My 320i..

[bab-91]

O woa!

How did I miss this!

[zd3bx]

Very clean E30 and great pics, reminds me of the a lot of things I still need to do on mine

Where did you get the rear ARB from? Is it new or used and how much?

[Mitchen]

Thanks for the love guys. With this period stuff, I think it's all about the condition. You can pick up some bargains out there, but to find units which do your dashboard justice, and don't have scratches and scuffs, you really need to search hard.. finding brand new, unused stuff, is whole other level of obsession

I would suggest upgrading to the goodridge braided flexi hoses and make sure you go for the ones with the stainless fittings ( the zinc plated ones are cheaper but tarnish quickly )

Thanks Rob, I saw them on the bay.. but ended up ordering genuines from the dealer.. in hindsight probably should of gone for goodridge, seeing as the OEM's will probably need changing again in a few years.

You're sick!

Coming from the guy who's about to molest a mint, low mileage cream puff, by sticking volvo lips on it, and all those other depravities you FB mob are in to.

How did I miss this!

Looks like you've not been the only one Babs

Where did you get the rear ARB from? Is it new or used and how much?

It was used but in very good condition! You should be able to pick up a second hand one for a score. I was lucky Barry had a decent one knocking about which he pretty much gave away to me at a steal. Well worth doing though, noticeably improves the drive

[hennared323i]

Dear God the sickness is strong within you

As said previously just work through the advisories as time permits.

Handbrake issue? swop to a disk setup and sort out the rear end while you are doing it

Cap doffed

[Mitchen]

Dear God the sickness is strong within you

As said previously just work through the advisories as time permits.

Handbrake issue? swop to a disk setup and sort out the rear end while you are doing it

Cap doffed

Haha thanks mate.

Once the new adjusters arrive, the brakes should be as good as new and should operate as such.

Plus swapping out and powder coating the rear beam is money I'll be using elsewhere on the car now.. and knowing me and my OCD, I'll end up wanting to buy new every nut, bolt and part that comes off!

[Kedge]

Stereo envy!!! Where'd you find all that?

Reminds me, I need to get my Memphis refurb'd!

[Mitchen]

Bit of a meaty update of various odds and sods to get this up to date.. So with my MOT well overdue, my reoccurring handbrake issue decided to rear its ugly head just when the due date approached.

The problem was the adjusting springs kept popping out, and despite new cylinders, shoes, drums, fluid and being bled and inspected by 3 different mechanics including a BMW dealership, every couple of months my handbrake handle would creep up to my shoulder, and my brake peddle would become useless and no one could diagnose why.



I arrived with cables and springs hoping it was enough to solve it, but it turned out to be the linkage, number 6 here.





We bodged it so I could get the car through the MOT and back legally on the road, with the intention of ordering the linkages to fit them soon as possible. Didn’t quite go to plan, and had a whoooooole lot of trouble getting though the MOT even after the linkages were fitted, as most of you know.

Anyway during the MOT debacle, I also got the front to rear brake pipe replaced and all hoses. They showed up as advisories because of wear.. and they looked like this..









As well as refreshing the hoses.. I also replaced both callipers and brake carriers.








Other bits and bobs.. I also managed to find an elusive black tail pipe trim.. always had one but couldn’t locate another. Turns out a dealership in Egypt had one.. maybe there is a positive to globalization after all.

This picture doesn’t catch the blue specks, but they are pretty awesome, especially with a shadowline car.






Also managed to find one of these! Real blast from the past! But have been informed by Barry that it's the air freshener of choice for rapist/serial killers on BBC



Finally got round to changing the bonnet insulation





As well as that I got some brand new BBS caps in negaro grey from Germany for a knock down price, with the intention of respraying when the wheels go in for a refurb.



This was the excuse I needed for getting Lepsons to do a refurb of my 15" BBS'.. They aren't cheap as far as alloy refubish companies go, but the attention to detail and the quality of finish show they are as good as it gets in this field.

Whilst they were off, I stuck on a set of bottle tops which I actually loved using as well..





The wheels then came back and we fitted today.. Note the OEM colour of the inside of the wheel. Obviously a step above the normal just silver sprayed everywhere, that you get with other wheel refurb jobs.









And finally a new unused jerry can for the boot.





That's all for now!

[Jona1971]

That jerry can is brilliant

[jimbom30cab]

OEMtastic there. How on earth did you find an exhaust pipe trim in Egypt !!!

Those wheels look amazing !!

[Mitchen]

Egypt is only a couple of clicks of the mouse away Jimbo

[e30Passion]

Superb job on those wheels! Doesn't get any better indeed. Lovely!

So are the accessories E30 can be loaded with them as they made a few.

Tip: Put some A4 size stick on foam padding on the underside of both hard parts of the carpet that touch Jerry. I installed a new one there to a few years ago but it's now full of scratches because of a moving bootcarpet.

[Mitchen]

Tip: Put some A4 size stick on foam padding on the underside of both hard parts of the carpet that touch Jerry. I installed a new one there to a few years ago but it's now full of scratches because of a moving bootcarpet.

Thanks for the heads up

[Cypriotgeeza]

very update man!

[ryan_gwa]

That bonnet insulation looks great, mind if I ask where it came from?

[Mitchen]

That bonnet insulation looks great, mind if I ask where it came from?

From the dealers Ryan.. 40 odd quid, so not expensive.

[ryan_gwa]

That bonnet insulation looks great, mind if I ask where it came from?

From the dealers Ryan.. 40 odd quid, so not expensive.

Sweet, cheers! Will have to get some ordered when the time comes.

[Mitchen]

So after a lot of mucking about trying to get audio wires made because the ones I needed are now obsolete.. I was finally able to complete my audio install today, and it was well worth the wait!

