My new e30 resurrection project

[shawmcbigdis]

OK, so I got the rack and coupler in the car, hooray! That was a hell of a lot harder than I expected.

I'll explain what I did, in case it helps anyone, although if there is a better way, I sure wouldn't want to do it this way.

I haven't done the PS lines yet, this is just the physical removal of the old and install of the new rack.

To remove I just removed the PS lines, and 2 bolts holding rack to subframe. Then bent the subframe tabs. This allowed the rack to fall down but was still held tight by the steering coupler. After removing the pinch bolts, spraying a ton of PB Blaster and driving a flathead screwdriver into the gap, it still wouldn't budge. Then I got out the pickle fork and tried prying the coupler off at the top (steering column side) putting the pickle fork between the firewall and coupler. Still wouldn't budge. Thats when I gout out the torch. I held the pickle fork in place both as a pry and as a shield to protect the rubber coating on the firewall and torched the coupler block as much as I could, after maybe 5-10 min's of this, a couple whacks on the pickle fork and it fell right out. Of course in the course of that proccess I burnt myself 2 or 3 times on the hot pickle fork, fun.

After the rack was out I removed the coupler from the rack, same way, heated it up, until I could get it off.

The coupler I installed the poly flex disc and spacer kit both from garagistic completely out of the car. That whole process is another ton of work, but fiarly straightforward.

Now with the assembled couple and rack out of the car, I made sure the rack was centered and the steering wheel in the car was centered and locked in place. With the pinch bolt still out of the block I coated the inside of it with assembly lube, and the shaft on the rack. I then heated up the block with the torch for about 5 mins. I then got the couple started onto the rack and then whacked it with the hammer to get it the rest of the way and put in the pinch bolt.

Now, more assembly lube to top couple block and steering column splin shaft, lift the rack up into place, get the coupler started onto the shaft, bend the subframe tabs back into place, and get the passenger side bolt and space installed, but not tight.

At this point I couldn't get the coupler onto the shaft any further, so I sprayed it liberally with some white silicone. I already had the assembly lube on there, but it wasn't helping. After the silicone spray I was able to push up on the rack and get it to slide on a good bit, but not all the way. It was almost there though. SPrayed more silicone, then with a rubber mallet hit the bottom of the rack at the steering box, or whatever that part is called, and got it to go on the rest of the way. Got the driver side tab totally bent back into place, and got the bolt it. Strangely the bol on the driver side was a lot easier to get lined up and installed. Probably because the rack was alligned properly now whereas when I put the first bolt in, it was still low on the drivers side.

Thats where I'm at now. Rack is physically installed. I still need to do the lines. I'm a bit confused on how to do that, I keep seeing people say they jsut installed the high pressure line backwards. At first I thought this meant, they juest moved it to the other side, and bolted it right on. But now I think they mean the removed the line from the rack and pump, and turned it around so the original rack side goes in the pump and the pump side goes in the rack? At least thats what I am going to try tomorrow. Hopefully that works, then also swap out my sway bar end links tighten everything down fill it up with fluid and see what happens.

[shawmcbigdis]

So got everything back together finally. Ordered a new PS fluid reservoir, used the old lines. So the reservoir to pump, is exactly the same, obviously. For the pump to rack, I removed the line and turned it around, so what was the rack side, is now on the pump. I did it so the bend on the hard line at what is now the pump, comes forward and then bends toward the outside. Then the hose portion comes back towards the rack, up, that leaves just enough room to get the short stubby straight hard line on the rack. Its almost touching the sub-frame, and it was a hell of a bitch to get on there, but I eventually got it. Do the rack side first, so you can move the hose any way you need. Its a lot easier to get the pump side on. Then after that is all set put the line from reservoir to rack on.

I put a little bottle of stop leak in it, then pumped it through and topped off with ATF. Left it jacked up, running engine turned wheel back and forth several dozen times checking for leaks. None found, so hopefully it stays that way.

Took it for a test drive, and oh my gosh! It was a fairly hard/annoying install, but oh so worth it. I mean, the suspension and brakes are still shot on this car, and I can still tell how much better it is. I honestly wouldn't want one of the even faster racks. everyone says this is 3.2 turns lock to lock, but it sure looks like exactly 3 on my car. And it is so much faster than the stock rack. Nice kind of heavy but not to heavy feel to it. Its just great. Can't wait to get suspension and brakes on it now.

The wife actually went for a ride in it, for the first time ever, Even she liked it. Which is nice, should give me a little more budget lee-way, maybe :)

One thing that happened on the test drive, the tach and OBC started working again. So I'm thinking maybe there is just a bad solder joint from when we replaced the batteries. Going to take the SI board back out, and have the guy that i had do it, go over it and maybe redo the joints. Hopefully that fixes it for good.

[Mpolito3355]

Thanks!

Its kind of ghetto but its working. And the car actually does look better than when I bought it. Although considering the amount of time and money I've spent on it, I probably would have been better off just getting a Maaco $399 special. Problem is, I don't have all the panels yet. So its the panel by panel home paint process for me. I've still got the passenger door and fender, and the front air damn to paint, whenever I get them.

Now, back to work getting this stupid steering rack in.

Well this is how you learn anyway ..... you could have just bought a car done but where the pride in that ?? Keep up good work =)

[Mpolito3355]

The wife actually went for a ride in it, for the first time ever, Even she liked it. Which is nice, should give me a little more budget lee-way, maybe :)

.

Didn't see this before also ^^^^^

Lol I told my wife I was getting a e30 like 9 months ago and I am finally getting the car now but I didn't mention to my wife again...... I'll tell her when the car gets in the garage. :)

[shawmcbigdis]

Didn't see this before also ^^^^^

Lol I told my wife I was getting a e30 like 9 months ago and I am finally getting the car now but I didn't mention to my wife again...... I'll tell her when the car gets in the garage. :)

Lol, kind of a better to ask forgiveness than permission scenario. But I guess you did tell her, so not exactly. I hope you have more fun with it than mine. I mean I'm having fun, but I would be having more fun if I started with a better base car.

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[Mpolito3355]

, but I would be having more fun if I started with a better base car.

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Oh no no no mines been sitting for 15 years =) so it will be fun

[shawmcbigdis]

Oh no no no mines been sitting for 15 years =) so it will be fun

Wow, good luck with that. Hopefully the rust isn't bad. On mine I knew the rear driver side floor was rusted and needed replaced when I bought it. Then after I got it home I found more rust on the driver side fro t Jack pad location that is pretty bad, not sure how I'm going to fix that. Also small dent and rust spot on the rear driver side corner that was hidden by the bumper trim.

And if it needs paint, hopefully you are better at it than me, or just pay to get it done.

Oh, I also got my e46 center console/armrest installed last weekend. I'll post some pics later today when I get home. It's a bit of a hack job, but this was a test fitting. The console I got from the pick and pull is kind of rough, so I want to replace it at some point anyway. So this was a test run to figure out how to do it. But honestly I might end up changing what I did when I change it out, maybe... We'll see when it actually cones time.

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[Mpolito3355]

Oh, I also got my e46 center console/armrest installed last weekend. I'll post some pics later today when I get home. It's a bit of a hack job, but this was a test fitting. The console I got from the pick and pull is kind of rough, so I want to replace it at some point anyway. So this was a test run to figure out how to do it. But honestly I might end up changing what I did when I change it out, maybe... We'll see when it actually cones time.

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Yea if you can make sure you put pictures up , im more of a armrest man myself and well cup holders are always a plus.

[shawmcbigdis]

OK, here's some pics of the armrest post install.









As you can see it doens't really meld well with the stock center console. I haven't really figured out what to do about that. I can't move the e46 support piec further forward because of the e-brake mechanism. At least not without seriously modifying it. I think the people that have done this that make it look really good, have made a custom piece to go on top of the stock center console so its all the same level, and they can make the size match.

There's also that slight gap on the sides where it doesn't line up. I might just stick some plastic or something in there. For now it's good enough

[shawmcbigdis]

OK, finally after me saying that exhaust was the number one priority since I bought the thing back in April, I got an exhaust. And like most things on the car so far it is hoopty AF.

