What did you do to your E30 today?

[G-Bear]

Put on new lollipop bushes and Mondeo Lemforder drop links.. Next up; calibre rebuild..

What gains do the Mondeo drop links give on an E30?

They are a better design, and last longer than the e30 item.

Yes as above.. Its no improvement on performance. Just better built. Is made up of two ball joints instead of one ball joint and a bush.

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/F ... 414&000016

[milescook]

Finished it







Then gave it a wash

[G-Bear]

They are a better design, and last longer than the e30 item.

Do you have a part number? Thanks

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/F ... 414&000016

[TPS]

Changed my Engine last Saturday, a very big thanks to Rob & Jim, & to Chris for the use of his garage:-







Heres a rare shot, of me actually doing some work!




Loads of Council activity!

Stopped the exhaust blow yesterday, by replacing the gasket, lovely quiet engine now:-

[beemerbird]

Phil. You're using the wrong end of that socket driver

[TPS]

I always get the wrong end of stick!

[gooner1]

Phil. You're using the wrong end of that socket driver

Shhh, Fi, Phil's concentrating that hard his tongue is 3 inches out of his mouth.


Today I put my keys on a keyring.

[TPS]

It is a rare shot, me concentrating & doing some work

[jimbom30cab]

It is indeed

[jmc330i]

Took mine for the run to Cheddar Gorge today, and struggled to keep up with diesel Fiesta! One very poorly 318i

Changed my Engine last Saturday

I thought you fitted the M42 a while back, or have you swapped M42s?

[jmc330i]

Finished it

Then gave it a wash

Nice one

When's the first outing to get it dirty?

[beemerbird]

Took mine on a run out to Foulness then up to the River Crouch and back home to Havering. Had a moment of the E30 mutual appreciation with a white coupe driver who returned my wave with an enthusiastic thumbs up

[TPS]

Took mine for the run to Cheddar Gorge today, and struggled to keep up with diesel Fiesta! One very poorly 318i

Changed my Engine last Saturday

I thought you fitted the M42 a while back, or have you swapped M42s?

Swapped M42s

[Topblag]

Attended the Glamis castle annual show. Scorchio.

[milescook]

Finished it

Then gave it a wash

Nice one

When's the first outing to get it dirty?

Hopefuly early August at Pembrey

[FinalD]

Inspected my brakes to see if I could fins the scraping noise I heard yesterday, couldn't see anything obvious, maybe it was just due to the heat as they are very close to the carriers...




I also thought I'd try and do up my blue temp sensor a bit as there is a minor leak coming from it. I quickly realised why it is as tight as I can get it:




No access, spanners are too big, sockets are too big. The brown sensor is in the way (minor really) and the injector rail or whatever is also hugely in the way.


All in all, not a very productive evening....although I did fit some side repeaters from maggspower.

[G-Bear]

All in all, not a very productive evening....

Nice that you have time in an evening get some work done.. I never seem to make it back from work in a decent hour.

[Morat]

found out my replacement m52 is fooked!

That sucks

[FinalD]

Nice that you have time in an evening get some work done.. I never seem to make it back from work in a decent hour.

Luckily I've got a decent enough car park to work on the car in and get back from work within an hour so can work on the car. Did a diff swap over two evenings last week, could have done it in one evening but I felt like spacing it out.

[JF008]

drove mine to the garage and kissed my tappets good bye

[leeparkes]

My Tech-2 wheel is in need of a retrim, ive removed the old leather, it smelt like a dog blanket.

However, there like a soft rubber underneath so i cleaned it up, lobbed it back on and went for a drive.

Feels great, reminds me of the old RS turbo wheels, i shall retrim it soon but at the moment i like it as is.

[darkchild]

Probably taken it on its last journey.

The wife and I were taking it on a day trip to the suffolk coast when she suddenly complained there was a lack of power and response from the car. No surprising noises, temperature fine etc. Called the RAC to have it recovered to my local BMW specialist and the RAC chap gave us the good news - cambelt drama! To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. The belt was changed only 17K and 2.5 years ago as I've always ensured this is changed way before the recommended interval. I'll be interested to see the reason for its premature expiry!

The car itself had been faultless in the previous 40K I've done in it and is a very, very tidy example. Will hopefully get the full autopsy tomorrow before making a decision regarding its future.

[mattrs]

I broke the master cylinder whilst hurtling around Bedford SEN circuit!

[Speedtouch]

Probably taken it on its last journey.

