E30 Zone

It's been a while since I've been on here but thought I'd share a bit of info on my E30's

First is my PBMW race car which I've owned and raced for about 5 years, its a 1986 chrome bumper 320i. Great fun and slowly getting a bit quicker.



second is a 318is I bought yesterday off of a friend.



Bought it to replace my Impreza WRX as a daily run around as I was getting fed up with 24mpg on super unleaded.

The 318is was pretty reasonable price but does need a few bits doing to bring it back up to scratch as it's not been used much recently. Seams to drive reasonably well.

List so far appears to be:
Get Stereo working
Electric mirrors don't work
Central locking doesn't work
it needs a pair of correct size front tyres.
a pair of orange front indicators
refit the centre caps
New Arial
sort out a couple of small marks on the bodywork.

annoyingly I seam to have somehow buggered the drivers side lock today and can't get it to unlock with the key

Fingers crossed I don't find too much more!

Nice collection.

I went to look at an IS yesterday which is going to auction this month, looked nice from the outside but rotten as anything underneath.

Are you doing the PBMW next year, a friend of mine is entering for his first year of racing.

Yes I'll definitely be doing PBMW again, it's a great series and good value as far as racing goes

Which engine do you prefer

thats a tricky one as I haven't driven the PBMW for a few months

from what i've read the 318is should handle better but at the moment I've only driven it it the wet with a different brand of tyre on each corner.

One thing I have noticed is I prefer the lack of power steering on my 320.

Managed to sort a few bits on it today.

Found some orange front indicators to replace the smoked grey ones
Found some reasonable body coloured wing mirrors in the box of race car spares to replace the slightly ruff black ones that were on the car (luckily had a pair in Diamond Schwartz).
Managed to get some signs of live from the central locking, it locks / unlocks from the boot. need to check if the spare doors I have have central locking motors in them, fingers crossed.
Fitted the centre caps to the wheels (well 3, one is different and doesn't fit so another thing to buy)

Also had a go at degreasing the engine pay



starting to look a little better, might have to keep my eye open for a replacement rocker cover, does anyone know if its the same as a E36 318is rocker cover?

As of tonight the electric mirrors work, rebuilt and cleaned the switch in the door. They're not all that quick to adjust but can't have been used for at least 4 or 5 years so hopefully a bit of use will free them up

Sounds like a familiar list of fixes! Currently about to replace my 318is rocker cover too, it's come from an e36, so I assume it fits. Post the confirmation here ASAP when it arrives.

Captain_Birdseye wrote:Sounds like a familiar list of fixes! Currently about to replace my 318is rocker cover too, it's come from an e36, so I assume it fits. Post the confirmation here ASAP when it arrives.

that would be great if you could.

Majority of the easy fixes are getting there, its nice to work on a car where you can fix things yourself.

I do have slight concerns that the engines a little noisy, think I'm going to try and replace the cam chain tensioner and hope that helps.

Oh dear, just checked on the m42 club and one poster says the e36 cover won't fit the e30. My stuff will be on it's way now, so I may as well see for myself out of interest. I'll let you know.

Sounds like you're pretty handy, from what they say a tensioner change is never going to hurt for the 'is (especially if you don't know when it was last done I guess).

cheers, I've had a look at a picture of one on eBay and it does look slightly different.

No idea when the tensioner was last done and for £26 on eurocarparts it seams silly not to just chuck one on.

the breather pipe hole is in the wrong place on an e36 cover

andye30m3 wrote: starting to look a little better, might have to keep my eye open for a replacement rocker cover, does anyone know if its the same as a E36 318is rocker cover?

Earlier E36 rock covers will fit. All you need to check is that the breather port is on the front not the back.


P.S. if you're ever at Silverstone in the race car give me a hola I'm not far from there

looks like the E30's are at Silverstone on 4th June and 2nd July, give me a shout nearer the time as I'm sure I can sort out a ticket or 2