Lee Parkes' E30 Alpina B10.

[Rav335uk]

You fooking ANIMAL!

[Rav335uk]

They look very similar to these wheels.

[leeparkes]

Yes, similar.

[ImysE30]

Fresh, looking good

[leeparkes]

Cheers Imy,
Got myself a nice pair of Continental sport contact 2's for the rear in 225/40/16 flavour all fitted and now the rims are ready to go on!
Spent the last week cleaning/polishing the car and its getting taxed in two days.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

[leeparkes]

Taxed up today, filled a jerry (green 5 ltr ones) brimmed it at £8.
went for a quick 10 minute blat but ill give it a proper shake down over the next few days, sounds like the front wheels are catching somewhere.
Ill get some pics up too, car looks Dench with the new loyz on.

[appletree]

Any pics of the wheels on the car yet? They look very nice.

Are they Dare RS copys or a different make all togeather.

Also any pics of the centre caps on, quite fancy a set as I'm getting bored of the hartges on mine.

[ImysE30]

DENCH !!

[Greeny]

If I were you I'd give those wheels a couple of coats of clear lacquer. I am running 19" BBS LM reps on my Audi and no amount of wheel sealant has helped stop the lip corroding. The lacquer is wafer thin.

[leeparkes]

Im keeping an eye on how there doing, there's about 5 coats of Poorboys sealant on there so ill see how it goes.

Quick cheeky pic.



Not sure what to do about the centre caps yet, ill update later with a few more pics.

[ImysE30]

That looks the nuts

[appletree]

Wheel centres nearly match the car! Looks smart.

[leeparkes]

Cheers!

Right the car is back in action, the front wheels where catching on the strut so a 5mm spacer solved that, there 8j ET25.
Car performs very well now all the front suspension is tightened up and engine is as epic as ever! then again it probably hasnt done 500 miles since it went on the rollers in 2011, although it does feel like its vibrating somewhere when accelerating so ill have to check that out.
Besides that im glad to be in a fun daily car again.


Anyway, gave it a bit of a polish. im no detail hero but it came out quite well, clayed first then i used Autoglym hi res polish, easy to use and came out quite well!
I had some Meguires deep crystal wax to finish it off.

Pics....

Excuse if the pics aint the best, i used my old Samsung l200 camera
but you get the idea.


















Coming out to play.



Ready for action, wish i had a better camera.







I want to get back down Hitech as i remember him saying he could squeeze a bit more power out of it, its at 257hp 290lbft now, id be happy with 260hp 300lbft. he did say id lose some low down power but i can live with that.

[leeparkes]

Just relised its been almost 4 years since this started.

[Rav335uk]

Wheels look nice Lee.

[leeparkes]

I know, i quite like them, they were only bought to use as 'daily wheels to save me bostin up the pina's but tbh i prefer these.

[Kos]

Poor boys wheel wax is alright. But compared to wolfs chemicals rim shield its pony

It covers 5 sets of wheels for me so far and I've only used half a bottle. I had well over a years durability out of it as well !

[leeparkes]

Cheers Kos.
What wax/sealant would you recommend for the body?

[Kos]

If you want a durable wax collinite 476, but some people struggle with it, so use really thin layers using a foam applicator. This is what I've just used on my e46 touring and it give a really nice finish

3M marine paste wax and meguiars no16 paste wax are slightly more expensive and more forgiving of you over apply it

If you want to go with a synthetic sealant you pretty much have to have as perfect as possibly paint work as they only tend to bond on paint where as waxes can be applied onto a polish or glaze that's been used to prep the surface

The autoglym HD wax is also very durable and give a nice wet look but to day one wax looks better than another is down to personal opinion, to be honest it's how you prepare the base it's going onto that matters more

I've applied a £150 was to my car and it looked no better than a £40 quid wax

So, to answer your question, collinite 476 and top it off with a quick detailer as that will help remove any wax dust or residue left behind and give a good finish and be durable

[leeparkes]

Thanks Kos.


Had a PITA day with it today, exhaust was blowing near the manifold so i decided to fix it!
Pulled the exhaust back off the downpipes then went about removing the downpipes, the leak was suspect around the front manifold where i modded it for a quick rack, removed that no problem but the rear one looked a bit sooty so decided "while im there" i may aswell take that off and reseal it, wish id never bothered.
started undoing (after soaking in WD40) the two bolts/springs,

Like here.



You guessed it... SNAP!
the rear bolt too so i couldnt get the drill up there to dig it out.

Rear manifold had to come off, and i was bricking it! last thing i needed was a head stud to snap.
Used about half a can of WD40 on them first and went in to dose myself up on coffee and fags.
Gently gently does it and i was so releived when they all come out ok.

Id got a spare manifold at hand so from there on it was plain sailing, went back together nicely but more to the point no more blowing!
Sounds mental now when you floor it you can really hear the induction noise.

Next job. E36 328i prop. Im sure the centre bearing is on its was out on the 325i prop i got so while im there i may aswell ditch the E30 prop and upgrade to something with some girth.

Never ending is it.

[Rav335uk]

Those spring loaded bolts are proper 8457ards to remove.
Glad you got it sorted Lee.

[leeparkes]

After a bit of a ding dong with an E46 M3 the car was vibrating and was vibrating with revs not speed so after limping it home i set about finding what was causing it.
My findings were the sump was sitting on the subframe.
and the cause was this...







Landrover mount fail. thats the exhaust side and probably only 500 miles use! cracked to fook and buckled.

Im going for the Burton ones next.

[ImysE30]

Wow

Standard mounts not good enough?

[Rav335uk]

Why not use the M20 ones ,mine have lasted.

[jimbom30cab]

I have fitted the burton ones Lee, they are a bit more ££ but they do seem more tough if you like.

[DanThe]

After a bit of a ding dong with an E46 M3 the car was vibrating and was vibrating with revs not speed so after limping it home i set about finding what was causing it.
My findings were the sump was sitting on the subframe.
and the cause was this...







Landrover mount fail. thats the exhaust side and probably only 500 miles use! cracked to fook and buckled.

Im going for the Burton ones next.

The heat will have dried it out and caused it to crack, but I wonder why its dented, maybe it the shape of the mounting arm pressing on it? A big washer would help if it is, and it might be a good idea to get a heat shield on the new mount.
Must be the torques

[jimbom30cab]

I think you are right Dan, the mounts are rectangular and quite a bit smaller in cross sectional area than the mounts. It's making me wonder if it's possible to get really big washers that can go between the rubber and the engine mounts. Some research needed.....

[Rav335uk]

I think mne have lasted, as they are enclosed in metal cups.

[jimbom30cab]

yes that seems a good way to do it Rav

I will look for the same.

[ImysE30]

Cups are OEM from BMW, I have them fitted too

[Rav335uk]

http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/E30/2 ... on_damper/

[jimbom30cab]

it's a funny diagram that as you would think part 12 would go between 7 and 4

or even both sides of the mount but defo the "hot" side

oh well.....

[Rav335uk]

Well, it works, by surrounding the mount, rather than spunking money out on more mounts all the time.

[jimbom30cab]

oh, fair enough, I was thinking it would be more of a heat shield rather than a "cup" type thing. I'm fed up with e30s now anyway

[Rav335uk]

Try living with one for 17 yrs