The wife and I were taking it on a day trip to the suffolk coast when she suddenly complained there was a lack of power and response from the car. No surprising noises, temperature fine etc. Called the RAC to have it recovered to my local BMW specialist and the RAC chap gave us the good news - cambelt drama! To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. The belt was changed only 17K and 2.5 years ago as I've always ensured this is changed way before the recommended interval. I'll be interested to see the reason for its premature expiry!

The car itself had been faultless in the previous 40K I've done in it and is a very, very tidy example. Will hopefully get the full autopsy tomorrow before making a decision regarding its future.

Is this your 320i we're talking about? What make of cambelt was it? Very unusual to have one break at 17,000 miles.

[Gert_8]

A cam belt change is no guarantee that it will not break. Sorry to hear the news though.

[darkchild]

Probably taken it on its last journey.

The wife and I were taking it on a day trip to the suffolk coast when she suddenly complained there was a lack of power and response from the car. No surprising noises, temperature fine etc. Called the RAC to have it recovered to my local BMW specialist and the RAC chap gave us the good news - cambelt drama! To say I'm annoyed is an understatement. The belt was changed only 17K and 2.5 years ago as I've always ensured this is changed way before the recommended interval. I'll be interested to see the reason for its premature expiry!

The car itself had been faultless in the previous 40K I've done in it and is a very, very tidy example. Will hopefully get the full autopsy tomorrow before making a decision regarding its future.

Is this your 320i we're talking about? What make of cambelt was it? Very unusual to have one break at 17,000 miles.

Yep. It was a Contitech belt. I had a new belt, tensioner etc at 62K when I first bought it. The most recent one was fitted at 85K and its now on 102K. The garage will get back to me tomorrow but at the moment I'm just going on what the RAC advised (hopefully they're wrong but I doubt it!). Gutted really as the car is a way better example than most. However, its a 4 door 320i so was worth more as reliable transport than its monetary value. Its either spend a lot of money to get it back on the road or cash in on what morsels it has - rust free Dolphin Grey panels, 15"BBS, 14" Bottletops with Goodyear Winter Tyres, OBC etc. The decision will be further influenced by the tax being up at the end of the month, new tyres on the BBS and a new exhaust back box being needed soon.

Despite its surplus of doors it will be a shame if it doesn't see the road again. Its been such a good, honest and reliable car, far better than my E46 and equally as good as my E36. It I had scrimped on it I wouldn't mind too much but its had literally whatever its needed in my ownership. Just glad I'll have the epic 1200 mile Scotland trip earlier this year to remember it by if it does end up going to the bridge.

[jimbom30cab]

Hey mate, you can pick up a decent second hand engine on here quite cheap, you should think about changing it

That's if you really need to

Must be a way of keeping her going?

[ImysE30]

Took off the knackered exhaust, now ready for a new one to go on

[DanThe]

Just dont take it to the engine re-conditioners that were on cowboy traders the other day

[manse73]

Swallowed a tank full of petrol going to the German show

[darkchild]

Hey mate, you can pick up a decent second hand engine on here quite cheap, you should think about changing it

That's if you really need to

Must be a way of keeping her going?

I definitely haven't ruled it out. Tomorrow should reveal the full extent of the damage which will make things a bit clearer regarding what my options are. I've got a garage I can keep it stored away in so there will be no need for a rushed decision.

Its just new engine + other bits it will need over the next 6 months (tax, tyres, exhaust) doesn't make much financial sense regardless of how much I like the old barge!

[bmwe30chic]

Today I fitted a 6 speed box to my m50 block! Just waiting for prop to be extended...

[G-Bear]

Stripped, cleaned and rebuilt all callipers with new seals kits. Swapped the front discs and pads off my other E30 as they were in better order. Put on new handbrake shoes, pads and discs on the rear. Adjusted the handbrake and gave the car a wash.

New engine mounts in.. Failed MOT, start research on brake imbalance..

Just passed my MOT after a initial failure on brake imbalance, chatting to the guy he said the new system has changed it so they can't feather the brake or something they have to just brake and the machine does the rest, anyway I stripped the calipers off cleaned them and emery cloth the pads alittle then did a few 70mph-0 stops and took it back in and he passed it streight away. The calipers were clean as a whistle inside so I think it was the stops that did more of the fixing.

Sadly won't have time to run the brakes in pre MOT, so not sure how thats going to work when it gets tested. Probably have to get my girlfriend to take it there, so I doubt she'll be keen on any heavy braking on the way..