Lugy's attempt at an E30 thread

[Lugy]

Well seeing as some decent work is about to start, it's time for one of these, that and the fact I'm bored at work waiting on machines to finish .

Back in December (when the snow was at it's worst) I sold the Disco to buy this;


Totally original, 3 owners, 140k and all the MOT's/service stamps since new. Even with the original hubcaps. My original plan was to weld the diff, fit snow tyres and play in the snow but after driving it I decided it was far too good for that! It's a cracking drive, even for a lowly 2.0.

The hubcap wheels lasted a week before I bought some refurbed OE BBS wheels. 205 width tyres totally transformed the car, it grips like a mofo, even with ****ty P6000s on the front.


Since then all I've done is add an M-Tech steering wheel and just enjoy it. Well until last week when I went paddling, water seemed to have upset something so I took it off the road until I could get a good look at it. Turns out that a couple of inlet/vacuum pipes are split which really doesn't help.
I also discovered that the passenger footwell has a couple of holes that need patched over, that explains the wet carpet lmao.

The current plans are;

Sort out the footwell
Fit Eibach lowering springs
Sort out small rust patches for now
Sort out better braking
Fit the 2.5 I'm going to get from eggman this weekend
Fit a rebuilt LSD
Enjoy it

The long term plans involve turbo goodness but that's into next year now.

[Benn]

I love that you sold the off road car perfect for snow driving as it snowed..lol

Looks like a nice clean one. Sideways fun...

[vxlgsi]

need any parts, a mate next door to my work runs an E30 breakers.

[zonemotorsport]

nicw little project... I'd dump the 2.0 and fit an M20 325 engine though.. the 320 is too underpowered. If you need some poly bushes for it, I have lots!

[Tathan]

Keep your M20, S38B38 the badboy!

E30 338i tramp and track skidder - Drifting forum - Driftworks

[Lugy]

I really really really really really really really want an S50 with some sort of uber airbox. Computer says no when it comes to monies though.

Boosted M20 FTW instead.

[Tathan]

What's the M52 like to fit? They go for fook all on the bay.

[Lugy]

It seems fairly straight forward, it's all be proven and all the parts used are just from other BMWs. The electrics seem to be the hardest part but some you can buy ready made looms. A 2.8 appeals to me, with a remap and the M50 manifold they can do 250bhp, plenty enough for a 1000kg(ish) road car, that's only 35bhp behind a 3.0 M3.

For this year at least I'll stick with the M20 2.5 and just enjoy driving it.

[Lugy]

Well, after working daft hours for the passed god knows how long, I've actually managed to spend time on it, the 2.0 is out and the 2.5 is in.

Still to do is;

Fit propshaft
Make mounts for the rad
Make mounts for the oil cooler
Connect ECU
Finish off electrics
Find an exhaust
Turn key

Then;

Tidy up the rust
Do some welding
MOT
Make coilovers for the front along with adjustable bits and bobs
Fit 4 pot calipers on the front
Get a disc braked rear axle
Buy polybushes
Find an uber rare 3.91 LSD

My plan is to go rallying next year, before it's either banned or fuel requires a mortgage just to do one stage. I'm not sure if I'll use this car - it's got a sunroof which would need plated, or find a good 2 door shell and take the good bits of mine. Of course I'll be told I can't race mine because it's a 4 door .

[trewoo21]

i love that kind of car!!! i missed my car same with your model... anyway its my friend who bought it... if ever I'm going to have a car like that Im gonna take care of that...

[Lugy]

Good news, it works! Got a few hours yesterday and today to sort out the prop, I just took the front part off the 325 prop and attached it to the 320 rear part, attach the exhaust, connect up wires and turn the key. Amazingly it started first turn with the fuel pump connected! Almost unbelievable considering it was left in a car for 4 years being started once for a few seconds, then left outside on a pallet under a ton bag since March lmao.

The best part of it all, the exhaust I got was a full Scorpion effort with a................. DTM back box lmao. Back to the 90s!

