325 sump gaurd

Sun Mar 22, 2009 10:12 pm

hi im in need of a sump guard , has anyone got one and if so would you be able to show me the design and where they couple on.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:34 am

put better springs on your car and you wont need a sump gaurd

Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:57 am

there is 1 on ebay now for sale with pictures so you can see how it looks

Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:08 am

town325i wrote:put better springs on your car and you wont need a sump gaurd

That depends what you do with the car surely. Not all of us need it against speed bumps.

I have a 325 sump guard: it bolts to the cross member at the rear and has a pipe at the front which comes up as two arms which finish at a bracket that sits horizontally on the bottom of the chassis rail and then turns around the side with two slots that go over bolts that go horizontally throught the chassis rail. If that makes any sense.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:24 am

cheers elecblondie.
the car is lowered on spax springs and shocks think its 60mm drop. the sump is only a couple of cm off floor

Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:06 am

matt5950 wrote:cheers elecblondie.
the car is lowered on spax springs and shocks think its 60mm drop. the sump is only a couple of cm off floor

Having killed an engine fairly recently by connecting sump and tarmac (on a standard 318is ride height car) I whole heartedly endorse the use of sump guards.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:01 pm

This is the sump guard on ebay

But it says it doesn't fit a touring. Does this mean it won't fit a convertible either?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:07 pm

I'd have thought it would fit any of the e30's as the subframes are all the same are they not?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:43 pm

This is a BMW sump guard, should give you an idea of how they make them.

It is bolted to captive nuts in the subframe and chassis, so would need a bit of work doing to a car not originally fitted with one.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:44 pm

You could always make it fit.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:16 pm

These are still available from the dealers, the other larger type were fitted to south african spec E30's and are no longer available

Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:24 pm

ROC wrote:This is a BMW sump guard, should give you an idea of how they make them.

It is bolted to captive nuts in the subframe and chassis, so would need a bit of work doing to a car not originally fitted with one.

That's the one I have, what's the best way to fit it then? I was going to weld tubes in place across the chassis rails and then use a bolt through them.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:56 pm

I would drill holes where you can see the bolt heads, weld in some threaded rod so it was sticking out a little way and then use nuts to secure it with.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:52 pm

the one on ebay looks like its only thin metal has people used these before? im not bothered about custom fabbing as i was planning to make one out of box section and sheet metal
cheers
matt

Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:22 pm

The one on ebay is being sold by myself - i can assure you its not thin metal!

I originally bought it for my cab and that got written off before i had the chance to put it on - got the touring and couldnt get it to fit.

Im only in Heathrow if anyone wants to come over and try it on their car!

Quaser

Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:29 pm

what sort of modification would it take to get it to fit

Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:34 pm

mine is a 325 touring

Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:50 pm

This is to fit an M42 atm, but a small amount of modification and I can make it generic. Essentially weld more legs at the back so it can be mounted to the subframe - easy!

Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:59 pm

Whipsey maybe doing a group buy on sump guards:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=126972

Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:04 pm

Quaser wrote:The one on ebay is being sold by myself - i can assure you its not thin metal!

I can also confirm that it's not thin metal. It's a seriously heavyweight piece of kit.

Mine has taken some huge smacks, and apart from scuffing the paint, it's as good as new.

Ian.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:23 pm

where does the bracket at the top right of the picture hook onto
What sort of thickness steel should i be using?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:31 pm

Matt - as I said, I made that for my car, so the M42 engine. The front 2 mount on the valance, that side hook actually mounts on the engine itself! Possibly not the best idea, but I can't be arsed to take it off and do what I said above about making new rear mounts!

I very much doubt there will be a bolt hole in the same place on an M20, hence the subframe mount idea.

Its frigging strong though! I accidently dropped the car back down while there were bricks still under the guard, and the front end just sat on them!

3mm steel is plenty thick enough! Mine is a milled out sheet of 5mm, 5mm thick bits, 3mm 'thin' bits. It weighs a ton, but it'd literally be bullet-proof! Its a case of what you can get hold of!

Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:32 pm

I am going to make something because my car is lowered 60mm on spax shocks and springs the m20 sump was close to the road but understand once i fit the m50 the sump will be even closer. Need some protection

Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:49 pm

Quaser wrote:The one on ebay is being sold by myself - i can assure you its not thin metal!

I originally bought it for my cab and that got written off before i had the chance to put it on - got the touring and couldnt get it to fit.

Im only in Heathrow if anyone wants to come over and try it on their car!

Quaser

Any chance you could weigh it to give an idea how heavy it is?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:52 pm

Ian - do you have any pics of your sump guard pls? Was it a perfect fit or did it need playing with to fit!

Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:57 pm

How much are they new if you can't find a second hand one?

Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:45 pm

Quaser wrote:Ian - do you have any pics of your sump guard pls? Was it a perfect fit or did it need playing with to fit!

I don't have any pictures of mine, but have a look at this:

http://www.davelength.net/car/skidplate.html

As mentioned in the article, the captive nuts that BMW list are completely wrong. I used similar crush nuts as mentioned, but mine are from BMW (part number 51 71 8 175 003). Any M8 rivnut will do the job.

You do need to mark and drill the two holes for the front mounting points, and enlarge the existing holes in the crossmember for the rears, but it's not that hard.

Ian.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:46 pm

DanThe wrote:Any chance you could weigh it to give an idea how heavy it is?

BMW quote 8.2Kg in the ETK.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:47 pm

Simon13 wrote:How much are they new if you can't find a second hand one?

Simon,

Around £160 in my ETK, but not sure if you can still get them.

Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:51 pm

I'll weigh that solid one tomorrow for comparison, its a hefty bit of kit

Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:05 am

hmm - i might withdraw that from ebay then - i always thought i had the wrong one, but it seems that its the right one for post facelift!

Cheers Ian

Tue Mar 24, 2009 7:25 pm

Ian - just to let you know that i have quoted you on my ebay ad. If your not happy with that, let me know and i'll remove it.

Thanks for the info.

Q

Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:30 pm

Quaser wrote:Ian - just to let you know that i have quoted you on my ebay ad. If your not happy with that, let me know and i'll remove it.

Thanks for the info.

Q

No probs at all

It should fit any facelift car, but they will all need the threaded inserts fitting.

Ian.

Tue Mar 24, 2009 8:33 pm

matt5950 wrote:cheers elecblondie.
the car is lowered on spax springs and shocks think its 60mm drop. the sump is only a couple of cm off floor

i had this set up but cheapo jamex 60mm drop.
i holed two sumps in three weeks,
len1 on here had a load of these a while back,
he's in southampton but will post.

i'm sure you'll have to cut it around the oilcooler brackets though.

Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:07 pm

how thick is it and what sort of price was he after?