PNW Chit Chat thread

[Habla]

Hi friends! New PNW (seattleish area) e30 owner here....

What do you all think? Good plan? Too much, too little?

That sounds like a really nice car and a sweet plan! Black coupes are the best 😉

I spent all winter working on my house and waiting for our little son to show up. I hit a triple all in one week in early may: I got an offer on my house, we bought a sweet woody spot in kingston (with a shop, finally!), and we welcomed our little boy to the world on May 7th!

Also the car is looking dreamy with the mt1 kit and RMs on.

Where are my Kitsap people at?

Peter

[e30austin]

i use a little bit of Dirko on the corners, block and pan side, with the cork gasket. easy peasy.

[Wschnitz]

Yeah the key is to cover the entire gasket in black permatex. My rear diff is wet but not dripping so that should eventually get replaced.

[e30austin]

I thought it would never happen too, I got really lucky and my rear main wasnt actually leaking so an oil pan and new power steering seals fixed all my leaks.

my pan still has a very, very minor leak, but it isn't enough for me to care about, at least, not right now. about as "leak free" as this piece of shit will ever be, so, good enough.

at least yours is dry, i know that was always a bother to you!

[Wschnitz]

I thought it would never happen too, I got really lucky and my rear main wasnt actually leaking so an oil pan and new power steering seals fixed all my leaks.

[e30austin]

for the first time, in almost a decade of ownership, my red car does not leak a single fluid. the world truly is ending.............

finally gathered up enough interest to replace the rear crankshaft seal + flange seal, input/output/shift shaft seals on the transmission, clutch kit + sport "618" pressure plate, fuel tank and all fuel hoses. went with the spectra fuel tank. for the money, i can't complain. sure beats a rusty, rotten, beat to hell, 32 year old unit. fingers crossed that this will be the last major service for a while...

happy friday, all - may you all get to spend some time bonding with your e30s this weekend

[Wschnitz]

Kinda sick the Anarchists took Capitol Hill lmao

[Stanley Rockafella]

Anyone have some basketweaves with caps avail?
Prefer a set of 14s
If so, please let me know. Very interested

[e30austin]

Just installed my semi-rebuilt z3m 3.23 diff with the finned cover and the garagistic second diff mount.
The motorsport LSD comes without Belleville springs in it, so once the clutches wear a bit you lose preload and it’s an open diff until it’s under load.
Bought parts from BimmerDiffs. New clutches, side bearings, Bellevilles, and a modified center side-cover to
accommodate the addition of the Bellevilles. Took me a long time to get the thing together, but in the end it was super easy to get it all back together.
I’d advise watching the install video for the secondary mount.
Diff is nice and solid, runs quietly, and I now have a fully-functional LSD again.

awesome. having a rebuilt differential is a great feeling!!!

[Curt Hayes]

awfully quiet in here, lately - hope you all are well

Just installed my semi-rebuilt z3m 3.23 diff with the finned cover and the garagistic second diff mount.
The motorsport LSD comes without Belleville springs in it, so once the clutches wear a bit you lose preload and it’s an open diff until it’s under load.
Bought parts from BimmerDiffs. New clutches, side bearings, Bellevilles, and a modified center side-cover to
accommodate the addition of the Bellevilles. Took me a long time to get the thing together, but in the end it was super easy to get it all back together.
I’d advise watching the install video for the secondary mount.
Diff is nice and solid, runs quietly, and I now have a fully-functional LSD again.

[e30austin]

I'm always well when you're around.

aw, a man after my own heart. what a guy. see you at the company picnic.

[MortyCrock]

awfully quiet in here, lately - hope you all are well

I'm always well when you're around.

[e30austin]

awfully quiet in here, lately - hope you all are well

[vtechnik]

Anybody here know if penatrant doubles as pest control? I'm trying to save a few bucks.

20200508_132157 by Ben Chadwick, on Flickr

[Maybe Magpie]

Hi friends! New PNW (seattleish area) e30 owner here, after wanting one for 20+ years I finally got my mitts on a nice e30, worked out a deal with the guy off Bringatrailer when the auction was withdrawn over a small kerfluffle. Dude was nice and it seemed like an honest mistake, I went into this knowing this car needs some work, it's 32 years old. It has something up with an oil leak and it might have a screwy head gasket, but I'm going to get that checked out on the 11th and have an appointment with a good shop in Seattle for some work (Prova Motorsport, Chris B is a good dude from everything I've heard and seems to know his stuff). If I gotta get it resurfaced or replaced, so be it, I wanna return this thing to totally mechanically functional. I'm also going to get the valves adjusted. It's had a bunch of work done already - timing belt, accessory belt, brakes and rotors, oil, transmission fluid, battery, front lower control arm bushings and rear sway bar end links, water pump, all replaced within the past year with part receipts or service history entries (PO was a car guy, did some work himself).

Speaking of function, It's slow to start on a cold start, but starts fine when it's already warmed up and runs smoothly at both in-town and highway speeds. It potentially has a head gasket issue, we're not sure - could be something else, fuel check valve is also a suspect. Either way it's something I'm gonna get taken care of. Windshield wiper pumps are busted, AC needs to be converted to R134a, but other than those issues it's a great little car that I'm quite happy with (albeit I've only had it a day and still have to register and etc. tomorrow).

Right now this thing is a bone stock automatic 325is '88, but I might manual swap it someday when I have the money to get a Gertrag 260 (again with Prova if my experience is good with them on this head gasket thing) and I'm going to be putting Toyo Eclipse tires on these wheels when I get its head gasket issue worked out real soon (within a week, it needs new tires pretty bad anyway). I also wanna get some better shocks and springs, a Turner motorsport chip, and maybe an Mtech rear spoiler and BBS RSes someday when I have some spare scratch, but likely I'll just get used fill-and-drill E28 style 5 15"s because they're easier to find tires for than 14"s and the 15" 4x100 wheels off an iX are a bit pricey. I'll keep the 14"s for winter tires, and use the 15"s for allweathers or summer.

Other than that (and some Garagistic goodies to stiffen up the body and add a cupholder) I'll probably keep it low-key and refrain from a more extensive bodykit or other such modifications. I like clean E30s so keeping it tasteful is important to me, I don't wanna do anything trashy to a nice example of one of these cars. There's some rock chipping up front but that doesn't bug me too much, even so I might get it touched up as a final detail once I'm happy with the build. Those roundel blue-and-white to black-and-silver things Turner has are also fun and tempting, I like black and silver as a combination. If I ever get this thing wrapped or something with a Hartge-inspired dealio (but thinner - the Hartge stripes are a bit too thick for me, but only by a little) I'd want silver on Schwarz or Diamondschwarz. Definitely don't wanna be one of those posers with an M badge or Alpina or Hartge logos on a car that isn't even close to any of those things though, lol. Just drawing on, not posing as.

What do you all think? Good plan? Too much, too little?