E30's and leaks

Post Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:32 pm

OK for any of you looking for the elusive elephant trunk, here's a pic of it hopefully showing the location

Post Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:35 pm

by the way, here's the delights that appear in my passenger footwell, bag of shite

Post Fri Nov 04, 2005 5:58 pm

E30BeemerLad wrote:by the way, here's the delights that appear in my passenger footwell, bag of shite

The rust on the floor doesn't look to nasty, that's thanks to the stupid jacking points. It's the rusty water run coming from up behind the dashboard that would be concerning me more though..

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 3:13 pm

I have the same problem in my M3 as you simon. I was pouring water in around the wiper motor and around the windscreen. Nothing for a few mins then I noticed a small drip comming from under the heater matrix. I wonder is it the trunk thats causing the problem. Must check it out later and see if it makes any difference

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 4:23 pm

took my carpet out today and found I have a couple of holes 1 each side where your rust is, what a blag, all clean now though and gonna go get it welded asap

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:09 pm

Simon wrote:that's thanks to the stupid jacking points.

That's the problem. They are NOT jacking points, and anyone who uses them as such need to be shot :shoot2:

Those square plates are where the bodyshell was supported as it was moved around by robot in the factory. As soon as you try to lift the car with them, they bend the floor, crack the underseal and turn to rust.

If all the garages/owners that worked on E30's over the years used the chassis rail to support the car, we wouldn't have to fix them all now

Ian.

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:11 pm

Chrikey thats a good bit of information Ian

were are the jacking points? An where am i suppose to jack my car from with the BMW jack?

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:25 pm

318-is wrote:Chrikey thats a good bit of information Ian

were are the jacking points? An where am i suppose to jack my car from with the BMW jack?

The only 'official' jacking points are designed for the factory 'wheel change' jack. These are on the lip at the bottom of the sill, and have a small reinforcement plate next to them. There's one at the front, and one at the rear. People sometimes place a trolley jack on this lip, but it will get damaged, and usually ends up folded over (again cracking the underseal).

If you are using a trolley jack, then the front subframe is a good place, as is the short section of chassis rail under the front footwells. At the rear, you can use the bottom of the diff, or where the rear subframe bushes are secured. Some people put axle stands on the rear subframe, but I'm not sure this is good for the bushes. I jack the back up under the diff, and put the axle stands where the subframe bushes are. I made some blocks of wood that locate on the bottom of the subframe bush centre bolt, and also in the top of my axle stands, so it doesn't slide off etc. Without this, it would probably be a bit iffy.

This picture from r3vlimited shows this quite well, but I don't agree with putting the axle stands (jack stands) on the factory jacking points, but you get the general idea.

Ian.

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:42 pm

ian332isport wrote:
Simon wrote:that's thanks to the stupid jacking points.
That's the problem. They are NOT jacking points, and anyone who uses them as such need to be shot

Those square plates are where the bodyshell was supported as it was moved around by robot in the factory. As soon as you try to lift the car with them, they bend the floor, crack the underseal and turn to rust.

If all the garages/owners that worked on E30's over the years used the chassis rail to support the car, we wouldn't have to fix them all now

Ian.

Ian, I do apologise, I should refrain from calling them jacking points, I do realise that as I mentioned in this post

http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... 152#220152

it's just, so many people as you say use them to jack the car up here, and then cause future problems (as my touring has suffered and obviously Lee's car above).

Safe to say I've never used this part of the car to jack the car, I always use the chassis rail with a rubber pad.

Thanks for posting that picture, I remember it being posted years ago, and couldn't find it anywhere when I wanted it!

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:47 pm

Simon,

Sorry about that. After reading it again, it sounds like I was having a go, but it wasn't meant to read like that

Cheers,

Ian.

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:52 pm

Ian, that there is a valuable piece of info, wouldn't it be an idea to put this as one of the articles ??
Like others, I am just one of those fools who thought that the squares are lifting points, and my accelerator has an angle now which I don't know how to fix !!!

Jose

Post Sun Nov 06, 2005 6:53 pm

Superb work people

thanks for that fulfililng bit of info

Post Mon Nov 07, 2005 3:23 pm

Simon wrote:
E30BeemerLad wrote:by the way, here's the delights that appear in my passenger footwell, bag of shite

The rust on the floor doesn't look to nasty, that's thanks to the stupid jacking points. It's the rusty water run coming from up behind the dashboard that would be concerning me more though..

Oh Simon, how your concerns about the rusty water leakming down were well founded

Went on the hunt for the water ingress today and found the sourceS!

The bulkhead is foiked right where the inner wheel arch meets the bulkhead, below the fuse box, there's a long hole about 4cm long that is on the engine side of the inner arch as it meets the bulkhead, about 5mm wide, follows the contour of the arch. Then, to my horror I have discovered a nice hole which after much prodding I can now get 3 fingers in (ooh hello luv)

this is actually under the wheel arch at the top. It is a safe distance from the strut tower to not give me immediate cause for the safety of the vehicle, but it looks like it is in a bitch of a place and will be a proper arse ripping from anyone with a welder.

To be honest me and E30 ownership are on borrowed time now (doing the sums in my head as to what my morsels are worth - MTEC2 Kit, scorption, piper cam, FSE, Alpinas, Momo wheel & knob, 6 Branch + new standard system, fogs, bilsteins etc etc

Post Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:12 pm

What a shame it would be to break, but you've got to ask yourself how much is the car going to cost, and what you could do with the money.
The place it is rusting is not totally impossible to get at, dashboard out and remove sound deadning should be enough.

IIRC you didn't pay a huge amount of money for the car? Probably worth more in bits, as sadly most of our cars are!!

Post Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:43 pm

you are correct Simon, I didn't pay much for the car mate

Think it is going to be something newer and jap in all honesty, was thinking about 200sx but in the sub Ãƒ”šÃ‚£5K region i am probably just going to pick up someone's thrashed rubbish

Post Mon Nov 07, 2005 4:52 pm

When i bought my Momo arrows i had to stop the bloke from jacking my car up on those square pads.I was watching him with a big ass trolly jack,he slid it into place and started to take up the gap ready to lift,I said woa woa woa what the fcuk are you doing ??? he replied jacking it up

I dont think so mate,not there your not !!!

Thats my little story,this was in middlesbrough,i wont say where !