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Thread: My stock OEM+ UK 1990 E30 320i in Alpine white

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe

    My stock with OEM+ mods UK 1990 E30 320i in Alpine white II

    ​​

    Hi all,

    Mat based in Mansfield, England and this is my 1990 E30 320i SE, 76k miles, no rust and still on its original exhaust :-) The car is completely stock apart from I have upgraded the alloys from 14 to 15 inch, a Blaupunkt CD player.

    I did an absolute ton of maintenance on the car over the three week Christmas holiday (and finally resolved a long standing hard start issue hurrah!) and took lots of pictures so thought I would pull them all together in the introduction post:-)

    So starting with some time of work, first up was installing a set of genuine 15inch Euroweave BBS alloys which have just had shot blasted and powder coated.

    The 14’s which were on the car had tyres which were all cracking and I prefer the wider 7j offset of the 15’s which also had new tyres on so decided to swap them over… hanging onto the 14’s though.





    Really pleased with how they look.






    Next up the bonnet sound insulation had perished and was falling off into the engine bay, I wanted to keep it original so managed to track down a new OEM set from a company in Germany, PartWorks GmbH.

    The old foam came off quite easy but the adhesive backing was a nightmare. I bought some Gtechniq Glue & Tar remover and it worked an absolute treat, taking it right back to shiny clean white paint.​



    New insulation installed, went on fantastic following all the contours.







    Windscreen and headlight washer bottles had 33 years of limescale and were looking very discoloured…

    ​​​a couple of hours of scrubbing, dishwasher tablets, bleach and soapy water and they were looking like new!











    Foolishly I didn’t take a before shot of the engine bay but I spent a full day cleaning, polishing, wiping and treating all the plastics. Looks much better but when it gets garaged again next winter I’m going to do a full engine bay detail.

    Next up, the car came with a Sony pop off front stereo which didn’t really fit with the era of the car so I removed it.​

    After lots of Gumtree and EBay trawling I found this lovely Blaupunkt unit which has the classic removable credit card security system. Sounds fantastic!




    The car came with a 13 button computer installed but unfortunately it wasn’t working. A bit of research unveiled a common issue with the light bar behind the LCD screen which uses traditional bulbs which obviously 30 years down the line go pop.





    Thankfully, some genius has developed an LED version which fits perfectly. Its a bit of a faff to get at the computer as I had to remove the full heater dash trim but I got there in the end and after swapping the light strip its all working like new!



    The central locking wasn’t working, more online research and it looked likely to be either a live red loop wire which runs through the door or water ingress in the door harness plug.

    I unscrewed the speaker and pulled the central locking harness from the space near the pedal footwell and everything looked perfect, no rust, no moisture, wiring like new so next step was the door plug, and what do you know!

    The only pin that had a tiny bit of green corrosion was the central locking red wire pin! Some WD40 white lightening, plugged the harness back in and the central locking sprang into life… hurrah!



    Next up some external cosmetics…

    The exterior trim was a little faded, not bad but not like new so I did a lot of research on some detailing forums and everyone was raving about C4, its a permanent trim restorer.

    Its certainly not cheap and comes in a tiny 15m vile but after trying it on the front grill I can see why its so popular with the professionals and went on to do the whole car… just so you can see, right side treated left side original!



    I wasn’t to keen on doing a full cut and polish as I don’t have a depth gauge but after asking a few detailers they recommended using some Bilt Hamber Polish which has a very gentle cut but is amazing for deoxidisation of old paint bringing back the colour.

    Amazing stuff, you could see it go from a slight yellow tint to bright Alpine white with barely any paint on the pad. The paintwork now looks fantastic, rich deep whites which I finished off with some Auto Finesse Polish.







    Onto the mechanics


    I decided to dive in and fit a new timing belt, water pump, temp sensors and auxiliary belts, spark plugs, oil pressure sensor, oil and filter change, new Bosch battery and a coolant flush... amazingly Euro Carparts had it all in stock for next day collection!




    But before I started all that there were a few other issues I wanted to tackle.

    Main one I wanted to sort out was a hard start issue. When the engines cold it needed around 10 seconds of cranking and some accelerator pumping before its burst into life, it then ran rich. Once warm, restarts were quicker but still needed some accelerator action to get it going which is not how it should be.

