E30 Zone

Hullo again all.

I've got around to driving a couple of e30s and just have a few of observations coming in from other cars that I would like verifying as to whether they're normal or not.

• Steering. The steering felt very light, and somewhat vague. Is this normal and is there anything I can do about it, save killing the power steering pump?
• Steering Wheel Size. Felt like I was helming a barge, are there any small BMW wheels that go on without too much effort
• Brakes. Generally a bit pfaff on both cars, but could well be due to age. Should one change discs & pads all round, are the brakes perfectly acceptable for fast road use (with an M30 swap)?
• Oil light. Midway through one of the test drives the oil light came on (in the top instrument thing by the rear view mirror). We pulled over and checked the oil which seemed at a perfect level. Can someone confirm this light is for oil level rather than pressure?

Other than that, both cars I've driven have felt very tidy and surprisingly up-to-gether. One of which had an M30 swap, which popped and banged to a level whereby I was just sat giggling in traffic. Was a nice reward after spending time taking out the boot lining and wiggling under the car to check the state of play with the dreaded tinworm.

Anyhow, all thought's appreciated.

Thanks

Overhead 'check' panel is just that,check out the sensor that causes the light to come on.
Oil level one is likely to come on when the oil level drops below the 'max' mark on the dipstick....the sensor can be cleaned by removing and washing out in petrol.
It is advised that one does not smoke whilst carrying out this operation!

Steering should feel tight and sharp,no free play between steery wheel and road wheel,chief suspect here would be the rubber 'quibo' on the steering shaft close to the exhaust manifold.

Stock steery wheel on lesser models has four spokes,easily swapped for a three spoke design,which is usually slightly smaller.

Brakes should be more than adequate,but will need a firm push,remember that these cars are now 20+ years old,more modern tin boxes just need a tickle to stop them.

Excellent, good info.

Steering felt very lithe and provided a lot off feedback in a 'movement' sense. It felt connected to the front wheels too, but it was very light and didn't have much in the way of resistance. Admittedly, I'm not used to it, which wouldn't help.

Haha, they were both sports with a 3 spoke wheel. Wait, you mean they did a bigger steering wheel?

Oh - yeah, the brakes on the one I drove today were just shot to all hell. Car had been standing for a good few months, so I wasn't too surprised. Just wondered if it was worth replacing with standard parts or with something uprated.

Tbh stuff like that is the least of concern or worry when looking at an e30

For a road car,standard brakes in perfect condition are all you should need.
For something with more than,say, 300bhp,you may need to do some further research.

Both of my E30's run standard disc/calipers,but with s/s braided hoses.Pad choice is both personal and critical,I'm quite happy with EBC Greenstuff,but there are plenty of opinions here!

In my opinion, the steering of an E30 is by far its biggest weakness as a driver”˜s car. Manual steering offers plenty of feel, but nearly 4.5 lock to lock is taking the peepee. Marginally faster power rack is too light and still hopelessly slow.

Good news is, an E36 rack swap isn”˜t expensive and vastly improves matters. A ”˜purple tag”˜ E46 rack (a steering rack fitted to some E46 models, albeit not all) is better still. This alone will improve the drive of the car hugely.

Brakes can feel a bit slow witted due to the transfer bar arrangement on rhd models, but in good nick are effective enough, as Daimlerman has said.

Glad it wasn't just me that thought it was a bit pfaff.

Yeah, I did hear the booster/cylinder having a fit when I was frantically pumping the brakes on the test drive - felt like it came from the left side of the car.