Bronzit Build

Once again, no huge updates, but I have been using the e30 more and more for daily errands with only 2 issues. Randomly one morning my car wouldn't start, spent all day trying to figure out what was wrong, eventually just pulled the fuse for the fuel pump and put it back in and the car started without any issues whatsoever, the other issue I had is a fuel leak at the hose connecting to the fuel rail. Other than that the car is great, I still need to sort out the rear suspension, but I think I can get started with autocross once I get a helmet and fix the power steering leak. 
One more weird issue, my gas gauge doesn't work under normal circumstances, but if I give the car full throttle, sometimes the gas gauge will work but will go back down to empty once I get to lower speeds. I have tightened the nut on the back of the cluster, so I am not sure what is going on. 

I also was able to find an M Tech 1 steering wheel from a friend. Pretty rough, but I fixed the horn buttons and will get rewrapped eventually. 

Had to reinstall my spal fan as well, I initially had the wiring on the bottom but I found out the power steering belt was chewing away at it so I drove it home as safe as I could and spliced the wires together with some butt connectors for the time being and installed the fan upside down to put the wiring on the top side of the engine. Random photos to follow. 

I am also going to schedule time with a BMW mechanic because I want to take this thing on longer road trips upwards of 7-8 hours of driving a day and want to ensure that it won't crap out on me and be reliable enough to autocross without major issues a couple times a year. Very slow progress being made but it's something.

With the Texas summers coming I need to reinstall my AC belt as well and get new lines, the AC belt I ordered on FCP Euro did not fit and I am not sure if it is due to the car being converted to r134a so if anyone has any tips please let me know. 

https://imgur.com/VWCcdmT

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FWIW the ‘88 325i I had had been converted to R134 before I got it.  It had the original mounting brackets and the new belt I installed as preventative maintenance fit just fine.  Forget who I got the belt from but I used the part number from RealOEM.

Update, when I purchased the car, the previous owner stated that the transmission slipped around 40 going into 4th. In the past year since I have purchased the car, I haven't felt this issue at all even at full throttle, until last week. The auto trans started slipping and it felt like I was in neutral again. My plan of action is now to throw in some Lucas Transmission fix and pray, if that doesn't work I have a filter and gasket for the transmission and will give it a change, if neither work then it's time to look for a manual swap. I guess the universe is trying to tell me something but I love this car as an auto just to run errands around my neighborhood. I also have an entire spare automatic transmission that I could throw in. I will get to work on it starting this weekend so hopefully something will work. 

No huge updates again, I threw a bottle of Lucas into the trans and it runs perfectly so I will keep the auto for the time being. I also figured out a weird issue with my sound cutting out except when the glovebox was open, turns out the glovebox would push the passenger speaker a little to keep it in place and when the glovebox was closed the speaker moved freely and made contact with the body so I will figure out a spacer of sorts to keep that from happening. 

Random pic



Also, car left me stranded for a few minutes, didn't start but all electronics worked, after a quick google search I hit the starter a couple times with my phone and it started without any issue. 



I also picked these up, BBS RS 189 15x6 et38. These were originally for an accord but they are true 4x100, center bore needs to be increased from 56 to 57.1 and they will bolt right on. They came with these insane lips. 4 and 5 inches. 

So I ordered new lips from SRR Hardware, I ordered them Jun 6th from the UK, shipped the 11th and I had them in my hand by noon on the 14th, if anyone wants to order from them, email them first to make sure they have your size in stock. 

Here is how they look now 

Now they are 15x9 which will fit the rear very nicely but I am scared for the fronts and I don't want to sink any more money into these wheels. I also will refinish the faces on my own as well. 

If anyone has any leads on the cold start hesitation please let me know, I am still chasing this weird issue, I have replaced various vacuum lines and hose clamps and I can now say it's not a vacuum leak for sure. 

Been very busy with work, focusing on small fixes on the e30, mostly cleaning the interior and sorting out PO wiring, it was a mess. 

Here is the wired bundled up, there was about 6 feet of wire most of it excess. 

Installed a hella weatherproof relay and harness, wrapped in tessa tape, used a fuse tap to get power to the switch. 

All the old wiring out, I had no idea how to wire a relay but I'm glad I learned, used a guide on r3v

This is where my toggle was getting power from before, wanted to eliminate as many wires as I could from the cabin. 

Started riding bikes again, Single speed trek earl I bought years ago, don't want to spend the money on a newer bike so I'm stuck with one gear for now. 

Also got a new car, dirty pic but it's an s90 r design with polestar, way nicer than anything we've owned before 

back to the e30, i found out where my coolant leak is in the interior 

Also bought an under dash panel from skudak rennsport 

New switch installed, got rid of the old ugly toggle 

mocked up kinda, will install later once the heater core leak is solved. 

Like I said, it's mostly tiny projects, once the heater is fixed, the AC is next then I will install auxiliary lights to make me feel better driving at night. Right now I'm still tacking getting the heater core hoses off the actual valve. Also the auto trans is def dying, I have a buddy who is willing to help swap in the new auto (yeah it sucks) since I already have one.