E30 Zone

Hi everyone, I'm Matt.

I've been looking for a reliable, practical good fun car that will get me to work in the winter while my project car (1971 Range Rover 3.5 V8 ) is off the road.

....And somehow I've ended up with a 318is

I bought it off a hedge-fund lawyer in Surrey, but it has been used by his son for the past year or two. Previous to that it belonged to someone who the seller described as "An E30 fanatic" who was based in Portsmouth. Anyone know them?

The good points:

• Full leather interior in reasonable shape
  Not a spot of rust on it!
  It's Brilliant Red not Henna Red
  Its got everyone MOT its ever had bar 2 included in the history
  Fully stamped up Service History from BMW or a specialist

And the not so good bits:

• A REALLY annoying exhaust / manifold leak at light load from 3k-4k RPM
  Cracked dash
  Still some paint fade on the bumpers, mirrors and bonnet
  The previous owner bodged in the stereo upgraded big time! None of the wires going into the dash and beyond seem to do what they're supposed to and the aerial is broken (The relay clicks on and off with the stereo now, but doesn't move the mast)
  A couple of the intake hoses and intake "boot" are quite badly cracked
  It doesn't seem to warm up properly: The temp gauge never gets much above the blue zone, yet the heater kicks out plenty of heat when required
  The brake pad warning light is on, and I need to find out why! It certainly stops well enough...

Things on the to-do list:

• Fix everything above!
  Find more stuff that's broken
  Tighten up the PAS belt so it actually does some assisting
  A good T-Cut, clean and wax
  Take some nice photos of it
  Find some 15" BBS wheels and winter tyres
  Maybe a Z3 rack and shifter mechanism in the future

So for now here are some pictures stolen from the Pistonheads Ad:















And finally, sorry for the terrible photo, but this is what I found when I pulled out the stereo:



Not a single wire was soldered! Just wrapped in tape! I told you it was bodged.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to browse the E30 parts for sale board!

that looks very nice mate! Red IS' do look nice!

nice car, looks like you need to buy a iS front lip spoiler aswell. plenty of knowledgable people to help on here

You say I should have an iS front lip, which is interesting because I have receipt from 6 months ago for a new front lip, a non-iS one clearly I guess someone got a bit friendly with a speed bump....

Anyway, on with the pictures, sorry about the shoddy phone pictures, I didn't bring my dSLR with me



On the ramps



Checking the exhaust for any signs of what might be causing my 3-4k rpm resonance



A slightly bashed centre silencer



The exhaust hanger bushes clearly need doing, but other than that it looks solid



And the challenge for you experts: Name this suspension:



Red coils, yellow dampers, no obvious markings



It looks like it could well be an eBay special lowering kit? But if it is its only a subtle one.



The one spot of rust I've found on the body, where it's been jacked wrong in the past



And a nice photo of what a weeks worth of road grime looks like Also note the soon to be replaced ditch-finders



The only serious bodywork blemish that can't be solved with T-Cut - not bad for a 21 year old car

Overall, not regretting the purchase after this inspection

Nice iS, I had one a few years ago, very good motors.

Definately get the iS lip on it makes the world of difference!!

wonder if thats the is that me and adit enquired about last year from poole that was mysteriously described as sold after being listed too cheap, we said it would re surface

anyway looks nice, although theres plenty of work to get that underide ship shape,especialy for winter use !

i bought an is for a "winter car" to keep my 86 escort out the snow and ice , and everyone said i was crazy... a year later id learnt more and bought a land rover for a winter car to keep the is out the snow

great e30s the is, i loved mine dearly, but after purchasing a sport, driving the is just wasnt the same anymore and it felt gutless and that feeling under the foot totaly changed, was no going back

Welcome to the Zone - looks like a good car, hopefully should serve you well.

Some thoughts on your list;


A REALLY annoying exhaust / manifold leak at light load from 3k-4k RPM
Sadly this is often the manifold (or header). It is a stainless steel job and not that easy to weld. If the car has been driven without a gearbox exhaust mount and through cold water it can crack - often close to the engine.

Cracked dash
Many e30 dashes are cracked now from the sun. It isn't that hard to change them if done methodically and you should be able to find a nice one here.


A couple of the intake hoses and intake "boot" are quite badly cracked
BMW are best bet for these - check out cotswold BMW section.

It doesn't seem to warm up properly: The temp gauge never gets much above the blue zone, yet the heater kicks out plenty of heat when required
Is there a thermostat in it?


The brake pad warning light is on, and I need to find out why! It certainly stops well enough...
Probably nothing to do with the performance of the brakes, just a lazy owner not replacing the sender unit.
The light comes on when the circuit is broken, so either A)the sender wire (next to the brake pad) is broken [£7 repair] or B) the cable from the sender to the dash is broken somewhere - possible under the wheel arch.


