Well Im not much for writing build threads n stuff, and I forget to take pics while Im working, but would like to have a way to look back on all this in the future, so maybe this will force me to. Also would like to share knowledge as I gain it. So lets let this thing rip.
Im starting this a decent way into owning E30s so heres some background up till now:
-Was big into subarus. Had an 18G 2.0L WRX, great for pissing off many STi/EVO owners with 335/280 at the wheels.
-Was getting shit fuel mileage and commuting to work a lot in that car, stacking miles on it was killing me, so I wanted something "cheap"/fun to take a load off this car.
-Bought first E30, dumped money into it, started having more fun that car than the subaru and the WRX was due for 100k service/paint was bubbling/about to get very expensive, so I sold the WRX.
-Bought another e30 in May 2014, OBD1 M52/G320 swapped already and zero rust for a steal. Now Im sliding wallet first down the slippery slope of owning and modifying these cars. There are worse ways to go broke.
-Im a Mechanical engineer and I cant leave things well enough alone while they work. Got a penchant for impractical vehicles despite what my profession might suggest. Love a contrast between incredibly engineered and beautifully finished parts, and cheap go-fast solutions (that work). I think my personal work is usually embodied by that sentiment.
Now on to the E30 pics/content - This is when I bought the first E30 in Dec 2012, an '87 325is, schwarz on cardinal. My enthusiasm to get one of these led me to overpaying on it a bit but it looked real clean for a New England car and the owner gave me 6k in receipts for work since 2010 on it. Still needed a lot but Im a handy dude so I bought it. This is it, in all its divingboard/mobtint/pinstriped glory:
With pops' E60
One of the first things I needed to do was replace the exhaust to get it inspected since it was suuuper rusted out. The E30 gods were smiling on me and I scored a B&B Tri-Flo for $300 in incredible shape off craigslist. It drones at some points which sucks but sounds great when you get that thing rippin over 4500-5000RPM
I go to the RMV to renew my license. Old timer backs into me in slow motion while I lay on the horn and frantically try to back up. He was there to renew his license too...irony.
Old timer pays me, E30 becomes cooler. Smoked ellipsoids, euro grills, found a schwarz hood for $100, no core support damage....all is well.
Busted out the orbital and did my 1-2 thang on the paint. Came out decent, paints cracked in some places but most of the scratches are gone. Pinstripe also removed with minimal ill effect a la razorblade.
Comparison of a panel before and during buffing.
Peeled the tint, bought what I thought was an iS spoiler from what the seller told me, dont know what it really is but isnt the same as the one I removed. Fit kind of crappy but the old one was lifted up and bent on one side so it was an improvement. SEM'd that sucker and put it on. New tails also. Beginning to dig how the car looks, but still too high and handling is somewhat dumptruck-like.
At this point I buckled and decide I will fully sort the car out. Was avoiding spending big money but went on a spree here, I think I was driving it a lot more than the past owner and a lot of issues started cropping up. I had leaking power steering, leaking oilpan, somewhat leaky seals at the rear of the tranny, one brake caliper was seized up, so I decided Id take it off the road for a little while and knock it all out. Ended up needing all new (remanned) calipers since I couldnt get the pistons out of any of them to redo the boots. Also went with drilled rotors and some nice pads.
Since I needed to get at the oilpan and the steering rack was leaking and looked pretty beat, so I decided to just replace it. One of the few things I really disliked about this car was the crappy steering ratio. Opposite lock was a frantic flail of the arms if the car ever lost traction. Found a non-m Z3 rack with 50k miles and threw it in with new E36 TREs and an IE poly steering coupler. The improvement is incredible, and I was concerned it would be too agressive but Ive never loved the way another car steered more. Found out after the fact that the pump leaks too since I kept PS with this rack but not terribly, so I left it.
Hondabond-ed the oilpan and its seemed to hold up well. At this point I also replaced the blown out motor mounts and threw a Red46 skidplate on (awesome quality) since I was also going to lower the car. The shocks were all blown out so I got some used Bilstein sports and coupled them with some H&R Races. Again I was concerned this would be too aggressive but tried it and it is amazing. Definitely a little harsh, but very planted and almost never bottoms out. E30s should come with this suspension. Could still use some swaybars however.
With all this going on I was under the car for quite a while and was poking around around. Realized this car had cancer at the front jack points and bad, metal is flaking off in my hands all over the place. This made me sad. I had been seeing the carpet get pretty wet when I drove in the rain (understandably so) and pulled the entire thing only to find the rust was worse than I imagined. I hit a real crossroads here and considered bailing on the car but having done all the work I was in the midst of, I did it right and cut crap metal out, welded new metal in, and POR-15'd the whole floor. Powerwashed carpet and reinstalled it which led to feeling like a boss for a while.
This is after I ripped all the flaky crap out from the jackpoint. Looked and felt somewhat solid until I started yanking around on it, it all just ripped apart. I felt like a total moron having not discovered this sooner but I now know every nook and cranny E30s rust in for future reference :'(
The repairs...keep in mind I had never done this before and just went for it. Im fortunate to have a MIG at my disposal or Id have been screwed. I did overlap the metal so I could weld it where ideally it would be butted up, but I had a hell of a time getting it to fit that way/ I seam sealed both sides after I was done, so I think itll work for a decent amount of time.
