold me "out of round tires". Bastards didn't even cover all 4.


Crappy pic from Saturday, my buddy stopped by in his recently purchased 325iS.

[2mAn]

I need to get some dents removed from both of my cars, Im always skeptical that they could help me even though I see that they usually do great work.

[Das Delfin]

That top cleaner is good stuff! I use raggtopp right now and always have to mask off EVERYTHING and then most of the product ends up spraying away into the wind...

[Kershaw]

That does look super clean, very cool.

[KIRIEIW]

Well I did a transmission fluid/ filter change today. Fairly simple job and everything looked really clean once I had it all apart. No metal flakes stuck to the magnets, fluid looked brand new, and to my surprise the filter was changed already once in the past! I have no clue what it says, but someone wrote something on it for one reason or another.

[KIRIEIW]

awesome car.

so cool that the power top still works

Thank You, and I can't tell you how surprised I was about the top. Seller made it sound like it wasn't fully working.. which I guess it isn't, the damn lid doesn't want to pull 100% shut but I'll get around to it. The new concern is keeping it functioning. I was driving a dealership loaner F33 just last month and the electric top broke..