Tighten up the PAS belt so it actually does some assisting
Might need oil...

Find some 15" BBS wheels and winter tyres
Would have though 14" would be better for winter... get some 15" and summer tyres!


Maybe a Z3 rack and shifter mechanism in the future
Think e36 or E46 racks are better than Z3...

Cheers for all the replies guys Especially Gwynleym10! (I can see this evolving into build-ish thread already so if the mods have a better place for it feel free to move it)

This weekend wasn't all that productive, Saturday was lost completely but on Sunday I finished fixing up the stereo so it now remembers its settings (There wasn't a constant live before!) and now has such modern features as functional front speakers!

I also took the antenna out to have a look at why it wasn't working. I opened it up and about a 1/2 litre of water flooded out - that'd explain that one then! So I decided it was dead and butchered the insides to make it into a manual antenna for the time being. Anyone know of any good alternatives or is the OEM replacement the way forward?

I've also given her a good clean wax and polish, although I skipped the T-Cut so I could see what I was working with first. Hopefully this will help protect the paint a tiny bit from the winter, only time will tell! For the most part she scrubbed up quite nicely, although its clear the bonnet is well past its best - it looks like someone messed up an attempt to machine polish it and have left some swirly thin bits

Gwynleym10 wrote:Sadly this is often the manifold (or header). It is a stainless steel job and not that easy to weld. If the car has been driven without a gearbox exhaust mount and through cold water it can crack - often close to the engine.

I suspected as much Just as well someone at work can weld stainless to patch it up for a while

Gwynleym10 wrote:It doesn't seem to warm up properly: The temp gauge never gets much above the blue zone, yet the heater kicks out plenty of heat when required
Is there a thermostat in it?

To be honest I'd assumed there was and it was stuck, I've got one on order so we'll see!

Gwynleym10 wrote:Probably nothing to do with the performance of the brakes, just a lazy owner not replacing the sender unit.
The light comes on when the circuit is broken, so either A)the sender wire (next to the brake pad) is broken [£7 repair] or B) the cable from the sender to the dash is broken somewhere - possible under the wheel arch.

Its this one that still has me puzzled - I think you're right its nothing to do with the brakes themselves, but I think there is a short somewhere because the light occasionally goes off for a bit

Do you, or anyone else for that matter, know if the wear sensors work to 12v and the light comes on when the sensor breaks due to wear, causing 0v to be sent to the dash? Or does it work the other way i.e. normally 0v, but 12v when worn?

Gwynleym10 wrote:Would have though 14" would be better for winter... get some 15" and summer tyres!

That was the original plan but I couldn't find a set in 195 65 R14, but I could in 195 55 R15's (About 2% difference in outside diameter) so I snapped those up, and now need some wheels :p

Gwynleym10 wrote:Think e36 or E46 racks are better than Z3...

This is an area I've not really looked into, as its way down the priority list! But it'd be useful to know all the same which, if any, of the Z3, E36 and E46 racks are direct swaps?

mwggriffiths wrote: ....Previous to that it belonged to someone who the seller described as "An E30 fanatic" who was based in Portsmouth. Anyone know them?

Now if you'll excuse me I'm off to browse the E30 parts for sale board!

there's plenty of us down here mate, although i don't recognise that car.

Parts galore right here

looks tidy enough, well done

do you have any photos online of you range rover project?

Moved straight to Photo Gallery.

crossie wrote:do you have any photos online of you range rover project?

Put them in the Other Marques section - See here -> Click

...and welcome, Matt. Hope to see more of that car

*Edit* Removed the Range Rover

Apologies skipunda I was writing that while you replied, should have checked what you posted first!

Oh, that's Ok buddy. It wasn't a very clear notice anyway. Sent you a PM, simply copy and paste the contents into your other thread.

Looking forward to the progress on this one

Bodywork looks in good shape other than slight dent on the arch, and i would guess thats lowered 40mm. They are not m-tech springs. Ditchfinders? Barum are a mid range tyre made by continental they are not budgets

mwggriffiths wrote:And a nice photo of what a weeks worth of road grime looks like Also note the soon to be replaced ditch-finders

tha881 wrote:Ditchfinders? Barum are a mid range tyre made by continental they are not budgets

The fact that they are not cheap tyres doesn't mean they're not ditchfinders

I've swapped from one 4mm Michelin and one new Barum on the back to two new Barums on the back and it's definitely worse now, but at least the lack of traction is balanced side to side

Update:

I went up to Bradford on Friday to collect some bits from e30topless (Cheers mate, it was great to meet you and a pleasure doing business). Then Saturday morning the first of these bits, a set of 4 15" BBS alloys, were fitted to my winter tyres and put on the car

I then took the car down to Wales for the weekend, where I met a pheasant at 70mph on the M50 while overtaking a lorry . Total damage is one smashed indicator lens and one broken foglight. Oh and a brake duct full of blood, guts and feathers :p

The indicator lens was glued back together as a temporary measure.

