E30 Zone

Well I have been hunting for an e30 for ages. 2 door's just don't come up for sale very often.

It's ropey but it's going to be a lot of fun and I will get it up to a standard I am happy with while using it as a daily









Spec wise it has:

LSD machined with extra plates
Full spax PSX suspension
Mazda 4 pot brakes on the front
Pollybushed at the front
Track tyres
16" Junk wheels
2.4 turn to turn steering rack from an Impreza
Bucket seats and harness
Air con (fitted from standard and not retro fitted)
Interior is full leather except the bucket seats
Ported and polished head

So a good base to start with. Downsides are the paint is poor, some rust in the scuttle and worse of all, the roof. Looking into the LWS Design carbon roof, but don't want to get carried away.

The Impreza rack needs attention. It's modified by one of the local rally heroes but this one is knackered and needs replacing. Considering reverting back to a BMW rack and using an e46 rack, however the front subframe will need changing.

Either way, I am chuffed to have a driving e30 again!

I have emailed the chap who did it. He also did the sunroof plug on my other e30. From what I remember him telling me 6 years ago (christ I have owned my other one for 6 years now!), he welds a bracket to the subframe, welds up the ports on the rack and re-taps them elsewhere, or something to that effect.

Going to try and get under it tomorrow and see what the score is. Not only is it 2.4 turns, it has more travel so is a very quick rack. Right now it has no P/S and is a major ball ache trying to move it round, especially with the tiny wheel that is currently installed

it's a slippery slope

Well I've just been underneath it checking out this rack conversion. Going to rip it out and replace with a BMW one. While the concept is pretty good, the execution is poor. The rack sits about 2" behind the centreline of the track rod ends. I am not massively clued up on steering geometry, but I am sure that's not the done thing and leads to various issues.

I'll get some pics up when I have more time

i'd be interested to know about the imprezza rack conversion aswell.

got a rack from a mid 90's scooby in the shed.

also heard talk about using a quick rack off a mk2 escort but can't find any info on that one.

waiting for updates ross

Sounds to m Ross like a quick half arsed attempt to make the rack quicker. I would imagine there would be bump steer issues with the rack ends coming out at an angle.

That is what I am suspecting. I'm going to get it on a ramp and look at it properly. If it's something that can be sorted I might go for it after seeing how cheap Impreza racks go for.

From the brief look I've had at it, it has a custom steering shaft and tie rods and brackets welded to the cross member.

Steve, not heard of Escort racks being used, but apparently a LHD Talbot Sunbeam rack flipped upside down works and is used by the rally crowd

ross_jsy wrote:That is what I am suspecting. I'm going to get it on a ramp and look at it properly. If it's something that can be sorted I might go for it after seeing how cheap Impreza racks go for.

From the brief look I've had at it, it has a custom steering shaft and tie rods and brackets welded to the cross member.

Steve, not heard of Escort racks being used, but apparently a LHD Talbot Sunbeam rack flipped upside down works and is used by the rally crowd

hmm, i'll have to have a look into that, the father in law is a rally driver & builds hos own cars so might have a word with him

Honestly I don't really see the point of going much quicker. A z3 rack (which I have on my other e30) is described by some as too twitchy so there's no point having some crazily hyper rack when the BMW parts bin can be made to work, unless it's a track/rally/drift car

Saw those wheels a while ago and thought they looked nice, sort of like the OZ ones but with more dish, are they staying?

They will be staying, yes. Really like them. Picking the rears up tomorrow I think. They feel pretty light, will be weighing them and comparing to BBS'

Health to drive, Ross.

Very nice.
Tech 1 front aswell.

It's been lashed on, but looks cool in a sort of ratty/trackslag/mad max sort of way but I'l be sorting that out properly at some point. Or I am tempted by a 'Pina cow plough.

40% diff is fun

How much are alpenis cow ploughs being served for? Just simple curiosity.

No idea, not seen one for sale in a long time but I have no qualms with using a fibreglass jobbie

I have one here I'm willing to sell, and it's a copy. Needs a bit of work

ross_jsy wrote:No idea, not seen one for sale in a long time but I have no qualms with using a fibreglass jobbie

You sick fiend, next you'll be fitting a repo louvre


Looks like a great little car to rattle about in, I'm slightly jelly, the Disastra is boring the tears out of me.

Fire me off a price and some pics if you could Cap'n

It's cracking Babs. Concerned about what I am going to do about the roof rot. I'll assess how bad it is once I've pulled the headlining out. I am just really pleased to be back in an e30 again though

ross_jsy wrote:It's cracking Babs. Concerned about what I am going to do about the roof rot. I'll assess how bad it is once I've pulled the headlining out. I am just really pleased to be back in an e30 again though

I have a similar issue. How much did it cost you? If it's something you're happy enough to run into the ground, dremel & Bilt Hamber or patch for the patina/ rat look?

£1500. I am of the view that although it's a bit of a turd, e30's are getting rare so I don't really want to bodge it.

I am actually considering this:

http://www.lwsdesign.co.uk/product.php? ... gory_id=37

Ah, that's a slippery slope. If you're going to spend that sort of dough, jig & roof transplant?

Roof transplant will be the thick end of £3k, and I wouldn't let anyone over here do it. But yes, slippery slope and I don't want this turning into a project like my Sport

ross_jsy wrote:Roof transplant will be the thick end of £3k, and I wouldn't let anyone over here do it. But yes, slippery slope and I don't want this turning into a project like my Sport

Fook. I'll get a quote from my 'car friend'/body work guy and check that, It might work out cheaper for you to drive to NI and sleep on my sofa!

