What did you do to your E30 today?

[superj]

Kids got correct transmission in San Antonio. Also, an IS spoiler for the 88

[H.J. 1981]

Spent the last 3 days, taking the HVAC harness appart. Someone just cut and respliced numerous wires for the recirculation relays, bypassed connections....long story short something went a miss in the system and their solution was to hack it.

So i replaced the Blower resistors, since i ordered colour correct and thickness correct wires to re-do the factory splices, till i found that the passenger side flap does not close. Until the HVAC unit comes out, all i can say is some sort of problem either with the flap, connections or related item.

The dash would come off, so will the whole HVAC unit. Will replace new gaskets, repair the flap, repair the harness, change the heater valve o-ring(s) and renew the expansion valve seals (they are leaking). I shall adress the R134a conversion again, upgrade the electric fan and hopefully have the whole HVAC working like a charm again. Time to order parts and wait....

[superj]

at least its not terribly hard to pull the dash on these cars

[e30topdown]

at least its not terribly hard to pull the dash on these cars

Exactly what I was thinkin'!

[Steverup]

Had the timing belt, water pump and original plugs and wires replaced in my 87 321i convertible. She’s running smooth!


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[superj]

Put the engine and transmission back in the 86 two door

[Richards McGhee]

Technically yesterday but I bought an automatic 1990 325i as my first BMW for 1k and trailered it about 170 miles home. It spent it's first 10 to 12 years in Hawaii before being shipped to Oregon but so far looks pretty clean rust wise. It also has around 250k miles on it.

Today I've started working on the grocery list of parts for initial maintenance.

Mistakes have probably been made

[superj]

86 two door is >/ /< that close to starting. my son hooked everything up and has the lower radiator hose, radiator and fan, and injectors left and he should be able to fire her up again. then we need to buy that adapter the lets you run a large flange transmission on your small flange driveshaft and he can take it down the street to see how it feels

[H.J. 1981]

Readjusted the intake valves, they were much noisier and sounded more like a diesel rather than the ticking M20s. Very slight tick now, i think i shall leave them as they are and install new gasket and rubber plugs.

Booked the car at a small workshop Monday at 14:00, i wish to get a second opinion on the causes of the front end vibrations. Would hate to spend hours rebuilding the rack, only to find something else is the cause, plus i trust the guys working there.

Still waiting for some HVAC gaskets and small screws/bolts/clamps from BMW, in order to remove the dash, remove the HVAC and do some wiring repair and blower repair work.....there is a 8-10 day order time during this crisis as opposed to 3-4 days.

Starting to get a bit warm, would love to repair the HVAC system, install a bigger aux fan and go 134a.

[H.J. 1981]

I forgot to mention, i remove the fan and clutch to rotate the engine at TDC for each cylinder when adjusting the valves, i notices a nice oil leak on the fan itself. The front of the engine is bone dry, so i guess the 1 year old Sachs clutch is leaking, a Meyle one has been ordered. This is not the first time, a high quality brand OE part has failed so soon.

[superj]

White two door fired up today. Can't keep it running though. I suspect it fuel pressure but we shall see

[H.J. 1981]

Came back from the shop with a second opinion, we found very minor play on all 4 corners of the E30. However, the mechanic speculated this is normal, everything is "tight" and there are tolerances and what he tested seems to be extremely minor.

He went for a test drive, in the rain and since the vibrations occur at highway speeds (120+kph or 70-ish mph and above) he went on the autobahn.

After 30 minutes he came back, and claimed no vibrations, car is stable and solid at 160kph (100mph). So i explained how i experienced vibrations on that very same autobahn in the dry 10 days ago, he suspects that there maybe some mino cupping on the tires, where the rainwater is masking it. He asked me to wait till the weather gets dry, and to run my hand on the tires to feel for any waves, grooves or any indication that there is slight wear.

This is the first i hear of how a wet road would/could mask tire issues....does this have any claim to it?