While I was down there it would have been rude not to enjoy the local scenery and snap a few photos:



Not visible, the blood and guts still on the drivers foglight!



And this was going to be my favourite photo, until I looked at it on my PC, not my phone....

More updates:

Done lots since the last update Sorry there aren't a huge amount of photos, need to remember to take some in future!

First I did this:



Dash out to be replaced with a mint item from e30topless, cheers mate!

While I was there I sorted the stereo wiring properly and removed the dodgy immobiliser.

I've replaced all the intake and ICV hoses and it made such a difference, it idles perfectly now! But it wasn't half a pain, not doing that one again

Some general tinkering and maintenance later brings us to this weekend:

After destroying my exhaust on anything and everything low recently, I decided it was due for a replacement.





ooops

£500 later Fritz's Bits had a new stainless system on my door and into the workshop it went:



And then on with the shiny bits:



Fits perfectly on the OEM hangers, and sounds quite nice to boot

While I was there I dropped a load of MIG onto Cylinder 1 of my exhaust manifold which was spilt through about 120 degrees

Happy with a job jobbed it was off for a drive

Unfortunately neither change has fixed my buzzing sound at 3-4k RPM. I think that means its the chain / chain tensioner The M44 tensioner is on order as we speak! Hopefully that will fix it, and hopefully it hasn't done too much damage in the last few months

Last job was quick clean:






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P.S. If anyone has a IS splitter I want it! PM me

Looking really good Matt nice tidy car this, 15" BBS always gets my vote

got your Pm I will sort Asap

Wow that paintwork had polished up nicely.

That paint work has come up a treat, very nice looking car.

PS I have a Fritz bits exhaust on my 325, sound great don't they?

Nice IS great little car,keep up the good work.

That has come up well!

As for the suspension, red springs and unmarked yellow shocks which all looks like its been on there a while will most likely be G-max or Jamex as it used to be called.

Looks stunning in that last pic.

Cheers for the positive comments guys!

While she does scrub up well I think the camera is being flattering too. The paint will certainly need more that just a good clean in the future!

Steve, they're not super urgent parts, it'd just be nice to have them, so no need to rush them

bss325i wrote:That has come up well!

As for the suspension, red springs and unmarked yellow shocks which all looks like its been on there a while will most likely be G-max or Jamex as it used to be called.

Aha another piece of the puzzle! I'll have to do some research on them. Are they well regarded? Sure they're no Bilstien or Eibach but should I be removing them asap or am I good to leave them? Any idea about the amount of drop on them? I fancy pushing the back back up again to match the front, but its hard speccing springs when you don't know what you have initially! :p

got jamex on my sport when i bought it, 40ml drop, tbh i think they are terrible , and will be replacing with ebach pro before the car goes back on the road

And so it begins:

Picked up my new steering rack yesterday

It's from a 2001 E46 316ti Compact with sports suspension.



Its marked up on a purple plate

7852 974 679

6 755 067

And stamped 149111 0802



And one turn of the column gives us....



50mm/rev

i.e. REALLY quick

Not quite as quick as a Z3 (53.9mm/rev) but its about 1/3 of the price of the Z3 rack, so I'm not complaining!

I may fit it next weekend, I may wait until I can afford to do all the suspension at the same time.... Time will tell....

Nice looking E30!

Well a quick update, mostly so I can remember what I've done when I look back!

I've not done anything too major since the last update. A quick oil change and M44 chain tensioner install, followed by an 88 degree thermostat and coolant flush - having a heater again is nice

Mostly though I've just been driving it, winter tyres working miracles in the cold and snow if you're sensible. And still allowing epic slidey fun when you're not

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Now the weather is practically tropical I popped down to see Mick318iS last weekend and picked up another set of 15's. This time wearing some 205 55 R15s. They look like balloons next to the 195 50 R15s of my winters On the plus side I've gain about 10-15mm ground clearance with the new tyres, so hopefully no more exhaust clearance issues!

Pics on the 15's (With caps for added sleeper points )



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Then this afternoon I went down to the shed to fit my new electric antenna. Easy job, so I didn't take any pictures. Only this one to set the scene:



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I've finally ordered my new suspension and steering bits to go with the rack

Bilstein B8's and Eibachs, along with a full set of OE rubber bushes with M3 eccentric FLCA bushes. Add that to the FLCA's and track rods from Matt @ ECP and we're good to go next Friday when the fun begins!