New ride! 89 e30 vert
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I bought some LEDs and resistors and fixed my burnt out OBC backlight today. Can't wait to put it in and see how it looks after work. Pretty easy mod if you can solder. I bought enough parts for 5 cars. PM me if you need yours fixed. I will get some pics, I used orange LEDs which look like a nice match for the interior illumination.
A few more things to get this car in perfect working order and it will be for sale, I stopped and showed it to the guy I bought it from a couple days ago and he claimed first dibs on it so maybe it will be an easy sale. It is really fun and I wish I could keep it but I just don't have room for it, I can't really justify two summer cars. It needs a good home where it can be kept in a nice garage all the time.
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Pulled the gauge cluster, the odometer was counting slow, about 83% of actual distance. The "e1" gear was missing a couple teeth, ordered one for 7 bucks from http://e30odometergears.com/index.php?page=buy-e30-odometer-gears . Great price and had a good how to, it seems odd to me that the gears are a soft plastic/rubber.
Working on finishing this car up today, I want everything to be in good working condition.
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Wipers had a couple issues, they would only wipe if you wiggled the stalk around, and then only once. I took the steering column apart and cleaned the ground screw. Good to go! Then with the windshield dry the right wiper arm was slipping on the shaft, turns out the nut at the base of the arm was too loose, snugged that up and problem gone. Next up install the bowl reinforcement.
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Here are a couple pics. The odometer gear had 2 of the 12 teeth missing, just as I had calculated 83% of actual travel was recorded. It wasn't split until I pulled it off. I thought it was odd that the gears are a stiff rubber?
And Earl would be proud of my hardware for the flywheel cover. I didn't want hex bolts because there wouldn't be good clearance to use a wrench on them so these were a good compromise.
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Super easy, have you removed the cluster before?
Not on an e30
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Wipers had a couple issues, they would only wipe if you wiggled the stalk around, and then only once.
yowo
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yowo
Uh, does this mean yours does the same thing? haha.
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You only wipe once.
Wiping repeatedly is too mainstream
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Went to the company golf outing today, after 4 holes we got rained out. When I tried to leave the car wouldn't fire, just cranked. So I called AAA for a tow home, maybe something got soggy? I am suspicious that my CPS is the problem because the plastic around where the wire goes in to the sensor crumbled when I removed it during the timing belt replacement. I had already ordered a new one that will be here Tuesday so hopefully that is the problem. Good thing it didn't happen on our road trip.
Also coming is a new shock for the trunk lid, two new shocks for the vert lid, the rubber insulating shift boot, a new shifter cup/bushing, a new fixed antenna (old power one is broken and looks like crap, and a cheap ebay lip type rear spoiler to look nice and cover the holes from the junk spoiler that is held on with 1/4" lag screws currently, who does that????
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Got the problem figured out, the clip for the o2 sensor wire broke and it landed on the exhaust manifold, it must have been pulling the ecu voltage down or something, got that fixed up.
The right rear window was sketchy when going up so I pulled everything apart to get the motor out.
To loosen the alignment bolts, they look like this from above, I had to grab the round part with a pliers to keep it from turning and messing up the adjustment.
Then it still didn't want to come out because it was all of the way down. I read somewhere about the window switches getting pitted over time so I took that apart, sure enough it looked terrible, I cleaned it up with some emery cloth and it works perfect now, I am going to clean the others because they are somewhat slow and now the rear is fast again. No pics sorry, I will get some when I do the others.
Odometer gears! Remove the 3 screws on the knee panel.
It pulls out of these 2 clips that support the back of it. The one on the steering column moves so you have to push it back down.
Take the thumbscrews off of the peice below the cluster.
Take the 4 screws out that hold the black trim piece in, there are 2 in the lower corners that are recessed and somewhat hard to see. Remove the trim ring carefully, then take the last 2 screws out that hold the cluster in.
By pulling down/out on the tabs you can get the cluster out far enough to unhook the wiring on the back, make a note of where the bonus bulbs and stuff go that are option specific I assume. (Note, it is much easier to get this out with the steering wheel removed and the column lowered a little, you can't remove the plastic column covers without pulling the wheel either because there are 2 screws hidden by the wheel. I had the wheel out the first time I removed the cluster and it was much easier.)
It's out! From the back, remove the hex/phillips screws that hold it together.
Screws removed. Then unhook the green plug by the levers on the sides and slide it off, it has pics that engage with the speedometer.
More to come.
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PT2:
Then it comes apart like this.
4 screws holds the speedometer into the main piece, take those out.
Then it should slide right out. Here is what it looks like before disassembling the gears. (note the "e1" or first drive gear is already removed in this picture from taking it apart before.)
Take the clear cover off.
There was a brass bushing inside of the OE gear. I used a side cutter from the end to split it in half lengthwise and it just falls off. Then push the new gear onto the shaft by hand, it is a tight fit.
Install is reverse of removal. I added mileage to accurately reflect the miles put on while I have had it which leaves me at 154,161.
The cluster is somewhat confusing as to what the manufacturer was. The face said VDO, the maint circuit board said motometer, and the speedo itself said VDO. I guess the only way to know what you have is to open it up and see.
My CPS was sketchy and I causing the tach to flicker once in a while so I ordered a new one. The cable is very brittle and the molded area around where the plug goes into the sensor was broken and exposed the wires.
I thoroughly dislike the backwards opening hood! Made this job a pain. I took out the fan/clutch and shroud and unbolted the metal coolant pipe that crosses the front of the engine to get the cable out.
I also installed an 80/88 fan controller switch. I will drive it a while without the mechanical fan to see how temps are.
More parts coming today!
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