What did you do to your E30 today?

[guapoman2000]

Hello good people!

Coming here after several months of no activity and just wanted to share my latest work with replacing the Odometer Gears within the Instrument Cluster for my 1987 325i Vert.

A few pictures of the preliminary work ............









- - - Updated - - -

Okay,

Some more progress!

[Luke Girard]

Last week I replaced the battery and I washed it today. The weather here in Southern California has been so nice I haven't driven with the top up in a few weeks =)

[guapoman2000]

Super Progress!

[guapoman2000]

Dear ADMIN or MOD

I keep receiving messages that a mod needs to view my posts? What gives? I have already agreed to the Forum RULES here and this is really making things very confusing to post progress pic's since I don't see what I just posted and where I left off.

Can you please tell me if it's better to just create my own THREAD instead of posting here?

EDIT: Never mind, created my own THREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

EDIT#2: You can visit my Thread over at: https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2359169-1987-E30-Vert-Replacing-Odometer-Gears-and-Testing-Cluster-Lamps&p=29859201#post29859201

[superj]

nothing since the weekend when I supervised/helped my son remove the rear axle/carrier assembly after he slide it off the street into a curb and broke some stuff. waiting on new sub-frame bushings from garagistic to show up and then he can start dropping the assembly from the parts car to install in place of the old one. filled up the four door and got 17 with 100% in town driving (auto eta) which is kind of a bummer but since the trans shifts when it wants and has no reverse I feel that I could be in worse shape so I won't complain toooooo much.

[RomeoMike]

Did the rear brakes (new pads, rotors, wear sensor) on the 91. Ditto the front a day later.

November 13 update:

Installed two TRW bushing kits for the front brakes and they came with brakegrease, so we made sure the accompanying new guide pins were lubed with it. From some reason, the autohausaz.com website said they weren't compatible with my 91 but that wasn't the case. With the rears, the effort was fixing the poor parking brakeperformance. Pulled the calipers and rotors so I could have an easier go at thestar adjusting wheel. Also used a sanding sponge to get rid of the remaining coating on the inner drum surface of the two-week old rotors. Used theChilton repair manual for the final adjustments.

[Kershaw]

Went Rallycrossing for my birthday! Also managed to blow my steering rack after fixing all the leaks in the lines. I guess the next weakest link went.

[Ryan M3]

I got lower.

KYB struts (Excel in front, Gas Adjust in rear), Vogtland springs, and drop hats up front.

[superj]

looks good /\

[guapoman2000]

Fill UP my 1987 BMW 325i vert with Ethanol Free Gasoline

[WhiplashE30]

Tried to replace blower motor but found that the casing is rubbing against fans.
Got diff sensor
New clock

[1SGDHORN]

Replaced a broken driver's door stop on my 86 325e. It's nice having a door that actually stays open now.

I also:

- Replaced the hood gas strut
- Adjusted the valves
- Swapped out the comfort seat for sports

[323i E30]

Took out the headliner today as the fabric was starting to come down.
Going to make it a twinkling starlight headliner while I'm in there, so my kids have something to look at from the backseat

[Kershaw]

That would be hilarious to see, please document that. Lol. Are you going to use fiber optics?

[323i E30]

That would be hilarious to see, please document that. Lol. Are you going to use fiber optics?

I'll take a few pics
Fiber optics indeed. Looking at it I'm a bit worried about the cassette the sunroof slides into, as it might be narrowing the space for the fiber strings a bit much. Not sure how much pressure the strings can take without freeing the light.
Well, I'll just do it and see how it works out. I already have all the stuff I need.
Just need to find the time..

[323i E30]

Couple of pics on the headliner. Not finished yet, but I'll post one when it is..

Before. Already took the sunroof fabric piece out.


Headliner out, scraping the old glue off


Divided to achieve a somewhat evenly divided light placement. Then marked & drilled.


New fabric on the underside of it. It's very black in reality. I guess I should have spent more on the camera


The lighting unit


Everything in place, fixed with a drip of glue.


The underside of it. Fibers still to be cut, obviously.

[323i E30]

Twinkle twinkle!

[sdremsw]

I reupholstered my drivers sports seat in houndstooth using a kit from zoomzoomzoom-ing (ebay). The first time I've ever done anything like that and I'm super happy with the results. Took me about 4.5 hours to completely disassemble the seat and recover. Also spent time replacing the cables for the tilt function and a general clean up. Was surprised to find all the pieces for the mechanism were in good shape after so many years, just dirty.

Almost lost my pinky finger on the super sharp tabs on the back that hold the material in place. If you're going to do this yourself you have to be very careful with these. They can do a lot of damage. Still need to fit the top of the seat cushion around the bolsters and lock it all in. I'll attempt the passenger seat in a few days.

IMG_7412.jpg

[TheCathedral]

Those seats look good! Can you share the link to where you got them?

[325e '87]

Big project for me. On my ‘89 325i I removed the intake manifold and thermostat housing to get down to the heater hoses, the outlet from the head was leaking. I’ve got all new hoses, deleting the secondary safety thermostat loop and the throttle body loop. I have been just cleaning for 2 days now, lots and lots of grime.

1. I’m hoping that the small outlet from the block will stretch far enough to get to the thermostat housing so I can delete the throttle body loop.
2. The oil level sensor connector completely disintegrated when I moved the cable bundle, I’m really hoping I can rig this back together, if anyone has suggestions I’m all ears.
3. Got the o rings for the bitch tube, is that thing really that hard to deal with?
4. Replaced the gas supply and return lines
5. I’m really anxious about routing all the wires and hoses properly. Kind of relying on common sense.

[325e '87]

Repaired the broken plug/socket on my oil level sensor
thoroughly cleaned the intake manifold, fuel rail, injectors, o rings
o rings on bitch tube
began putting the front of the engine back together
washed the inside of the engine compartment best I could
installed new heater lines, bypassed the secondary thermostat and throttle body heated line


waiting for the mailperson to bring me the thermostat housing gasket so I can finish the coolant hose replacement

[Kershaw]

A tear down like that is great to really clean all the accumulated grease off the engine. I love sanding all the aluminum parts and giving them a nice shine before reinstallation. Steel parts get a repaint.

323i, the fiber optics in the headliner looks amazing. That's both hilarious and cool.

[325e '87]

Got my engine back together, filled with fresh coolant and oil. Starts, runs, drives as well as I can expect. I’m relieved that I didn’t break any brittle wires or connectors other than the oil level sender. Now I’m waiting for delivery of a new throttle position switch, I couldn’t get the original one to click on the WOT side. I’m kind of anxious about it because as nice as the engine runs I don’t feel like I’m getting the wot experience, which in my mind is the efi saying “screw all the sensors and readings, here’s all the gas you want, now GO”.

[323i E30]

A tear down like that is great to really clean all the accumulated grease off the engine. I love sanding all the aluminum parts and giving them a nice shine before reinstallation. Steel parts get a repaint.

323i, the fiber optics in the headliner looks amazing. That's both hilarious and cool.

Thanks

[323i E30]

This is what it looks like during the daytime btw. The kids do enjoy it.
I'll be removing the white plastic parts sometime soon to paint them a somewhat darker color.