I've also found somewhere indoors for it to live and I'm going back to my old work in the next couple of weeks, meaning I can get machine time and access to proper fabrication stuff and powder coating facilities .

[Dave Dempsey]

Chief, you truly suck at project threads, lack of pictures = fail.

[Melv]

Agree with Dave. Lack of pics = fail.

However

powder coating facilities .

WIN!

[Lugy]

Chief, you truly suck at project threads, lack of pictures = fail.

If I take pictures, nothing gets done, if I don't then anything is possible lmao

As for the powercoating, I won't be able to do whole axles I reckon, but I'm sure I can get the bottoms of my coilovers and smaller parts done

[its_nick13]

looking good, im currently driving a 316 B reg chromie

Such a solid car and mines only done 80k genuine and its 28 years old.

Il be watching this.

[Lugy]

Still no pics to update with, I get more done if I don't have a camera to distract me it seems lmao.

Anyhow.... Today I had a day off so I thought I'd give the E30 some love. Since getting it back on the road and doing all of 400 miles since, erm, March, the car developed a vibration which was only there under load, this got worse and worse and nothing I looked at seemed to be causing it, eventually I caught the diff being silly so last week I bought another one with a shorter ratio (4.1 compared to 3.91). I also took the car into work one night last week to get a bit welded on the sill, on the way home, it began to make some strange rubbing noises but it's almost intermittent which doesn't help.
So today's progress was; remove old diff, fit new diff, then discovered that it was a medium case one whereas mine was a small case, so off it came and with the help of Mr Grindy the holes were elongated, the diff refitted and it worked a treat. Took it for a test drive and it's just as bad before and the other noises are possibly even worse.

So in a nutshell I'm quite annoyed with the thing, since it's been on the road it's been used a handful of times and I think only once was an actual "pleasure" drive.

Tomorrow I'm going to get back on it tomorrow, my ever increasing list of things to do is now:
Take the exhaust off and refit it for the 87th time to stop it blowing.
Fit a new brake hose and bleed the brakes.
Fit new springs on the rear and "modify" the fronts to suit (coilovers won't be ready until next month at least ).

And to make things worse, the Vectra needs it's MOT at the end of the month, I'm not sure I'll have enough car motivation for that too!

[Dave Dempsey]

In all honesty dude, without pictures no one give's a ****. Now GTFO and dont come back until you have some.

[Lugy]

Well after a few days of trying to get the exhaust sealed and curing the vibration, I decided to take it out a wee spin on Wednesday after work. All went well, infact the car was pulling like a proper mofo, until the diff came away from the rear beam . Looks like my amazing fix wasn't so amazing. On the limp home the car then decided to overheat. Eventually managed the 4 miles home in just under an hour.
The next day I refilled it with water, hoping it was just an airlock, no luck. Stripped the cooling system down, water pump was fine but the thermostat was missing. Some research showed up that the heads can crack when run without one on these. The gallons of water I've put in would seem to back this up.
So now the head has to come off which will require a gasket set and I need to do the timing belt oh, and maybe a head. I really don't know what to do now, my favourite option is put it on the back burner and crack on with the driveway plans so the car can come off the road (it's been orphaned from it's previous 2 homes ), I can cancel the insurance and cash my tax in.
After that god knows what's next, might just put a 24v and actually get on to improving the car rather than fixing everything.

Here's a photo, just for Dave

[Dave Dempsey]

This thread is just a big bag of gay. PM me your phone number chief, have a suggestion of sorts for you.

[Lugy]

Something interesting may very well be happening which renders my cracked head void....

One of these is en route from Keith

[Melv]

sweet!

A slight power increase combined with excellent MPG!! It should sound fairly good too...................

[corsa_club]

old school bmw's are the best ones

[Lugy]

It could be be a bit of a giggle and it's been done a few times so it's documented well enough. Maybe a proper sized Eaton in the middle could be an idea....... Albeit a stupid one.

[Turbodave]

Powder coating aye?

Mate, best buddy, old chum...

[Lugy]

For you I do speshal deal.....