Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted March 28, 2015 The project begins. I am new to BMWs so this is also a learning exercise for me but the idea is always to do it once and do it right. 1993 E30 Touring photos to come soon. the car appears to have had a hard life, but the good news is no rust and someone has done the conversion from a 1.6l to the 2.5 with matching gearbox. The Goal is to create a very clean resto and appropriately modified car the pant and interior are a mess but that will come later, for now its service time and focusing on getting it driving nice. my experience with the car so far has been driving around auckland for a few days then the trip home to New Plymouth. issues that need addressing so far. rubbish exhaust sound, drones under 110kmh, sounds good at high rpm however. no sway bars at all? is that normal? car is nice and low but handles terribly. rear diff noisey, i would like a LSD If anyone has good information and contacts for these please let me know. also will be wanting a leather interior for it. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C-130 Hercules 570 Report post Posted March 28, 2015 Sway bars are definitely factory standard. Good on you for saving the car from becoming re-bar. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
slybma 38 Report post Posted March 28, 2015 316i didn't have a rear sway bar Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_BRS_ 209 Report post Posted March 28, 2015 Looking forward to this! Im also from New Plymouth, with a touring project, hope to see you round sometime. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
e30ftw 410 Report post Posted March 28, 2015 ^Touring's are different, due to weight they have the bigger front struts and sway bars in the rear, where as sedan/coupe only 325i's had them in the rear. Good luck finding leather interior! The rear seats are literally impossible to come by. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_ethrty-Andy_ 2132 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 yup best to retrim the ones you got etc. Cabby and touring have all the same suspension and brakes etc underneath, regardless of engine type. Unlike sedan and coupe which are dependant on engine etc. looking forward to some pictures!! Blair, is Jase still in the scene or has he gone backwards? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_BRS_ 209 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 yup best to retrim the ones you got etc. Cabby and touring have all the same suspension and brakes etc underneath, regardless of engine type. Unlike sedan and coupe which are dependant on engine etc. looking forward to some pictures!! Blair, is Jase still in the scene or has he gone backwards? Hes stil rocking a clean e30 coupe, with a bit of japanese influence these days Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_ethrty-Andy_ 2132 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 we gotta tee up a meeting of the E30 old boys one of these days, the bimmersport e30 class of 2009 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the info guys. this car is registered as a 316i. does anyone know if there are any chassis differences on the tourings? I am looking into some whiteline or Eibach swaybars does anyone have experience with these? I am presuming they are all interchangeable between the e30s? Its on H&R springs, unsure of shocks Edited March 29, 2015 by Tyler Anderson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olaf 3309 Report post Posted March 29, 2015 I ran an e30 325i Touring for a while back in 2001, it was a fun car. Capable, comfortable, reasonably quick to boot. You should have some good fun getting this ship shape. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 The last few days i have been on a mission with the old girl. Fully striped the rear interior and coated everything in fisholine, hardly any signs of rust i just wanted to future proof it. next i removed the shitty TEAC headunit and put in a new fusion unit that i found in the old mans garage, and new rear speakers. so much better. does anyone know if there are replacement aerials that are nicer looking? i got the Rug doctor onto the interior, unbelievable amount of black sh*t came out haha, such a difference. just need to get some nice mats and some seat repairs now. Reset the inspection light on the dash after a oil and filter change, thanks google. then she went up on the hoist to investigate why it handles like sh*t when everyone has said "e30 the drivers car?" found that the rear control arm bushes are shot resulting in heaps of movement. ordered some nolathane replacements and a whiteline front swaybar, the rear one is not in stock apparently so if anyone is selling a rear adjustable bar about 16mm get at me. will probably put a strut brace on as well. also checked shocks, springs, wheel bearings, brakes, other bushings. all surprisingly good exhaust is hanging on by hopes and dreams. this needs attention ASAP clearly missing allot of hangers/brackets, also the two pipes are rattling together near the middle of the car which doesn't seem right at all. will need to space them with some sort of bracket i think. it has a annoying drone at 80 to 100 kmh is that normal? so i want a LSD but have no idea what to get. experts please comment. these are the stampings on the current diff 1 210 433 3.64 8162 w/01 BM-012 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
