165k engine, Maintenance?

[jflip2002]

Alright, so Im keeping the e30 I think. Theres a 75% chance of it. The car runs incredibly good, and its at a little under 165k miles. What can I do to make sure it runs another 100k miles? Its been running a tick over the mid way mark, and I have to fill my coolant res every 3 weeks or so, because it has a real small leak. So obviously the water pump, thermostat, and tbelt will be done real soon. What else though?

My ideas:
1) Im going to lower it, so I'll have all the suspension/steering parts like BJs, idler arms, etc looked at before hand.

2) How about a head job? Is it a dumb idea to have a head job done if not necessarily needed?

3) Just buy a blown engine and have that rebuilt? (probably a little extreme).

Im just coming into a bit of money I wont be coming into until probably next income tax season lol. Im going to be lowering the car, putting a new rear apron, new wheels, tint, and smoked corners/tails. So I wanna spend the money wisely on making the car a real dependable DD for years to come... Though it is now. Its kind apointless to have a nice looking E30 that breaks down! (like my last one). I just want to ensure it will STAY that way.

Im sure this is a stupid newbie question, but oh well. Any suggestions are welcome

[jlevie]

A very effective way to trash a BMW engine is to ignore cooling system problems. A single overheat has been known to damage the head gasket or crack the head. So deal with that problem immediately. And while you are replacing the water pump thermostat, and timing belt also replace all of the cooling system hoses. That would also be a good time to do a cooling system flush using any of the products made for that purpose.

I personally would check all of the hoses associated with the intake when doing the cooling system hoses, replacing any that show signs of surface cracking when flexed.

The car is probably ready for new motor, trans, & diff mounts as well as control arms, CABs, RTABs, and subframe bushings. When you install lowering springs and struts/shocks also replace the upper shock mounts.

In the absense of problems, leave the head alone.

With proper maintenance an E30 can go over 300k without major engine work. The trick is to regularly inspect the car and fix descreptancies before they have a chance to turn into a problem.

[jflip2002]

The hoses were all replaced last october when I bought the car. that was the first thing I replaced when I noticed they felt a little stiff and would crack when they were squeezed.

I figured the A arms, and all the bushings would come with the lowering of the car, to save the time and money on doing em seperately.

I didnt think about the engine, trans, diff mounts. I'll definitely have to give that a shot

[bolognablake]

I just bought a '89, and I'm in the process of replacing every bushing on my car, because they're all pretty much trashed. It's almost 20 years old, so any rubber that's been exposed to the element needs to be replaced.