Project Daily Driver Eta: Slow and Meticulous

[Schnitzer318is]

November 1, 2014

No real problems to report with the Eta. Had an issue with a torn spark plug boot that caused intermittent missing. Diagnosed that the hard way... was pulling plug wires to see which cylinder the problem was on. Got a nice little jolt when cylinder 1 fired.

I went ahead and changed the wires, cap, and rotor with some I had lying around from the 325 shell I sold. All is back to normal... and actually running better now.

The two front wheel bearings are now to the point they warrant replacing and will be done later this month. More updates on that when I get there...

Also went ahead and installed some IS weaves I had lying around with some good tires on them from my convertible. Really makes the eta look better, although the wheels could use some refinishing.

Lastly, went ahead and installed the Dave Mucci "Respect Your Elders" stickers I had been storing for awhile. See pics below. I think she looks pretty darn good for a car with ~400,000 miles.

[TimKninja]

beautiful progress, how do you like the ride quality of the tokicitockioktos ? good for a daily?

[Schnitzer318is]

beautiful progress, how do you like the ride quality of the tokicitockioktos ? good for a daily?

Thanks for the compliment.

Good for a daily driver. Soft, but not too soft that it bottoms out the travel of the shocks. Wife doesn't complain that the car is too harsh which is nice since she drives it more than I do.

Don't ever take this setup to an auto cross or racing event though... it would be terrible for that and probably fail within a month. I've had this setup on now for a long time (it's in this thread somewhere) and they still work like the day I put them on. There is a reason these are cheap though.

[Nick_S]

Such a well done car. It's perfect, very well resorted and a good example of oem+.

[Mouse]

What a turd. Next time I'm in town I will take it off your hands so you don't have to look at it anymore. I already talked it over with your wife so no need to drag her into it.












Awesome progress man. It really is.

[sayed ali]

Nice job! :)

[Tougerunner01]

Nice job on the details! I'm thinking about doing the late model valance with the diving boards.

[Schnitzer318is]

Such a well done car. It's perfect, very well resorted and a good example of oem+.

Awesome progress man. It really is.

Nice job! :)

Nice job on the details! I'm thinking about doing the late model valance with the diving boards.

Thanks guys for the compliments. It's funny but the eta is just as fun to drive as the turbo car... but obviously for different reasons. We really do enjoy it.

@Mouse... lol funnyman. You were there at the beginning with this one. Helped out a bunch on that first day.

@Tougerunner01 you should do it. The diving boards look pretty good with the late model as long as you tuck them a good bit. I didn't particularly care for it a whole bunch at stock length, but tucked is almost as nice as plastics.

[Tougerunner01]

The late model valance will be one of the last things I do. The cosmetics of the car are last on my list. I'm just reassured that it looks really good with the diving boards, thanks to you. Only thing I'll different is paint the diving boards black or some trim color.

[Schnitzer318is]

December 14, 2014

Front wheel bearings were howling like banshees... couldn't take it anymore. Soooooo... replaced them with new Meyle units from FCP. Car sounds (and drives) way better. Wife came home from work and said she no longer has to crank the volume on the radio. So it got her seal of approval.



Old ones were pretty shot... but did come off the inner hub pretty easily. So at least it was a pretty easy task. Also replaced the shifter surround insert that goes on the right hand side of the auto shifter. The old one had a broken clip and was popping up everytime going from park to drive. Finally annoyed me to the point of picking up another one.

While I was under the car though I found that the outer tie rod on the passenger side has a failed ball joint. It just never ends does it? Going to order inner and outers along with new boots soon... more updates to follow.

[IzzY_325is]

This is a sweet build. I like how the car looks these days.

[Schnitzer318is]

This is a sweet build. I like how the car looks these days.

Thanks. We do too. Love driving it... turns a lot of heads too because it looks pretty clean.

February 1 - 8, 2015

Did a mostly full brake setup refresh. I had more pictures of this but they seem to be lost somewhere on the network. Hopefully I can locate them.

Installed:

Good used brake vacuum booster w/ master cylinder from one of my old cars. It has the newer larger diameter piston as it came out of a '90 325i. Installed it with new gaskets and grommets where necessary. I also replaced a wheel speed sensor on the driver's front that had disintegrated and was causing a lack of ABS. Car has never had ABS working so this must have been the culprit as it works now. :D

All new softlines at all 4 corners. Also put in some engine mounts from the same 325i that I had here. The original ones on the car had collapsed and would not allow the brake booster to be removed from the firewall. Did a full fluid flush and bleed and pumped a full liter of ATE Dot4 through it. It had blue in it before so I put gold in it now. Stops better than it ever has before and the wife immediately noticed. No more squishy pedal that would creep down and drop to the floor if stopped for longer than 15 seconds.

Redid some of the vacuum lines as well since mine had cracked and failed in a couple of places and were causing starting and idling issues. The top ICV to intake boot hose is NLA locally so I had to fab something up from Oreilly's. FWIW the ICV side takes a 3/4" ID hose and the intake boot side takes a 5/8" ID. Doesn't look too bad I guess, but I am going to order the original from FCP or ECS.

Degreased the engine top to bottom as it had all kinds of fluids on it. Did an oil change first though. Found I need new steering rack boots... and I might just pick up a new rack for it instead.







BTW guys... we bought the wife an e83 X3 (06 Mtech low mileage example) and were thinking about selling the eta. Put so much time and effort into I am kind of at a loss for pricing it since it's 1) an eta, and 2) an automatic eta. The wife said we should list it for $6000 on CL or something and stay pretty firm.

What do you guys think? It's a really nice candidate for a swap I guess... and I know e30 prices are on the rise. Is $6000 just ridiculous? We've obviously spent more on it that that. We don't need to sell it and could sit on it for a long time while still driving it as well. Only really thinking about it because we have 5 BMW's at the moment... lol. I know, white people problems. ;) or to be more politically correct... first world problems.

[Schnitzer318is]

May 29, 2015

Removed the front bumper to fix an intermittent hyperblinking issue with the right turn signal. The problem ended up being the plug to receptacle connection on the back of the signal housing. Wasn't making good contact. Fixed that and now it has no more issues with that.

Sorry no nice pics to share though.

Edit: Scratch that. Took this pick with all the E30's clean. Was super bright out... and didn't adjust the camera. Would have been a really nice shot, but oh well. Oh and don't mind the neighbor's yard. The city's code violation notices finally took effect and the bank finally paid someone to come and clean it up. PO passed away about 6 months ago... and it's bank owned now.

[Butler]

This thread is fucking sweet. Exactly what I needed to pass 45 mins at work.

This car is begging to stay in the family. You've past the point of no return.

[Schnitzer318is]

July 8, 2015

Fixed a cobbled together vacuum line with a proper one on the FPR. Also fixed an intermittent connector at the coolant level sensor. Kept triggering the damn low coolant light on the check panel. No longer!



July 12, 2015

Nothing too exciting, but finally got around to fixing the overspray on the spare tire well and the muffler from the paint shop. I was a little miffed that it happened in the first place... but what can you do. For what I paid I couldn't be too upset. Only took an hour to fix anyway. You can see it in some of the rear end shots in this thread.

Before:





During:





After: