Coast to Coast, an e30 American adventure

[Aleman]

Epic! What a well-planned roadtrip. The photos are awesome, keep them coming.

[CSBolger]

Felt like a triage nurse working on that car! It was losing fluids and smoke all over!

I should probably take a moment to reassure everyone that Ben and Nicholl won't die in that thing; the thermostat and fuel line issues looked like honest noob mistakes by the PO, and a sway bar as big as that would rip any mount that hasn't been reinforced. We spent a lot of time just inspecting the underside of the car and checking things like the guibo, CSB, driveline mounts, wheel bearings... all shockingly good! I won't make any excuses for the wiring near the headlight switch - that was pure dumbassery and I was glad to chop it all out and replace burned wire and to reterminate the wiring into the switch with new heat shrink rather than globs of solder shorting into one another. You know, 'cause dash fires are kinda lame.

Ben, it was a pleasure to have you guys. Good luck the rest of the way and as usual, feel free to call/text if you get into trouble.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[kyleconstantine]

bump for updates. you heading to the east coast yet?

[TurboJake]

Heyo, someone else is doing something similar to what I did!

Trust in yourself, trust in your car, and remember that when shit doesn't go according to plan is when it gets to be the best parts of the trip.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=284094

[uturn]

The lack of updates has me wondering what they might be up to.... throwing out some plausible explanations.

1) joined a cult in Utah
2) too high in Colorado
3) the rain and snow that hit last week is causing delays

[2mAn]

The lack of updates has me wondering what they might be up to.... throwing out some plausible explanations.

1) joined a cult in Utah
2) too high in Colorado
3) the rain and snow that hit last week is causing delays

I think he got a little too close at Area 51

[kickinindian]

I think he got a little too close at Area 51

then they met a dude named paul...

[alkkamai]

Jeez, hope they're alright.

[2mAn]

Ive heard through the grapevine he is/was in Vegas recently so who knows haha

[agent]

The kids are alright. Ben's laptop broke so he's not able to update the thread with pics, so the thread is on hold until they get back across the pond.

We met up at scabzzzz's house yesterday for some awesome biscuits from Holler and Dash, and we helped get the well-traveled E30's windows and the blower motor working again before seeing Ben and Nicholl off to Gatlinburg.

[Rainier]

It’s been months, what did they get arrested for being too thin for America and having the amazing British ability to drink everyone on the east coast under the table? Wondering how this whirl wind trip worked out for them.

(True story, the wife and I ended up drinking and hanging with a couple of Brit soldiers in Berlin Germany 20 years ago. I ended up plastered with one hand over a eye to stumble home at 6am. And they didn’t look phased at all. And I was a professionally trained drinking Sailor! Life lesson learned to have a beer or two but never try to keep up.)

[estoguy]

the seat belt buckles are the same so those you won't need to worry about.

some people are going to come on here and try and talk you out of the 325e car. don't listen to them. its still a great motor. they a re going to complain about hp and low red line and blah blah blah but don't worry about it, the eta motor is a fine motor and will be enjoyable to drive. all the e30s in my driveway are 325e cars and they still drift the corners and pass on the highway with no problems. but, they get 30 mpg while on the highway so don't listen to the people who hate on the eta motor.

I have the door card stuff but all mine is black with the houndstooth inserts so it won't work for yours.

you guys will have a great trip in that car. I have done cross texas drives in e30s and they were comfortable and nice. and people stop and talk to you at the gas station about how much they love them.

Totally agree with the above... the e is a tank of a engine. I've owned mine for just over 6 years and have put nearly 330K km on it myself (just shy of 200K miles). It now has almost 555K km on it, still original engine and clutch, with no signs of slowing down and I've been putting between 50-60K km on it per year.

[Originale30]

Totally agree with the above... the e is a tank of a engine. I've owned mine for just over 6 years and have put nearly 330K km on it myself (just shy of 200K miles). It now has almost 555K km on it, still original engine and clutch, with no signs of slowing down and I've been putting between 50-60K km on it per year.

I totally agree with the above posts... the E is not as snappy to drive as the i but a well maintained e will still have enough performance to put a smile on your face... while recently taking an almost 1,000mile round trip in my eta I averaged 34mpg on the interstate while cruising at 80mph the whole time... my engine is completely original with just over 300,000miles.... Long Live ETAs!!


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[benwalsh91]

Holy shit.

I am so so sorry for my lack of updates on this. I tried my hardest but we was so busy on the adventure I couldn’t keep up. Also my laptop died and I am yet to replace it!! And it’s just to much to update this on my phone like I am right now.

However, I have tons of notes and tons of photos. I plan to buy a new laptop at the end of this month and I can carry on with my story.

But to sum it up... it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Car survived and I gained 2 stone in weight whilst over in America, that’s about 28lbs.

I fell in love with the car and I am in the process of arranging to ship the car back to England!

[jgilber0]

28 lbs! Oh my. Glad all went well!