    Second thing, oil leaks... The M20 engine is renown as a leaky unit but the block had what looked like 30 years of oil blown all around it and was a bit of a mess as well as giving me small but regular drips on the floor.



    I started by cleaning everything down, around 20 cans of brake cleaner and degreaser later it was looking much better, shiny and clean.

    I then added some UV oil dye and let the engine tick over for half an hour, turned the garage light off and the UV torch on and it was clear where the issues were... leaking from the rocker cover, front cam seal and the oil pressure sensor... so all three were added to the parts order.

    Next issue, the temperature gauge barely got out of the blue even on long runs, it could be the thermostat or the brown temp sensor plug which feeds data to the cluster... added them both and the blue ECU temp sensor to the order as well.

    So, first up, dismantle the front of the engine... distributor cap off, leads out, radiator out, fan off with the special clutch tools, power steering, air con and alternator dropped and belts removed. Timing covers taken off top and bottom, crank pulley (which needed some heat on the bolts to crack!) removed along with cam sensor and timing wheel followed by the old water pump taken and a flood of coolant.



    I could then take off the old timing belt and tensioner, clean everything up, and fit a new front cam seal. The belt had only done 20,000 miles but was 10 years old so definitely ready!





    Perfect opportunity to get everything cleaned up



    Front cam gear removed, followed by cam seal which was replaced with a new one and refitted.



    New belt and tensioner on and manually crank the engine to check the TDC markings matched and tension the belt before locking the tensioner off... all good! It was just then a matter of re-assembling everything piece by piece, torquing it all up as per the Haynes guide and fitting the new aux belts.

    Then I replaced the oil pressure sensor, old sensor was a 22mm, new one a 24mm just to keep me on my toes haha!



    Both temp sensors replaced up top and then dismantled the thermostat housing and fitted a new one, old one seemed very stiff so had probably been stuck open causing the temperature gauge issue and the car to run a rich.




    Final job before refitting all the hoses was cleaning up all the connecting points to remove coolant corrosion and then onto the rocker cover gasket, replaced it along with the four rubber D plugs. So that was all the leaks addressed now!



    Ten litres of new BMW coolant added and then it was time to fire it up and see if everything worked. Doesn't matter how many times I do a new timing belt its still a nervous key turn haha! Thankfully it was perfect, no coolant leaks and no squeaky auxiliary belts but still the hard start issue persisted.

    Next up was an oil, filter and spark plugs change and left her ticking over for an hour... no oil leaks, no coolant leaks and sounds as sweet as a nut!




    Not sure if was the cold weather or the hard start issue draining it with the excessive cranking but the battery didn't seem to be too good. Replaced it with a new Bosh 096 whilst I was cleaning up the engine bay.




    After all of that the hard start issue still remained. Forums to the rescue, I replaced the fuel filter first... whether it was the problem or not it was definitely ready haha!



    Nice new Febi Bilstein filter installed but unfortunately did not fix the issue.



    Next I replaced the fuel pump under the back seat and also the fuel pump relay.



    Another try of the key and the problem remained. Sad times!

    Then I received a message on R3vLimited from a chap who said ''it will be the C191 plug under the intake manifold they ten to suffer from corrosion and its the main link between the injectors and the ECU so causes havoc and all the symptoms described''.

    So I removed the intake feed, the tick over valve and worked my way down the the infamous plug. I pulled it apart and whilst there was no obvious corrosion the female side did have a little green casting to the colour of the pin receivers.



    I bought a Burr kit and after a blasting of electrical cleaner and some gentle filing of the inside of each pin receiver I put everything back together after spraying some electrical grease inside to stop the problem occurring.



    The internals of the tick over valve didn't look like it was spinning easily so I also gave that and the throttle body a good clean with Carb cleaner.



    Reassembled everything and... key turn... YES!

    Fired right up in a split second with no throttle, no longer running rich and tick over was absolutely solid... I'm so happy!!!! Haha.

