It's a rescue!

[Cabriolet]

:(

The wife has ok'ed an M2 Competition in the future. The only reason I haven't bought that is because it doesn't come in red.
I've had all the e30s over the past 15 years. M3, mtech2, 325is, euro bumper car, this perfect 325i, and a 325es.

[jeenyus]

I miss the gold and blue combo. It was so unique, I knew you by the signature picture vs your username. It actually took me a min to realize this was the same car. I love the new engine though. that thing is so purdy. Still a beautiful car.

[mtech325]

Such a nice build. Any words of wisdom the on the 4-lug BBK setups? I've been going back and forth about it on my car as they should clear the 15s, but it seems you've tried both Massive and the UUC kits. What did you like or not like?

I have to agree with jeenyus, the gold Borbets were quite cool, but the new Image wheels look the business!

[TFJR]

Thank you sir. Make sure you say hi next week at the picnic.

Nice meeting you at the Picnic a few weeks ago. I took plenty of photos of your car. It looked great at the show!

- Toby

[Cabriolet]

I miss the gold and blue combo. It was so unique, I knew you by the signature picture vs your username.

Jeenyus and mtech325, i'll answer you both. While i did love the borbets more they are magnesium+aluminum and no one in norcal could straighten them and one wheel had a 1 foot crack that had been repaired. i paid 1500 for the wheels, 300 for the caps and over 1000 to have then repaired and refinished and they still weren't straight and would vibrate really bad over 70mph. They went to a good home in LA, where they could be fixed.

Such a nice build. Any words of wisdom the on the 4-lug BBK setups? I've been going back and forth about it on my car as they should clear the 15s, but it seems you've tried both Massive and the UUC kits. What did you like or not like?

if you have 15" wheels bbk is not the way to go. my uuc's say they clear 15". i've tried 3 sets of wheels that are 15s and they dont fit. uuc has a poor fitment and require shimming.
the corrado rotors from massive require machining and if you need rotors fast like i did, it is a terrible way to go. if you go massive with floating rotors or the newer uuc they better than what i have and the pads and rotors can be sourced over night from amazon.
but in the long run sell your 15s and get 16s. 16 has better tires that are the correct size and the handle better.
my made to spec image wheels were only 2300 shipped for three piece wheels. their 2 piece is slightly cheaper but what you get is a good wheel that is round and true.

Nice meeting you at the Picnic a few weeks ago. I took plenty of photos of your car. It looked great at the show!

it was nice to meet you too. see you next year.

[Julien]

Just re-read this after many years, awesome build Eric. Also great fun talking (drinkin) with you and your better half.

[Cabriolet]

Just re-read this after many years, awesome build Eric. Also great fun talking (drinkin) with you and your better half.

great talking with you.
back to our conversation the s38b38 is my favorite engine sound. the vr6 can suck that.

[e30austin]

great talking with you.
back to our conversation the s38b38 is my favorite engine sound. the vr6 can suck that.

It's a very close tie, in my book.

[kronus]

eric, you're welcome to drop by the shop when we have the R32 down there. it's a surprisingly pleasant experience.

[Julien]

great talking with you.
back to our conversation the s38b38 is my favorite engine sound. the vr6 can suck that.

okaayyyy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFKRE7hfpYg

*drops mic*

[2mAn]

Cabriolet Bump

[Cabriolet]

Cabriolet Bump

Yikes! I am way over do.
I need someone to buy her so I can get a red 89 325is.

[Cabriolet]

Well, we’ve had this car just about 10 years. What a journey it has been for a car rescued from the scrapper to a garage queen. The forum no longer has the story from the beginning. But the previous owner called the car Betty and she was a drift beater with a roller paint job and nothing worth saving. But, I keep sinking money into this car every year making a little more nuts.
Since my last post, I have ITB’d the car, changed the diff, had new hats made for the front brakes (thanks UUC for sh*tty toleranced parts)
I had finished the street tune with MarkD. This process took well over a year and many many times breaking the speed limit by 2-3x. But the tune came out perfectly. The car dyno’d 197whp/218lbs at about 5200 rpm. So it was crazy usable power.

After moving up here to Washington I finally was about to buy a house with a 1 car garage. This allowed me the time to pull out the 318is carpet I hastily installed in some guy’s driveway in LA at 10pm. Well, that clutch master cylinder leak left its mark and there was a lot of rust that I just barely caught in time. It looks worse in the photo due to the foam stuck to the floor that was filled with rust particle. I sanded it back and applied many layers of rust converter to the area and the floor is now just fine. I did think about having it cut out and patched but it was no where near that bad.



But my wife once again let me do stuff in the house and I took over the breakfast nook for a month and washed the carpet several times. It looks so much better and doesn’t smell horrible anymore.




But on to the pièce de resistance!

I finally RHD ITB’d my e30 after 6-7 years of dreaming about it. The sound is intoxicating and the engine is a lot of fun to rev up to 7800 rpm. Yes, the 272 cam falls flat up there! But it still sounds amazing and makes ok power.
The install was a but on a nuanced build. It’s not easy like Lego and there are typos in the instructions. Never the less, It all came together and then I spent weeks trying to get a basic tune to work. I went with the ECU masters classic DME and RHD plug and play harness adapter. So, this is completely reversable and the reliability is far far better than megasquirt. All in it was about $4-5k with all the part, management and dyno tune by 22RPD. I can now state. ITBs make 1hr per $500. Biggest waste of money for power and best waste of money for the sound. It feels like being Senna every day I drive it.

For real life improvement.
We moved 1 house over. The new house has a 4ish car garage and a shop. It’s a good place to keep the toys mostly out of the snow.

Now on to the shittiness of UUC. I called them when I first got the BBK and they told me bla bla bla they fit and there is no issue with the design. I test fit these brakes on 3 cars and the didn’t fit. So, $500 later I have properly sized custom made brake hats that no longer need washers to space the rotor from the hat so that the rotor does not rub on the caliper. The stupid pulsing from the rotors not being true is mostly gone. UUC makes the best short shift kit but this brake kit was a complete failure.

I also went back to the stock master cylinder for the brakes. The e32 one was just too firm and made the petal box flex and didn’t feel all that great.

But it has been fun and I need to trade this car for a red 325is or sell it. It’s time for a new project.

[Panici]

I finally RHD ITB’d my e30 after 6-7 years of dreaming about it. The sound is intoxicating and the engine is a lot of fun to rev up to 7800 rpm.

Are those videos supposed to have sound? It doesn't work on my computer.
Would love to hear it sing up to 7800rpm!

[2mAn]

Love the update!