Adventures of goldE

[kid8]

dude, great work! I also think you'll keep it. blows my mind you didn't drop it 1inch all around though. Still clean!

Thanks, really appreciate it!. The original plan was to have the wifey drive it and she already thinks my car is too low with just sport springs. Ride height is so subjective and easy to fix though, I don't think it'll be too big an issue for the new owner to fix to their own liking. It's kinda fun though seeing it sit so high lol.

[paynemw]

dude, great work! I also think you'll keep it. blows my mind you didn't drop it 1inch all around though. Still clean!

[kid8]

I'm not sure what your definition of "perfect" is, but your intake manifold and valve cover look damn near close! You've got an extraordinary attention to detail.

I'd be careful with those Emma gifs, your build thread may take a turn pretty quickly ;)

Haha, too true!

Well to continue on with this forever restoration, I made some progress over the last couple days!

I did this the other week and forgot to update it. Cleaned and rebuilt the oil filter housing and replaced all the gaskets to prevent leaks.




Took out the old filter gasket thing. Used a socket and clamp to compress the spring to remove the circlip.



The original gasket was toast, glad I did this as it would have surely leaked



New bits installed




So far, this is the only crazy PO I've come across. I'm guessing the last couple shop visits to do an oil change for them missed the old crush washer. This shit was intense and made me nervous. Zwill came in hammers a blazing though after I hit it with my purse a few times and knocked it off with a screwdriver and hammer. I was too nervous to booger up the pan and have a leak for ever, but he did it without any damage!

Aluminum crushed into copper...



I got the aluminum washer out fine, but Zwill did the copper one for me lol




Zwill came over the other day and helped me put the head back on. He was a huge help and I'm glad he offered to lend a hand.

I had cleaned up the block and head for the new head gasket. It cleaned up pretty well and the gasket cleaner really helped out a lot!





Put in new camshaft gasket and rocker plugs all around as well as a new paper gasket on the back coolant barb.



Since everything on the internet is true, I avoided the VR gasket for the head.




Used new head bolts and torqued them to spec and then stretched them like indicated in the Bentley.




The last couple days I've been finishing up the suspension refresh. I got the front end buttoned up last night.

Took out the old control arm bushings and pressed in new ones.



I actually did this the other week when it was cold and I was tired. Oops!



Round two, I took my time and used a hand ratchet to press them in. I went with the solid rubber centered bushing from an E36 M3.



Took off the old, worn out control arms and sway bar linls




Replaced with new control arms and sway bar links




Installed



Also did the sway bar mounts. I tried doing them for awhile with clamps and my hand, but gave up and used a jack to help. That got it done and made it so I could start the bolt. I should have just done that from the get go and saved myself an hour or two.



I then moved on to the brakes and put on new pads and rotors. I had a fairly new set of reman calipers that I took off my other car when I upgraded to the BBK. I also replaced the rest of the rubber brake lines with new.




Finally, she's back on the ground! It'll be short lived, but I wanted the suspension to sit with the weight of the car on it to settle properly.

[zwill23]

I'm not sure what your definition of "perfect" is, but your intake manifold and valve cover look damn near close! You've got an extraordinary attention to detail.

I'd be careful with those Emma gifs, your build thread may take a turn pretty quickly ;)

[kid8]

Time for another update. I've been working on goldE for a few months now and wasn't originally going to make a build thread, but zwill talked me into it. I've bounced around a bit, but I'm trying to make the thread flow better while continuing with the progress I'm making.

I usually only work on it on the weekends when we don't have plans, but I know I won't be able to this weekend and wanted to get some work done. So tonight I finished building up the front struts. Nothing too exciting, but progress none the less.

It was cold as hell today, so I turned on this little guy, made life in the garage great.



I removed the old struts



Removed the springs




I tried taking the old struts out with a tongue and grove plier, but the strut nut wouldn't budge. So I threw it in the vice and hit it with heat real quick. This broke it free and I removed it without any trouble with the same pliers.




Old struts



Emptied the strut housings of the old oil as the replacement struts are gas filled.




New bump stops and covers- not pictured here



New spring pads and top mounts




Old vs New



Put everything back together, make sure to use the correct spacers and bring over the old grease cap from the old mount.



Torque down the top nut to ~48 ft lbs. Nifty little socket makes it easy.



All done with both sides!



Like I said, not very exciting, but it makes me feel like I'm moving forward

Here's a sneak peak of what's to come!

This is my "paint booth." The lights were to help the wrinkle finish setup. Used that and the heat gun. It worked pretty damn well if I do say so myself.



Here's the intake manifold. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it and it's much better than what I started with. I may go back and touch it up some as the wire I used to hang it stopped some coverage.




And the valve cover...yes that's the head, not on the block. Somehow zwill talked me into replacing the head gasket on goldE.




Here's a reminder of the before.



For a few hours of prep and paint I'm very happy with the results. Maybe I'll touch up the intake manifold, I haven't decided yet.

