Diamantschwarz Forever: An E30 Love Story. Re-shell & Restomod

[Petebee]

Check your fuel pump. I had a 91 318i (same color btw) and it started running shitty, bogging and throwing codes. New fuel pump was all she needed.

Good luck...like the weaves and direction of your car.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

[freeride53]

Not much to report here, just a few little bits.

First, I swapped back in the stock ECU (without chip) to see if that was giving me the issues with idle/start-up/bogging/dying/check engine/code. Turned out that it wasn't the ECU/chip, so it's back to under the intake manifold. Hoping to diagnose that next next weekend if possible when the car gets some other attention.

I hastily did the stomp test with a buddy but after reviewing the legend of codes, I don't think it's correct, and maybe I got it confused with something else. Wish I had more sleep/time away from work so I could be more methodical with this shit. Frustrating.

Then the homie Sam (sam_) on here was awesome enough to bring my Euroweaves down from my grandma's house in the Bay Area. Installed 3 of those as 1 of them had a little grooved carved out from the rear valence metal in the wreck. Ordering 2 new S-drives to throw on the rear and keep the 5th good one as a spare on my 5th Euroweave.

Driving on a set of straight 15's with nice tires feels sooo good. Never going back to 17's.



The new DS rear bumper I got came with euro trim. I had my LF euro trim piece that survived the wrecked so I put that on the front. Kinda ratty, but for the lolz. I have a brand new set of euro trim that I'll put on the car after paint. And new front bumper first.





Then I drove it to work yesterday. Was weird. I hadn't driven to work since my accident in my old E30 on September 6th. I took the 60 instead of the 10 because fuck the 10.

[freeride53]

M42 cars are just the best commuters/DD's. I love my 318is to pieces and just can't bring myself to sell it. I know I'd be crushed if something happened to it, so I know it must have been tough to see the old shell go. The circumstance of the new car is pretty awesome though!
Question for you. What are you using to space the non-airbag wheel out? I'm pretty tall (looks like you are too), so when I have the seat positioned to where I'm happy with the pedals the wheel is quite a bit further away than I'd like. I remember the airbag wheel being just about perfect in the short time I had it on there.

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, 'twas shitty, but I think I'm over.

I basically added an extra stock spacer (same kind you already have 1 of) to push it out a little extra bit. It's nice, I'm happy with it.

[MX339]

M42 cars are just the best commuters/DD's. I love my 318is to pieces and just can't bring myself to sell it. I know I'd be crushed if something happened to it, so I know it must have been tough to see the old shell go. The circumstance of the new car is pretty awesome though!
Question for you. What are you using to space the non-airbag wheel out? I'm pretty tall (looks like you are too), so when I have the seat positioned to where I'm happy with the pedals the wheel is quite a bit further away than I'd like. I remember the airbag wheel being just about perfect in the short time I had it on there.

[freeride53]

Haha, yeah. I noticed the Volvo 245 in your signature recently as well. My dad has the 245 now and has been driving it for the past 2 years. I still work on it occasionally, but the car is so reliable that it rarely needs anything. I had installed IPD sway bars on it as well, but the rest of the car was completely stock with all Volvo OEM parts.

There's a clean '91 245 slicktop with manual transmission for sale locally. Over 300K miles, but it has been well maintained. I'm considering picking it up as another project. :devil:

That's actually hilarious, because my dad has been driving it on and off for the last few years as well! Since he left his last company where he was leasing cars, he zooms around in the 245. It also has an M47 transmission, IPD Sways, and a whole lot of other stuff. My parents bought it brand new at the factory in Sweden right before I was born. It was the first car I ever rode in, as a newborn. :) Still going strong with 380k + on the clock and various drivers throughout our family.

[mike.bmw]

Thank you sir! I like to think of the pothole incident as "a push to further refresh my suspension" :-)

By the way, love your taste, your 91/92/93 245 on Virgos shows that we have more in common than just a love for M42 powered E30s..

Haha, yeah. I noticed the Volvo 245 in your signature recently as well. My dad has the 245 now and has been driving it for the past 2 years. I still work on it occasionally, but the car is so reliable that it rarely needs anything. I had installed IPD sway bars on it as well, but the rest of the car was completely stock with all Volvo OEM parts.

