E30 Zone

Hello guys

I have myself a E30 316i lux touring and i love it.

I picked her up for 500 quid on the day of the royal wedding last year off a friend of a friend.

She had broken down up in Glentress and would not start so I had to go and get it with my Dad. being from Bradford it was a 300 mile round trip but i love these cars and I had to have it.



Managed to fix her with a new ECU as the old one fried, a big chip had melted causing the coil pack to pop black goo all over the engine bay. EWW


sat with a friends MK2 Golf


October last year my dad picked me up a 318i auto saloon with under 50K on the clock for 265 punds off fleebay for my combined day and xmass prezzie. BEST PRESANT EVER!!


It has only had one owner and had been sat for 12 years in a barn.




The silver one is now stripped and the mint interior thatwill transfer over, front doors, door cards, engine, and all sub frame components are getting re-furbed powder coated serviced and tarted up all ready to put on the touring.





a lot of the re-furbing of bits and the engine is done. and ill post pics of that up soon.

Im planning on throwing it all together over Easter and i have booked two weeks off work especially WOO

peace out

Nice introduction mate!
Welcome to the Zone

Good work fella, I've been working on one very similar myself.

Welcome mate,keep up the hard work.

Hello again

Here are a few pics of the work I’ve carried out so far on pars and things for when i swap everything over.

The touring that I have isn’t the best example of an e30 and is not in the best shape under her and has had lots of welding... and still needs more.

But until I have the car off the road and up on the ramp and completely stripped I can do nothing about that. So here’s what I’ve been up too.

I’m not doing a serious restoration here; I’m just having fun and getting to know these cars. so if anyone think I’m molesting or doing a bad job or I’ve messed something up please drop me a comment advice will be taken on board.



I degreased the front beam, rear beam and trailing arms and the drum brake backing plates off the saloon and had them media blasted and powder coated.



I have rebuilt up my trailing arms with new wheel bearings, new hoses and stainless flexi hoses. When building them up I made some stainless flexi hose retention brackets too, if you know the ones that I mean. I have also poly-bushed them along with the rear beam. i have also got myself some poly-bushes for the antiroll bars. I hear they last a hell of a lot longer than standard rubber ones, so I’ve gone for it. I am converting to rear drums and removing the ABS off the car as I’ve had loads of trouble with the rear brake and hand brake on this and just want to make it a bit simpler and I’ve found rear drums very reliable in my past experience and just as easy to service and mess with.






The engine received a bit of a strip down, degrease, power wash ( after plugging all the valve holes etc. ), wire brush and a paint as well as a small service, new gaskets, heat shield, oil filter, plugs and timing belt.



The rocker and oil filter cover got a bead blast and colouring in with a nice shade of coppery bronze along with the top half of the inlet manifold.



The exhaust manifold received the same but a lick of heat proof black paint instead.



And the engine got thrown back together and went from looking like this:



To this which I’m rather happy about. ( The sump is missing as I had to borrow it as I cracked the one I was using on the car )





I ordered a few nice shiny things for the car once she is rebuilt including all of the bushes clips washer and pins to refresh the shifter linkages and a Z3 shot shifter. My favourite ever purchase, a nardi wooden steering wheel and shifter knob, and the boss to fit it to the car.





As you may of noticed from the pictures above my front wings are knackered.
This has nothing to do with me running in to the back of a golf a few months ago
So I’ve got a new set of front wings, as the ones off the saloon are rotten around the bottom by the sills. They have had a coat of primer all over, and stone chip on the inside then the colour.
I love the colour Nato green so I am going to rub down the car and shut gaps and roll and rattle can on this colour the best I can, I can’t afford a proper re-spray and I don’t think the body work is worthy of one anyway, so again I’m going to have a go and have fun with it I’m more than sure this colour can work on my car, it’s just going to need the right wheels to set it off. haha







I then got back in to the garage and worked on the steering rack and front beam.
The one currently on the touring is weeping a bit from the right side and I’m going to be replacing it with the one from the saloon. Below is a picture of it looking rather grotty and sorry looking with corrosion on the pipes and nice layer of oil and grime.
So I stripped the pipes off and plugged up all of the holes ready for a de-greasing and steam cleaning.