And since I know this forum loves Emma, this one is for Dj Buttchug and his epic build thread.



Well, the plans are to finish up the front suspension work so I can have a roller again. Then I'll move onto the engine.

[oekundar]

OP- Great looking Touring...I miss my e39T almost weekly!

[oekundar]

Really nice work on the maintenance. Nice to see people still buy cars and take care of them instead of going straight for the stance and wheels.

Prediction: after you put all this work into making the car a solid and fun daily, you will keep it. I didn't realize how much "e30 character" the car loses when you go 24v race car mode all over it :p I kinda miss the original e30 character mine used to have and didn't realize it until I drove around in my brothers mostly stock ix a while ago.

Interesting position...do you think it was simply the drivetrain swap or the other things associated with it?

[kid8]

Man this is almost identical to my last e30, Looks killer so far man nice job

Really nice work on the maintenance. Nice to see people still buy cars and take care of them instead of going straight for the stance and wheels.

Prediction: after you put all this work into making the car a solid and fun daily, you will keep it. I didn't realize how much "e30 character" the car loses when you go 24v race car mode all over it :p I kinda miss the original e30 character mine used to have and didn't realize it until I drove around in my brothers mostly stock ix a while ago.

I went straight to "stance", but havent forgotten maintenance. New rubber feels awesome. Nice work OP

Thanks guys! I have a feeling that I'm going to want to keep it also once it's all said and done. I can't have 3 cars though, so something will have to go and that would leave the Touring. I don't know if I'm ready to give that up yet. I'd also lose out on my classic insurance as the e30 would be too old to qualify for a daily with Grundy.

Picture of the touring, just because lol. It's a true M-Sport, and it's just so practical. But goldE is a 4 door, so that's practical too.

[2mAn]

I went straight to "stance", but havent forgotten maintenance. New rubber feels awesome. Nice work OP

[Sh3rpak!ng]

So after getting back from vacation, I had most of the parts acquired to rehab this thing where I'd feel comfortable enough to have the wifey in it. However, not too long after, she told me she changed her mind and would feel better in her current vehicle as it has more safety features.

The new plan now is to sell it once I'm done and hopefully break even after buying all these parts!

Worst case, I'll keep it for a bit and just enjoy it. I've never really had a stock e30 before. I pretty much just jumped into a s52 swap on the other car from the get go. It'll be interesting to see how a stock one drives!

Really nice work on the maintenance. Nice to see people still buy cars and take care of them instead of going straight for the stance and wheels.

Prediction: after you put all this work into making the car a solid and fun daily, you will keep it. I didn't realize how much "e30 character" the car loses when you go 24v race car mode all over it :p I kinda miss the original e30 character mine used to have and didn't realize it until I drove around in my brothers mostly stock ix a while ago.

[vtechnik]

Man this is almost identical to my last e30, Looks killer so far man nice job

[kid8]

So after getting back from vacation, I had most of the parts acquired to rehab this thing where I'd feel comfortable enough to have the wifey in it. However, not too long after, she told me she changed her mind and would feel better in her current vehicle as it has more safety features.

The new plan now is to sell it once I'm done and hopefully break even after buying all these parts!

Lots of parts...




Worst case, I'll keep it for a bit and just enjoy it. I've never really had a stock e30 before. I pretty much just jumped into a s52 swap on the other car from the get go. It'll be interesting to see how a stock one drives!

So in hopes to sell the car a little easier, I'm going to swap it from an automatic to manual. I found a local with a complete swap and also a 3.73 lsd which will be much nicer than the 4.10 open it came with.



Cleaned up the LSD and changed the oil.




Changed out all the soft brake lines with new rubber.




Pulled the rear hubs to install new bearings. It's a breeze with the right tools. I just rented them from Autozone.




Pushed out the old.







Cleaned it up and pushed in the new FAG bearings with new clips.






Cleaned up the hubs, before & after.




Put in new Bilsteins with upgraded RSMs and cleaned up the stock springs.





Put the rear subframe back in and mounted up the rear shocks. It's so easy with 2 jacks! I recommend everyone doing this to borrow a second jack if needed. Only takes about 5 minutes this way.





I forgot you needed spring compressors for the rear springs when they're stock. What a pain!



Next I replaced the rear calipers with some reman units and put in new pads/rotors and the pad wear sensor.






As always, thanks for stopping in! More to come in the coming days.

[kid8]

Looking good so far!

Thank you!

Bronzit brotherhood

Charlie, I could only hope it to look as nice as yours!

Send all the E30's to rehab! Can't wait to hear this ol'bronzit start... let's wrench :devil:

Save them all!

great start! gonna be a great car.

Thank you, I think you're right!

[jeenyus]

great start! gonna be a great car.

[zwill23]

Send all the E30's to rehab! Can't wait to hear this ol'bronzit start... let's wrench :devil: