Project Maddvibe: ZXERT's E30 DD

[zxert]

You're selling your Nissan to put all the money into the E30, right?

Yes. By next year I will have this car(s50 swap), and another e30 to be semi-stock.

an oven???

Baking my Ellipsoids apart to smoke them.

[Roysneon]

Man, I feel like our cars/projects are brothers. Love seeing any updates from this thread.

[iwantspeed]

i have a stock tool kit i can donate.

pm me.

[zxert]

i have a stock tool kit i can donate.

pm me.

That would be amazing. I've been prowling your thread for a while now. Seeing your crash makes me drive carefully to work.

Its scary to be driving this thing with liability only.

Pm sent.

[zxert]

So a big update today.

My big oil leak WASN'T from the power steering. The oil filter was loose. I'm an idiot.

So.

Oil change with Mahle filter and Mobil 1 High Mileage.
Air Filter
Cleaned ICV
Cleaned intake system
Replaced main belt
New shift Knob(Gay O'Rielly shift knob, very ricer, but I didn't have one and it was 7$)

Found:
Cracked intake boot
Cracked Hose from ICV to intake boot
Cracked Hose from ICV to Manifold
Cracked intake horn on airbox

Repaired all of that with ducttape

Found.

-2 Studs missing on exhaust manifold which caused smoke to appear in the engine compartment.
-Throttle cable was too tight, contributing to high idle(fixed.)
-Bad Passenger side Tie rod. I can shake the wheel by hand like a baby.

Just ordered.

Part# Description Quantity
11631286274 Hose from Intake to ICV 1 ....$27.24
11631286273 Hose from ICV to Manifold 1 ....$7.18
64218367179 Hose Clamps 2 ....$1.10 each = $2.20
7119908368 Studs on Head for Exhst 8 ....$.57 each = $4.65
7129908160 Manifold Stud 90mm long 1 ....$2.38
11621723876 Exhaust Mani Gasket 1 ....$25.41
18301737774 Nut, should fit both above studs 9 ....$1.72 each = $15.48
4 of 51131914097 Body Nut
6 of 07129901651 Body Nut
4 of 07119904285 Hex bolt

[zxert]

So basically I've been slacking these past couple of months and not working on my e30 or providing updates. And when I work on it, I don't take pictures. This comes to an end!

I set about replacing the transmission fluid.

Such a terrible dirty mess.



Got a 17mm Hex socket for this job in exchange for doing the brakes on a Saturn Vue. Those are tite. Definitely not.

Dropping the fluid which was obviously not changed recently. It had a terrible color.


This makes me confident. Actually the word I used at the time was "Fuck".


Settled on MT90 after hours and hours of pointless research. Got them from Tognottis, a local speed shop for 14.99/QT


Is this even the same drain plug?


The device pictured below is a huge piece of shit. I wasted 3$ on nothing. I would rather have burned my money than give it to O'Riellys Auto Gays. After 10 minutes of hand pumping, it still didn't spit out my transmission fluid. Useless bullshit.


So I used a hose and funnel dropped from the engine compartment. Took 2 minutes. I'm still angry at that siphon pump.


The fluid is a HUGE difference. I didn't notice it right away, or the first week. But after 2 to 3 weeks my transmission suddenly kicked ass. Maybe its actually having enough fluid, or having the right fluid, or a temperature difference. None the less. Money well spent.

Fuck you siphon pump.

[zxert]

I got parts!



My red neck ICV hoses. Hey, they did the job.
OLD


Frayed and cracked ends.


New
Much Better




Yay new BMW hose clamps



I enjoy hose clamps for some reason. Especially sparkly ones.

OLD


NEW


Happenis



OLD


NEW


Thanks to 98turbo and NuthinFancy for the intake boot. Good shit.

Up next. Exhaust gasket and studs.

[zxert]

This is what prompted me to replace the exhaust gasket/studs. The gasket is missing in some spots, there are two exhaust studs missing. Plus, the exhaust is leaking badly.



First attempt to unbolt the exhaust manifold.


Snapped the head off.

Removed all bolts and the exhaust manifold.

Then started removing studs using the two bolt method.


Removed as much carbon as possible with brake cleaner.


Rusty

Exhaust


Lots of build up around the O2 sensor. Definitely need to replace it. But funds are short. For now I'll just clean it up.





Replaced all studs and nuts.
Cleaned Exhaust ports
Painted Exhaust manifold using Black Rustoleum.
New gasket




New and fresh





Took this time to slip on a new breather hose.




Originally the car ran like complete ass.

I though I did something wrong. Turns out the O2 sensor was unplugged from the chassis wiring.

Great Job.

[zxert]

This sticker has always bothered me. No idea what its for. But its ugly.





+



=

[zxert]

Eric came over. AKA NuthinFancy to help me paint my tails. Cool guy and a bro for sure.

We took off and painted my tails and were admiring the work. I was gonna tuck my bumper the next day, but Eric grabbed my drill and literally 30 seconds later. Done.

Before



Prep. Gotta mask off the reverse light and clean the tails up.



Ugly untucked grossness.


Nice.


DONE.
Painted and tucked.

[zxert]

Up next is a my favorite part.

Upgrade to Vented rotors and Bigger Shocks. Pulled the while spindle assembly from an 87 at the picknpull. It happened to have some Bilstiens and Eibachs installed on them. Very nice grab for around 100$.

Suspension:
Bilstien HD Shocks
Eibach Springs(unknown which type)

Brakes:
ATE Pads
New Rotors
Fluid Flush with Dot3 Synthetic





Everything got a nice scrubbing with my favorite combo.



Rears Done



Don't worry too much about the rust and ugliness. Theres no point cleaning anything up when a whole new subframe is going in before the end of summer.

On to the fronts.

Cleaned everything up with shop towels, scrubbers and Purplepower.

Started to paint the rust prone areas to be safe.



Cleaned up and painted the calipers and brackets.



While I was working on that Erics car was getting new front springs. 98turbo, Kenny, was there to help.


This qualifies as a mini-meet.









Re-assembly


Started on the drivers side.



Stuff works great.


Complete. Ready to go on.





Erics car done. Doesn't need any more low.







Kennys old ETA he traded for a vert(I think)
In spite of being an ETA, I loved driving it. But maybe thats because my car has 12whp.


Before


After


Needs More LOW

[zxert]

Tired of my disgusting rear window trim.

Before.


During....









After






I love this comparison right here.

Before

After


Honestly. Its starting to look mildly attractive. Hopefully I can throw a little more paint at it this week and make it a tiny bit more attractive.

[sector6]

...beat up from the feet up. GL!

[phreshkid]

Your car is looking good but would look better with an is front valence. Would you put one on if you could get one?

[zxert]

98turbo AKA Kenny sold me an IS valence that is in my garage. I think its painted bronzit.

But I have super low funds right now. Its been that way since I got the car. But I've had a few bucks to spend here an there.

So a front bumper is taking a back seat to thing such as:

When warm my car dies at idle. Trying to test and fix the issue with 0$ spent.
Bad alignment/Wheel weights
Smog