This is just to get the ball rolling. Id like to do this in chronological order so Ive got to dig some stuff up. More to come...
Im starting this a decent way into owning E30s so heres some background up till now:
-Was big into subarus. Had an 18G 2.0L WRX, great for pissing off many STi/EVO owners with 335/280 at the wheels.
-Was getting shit fuel mileage and commuting to work a lot in that car, stacking miles on it was killing me, so I wanted something "cheap"/fun to take a load off this car.
-Bought first E30, dumped money into it, started having more fun that car than the subaru and the WRX was due for 100k service/paint was bubbling/about to get very expensive, so I sold the WRX.
-Bought another e30 in May 2014, OBD1 M52/G320 swapped already and zero rust for a steal. Now Im sliding wallet first down the slippery slope of owning and modifying these cars. There are worse ways to go broke.
-Im a Mechanical engineer and I cant leave things well enough alone while they work. Got a penchant for impractical vehicles despite what my profession might suggest. Love a contrast between incredibly engineered and beautifully finished parts, and cheap go-fast solutions (that work). I think my personal work is usually embodied by that sentiment.
Now on to the E30 pics/content - This is when I bought the first E30 in Dec 2012, an '87 325is, schwarz on cardinal. My enthusiasm to get one of these led me to overpaying on it a bit but it looked real clean for a New England car and the owner gave me 6k in receipts for work since 2010 on it. Still needed a lot but Im a handy dude so I bought it. This is it, in all its divingboard/mobtint/pinstriped glory:
With pops' E60
One of the first things I needed to do was replace the exhaust to get it inspected since it was suuuper rusted out. The E30 gods were smiling on me and I scored a B&B Tri-Flo for $300 in incredible shape off craigslist. It drones at some points which sucks but sounds great when you get that thing rippin over 4500-5000RPM
I go to the RMV to renew my license. Old timer backs into me in slow motion while I lay on the horn and frantically try to back up. He was there to renew his license too...irony.
Old timer pays me, E30 becomes cooler. Smoked ellipsoids, euro grills, found a schwarz hood for $100, no core support damage....all is well.
Busted out the orbital and did my 1-2 thang on the paint. Came out decent, paints cracked in some places but most of the scratches are gone. Pinstripe also removed with minimal ill effect a la razorblade.
Comparison of a panel before and during buffing.
Peeled the tint, bought what I thought was an iS spoiler from what the seller told me, dont know what it really is but isnt the same as the one I removed. Fit kind of crappy but the old one was lifted up and bent on one side so it was an improvement. SEM'd that sucker and put it on. New tails also. Beginning to dig how the car looks, but still too high and handling is somewhat dumptruck-like.
At this point I buckled and decide I will fully sort the car out. Was avoiding spending big money but went on a spree here, I think I was driving it a lot more than the past owner and a lot of issues started cropping up. I had leaking power steering, leaking oilpan, somewhat leaky seals at the rear of the tranny, one brake caliper was seized up, so I decided Id take it off the road for a little while and knock it all out. Ended up needing all new (remanned) calipers since I couldnt get the pistons out of any of them to redo the boots. Also went with drilled rotors and some nice pads.
Since I needed to get at the oilpan and the steering rack was leaking and looked pretty beat, so I decided to just replace it. One of the few things I really disliked about this car was the crappy steering ratio. Opposite lock was a frantic flail of the arms if the car ever lost traction. Found a non-m Z3 rack with 50k miles and threw it in with new E36 TREs and an IE poly steering coupler. The improvement is incredible, and I was concerned it would be too agressive but Ive never loved the way another car steered more. Found out after the fact that the pump leaks too since I kept PS with this rack but not terribly, so I left it.
Hondabond-ed the oilpan and its seemed to hold up well. At this point I also replaced the blown out motor mounts and threw a Red46 skidplate on (awesome quality) since I was also going to lower the car. The shocks were all blown out so I got some used Bilstein sports and coupled them with some H&R Races. Again I was concerned this would be too aggressive but tried it and it is amazing. Definitely a little harsh, but very planted and almost never bottoms out. E30s should come with this suspension. Could still use some swaybars however.
With all this going on I was under the car for quite a while and was poking around around. Realized this car had cancer at the front jack points and bad, metal is flaking off in my hands all over the place. This made me sad. I had been seeing the carpet get pretty wet when I drove in the rain (understandably so) and pulled the entire thing only to find the rust was worse than I imagined. I hit a real crossroads here and considered bailing on the car but having done all the work I was in the midst of, I did it right and cut crap metal out, welded new metal in, and POR-15'd the whole floor. Powerwashed carpet and reinstalled it which led to feeling like a boss for a while.
This is after I ripped all the flaky crap out from the jackpoint. Looked and felt somewhat solid until I started yanking around on it, it all just ripped apart. I felt like a total moron having not discovered this sooner but I now know every nook and cranny E30s rust in for future reference :'(
The repairs...keep in mind I had never done this before and just went for it. Im fortunate to have a MIG at my disposal or Id have been screwed. I did overlap the metal so I could weld it where ideally it would be butted up, but I had a hell of a time getting it to fit that way/ I seam sealed both sides after I was done, so I think itll work for a decent amount of time.
This is just to get the ball rolling. Id like to do this in chronological order so Ive got to dig some stuff up. More to come...
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