    Sot thats the car so far, I'll keep this up to date going forward :-)
    Last edited by MatBiscuits; 03-28-2023 at 08:19 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
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    LSx M3 & 2017 Touareg
    Beautiful car

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    Quote Originally Posted by Bsaint View Post
    Beautiful car
    Thank you mate... Im currently laid under it doing all the bushes and suspension now :-)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
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    Mansfield UK
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    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    With the engine sorted and most of the cosmetic bits all sorted I wanted to give the suspension a big going over next. The car was on its original front struts so quite ''boat like' when cornering haha. Looking under the front, most of the bushes and ball joints looked fairly decent but a boot had split on the front left wishbone and and the drop links looked a little worse for wear so I decided to just do absolutely everything!


    New Febi wishbones ordered, new drop links, new tie rod ends, new anti roll bar bushes, Febi control arm bushes, new Bilstein B4 OEM shocks and H&R sports springs which give a gentle 35mm drop. E30's ride very high with the stock setup so I wanted a slightly more aggressive stance but more OEM+ than slammed haha!



    First up was to strip the old wishbones, tie rod ends, drop links, anti-rollbar bushes and control arm bushes.

    I had heard how hard it it is to remove control arm bushes from the mounts so I found some Febi Bilsten ones which cam as a complete unit. Cracking the control arms from the struts took some doing, I ended up getting a splitter tool which did the job after a lot of awkward angled hammer wanging!




    Next up was remove the front struts, dismantle (it doesn't matter how many struts I dismantle I still feel like Im working on an unexploded bomb when Im taking the top hat off and the springs are compressed haha!.




    With the struts in pieces I nipped them to a local motorbike restoration shop who shot blasted and powder coated them for me. A quick before and after shot with the first one done and rebuilt.



    Struts back in and it was add the wishbones back in (I can not believe how had it was to fit the rear bushes, I had to build a clamp out of two 18 inch bolts and some plated steel driven by the impact gun!), tie rod ends bak in and the drop links then bolt everything up. Looks a lot better than the before picture further up.



    The back was much easier thankfully, tricky to do on my own but with the help of the spring compressors and a couple of jacks I got it done.



    I was very relieved when I dropped the car back down and it settled, it looked absolutely perfect, exactly the stance I wanted, not slammed, just filling the arches nicely and looking a little more aggressive.



    I can't believe how fresh it felt on the test drive, I mean the shocks that were in had just celebrated their 33rd birthday so its no surprise really, but still... tight but still very comfortable. The parts bin is below!



    Ohhh and just to finish off I gave the interior a hoover and popped some new Bosch wipers on with the go fast drivers side spoiler haha!



    Last edited by MatBiscuits; 03-21-2023 at 05:25 AM.

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    The Netherlands
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    My Cars
    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    Lovin' this one. Plus 1 for headlight wipers.

    Also like how the old reservoirs came out like new.
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiß III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    So when I bought the E30 I was focussed on the condition and milage not so much whether it was auto or manual because I knew it was possible to swap them over. What I hadn't quite appreciated was how many parts that would take and the task of pulling them all together!

    I found a nice clean low milage Getrag 240 5 speed overdrive box with warranty at Quarry Motors in Sheffield and got it pallet shipped and then sourced a mint flywheel, manual prop shaft (they are a different length to the auto) and transmission support crossmember through an E30 Facebook group and drove to Northampton to collect them. However in addition to that, I also had to pull together:



    Reconditioned manual pedal set and new Febi rubber pedal covers
    New Febi Master and slave clutch cylinders, pipe for slave from BMW and pipe to fluid reservoir
    New Febi prop centre support bearing
    New rear Elring main seal and gasket
    New three piece Borg & Beck clutch set with throw out bearing and alignment tool
    New exhaust support brackets from BMW, copper nuts and Elring metal gasket
    New Febi gearbox rubber mounts
    New BMW prop to gearbox guibo
    New BMW pilot bearing
    Gearbox to car brake light cable
    New BMW gearbox reverse lights switch
    Front, rear and selector Elring seals for the gearbox
    Gear selector stick, shifter carrier and selector bar plus all new bushings for each
    Delrin Rear Shifter Arm Bracket Assembly
    Then, it was off to BMW in Chesterfield to order a ton of new gearbox to engine mounting torx bolts, new flywheel bolts, dowels, washers, clips!




