E30 Zone

Hello E30 friends!

My name is Kovács János. I'm from Hungary, but I live in Bristol UK.
This is my ride. I'll show you loads of pictures from buying it in 2010 as a 318i M10 to through bodywork repairs, the conversion to M50 and later M52 and a lot more.
This picture shows the actual state, but just to make it interesting I'll start from the beginning.
I have a full blog of about the car in hungarian on Powerfanatics.com, so basically I'll translate that to english in the following. Hope You'll like it!

Before I began to introduce my actual car (the white 328i You've seen below) I'll explain my nickname Jay350i.

This is not a joke, because my previous car was actually an E30 350i powered by an M70B50 V12 engine. If you care some more about it, You can find it on youtube, just click here:

[youtube][/youtube]

pictures:





Some details in short:
- M70B50 engine (year '93, late model with oil filler on the front)
- VEMS standalone Ecu, mapped by PWracing Hungary
- mechanical throttle bodies
- custom flywheel lightened to 10,7kg
- strenghtened M30 clutch
- E34 525tds gearbox (I don't recommend! The V12 torque ruined 3of those in 25k miles!)
- E34 525tds 2,65 25% LSD
- E30 324td rear axles
- E28 M535i radiator
- E30 325i ventilated front brakes
- E30 325ix Touring ventilated rear brakes
- Tarox performance brake discs
- E32 hidraulic brake assist
- E36 power steering rack
And that's all the interesting stuff

Hello and welcome to the forum! subscirbed

looking forward to your write up!

So after 2years of using the 350i, an idiot ran into the back end with about 40mph, the whole bodywork was totaled
With tears in my eyes I had to break the car into pieces and throw the 2door body away. I made no pictures about that because they are sad memories for me, I loved that car, although it was pretty much undriveable because the heavy front end.
I still have the whole drivetrain in my garage in Hungary, maybe someday ...

Enough about the 350i. Let's talk about the actual one.

I been left without E30 for 2months, it was terrible so I had to buy a new one. This was it:
(I bought it in 09/2010)
As realoem says: "05/1986 E30 318i Sedan M10 Europe Left hand drive Manual "

These two pictures I made on the day of purchase:

The car was in excellent condition for it's age. Only one previous owner who was in his sixties. The car was kept in garage in all of it's life, although there were some typical underbody rust as I later discovered, but I'll show you later.
Car ran an indicated 258000km's (about 160k miles) but the instrument cluster had been swapped before to have a tachometer instead of a big clock.
Real mileage was about 320000km's (about 200k miles) as I figured out from the original service book which I got with the car.
Car had very good service history, even all the oil changes were made in the BMW Schneider service/showroom. Just in the previous 2-3 years the first owner changed all the suspension bushes, anti roll bar bushes, heater motor, water radiator, fanbelts, thermostat, heater motor switch (which is common e30 fault, when you notice that the 1. and 2. state of the heater/blower motor is not working, it's only the fault of this small part, cost about 15pounds to change for a new original part and it will work again for 20years!) new summer and winter floor mats, new winter tires (sadly not the correct size, which has to be 195/65/14 and it was 185/60/14 instead, so speedo was a bit optimistic). I also got 12(!) pieces of original 14" wheels with the car, 8 of them alloys freshly refurbished.
Car NEVER had an accident before, most of the bodywork was originally painted in 1986, except for the wings, the rear fender and the side covers.
Sadly the outer covers were replaced for aftermarket "Klokkerholm" parts which I don't recommend, they are much thinner as the original BMW parts, and it showed after lifting the car up several times, You can see from the reflection of the paint
that it became curvy Use only original BMW parts no aftermarket bullshit! This is for everyone!

Some pictures from just days later the purchase:

When I started using the car, I ran into problems straightaway.
The first gear was very hard to shift, you could only shift it when standing still, and it was loud like an old ambulance's siren
So i changed the gearbox and gave the car a large service, changing the oil, filters, brake fluid, and some more small things I don't remember.

After some weeks a quite big and unexpected problem appeared: the car became literally 4wheel steered
The rear suspension "bridge" broke in two, on the right, here are some pictures, I've never seen such thing on an E30 it was quite shocking, specially because the day before it happened I was traveling about 400miles on highway, sometimes over 110Mph...

