E30 Refurbishment sort of!

[RTTBMW]

Hi all,

When I bought this car in July, I imagined I had not a pile to do to this car! But in closer inspection, I realised this car needs attention, to get on the road. She was SORN! I had decided before I saw this car I was going to buy her! I booked the MOT as i got a cancellation ( 8 week waiting list over here) My first drive of the car when I got it home, tried to clean the discs by heavy braking! The discs were done and virtually no pads left either.

So a quick purchase of a new complete set.




On liftng the car off the ground the dreaded crunch sound was heard and rust falling to the floor. The passenger side lifting jack point went into bits and pushed the floor a bit. Driver side was rusty but did not fall apart!
I wondered if this was going to fail the MOT.



A sympathetic MOT Tester (Who has a 325i) told me to fix this by next time! So happy days, I was back on the road for now!


I decided that my E30 needs to be looking a little proper as they say. I like things working. When I bought this car the rev counter, mpg indicator and the OBC2 computer screen was corroded! Front fog lights don't work! The overhead OBC had a few lights on and this bugged me! The window switch was sticky and was not working properly.

THE OBC was lighting up:

Coolant Fluid
Tailight Plate Light
Washer Fluid Sensor
Brake Light Sensor


So after the MOT I fixed the issue with the rev counter and mpg indicator a few weeks ago, Fuses! Fixed the radiator bung leak (Replaced the bung) New coolant senor, Fuel filler pipe was brittle so replaced that. Discoverd a hole in the fuel tank. (Ordered a new one to be swapped at a later date)

Washer fluid sensor light was on, I noticed the piping to the healight washers brittle! So went about replacing where it needed replaced with 6mm piping! The check valves leaked so need new ones Ordered! The twin bottle looked new but a piece of plastic that holds the wiper control unit was broken! Ordered new twin bottle! Also the bracket nut that holds it there was rusted and fell apart. NLA! Anyone got one of these brackets going spare!





The brake light sensor goes out after I put my foot on the brake! Is there a reason for doing this!

Tail light plate light sensor comes on only when the lights are on! But they are working , so I don't know why it does that! Any suggestions!

Fog lights I have not been able to get at this as I can't seem to be able to unscrews the front lense! Screws won't budge! Any reason why they dont work, please let me know!

I decided to fix the OBC2. Bought new LCD from German company called Partworks!



Looks worse than it is!






On second attempt I got it working! I hadn't tightened to the computer board togther enough! I replaced the backlight with a LED version as mine was not work right when I put it back together!





Thats as far as I have got! Hopefully in September I will get the washers workiing correctly and another light out on the overhead OBC.

Oh! I replaced the window switch too!




One other thing! The radio won't hold it's memory! Why is this! Is it to do with the immobiliser!

regards

Richard

[Cloggy Saint]

The brake lights are tested when you press the pedal. If it's all good the check control light will go out, if not it stays on.

[biffer]

Front fogs not working is likely the contacts inside the dash-switch, this can be taken apart and contacts cleaned.

[RTTBMW]

Fixed the foglights by cleaning the foglight switch! A few presses got it working again! The lenses in the right main was cracked so I replaced that! Right wiper I managed to refurb but the left headlight wiper is seized! The rings to the lights I painted gloss black. They were slightly rusty! Searching for driver's side headlight wiper now! Put in missing wiper nozzles in the grill! Stops fluid from dripping out of the bottle now!

[bmwe30mtech]

Glad to see you're making progress! I'm afraid you have lifted the car in the wrong place though - those square pads are not for jacking onto, but were just placed there by BMW to move the cars around on the production line (and trap mud and cause rust...). You should jack the car using the chassis rails, a little further in from where you have. I'd suggest you remove the side skirts and address the sills, because they look like they are rusting through and have had previous repairs.

[RTTBMW]

Hi,

I lifted the car in the correct place tody to really get a good look at the rust that needs attention.


This drivers side seems not bad, but could do with the sill floor pan joint redone and rust removed! I will remove the square plates and repair any rust behind it and put new reproduction production points back on for OEM sake.


The passenger side is bad! Hole in corner and you can feel foam behind the floor pan. All this will be cut out and sill joints replaced and floor pan cut out and new piece put in! Again new production points put back on again!
Any idea of costs to get these areas done. I will strip interior to reduce the spent on the car!

img]https://i.imgur.com/QMHcuV3.jpg[/img]

The rear lift points are surface rust by all accounts and so should clean up if I ever remove the rear suspension.





I have a new fuel tank to go in maybe this year, so all this could be media blasted and repainted too. Heat shield has seen better days too. Is it hard to remove the rear suspension and differential etc?




regards

Richard

[Brianmoooore]

Only the prop. and exhaust need to come off to remove the fuel tank.
Rear suspension and diff. etc., are easy enough to remove individually, although two of the diff bolts are poor to get at, and need a 'straightened out' 19mm combination spanner. If the rear beam bushes are in the least suspect, it's best to drop the whole lot as one assembly.
Rear brake pipes run behind the tank, so that's another thing to consider when the tank's out.
Is that a grey Fergie in the workshop? Done work on them as well, although more familiar with the later MF 35 and 135. Have a MF 250 in daily use, which is just a 135 with fancy bodywork.

[RTTBMW]

Cheers for the info on the tank. Yes those T20’’s he has everywhere. Awful addiction. He has 20 of them in containers and sheds. He is my cousin and business partner, so I can’t say much to him about it. Lol. I’ll get more photos up for you. He has some real rare ones too with tracks.

[flybynite]

Have a MF 250 in daily use, which is just a 135 with fancy bodywork.

Never into Fergies (except the bits that went into the Jensen Interceptor ) Fan of Ford myself learned to drive on a Fordson Major and drove a County in my youth. Let a friend have my last Fordson Major last year because I needed the space for another E30!