'90 325i Project Log… continued

[jd_e30]

'90 325i Project Log… continued

Got around to adjusting the throttle cable last night. Preliminary adjustment was 5/16" but ended up at 1/4"

[jd_e30]

Car is driving nicely. I still think there is power left on the table somewhere, but not sure where yet.

There are definitely a few pressing issues that I need to take care of.

-Engine oil is dripping from somewhere - hopefully just needs a new crush washer

-Power steering is leaking and seems dirty. I will change this fluid and inspect for leak

-fuel hose needs replaced (waiting for it to arrive)

-valve adjustment (don't know when the last one was done)

But I REALLY want to track down this incredibly annoying/seemingly rear-end related whining/scraping noise. Given Ethan's long list of everything recently done (below), I really am not sure what this noise could be. The noise gets louder with vehicle speed, but does not change with engine RPM's, or go away when engine is turned off with the car still rolling. I plan to lift up the rear end and do some inspecting tomorrow. I've searched the forums and Google endlessly, but can't find any possible culprits outside of things that were already replaced by Ethan (bearings/csb/giubo/diff/bushings).

CV Axle(s)?
Ujoint?
What am I missing?

- valve cover/valve cover gasket
- intake manifold/gaskets
- bitch tube o-ring
- timing belt/water pump
- OEM head gasket and head bolts, head checked, valves/pistons cleaned
- rebuilt M50 17lb injectors
- new spark plugs
- freshly powdercoated rear subframe, all new bushings and hardware
- freshly powdercoated trailing arms, all new bushings and hardware
- new rear wheel bearings, parking brake shoes and hardware
- new brake rotors and pads
- new ebrake cables
- rear brake soft and hard lines w/ATE super blue
- rebuilt 3.73S rear dif with new bushing
- new guibo/CSB
- trans mounts

[Lake]

Keep up the good work!

[Graebmw95]

Hey man! Love the car! You should definitely join the Colorado BMW Groupë on facebook!

I also love in Parker and i totally thought your pictures looked familiar. Haha but heres my baby!



Maybe we could go cruising some time!? Good luck with the car man! Names Noah~


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[jd_e30]

Hey man! Nice to meet you. Your car looks great! I'd love to meet up with some local guys. I plan to attend a few cars n coffee meets soon too.

[roznic]

wow, that's one clean e30!! Good luck with it

[jd_e30]

Thanks!


Well, quick update on the e30. I checked out rear brakes and both sides were rubbing pretty badly on the parking brakes- more so on driver side. I adjusted them and the cables and everything is great now brake-wise. Car also feels quicker without the constant drag of the parking brakes.

Unfortunately, this did not cure the whining noise I am hearing. Any ideas on where to start here? Anyone?

[jd_e30]

Ok another update. Horrid grinding noise coming from rear end. Something is up with the rear left brakes... I think parking brake. Yikes. Going to tear them down and start at square one

[jd_e30]

Fuel hose and clamps arrived.



Rear window "sail" trim piece clips installed

Pass side


Driver side


I also noticed that my parking brake warning light wire (blue) is loose. Trying to figure out how and where this attaches. Anyone know?

[jd_e30]

Got the the new fuel hose installed. Excited to actually be able to fill it up past halfway without a leak.. I hope. It looks like the outlet on the gas tank has some rust but hopefully it hasn't rusted through. My worry is that it has. We will find out soon.

I adjusted both parking brakes to where I want them but unfortunately that did not resolve the buzzing noise I am hearing above ~20mph. I'm starting to wonder if it really is just rear diff noise. I am going to have my mechanic take a look soon. I know that many people have complained about this noise, so hopefully I can shed some light on things when I'm able to put it up on a lift and listen from underneath while the rear wheels are rotating.

I have a big order ready to go at Pelican, which is comprised of a lot of maintenance items that I will list later. I hope to have the rear trans and power steering reservoir leaks resolved soon along with fresh fluid in both.

I need to get everything sorted prior to the Drive 4 Corners meet.

In the meantime, here are some pics of how it sits now...

[Graebmw95]

Sooo excited for four corners ...


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[jd_e30]

Me too!

[jd_e30]

small update on things...

I changed the rear diff fluid. I was going to go with Redline but decided on locally available Mobil 1 75w90 synthetic LS. It took about 1.5 qts+. The old fluid was pretty nasty, so I am glad I changed it.

The power steering fluid has been leaking up front, so I tore things apart and discovered the issue. The return hose has a worm gear clamp on it, which wasn't leaking. The feed line however had the factory crimp-type clamp and that hose was a mess. It looks like things had been leaking for some time, not to mention the fluid was black. I drained it, degreased everything, and fed the return line into a drain pan while I rotated the steering wheel back and forth countless times while adding fresh dexiii ATF. I did this until fresh fluid was coming out of the return line to ensure that old fluid had completely drained from the steering rack. I buttoned everything back up and no more leak. Pics below.

Next up on the list is new trans fluid. Redline MTL should be here on Tuesday. I'm thinking my whining/buzzing/metallic noise might be coming from the transmission, which would not surprise me a bit... I went through 5 transmissions on my chevy traiblazer ss, so it would figure that this is my luck.

I'm very excited about how everything is coming together. The car is driving better than ever. Stay tuned for more....




Old fluid... yuck!




What a mess!






All sorted

[lambo]

Haha when my power steering started leaking I just decided to delete it...

[jd_e30]

no power steering!? lol! Can't wait to see how that feels.