Lachs Silver 1988 325 Sedan

[e30RS]

Wow. Is that the same car?! You did an incredible job.

[2mAn]

The first pics are at Golden Gardens park in North Seattle taken a few months ago.






Cheers all!

That looks amazing.

[TFJR]

Long Overdue Update

Hi R3V - I'm posting a long overdue update on the sedan. I got the car back from Don Jerko's Automotive Repair up north of me in Anacortes, WA yesterday. Josh (e30Josh) spent significant time diagnosing and mostly fixing the obnoxious cut-out issue the car was experiencing under full throttle. He also fixed and replaced a few other pieces on the car.

Great news, the issue is mostly fixed. Out of 25-30 pulls I did yesterday I was only able to get it to cut out once. The issue, Josh believes, stems from the engine harness and back pinning to the ECU. He had a lab scope hooked up and did a bunch diagnostic work. I'd highly recommend him to anyone in the Western WA area.

Other good news, the car feels very healthy & strong. This is the healthiest feeling M20 car I've ever driven.

I also received and installed the correct blower motor that was thankfully available through FCP.

I put the nogaro silver euroweaves on the sedan, and the bronzit now wears the Ronal LS setup. The 15" euroweaves in my opinion look perfect on the car.

I also sourced a few sets of 14" Basketweaves during the Seattle Snowpocalypse. Mounted, are a new set of Goodyear Winter Ultra Grips in a tall and narrow 185/70.

I love E30's, but I fear my time is coming to a close with these cars. Between a baby, a wife in her final stages of her dissertation and an absurdly overpriced city, its amounting to be too much all at once. I want to buy a house back in the Northern VA/DC area, and will likely be selling both E30's to put towards a down payment on our first home. A Porsche 911 will just have to wait.

The first pics are at Golden Gardens park in North Seattle taken a few months ago.










Snowpocalypse:




Winter Traction Ready:





Anacortes, WA - Cape Sante Lookout (3.24.19)






370mm MT2 Wheel FTW



Cheers all!

[TFJR]

Love all the work you're putting into this. And that interior is awesome. Also, your photos inspired me to learn about the evolution of E30 3rd brake lights today

Thanks! It's been a mountain of work to get this car right and it's all about finishing the small details on it to make it the car I want it to be. I'm a bit frustrated with it at the moment, which is par for the course in E30 ownership from my experience.

I received the new blower motor from Blunttech but sadly it is for an A/C equipped car and won't work. I got the right one en-route from FCP Euro. That will hopefully fix my blower motor issues. It's gotten so loud I can barely speak over it. I curbed it and am not driving it until it is fixed. On full blast it also smells like there is exhaust fumes coming into the cabin. I also think I might have an exhaust leak that has developed.

I am getting rid of the newly installed Condor 70a trans mounts. They've added a stupid amount of NVH into the cabin. I DO NOT recommend them. I'm also going back to my stock exhaust. The Scorpion unit sounds nice but I want to quiet the car down. My frustrations are probably coming out in writing. I'm sending the car up north to Anacortes to figure out the random cut-out issue I have on WOT and figure out why my idle wanders a bit when warm. e30Josh here on the forum will hopefully button it all up and I'll be in better spirits about the car.

In happier news, I bought a nice 1989 325i 2 door in Bronzit Beige on Monday! The car came on a gorgeous set of nogaro silver euroweaves that I'm selling to help fund the purchase of the car. The wheels are pending sold to a PNW R3V member.
I'll be doing a full timing belt service, water pump, thermostat, full ignition tune-up components, coolant and trans flush and enjoy the car. It has a lot of miles (380K!!) but runs wonderfully and has zero rust that I can find. It's a great driver I want to elevate and keep for a bit and eventually sell down the road. Already got a bronzit R/F fender for it, and an OE "i" lip. I think I've also got a line on some cheap fog lights. Another bonus is the blower motor works great, and so does everything else! I'll make another thread documenting my efforts with that one soon.

[e30_troy]

Love all the work you're putting into this. And that interior is awesome. Also, your photos inspired me to learn about the evolution of E30 3rd brake lights today

[TFJR]

J a n u a r y - update

Three weeks of paternity leave was amazing. Nice to be home, create a loving bond with my daughter and tackle some E30 projects during nap time.

Installed a refreshed, late model driveshaft from Driveline Services of Portland. The last one had notchy U-Joints. This feels so much nicer!


I deeply scrubbed the interior trunk mat. I first used my shop vac for a good 20 minutes getting up anything I could. This was the result. Note the nasty stains.





Following that, I pulled the panel out of the car and let it sit with interior fabric cleaner. I took a bristle hair brush to it in a cross hatch pattern pretty aggressively.

Finally, I took the mat to a local self wash (Car Wash Palace in Greenwood) and spent $10 using the hot, high pressure soap setting. This really did the trick! The discharge from the mat was absolutely disgusting. I then re-vacuumed the carpet and let it dry naturally in the sun after absorbing what I could with several microfiber drying towels.






About 18 months ago, I bought a set of used, iS side skirts from a forum member in Bend, OR. I had a fellow auto enthusiast friend hold onto them for me up until this past August when I finally had time to collect them. I remember the seller had noted he had sprayed them with Plastidip to "protect" them. Sadly he sprayed very thin coats of the Plastidip and it was a total bitch to remove. I have never bought a part that was previously Plastidipped that was actually done correctly. Overall, I hate the stuff. I used WD-40, Goo Gone Citrus spray, magic erasers and old kitchen sponges to get that crap off. Overall took about 3.5 hours between both the side skirts to clean up.







