Don't Call it a Comeback

[Danny]

Sup

sup

sup

sup - nice work

E30 LyF3ztylE yo, Sup.

Sup.

Sup

Nice, welcome "back"

Thanks bro, I still follow your thread very closely. Good stuff happening!

My favorite was the 89 sedan that was rear ended at your parents house. That sucked so much.
I remember that day forward, I stopped parking my car on the main street of my corner house and on the residential side instead.

Yeah I miss that car. I think it had better paint than the Calypso.

Geeze dude, you've had some bad luck with E30s.

Right?! Save some for the rest of us

Believe me I'm well aware

What part of NorCal? Your mention of Ryan G, and the fact that I don't think I've ever met you is indicating maybe, Sac?

Yeah I'm about 45 mins away from Sac. Close enough.

Thanks for the follow-up Danny,
I know it seems like you've been here a while, but I've been part of this community before R3V even existed (yeah, I'm that old:( )

I'm starting to see plenty of gray in my hair too, friend.

Tbl?

Indeed.

I bought some strut tubes off of you for my white '91 318i years and years ago. I don't remember which car of yours they came off of.
I wonder how much the price of e30s is effecting the activity on the forum. I bought my first e30 for $2400 and it was almost mint. Now even shit boxes are $4-5000 up here in WA. For those prices you can get newer more powerful cars, so I wouldn't be surprised if people are moving on to other models and makes.
The true e30 enthusiasts are sticking around. I'd like to get another one soon, but we just bought a house and thats just about sucking up all the $ along with student loans. I made the mistake of selling the one I bought up here, instead of unloading the Toyota truck I should have sold instead.

I mean mostly what mine has done is still in the garage and on jackstands while I drive other stuff, don't beat yourself up.

Awesome! I just recently got into e30s. My wife has a 89 325i coupe and I have a 84 325e with plastic bumpers. Do you live in the South Bay? I live in San Jose, would be cool to check out your car sometime. Grab some coffee or something and talk 30s.

Good to hear, my guy. I'm about 2 hours north of San Jo but if I'm ever in the area I'll keep you in mind.

Is this a comeback?

Cumback*

Everyone loves a comeback story.

*cums on back

Yes.

I like the panda e30

I like you.

Whenever I hop in my car and look at my OE E30 rubber floor-mats that you got me while you were working at BMW Concord, I think of you.

<3

<3

This is fun. More plz.

Trying to.

What country is that wannabe American flag for?

Your mom.

Glad to see you post useful shit and not die, Danny.

No shirt crew 4lyfe.

any bets on when this one will be wrecked?

Don't you put that evil on me.

Damn Danny, I didn't realize all that happened to your cars. I had my first E30 325e 2.7i rear ended a month after getting out of the paint shop over 20 years ago and I was heartbroken. It's hard to see something you put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into get carelessly taken away by someone in an instant and they don't have a care in the world.

It has been quite a rollercoaster but I'm still glad to be where I am.


Thanks for all the kind words guys. Hopefully updates will be coming soon, I placed a big order with Garagistic and some other vendors so I should be getting going here soon.

[LateFan]

Good responses, AAAA++++, would read again.

[Dpowers]

Sup








Thanks bro, I still follow your thread very closely. Good stuff happening!





Yeah I miss that car. I think it had better paint than the Calypso.







Believe me I'm well aware





Yeah I'm about 45 mins away from Sac. Close enough.






I'm starting to see plenty of gray in my hair too, friend.





Indeed.






I mean mostly what mine has done is still in the garage and on jackstands while I drive other stuff, don't beat yourself up.





Good to hear, my guy. I'm about 2 hours north of San Jo but if I'm ever in the area I'll keep you in mind.


Sounds good!








Yes.





I like you.





<3





Trying to.





Your mom.





No shirt crew 4lyfe.




Don't you put that evil on me.




It has been quite a rollercoaster but I'm still glad to be where I am.


