E30 325i Work Log

[bmw013 1]

Hmmm, probably 6k easily. (incl the car)

The car was $2300 to start with. money goes fast when you have a project car.

I have an E30 as I love older cars, but don't mind spending some money on it, however once my new house is built and I'm paying the mortgage things will slow down some what, however I have until March next year before that happens, so in the mean time I'm getting as much done as possible.

I need some panel and paint, wheels, steering is a tad vague, so a few things to sort out.. plenty to do yet.

The manual conversion process wasn't too bad either and is well worth doing.

considering what condition its in and the standard to what things have been done 6k isnt too bad. i am just trying to sell my e36 320i so i can start my own e30 project but waiting for the right e30 to come along seems to be its own challenge haha

[charles28 117]

considering what condition its in and the standard to what things have been done 6k isnt too bad. i am just trying to sell my e36 320i so i can start my own e30 project but waiting for the right e30 to come along seems to be its own challenge haha

I think i'll be at the 10k mark by the time i'm finished.

But it'll be a fun car, where as if you went at spent 10k on a car at a yard it would be a boring one most likely.

[charles28 117]

Hopefully this cures the play in the steering.

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[charles28 117]

Another Job I need to do, tidy up the leather seats.

This website seems to sell a nice range of products for the task at hand. ( I read about this on a Post in General)

Leather Help | DIY Leather Care, Repair And Restoration

So I should be able to repair this and re colour the damaged area.

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[charles28 117]

Got around to replacing the spark plugs today, I had ordered some Bosch ones from Pelican Parts, pre gapped to 0.8mm.

I was shocked to find the old plugs were gapped at what looked like 2x that. (these were new 2 days after I got the car, was lazy at the time and got a mechanic to give it a service + new Plugs) as the oil etc was black as when I got the car and I had no time to sort it out straight away.

The cars only done about 7000ks on those plugs, so I suspect they were not gapped correctly to begin with.

The car seemed to run nicer straight away, even the valve train noise seemed better.

I also discovered that the part of the throttle body that the brake servo attaches to was sticking out (that alloy piece that pulls out from the throttle body, opposite side is the Idle Control Valve, so I pushed that back in and will keep an eye on it.

I took it for a good drive, runs much better now, decided to chuck in some Injector cleaner too.

The car has been on another Dyno and the tune setup with the Miller isn't too bad, close to 14:7 on the part throttle map, the wot map was a bit lean in places, but not dangerously so, it made about 10wkw less on this dyno, however you can't always compare dynos.

Despite the fact that the cars running really nice, it still has a weird vibration issue that occurs, (on my other post in Maintenance).

[charles28 117]

So this is the Dyno sheet with the Miller Maf etc.

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As you can see its a bit lean down low and too rich at the top end, it seems to be making peak power around 1000rpm lower then stock.

And here's the original Dyno run, totally stock (Not the same Dyno)

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[DarinD 8]

Love the effort and work that has gone into this!

[charles28 117]

For a while now i've had an intermittent vibration that only seemed present between about 1500-2000rpm.

However that issue hasn't presented itself since I re-sealed these parts (Circled in Orange).

Both pieces could be removed easily and didn't seem to be sealed with anything, so I used some RTV.

The brake one on the right side of the pic was actually popping out of its socket about 1/2 way. (If you just pressed it back in).

The car seems to idle a little better too, however the idles not perfect, thats still something that needs tuning on the WAR chip.

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[charles28 117]

Love the effort and work that has gone into this!

Cheers

It would seem there's still plenty to do, but no rush I guess, good things take time as they say.

[charles28 117]

I have some 15" Hartge Wheels coming soon. (Light Weight ones).

They are just 15x6.5 ET20, I assume my BBS 14's are ET24, so these might sit out a tiny bit more.

They look like these:

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The seller has 3 out of 4 Centre caps which I assume look like:

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I'll be on the hunt for a 4th Centre Cap which could take some time, but i decided I didn't want some new generic clone BBS wheels, but instead wanted something old and original so to speak.

Edited February 5, 2013 by Charles32

[charles28 117]

So I finally got my Hartge Wheels and fitted them with new Hankook Ventus V8 RS tyres of 205/55/15, which is a good upgrade from 195/65/14 eco crap.

I'm missing a centre cap, which are rather hard to find, however I have placed an ad on a UK Forum in hope of finding one.

Some may say that 55 series aren't low profile enough, but it was a factory size for my car when supplied with factory 15's and still light years better then what I had before.

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About a week ago I took my car to the drags and only managed 16.2 @85, but my Miller Performance MAF and war chip was the problem, the tune needs work, so I have reverted back to the factory AFM and ECU Chip, interestingly the same tune worked well on an NZNEW 325i SE (he dyno'd it for his car).

With the Miller Setup I was only getting 95wkw, but the car made 102wkw stock, 1000rpm higher in the RPM range, for some reason peak power was 1000rpm lower then it should be with the Miller Stuff.

The Miller setup needs some dyno time, which I can't justify at this stage, so I have that for sale on trade me if I had exhaust, headers, cam (At the very least) I'd be happy to have it dyno tuned, but its just not worth it for now, as the most i'm likely to gain from stock is 3-5kw.