    So first tip if you are tackling this yourself on a RHD car is be aware that every guide I could find online is based on a LHD car so you are going to need to do some things differently.
    Removing the auto wiring harness and over riding the neutral start inhibitor requires some different wiring to be done as you don't touch anything under the steering column on a UK car and also you will need one of these 1.2mtr long clutch master to slave pipes which runs across the firewall which is not needed on a LHD car.



    A few other things, the starter is a nightmare to remove and re-install due to bolt access being almost impossible tied with a spinning nut on the other side in the engine bay. The pedals are also a pain in the arse due to access... Im 6ft3, yes they absolutely are... fiddly, awkward, worse bit for me of the whole project.
    So, lets get started!

    Get the car up on jack stands as high as you can. The higher you get it the less times you will bang your head lol!



    Disconnect the battery
    Remove the entire exhaust system in one piece
    Remove the heat shields
    Remove the automatic prop shaft and centre support bearing



    Into the car, remove all the centre console trim, disconnect the electric window switches, breaker switch, put the car into neutral and remove the auto shifter (there is a 13mm nut holding the selector to the gearbox under the car)
    Disconnect the auto harness (37) and brake light cable (C301). 34 years of biscuit crumbs and crisps that had gone through the trims haha!!!




    Put a jack under the transmission and remove the three nuts holding the centre support crossmember in place, then the two bolts under the rubber mounts and remove it all.

    Remove the oil drain in the gearbox and leave to empty. Remove the two oil coolant pipes which run from the gear box to the radiator, get ready for a little spill as they come out of the housings at each end. Once disconnected they pull through easiest from the gearbox side.

    Then start with the easy bell housing bolts at the bottom, removing these and four bolts on the piece under the oil pan will allow you remove the access panel which will give you a view to the torque convertor bolts. There are three to remove and using a 22mm spanner on the front crank you can rotate the engine to access them all.


    Next up, lower the gearbox on the jack and you will get a feel for the nightmare that lies ahead haha! Yes, you are going to have to remove those torx bolts that sit barely visible right at the top of the gearbox bell housing across about three foot of automatic gearbox with a few winches of access and the there on the left are dreaded starter bolts!

    I decided to use four impact extensions giving me about three foot length with a wobble socket on the end and a 1/2in breaker bar and then used some electrical tape to just position the wobble socket at the right angle to guide it in. It worked (eventually after a lot of swearing).

    For the starter bolts, the lower one I wedged the ratchet on the torx under the car then removed the nut in the engine bay (its awkward but doable) for the one thats barely visible attached the torx bar under the car, jacked the transmission up to give visibility of the nut in the engine bay, wedged in a tyre leaver and then removed the torx bolt. It was a struggle but it came out. At this point you can pull the engine and gearbox apart.re you do, back into the bonnet, remove the kickdown cable from the throttle body with a 10mm spanner and feed it down to the floor.

    Flying visit from the boss



    I pulled the gearbox away, this is great fun when your on you own with no one to help as it weighs an absolute ton! The torque convertor stayed behind. Lowered the gearbox and dragged it out. I then pried the torque convertor away leaving just the flywheel and clutch behind.









    Look how clean that tunnel is!


    Remove the flywheel bolts ( I used an impact gun to stop the wheel rotating) and remove the flywheel and clutch.



    This will leave you looking at the rear main seal of the block. Its absolutely worth doing this seal whilst you are in there, remove and clean up the mounting bracket, insert the new seal, add the gasket and some RTV between the bottom of the bracket and the oil pan and replace.







    I then spent an hour replacing the input shaft, output shaft and selector seals on the new manual gearbox.

    At this point I moved onto the pedals. I managed to source a full pedal set in great condition from a 1992 318i. The pedal box is different but the brake, clutch and mounting bolt were identical and thats the only parts I need.
    The auto and manual pedal boxes are the same so I will be leaving it in, using the same brake switch and just swapping out the pedals.





    Remove the drivers seat so you have decent access, its only four bolts. Remove the main carrier bolt of the auto pedals and slide it out.
    Install the master cylinder to the clutch pedal.



    Disconnect the brake booster bracket and remove the auto brake pedal, install new longer carrier bolt through frame, new brake pedal and clutch pedal and bolt in.

    On the bulkhead you will see the car is already set up for manual install, a rubber grommet for the fluid feeder pipe to go through and a push out metal square to feed the bottom of the master cylinder through. Attach the feeder pipe to the clutch master before installing it as there no access to it afterwards.