Luckily I still had the complete rear axle from my previous car (the 350i), so i built it in immediately, alongside with the thicker 324TD rear axles and the E34 525tds 2,65 25%LSD differential, everything with new bushes, new powerflex differential mounting (which I don't recommend for road use, it lets through all the vibrations from the propshaft and it is really annoying when everything else is quiet and comfortable. Only use these on trackday cars!
The diff was really long for the overdrive M10 gearbox (5th gear 0,81:1) I could totally forget about the 5th gear, but I allready had an engine swap in my mind, so that's why I used it.

I also bought a TA-Technix front strut bar (similar to Schmiedmann's "profiline" thing), but I sold it immediately because it was useless! If you fit the strut bar you could not close the bonnet any more, and they've also forget about the throttle cable mounting, so that's why TA-Technix parts are so cheap, they are useless and dangerous, I don't recomment them to anyone! Use Schmiedmann or Wiechers or other branded parts only!

The next problem was huge amount of water condensation on the windows, which means that somewhere quite a lot of water is coming into the cabin.
I started to strip out the whole interior, and all my dreams of a spotless first-owner E30 were gone away

Some pictures of the state of the bodywork back then:

So a quick tip for anyone planning to buy an E30:

Don't waste your money to buy expensive ones that seem to be in a better condition, they aren't!! All E30's are rusted away! All of them! If you want to buy one, buy the CHEAPEST ONE! Also when its rusted away like sh_t! They all are! Fix it yourself that's the only way! Look for originality and no accident damage, that's all!

Also think about, that this car lived it's life in Hungary, were it's only raining once a week in average, imagine the condition of E30 that are running in Britain for 20-25years...

There's no return for me so I started to fix the bodywork completely. It is clear to see that someone "tried" before, but whoever it was, it was a rubbish job, putting metal on top of metal, not cutting out the original rusty one, just weld on top and cover it with some underbody spray...

Of course we (I was not doing it alone because I have no welding equipment) made everything like it should be made, cutting out all tired bodywork bits, applying rust remedy, welding the exact size pieces of metal into place, and welding them all around not just some spots. We were using Standox primer and paint everywhere, because I only have good experience with them.
Some pictures of the repairs:

(front-right floor and lift-point)

Jay, this is a great thread developing.

Pacerpete can't actually post at the moment because he's getting blisters on his palms from looking at the rust pictures!

Ben

The rear wheel arch also needed repairing. After sanding down it looked like this:
(I'll only show one side, the other side was in better condition, far away from perfect though.)





Basically what caused the rusting away of the rear wheel arch on the right, was the metal cover of the fuel pipe. This you must check on every E30's you are planning to buy, baceuse this is one of the E30's clearly visible construction fault, that was never originally fixed! Also the brand new original BMW part rusts away in 3-4 years of use in english weather, than it starts to collect all the dust and dirt from the wheels and slowly rust away the whole rear strut like you've seen here.
I have the perfect solution though, I allready made mine like that: Take a roughly good condition original part (I mean the metal cover) and use it as a sample, and create a new one from fiberglass or kevlar! Don't forget to pre-drain the place of bolts before you fit it to the car, oherwise they'll break easily. Job done! This works for decades!

Some more pictures without any comment


(rear right trunk pocket)


(after cutting the tired bits)

(finished welding and rust protection, just before painting)

So again, what caused this bad rusting away of the trunk?
The answer is this:

A badly fitted towbar! I've seen this on other examples too, when idiots are fitting these aftermarket tow-bars to cars, not caring about the water-exiting points of the rear tongues of the body. (sorry for my bad english, I'm trying my best here to be undarstandable for everyone )
This leads to water standing inside the rear bodywork, which will slowly find it's way to get out...

If you are buying an older car, equipped with a tow-bar, always check if it is fitted as factory standards or otherqise you can end up like me, having to build the complete rear bodywork from scratch!

BenHar wrote:Jay, this is a great thread developing.

Pacerpete can't actually post at the moment because he's getting blisters on his palms from looking at the rust pictures!

Ben

Oh wow ! rusty AND a quattroporte ! There is a Lord !


