My Brilliant Red S50 24v Weekend Car!! [PIC HEAVY]

[kingston]

You are doing some solid work. What camber are you running up front?

[MC Hammered]

They are chopping this tire alive.
The other side is fine and both sides are completely at the highest setting.
What I plan on doing is adjusting the koni shock to its firmest setting in the nearby future to see if it stiffens up and prevents from rubbing this bad. If it continues they'll have to come off.

Your single adjustable Konis only effects the rebound, not the compression, so setting it to the firmest setting won't give the result you want. You will need a stiffer spring to take care of the compression so your tires won't get chopped up.

So take out the spacers to save your tires.

[Mike_z]

Looks good. Keep up the good work.

The work is good and the look is also good.

You are doing some solid work. What camber are you running up front?

Thank you guys, really appreciate the kind words!

As for the camber, i'm not sure what degrees of camber I am running. However I can tell you that I'm running the Ground Control camber plates and they're currently maxed out until I have my alignment done at least, although I really like the look. So whatever those are max out at, thats what I have them set on

[Mike_z]

Your single adjustable Konis only effects the rebound, not the compression, so setting it to the firmest setting won't give the result you want. You will need a stiffer spring to take care of the compression so your tires won't get chopped up.

So take out the spacers to save your tires.

Yeah I guess you're right. I was just hoping I could keep them on as I just really really like the look, but I suppose taking them off and waiting for the car to be fixed and painted is the best option at this point.
Thanks for the input!

[Aikmanson]

Someone mentioned earlier that Brilliantrot had clear coat and that the paint could not be saved. I have a 1990 325is and it is certainly not clear coat, and it certainly looked just like yours when I bought it (actually, nearly the entire car was faded to pink like your door/rear quarter). That paint is savable, no doubt. Hell, if you can't find anyone down in the city to help you fix it, I would be willing to help you out. It just needs a good compound/polish with a good orbital. The fact that there is clear peeling on your hood doesn't mean the rest of the car is clear coated either.

Anyways, looks like a good base to work with, jealous of the s50!

[bangn]

you need stiffer rear springs, I had the same issue with mine hitting the tyres like that running +15 offset 17's on 225s.. Swapped out the shitty stock springs and put lowered rear springs from a Holden Monaro (pontiac GTO) in and it solved the issue. Same locators on the spring. You would need to roll the lips on the rear too.

[Mike_z]

Someone mentioned earlier that Brilliantrot had clear coat and that the paint could not be saved. I have a 1990 325is and it is certainly not clear coat, and it certainly looked just like yours when I bought it (actually, nearly the entire car was faded to pink like your door/rear quarter). That paint is savable, no doubt. Hell, if you can't find anyone down in the city to help you fix it, I would be willing to help you out. It just needs a good compound/polish with a good orbital. The fact that there is clear peeling on your hood doesn't mean the rest of the car is clear coated either.

Anyways, looks like a good base to work with, jealous of the s50!

Haha thank you! That power plant is just pure fun! As for the paint, I was going to try and save it. But with all the small issues in the body including the bad quarter panel.. I don't know if its worth it. I want to get the car resprayed with nice fresh paint and get rid of all the imperfections all in one go, rather than fix one by one. What do you think?

you need stiffer rear springs, I had the same issue with mine hitting the tyres like that running +15 offset 17's on 225s.. Swapped out the shitty stock springs and put lowered rear springs from a Holden Monaro (pontiac GTO) in and it solved the issue. Same locators on the spring. You would need to roll the lips on the rear too.

Yeah it appears so. I'm surprised though, because when I spoke with Ground Control, we went for one of the stiffer set ups at 440lb up front and 650lb out back. The ride feels firm but its the inner of that fucked up fender thats rubbing bad because its dented in and towards the tire. The other side would be perfect with just a roll. so idk, I might just wait until all the fender is fixed, if it still rubs then might as well either go with a lower spacer or simply get a stiffer spring

[Mike_z]

Small, less interesting update today.
I've been trying to find a shop and trying to get quotes for a paint job for my car, so far not many good ones found. Anybody know what a decent price for a paint job on these cars is? Ball park price of course.