The pipes were then wire brushed on the pedestal wheel we have in the garage and given a lick or two of Hammerite to help them last a while longer. I hope. The ball joints feel fine but the track rod ends did not so I have gone any got me some new shiny ones of them too.





And that’s me up to date so far. I can’t wait to get properly stuck in when I have my two weeks off work

Peace out

man

Cracking work. I've never seen blue subframe, trailing arms etc before, not to my taste but fair play.

I would strongly recommend getting/borrowing/renting a compressor if you're going to give the shell a blow over. I rattle canned a car once years ago and then spent more time with rubbing compound all over it.

The following summer manged to borrow a medium sized compressor and gun and sprayed it again... As I'm not a painter it still had it faults but it looked so much better than before..

Just seen this thread, good to see some colours, impressive what you have done already!

G-Bear wrote:Cracking work. I've never seen blue subframe, trailing arms etc before, not to my taste but fair play.

I would strongly recommend getting/borrowing/renting a compressor if you're going to give the shell a blow over. I rattle canned a car once years ago and then spent more time with rubbing compound all over it.

The following summer manged to borrow a medium sized compressor and gun and sprayed it again... As I'm not a painter it still had it faults but it looked so much better than before..

Thanks for the advive I think ill try and use a propper spray gun, we have a massive compressor in the garage and a few different guns, the oly reason I went for rolling it on is I've seen good results on landrovers and things applying paint like this, and the fact there will be no overspray or paint dust all over everything, quess ill just get some more masking tape and paper on the car during paint

I have already rolled the wings and sunroof and I'm not verry happy with the end result. haha

Have you any hints or tips for a novice like myself?

G-Bear wrote:Cracking work. I've never seen blue subframe, trailing arms etc before, not to my taste but fair play.

I would strongly recommend getting/borrowing/renting a compressor if you're going to give the shell a blow over. I rattle canned a car once years ago and then spent more time with rubbing compound all over it.

The following summer manged to borrow a medium sized compressor and gun and sprayed it again... As I'm not a painter it still had it faults but it looked so much better than before..

Thanks for the advive I think ill try and use a propper spray gun, we have a massive compressor in the garage and a few different guns, the oly reason I went for rolling it on is I've seen good results on landrovers and things applying paint like this, and the fact there will be no overspray or paint dust all over everything, quess ill just get some more masking tape and paper on the car during paint

I have already rolled the wings and sunroof and I'm not verry happy with the end result. haha

Have you any hints or tips for a novice like myself?

Welcome
nice to see your enthusiasm!
I'm not sure I'd go from disks to drums at the back myself but I guess it won't make much difference overall. As for the colours - any colour is good apart from rust imo

Have you thought about fitting a quicker rack from a later BMW? I haven't done it myself but many zoners are happy with their rack conversions. It might be worth a search before you bolt up the one from the saloon..... your call of course.

Enjoy

I have thought about a quick rack but I don't know which one to go for and from a quick look on the web they look a little out of my budget right now.

I may get one in the future if one come up. But for now ill for what I've got

I piped all the pipes backbon and bolted it up to the front beam today with longer bolts ready for the sump guard I'm making I don't want to crack another sump

Super job fella keep up the good work

jimbom30cab wrote:Super job fella keep up the good work

Cheers man

dirtee-herbert wrote: Managed to fix her with a new ECU as the old one fried, a big chip had melted causing the coil pack to pop black goo all over the engine bay.

Don't suppose you have any pics of this rather spectacular sounding failure?

Welcome to the zone.

How come you stripped the low mileage low owner car?

Jim320i wrote:Welcome to the zone.

How come you stripped the low mileage low owner car?

Thanks man.

The car had really bad rust in the foot wells at the front, the boot and the inside of the rear arches were none existant. And I have a touring fetish.

Speedtouch wrote:

dirtee-herbert wrote: Managed to fix her with a new ECU as the old one fried, a big chip had melted causing the coil pack to pop black goo all over the engine bay.