Top work, the world needs more sick heroes !

Thanks for all your comments guys! Sorry for not replying individually to all but actually I'm so into writing that I also forget to eat my dinner

So carry on with the left floor.
As you can see the whole thing was gone, I've used a "new" floor from a late '94 E30 Touring to replace the bits that were too complicated in shape for making from scratch.
Here we started:

New bits weldel into place

and skipping some of the obvious steps of the story, here they are after painting



One mistake I've made here with replacing the floor was the mounting point of the accelerator pedal, which is different in pre-facelift model E30's, so I had to buy a new one instead of welding back the old mounting point and painting again...

I love a 4 door, keep the pics coming nice work!

Jay 350i, as for your comment about the rust, mine has had the carpet out and showing no rust etc. a tiny bit here and there that's all Southern cars are the worst in this country because of all the flooding tho.

some other parts of the body after painting

If You think that this was the end of it, you're wrong

After partly removing the underfloor protection, we found this behind the front wheel


The way it was fixed is the same as other body parts, so let's skip right to the finished job:

Did you not think fixing the touring would have been easier?

Good work though, you are definitely a 4 door hero

The rear apron after primer:

And some shocking stuff (at least it was shocking for me...)
All the metal that had to be cut out from the bodywork of the car I've bought as an almost immaculate E30...

DanThe wrote:

Did you not think fixing the touring would have been easier?

Good work though, you are definitely a 4 door hero

It definitely would have been, but I always wanted a pre-facelift, metal bumper 4door E30.

After fixing all this and also under the battery (I can't find the pics about that sorry) even I thought that this is the end of it, but again I was wrong.
Luckily for 2-3weeks I had no time to put the interior carpets back in place, so after some rainy days I discovered that qute a lot of water is leaking into the car from somewhere the top of the firewall. So I got back to my friend and stripped out the whole interior ever more to see what's going on...

The problem as you can see was under the fuse box, where that beloved someone I've mentioned before tried to fix the bodywork with no knowledge at all:

Again the old metal was cut out and a new piece mede from scratch was welded in place



(here what you can see was work in progress, of course we welded the whole thing around properly)

After we finished the bodywork repairs I took the car to a paintshop owned by a friend of mine. I've always wanted the side covers painted white as well, so he did:
(before the paint)




Re-assembling after the paint


Just for fun I've also painted my phone to Alpinweiss

After polishing the car it looked like this:

Near my other car, an E30 332ix S54 (4wheel drive!) which I didn't built, I've bought it this way from a friend, and sold it after couple of months for financial reasons.

After finished body repairs, long and boring months came, only making small fixes to the car, like fitting an original BMW central lock, with a "Victor" remote control system. (I know it's basically an Audi key, but it is the most durable type of aftermarket remote control sets I've tried so far, so I went for the reliebility. Of course I also have all the original BMW keys even the small service key for the car, but I don't want to wear or break those while use.

Changed the kidneys for better ventilation, original was fully covered, I still have that one too for cold winter days

I've also fit a Nardi Blackline steering wheel, because I think that is the best looking one for E30, I hate that everyone has the same Mtech I or II steering wheels, at least this is something different About the luck I had, I've bought this for less than 10pounds from a breaked E30, because the owner thought this is some cheap aftermarked wheel with a BMW emblem. FAIL my bro, big fail!

In 2011 I broke down twice while using the original M10 engine.
First time it was caused by the fuel pump relay, I bought new original part of that, but the clock of the fuel pump itself was also ticking because it started to make even louder noise while operating, so i've changed it too before letting it causing problems. I've bought an aftermarket fuel pump what was originally designed for 325i M20 models.

The second breakdown wasn't caused by the fuel pump, It was however the head gasket, that's gone.

I've fixed the M10 engine, fitted it with new OEm quality gaskets on cylinder head oil pan, drive chain cover and valve head cover (again sorry for uncorrect english words if used), set the correct valve gaps, bought new ignition leads, sparks, rotor and cover. The M10 was working perfectly, but actually repairing it was a waste of money, because after only 2 months I removed it from the car completely.

Before I begin the big conversion to M50TUB25, I quickly finish writing the small things first.