Also, been battling purchasing all the stuff for the HFM upgrade for the engine. It comes out to about 7-800 bucks with everything so I've been holding it off for more important repairs.

Planning on bringing the car to someone to resolve my battery drain issues soon.

ANYWAY!
I'm trying to figure out the wiper problem i'm having on my own. None of the threads i've read on the issues match mine really, or atleast i'm convincing myself they don't.
My wipers completely just went out one rainy night. The wiper motor seemed to work, i tightened everything up still nothing. Linkages seemed, thankfully, perfectly fine.
So i disected the wiper motor out of the car like you guys saw before, and just now tried to see what's what inside.

I took it apart to inspect and this is what it looked like inside:




It was all gummy and ugly. So i'm hoping maybe just maybe it was a part of the reason for the issues? I cleaned it out to the best of my abilities, and put some multipurpose grease in there as replacement, which i don't know if it was a good idea cause i'm unsure if there was some special grease involved but oh well



Also ordered a new crank arm for the motor to see if that maybe also another issue. It's worth a try before I really start diving into it even further. If these items don't remedy my issues, I'll just purchase another used motor off eBay or something. :???:



Also, this is probably another electrical woe BUT, I noticed that when I took out the wiper motor, and of course disconnected it, everything in the car turns off like its supposed to upon turning the car completely off.
My issue with the battery getting drained is that everything stays ON after the cars completely turned off, and this seemed to kind of fixed that? I have yet to leave the car overnight plugged into the battery because I don't want to jump it but it'd be worth a try I suppose to just see if that's what causes it.


SORRY FOR THE LENGHTY ESSAY. I'm sure some of you guys find interest in reading these, some just stick around for pictures and leave.
I hope to get some answers/help from you guys if any of you have some info on my many issues hahah.
Stay tuned!!

[rzerob]

Electrical issues are difficult to diagnose over the internet. Connect a DMM(Digital Multi-Meter) in series to your battery and set it to read amperage. Then go to your fuse box and start pulling fuses until you see the amperage draw drop. After you know what fuse the draw is on, pull up the wiring diagram for that circuit. And slowly disconnect each portion of that circuit until you find your draw. Wiring diagrams can be found in your Bentley Manual. If you don't have one, go purchase one. http://www.amazon.com/BMW-3-Service-.../dp/0837616476 There are also wiring diagrams on this website: http://www.wedophones.com/BMWManualsLead.htm Good Luck.

[Joeyz31]

I get where you're coming from man, I researched a shit ton before buying my setup and still bought them without knowing half the things I wanted to hahah. Everyone told me I need to hack the front struts and I just didn't want to. Don't know where you live but massive low in New York with a low oil pan is plain stupid, so this is perfect height. NOW let me stop rambling and get to the real stuff.

The street kit is completely weld-free. Almost.
You install it exactly how you would any lowering springs, GC provide you with a weld kit which I didn't pay attention to, which is basically 2 small metal plates.
You install them and quickly find out that the lowest ride you can get is about halfway on the adjuster. That is because the perch is in the way. If you don't mind that, here is how it looks with the adjuster as far as it can go with the stock perch.



I wasn't happy with it. I ended up finding a welder who works with many spec E30s around here, gave them to him. He cuts the stock perch, and welds those two plates on. It looks like this



And you end up with basically something like this



Word of advice though. If you buy this kit with the Konis, they have a 22mm top nut on them. If you want to use your stock shock mounts, make sure you have a really really thin walled socket. I had a regular craftsman 22mm and it wouldn't fit for shit. my shock mount was crap so I decided to just buy the camber plates and everything fit tits but just telling you so you keep that in mind.
I'm really happy with mine, Plus the oil pan sits a good amount away from the street so I have peace of mind. If you want lower than 2 inches though, I'd go for shortened struts.

Awesome feedback dude. that is SUPER helpful. I really appreciate it. I figured it may be too good to be true to be THAT easy. The car looks great though, keep it up.

