Zen and the Art of e30 Maintenance

[bernzpeed]

Man, you never fail to amaze. I love your threads.

[Schnitzer318is]

^Don't know why... but that makes me feel better about how long it takes me to do anything on the 4 cars.

Excellent work as always and beautiful documentation. This should help your resale value should you ever decide to sell the car... though I don't see how you could after all the hard work.

[Simon S]

Bidding starts at $40K
lol

[Massimo]

MMM nice works. So clean. Did you use and gasket sealer between the block and timing case I put a very fine layer of sealer just incase didn't want to have to pull it off again to fix it. LOL

[Simon S]

MMM nice works. So clean. Did you use and gasket sealer between the block and timing case I put a very fine layer of sealer just incase didn't want to have to pull it off again to fix it. LOL

Thanks.

Great question. I did a bunch of digging on dry vs sealers. It was frustrating.

It’d be like:
“I’ve installed hundreds of gaskets dry with no problems.”
or
“I’ve installed hundreds of gaskets using sealer with no problems.”

In the end, intake, head, rubber profile, and thermostat gaskets were installed ‘dry’. A thin coat of copper spray adhesive/sealer was used on everything else. Baby dabs of black RTV at recommended corners/juctions. I also let engine sit w/out adding oil for 2 days.

I kept coming back to thought of: “If all the gaskets were installed dry at the factory – and ALL of them are leaking – then let’s try something else.”

[Jand3rson]

Nothing short of amazing. Period.

[Mossman]

I used to think you were a screwball and I scoffed at you. Now I know you're a screwball but I also think you're awesome. I've done my fair share of wrenching, some haphazardly and some meticulous, but you take it to another level.

As you wrench more and more you learn what jobs you have to be careful on and what you can rush through. Clearly this car means a lot to you and all jobs are the careful ones, and I respect that. I think we're similar in that I generally plan things and work them out in my head over and over again before I attack. But when I attack I do it hard and fast :)

Can't wait for next update, keep it up brotha.

Haha...last thing to add. Like all of us I feel like E30's are special. But if you go to any car specific forum they think their cars are special too. But in reality most of them suck and their cars suck too. Threads like this prove that e30 owners don't suck, so chances are our choice of cars doesn't suck either. I'd venture a guess that 10% of this much care has never been taken to rebuild a civic or cavalier or sentra. I heart my E30 too, so I get it.

[BrewCity11]

Awesome as usual.

Have you thought about ditching the clutch fan and shroud and replace with an electric in front of the rad? Would open up the bay even more.

Are you going to leave the bumper trim red? Just curious, thats all. I notice the side trim is still black.

[everlast]

I'm sad that I have no more reading to do this morning. I still have some coffee left. This has been an epic thread so far, and I feel like I've just watched a great movie or read an amazing book. I really LOL'd at the phone extractor, seemingly thrown in to see who's really reading everything. :D

Good luck on your interview, but if you don't get a job right now, frankly, I look forward to more updates. I have no idea what level of employment you're looking at, but a BMW dealership would be *very* lucky to have you as a senior service adviser. Your attention to detail would match the level of service they are supposed to have, but don't.

[kid325e]

Well done! This is an inspiration for sure, can't wait to see what you've got planned next.

[monty23psk]

Regarding sealants, BMW e30 factory manual states to use certain types of sealants but only in corners and junctions regarding the m42. Probably the same with other engines.

[Spiff325iS]

Nothing short of amazing. Period.

This.

Not only is what you're doing GREAT, but it's the epitome of how things should be done. And you're creating an absolutely fantastic reference guide for people who just want to know more about their E30 and how it can be taken apart and put together.

You should make a sweet PDF and Sticky that beast on R3V.

[euroshark]

Awesome work on the corroded aluminum! And the rear wheel bearings... I love this thread.

[ck_taft325is]

Holy fuck man. You're a monster when it comes to details. I love it.

[jackbenny]

Fantastic update. I will be referencing it for my M42 rebuild for the E21. I might hace to steal another idea from you with that coil cover. I have some ideas on that.

Good luck on resolving the noise in the motor. I hope its something simple and easy to fix given the effort you put forth so far.