    Attach the master cylinder to the frame of the pedal box (two very awkward 10mm bolts, helps to prop the accelerator pedal down to move the cable out of the way) then attach the long hydraulic feed pipe from the base of the clutch master and feed it across the bulkhead to the passenger side and down towards the floor ready to connect the slave.




    Next up build your shifter. The big crossmember I bought from BMW (£90 inc VAT) new bushings, new washers, new plastic seat. The rear carrier I had to get from Tims Classic Car Parts in Holland (£70 inc shipping), its a Delrin Rear Shifter Arm Bracket Assembly.



    Once built up attach to the gearbox, I did this before installing the box as the is a clip that holds the carrier to the gearbox which would be impossible once installed (affectionately know as the bitch clip).
    Install the slave cylinder to the gearbox and attach the flexible hose which will meet the metal pipe you installed from the master earlier.

    At this point also install the reverse switch on the opposite side of the gearbox and the cable which runs from it and up into the cabin.



    Install your shiny new manual flywheel and shim. Then install the pilot bearing, the automatic doesn't have one so make sure you don't miss this step. I used a 22mm socket to tap it in and it needs to sit about half an inch recessed to allow the manual gearbox input shaft to slot in.



    Install your shiny new clutch and pressure plate, six torx bolts to hold it in place.



    Its time to re-install the gearbox, and speaking from experience this is like wrestling a dolphin when you're doing it on your own. I had the gearbox balanced on a trolly jack, slowly raised it to where it was aligned and then slowly manoeuvred the jack forward to slot the input shaft into the clutch an pilot bearing. At this point you are trying to keep the gearbox balanced on the jack, guide the shifter through the hole and wobble the box to get the input shaft to align with the clutch... lets just say it took a lot of attempts and the neighbours all closed their windows haha!

    Once its in and snug up to the engine its time to reinstall all those almost inaccessible top bolts, the starter and the lower access panel. I let the gearbox hang unsupported and gently jacked up the engine from the oil pan until it was just touching the firewall to give me maximum access to the upper bolts.

    Once its all bolted up install your new rubber mountings, new guibo, manual support crossmember, manual driveshaft with new centre support bearing and you are then left with this! Hurrah, its in! This is a VERY nice feeling haha!



    Looking up you can see the shifter and rear carrier installed



    Connect the master and slave cylinder pipes down by the gearbox, then in the engine bay snip the end off the capped of output from the brake reservoir and attach your master feeder pipe. Top up the reservoir and then bleed the clutch by opening and closing the bleed nipple on the slave system until you have a nice firm pedal. Keep an eye on the reservoir level as you do this to ensure it doesn't drop below the feeder pipe level and introduce air to the system.



    Back into the car for the wiring and I couldn't resist a quick gear change check, all five gears and reverse were there thankfully lol!



    Forget everything you have seen online about the wiring if you are working on a UK car. Its simple and there is no cutting of wires or faffing under the steering column.

    Firstly connect the male plug on the cable that runs from the reverse switch on your gearbox to the old auto female reverse switch plug (C301).



    Next, drop the glovebox and remove the trim covering the harness. Under here you will find two plugs after some searching. One is a yellow black came to yellow black cable. The other is a yellow black cable to black cable. Unplug these and connect the yellow/black to the yellow/black which had been connected to the black.





    Thats it, neutral start inhibitor is over ridden and you can remove the entire auto harness shown below with the number 37 sticker. It runs under the carpet so is a bit of a faff, but once completed you have the wiring exactly as a manual would have come from the factory.



    Fill the gearbox with some quality gear oil (took around 1.3 ltrs)



    Its then time to rebuild all the centre console, attach the wires to the starter, put the drivers seat back in and reinstall the heat shields and exhaust system with a new carrier bracket (again this is great fun on your own haha!) Ohh and I added some shiny new Febi pedal rubbers.



    Thats it, its key turn time.. everything crossed!
    Everything was spot on, started perfectly, drove out of the garage and a spin up the bypass she was cruising along at 70mp like it had never been anything other than manual!