50/50:


Finished:






Side story, the side skirts were meant to come with the front pieces, which weren't with my friend when I got them. I ordered them through Blunttech + all OE hardware after my trip to Bend this summer.



The skirts, along with the side mirrors will be painted next month. In 2019, I plan to find a like new/new front valence to have painted & take care of the rust in the rear valence.

Attended the end of year, BMW CCA Lunch meet at XXX Rootbeer in Issaquah. I'm usually not a sticker/decal kind of guy but I thought this looked right at home on the E30.




Other happenings/projects with the car:

• Ordred brand new upper & lower sport seat foam + bolsters through Blunttech for the new, OE 0269 anthracite fabric I have. Powdercoating a sport seat frame rail/base
• Ordered a new, non OE blower motor & resistor through Blunttech. Current one sounds HORRID
• Ordered a new, OE trunk seal through Blunttech
• New, Bosch ignition coil through Blunttech
• Still chasing down this moderate/heavy throttle cut out issue. It's very annoying!

Happy 2019 everyone!

[mike.bmw]

The S. Drives have been terrific so far. Certainly a substantial upgrade from the rubber that was on there. They do a nice job in the rain which was important for me here in Seattle. They have a fairly stiff sidewall so turn-in bite and road feel are greatly improved. I was cross shopping these with the Dunlop Direzza DZ102 and folks here on the forum + the team at Tirerack urged me to go with the S. Drive for their superior wet (and cold) traction over the Dunlop.
No rubbing at all on H&R OE Sport springs/Bilstein B6

Exactly what I wanted to hear, thanks!

[cheffy30]

dang toby...
i better step up my game...
you're pushin me!

sent from hell.

[TFJR]

On December 15th we welcomed our baby daughter Isabelle to the world! She is beautiful & healthy. Here she is with my E30 and wifeys Alltrack



I ordered lots of goodies around Black Friday for the E30 including a brand new kick panel, coolant expansion tank, CAtuned silicon coolant hoses, new OE motor mounts & Condor 70a Trans mounts, distributor dust cover, ignition components (distributor cap & rotor, spark plugs) plus a bunch of little things I'll detail out later.















My continued efforts on making the engine bay prettier. It's got a ways to go but looks heaps better than before

hot damn that looks great. Have you tried using flickr? I feel like it might do a better job for image quality...not totally sure though

I should give it a shot the next time I upload photos. Definitely worth a try!

How do you like the S drives? Any rubbing with the Ronals and 205/55/15s? Looks great by the way! :D

The S. Drives have been terrific so far. Certainly a substantial upgrade from the rubber that was on there. They do a nice job in the rain which was important for me here in Seattle. They have a fairly stiff sidewall so turn-in bite and road feel are greatly improved. I was cross shopping these with the Dunlop Direzza DZ102 and folks here on the forum + the team at Tirerack urged me to go with the S. Drive for their superior wet (and cold) traction over the Dunlop.
No rubbing at all on H&R OE Sport springs/Bilstein B6

That looks amazing... great job. Was this done by hand???

If not, what machine did you use?

Thank you very much! I am a big advocate of Griots Garage products and their car cleaning classes and instruction at their Flagship location in Tacoma, WA. I've learned a lot from them.

I use a Griots 6" Random Orbital buffer. https://www.griotsgarage.com/product...rPicks&from=fn



The machine is very user friendly for beginners as the random throw helps to mitigate the risk of burning through paint. After using their Poly Wax with the machine, I buffed out the wax and applied another layer of Carnuaba Wax from Meguiars by hand.




Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to everyone!

[AC_Schnitzel]

That looks amazing... great job. Was this done by hand???

If not, what machine did you use?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mike.bmw]

How do you like the S drives? Any rubbing with the Ronals and 205/55/15s? Looks great by the way! :D

[wworm]

hot damn that looks great. Have you tried using flickr? I feel like it might do a better job for image quality...not totally sure though

[Metallated]

Congratulations on expecting your first child Toby!!

And wow that detailing looks incredible. I'm jealous, I don't think I've ever seen lachs look that good.

[TFJR]

Car looks great!... I really need fresh paint on mine

Thank you!

Looks great, sir. The Ronals are such a nice wheel.

Thank you, Austin! I agree, the Ronals are a great looking wheel, especially for the price.

The car is looking fantastic. As a fellow owner of a lachs 4-door, you're providing me with some serious inspiration.

I'd love to see some updates on your car as well!

My wife is 39 weeks pregnant & I am very anxiously awaiting our first born :D
Knowing I won't have much time to dedicate to the car over the coming months I went to town detailing the car & giving it some nice protection over the winter months. Here is what I did:

• Snow foamed using Griots Garage foaming spray wash
• 2 bucket method wash with Griots Garage Brilliant Finish Car Wash
• Clay Bar'd using Griots Garage Paint Cleaning Clay
• Compound, using Griots Garage BOSS Correcting Cream
• Two passes of wax, using Griots Garage Poly Wax & Meguiars Gold Class Carnuaba Wax.

IMGUR sucks for image quality (if anyone has recommendations please let me know!)... I digress, here are the finished results. I'm still a little sore lol.

[e30_troy]

The car is looking fantastic. As a fellow owner of a lachs 4-door, you're providing me with some serious inspiration.