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bmpower

My E30 325i

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Went to the club day at Manfield last Sat. Was an awesome day and a chance to have some fun without the fuzz spoiling it!! Was amazed at just how well a 20+ year old car with 240clicks can go!!

I timed a few laps at the end and was consistently in the 1min35sec, with a passenger and just the spare removed. Was topping out at 160km on start/finish straight and 150 on middle and back straights. This was my first time at a club day... Aside from driving ferraris in the UK on an airfield!

Main problem i had was the wheels/tyres, they were too big and the tyres had no tread (i knew this but $$$ didn't allow me to get some 15/16" wheels and race tyres....) I had alot of grip but couldn't get round the smaller hairpins as fast due to rubbing and gripping on the arches. The bushes need replacing and after the track use they are now completely shot! The only other one was having to bed the new brakes in on the track so didn't know how hard i could go on them in the later sessions.

Below is taken at manfield and how the car looks at the moment, i'll get some ones of it on the track up when i get hold of them!

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Small Update:

Have now bought all of the following ready to go into the car over the next few weeks. All brand new from Jeff Gray BMW ....$487.94!! Lucky little e30!

Power Steering Belt

A/C Belt

Fan Belt

Cambelt

Tensioner

Water Pump

Exhaust to manifold gasket w/heat shield x 2

Wow man those are some expensive parts

nearly 500 bux for 4belts, a tensioner, a water pump and a gasket?

could have got all that for no more than $200 from segedins in auckland

mint e30 though, very nice, great rust removal too

Edited by tune

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Ahhh... Now I remember your car. Saw you last Friday at the hour long Melling lights.

If you want bushes give me a yell I hold them in stock.

1min35 not to bad. The first time I went out in the series car that was my time seems a good place to start.

Paul.

Interpart

566 6391

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looks like a nice drop with the H&R

Thanks, it's made a hell of a diference to the handling too!!

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Wow man those are some expensive parts

nearly 500 bux for 4belts, a tensioner, a water pump and a gasket?

could have got all that for no more than $200 from segedins in auckland

mint e30 though, very nice, great rust removal too

The price you pay for genuine parts from bmw i guess... I tried to get gaskets with heat shields elsewhere with no luck, and i didn't want to melt my plugs so i stuck with oem ones and they were $50ea! then the waterpump was $150, which made up most of the cost!

On the rust side i have noticed a couple of other small bits but they aren't too major and i will get them fixed soon too!

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Ahhh... Now I remember your car. Saw you last Friday at the hour long Melling lights.

If you want bushes give me a yell I hold them in stock.

1min35 not to bad. The first time I went out in the series car that was my time seems a good place to start.

Paul.

Interpart

566 6391

Yea thats the one! Get to wait in those lights every night - I work at Brendan Foot's.

Oh great, are they nolathane? I may give you a call on monday and price some. Where would be a good place to fit them do you think?

Glad to hear my time wasn't too bad then for a pretty stock car. I hope to knock of a few secs at least next time round!

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Just thought i'd add an update with a few pics i took recently.

Put new front lip on the e30, will fit it properly on the sides when i get a chance!

Have ordered new engine mounts, new fan and new hose from Jeff Gray - so i'll be kissing goodbye to another $300! I also now have some 'm3' style offset urethane control arm bushes. So at some point i will be fitting/getting someone to fit all those goodies!

The one of it front on is my personal fav! And the other front on with wheels turned!

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Tough looking car mate with those wheels. Good to see the effort going into bringing an e30 up to scratch!

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Heyyyy nice e30!

What did you say the lip was? Just stock 325 lip? Doesn't look, iS or tech2 or tech1 or am I just dumb

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Tough looking car mate with those wheels. Good to see the effort going into bringing an e30 up to scratch!

Thanks, its a long process, but worth it.

Heyyyy nice e30!

What did you say the lip was? Just stock 325 lip? Doesn't look, iS or tech2 or tech1 or am I just dumb

Thanks! No the lip isn't the stock one - i got it of a bsport member through trademe. Its not tech 1 or 2, i assume it is an 'iS' lip of some description or maybe an msport one. Maybe someone can shed some light??

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It's not an iS lip.

Although it almost looks like the ones the m3's had.

You've done a great job, any more things planned? Will you paint the lip tp match the bumper?

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It's not an iS lip.

Although it almost looks like the ones the m3's had.

You've done a great job, any more things planned? Will you paint the lip tp match the bumper?

I've personally only ever seen 1 other and that was on a pretty standard 318i from memory!

I picked up from BMW today the engine mounts, viscous fan and new hose - so have those and the m3 style offset control arm bushes to fit. I need to get hold of the sway bar bushes tomorrow - so there is a bit of work involved in all that.

I'll be leaving the lip black but may get it re-painted in the future.

Looks wise i will get some smoked indicators for the front and side - and thats about it for now. If i could warrant $700 i would get a set of the angel eye headlights of trademe but its a bit too steep for me. I need new headlights, both my outers are cracked and fill with water! And sometime soon i'll be getting some 15x7 wheels and rubber for track use.

Then who knows! I have a few ideas up my sleeve but i'm trying not to get too ahead of myself or my bank acc!

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Time for an update!

So today i finally got round to spending a bit of time on the e30!!

I'm not too much of a mechanic but i decided to brave the engine mounts and sway bar bushes!

Was a bit of a learning curve for me, needed to go and buy a long 17mm socket for the top bolts for starters! After undoing the bottom, and then buying a new socket i tried to do the top - which didn't work (due to the bush bein completely f*ked) The metal plate on top had completley seperated from the rubber below meaning everytime i spun the socket the plate went round too - and after alot of 'kiwi inginuity' it still wouldn't budge. So out came the hacksaw and that was that. The second came off fine - whether this was due to undoing the top nut first i don't know!

Have put some pics of the bushes below.

After that i did the sway bar bushes - and again was a learning curve! For some reason i couldn't find an easy way but got there in the end! I used nolothane sway bar bushes and some jag urethane mounts i got off a bsport member. The only other prob i had was that while tightening the bottom nut on the second mount the bolt sheared in half without doin it up with any force - have no idea why! ...Luckily i had already bought x2 oem mounts so i have 1 of each in the car currently!

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Update:

Put new shocks all round. Car was running KYB, so repalced with the same. A big thanks to Paul @ Interpart for sorting these out for me!

Riding extremely well now, old shocks were a bit tired!!

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Not a very big fan of the KYB replacements, I find them to be way too soft.

Good work.

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Not a very big fan of the KYB replacements, I find them to be way too soft.

Good work.

Yea i know what you mean, however whilst i would love to go with koni or bilstein there is a huge $$$ difference, and at the moment there are a few other prioritys to do first. In the future i will probably replace them with koni. I hadn't actually planned on doing them yet but they were tired and needed doing so went for it!

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