    How long did it take me? Well, I was lucky, everything came apart nicely as there is no rust anywhere on the car, no snapped bolts or sheered nuts. I did a couple of hours a night over a week or so, I'd guess around 12-15hrs all in. You could reduce this by a few hours if you have an assistant to help lift and align the manual box in, help with the starter bolts and clutch bleeding and generally hold all the awkward bolts in place whilst you work on them. Also I renewed every seal, gasket and o-ring, if you're not doing that probably another couple of hours knocked off.

    Hope this helps my fellow UK E30 owners!








    Next job, I have got my hands on a nice 3.43 LSD diff I'm refurbing with new seals :-)

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    Superb
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  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    KC
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    387
    My Cars
    1995 M3 & 1998 M3 coupes
    What a gorgeous E30! I love seeing all the new parts too.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2023
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    35
    My Cars
    1998 M Sport Convertible
    that's a very nice E30, very clean !

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe

    So the plan was to stick with the 4.10 ratio differential from the automatic setup, I thought I'd like the quick shifts through first and second... and I did, but not so much the 3500rpm at 60mph hahaha!
    So after a lot of pleading on forums and Facebook E30 groups I managed to track down a relatively rare 3.45 Limited Slip Diff from a late E36ti. Its a straight swap into an E30, exactly the same diff but you just have to swap the output flanges over.







    So... cleaned the diff back to bare metal removing all the corrosion, replaced the two output flange seals and the swapped the output shafts from the 4.10 diff over to the new one. A nice paint job and an oil change over to Redline 75w85 (is there anything on EARTH that smells worse than old Diff oil!?!) and it was time to fit it in the car which is a bit of a balancing act on your own.






    The four top bolts are a bit of a pain but I got there in the end, I honestly can't believe how good the car is underneath... even the drive shafts look like new!






    A quick test drive and it was night and day, still plenty quick enough but first and second are now actually usable and on the run back it was sat at 1800rpm at 65mph which is about the same as my new diesel F30 daily... totally transforms it to a very usable and civilised car for long runs now.

    Next up I had noticed an issue with the fog lights, fronts were fine but the rears didn't work.
    Check the bulbs and the harness, all fine. Pulled the switch... ahhh!





    Lots of electrical contact cleaner later, re-assembled and it works perfect now, rear fog lights lit right up.
    I decided to treat it to a genuine BMW leather gear knob too, after all the hard work doing the auto to manual swap the plastic one felt a bit cheap.









    Noticed the Air Con was cool but not cold so took it in to be re-gassed. Turns out the recovery was 29g of gas and refilled with 800g's.

    Must be almost a decade since it was re-gassed so I'm amazed there was anything left in there to be fair haha!



    And finally the only piece of the car that needed a bit of paintwork was the lower front valance... now rust just looking a bit grey. Booked her into BM Refinishing who did some great work on my F30 and its come out looking spot on... gleaming Alpine white II... very happy!




  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    ​I took it out to try and recreate those pictures you see in the 80's BMW brochures haha... I'll post a few pics below.























    ​​​​
    Last edited by MatBiscuits; 03-30-2023 at 02:20 AM.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
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    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    So, another day another parcel... really looking forward to getting this installed tonight if I can get a few hours in the garage :-)


  13. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2023
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    Denver
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    My Cars
    Toyota RAV4
    Usually, I like more "modern" stuff, but I like what I see. Nice car, man.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    Detroit
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    My Cars
    E36 Compact,Coupe,E30
    Gorgeous! Let us know how the scorpion sounds
    S52 E36 Compact
    E36 325is Coronaproject
    08 Saab 9-3 in Oxford Green

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    Thanks very much for the kind words all, really appreciate it :-)


    Well I got the new exhaust fitted over the weekend (more on that below!) and the sun was out so it would be rude not to go for a blast out and take a few photos on the way home.

    Soooo without further ado, a selection of gratuitous E30 shots!














    Right, thats enough of that... on with the bits Ive been doing, the stock exhaust. To be fair it was in pretty good condition but didn't quite carry the gorgeous strait six tone through as I would like so I spent a few nights researching my options.

    Everyone I spoke to on the UK forums suggested Scorpion, I was looking for something just a little louder than stock but not droning on the motorway or waking up the neighbours and this seemed to fit the bill, full stainless through to the centre box.









    Thankfully, as the car is rust free the old exhaust came off fairly easy, up on the axle stands, unbolted at the centre flanges, removed the old clamps and fitted the new, offered up the stainless exhaust and just bolted everything back together.

    Fired her up whilst she was still on the stands so I could get underneath to check for any blowing at the clamp and it sounded fantastic. Exactly what I hoped for, a nice deep burble without drowning out the straight six engine... no leaks either!








    Next up I managed to get my hands on a Vax machine so bought some solution and pulled the seats out.

    Again to be fair it wasn't exactly in a bad way but just a little dusty, dirt from shoes and a couple of oil stains from the seat rails which you can't actually see, but I know they are there... and well... OCD.

    The Vax is absolutely awesome, really recommend it, did all the carpets, front and back seats, rear shelf... it genuinely looks as good as the day it was built, not bad for a 35 year old!

    Before



    After



    Before


    After

    ​ ​

  16. #16
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    16,710
    My Cars
    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    Better than Wheeler Dealers would do!
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiß III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
    SMG • SRA • PDC • AUC • OBC • GSM • HK • UURS • IHKA • FGR • MFL

    IG:
    https://www.instagram.com/iflok/



  17. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    seriously good work. looks great
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe

    Well, I have been up to quite a bit with my E30 since my last post… but first of all here’s a shot of it I took yesterday looking all shiny under a motorway bridge for no particular reason!





    MOT Time

    First up some good news, it sailed straight through the MOT with a verbal advisory that one of the rear brakes were binding slightly.






    Rear Brake Overhall

    They are pretty much the only part of the car I haven’t touched yet so I decided to tackle them after the mention from the MOT tester about binding. New Mintex brake shoes, Pagid pistons, BMW fixing kit and I also decided to make up and fit shiny a new set of rear brake pipes whilst I was under there too.









    The hub came off with no real issues but blimey, it was a bit of a mess under there.









    Drum brakes on the rear are such a faff, three attempts at getting the auto adjuster set up perfect and then some tweaking of the handbrake adjusters to get it spot on. A few hours of swearing/trapping my fingers/launching springs across the garage and they were done, all fresh and clean.









    Quick test drive and the brakes felt much better and the binding was gone!

    The Protection Section

    Whilst I had the car up I ordered some Lanoguard, it gets rave reviews for protecting the underside long term and applies easily, thinly and dries transparent.





    I wanted this sort of finish as the car is superb underneath and I didn’t want thick under seal making it look like there is anything to hide. It was a full day of the car on stands and laid underneath cleaned up and a final wash off with the presur washer and then Lanoguard applied like a dream.

    Its no where near as messy as I feared and the finish is very professional looking. Finished off with the shiny new brake pipes fitted!





    Door Card Rattle

    Next up, rattly drivers door card had been annoying me for some time so I tracked down these anti-rattle door card plugs.





    I added a little Dynamax to the inside of the door whilst I was there too, greased the window mechanism and applied a new moisture protection membrane as whoever had been in the door before left the original plastic with holes. Very pleased to see no corrosion and lots of clean paint on the inside.





    Everything put back together, no more rattle, the door feels nice and solid and just to keep everything tidy I did the same to the passenger door.



    The Original Supplied Specification

    I made some enquiries with the original supplying dealership for the car, Park Lane as I wanted to find out what the cars original spec was when it was supplied. They were absolutely amazing and I now have the full supply list as below… apparently it had an MTech II sport steering wheel optioned… so where’s that gone haha!

    It transpires that one of the unique things about the SE model is BMW allowed you to specify individual MTech accessory options to be chosen when ordered.






    Finding, fixing and fitting the original supplied stereo

    The main thing I wanted to know though was what stereo did it come with… a little more investigation with Park Lane and it turned out to be a ‘’Blaupunkt Dusseldorf SQR49’’.

    These sell for bonkers money now, £300-400 for a mint working example. I tracked down a really nice clean one for a good price which had a faulty display and a second one which was still boxed but listed as not working spares or repairs only, hoping to make one mint stereo out of the pair.







    The issue with the first one was missing display elements on the display.





    Dismantled, cleaned, applied pressure, tightened screws, no luck. A little investigation with the magnifying glass and I found this break in the PCB trace to the LED screen. Fixed the trace and the display improved significantly in brightness and some of the acronyms started showing but still had missing elements on the big numbers.






    Issue with he second one was it was completely dead haha! Replaced fuse, still dead.

    Dismantled the spares or repairs radio, swapped the screens over and hurrah, perfect! Cleaned the tape heads, replaced the internal bulb that lights up the volume dial, put everything back together and it just looks and sounds absolutely perfect!

    MTech Steering Wheel

    Having seen the MTech II steering wheel on the original supply list I had to source one. These also cost a lot of money now but I tracked down this lovely example and after a couple of hours of leather cleaning and treating it looks like new.

    The old steering wheel




    The new MTech Sport II steering wheel before treatment







    After two hours of cleaning, some black leather dye and conditioner it looks like a new one!







    Absolutely love it, I have to admit it feels so much better to drive with, the standard sport one always felt a little slim for my liking, this feels much more chunky and usable. I’ll obviously be keeping the standard wheel too.

    Two New Rear Tyres

    The front tyres are shiny new Continentals, the back two though were dated about eight years old so I thought I’d replace them for peace of mind.





    Two new Falkens fitted, very impressed so far, they seem very grippy and are rated ‘A’ for wet road performance although hopefully the car won’t be seeing much rain.

    Front Valance Grill

    I also ordered a new front grill cover, the one on the car is a solid cover but it should have the pass through grill as it has the air conditioning compressor radiator lower behind the front valance.

    Direct from BMW Hamburg!








    Rear Quarter Trim

    Also this off side rear bumper trim had been randomly painted by someone in the past, presumably it had a little scratch fixed, but it was annoying my OCD so I paid £78.. £78 bloody English Pounds! for a new one direct from BMW and fitted it.









    A little bit of wall art for the garage :-)





    New fitted mats front and back





    New rear exhaust hanger





    Ive been wanting to do some (slow) moving long exposure shots so have welded this bonnet camera boom and set up a fixing kit for the camera so looking forward to give this a go in an underground carpark in the near future.


    ​ ​

  19. #19
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    16,710
    My Cars
    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    Great updates.

    Surprised you can still get new mats.
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiß III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
    SMG • SRA • PDC • AUC • OBC • GSM • HK • UURS • IHKA • FGR • MFL

    IG:
    https://www.instagram.com/iflok/



  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jun 2023
    Location
    United state Arizona
    Posts
    1
    My Cars
    95 Bmw 325i e36
    new here man. I love the works and the car

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    Thank you both... I seem to keep finding all sorts of OEM bits I thought would be no longer available on a site called LLL parts, takes a while to come as most are from Germany but gets here in the end :-)

  22. #22
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    16,710
    My Cars
    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    I love those exhaust rubbers. Seems they have a reinforcement around them.
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiß III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
    SMG • SRA • PDC • AUC • OBC • GSM • HK • UURS • IHKA • FGR • MFL

    IG:
    https://www.instagram.com/iflok/



  23. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    Quote Originally Posted by MParallel View Post
    I love those exhaust rubbers. Seems they have a reinforcement around them.
    Previous one lasted 33 years so yeah they are made of tough stuff haha!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Not really an E30 update but it now has a little grey German friend :-) Completely stock apart from the 15inch BBS which by complete coincidence are exactly the same as I have on the BMW!

    I have had three previous Golfs but never a MK2 GTi so looking forward to getting to know it. All the underside is absolutely mint, just had the rear axle, subframe bushes, KW shocks, springs and all new front links, arms, bushes and mounts done so a great starting point.






    ​​​

  24. #24
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    16,710
    My Cars
    DE-spec E36 328i/M3 cab
    Perfect era-correct set of cars.
    1998 BMW M3 3.2 Cabrio • Alpinweiß III on Schwarz • German spec • 1 of 12
    SMG • SRA • PDC • AUC • OBC • GSM • HK • UURS • IHKA • FGR • MFL

    IG:
    https://www.instagram.com/iflok/



  25. #25
    Join Date
    Jan 2023
    Location
    Mansfield UK
    Posts
    24
    My Cars
    1990 320i SE Coupe
    I have done a few final tweaks to the new Bilstein suspension and I’m now really happy with the stance, also managed to get my hands on some genuine rear mud flaps :-)










    Last edited by MatBiscuits; 08-01-2023 at 06:34 AM.

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