JeST's '87 Project E30 (S50, MTechnic 1, TC Klines, ...)

[Mr.Wiggles]

Heres a couple pics from this afternoon. Took the car out for a nice little drive to enjoy the weather:

This proves my point. Luxury and Exotic guys all gravitate towards the E30 chassis. I posted some old Ferrari parts on here for sale and some of the members didn't know why....

NOW YA KNOW!

[greg9ball]

New Owner - The Thread Continues

Its time to resurrect this thread! I am now the third owner of this car since this thread began. There's a bunch to update. The first thing to say is that I absolutely love this car; however, it was a long road getting to this point.

It is a case of buyer beware. Before I tell my tail, I will will say that I did a terrible job of due diligence and made the classic mistake of taking a buyer at his word. There were several important and very costly issues that were not disclosed. If there is one thing I learned from this experience is that you can not trust someone based on forum reputation or phone conversations. It is best to have a car inspected professionally. In my case, it would have saved my thousands!!!!

I am very fortunate to live an hour away from Billy Revis of Motorsport Connections. He's a BMW race car driver / shop owner. Its hard to find anyone who knows more about BMW's. He's built many E30 / M3 conversions. Without Billy, this story would not have a happy ending.

Undisclosed problems:

Four Oil Leaks (two of which were very difficult and costly to diagnose and one of which required lifting the engine. I found out later than the owner was aware of the problem, though he told me he thought it was repaired. Given the amount of oil that was leaking, I find that difficult to believe.

Steering Pump: Absolutely shot. Needed to be replaced. $815!

Fuel Pick Up Problem: This was very difficult to diagnose and repair. I learned that the previous owner was aware of the problem and blogged about it when he brought the car to a track day. He told me it was repaired. It was not. Basically, you would occasionally get on the gas and the car would sputter. It would last 10-12 seconds and would go away. Fortunately, Billy eventually ran into the problem so he could start trying to fix it. This required several trips to the shop since there's no way to know that it is fixed. He replaced both fuel pumps, fuel filters and a bunch of other things. Finally, the part that fixed the problem was replacing the pipe that connects the two gas tanks. Does anything think this is an issue that shouldn't be disclosed! It was an unsafe car as if you lost power at the wrong time, it could have been devastating.

Horn: This is a small one .. but seriously, the horn wasn't even connected to the steering wheel!

Head Lights: This part is just silly. Both headlight assemblies were broken, so the headlights would bounce up and down. Also, the low beams were converted to HID, but the high beams were not. Until the assemblies were replaced, the low beams were pointing right at the ground. The high beams worked fine. However, the HID low beams would turn off when you put on the high beam, but when you switched back to low beams, they would need to warm up, leaving you in the dark.

Speedometer: It works ... sometimes.

These issues were very expensive to fix and left me a bit jaded!

Now to the fun part!

Upgrades:

Back Seat Removal with AutoPower Roll Cage
Turner Chip
New Header with Exhaust
Front Sway Bar (back was upgraded - front was stock)
Track Alignment with Corner Balance
Stewart Water Pump (a must for track cars)
Schroth Profi II Belts
Kosei Rims with G-Force R1 track tires
Air Hoses to front Brake Rotors
Nice Big Tach
Lowered Steering Column


Unfortunately, I have not yet made it to the track. I had a track weekend scheduled, but the car was not done in time. I'm hoping to do 4-5 weekends next year. I have no doubt that the car will do great. The car is hooked up! The gearing is a bit high for street use, but I think it will be great at the track. The car pulls so hard! The chassis feels so balanced and hooked up. I love the amount of feel and feedback! This car is an absolute hoot to drive!!!!

So, there was a bunch of aggravation to start with, but in the end, I have a car that I really love!!! Here are a few pictures.


Greg Savoie

[5ickride]

Wow...didnt think i'd see my old car again! I was the third previous owner of this car and was the one that had the engine swap done. Sorry to hear about some of those issues you're having...they werent there when i sold it.

Good to see you're taking proper care of her though. I miss her badly!!!


EDIT:

Found a few pics

[325ix]

The headlight thing with HID's is common to most all E30's.

[dude8383]

The headlight thing with HID's is common to most all E30's.

It's common because the low beams always turn off whenever you hit the high beams. That only worked on either sealed beams or the H4 lights.

That "nice-big tach" ain't so nice... What was wrong with the stock rpm gauge?! For such a nice car, I can't help but say you've bastardized it a bit.

Does the $815 include labor costs too?

[greg9ball]

Wow...didnt think i'd see my old car again! I was the third previous owner of this car and was the one that had the engine swap done. Sorry to hear about some of those issues you're having...they werent there when i sold it.

Good to see you're taking proper care of her though. I miss her badly!!!


EDIT:

Found a few pics

They are great pictures. Now that the car is all sorted out, I'm absolutely loving it. Its my track car, but I find myself driving in on the street quite a bit. Its addictive!

[freeride53]

Dude your car is sick. I love the lowered look like this, it just looks soo clean and simple.
no one would ever guess what's under the hood!

[freeride53]

...but then you look at the current look and throw all previous conceptions out the window

[greg9ball]

It's common because the low beams always turn off whenever you hit the high beams. That only worked on either sealed beams or the H4 lights.

That "nice-big tach" ain't so nice... What was wrong with the stock rpm gauge?! For such a nice car, I can't help but say you've bastardized it a bit.

Does the $815 include labor costs too?

The headlights are working properly now.

I had the steering column lowered. I didn't like the way the steering wheel leaned upward. Once the steering wheel was in the right place, it was blocking my sight line to the stock tach. The big tach along with the shift light is a huge help. The car revs extremely quick due to the gearing and sound of the engine does not give that typical straining sound right before redline. It was too easy to bang off the rev limiter without the shift light.

If it were a street car, I would not have made so many changes. I think the car still looks great, but my priority is function.

[dude8383]

So what does the rest of the car look like now then?

[greg9ball]

So what does the rest of the car look like now then?

Here she is.

[ZM Blue Devil]

Wow, havent seen her a while. She looks good. Did the prior seller ever get the euro bumper corner caps to you? If not let me know via email and Ill get some for you.

[greg9ball]

Wow, havent seen her a while. She looks good. Did the prior seller ever get the euro bumper corner caps to you? If not let me know via email and Ill get some for you.

Thank you very much for the generous offer. I am embarrassed to say that I do not know what the euro bumper corner caps are. He sent me the front bumper section, but that's it. If you do not see them on the car, then I don't have them. LOL

What are they? I really appreciate it.

Greg

[ZM Blue Devil]

Thank you very much for the generous offer. I am embarrassed to say that I do not know what the euro bumper corner caps are. He sent me the front bumper section, but that's it. If you do not see them on the car, then I don't have them. LOL

What are they? I really appreciate it.

Greg

email sent.

[Javier h]

You see where the front license plate is? If you follow the trim, you have holes on the corners. They are almost like a 1 inch squared about 3 inches away from turn signal.

I thought he was referring to the corner caps, that cap off the rear bumper but clearly they are there.