Is this one of Pete's grooming attempts? But that could be a plan. International bodywork trip! I expect a proper room though, none of this sofa rubbish

ross_jsy wrote:Is this one of Pete's grooming attempts? But that could be a plan. International bodywork trip! I expect a proper room though, none of this sofa rubbish

We used to have a spare room/pc room with a bed but it's now storage area for frag but I have a double bed, I mean, I could clear the spare room out.


Pete has stopped trying to groom me, best form of defence is attack. Once you start negotiating your 'wares' for discount, he loses interest.

Tech 1 bodgery looks proper council/drift/scummy, are you going to turn this back into a nice road car Ross? I wouldn't bother with the carbon roof, get Matt booked up for a proper roof swap

I am not sure Dan, I plan on keeping it so making it proper again will probably happen. I think I'll remove the headlining and asses the situation, treat it to stop it spreading and start looking at options like a new roof. Bar the scuttle the rest of the car is solid

So changed the rear pads today. Not sure how people let brake items get this bad!





And installed the rear wheels

New roofs are now NLA, that's sunroof and non sunroof.

I know Bazza, seen a few good used ones come up for sale though.

I am dreading taking the headlining out and I should stop looking at that carbon one!

So Wednesday night I got a text from my brother asking if I fancied a trip to France to my dads holiday home on the weekend. We were going to hire a car, but decided that it would be a great excuse to take the e30 away! Queue the most disastrous chain of events possible.

It started off on Thursday night. I had barely driven the car as the fan was broken following a failed engine mount when my friend owned it. He replaced the mount, but the fan needed attention. According to him, it was just the fan. That was a lie.



Luckily, the PO had upgraded the rad to an e36 item, the exact same one I used for my m50 conversion, so the Sports part pile was quicky pilfered, the fan attached to the back of the rad as this car has aircon and the radiator fitted, filled and bled.



After a test drive and half an hour idling:



Now I mentioned the rack was knocking and was told it was worn by the PO. I hadn't had a proper look underneath the turd yet as I couldn't get my normal jack underneath it. Well when I jacked it up, I figured I would have a look. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw 2 of the 4 bolts holding it in where missing and there were witness marks where it had slid back and forth! Impreza racks are held in with 2 C clamps with 2 bolts each, one has notches in the rack where it sits in. The knocking was it smacking back and forth into these notches A quick rummage through my bolt collection, and all 4 bolts nipped up cured this and made the steering feel amazing. I might explore this rack option further now.

So by this time, it's 12.45, I pack the car up ready for the trip the next day and go to bed.

The next day I left work early, grabbed my backpack and jumped into the car. It was a bit reluctant to start but eventually wheezed into life. No time to investigate, I started to reverse out the garage when it started pouring smoke out the bonnet. Opened the bonnet to see flames coming out and shat myself. Grabbed a bucket of water and chucked it over the lump. Turns out the O - ring on the dodgy aftermarket FPR had split, sprayed fuel everywhere and it had gone up. Luckily pretty much only the fuel burnt, along with the bonnet so I pilfered a spare O -ring and fitted it. The fire had also taken out the wires to the fan controller so I unplugged it and as an emergency fix I hardwired the fan to the switchable live on the ignition coil and picked up my brother. No pics of the damage bar this:



Now any normal person would have given up on the idea of taking the car away by now, but I was determined. The car made it to the ferry (just) and was loaded up:



Goodbye Jersey!



Hello 80's Liverpudlian!



And hello St Malo!



While getting off the boat, I noticed this stunning drop top Bentley with red leather interior. Lovely car:



Cruising round town looking for the hotel I spotted some local French talent. The inner Pony came out in me and I dumped the clutch and slid out the junction. To my surprise they loved it and all started cheering! Must have been the yellow headlights



Found the hotel and opposite it was a really cool museum. I managed to sneak the e30 through a barrier and park it up for my favourite photo of the whole trip:



A few beers, some awful steak and bed ready for the drive the next day. We woke up to perfect weather:



I checked all the levels and tyre pressures ready for the 130 mile drive and we set off down the motorway. Car was really well behaved, pulled well and we sat at a comfortable 90 most of the way down. Highlight was spotting a french e30! Beautiful 325i, lowered on some nice rims. We were in convoy for about 50 miles, giving it a bit of stick and overtaking each other. Good times





We arrived at my dads place in a town called Huelgoat at about 12 and parked up next to his new Kia, sorry BMW 2 series active tourer



What happened to BMW? One of the dogs took a liking to the e30 and wouldn't get out for a while!



If you like walking I really recommend Huelgoat. It's got these stunning house sized boulders scattered around and has some incredible scenery. I let my brother take the pictures with his proper camera as my phone wasn't doing it justice. I did spot Stefan's Grotto though (sounds seedy doesn't it?)



And I spent the rest of the day hacking around the valleys in the e30. I wish I had got some photo's/footage as the roads were incredible. No cars on them, really fast, undulating and flowing through amazing views. Burnt a tank in the afternoon ragging it around. BBQ and beers finished off the day nicely.

The next day, the dogs took me for a walk



And we had a spot of lunch with the old man before heading off. We decided to take the back roads this time instead of the motorways and saw some amazing scenery, along with the best driving roads imaginable. No pictures of the good bits unfortunately, my brother was holding on for dear life.





And against my best predictions, the car made it back without missing a beat! It was running a touch on the warm side mind, but it was 30 degrees and I was pretty flat out.





And finally home!



Despite a disastrous start, it turned out to be a cracking trip and I am really glad I took the e30 in the end. If anything it has highlighted all the weaknesses and my list of things to do is getting a lot longer, but no better way to figure out what was wrong than this.

Hoping to go again in a couple weeks