Alpine E30 Convertible Running Log
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Glad you're ok! Easy fix if your soft line comes off on the other end.
I’m hoping it does, the caliper was replaced recently so there shouldn’t be any corrosion. Backing plate got mangled, but can just get bent out of the way if it’s an issue.
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Sigh.
Guess I’m not going to the brew city cruise night. I was around 5 minutes away, coming down the off ramp when this happened, pedal went to the floor but I was able to pump it up enough to stop. Looks like both caliper bolts came out somehow, mangling the brake shield and shearing the soft line. Got REALLY lucky with this one. Could’ve been a lot worse.
Saw @Partiallypurple drive by, car looks great man! That whole group looked awesome for that matter.
Thanks man, I was going to stop, but I was leading everyone to the event, and none of them knew where to go. Glad you were able to stop safely still, and glad it should be an easy fix!
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Odometer: 200,407
Didn't post an update when I put the car back together, but got it back on the road two weekends ago. LOT of air in the lines, took two full bleedings and a few hours to get it all out and even still, I think there might be a small bubble somewhere so I'll give it one more go-round next weekend when I'm back home again. Might have to invest in a power bleeder.
Picked up a good condition used blower motor about a month ago from a 70k mile Z3 and tossed that in at the same time, aaaand of course it only works on high. Me being me, I didn't even think about grabbing the resistor out of the Z3. New one is getting here tomorrow and will go in next weekend as well.
It also appears that I have a habit of jinxing myself, because when I took the car for a shakedown after the brake repair, the odometer decided it was done odometering. Guess that's what I get for posting a picture of the 200k mile mark lol. I did approximately 200 miles that weekend and will continue to record approximate mileage until it gets fixed. If I have time next weekend, I'll pull the cluster to see which gear stripped and get it on order, and check the SI board battery type as well. My SI lights have never worked and I'm assuming that's the reason, but I'm no expert. Anyone else here ever deal with the battery replacement and have advice or tips? I do plan on having Batteries Plus do the actual replacement so I don't risk damage to the batteries or the board.
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I attempted to replace mine and failed. It made no difference so I think the board itself was bad. Welcome to the broken odometer club. I attempted to repair the odometer gears and it ended up working maybe 1 out of every 90 miles.
it makes for some really depressing fuel economy calculations
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I attempted to replace mine and failed. It made no difference so I think the board itself was bad. Welcome to the broken odometer club. I attempted to repair the odometer gears and it ended up working maybe 1 out of every 90 miles.
it makes for some really depressing fuel economy calculations
Yeah, I'm hoping the gear repair works. I've heard some horror stories on the main forums about similar problems to yours, broken motors, new gears stripping after a few miles, etc. I love actually having an odometer though, so I think I'd just go find a used working cluster, change the mileage to match mine, and run with it. Something about seeing the miles tick away...
SI board is way less important, but would be cool to have working.
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I'll pull the cluster to see which gear stripped and get it on order,
I would order the whole odometer gear set. When I took mine apart all of the gears were mushy. If I only replaced one gear it would have failed instantly right away.
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I would order the whole odometer gear set. When I took mine apart all of the gears were mushy. If I only replaced one gear it would have failed instantly right away.
Good to know. Will do. Did the complete replacement get it working correctly again, or did you have issues?
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Good to know. Will do. Did the complete replacement get it working correctly again, or did you have issues?
It worked straightaway. Keep track of the gears as you take them apart - or take a picture before you disassemble. When I replaced my gears I also reset my odometer back to zero to reflect my rebuilt engine since the actual mileage of the car was completely unknown.
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It worked straightaway. Keep track of the gears as you take them apart - or take a picture before you disassemble. When I replaced my gears I also reset my odometer back to zero to reflect my rebuilt engine since the actual mileage of the car was completely unknown.
Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to do that. Where'd you buy the replacements from?
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Thanks for the advice, I'll make sure to do that. Where'd you buy the replacements from?
I got mine for garagistic. But I think they’re available from multiple places. Garagistic has them as a nice package and they have a diy on their site for them.
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Replaced the resistor tonight, fan works on all speeds. Success! Except, for some reason, it runs even when the fan speed is set to 0. It sounds like there is a slight speed difference from 1 to 0, makes me think it’s a short somewhere rather than a bad switch or something. Anybody had a similar experience? I think for now I’ll just pull the fuse during the summer when I don’t use the heater to prevent excess wear on the motor, I don’t particularly care to dig through the wiring harness to fix it.
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Replaced the resistor tonight, fan works on all speeds. Success! Except, for some reason, it runs even when the fan speed is set to 0. It sounds like there is a slight speed difference from 1 to 0, makes me think it’s a short somewhere rather than a bad switch or something. Anybody had a similar experience? I think for now I’ll just pull the fuse during the summer when I don’t use the heater to prevent excess wear on the motor, I don’t particularly care to dig through the wiring harness to fix it.
Is the recirc or AC button by chance on? If either of those are pressed, it’ll turn on low speed blower motor (even if your fan is set to 0)
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Is the recirc or AC button by chance on? If either of those are pressed, it’ll turn on low speed blower motor (even if your fan is set to 0)
I'll check that, one of them might be now that I think about it. Thanks!
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Pulled the car out of storage today, it started right on the first turn of the key like always. I ordered the Garagistic odometer gear set this winter and decided to take care of that right away to get an accurate mileage tally for this year. No pics of the removal, but I snapped a few of the busted gears and various inner workings. It looks like someone fried an idiot light and soldered a jumper from the light adjacent to it at some point, but it’s the brake lining light that isn’t working so I’m not going to take the time to fix it.
Broken bulb that someone just left in there:
Broken gears:
Looks like only a few teeth were broken on each gear, but it was more than enough to jam everything up. The motor gear was by far the worst of the three.
New gears installed:
Spittin’ chiclets:
The only mildly difficult part of the job was removing the brass sleeve that was press fit onto the motor shaft. This required patience as to not wreck the motor (hopefully I didn’t, I haven’t tested yet), but it eventually came off using a side cutters and needle nose to crush the bushing at 90 degree angles until it loosened and slipped off.
I tried my best to push as little as possible when installing the new drive gear, but we’ll see if I wrecked it tomorrow.
Other than that, it’s just nice to have it back on the road. I forgot how sharp and light it feels compared to the e34, it’s a blast and still never fails to put a smile on my face. Solid FCAB’s and a manual swap are next on the project list, although the swap probably won’t happen until this fall or winter. I’ll replace the fuel tank, some brake lines and subframe bushings while I’m in there as well. I’ve been eyeing a Continental/VDO head unit as well, the current craptastic JVC is on its last legs.
See y’all at the picnic!
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