First of all I wanted rear headrests for a long time, so I've bought this headrest mounting set from Schmiedmann.

Although these were great, I was stupid and impatient again, while couple weeks later I managed to find a complete rear seat with matching carpets and with rear armrest and headrests already build in.

The front wheel bearings started to make some noise, so I changed them for new Schmiedmann parts as well. Actually these were the only parts from Schmiedmann that disappointed me, because after 1,5years they started to make the same noise as well Again and again the same rule: BUY ORIGINAL BMW PARTS ONLY!


I've also bought a small rear spoiler from a 318iS

I forget, there was a third break down with the M10 engine, one that was a hard thing to discover: The engine stopped running when you pushed the clutch and the revs dropped from above 2000 to idle, and the car did not start again for a long time, only managed to start while towing with an other car and just for curiosity I've slowly dropped the clutch at 30mph in 2nd gear, making the engine rev up above 2000rpm.
It started immediately but the thing repeated itself again and again. If you have the same problem, the cause is the alternator voltage regulator! It's a very cheap part, I recommend using the M40's part instead of the M10's because longer life.

I've also installed a BMW Business CD RDS from E34.
I modified the connectors of the car's cable harness to ISO connectors, and did the same on the stereo itself, so it could be fit in any cars not only E30.
The stereo is still working perfectly except for only one pixel line which does not work when temperature is cold, but can be used perfectly.


After fitting the new rear seats with armrest, I could get an original skisack too, alongside with heated electric mirrors to both sides.


I also changed the gear knob to an original wooden one

With the M50 in mind I began to restore the suspension too.
On the front:
- new wishbones,
- new rear wishbone bushes (I've used E36 M3 parts, which have the same dimensions only they are more durable parts),
- new anti roll bar bushes again becaus they started making knocking noise (terrible hungarian roads are literally eating away these year after year)
- new upper strut mountings
On the rear:
- anti roll bar added (there wasn't one originally)
- new wheel bearings. I've chosen cheap aftermarket bearings again because I've planned 5x120 conversion for next year.


I've also changed the front seats to immaculate Sport seats for better side-holding
These were the old ones also in quite good nick:

And the replacement:
(no better picture at the moment)

I've also changed the centre console around the stereo, because the car wasn't originally fitted with tachometer, so there was no clock on the centre console, now there is. Later maybe change for OBC, but it's not important for me...

By the time I've also changed lots and lots of small parts, bonnet gas pressure spring, front brake calipers, discs and pads, (used the almost new ones from the 350i) now they became ventilated, headlights to better condition second hand parts (original Hella), one of the taillights and both of the taillight gaskets because water leak, changed all the trunk carpets to immaculate ones, etc
There were lot more things I did back then but after a time it's not easy to remember.

So the engine conversion!
The selected engine was an M50TUB25 (TU means single vanos at M50engines), which came from an 1993 E36 325i.
Because it came from an E36 I had to change the oil pan and the oil pump intake pipe to E34 parts (oil pan part no.:11131740346) , because the E36 has the engine fitted more behind the front chassy. The E34 parts fit perfectly. I'm using E34 engine mountings, a bit raised on the left, because of the brake servo on LHD cars. Also common solution is using the 325iX brake servo but this seemed easier, You just need to cut the last 4-5 ribs off the M50's air intake. M52s fit perfectly by the way because they have smaller intake.
I've also fitted a power steering at the time, the steering rack came from the same E36 as the engine. I needed to change the lower part of steering column to a part that came from an E30 with power steering as standard.
The benefit from using the E36 steering rack is the more direct ratio, 3,5 turns from lock to lock. E30 ones even the power steering models turn more than 4!
For water radiator I've used the 350i's radiator, only a bit reconditioned. It is an E28 M535i part. As far as I know this is the second biggest radiator that fits without modification to E30. The size is more than enough for all 24V or V8 engines even the V12.
The gearbox I used was an E46 330i 5speed box, which is the same as E36 M3 3,0. The ratios are the same as other 24v ZF boxes except for reverse gear. Dont ask why it is different
I've only used this box because the one that came from the E36 was ruined.
Clutch and double mass flywheel also came with the E46 box.