There's a clean '91 245 slicktop with manual transmission for sale locally. Over 300K miles, but it has been well maintained. I'm considering picking it up as another project. :devil:

[freeride53]

I'm glad you were able to quickly diagnose and fix all of the suspension/mechanical issues from last week. Despite the setback from last week, there's still a ton of great progress in this thread and you have a great e30.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you sir! I like to think of the pothole incident as "a push to further refresh my suspension" :-)

By the way, love your taste, your 91/92/93 245 on Virgos shows that we have more in common than just a love for M42 powered E30s..

[mike.bmw]

I'm glad you were able to quickly diagnose and fix all of the suspension/mechanical issues from last week. Despite the setback from last week, there's still a ton of great progress in this thread and you have a great e30.

Keep up the good work!

[freeride53]

With all of the madness going on over the past few days throughout our nation, needed some E30-therapy to unwind and collect my thoughts. So I pursued that therapy with some good friends over the weekend.

First off, got a proper pair of brand new (manufactured) CV axles. Recommended by Ryan (phreshkid), these were like ~$120 after core refund, OEM fitment, and lifetime warranty.



Next, brand new E46 M3 rear shock mounts (RSMs). I managed to bust the passenger side one in that torrential downpour debacle last weekend, so just replaced both. Also, my leg.



Next, was diagnosing the clunk/thump from my front passenger side. This started out subtle last weekend after "pothole fest", then grew much louder until this morning. When Pouya (plotfi) and I pulled the passenger strut housing off, we quickly noticed that the strut insert was completely freed from the housing. I know a lot of people here simply tighten the strut collar nut by hand. After this, think I'm an advocate of properly torquing it to spec using the Bilstein wrench.



"While in there", my buddy Pouya happened to have a spare pair of fresh Sachs front strut mounts. So grabbed those off him and installed.



Real men remember to torque everything to spec. This is one of my many New Year Resolutions. Pictured: a very tired-looking me from last night's random festivities.



Finally, what I call the "sad look". Ratty Bottle-caps; Schwarz hood; OEM Primer RF hood and front valence; warped/cracked/faded front bumper; and faded Diamantschwarz. Cannot wait to get my EuroWeaves down from my family's house up in the Bay Area, finish collecting all of the exterior pieces I need, and send the damn thing off for some munch-needed body mending and paint.



Good night,
Sina

[freeride53]

Nice revival dude!

Thank you sir! This will be a revival and then some. :)

Oh yeah should've clarified... Sold my 318is locally to a gentleman in town and kept Cyrus 325is which has since been parked. Need to put some more street able camber plates and diagnose a hard cold start issue. Not enough time 😠

Ah, bummed to hear the Red car is out of the stable, but glad it's still local.

I'm having a cold-start issue as well, but it's looking to be a bad chip.

Is yours chipped?

[e30nub]

Which is still in the family, yours or Cyrus'?

Oh yeah should've clarified... Sold my 318is locally to a gentleman in town and kept Cyrus 325is which has since been parked. Need to put some more street able camber plates and diagnose a hard cold start issue. Not enough time 😠

[Julien]

Nice revival dude!

[freeride53]

Sina,
Yes I have an e30 in the family still. It's also got Kopi's on them with brand new tires... One is a little more bent than usual but you could definitely make a full set again and have a spare (or two)...if you wanna trade.... I'd love to have a set of euro weaves ��

Haha yeah, that's your brother's right? I remember seeing pics of that back in the day.
I actually have received a deposit on my old Kopi's, and will be taking them down to SD with me tomorrow evening on my bi-weekly visit to my gf.

I'm currently rolling around on bottle caps :hitler: until I bring the ol' girl up in February to the Bay and retrieve my Euroweaves.
I think 15" is the magic number for these cars. That or 16", but I've only had 16" w/ adapters so I think I'd need another set of 16's, this time in proper E30 fitment.

[jpod999]

Sina,
Yes I have an e30 in the family still. It's also got Kopi's on them with brand new tires... One is a little more bent than usual but you could definitely make a full set again and have a spare (or two)...if you wanna trade.... I'd love to have a set of euro weaves 😎

Which is still in the family, yours or Cyrus'?

[e30nub]

Sina,
Yes I have an e30 in the family still. It's also got Kopi's on them with brand new tires... One is a little more bent than usual but you could definitely make a full set again and have a spare (or two)...if you wanna trade.... I'd love to have a set of euro weaves 😎