Ever Leave a Note on a Windshield ?

[ak-]

Very nice presentable car.

[jeffnhiscars]

Needs an iS lip and a drop.

it needs struts so I may do springs and take itdown to match our 87 sedan which measures 1 1/4 lower on H&R cabrio springs and bilstein tourings (and is being replaced by Alice). It sits right and rides better than new (IMO)and since Alice has new Tourings in the rear already I may stick with them for the front. Otherwise I'm thinking koni str and I'll sell the Tourings.

Despite just passing inspection the tires are rotting so I hope to find some wheels before I waste $$ on stock tires. Then suspension decisions will make more sense once the wheels are sorted

[jeffnhiscars]

Very nice presentable car.

Thank you.

At this point the car is in the shop (my backyard). Since the last timing belt was 30k but 11 years ago I am following my own advice (along with that of lots of you) and it is not going anywhere til the belt is done.

Hoses look new but the accessory belts are cracked and shedding thread. I also have receipts for the water pump at 60k and since it looks like all repairs have used decent parts I will leave the WP absent signs of "made in China".

Usually I 'would order parts first but given that I want to tear in to it this weekend and it's kind of la the for an order I may just do a proper inventory and order them afterwards since we are not short of cars at the moment.

I only browsed the service history but it does have dealer stamps through 85k which I believe was some time ago. Many oil changes although I'm not too happy about them using 5-30 in many cases so I'll switch to M1 15-50. I also see they replaced the rear main seal, front trans seal, pan basket not that long ago.

The right rear axle is new which might explain what I think is a wheel bearing noise when I test drove it. Could be tires.

I'm thinking there are $15k in receipts of which 5-6 are in the $1-2k range and many are not that old in terms of mileage driven since. One fairly recent one was for a new ecu and alternator and another had a new fuse box so it seems there's a pattern of electrical issues although I haven't notice any....yet.

Pads and rotors are brand new and brake feel supports that

New compressor, dealer installed control arms and bushings, new Bosal cat back...the list goes on and I'll add details as we go.

Immediate needs other than the TB are:

odo gears which I ordered today
radio since the stock cassette unit is not working (not that I'd keep it if it did)
dash. A worthy used one will not be cheap and could crack the day after I install it and if I go new I will probably do the consoles to match
The clear coat on the hood is oxidizing. I'm hoping the porter cable/menzerna team will resolve that. Other than the RF corner mini crease which is visible in the pic and a 2" key scratch on the passenger door, the paint is literally showroom. No hazing or swirls anywhere....none...zero. Not a nick that I have noticed
Oh...it's needs wiper dampers. Seems everyone misses those.
There's a bit of a rattle when I close the drivers door. It sounds like a loose linkage.
The antenna sticks up an inch when down.

..and I degreased the engine yesterday.

[Vokuhila]

This looks amazing.

[M-technik-3]

Not in a least 8 years....granted I did see a sweet 535iS e28 about a month ago I considered doing so but the list was long on the car.\


So didn't see a price...thinking 2K which is more than adequate. Nice find.

[jeffnhiscars]

Jane sent me a text today to let me know they fixed the washers recently as well. I told her we decided to name her after Alice if that was ok and she said it was. She seemed pleased

I'll work on some more pics and hope to tear down the belt this weekend then order parts. That way I get show the cabrio some July 4 love by installing the NIB mud flaps and Italvolante. New interior just ordered as well.

It's e30 heaven guys

[jeffnhiscars]

Now that Im getting in to this, its time for an update.

As I mentioned, all books and records came with the car. Both the original steel master and wallet key appear to never have been used and again, receipts were organized by year. I still havent read them all



Even the battery is brand new


We've all seen these stickers and despite the low miles its time to renew

[Petebee]

Great find Jeff! How is the maintenance tear down progressing?

[jeffnhiscars]

When you've done a few timing belts things really do come apart quickly. As has always been my experience (or perhaps luck) the fan clutch came off with channel locks and a firm whack with a hammer. First try...dont hate.

I did find that the upper rad hose pipe at the radiator was broken an inch inside the hose so it didnt leak, but prevailing wisdom is to swap out the entire cooling system every 100k, so a new radiator, fan clutch & hoses are on the way. I also found a stamped intermediate (oil pump drive) gear so ordered a sintered gear.

The V belts were shot so just cut them off and the timing belt actually didnt look bad. Other than that it was a round or 2 of degreasing and its now ready for reassembly once parts arrive

[jeffnhiscars]

I ordered moto odo gears a few days ago so figured Id pull and prep the cluster. My first surprise was that someone had removed it once before cause they broke one of the top mount tabs.


Fortunately I had an early spare to swap the housing out of


The coding plug was quite brittle and fell apart when I removed it. Again, the good news is that the spare was the same PN. I also checked both service boards and the original still showed adequate voltage whereas the spare did not.



I then polished the crap out of the clear cover and threw it back together til the gears arrive.

Another day in e30 heaven.

[jeffnhiscars]

I also bought a Kenwood BT762HD to replace the DOA factory w/cassette unit, am negotiating for a set of wheels and the very nice mtech wheel from my cabrio will be replacing the 4 spoke stock wheel in Alice. The Cabrio is getting an Italvolanti once I get some longer screws than Momo supplied with its banged up hub/adaptor

[jeffnhiscars]

These came Friday and have since been consumed along with a new radiator


Note the bleed valve on the tstat. I really like that since I usually have to drill one.

[jeffnhiscars]

And of course the odo gears had melted. Thanks again to garagistic

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[jeffnhiscars]

I also did not like the way the distributor cap,looked compared to my spare, only when we got it running it had a very bad miss and a nice crackling sound coming from the cap. That's when I realized that my "spare" was actually a bad cap we swapped out of the sedan for just this reason. It's now in the garbage and with a new cap and rotor I have to say this the smoothest and tightest M20 I've ever heard. Revs fast, drops to idle just as quick w zero stumble or hesitation and does NOT sound like a sewing machine

Working on the Kenwood install

[Old city bimmer]

looks good