Thanks for all the kind words guys. Hopefully updates will be coming soon, I placed a big order with Garagistic and some other vendors so I should be getting going here soon.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Danny]

Wow its been a long time since I updated this. Here's some old posts from Grassroots Motorsports thread.

Started working on some engine tear down. I think we're going to try and build this thing during the off season.


Got a little bit of work done disassembling the 2.7 engine we pulled out of the car.

This shit is nasty.



You can get an idea of how dirty this thing is here.



I don't think the previous owner cared much for maintenance.



Pistons and block look alright though.



Main bearings are very worn but don't appear to be anything out of the ordinary.





Rod bearings look worn but otherwise alright.



Block has some nastiness to it but I think it may come out with a hone. Need to get it to a machine shop and see what they think. I have an 885 head sitting around that I'm going to use with it. I think we'll end up going with John's (ForcedFirebird) method of 2.7 bottom end with 2.5i pistons and 2mm off the block. Seems to work well for him. Obviously that's contingent on what the machine show says when I eventually get it over to them.


It was decided amongst ourselves that we didn't want the car to be red anymore. So I left it up to my dad and brother in law to do whatever they wanted to do to the vehicle. Our rule was it had to look good from 50 feet and 50 miles an hour (50/50 rule). This was never intended to be a showcar level paint job since this is a track only car and we just wanted it to be a cool color. I am not a creative and have basically zero artistic talent besides spray painting trim pieces so full creative control was given to my dad and BIL.

BIL decided on a Datsun green which was pretty nice. I wanted to do a teal or turquoise color but those would have been more expensive since it is difficult to find in a factory color. Total cost for all the materials for a two stage paint job was less than 500 bucks.

We did a little body work. We aren't very good at it. The car was originally a burgundy color and painted really cheaply at some spray and go joint to the crappy bright red that it was.






We got the car over to my place where we made booth in the garage.










We had inlet fans using household air filters and two outlet holes on the other side also using household air filters.



The boys got suited up and went to work.



Primed.



Color!



In the sun.



Bumpers tucked, trim painted and back on.



Overall, it was worth the time and money spent but it certainly doesn't look great. The paint is super orange peely and we're not super confident about trying to buff it out because we only have two coats of urethane clear on it. The color is cool though, its a lot lighter in sunlight than I thought it would be and sort of changes color when you walk around it.

It fits the 50/50 rule and that's good enough for me.

[Danny]

So I have not yet tried my hand at buffing anything (still scared of burning through the clear).



We did however get our IS valance mounted.



On the bright side we scored a deal on some chassis stiffening parts from https://ultraracing-usa.com/ who provided us with front and rear sway bars, front and rear strut mounts, and an xbrace.

Here's some pics:









Initial impressions are good. Quality made products that bolted on easily with a high quality, shiny paint. Front bar is a 20mm and rear is a 19mm which may end up being a little THICC for our current springs. Track day tomorrow, we'll see how it does!!


Update after the track.

Car handled really nicely! I'm a big fan of how the chassis bracing and sway bar influenced the car. Much more neutral and a little easier to rotate despite a clear lack of power. Another three driver track day was completed with no real issues from this little car. We developed either an oil leak, possibly at the rear main seal, or a leak from the transmission breathing. Here's some pics!




All the guys, I'm in the middle if you want to roast me.

[Danny]

Bought an XJ. Modded it. Sold it.

The little green race car is still running strong. We put a half cage in it from Garagistic and a new NRG seat.









The Jeep has moved on, I sold it to a nice guy who bought it for his son in Arizona who is a geology student and plans to use the 4x4 much more than I was.

Here's how it looked in the for sale ad.





I sold the Jeep because I was tired of having two old vehicles I was constantly working on. As I near thirty I have realized that it's fun to work on cars for FUN, not because you HAVE to. I bought a 2018 Audi S3 to replace the Jeep as my daily driver. I like to hike but most place I go the 4x4 and lift on the Jeep really wasn't needed. People say you should buy a car for the 95% you actually use it for not for the 5% you think you will, blah blah blah. Its a nice car.

