E30 Zone

well the first thing i noticed about my 316 was how low the sump hangs under the car!

and yesterday the inevitable happened...





bloody buses churning up the road!

completely smashed the side off the sump and dump its oil all over the road

no big deal really as it needed servicing anyway, so ive ordered my new sump today, just means i have to use the polo for a few days in this horrid weather

has anybody else had this happen to them due to the silly low 1.6 sump?

the polo is easily down 100mm and i have never had this issue!

stance FTW

Quality pictures them lol

The sumps on E30's are low in the car and if you "deck it" with what looks like the wrong profile tyres then the laws of inevitability mean you fooked it.

Did you buy that off tourer-tec in the north east recently?

Stupidly low sump, matching stupidly low car, Another car made undrivable on UK roads by the 'stance' craze.
I watched a 'stanced' Polo skip off the road last week because he hit a pothole on a bend and car just bounced across the road.
Raised your car a bit and hey presto, sorted

Duke137 wrote:Quality pictures them lol

The sumps on E30's are low in the car and if you "deck it" with what looks like the wrong profile tyres then the laws of inevitability mean you fooked it.

Did you buy that off tourer-tec in the north east recently?

i bought it off here a couple of weeks ago, what is wrong with the tyre profile?

johnl320 wrote:Stupidly low sump, matching stupidly low car, Another car made undrivable on UK roads by the 'stance' craze.
I watched a 'stanced' Polo skip off the road last week because he hit a pothole on a bend and car just bounced across the road.
Raised your car a bit and hey presto, sorted

stupidly low? are you mad, its only 60mm :S

and as it happens, i havent 'stanced' it as ime not an idiot, i like my car to handle properly, i have merely bought it like this and intend on doing it how i want in time

Ok its not stupidly low, put you new sump on and leave it that height.

-60mm is stupidly low,L@@K what happens ,

i lowered my 1st e30 -60mm and done x2 sumps in a month

-40mm is all you need max.

magpie wrote:-60mm is stupidly low,L@@K what happens ,

i lowered my 1st e30 -60mm and done x2 sumps in a month

-40mm is all you need max.

oh dear, well i know now that ive got to take much more care! i cant be bothered with this again

so long as it lasts me until xmas and then the m20 will be going in anyway which apparently has a slightly higher sump?

M20 is heavier so I would say the front will sit even lower....

Tyre profile should be 55, or possibly 50 but I guess yours are 45 or 40?

Duke137 wrote:M20 is heavier so I would say the front will sit even lower....

Tyre profile should be 55, or possibly 50 but I guess yours are 45 or 40?

good point there, i will definetly do something about that!

i will check the trye profiles tomorow, they were all nearly new not long before i got the car and the lad i bought it off didnt seem fussed about being super low so i cant see any reason for him fitting lower profile tyres

It's not the end of the world put keep a few litres of oil and spare sumps in stock and make sure you have recovery lol

Duke137 wrote:It's not the end of the world put keep a few litres of oil and spare sumps in stock and make sure you have recovery lol

ime covered by the AA who were almost useless! because it was technically a road traffic accident and not a mechanical or electrical breakdown they wouldn't recover me under my usual cover, so instead the had to invoice my insurance the £108 recovery charge!

i think i will be lieing if it happens again!

what about fitting a sump protector mate? sure rpm in the traders section on here do them? just a thought

i fitted one to my slammed e30 and you could see sparks off it at night ,

fookin F1 styleee innit

magpie wrote:i fitted one to my slammed e30 and you could see sparks off it at night ,

fookin F1 styleee innit

that made me laugh out loud

ive been thinking of getting one, but luckily havent had any sump issues up until now! fingers crossed! lol

you need eibach - 35mm 6-pot springs when you swap the donk.

magpie wrote:you need eibach - 35mm 6-pot springs when you swap the donk.

i will bear that in mind!

random question but is this your car?









are the sumps lower than the 325's then? cos my car is decekd and had no issues with sump at all

Yep thats definately Craigs!

Where did you find the pics??

Get a sumpguard!

dubwonerbilco wrote:

Hope you cleaned up that oil else the next poor person on a motorbike is going to chuck there pride and joy down the road on its side

was this the cheap touring in hexam ?

It was localish to you mick IIRC

Duke137 wrote:It was localish to you mick IIRC

i nearly fragged that

i was told to buy hockey piucks and hollow the centres to put under the engine mounts to raise the engine up a bit..... is this safe??? i never did do it as i wasn't sure if safe or not.... but it would give extra 15mm clearence at least if safe??

pac1982 wrote: Hope you cleaned up that oil else the next poor person on a motorbike is going to chuck there pride and joy down the road on its side

no sorry, i wasnt carrying my bag of sand that day...

i expected the AA man to do something about it actually, but he didn't, just hitched me up and buggered off!

magpie wrote:was this the cheap touring in hexam ?

this is the one

took me a 6 hour round trip to get it!

The_Haywood wrote:i was told to buy hockey piucks and hollow the centres to put under the engine mounts to raise the engine up a bit..... is this safe??? i never did do it as i wasn't sure if safe or not.... but it would give extra 15mm clearence at least if safe??

sounds feesable but could knock the prop out a bit

magpie wrote:

The_Haywood wrote:i was told to buy hockey piucks and hollow the centres to put under the engine mounts to raise the engine up a bit..... is this safe??? i never did do it as i wasn't sure if safe or not.... but it would give extra 15mm clearence at least if safe??

sounds feesable but could knock the prop out a bit

gear linkage also? as surely its set for a certain distance and height etc?

busted my 316i sump a couple months ago only lowered 40-50mm caught it on a electric gate spike got it welded and that sorted it

scot wrote:Yep thats definately Craigs!

Where did you find the pics??

i took the pics.

my mate got it . did the mods and then sold it on. think you must be second owner tho since he sold it

dubwonerbilco wrote:

magpie wrote:

The_Haywood wrote:i was told to buy hockey piucks and hollow the centres to put under the engine mounts to raise the engine up a bit..... is this safe??? i never did do it as i wasn't sure if safe or not.... but it would give extra 15mm clearence at least if safe??

sounds feesable but could knock the prop out a bit

gear linkage also? as surely its set for a certain distance and height etc?

Raising the engine 10-15mm wouldn't have too much effect on the gear linkage.

As Magpie said the main problem is with the alignment of the prop, expect it to munch prop centre bearings on a regular basis.

I know of a few people that have raised their engines and I've had mine raised, it's been like it for 6months and no problems so far, fingers crossed haha.