Sammo

Haha, I'm going to run out of BMW money soon and off to Europe for 5 weeks in September, so things will have to slow down a little!

INH Upholstery - a guy I met through an E30 group - tried a more established place who didn’t seem too interested to be honest. Got a good vibe from Nicholas who is younger but experienced and he knows E30s and seems really keen to put in the time to ensure this is a great job.

Retrim is in progress, all OEM fabric arrived and looks amazing (interestingly same pattern but a different hue to the Relicate fabric which looks a little blue by comparison) Very glad I went with the OEM plus matching bolster fabric (with fresh vinyl for outer bolsters etc - OEM style). As it’s going to take a few weeks, I still wanted to be able to use the car a little so here she is in all her stripped out glory, along with a very tired vinyl comfort seat - no corners for me for a while. Its going to be a great contrast switching out to welded, resprung, refoamed and upholstered sport seats with brand new seat shocks! Will shampoo the carpet, repaint some interior plastics and add a little extra sound deadening while the interior is out too.

Baur Powah

True, although I can't believe Sky Neon is still only HD and stereo sound - my new OLED and 5.1 deserves more 🤣

@Glacial Pace you may have already seen but an N55 manual… not cheap though https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-3641974910.htm

Guy had the fuel pump replaced and one bushing 😂 #winning

Which one is it? Unless you're dropping serious money on an E30 I would go with the general approach of the purchase price being 1/2 to 2/3rds the price to get it properly sorted - rust (yes it will have rust), suspension, electrical, engine, interior... Worth it though.

My new Mtech 2 wheel is all refurbished and looking amazing but unfortunately the horn kept sticking/ staying on (an annoying feature indeed!). Pulling it apart I found this hot mess of semi detached solder, shagged spring plates and added copper wire, possibly to offset the lack of spring in the plates? Anyway, managed to rebend plates so they click back. Will also resolder everything to make it all solid for another 20 years or so.

Interior refurb is about to kick off with Fabric being ordered today. Flip flopped to using the original OEM Lemans BMW Anthracite Uberkaro as ended up being cheaper (and faster) than an Internationally sourced reproduction fabric, plus they have the matching bolster fabric too. Will be doing door cards and front and rear headrests in Uberkaro as well so will be a lot of plaid! Should kick off next week. I have some of these Mtechnic seat badges en route as well but wondering if it will be a bit overkill with the pattern?

Could be soup spoons facing the wrong way up haha

I think they are pretty good buying for the condition they are in, with everyone wanting $600 plus for wrecked fishnets- of course you would want to replace the headrests haha

Cheers , good idea - next step is to disconnect sway bar and see if it goes away - BMW certainly makes torquing endlinks a challenge!

Frustrating day in BMW-land. Changed out my steering coupler for an Ireland engineering poly one as mechanic thought it was the source of my clunking over speedbumps. Its wasn't, although guess I know how a nice new coupler. Will need to keep hunting for this clunk - feel its related to my endlinks (new but possibly installed incorrectly. Then I decided to give my new Mtech 2 wheel refurb with Colourlock leather fresh and it came up amazing but broke my very shoddily connected horn wire and of course no-one open on a Sunday has the correct size spade terminal in stock. So I have a beautiful new steering wheel sitting on the workbench - will pop into Jaycar tomorrow maybe.

What could possibly go wrong?

Finally arrived - 370mm Mtech 2, definitely feels like it belongs to the car. Great original condition which I was after as I’m not a fan of the smooth / perforated / modern leather refurbed that are often done on these. Just gave it a good deep brush clean and added a new roundel. Update: couldn’t resist going a little further and giving it a light refurb with Colourlock Leatherfresh to restore the rich matte black finish without obscuring the grain. Came up really well. Old Mtech 1 wheel sold in 10 mins without even listing it 😂

Or a tasteful(?) 325i making the pile of cash smaller by the day 😂

RHD M3? https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-3630377392.htm Wouldn’t a lightly modified RHD converted e30 M3 be worth less than an original though? I do LOVE how this thing looks though.

@Kees annoying, I would expect if I was to proactively attempt to prise a car from someone, I should be the one making the offer, rather than expecting the non-seller placing a value on it.

Interior planning update: My Mtech 2 370mm wheel is in NZ now so hope to get my hands on it shortly. Found my Fabric (Anthracite Uberkaro by Relicate) https://relicate.com/collections/uberkaro-plaid-fabric-for-bmw-e30-and-m3/products/uberkaro-fabric-for-bmw-m3-and-e30-anthracite?variant=32486462881872 I didn’t realise but I already have this same fabric in my car as Stitchboots used it for my shifter and handbrake boot - it’s nice and dark - I’m not a fan of the silver Uberkaro. Biggest decision now is wether to go Uberkaro on the door panels as well - due to the one piece E30 door car design it won’t be able to replicate the factory look with the fake stitch (will look like below photo but in Uberkaro) but I think it will tie in nicely compared to having light grey plain fabric (my existing door card). Possibly could have horizontal stitched ‘pleats’ on the door card to break up the wall of fabric and replicate the sport seats vertical pleats / emulate the leather door card horizontal pleats too. Just waiting on my 2nd estimate and hope to get done in July.

Style 32's came on E38 as well and will have better offset and widths for an E39. Most people run style 32s in that fitment due to extra lip and more aggressive offset so shouldn't be too hard to find - 18x8 ET20 and 18x9 ET24. 18 is probably a better size for E39, you will still have plenty of sidewall. http://www.bmwstylewheels.com/bmw/32

@SmackJackTheCrackerMan Demontweeks have a good selection and pricing, although since I got my E46 coilovers from them, shipping prices seem a lot higher. Or locally, Speedfactor have good prices and no shipping to worry about, more limited selection though - I got a set of AP (entry level brand from KW Germany) springs from them for my E46. They were fine for an OEM+ upgrade but I wanted lower and firmer in the end and wnet for coilovers. https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/car-parts-accessories/performance/suspension-braces/listing/3623289357 Picture of how mine sat with them (330ci) they were factory comfortable but just not much lower than Msport and not much of a performance upgrade.

Got a little Karcher K3 pressure washer for a few wee jobs around the house (well that was the official justification) and thought it would come in handy for washing the car, using snow foam and hopefully cleaning wheels without a brush. So after I cleaned the steps and fence, I gave the E30 its first snow foam wash. After being quite excited about it seemed like much ado about nothing - foam was thick and fantastic (Autoglym Polar Blast) but just seemed like such a pain in the arse with 3 'cords' instead of 1 when you have to touch wash it afterwards anyway. I guess it would be good for people who let their cars get dirty but mine is generally pretty clean. Also felt like it removed a little of my sealant. Will reserve it for when I've got more time / car is filthy, otherwise a quick rinse and 2 bucket wash is king.

Have you replaced your RTABs? Could be a real factory on a sloppy rear end. From what I’ve read, generally poly subframe bushes won’t add much NVH at all but diff bush may do. I would go 80a poly as an in between - I’ve got an 80a diff mount on the way for the E30 (mainly for simplicity of installation) and when time comes I’ll go with factory rubber RTABs and 80a poly subframe bushes.

Someone got a bargain I think! What’s the plan when the Mini goes?