e30 cabrio in Shorewood -- kinda a long post

[KaiserRolls]

Welcome!!

Great first car since 98!!

Also. I think jdesign has some HR/billies for sale yet

[jc43089]

Awesome car, welcome! 

As for replacement/maintenance parts, there are lot of places but I usually get stuff from pelicanparts.com or bavauto.com.

[BenDem]

KaiserRolls said:

Welcome!! Great first car since 98!! Also. I think jdesign has some HR/billies for sale yet

Thanks. If I'm going to break a streak like that, it needs to be for something worthwhile .  I just posted on jdesign's thread asking if they were vert-specific or not.

jc43089 said:

Awesome car, welcome! 

As for replacement/maintenance parts, there are lot of places but I usually get stuff from pelicanparts.com or bavauto.com.

Yeah, I'm cool with finding places for new stuff, but I'll be looking for a used diff when my pinion gear gets really bad, or when I decide to do the 5 speed swap.  Whichever comes first.

[jc43089]

I have a very good condition 4.10 open dif available, (stock for auto trans).  I swapped to a 3.25 when I trans swapped to a manual.  How are you determining that the pinion gear is messed up?

[6670charger]

Looks like a very nice car. Mine's an 88 Cabrio automatic too. 

I've had very good luck buying replacement parts on ebay, and a few at the dealership of all places. Those are the two places I've found my best deals on new stuff. Rockauto.com and Pelican are supposedly other good sources, although they can be a bit pricey. http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/ looks like another place with a good assortment of parts for E30's. 

For used parts, your best bets are either Ebay or any of the local "You Pull It" salvage yards. The salvage yards are a wild card as their inventory constantly changes, and the E30 that you were lucky enough to find and pulled from a week ago may not be there two months later. A lot of these cars are also pretty well picked over by the time you get to them too. They can be substantially cheaper than Ebay, though. It's all a matter of what you need/want and how badly you need/want it. I just picked up a leather auto shift knob and leather handbrake handle cover, along with a spare power mirror switch at my local yard for $10 total. Cleaned the leather parts with some leather conditioner and they look like new! 

BTW: Be sure to check out the items that members of this forum have for sale. I got a nice set of aftermarket taillight assemblies from a member on here. 

Hope this helps.

Eric

[BenDem]

jc43089 said:

I have a very good condition 4.10 open dif available, (stock for auto trans).  I swapped to a 3.25 when I trans swapped to a manual.  How are you determining that the pinion gear is messed up?

Well, there's a whine coming from under the car.  It occurs regardless of the gear selected.  It's there even if the the car is off, coasting downhill in nuetral.   I took the car to a shop a block away, and had them put on the lift with the car in gear to determine which bit is making the noise.  (I wasn't about to get under a car on jackstands with the motor running, in gear, and going to 30 MPH indicated).

The tech said it was coming from around the pinion bearing area... So, that's where that's at.   So, the gear is OK for now, but who knows how long it will last...

The diff that's on there is 3.73 (as was put on auto's in '88), but I wouldn't mind the extra pep of 4.10.  

However, if I'm going to to a manual swap down the road, I think 4.10 might be a bit buzzy on the highway.   I'll PM you re: the 4.10.  Thanks!

[jc43089]

I forgot about the switch, mine is an 89 but mfg in 7/88 so not sure what it is.  The tag is not readable, I will have to spin it and count.  It was definitely too aggressive after a manual swap.

[BenDem]

Just sent you a PM.   I'm still on the fence about the manual swap.   If it wasn't a 'vert I'd do it in a heartbeat.  However, the slushbox isn't exactly out of character with relaxed nature of the car.  I think I can probably live with it for a while, and get the rest of the car *just right* first.

[Earl]

Are you just going to keep this as a clean weekend driver with subtle mods?

[BenDem]

The general idea is to keep it within the 'character' of the car as it was originally produced.  Lumps and all.

So, the diving boards stay, as does the 80's sound system.

I'd happily swap / add anything that was an 'option' by BMW when it was produced -- maybe a 5 manual swap. LSD, etc.

I also might do spring / damper mod -- as that's a simple thing to revert to 'stock'.

I've also got this idea for an engine montoring device that would work with a smartphone via bluetooth -- but that would be completely hidden from view and would only be to monitor how the car is running.

I'm not interested in 'perfect' either.   Instead, I'm going for 'approptiate patina' as the car ages.  I'm expecting the car will gain between 2-5k miles per year.

[YoungCR]

Very cool, I'm all for the originality and OEM+ mods.

[B C]

If it is of any comfort to you, I ran my car hard with the automatic on a regular basis and it held up just fine. The weak point on them is revving it while in neutral since the pressure buildup can dislodge a seal and cause you to lose Drive.

[jc43089]

As Snap said the 4hp22 is a solid transmission, a guy I work with has a '90 325i vert, which has 280+k on it (odo stopped before he bought it) the auto still worked great, he had the trans gone through when i built the engine and the guys said it looked decent inside, just put new seals in it and a kickdown cable I think.  Which reminds me, I put the engine in it over a year ago and he still hasn't finished putting the last bits together...

[BenDem]

I'm not sure you guys are making me feel better.

I was telling myself when the trans died, I'd do the 5 speed swap.  Now I'm going to have to wait another 100k miles ?

[jc43089]

More burnouts!  (revving in neutral will do it in real quick) 

"Sorry (wifes name) not sure what happened, trans seems fried"

[i_love_cars]

nice, did I see you on I-94 W last week during rush hour on Thursday or Friday? I gave a nod to a dude in a red 3.2.5 cabrio when we were right next to each other that looked just as clean as your example.

[BenDem]

Ha.  Yup, that was me!

(Nice 135, my favs of the 'new' BMWs )

[i_love_cars]

yes sir! My old boss had a couple of M3's including an '88 E30 that he just sold - to me the 135 is as close as possible in modern times to how that M3 felt. This thing is tiny for sure and reminds me of the older 3-series in that regard.

+1 for manual trans conversion    ditch your auto 

[Jdesign]

Yay another vert, Welcome to you sir!