[Danny]

Recently my brother in law (Keith) was contacted by a dude we both know who said his dad had an E30. The guy told Keith they were clearing out his Dad's property and we could have the E30 or they were gonna send it to pick-n-pull. Of course, I said "yes I would love an E30 for free even if its been sitting in a field in the country uncovered for 10 years. What could go wrong?"


So we went and picked it up.




Luckily there were several tractors nearby which we used to push it onto a trailer we'd brought. Got it home and looked it over more closely and boy, is this thing ROUGH. At the same time though, its totally COMPLETE. The tires even held air once we hooked them up to my compressor!



Rolled it outside to give it a wash and take a better look at it. The basics: 1984 325e 5-speed. Paint used to be Polaris Silver and now is nonexistent. Clutch is dead and goes straight to the floor. Turns over with a good battery and doesn't make any weird noises. Got it to actually start with starting fluid (amazing after sitting for 10 years). Driver's rear quarter is smashed and whatever hit it wrinkled the wheel well but didn't damage any suspension points as far as I can tell. Ordered up a clutch master and slave, a fuel pump and filter and we'll see if I can't get this thing to go.







The power of pressurewashing -





Not sure what the plans are for this car yet. Maybe RallyX car like irish44j? Could maybe flip it with a coat of paint and some new seats. Gonna hear it run and decide then I think.

[Danny]

Okay last update post to catch you guys up on my life which is currently dominated by German automobiles from the 80s and 90s.


This car is a 1997 M3 which my buddy bought from a guy back around 2012. I actually went with him and checked out the car with him when he bought it. The M3 had like 290k on the chassis at that point in time but the previous owner had swapped the engine to one with around 130k miles. I think he picked it up for 5500 or 6000, I can't remember. He drove it around for a while as kind of a second car and had a good time with it until he started to get really serious with school around 2014 or so. The M3 got driven less and less and eventually ended up parked at his parent's house. In 2017 ish he was driving it on the freeway when he threw the serpentine belt and the engine started to overheat. He pulled over before it got bad. The extra heat though blew the expansion tank which led to him replacing the entire cooling system at a shop. He drove it a little and eventually just parked it at his parent's place in the garage.


My buddy is moving to New York in mid August and reached out to me a few weeks ago asking what he should do with the M3. He's got some family stuff going on and another, newer, more reliable car to take with him to NY so he was hoping to have me help him sell it or part it out or something. It hasn't been registered since 2013, needs a headliner, and tires. I offered to buy it from him at what I thought was a fair price for the car and he gave me the friend price. So... 2500 bucks later I have a 97 M3. I went and trailered it home, threw a battery in it and it fired right up.











The interior is in nice shape but there was a god awful smell of cat piss and mouse poop. Spent about 3 hours yesterday vacuuming, extracting and spraying the interior down. The smell is much much better but it still needs some work.





Found where they were hiding (under the rear seat).





The low fuel light is also on, which may be attributed to the mice chewing at some wires under the backseat, gotta take a look and see if I need to reconnect some stuff.


Anyway, two big projects along with my S50 swap car and the racecar means I am quite busy. :D

[iansane]

A Polaris car! I can't say I've seen too many of them.

[mjweimer]

You've got your hands full but it looks like fun. I have been really impressed with the Ultra Racing pieces on my car - well built and fit great - plus they are inexpensive. I'm surprised they are not more popular.


If you still can't get the smell out of the M3 interior borrow or buy an ozone generator and let it eat for a few days. Works wonders on hard to remove smells.


MJ

[TeXJ]

Nice XJ! I have a 97 that is on 33s and locked front and rear. What did you sell the xj for if I may ask?

[Danny]

iansane I don't know if the Polaris is gonna stay. If I do end up going with a rallyx setup I'll probably paint it some off the wall color.

mjweimer I was impressed with the Ultra Racing stuff too! Significant difference with it all installed. I ordered some of those Meguiar's like grenade looking things you leave in the car with the A/C running and hopefully those will help.

