Hello. My name is Dan, and today I doomsday prepped

[Boris3]

Looking good!!! In addition to the seat material, you might want to save other bits that might be in good/OK shape such as the seat shocks, rails/sliders, plastic lever covers, etc. It's getting harder and harder to find decent seats as you well know, so repairs are going to be the trend.

[Jdesign]

Looking good man!!

[Earl]

^Ditto=)

[straight6pwr]

thanks, dudes.

Boris3 said:

Looking good!!! In addition to the seat material, you might want to save other bits that might be in good/OK shape such as the seat shocks, rails/sliders, plastic lever covers, etc. It's getting harder and harder to find decent seats as you well know, so repairs are going to be the trend.

yes, good point. i've made a bucket of seat stuff and gave it the very technical label of 'ass alignment parts'

[visian]

damn daniel, in the sincerest way possible.

[straight6pwr]

visian said:

damn daniel, in the sincerest way possible.

lol, back at it again with the white e30

today was tire day. cue E*trade commercial. Mr. P's Tires in Bay View will due 4 tires mount/balance for $60 cash. first come first serve and they weren't busy today so I made two runs.

here are the e34 snows mounted and the new e30 tires mounted. if you aren't using General Altimax Arctic snow tires on your car, you should be. Better snow/ice performance and cheaper price then any of the big brand name snow tires. anyways, i'm hoping to due a test fit of the e30 wheels tomorrow if the weather is OK.

I went with a 225/45r16 square setup. I've always wanted 225s on my e30, but have usually gone with a 'stickier' 205. unfortunately by now, 225/45 is nearly an extinct tire size, and the only reasonably priced option is Nexen Nfera so we'll see how they work.

so the next easy (or so I thought) project was putting on my new M-rain shift boots.  5 min job right? NOT ON THIS POS. the shift knob is completely and unequivocally fused to the shift lever.   

i know the e30 tricks. I'm sure you guys can picture me straddling the center console and pulling up on the shift knob straight towards my face waiting for it to give way and punch myself. well, that didn't work. next idea:

didn't freakin work either....the wrench and shift carrier were beginning to flex so I had to stop so I didn't bend or brake something on the trans/shifter.

so what's next? well a torch, of course! i'm still laughing at myself for this, but it was worth a try. there is too much rubber/plastic inside the ///m shift knob, so i couldnt get it hot enough before the fires started. the tinfoil idea worked though!

so the next step is of course removing the entire lever in hopes that i can separate them in a vise or something. so i cut the old boot off and removed the rubber shift boot, which was wedged and ruined due to the placement of the shift carrier when using e36 parts in an e30 swap. (i will fix that later)

yaaaay another $20 part in the trash.

this is so far the only good surprise i've had working on this car. a dssr!

well, I got the shift lever out, but more bad news.  all that damage is not from me. my guess is someone else did exactly what I'm trying and that damage is the result of a failed attempt to separate the lever from the knob. i really would like to save the zhp knob, so not sure what I will do with this..son of a bitch, get me a drink.

on a side note, this is the z3 ///m shift lever, which is super notchy. I think I'll replace it later on with a regular z3 lever

so after all this, still no shift boots installed.

[m42b32]

+1 for the general altimax arctic, I have them on my M3 and they are worlds better than the old blizzaks I had before them, I was pretty much a snow plow in some of the storms last year and could go anywhere I wanted. For the price you definitely can't beat them. 

Sucks about the shifter though, is it possible someone glued it on?

[Boris3]

+2 on the Altimax Arctics. Good in snow, cheap, and when the roads are clear you don't have the dry squirm/float of the blizzaks.

[straight6pwr]

good to see other people using those tires with good success.

m42b32 said:

Sucks about the shifter though, is it possible someone glued it on? 

must be. with how tight the knobs fit already, it wouldn't take much super glue to get a near-permanent stick. i'm going to try to soak some acetone between the two to see what happens.

[KaiserRolls]

+3 on the altimax. That's what brooke runs and they are beastly.

DSSR is a good find.

FWIW, I used all e36 parts on my swap in the shifter region and dont have alignment issues?

Did use the e30 rear carrier though. And also +1 to the notch feel of the z3m, I believe that is what I have. I like it :0

[straight6pwr]

when setup with e36 trans + all e36 shift parts (carrier, lever, selector rod, selector joint), the center of the shift carrier is forward and right from where the stock location is. the rear bushing that holds the carrier doesn't make any difference, and has to be the e30 part anyways.

where did yours end up?

[KaiserRolls]

straight6pwr said:

when setup with e36 trans + all e36 shift parts (carrier, lever, selector rod, selector joint), the center of the shift carrier is forward and right from where the stock location is. the rear bushing that holds the carrier doesn't make any difference, and has to be the e30 part anyways.

where did yours end up?

I will check tomorrow, but as far as I know, it wasn't out of whack. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think I'd remember if it was shifted (punz) that much

[Bassboy3313]

Good to know about Mr P's tires with mounting/balancing for when I get tires for the e21.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

[KaiserRolls]

I lied I didn't check today

[straight6pwr]

well, i was unsuccessful at pulling the shift knob off. i soaked it in acetone overnight but it didn't help. I wrenched on it a little until the point when I was starting to damage it, then gave up.  until next season, i'll just leave it be.  for now, i mounted the shift boot with the lever off, then reinstalled the whole thing at once. This is 'M Rain' fabric for those unfamiliar. Matt-B on r3vlimited makes and sell the sets.

and all mounted in. i also had an e34 leather ebrake handle from the parts car that I threw on.

I test fit my wheels today. full specs on the wheels I picked up are:

BBS RS243 16x7 et33 (Fronts)

BBS RS310 16x8 et38 (Rears)

All original finish (very happy about this) is in pretty good shape, maybe a 8.5/10. some pitting around the bolts, and the inner barrels obviously look 20 years old. I'm glad they aren't perfect so I don't have to worry about them.

4x114.3 with 66.1 centerbore

Got some Adaptec adapters made up with the 4x100 to 4x114.3 pattern. 15mm all around (thinness available)

my maths were correct. et23 rear and et18 front. i got no rubbing anywhere on my test drive, which is awesome. however the adapter bolts are a little too long so hopefully they will send me some shorter ones.  front strut clearance:

and had to get a good picture before taking off the whole setup after the test.  i'm happy with how far I've gotten the car, and I think I'm done working on it for the season with the weather swing finally here.

[wasnt m3]

You can never go wrong with RS's on an e30. Do you have center caps for them?

[The Full Banana]

Great work. The car is looking fantastic.

[suspenceful]

Lookin' good. I'm having the opposite problem with my ZHP knob. On a hard 1-2 shift, I'll throw it right into the back seat.

+54213 on Altimax Arctics. I wish I didn't receive a set of Blizzaks with the purchase of my 325xiT, but can't bring myself to switch perfectly good tires out.

[GunMetalGrey]

suspenceful said:

Lookin' good. I'm having the opposite problem with my ZHP knob. On a hard 1-2 shift, I'll throw it right into the back seat.

I don't understand people like you, why are you pulling up and back so hard?!
I had a shift knob that didn't stay on too well in one of my e30's, and I never noticed until other people were throwing it into the back seat.

[suspenceful]

GunMetalGrey said:

I don't understand people like you, why are you pulling up and back so hard?!
I had a shift knob that didn't stay on too well in one of my e30's, and I never noticed until other people were throwing it into the back seat. 

Lol, I don't pull up. It's just loose after like 200 super hard 1-2 shifts during 1/4 and 1/2 mile passes.