E30 Questions

[wlsmith]

Hi guys, recently bought a E30 316 M10 1.8 carb model for £300 is quite a clean example, however was wanting to get rid of the Pierburg carb as this has been on the car since it was new and am worried about the reliability of it as will be using the car to drive up to gatwick each day from brighton, I was looking at getting a webber conversion kit to replace it with a manual choke was wondering if this is the best option for me, or should i get hold of the parts off a 318i so i can carry out a fuel injection conversion, any info will be greatly appreciated, also when i was sitting in traffic the other day have noticed the temp needle moving from half way up to just before 3/4, however it did not go any further than this, checked for leaks etc and no leaks, when started driving again it went back down to halfway/slightly below normal. Is this normal for a car of this age to do this, especially because the weather is generally hotter at the moment, anything to worry about?

[Morat]

First thing to do is check that the fan is working properly. E30s have a fan which is driven from the engine and eventually the viscous coupling (which kicks the fan in when the engine is hot) will fail resulting in the fan windmilling when it should be roaring. Get your car up to normal temp and then try and stop the fan with a rolled up newspaper. If the fan stops, you need a new viscous coupling, if it shreds the newspaper then we need to look for another problem.

[martauto]

Hi mate, I have the same car 1986 but automatic.
I still have the original carb on ,and so far it has been fine, but I also have a webber carb to go on.
So far it has give me no grief so Im under this impression that if its not broken then dont fix it.

The temperature situation does not sound too bad but mine does loose a bit of fluid over 3-4 months (1/2 litre) so make sure this is correct too, also all the other culprits such as radiator, hoses, etc are all in good order.

The 318i parts also have to include the cylinder head so Im told so it may be a bit too pricey.

Anyway, enjoy and welcome to the zone.


Mart.

[Brianmoooore]

Almost certainly needs a change of viscous coupling.
Consider converting the car to run on LPG. You'll save approaching half of your fuel costs, it'll run better and probably give more power, and the carb will become almost redundant.