TeXJ The XJ was cool, 1999 5-speed with 215k ish miles on it. Sold it for 7 grand.

[TeXJ]

TeXJ The XJ was cool, 1999 5-speed with 215k ish miles on it. Sold it for 7 grand.

That's a cool ride. And a great price for a great vehicle.

[Danny]

That's a cool ride. And a great price for a great vehicle.

I was legitimately surprised to get 7k for it honestly. But hey, the 5-speeds are getting harder and harder to find and this guy seemed to be the right buyer.



Issues to address, in order:


Blower motor doesn't work. Tires are totally shot. Headliner is torn and sagging. The smell (oh my god the smell). Front brakes have zero life left.


Everything else seems to be in okay/decent shape though honestly.


Got started a couple of days ago getting at the blower motor to see if its bad or if a mouse house was blocking it from spinning.


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Initial inspection of the engine bay shows its dusty but otherwise free of mouse damage to any wires or other things. However, while I was working under the hood the smell of mouse poop was overwhelming. I looked at the under hood insulation and noticed there was a saggy portion that had some significant weight to it when I pushed up on it. I took out the insulation and found this: (warning, gross).





Yes, that is a mouse house (and mostly bathroom) under the hood between the insulation and the bottom of the hood. I just threw it all away. Unfortunately that distracted me from properly documenting the rest of the journey which was getting to the blower motor (it was uneventful). I spun the motor by hand and it moved freely, turned on the ignition and SUCCESS, the blower motor works as it should. I lost a couple of the little metal clips that put the cover over the squirrel cages though so I had to order them. Looking past the blower motor it was clear to see that the cabin air filter was extremely clogged and likely original. Getting to the cabin air filter involves removing the glove box. So I did and found even more mouse houses and mouse poop on top of the glovebox (HOW??). I can't believe where these little critters have got to.





Its apart for now while I wait for parts to arrive (hopefully tomorrow) at which point I'll toss it all back together.


Replaced the torn, dead tires with some Continental Extreme Contact Sports from tire rack. I used to sell a lot of these tires at a shop I worked at YEARS ago and I never had one complaint with them. Being that I'm not sure if I'm going to keep this car or flip it I figured something between crazy street semi slicks and crappy all seasons was a good compromise. I went with the stock staggered setup of 225/45/17 fronts and 245/40/17 rears.

[Danny]

I buttoned the stuff surrounding the blower motor up and started the car, looking forward to cold A/C on my face and...


Still no blower motor. I'm thinking there must be a loose connection in there somewhere or maybe the motor is just toast. At least its not THAT hard to get at. Since I was discouraged by that and I needed some positive reinforcement, I took the M3 for a little spin to my parents place. I discovered along with the fuel gauge that the speedometer is also not working. I think I might have to pull the cluster and reflow some solder since the thing barely lights up and won't do the needle sweep dance I've seen on the internet. When I got back home I checked the wiring underneath the backseat and did not see any obviously damaged wires. I wrapped some electrical tape around some which had a bit of insulation worn away and put the back seat back in.

Glove box went back in (I hate the glove box sag but I don't care enough to do anything about it.




Being that I was discouraged from the blower motor repair failure and I didn't feel like taking it all apart again I looked into this big box of parts and deciding to replace the air filter.



Old air filter is old, but at least not original!



I continued my cleaning journey and of course the mice had gotten into the trunk also.



I cleaned that up and decided to pay some attention to the silver E30. I had previously got it to start for just a second on starting fluid and believed the fuel pump was dead. The new one came in so I decided to install it. The original one is the original from the car, which is not surprising.



Threw the new one in and we have fuel pressure! We also have a TON of fuel leaks from the original, 1984 fuel hose. I would replace one piece of hose under the hood and a new leak would pop up. So I ordered 15 more feet of fuel injection hose so I can replace everything in there. It still won't start on just the fuel but I know it'll fire once I can get the fuel where it needs to go.