Don't suppose you have any pics of this rather spectacular sounding failure?

Heya, I don't have an image of the coilpack goo explosion but I think I have a piccy of the broken ECU insides on the PC. I'll include other in my next update

Some good work there, but you're definitely going the wrong way on the suspension components!
The 318i front struts are of a smaller diameter and much weaker than the touring ones. Front brakes are unvented/vented respectively, but these and their matching calipers are easily swapped over.
Similarly with the rear brakes, the drum brakes are very much a retrograde step and are much more prone to fade in use. The parking brake system on the disc brakes works perfectly as long as it's set up properly with the cables being slack when the handbrake is off. If the system has been used with the cables too tight for any length of time, the shoes will be worn out of shape and need to be renewed.

Brianmoooore wrote:Some good work there, but you're definitely going the wrong way on the suspension components!
The 318i front struts are of a smaller diameter and much weaker than the touring ones. Front brakes are unvented/vented respectively, but these and their matching calipers are easily swapped over.
Similarly with the rear brakes, the drum brakes are very much a retrograde step and are much more prone to fade in use. The parking brake system on the disc brakes works perfectly as long as it's set up properly with the cables being slack when the handbrake is off. If the system has been used with the cables too tight for any length of time, the shoes will be worn out of shape and need to be renewed.

Thanks for the advice. I will be running the struts and the front brakes off of the touring. And I have worried about the drum brakes being inferior compared to the discs but ill see how they go and I may swap back with all new components later on in the year or before the next MOT or somthing if I arent happy with them.

(edited for spelling)

hello again from a very snowy west Yorkshire.

the snow couldn't have come at a worse time, as i now have the touring off the road for two weeks for her special bit of attention.

Actually had to dig to get in to the garage. we have drifts as big as buses up on the farm,

Any way, ill make this quick and get some pics up

in these pics you will see the average goings on in a yorkshire farmers garage but with a tired old "gods chariot" instead of some old tractor

Everything out in one go.






lots of rot













a bodged handbrake, this will be coming out.




rear assembly looking all shiny and new and ready to go in.




looks like ive alot of work to do before i can put her all back togeather

im going to dye all of the carpets whilst they are out too or the mrs is if she can make it up the hill snow drifts as big as busses.

any advice is welcome

where ele should i be finding the brown stuff?

thanks for looking.

Speedtouch wrote:

dirtee-herbert wrote: Managed to fix her with a new ECU as the old one fried, a big chip had melted causing the coil pack to pop black goo all over the engine bay.

Don't suppose you have any pics of this rather spectacular sounding failure?

Heya man,
probably a bit late not but here is a pic of the blown ECU,



sorry i didnt have any of the ignition coil goo. You can find out for your self tho and just hook a spare one up to a battery untill it get hot and goes pop.

Phew, bit of a scorcher on the output driver there!

Speedtouch wrote:Phew, bit of a scorcher on the output driver there!

do you have any idea what could of caused this to happen? i am bit of a novice on my car electrics.

a bit more the wiser now after having a play over the last two weeks tho

Quick update,

MOT passed today, no advisory or nothing

haha should of see the mot mans face when my battered looking e30 with mis matched pannels pulled up. e even had the cheek to ask me which scrap heap i had pulled it our from under.

but as soon as he got it up on the ramp and saw underneith he soon stopped taking the mick. haha.

emissions were spot on and the handbrake was perfect.

two weeks hard graft well worth it. i am so happy with how firm and smooth and knock free the car is now.

i have been wanting to do regular updates with what i did each day but i was playing under the car far too late for that and i forgot to get alot of pitures but i will post up what i have got some time this week for you all to have a laugh at.

cheers

hello again.

i have been back on the road for two weeks now and i think its about time i got some pics up of what i did with my two weeks off work.

exuberantly she looks like some poor attempt at a ratted out e30 touring, but underneath shes now solid again and freshened up.