[Mike_z]

Electrical issues are difficult to diagnose over the internet. Connect a DMM(Digital Multi-Meter) in series to your battery and set it to read amperage. Then go to your fuse box and start pulling fuses until you see the amperage draw drop. After you know what fuse the draw is on, pull up the wiring diagram for that circuit. And slowly disconnect each portion of that circuit until you find your draw. Wiring diagrams can be found in your Bentley Manual. If you don't have one, go purchase one. http://www.amazon.com/BMW-3-Service-.../dp/0837616476 There are also wiring diagrams on this website: http://www.wedophones.com/BMWManualsLead.htm Good Luck.

Thanks for the help! I have a bentley and looked through it trying to find some issues, but ultimately decided to take it to OMG Motorworks (he's on the forums here) so that's happening shortly. I just don't have enough time to figure this out myself during the week. But thank you so much for the links and info, I'm keeping the wiring diagram website in my bookmarks!

Awesome feedback dude. that is SUPER helpful. I really appreciate it. I figured it may be too good to be true to be THAT easy. The car looks great though, keep it up.

I'm glad I helped! Hope you'll be happy with the setup you go with! And thank you for the compliment :D Going to try and progress with it as much as I can!

/Topic
Haven't been doing too much lately, I set up appointments to figure the electrical issues out, and trying to track down quotes on a respray and body fixed, so things should be looking really well soon! I've attended a few meets, since the season is finally coming around, and finishing up papers/finals for school, so things are hectic hahah. Hope to bring you guys many more updates soon!
Here's a picture I took of the car a day ago, I'm really happy with how she's turning out, I cannot wait till it's repainted!

[Mike_z]

Hey guys,
got a steal of a deal today on Craigslist for a new trunk and a replica Abrahams Mtech 2 Spoiler attached to it!
I got them both for 200 bucks!!

The spoiler and trunk were in absolute mint condition. For about an hour.
I came back bootleg-tested it a little bit, put it on the roof for lack of space, and while turning on the car, it managed to slip off and fall straight on the concrete. Lol. I was really pissed.

It didn't get too damaged. The corner on top of the trunk dented in a bit, it took vise grips and pulled it back to nearly straight, and a little bit of the spoiler got a bit of rash damage too. It doesn't hurt too much, as I'm basically saving these parts until the car goes into repaint, and theyll get fixed back to perfect again!

Here's some pics of the bootleg test fitting of the set!






More updates soon!

[Mike_z]

As life would have it, a week before the scheduled date to repaint and re do the car entirely, I get hit with motor issues. Due to weak wiring of the electric fan by an unnamed shop, the car's overheated in the past once, relatively badly. Ever since then however it ran perfectly fine. Over the few days I developed weird issues.

Rough starts, smoothing out after 10-15 seconds. Suspected Idle control valve. Did an oil change, changing out the Castol full synthetic 5W-40 I put in it to a Mobil 1 15W50. issues still continued. Noticed the car started consuming coolant.
Soon after I noticed that, it started smoking ever so slightly. Not sure of what it could've been since it didn't produce nearly enough to be a head gasket, i continued to take it out on the weekend to provoke a problem. Soon enough, it started smoking up pretty badly after running for several seconds, with smell of burnt coolant.

Didn't take any more chances and..









Said bye bye to her for a few weeks.
Also the wiper motor fix I tried to do didn't work.
Wipers started working when lifted in the air, when put back on the windshield, rattling could be heard. I'm presuming its teeth inside the wiper motor itself as it did not look interesting in there at all. Will source a new one.

That's it for now. I really hope to provide you guys some more interesting updates soon. Was really excited for paint and the car looking minty, but that will have to wait.
Life!

[Aikmanson]

Interesting, where is the car being worked on? They got a lot of e30's there! If you ever venture upstate, let me know and we can get together for some red e30 cruises or what not.

I still know I can fix that paint!

[bostonvert]

Gorgeous car, a red 24v e30 is pretty much the ultimate car!

Where in the city are you located? Not too many e30's or any older bmw's in the city, must be because of the horrible roads I guess.