★ ★ Project Glacier | Make the E30 a Daily Again ★ ★

[ak-]

I actually worked on the E30 today.

that doesnt count

[jneumss]

You're in Colorado? I know another r3v guy in CO with an FJC. We should do a r3v colorado wheeling trip.

Yeah, I'm in Centennial. We definitely should, I've been looking for people to go wheeling with in the area.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[lambo]

Story time.

So I had a bit of a scare yesterday...

Pretty soon my commute is going to drastically increase temporarily. I bought the Tacoma to act as a daily however, after 2 years of ownership I've managed to ruin the dailyability of the Tacoma. It's slow, the gas mileage sucks, the tires are expensive, mileage on the truck kinda sorta matters to me, it's worth more than the E30, etc. etc.

Yesterday I was so close to buying a beater Lexus GS400. I thought this would be an awesome solution to my problem. Nice comfy car with a V8 to cruise the highway for cheap. What could go wrong?

Now here's a rare instance in my life where rationality actually kicked in and influenced a decision I was going to make.

The GS400 was $2k and looked clean for the price. High mileage, as to be expected, but I wasn't worried about that. I started getting excited about the car. I started looking at coilovers and and some VS-KF's so I could build a cheap ignorant daily. It was going to be so much fun.

The GS was cheap and as such it had a check engine light and the timing belt was probably 10 years old on an interference engine. It got me thinking of the money I'd have to dump into the thing to make it road worthy to my satisfaction. $2k for the car, $2k for maintenance, $3k for mods... $7k for a beater car. That started to not make sense.

This realization caused me to take a look out the window. My gaze was instantly drawn to my E30. Sitting neglected in the street.

$7k. $7k would do so much for the E30. Why am I considering another project vehicle, just to push the E30 deeper and deeper into the back of my mind?

I truly believe this was a message from God. A message to bring my E30 back from irrelevance and make it the solution to my problems.

So that's what I'm going to do.

Project: Make the E30 a Daily Again begins last night.

**************************************************

Sorry for that af story. But, it is what happened yesterday and it sparked a renewal in my enthusiasm about the E30.

So what does this mean for the E30? Well I'm glad you asked.

Step 1: Reseal oil pan to get rid of a bunch of oil leaks
Step 2: Timing belt/water pump and coolant flush with new hoses, thermostat, and radiator
Step 3: Put A/C back in the car
Step 4: New tires for the weaves, for now
Step 5: Put powersteering back in the car, maybe a new rack depending on how wild I'm feeling

That's my basic plan for making the E30 a daily again.

From there, I may do different wheels and tires. Potentially and interior refresh as mine is pretty spanked. A refresh of the coilovers would also be a good idea, they're getting pretty old.

To show I'm serious, I actually bought parts for the E30 instead of the Tacoma, and I went out last night and bought new windshield wipers and oil for the E30. I even washed the thing... :loco:

[AWDBOB]

Nice! I also think that while adding a third car always seems fun, once reality sets in, it ends up being an unnecessary stressor and big expense.

My only note: if you've got a stock steering rack in there now, at LEAST do a cheapie E36 rack. A Z3 rack was such a game changer in the way my car felt. Going back to the iX with a stock rack makes it feel like my work van.

[lambo]

Nice! I also think that while adding a third car always seems fun, once reality sets in, it ends up being an unnecessary stressor and big expense.

My only note: if you've got a stock steering rack in there now, at LEAST do a cheapie E36 rack. A Z3 rack was such a game changer in the way my car felt. Going back to the iX with a stock rack makes it feel like my work van.

Yeah, I seem to remember after the research I did a few years ago, an E46 ZHP rack was the one I was interested in pursuing. I would need to double check, though. I'm definitely not sticking with the stock rack for sure.

[2mAn]

Oh man! Gods Chariot is getting love again.

Take it as someone who has commited myself to 2 cars and the E30 as a daily, that list is perfect. Having A/C in an E30 makes you realize that 99% of new cars are just excessive gizmos that you really dont need. Add in a good modern stereo with bluetooth and you'll never look back. Plus this will let you enjoy the other car in its element and the E30 the rest of the time.

and maybe someday you will fix the futuras :razz:

[cheffy30]

love that car man!!
go glacier 4 doors!

[ArtFoodBMW]

Project: Make the E30 a Daily Again begins last night.

These are the updates we've been looking for!!

[LJ851]

That's what i'm talking about.

[wworm]

Thank the lord. I missed seeing updates on this thing. Glad you're back!

[TeXJ]

Nice! I'm about to start dailying my e30 once again.

[2mAn]

bump

[lambo]

bump

Well, all I've done so far is buy parts...

Bought an R134a AC system, bought a bunch of cooling system maintenance parts, and I'll be bringing the car to my buddy's shop to have the oil pan resealed so it won't leak as much oil...

Besides that, I've had to dump some money into the Tacoma. I need to get the Tacoma 100% ready for this wheeling/camping season before I get started on the E30. Once the Tacoma's dialed, I can use the garage space for the longer E30 projects.

[paynemw]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how hardcore Toyota Truck fans are also fans of BMWs (mainly e30s or e36s). I sent it on a 3rd gen 4runner, then a 2nd gen Taco, then a 1st gen 4Runner. I'll probably go to a 2nd gen 4Runner or another 2nd gen Taco when I get back to the US.

[TeXJ]

I know a lot of e30 guys with Jeeps as well. Weirdly enough most of them have Cherokees lol