Bits ive done:
- welded up all the rot
-gave underneath a good coat of tetrashutz
-all new cunifer pipes and fuel lines
-stainless steel braided hoses
-fresh low mileage engine gone in
-diff serviced with new seals
-new subframe all powder coated and polly bushed
-new wheel bearings
-new cheap JOM shocks and front diy coilover thingys
-new top mounts all round
-low milage steering rack
-new track rod ends
-new heater matrix as the old one was leaking
-un cracked dash fitted
-un ripped seats fitted
-dyed carpets black
-fitted nardi wheel and shifter nob
-z3 short shifter
-fitted some ill fitting pattern panels that dont line up at all.

got a new MOT with not a single advisory











big to-do list, so plenty to keep me going including a different set of 16 inch wheels. possible diy LPG conversion, head liner re-trim and then ive got to try and have a go at giving the body work a bit of attention and a blow over in summer... if we get on this year.

next thing tho is fabricating my own sump guard as i dont want to break another sump on these shitty yorkshire roads

comments, criticism and piss taking welcome

nice work. Well done on the MOT.

Summer is bike riding season and im tired of getting the inside of my car all mudded up and potentially damaging it more.

so ive invested in a bike rack. i love how e30s look with a rack on. even if i cant afford a thule fender for it yet for the front








i have also re-trimmed my head liner but it all needs re-doing due to the crappy spray glue i used and it has all melted and sagged. so a full write up soon once its alll re-done and in.

i have re trimmed my D pillar trims with black fake leather instead of grey.

and im half way through making a sump guard which im pretty happy with so far. again, im gonna do a full post on this also

hope you like the rack. and any advice on what glue to use on my headliner please?

This thread has kind of been forgotten about be myself so im gonna blast up a quick update with a few shiny pics of the new seats and headliner.

I got my self a full set of creamy tan not bad condition leathers for the car off ebay and gave them a full weeks worth of rubbing and filling and re-colouring.

more on this here - (insert linky)



A before and after















I have recently replaced all the fuel pipe at the front of the car as i was re-using the pipes from the silver saloon i broke for bit and i suspected a pipe had perished because of a bad fuel smell. while i was on with this i bought and fit a set of re-conditioned injectors and they seem to have transformed how the engine proforms.



curently trying to decide on some winter tyres for the 15" BBS so i can be a bit more safe once the snow and ice gets her.


The Rear Bench now has a set of head rests all dyed up the same colour
(PICS TO COME!)


As you can all see the front of the car looks like bit of a mess with bad paint and dings and ill fitting pattern wings. I almost have a full set of propper BMW pannels to replace all these with and a set of new fogs done the same as my mains other lights up front and a VOLVO style splitter
(PICS TO COME!)

Shes hopefully gonna get a good way oiling and the rear arches sorted before winter realy sets in.

Looking plush. Like the Paisley print headlining!

Speedtouch wrote:Looking plush. Like the Paisley print headlining!

thanks man. it took me two attempts because i used crap glue the 1st time. im very happy with the final result but it is a bit Marmite.

Seats look absolutely great - will you do the door cards to match?

jas025 wrote:Seats look absolutely great - will you do the door cards to match?

Thanks.

I am thinking about doing a set of door cards. Maybe with the centre bits trimmed to match my headliner. But they are leatherette and the seats are leather and I don't know how to do the cards. I have a nice set of black to go in soon tho.

What glue did you used on the headlining? i'm asking because i intend to reupholster mine and i could use some advices. Thanks and btw, you have a very nice touring.

Tommek wrote:What glue did you used on the headlining? i'm asking because i intend to reupholster mine and i could use some advices. Thanks and btw, you have a very nice touring.

Thanks. She looks a bit ratty on the out side tho haha

For the headliner I used spray on Evo-stick and it was crap. Only lasted a couple of weeks or warm weather.
The second time around I use some Evo-stick industrial contact adhesive where you smear it on both surfaces as allow it to almost dry and then stick them together. This has lasted for months and months now with no signs of coming away.

Once the head board has been removed it's easy but time consuming to strip all the original material off the board because of all the old foam
I found that a flat blade or small scraper worked best and you just keep scraping at it.

Hope this helps man. Good luck