What did you do to your E30 today?

[lukeADE335i]

What are points?

distributor cap and rotor...
not sure why i called them points... an old term from my vw bug days...
thanks for busting me on that...

In pre-electronic ignition days, most cars had points distributors... anything BMW built in the 70's or earlier had points too :D It's basically a mechanical switch driven by a cam inside the distributor that sets your timing. They were very much a wear part, and pretty unreliable, so they needed to be swapped each time you swapped your plugs (unless you happened to have a points file, and filed them flat again, in which case you could keep them going for a couple of sets of plugs!) Cars became much more reliable with electronic ignition systems.



Anyway - enough of a history lesson :D Replaced my sway bar links hoping to solve a weird sound in the front end when reversing, and a bottoming out issue on the right side of the car (since the right sway bar link was pretty ratty). Did partly solve the problem, but seems I need to replace the right control arm to completely solve the issue.

Ah well - did get 8 years of daily driving out of the control arms, and they're relatively cheap.

[burkey001]

Did valve clearances on the S54.
Purchased a shim set from Wiseco, which was only $70 unlike the OE BMW shim set which is about $700.
They still mic'd up the same so away we go.

4 valves slightly out. Happy days.



Fiddling with brake bias this afternoon with ABS turned off. Was running too much rear bias, car now brakes good again (even when boosterless)

Also some more minor software tweaks, car really running pretty great. Pretty stoke ;) ;)

[jgilber0]

Got towed home from Cars & Coffee! Only my second tow of shame in over 25 years of owning and maintaining classic cars. The culprit: broken radiator hose. Fortunately no damage. Full hose kit already on order from Bavauto.com, should be back on the road soon.

[bradmer]

The kids 1987 325e auto

Previous weekend it was oil and filter, air filter and intake boot. Replaced every coolant hose and flushed the coolant last Saturday. Replaced the low pressure power steering lines, fluid and p.s. reservoir on Sunday. Then replaced the automatic transmission lines and fluid today, along with the 3 drive belts. Fuel and brake lines next, car turns 30 next month!

[E30speed6]

[cheffy30]

distributor cap and rotor...
not sure why i called them points... an old term from my vw bug days...
thanks for busting me on that...

[IceWhite]

i put 4k into the engine and suspension. including, water pump, timing belt, points, plugs, fuel filter, air filter, oil filter, several new hoses. new control arms and bushings all around and more... struts in front and shocks in back... not to mention a valve job and power steering fluid flush...
(i was lucky to have won the free paint job in 2015 at the e30 picnic in washington) so then i put 3k into the body, with not a ding on it now and then had it re painted the original glacier blue at haury's and then added all new exterior trim.
just had transmission serviced, nothing in the pan!

she's looking pretty now...feeling very good... with 243,000 miles... i have had it for 15 years. my daily driver.

more to come.

What are "Points"?

[Streichholzschächtelchen]

Just got an 05 mr2 spyder EHPS pump for $40 so I can have power steering and a supercharger lol. Also just got a custom hood bra from germany, and a tre-340 fuel pump

Edit: Was made an offer I can't refuse on a heckblende, now I gotta figure out where to put my plate lol.

[cheffy30]

i put 4k into the engine and suspension. including, water pump, timing belt, points, plugs, fuel filter, air filter, oil filter, several new hoses. new control arms and bushings all around and more... struts in front and shocks in back... not to mention a valve job and power steering fluid flush...
(i was lucky to have won the free paint job in 2015 at the e30 picnic in washington) so then i put 3k into the body, with not a ding on it now and then had it re painted the original glacier blue at haury's and then added all new exterior trim.
just had transmission serviced, nothing in the pan!

she's looking pretty now...feeling very good... with 243,000 miles... i have had it for 15 years. my daily driver.

more to come.

[dereliiict]

Tore the interior out. Found out how *ahem* "covered" it is.

[htseng]

What did you do to your E30 today?

Installed a new shaft in my Hirshmann antenna. Had to take it out and disassemble it to take the snapped cogged plastic tail out. Used the $15 Uro part from Amazon. Couldn't bring myself to pay $50 for the oem part let alone to $200plus for the antenna.


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[jgilber0]

Installed the right rear shock, changed the radio antenna to fixed mast with an e36 mount. Cleaned and remounted the rear wheels. Making progress!

[jgilber0]

Laboriously removed my entire trunk liner only to find that the rear shock mounts are actually located in the convertible top well! Not like my old Miata or Corvair I'm not sure that my Bentley manual noted this, and it was annoying until I realized that I needed to replace my old radio mast anyway.

The good news: I didn't find any rust of consequence.

I installed the right rear shock with no complications. Had to break for dinner and set aside the left one for next week. After that, we are on to the more challenging front struts.

I also cleaned out my convertible top well, which had 20 years of grime in it. I noticed that water runs out of the left side through the rocker, but no water ran out of the right side. Looks like I need to check the drains.

[Hubry]

Spent the day putting on a new headgasket after the oil started getting cloudy. Previous owner claimed he did it just before I bought the car along with the timing belt. :?

Cracked open the timing case to be greeted with a fine black powder everywhere and a belt sitting on the edge of the sprocket. New belt ordered.

Opened up the valve cover and noticed he decided to use hex head bolts instead of the preferred torx. The car was not in running condition when I got it so it's a wonder how he managed to properly torque them.

Start taking them out in the right sequence using my usual step de-torque method (quarter turn, half turn, full turn) and noticed they were finger loose after a quarter turn.

It's a wonder this car ran at all.

[docleary]

swapped a leak-free radiator into my 325iX: