E30 Daily Driver Refresh

Well, now that I have officially passed any idea of selling the car anytime soon. I have started with the modifications and improvements.

So far I have just cleaned the outside to a normal degree, and fixed the issues I have had.

Fixed:

• Replaced broken hood release cable and rebuilt the hood latch.

• Replaced defective #5 fuel injector.

• Replaced shift rod seal that was leaking on trans and topped fluid up

• Got a NOS replacement wheel for one that was bent (for free!)

• Replaced fan clutch that had seized, and fan and fan shroud that came with the car.

• Replaced poly engine and trans mounts for OEM units, much smoother now.

• Got a new set of BMW E46 gray carpet floor mats (for free!) and they actually fit very well.

I had a loud ticking from the rockers since I got the car. I decided that I was going to adjust them Wednesday and put it back in order. What I found was very nice, a very clean engine with Ireland Performance HD rockers. Found it was really far out of adjustment though. Spec being 0.010", I found one that was 0.026"!!!! That would make some noise. I adjust mine a little tight as I have had better experience with the engines I have worked on, it also sounds much quieter than the stock spec. I set my exhaust side to a tight 0.010" and my intake side to a tight 0.008". Sounds much much better now, perfect BMW six cylinder purr.

While I had it off, time to go OCD! I decided I would restore the VC to better than new. I did a base coat of satin black. I then hand filed all the raised sections to reveal a nice cut aluminum fish. Then I clear coated the whole thing, and removed the tape. I also ordered a set of the capped acorn nuts from BMW so that it had the proper appearance as well. Incorrect or sub par hardware is such an annoyance to me, I change them back even on customer cars.

Looks great!

Well, I've been driving it every day and it has served me well. The front brakes have had a shimmy in them since I got the car. I was hoping that they would clear up, but no such luck. And the last straw was the parking brake becoming almost non-existent. So I put all new brakes all the way around. I cleaned the rust off all the hubs and mounting surfaces, tap and die'd all the bolts/threads, all new rotor set screws, and anti-seized all of the above. I also installed all new parking break hardware, shoes, and lubricated the parking brake actuator. I went with Zimmermann Sport w/ Z-coat rotors front and back (only because I could not find Zimmermann regular with Z-coat for both the front and rear). BTW I preach the Z-coat stuff. Most all the other coatings eventually start rusting, but the Z-coat never rusts. The pads are all Hawk Performance Ceramic (not sure that really exists ). They seem to stop about the same as a good set of street pads, but yeah no more excessive dust! Not sure how they deal with real abuse yet though.

Yes, those rear shocks look horrible! I will be replacing them in the not so distant future, but still deciding on what to get. Suggestions?

One or some of the injectors is leaking periodically, and causes an annoying lengthy crank at WOT to get started. But it's getting less and less common (maybe putting the miles on it is starting to clean some things up). But the next most pressing issue is the squeaky center support bearing on the driveshaft that makes it's annoying calling card at 3-7mph.

And I picked up a new riding buddy from the PRI show to enjoy my smooth stops with now!

Those shocks are Konis, you can just send them back to Koni to rebuild. I got them originally from TC Kline, they are actually Z3 fitment.

You can thank Sonic for the clean valve-train. Mobil 1 for the time he had it. Mobil 1 and Royal Purple for the two changes I did. I could swear I mentioned the IE rocker arms in the ad...

Valve adjustment has never been a strong skill of mine. I try, but it never seems to go right. Not jsut this, but on the Volvo and Triumph engines as well. I lost track of how many times I tried adjusting the valves on that engine...

BTW, since I mainly used the car for auto-cross, I had the front shocks adjusted a few clicks back from full-stiff, so if you haven't yet, you'll probably want to go back to a more street friendly setting.

Kinda weird to see your old car in a thread... Don't miss it tho... When I see an E30 on the road, I just shudder in fear...

And yes - the car pretty much sat for most of 2013 with only occasional starting/moving until you bought it (don't like driving a car = car doesn't get driven), so yeah - some regular use should free up some things. I only put 93 gas in it, if that means anything.

Yeah, adjusting these takes some technique to do it proficiently. Fortunately, I do it for work and have had quite a bit of practice

I did adjust the shocks to almost full soft. The rear shocks are actually working fine, just very rusty crusty. I was contemplating running QA1 stocker star adjustable shocks in the rear (really love the range of adjustment on them). But I'll have to do some more research on fitment, and that is a little down the road.

I changed with conventional, because I'll be changing at 3000 or less mile intervals (and the oil was free so hey!) I also run regular gas in the car now. Every few tanks I get premium from Sunoco just to help clean things up.

I ran synthetic since Sonic always had. It was quite stunning when I pulled the valve cover off to change the rocker arms. Didn't look like a head with over 150K miles (the amount he had the car) on it. That was a fun job to do with the head on the engine...

I've come to the conclusion valve adjsutment is one of those things that while simple in principle, really benefits from being shown how to by someone with experience. I'm pretty good at RTFM, but that doesn't get you the experience. Unfortunately, I'm entirely self-taught in wrenching as my father has the mechanical aptitude of a turnip and I really didn't start playing with cars at this level until I was in my 30's. Most of my friends have less knowledge/experience than I do...

Brake lines are cheap while-you-are-in-there items and the one I can see in that pic looks pretty corroded at the crimp.

They look a little corroded, but all the hoses are actually new. Looks like Ian may have replaced them during his ownership, and if not Sonic must have done them close to when he sold it. One of the calipers is also not that old.

Nope. Wasn't me. I think Sonic did them relatively recently. Might be in the stack of paperwork. Speaking of that - it is due for a fluid flush.

I love reading this thread and seeing all the previous owners chime in on what has been done/hasn't been done.

I did a brake flush as soon as I got it home (sitting seems to be very hard on brake components, and I used ATE Type 200). And I also replaced a coolant hose last weekend, and went ahead and changed all the coolant as well (yes BMW coolant, I have virtually unlimited supply from work). Power steering fluid I have not flushed yet, and I fear I may need to replace the pump as it does seem to make a little much noise. But if I have to, I have to.

I also like that Ian and Sonic are here to share. I have yet to sell any of my cars, so I feel that I would appreciate knowing that the new owner was continuing the hard work I did to keep it going so long. I feel it would almost be a waste if after maintaining this car for 25 years and over 200,000 miles the new owner were to let is waste away.

Yup, between Ian and I we've had the car for a good portion of it's life. I bought it in 2003 I think with 123k miles.

I like when people take care of their cars, no matter what make or model. We have a customer with an 89 E30 M3 that is not only 100% stock, but 220,000+ miles, daily driven, one owner, and the first human to sit in the car car at the plant when it was made. Just looking at it, you would swear it had less than 50K miles inside and out. I love chatting with him when he comes in.

We have another customer with a 1990 E320 with 438,000 miles that just came in today for an inspection and oil change and any needed service.....it received the oil change and new inspection sticker! Amazing that someone takes such good care of the car, that at almost half a million miles, there are no surprises at all!

In a way, it makes me feel rather guilty. I wish I could have loved the car as much, but it just never clicked with me driving-wise, which made it hard to get enthusiastic about wrenching.

It's ok, it would be the same if I were in a FWD car, no matter how nice, fast, or rare. I just can't deal with the way they drive. I can do mindless commutes, but I need tail happy times to get enthused about it. For some, it's the other way around.

In reply to Ian F: Just find a car you do love, and take care of that one.

The E30 has been doing well for me. The catalytic converter is rattling now. I'd like to put cats back on it, but I can't find any good quality ones. Anyone have any recommendations please don't hesitate.

In the mean time I got around to getting new wheels for it. The old stock wheels just didn't do it justice. And finding decent 14" tires is increasingly difficult. So in with a set of Konig Remember 16X7, +20 offset wheels, with 205/50/16 Continental Extreme DW tires. I wish I could have got these wheels in +25 offset. I think it would make the front fit just that much better, but for the price I am not complaining. From Discount Tire Direct the total price including shipping, and aluminum hub centric rings was $556 for the wheels. And I got the tires on closout from TireRack at $84 per tire! If anyone is in need of that size they are still on closout!

I know the swirl marks are something terrible, I will get to that soon. Still getting the house in order.

2014-06-28 I went through a fiasco of defective AC compressors before I finally got one that was working. I then found that the low speed fan resistor was bad, and installed a new one of those. Now the AC works 100%, and it was ready for me to take the E30 to NCCAR for a track weekend. It did well, drove there, destroyed 4 tires drifting, beat-up on my street tire, put 215 track miles on the car, and then drove home no issues.

Youtube - outside video of the E30 doing some tire killing.

2014-07-19 I did some cleaning and waxing to help the paint, and it did make a huge difference. I was out and about, so I took some pictures. I also ran into someone else taking pictures with a more serious setup.

Didn't see the April post... according to Sonic, the cat was fairly new when he sold the car to me back in 2010. IIRC, it's in the stack of receipts.

I was glad to see the A/C had been converted to R134a, but man that mounting bracket drove me insane when I was doing the motor mounts. I think it was due to how one of the hoses was angled into the compressor, but not having A/C tools, I didn't want to eff with it.

Glad to see the car getting love it deserved. I still get wistful when I see an E30... followed by shivers and cold sweats... that car and I didn't get along.

The ex- did a really good wax job on it after I bought it and I replaced the hood and trunk Roundels. It did pretty-up nicely, but you have to stay on it. I think the clearcoat is getting thin.

In reply to Ian F:

Yeah, some of the clear is even gone through on a few corners, but that is to be expected with 221,000 miles on it. As for the AC I converted to the 89+ E30 setup which is a way cheaper compressor. I got the whole bracket assembly from a donor car. I'm not sure where that setup that was on the car came from. The compressor wasn't even from an E30. But it's all cool now.

I could tell that the cat was fairly new, but until I get an MS Ecu setup and tune it right, there really is no point in replacing it. I have it gutted now (I hate the sound effect empty cats make) but once I get it tuned so it's not running so rich at idle/low rpm's I'll put a new one on.