Boosty 30... track day, fun car (Now with a new owner)

[dugly52]

So I'm waiting on the right size bushing for my front sway bar from IE. They sent me the 22mm not the 25mm. Oh well, they are shipping new ones up for free :) In the mean time I started my face lift on the car. Got the front bumper on.



Eventually I'll paint the bumper to match the car or black to match the trim. Haven't decided. Also, I've been painting things ;D Figured while they were off, I painted the metal rings around my headlights. Thoughts?



And to match the new spoiler and ring color, I took off my front lip and painted it orange too. Also I picked up a RyanG splitter. Super fast shipping and quality product.



I like the look of the splitters when they aren't the same color as the IS lip. I also got a free german plate with my euro headlight trim. Everything back together.



Hopefully the bushings come tomorrow so I can get her rolling again and see how stiff everything is. Then it'll be time to put in the new diff.

[dugly52]

Well, still no bushings from IE. Really would like to get the front strut bar in. I got it in the car before I new I had the wrong size bushings. So it's just floating in the car waiting. Oh well.



I've had some Condor bushings so I put in the motor mounts. I want to see the difference with just the motor mounts and then put in the tranny mounts.



Got them in. Getting the old bushings out was kind of a pain. When raising the engine it would start lifting the car off the stands before it would get high enough. Getting in the Condor ones was super easy. One bolt from the top. Shweet!! And While I was working on that I decided to paint my mirrors orange. Because why not.



Haven't gotten a picture of them on the car because it is just sitting in the garage on stands. But hopefully I'll get it on the ground tomorrow.

[dugly52]

Also, since the new front bumper was blue and didn't match the car, I took it off and started painting it. I'm starting by painting black to match the grills and splitter. Way cheaper than taking it to get painted to match the white.



Taped up. Figured I would tape the trim so there might be a little contrast between it and the bumper after I paint it black.



Got it sanded. Since I'm just spray painting it, I didn't have to sand it too much.

But then it got dark and cold so I only got a quick layer of paint on it. More to come tomorrow.

[arthurmdk]

Looks great! Coming along very nicely bro! already looks a ton better since the day you bought it so i know its only going to get better! Keep up the good work:D

[dugly52]

So I have a confession. I'm definitely a noob when it comes to e30s. So I went to change my timing belt. Drained the coolant, took out the ignition stuff, and got the top cover off. Then I went to turn the engine to get it to TDC. I could get it to turn 90 degrees or so then nothing. Took the spark plugs out, but no change. Got really confused and I couldn't find anything on the internet about what to do. But the belt wasn't bad, I was just replacing it so I have peace of mind. So I put everything back together. Talked to my buddy who works on 2002s and e30s and the first thing he said was "I don't want to make you feel bad, but was it out of gear?" :hitler: :hitler: :hitler: "Son of a bitch!" How could I not think of that? God I was pissed. :down: Oh well, I'll never make that mistake again.


As for the actual update. The power was out at my house all day. Which made it a lot more difficult to work on stuff when all you have is candle light, a flash light and the light coming in the windows. (It was like 40 degrees today so I didn't want to open the garage.) But my garage is small enough that I've learned that if I light a candle and let it sit in there for 30 mins before I head down, it warms the room enough to work in jeans and a tee shirt :D and some photos for show:

Heres my garage with the light from windows and tiny candle for warmth



And here is my reading/work station (by candle light)



And with the flash on so you can actually see what it looks like.



But I got my bushings in so it should be rolling tomorrow!!!

[dugly52]

Quick Update

My bushings came!! Aww yeah



So I finished installing my front sway bar. Which it hits my RaceSkids front brace when the car is on the ground. :down: So I'll have to add a couple spacers and move the brace down slightly. But either way I was getting it back on its wheels so I can drive it!! I've been waiting long enough.

I forgot to mention that while I was working on my failed attempt at the timing belt, I finished painting my front bumper. I looks great, but I think I need to sand and paint the bumper trim so it matches the bumper.

Quick pic of the bumper on the car.



Then I needed to drive the car. 1) to bleed to cooling system. and 2) because I want to feel the difference with the new sway bars and strut braces. So I took a drive out to West Seattle and got some quick pictures at the boat launch looking back at Seattle. Didn't have too much time since I had to go meet my buddy. (The one who informed me of my dumb@ss mistake with the timing belt).







Lighting wasn't the best since the sun was going down. But I didn't care, I just was happy to be out driving :D

[dugly52]

I never posted pictures of the strut bars that I installed on the car. I have a sparco front strut bar and IE rear bar.

Front bar


I had to unhook cruise control to fit it in. But it didn't work anyway, and I would never use it. If I go on long continuous drive I take the Audi. I haven't fully taken it out yet, but its not in the way, so it just sits there.