[Apex Effects 3]

looks great with out center caps

I'm with ya on the tyre size.

Better to go around a corner fast than go around it slow trying to look low imo

Edited February 23, 2013 by GASTKR

[charles28 117]

Not much news.

I removed the Miller Maf and War Chip and converted the car back to stock, sold the bits on Trademe, its a waste of time on a stock engine.

I can't see me putting money into the old M20 really, but I can see me swapping the engine for an M52B28 or something later on.

My car made less WKW with the Miller stuff, with a base map that made more power then stock on another car in NZ, so I lost interest.

I still need to tidy up the Panel and Paint, but all in good time.

Front Lip needs changing sometime too, PFL Lip on FL car is just odd looking.. but I'm lacking the motivation to do much for now, my 1st home has just been completed and am moving into it soon, (Maybe next week, if the code of compliance comes through).

I'm going from a 2 bedroom flat with single garage, so it will be nice to have some room for car parts lol.

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Edited April 4, 2013 by Charles32

[No name user 379]

your not the first person to find that out i tend not to tell anymore as most dont listen thus find out the hard way

[charles28 117]

your not the first person to find that out i tend not to tell anymore as most dont listen thus find out the hard way

Yeah, often that's the way of it, I foolishly ordered it without really asking anyone on here about it 1st..

My cars gone back to its stock 102wkw at least, couldn't better 95wkw with that Miller Stuff and it wouldn't make power over 5000 rpm, resulting in a weak 16.2 @84MPH 1/4 mile time.

[No name user 379]

all that glitters isnt gold unfortunately

when dealing with minor gains many dont look at dollar spent per 1hp/kw often spending the same money elsewhere gives greater gains

[charles28 117]

I still have the E30, for a while I was considering selling it, currently I don't have much spare cash to spend on it.

Over the weekend I gave it an Oil change with Penrite 10w-50 Fully Synthetic and an OE filter.

Now that I'm paying a mortgage progress will be somewhat limited for now.

What I really want to do is tidy up the panel and paint and tighten up the steering.

After driving around my 2005 Golf GTI/X for 2 months the BMW's steering feels rather vague and skitterish and brakes useless. (The brakes are all new too).

but its unfair to compare, the old E30 is still a fun car to own and if I can sort the steering out I'll be happy enough I suspect.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2122]

Missed this thread, i have a pair of Hartge Centercaps here, they look like your ones, they are off a 16" version of the same wheel. I may have lost the C-clips but thats the easy bit to find.

[slideways 44]

The E30's have a poor steering ratio. Im doing an e36 rack swap as we speak and just dummy fitted it into the car last night. Pretty simple really with the hardest part being bending the p/s lines a bit to suit the E36 rack.

[Cab 148]

After driving around my 2005 Golf GTI/X for 2 months the BMW's steering feels rather vague and skitterish and brakes useless. (The brakes are all new too).

but its unfair to compare, the old E30 is still a fun car to own and if I can sort the steering out I'll be happy enough I suspect.

E30's arent meant to have brakes, its part of the fun

[charles28 117]

The E30's have a poor steering ratio. Im doing an e36 rack swap as we speak and just dummy fitted it into the car last night. Pretty simple really with the hardest part being bending the p/s lines a bit to suit the E36 rack.

Yeah good point, the Golf probably only takes 2.5 turns to lock.

Might look at doing that sometime soon. cheers

[charles28 117]

I've been driving the E30 a bit more lately.

In early Feb next year my work is moving, which means we'll be going back to running 2 cars full time, (its a 70km commute) and at this stage I've been dropping the missus off at work and then driving to mine, however that will no longer be practical, so she will end up using the Golf, (She only drives automatic and the golf has a DSG tranny, so while she gets to drive the 200hp + Golf GTI I get.. the E30, some will say shes getting the better deal.

But rather then wanting to save money on fuel I am wanting more performance from the ole E30, sure, I could buy a faster car and save a bucket load of money, but I love the old E30 and can't bare to part with it, despite it not being the safest choice of daily driver.

Currently its making 102wkw approx, but I need more, the solution? boost of course, well.. ideally boost, but I have a limited budget.

So I am thinking, Stroker build. 2.8 M52 Crank, suitable pistons, new rings, bearings, 284/272 Cam, 19 lb Injectors, AFM Delete, ECU with MAP sensor, suitable RHD Headers (seem next to impossible to find at the moment).

I'm still undecided on what option I'll go for, I'm not that interested in performing an engine swap however, so this might be my best course of action.

The end result is, i'll have more usable torque, but i'm also worried that i'll spend all this money and barely gain 20kw.

Turbo is another option, however to do this for around the same price, i'd have to cut corners and leave the engine alone and just bolt on parts, in the long term this isn't ideal for a daily driver.

[APT 179]

I've got a full 2.8 stroker kit if your interested ?

[Gaz 1042]

Do you want to keep the m20? Sounds like a M5X swap would be ideal.

[charles28 117]

Do you want to keep the m20? Sounds like a M5X swap would be ideal.

Hmmm, most likely, I like the originality of the old M20 Engine

I've got a full 2.8 stroker kit if your interested ?

PM me a price, cheers