[elder30]

Switched out my inoperable speedo with a "new" one. Had to replace the odo gears in the "new" one with the gears from the "old" one. Speedo and odo working, but discovered speedo was off by about 15 mph. Got the calibration dialed in (Motometer POT) and things are smoooooth! I even used a drill to move back the 224,000 odometer reading of the "new" speedo to the 98500 reading of my "old" one. ;-)

[superj]

Came back from the shop with a second opinion, we found very minor play on all 4 corners of the E30. However, the mechanic speculated this is normal, everything is "tight" and there are tolerances and what he tested seems to be extremely minor.

He went for a test drive, in the rain and since the vibrations occur at highway speeds (120+kph or 70-ish mph and above) he went on the autobahn.

After 30 minutes he came back, and claimed no vibrations, car is stable and solid at 160kph (100mph). So i explained how i experienced vibrations on that very same autobahn in the dry 10 days ago, he suspects that there maybe some mino cupping on the tires, where the rainwater is masking it. He asked me to wait till the weather gets dry, and to run my hand on the tires to feel for any waves, grooves or any indication that there is slight wear.

This is the first i hear of how a wet road would/could mask tire issues....does this have any claim to it?

I have not heard that before but I guess its possible?

- - - Updated - - -

the white car fires up perfectly. the battery was so low

[H.J. 1981]

I have not heard that before but I guess its possible?

- - - Updated - - -

the white car fires up perfectly. the battery was so low

Was about to purchase a new illuminated shifter knob, then saw the €150 price. Took mine apart, carefully soldiers broken wires, all good lol. Amazing how expensive small items motivates to repair instead of purchasing new.

Drove the car myself on that same freeway at 180kph speeds, very small vibrations, could be possible that the tires were either over or under inflated causing some cupping/flat spots to be more noticable. Or the A2 autobahn is just horrible causing vibrations like crazy. Will re-torque all the wheels and check pressures to be on the safe side.

[Steverup]

Found that irritating battery drain (trunk light grounded) and installed a new starter.... then left the lights on all day to come out to a dead battery. Oh well!


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[superj]

my son left the lights on all day too, in the superE, so he had to find a jump to get home yesterday

[elder30]

Woke up this morning to a flat tire. Thankfully, my spare has the same design as my other wheels. So, I didn't miss a beat. Stopped by my favorite auto shop to mount a new tire and sadly learned that my mechanic, Larry, who has worked on my E30 for years is in the hospital on life support. He had a massive heart attack this past weekend after doing practice laps before a race at our local short track. They will be turning off the life support this weekend.

Puts it all in perspective...

[H.J. 1981]

Replaced a rather expensive 1 year old Sachs fan clutch with a Febi one, was upset to see some oil seepage on the clutch/fan, since Sachs is a known OE supplier but there you go. Ironically, the febi clutch fitted better and easier for some reason.

Soldered the wires for the rad thermo switch and shrink wrapped them in heat shrinks and called it a day. Need to replace the TB bearings, weather is not looking good.

[superj]

Wow, elder30. That is horrible. I am sorry about your friend

[MauiM3Mania]

Puts it all in perspective...

So sorry. Life is short, savor it.

[H.J. 1981]

Woke up this morning to a flat tire. Thankfully, my spare has the same design as my other wheels. So, I didn't miss a beat. Stopped by my favorite auto shop to mount a new tire and sadly learned that my mechanic, Larry, who has worked on my E30 for years is in the hospital on life support. He had a massive heart attack this past weekend after doing practice laps before a race at our local short track. They will be turning off the life support this weekend.

Puts it all in perspective...

My condolences.

[323i E30]

Replaced the pressurized springs of the trunk lid to find out I had two different ones in there. Didn't really inspect them closely until now.
The original was hardly pushing, but was dampening. The other one was just pushing really hard without any form of dampening.
Every time anyone else but me closed the trunk I had to replace my rear lights and made my E30 lose precious rust.. None of that anymore because it's opening and closing just fine and slowly again.

[elder30]

Finished up my DIY convertible headliner...

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...-DIY-Headliner

[BeechmontBMW]

[img]bmw m20 1989 e30.jpg[/img]