I won't go into too much detail about how I hooked it all up.. but let's just say, years old speaker wire and audio cable was pulled out! It's amazing how much unwanted crap you will find hiding within your dashboard.



Finally I have my period set up, and the sound quality is surprisingly brilliant!

If you don't remember, I went for these Blaupunkt 1615's for the rear parcel shelf.. packing an impressive max of 150w.. and boy do these have some bass!



Went for a Washington SQR49 as the head unit.. which also comes with a phono aux input.. so I can run my iPhone from it.



And the BEA108E touchscreen equaliser.



All culminating in this..



And it actually sounds a lot better than the Vibe shit I had in the car beforehand!!

[jimbom30cab]

That look fantastic, top job there mate, love the EQ. Touch screen back in the late 1980s must have been very rare indeed. What speakers did you fit up front ?

[Mitchen]

Thanks Jim! The fronts are a real pain in the back side, I ended up returning 3 pairs that I just couldn't get to fit, using a guide of around 57mm depth.

So in the end I just stuck with the modern Alpines that the previous owner had in there. The spec isn't too bad so it does the job!

[jimbom30cab]

Awesome, i'll keep that in mind, thanks for the tip.

Love this car !!!!

[Mitchen]

Haven't updated this in a little while. Just been doing little bits on the engine bay trying to make it more presentable.

I've got a new idle control valve and air flow meter meter on their way, as mine look like they've just been recovered from the Titanic. There's some deals to be had at ECP when you send off your old ones.

Anyway I've finally got one of these



And after having a new coolant tank sitting around my bedroom for the past few months, I finally thought it was time to fit it today, along with some new hoses and hose clips that arrived from Cotswolds.



Hoping that I can soon reach the stage where the only thing looking old in that engine bay is the paint.

[Simon13]

you are ill! Like Barry ill, get another air temp sensor to lose the -30 look on the OBC

[Mitchen]

you are ill! Like Barry ill, get another air temp sensor to lose the -30 look on the OBC

Haha I'm not as far gone as Barry.. i.e. I can live with blue screen wash instead of the BMW clear.

Yeah it's on the list.. very unsightly!

[latchyboy]

Nice car mate, i have the same in calypso red.

[Mitchen]

Long overdue update.. not done a lot mechanically. Apologies for the huge photos, but photobucket's being menstrual and I cba to resize everything.

Finally got to the bottom of my issue with the engine not turning over from cold without putting my foot on throttle. Got a new fuel pressure regulator.. although not fair that the 2.5 bar is not available from anywhere apart from the dealers.



I then wanted to get rid of some the body work issues I've got. All in all the cars pretty damn solid, but there are isolated issues I want to deal with, and one of them was the scuttle panel.

It had a bubble there when I first got the car but over the past couple of winters that's got progressively worse, and who knows what's lurking beneath.



After seeing what a palaver it is to order a new scuttle from BMW (apparently a V5, ID and money isn't adequate) and the body shop being held up for 2 weeks because of them, Ross helped me out with the correct half a scuttle



This turned in to this..



And then this..




I then wanted to sort out my battery tray which was a damp, scabby cesspit..



So got myself a battery tray from the dealers.



Was then warned by everyone that it's really not worth it and should just be repaired.. so that's what we did So I now have a spare battery to hoard until it's NLA and then sell at an over inflated price.





Today I also wanted to get a bit of a tidy up going on.. Got an airbox from Sweep little while ago, as mine was letting the side down. Not in perfect nick, but it'll do for now. Good condition used ones are extremely hard to find, and although I've been known to spend copious amounts of money at BMW, 200 pound for a plastic box is a mugs game (I'll buy it one day I'm sure ).

[steve_k]

looking good dude nice to see a 320i getting some love

[Mitchen]

Thanks Steve!

[Kos]

such a peado

[Mitchen]

such a peado

Your 635 engine bay snaps are my inspiration!

[h2ggv]

Top work just made a great read

[bss325i]

Getting there!

Someone's broken that fuse box lid I sold you!

[Mitchen]

Someone's broken that fuse box lid I sold you!

Bodyshop oafs

[Mitchen]

Ok so more work done.

Had a leaking sump for over a year now, but have never got round to it. For some reason I left finding a sump to powder coat till the very last minute.. As most of you will know, small private jobs like that aren’t very important to most powder coaters who prefer their professional contracts.. so even with a weeks notice, I was getting turned down by them.

I thought I might as well get a new one from the dealers, but then found out they now cost £340 Which is a bump considering they’re going for 200 dollars in the states! Anyway with no time to waste I got a great deal from maggspower for a used one, and gave it to my old man who has a sand blaster at his firm..

Came out pretty good imo.. obviously nowhere near as fresh and hard wearing as having a powder coated finish, but it’ll do for now.












Remnants of the last gasket









Yesterday was also a bad day for the E30”¦ went to do my usual weekend turn of the key to get the engine running”¦ and ..erm.. nothing wouldn’t turn over. Sounded like a dead battery. But the battery isn’t old, and is a genuine battery, so no cheap toot. I don’t have a multi meter so took advantage of my free AA membership and got them down to confirm if it was the alternator. Then rushed and got one of these..









Then finished off the last bits so it’s a complete service..




I think that’ll be your lot for this year.. although I really need to sort out my sunroof.. hasn’t worked since summer 2014.. Have a replacement sunroof that’s been freshly painted.. just need to get the cables and seals.. Can I be arsed to get this done before Christmas? I don’t think so

[Kos]

i'm sure OEM alternators had aBMW decal on them

clean yours up and and have look

[Mitchen]

Lol! Kos you can barely see the thing let alone a sticker underneath it. What does it look like?