I ended up just going to Autozone and getting a cheap cherry bomb muffler and some piping and saddle clamps and threw it together. I had bought the exhaust install kit from ECS back when I thought I had a line on one, so I have stock muffler hangers and stuff, but they are way to big for this little muffler. So the muffler hanging is very jerry rigged, but works fairly decently. For now at least.

Here is where I tied it into the existing exhaust. It seems for some reason, some previous owner had removed the pipe from the stock cat, and replaced it with a 90 elbow that goes towards the driver side of the car, and that's all there was of the exhaust. So I put another 90 on that to turn it back towards the rear. Straight pipe from there to the axle, and then from there a flex pipe to the muffler.


Here is from the cat to the flex pipe, you can also see the muffler tape I added to the joints because they were still leaking pretty bad. You can also see here how the pipe they put on turned away from the factory exhaust routing.




This is the flex pipe between the straight pipe and the muffler;



And here is the hoopty muffler mounting;



And how it looks from behind;



There are still some slight leaks. But considering I put most of it together last night, using my e39 headlights as light, I don't feel to bad. This is a total stopgap until I get something nicer.

Now I need brakes, badly. I actually drove the fam to church and some errands in it today, and realized, I probably shouldn't be taking my kids on the freeway in this thing just yet. I had to seriously keep adjusting my brain to keep a much bigger gap to the car in front than what I normally do.

After the brakes and suspension is done,l it should be a decent little driver. The interior will still be trashed for a while, but got to get everything else sorted first.

[KIRIEIW]

I'm not sure what it is but sometimes those couplers get stuck so damn tight, even on the newer cars. Others slide out like butter, I guess it's just a hit or miss. Keep your eyes out on Craigslist, maybe you can find a good original exhaust system in the future off a part out or something.

[shawmcbigdis]

I'm not sure what it is but sometimes those couplers get stuck so damn tight, even on the newer cars. Others slide out like butter, I guess it's just a hit or miss. Keep your eyes out on Craigslist, maybe you can find a good original exhaust system in the future off a part out or something.

I check Craigslist multiple times a day. but e30 parts are few and far between out here in Oklahoma. I really want to get a stock 325i exhaust from the downpipes back. That way if I ever do the i head swap I'll be good to go there.

But for now, I need to focus on brakes and suspension. If I can get those sorted, then I can start driving it more often, instead of just short trips on the weekends. At my $100/month budget, suspension is going to take a while, as every single thing needs to be replaced. So I need to decide if I'm going to just order parts as I get money, and wait until I have everything to do it all at once, or if I will just piece meal it as I go, but then I need to make sure I do things in the right order, so I don't take things apart multiple times that i don't need to. Maybe I'll do 1 axle at a time. Although I have to imagine that would drive super weird having one end completely new, and the other end completely worn out. Now I kind of want to do that, jsut to see what it's like :)

[N2MYE30]

I do like budget builds that keep getting updated. :up:

[shawmcbigdis]

Got a few minor things done this weekend.

Replaced the blower motor resistor, so all 4 speeds work now. Also lubed up the blower fan while I was in there, so it doesn't sound like a caged cricket any time the fan is on now.

Also installed some super cheap seat covers on the front seats. They were less than $30 for front and back seats, so I didn't expect much. For what they are I think they are good enough until I can get the seats really re-covered.

So front seats, especially the driver side, are in pretty rough shape;



I tried to cut out some foam to fill the really big gaps, and used duct tape to hold it down, and also smooth out the cracks in the leather. SO this is it just before putting the cover on;



Both front seats fully installed.



Well, I guess not fully, because I still have to do something about the side handles.

I might have a local source for a new door and rear bumper. Just need to see if they will fit in the monthly project budget.

I also "picked up" a black rear seat bottom cushion that's in pretty good shape. Unfortunately it's in California with my stash of other parts. We will probably drive back there in May to visit family, and pick up my parts, so those won't be installed for a while.

[shawmcbigdis]

Installed the bottom rear cover when I got home today. Decided I'm not going to put on the rear top part. The arm rest doesn't really work and then I cover the cool hounds tooth.

The black level color difference doesn't look so bad in real life as it does under the flash of this pic;



And the whole interior;



A cheap dash cover and some black floor mats and it will be done for now. Well assuming I can find a reasonably priced glove box.