Rear bar


I couldn't fit the bar and the reinforcement plates I have, so if anyone wants some, PM me. I'll sell them cheap. And they only have like 50 miles on them. So basically brand new :D

But since I drive an E30, this is how my trunk usually looks.


Always have a tool box strapped in with the tube of zip ties behind it. And you can't see it but I have a breaker bar and extra oil and power steering fluid in the compartment on the driver's side. You just never know when something is going to happen or you might need to help someone out. I'm also thinking about throwing my used v-belt in. Just in case.

[dugly52]

Photos

More Pictures!! Had a nice sunset looking at Seattle, so I messed around with some photos. Sorry for cell phone shittiness.





Washed my car but didn't finish drying it. Thought it would dry driving around but needed pictures while the sunset was good.

[dugly52]

New LSD Rear Diff

Today I got around to installing the 3.73 LSD I picked up a couple weeks ago. The PO of my car had switch out the diff for a 2.93 open. I'm guessing he wanted the LSD that comes with an iS for his car. The joys of buying old cars. I also installed a new Condor Speed Shop bushing I had.

Here's the diff:





Installing a different diff is pretty straight forward. Undo the axle bolts, undo the drive shaft bolts, and undo the bolds holding it to the car. So I didn't take many pictures while I was installing

Putting the new diff in:



And to give credit to the great products made by other R3v members, here's the Condor bushing.



It wasn't quite as big of a difference as I thought it would be, but it makes the car much more rev happy. And now the car actually wants to go into 5th gear when cruising on the freeway.

Also, I ordered the rest of my parts so I can finish up my face lift. Bought the front bumper brackets off Pelican. And picked up late model fog lights, front and rear bumper shocks, and rear bumper brackets from E30partsguy. Once those arrive I get to figure out when I want to tackle cutting and fitting the new bumpers. And I bought a sticker :D Pretty excited for it to get here

[dugly52]

Teaser...

Bored for a moment so I thought I post up a teaser. But mostly I've been out and driving the car and taking advantage of the nice weather until it gets shitty. But here is a teaser of the project I'm working on around the other stuff. Seen pictures of a couple cars with them, and I love them so I thought I would give it a try.



And here is a picture from my hike today at Heather Lake. Borrowed my friends dog for the hike :)



Hopefully I'll have an update in the next day or two with the finished product.

[dugly52]

Little bit of an update. I'm still waiting on some parts from pelican. Specifically the tensioner bracket for my power steering pump. Been driving around without power steering. Nothing terrible, just would be better to have it since I have everything there. But I did get the grill for the lower part of my valence.



And on the car



Nothing too special, but it does start to complete the front end. Now I need to install my fog lights and it'll be complete.

And for my side project. If you haven't guessed it, its a roof rack. I like the look of wood racks on e30s so I thought I would give it a try. And I can give it an orange stain to help tie it into the car.



Staining



Should finish it up today and I'll post some pictures.

I also, got a BUNCH or random e30 and e34 parts for a screaming deal. So I'll be posting a for sale thread.

[dugly52]

Little bit of an update. I finished up my new roof rack. I think it turned out good. Little lighter orange, so it isn't too dominating. I might but off some on the extra on the cross bars, but I'm going to drive it around with it for a while and see what I think.

The rack getting assembled.



And finally the rack on the car!!



What do you guys think?

And here are a couple of other things I got going on in my free time.

I got a sweet sticker. Hit up Zachary Ard on Facebook if you want one. He made them a while ago and is selling what he has left. And I think they are perfect for an early e30.



And I painted my valve cover too. Went flat black with an orange splatter over the top. Don't know if i'll sand down the "BMW" and stripes, and make them silver. Here is how its sits now.

[dugly52]

Got another project done today. I removed the sound deadening from the trunk. There is a lot of stuff back there, and it weighs a lot. I don't have a scale, so I don't know exactly how much it weighs, but I'd guess like 40lbs-ish?



And it all out.



Bad picture but this is all of the deadening.



Didn't notice much of a noise difference. My car enough rattles as it is and makes a decent amount of noise already.

Also, I got my fog lights installed, so I don't have big holes in my valence. Although, they aren't wired up because I don't have the plugs. The pig tails that I got for the fog lights, I'm going to use for my turn signals since I need those to be legal to drive.

Got them in.



And now my front is looking complete.

[dugly52]

I removed my RaceSkids X brace, because it was hitting my sway bar. I'm going to try and get some spacers to move the brace down so they don't hit.

Then I took out Amber for a drive to see if I could notice. I don't hear any clunking from them hitting anymore haha :) I drove out to Magnolia and got some quick photos on her.





I'm really loving Amber right now. She's so nimble!

[JonTheHero22]

Man very nice progress, I like the way you painted the valve cover, let's see how long that paint lasts. Glad to see you just jumping in and going for it. I'm the same way but I haven't gotten to work on mine as much as I would like but this is really inspiring. Keep up the good work man