e30ftw 410 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 Chassis wise should be the same as any other touring. IMO depending what engine/gbox is in it, 3.73 or 3.91 are a good compromise in diff ratios for Highway / City driving. Drone will probably be dependant on what exhaust system it's running, OEM exhaust won't drone. If it's had a muffler cut out with straight pipe, or a shitty rear box then definitely. Pretty sure this was on the BMW page a couple months back, some D Bag bought it and stripped the skirts and bits to flick off separately because it was sold cheap and sold for even more + bits missing. Good base though, Just need to sink some $$ in eh! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 muffler appears to be OEM but otherwise its straight pipe to the headers not sure if thats a good thing? what is the best exhaust system to have for sound and performance? is there a magic recipe yeah most of it is there now except the skirts and front lip. I am going to be the one to bring it back to life Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 how do i know what gearbox it has? engine is a m20b25 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vtgts300kw 90 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 This was on Trademe for about 7k recently? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
e30ftw 410 Report post Posted March 31, 2015 You would have to check the side of the gearbox, Will be stamped with either a 260 or 240 number on the side of the bellhousing. Be hard to tell unless you can see, 260 generally has a much bigger bellhousing. It sold for ~5k initially then was flogged off for abit more quite quickly from what I saw.. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_ethrty-Andy_ 2132 Report post Posted April 1, 2015 muffler appears to be OEM but otherwise its straight pipe to the headers not sure if thats a good thing? what is the best exhaust system to have for sound and performance? is there a magic recipe yeah most of it is there now except the skirts and front lip. I am going to be the one to bring it back to life OEM M20 exhaust is not bad, not droney, and the two mufflers are not where the restrictions are for performance. The main restriction is the log type manifold on RHD cars. Headers in plsace of that before you start changing the exhaust itself around. Having said that, was in an M20B25 recently that was all stock except for the rear back box deleted and straight piped there. Too noisy for my cabby, but would be fine for a hard top E30. Didn't sound too bad, for two $10 bits of pipe and an hour on a welder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted April 8, 2015 been working on the handling recently. installed: 24mm whiteline front sway bar 19mm ultra racing rear sway bar solid one piece ultra racing strut brace nolethane rear control arm bushings. (old ones had so much play) it has transformed the car corners so much flatter now. have discovered a problem whilst doing the wheel alignment, it appears that the front left strut has been bent which gives me -4 degrees camber on that wheel and only -2 degrees on the other side. it rides well on these springs and shocks so im not going with adjustable coilovers or anything. planing on replacing that strut and then figuring out how to correct the camber? maybe camber plates in the front and open to suggestions for the rear? is there offset bushings or something that will work Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_BRS_ 209 Report post Posted April 8, 2015 (edited) Hard at it! Are your front struts 45mm or 51mm? I have a spare set of 45mm ones. Edited April 8, 2015 by _BRS_ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
madmuz 3 Report post Posted April 10, 2015 top work!!! much love for the e30 tourings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted April 10, 2015 mine are 51mm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted April 18, 2015 so where is the best place to find information about a z3 steering rack? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_ethrty-Andy_ 2132 Report post Posted April 18, 2015 google is good, make sure you look at RHD sites though, eg UK NZ Aus. ignore USA stuff Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
e30ftw 410 Report post Posted April 18, 2015 Fits right in, just need to bend your power steering lines, use e30 inner and outer tie rods and shorten the steering shaft by removing the rubber coupling. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tyler Anderson 1 Report post Posted April 18, 2015 looks easy enough. how much could i expect to get a z3 rack for in NZ? anything i should look out for? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
