Non-BMW Stuff on a BMW Forum

[gilber33]

The upholstery project has been going better than I anticipated and is a lot of fun. The rear bench is almost done. 
 

[gilber33]

Near spring update. 

Interior almost done: 

New wheels on after being circle jerked by a "racing shop" that fucked up the seals multiple while mounting them. Eventually took them to Big Bear Tire in Oconomowoc to have them dismounted. I did the seals myself, and now all is good. They're awesome BTW. The guy who did the tires has an e30 touring. 

The shop's attempt at fixing damaged seals and the seal that was about ready to start leaking. 

My job at cleaning all the sealant and resealing them. Pretty damn good if I say so myself. 

After removing the transmission to replace the input shaft seal, I was having issues the starting pinion gear not engaging the ring gear. It was hitting the side of the ring gear instead of engaging it. Dropped the engine and it ended up being the metal plate must have gotten slightly bent that it wasn't allowing the starter bolts to line up with the holes in the transmission. That's all fixed. Bench tested the starter on the engine before putting it back in. 

Revised my retrofit adapters and now have them for Morimoto's MLED 2.0 and the Micro D2S. 

That's all. Hopefully getting close to this winter's projects and I can get the car out and start driving it.

[m42b32]

That upholstery work looks fantastic!! Also, is it just the lighting or are those purple BBS center caps??

[gilber33]

m42b32 said:

That upholstery work looks fantastic!! Also, is it just the lighting or are those purple BBS center caps??

Caps are indeed purple. Had some made to match the interior. 

[Jdesign]

That interior is sex! Nice work!

[SteelBlue]

Interior is killer. What are the specs on the RS’s? They are the wheels I would love to have on the car, but they are very difficult to find 16” variations.

[gilber33]

SteelBlue said:

Interior is killer. What are the specs on the RS’s? They are the wheels I would love to have on the car, but they are very difficult to find 16” variations.

They are 15x7 in front and 15x7.5 in the rear. The 16" RS definitely come with a premium. But I've always like 15s on the car better. 

Had the car out for its first test drive and it was pissing transmission fluid. Engine and transmission had to come back out. It ended up being my fault - I put the input shaft seal cover on about 90* off which just so happened to line up the fluid return hole on the transmission to be lined up with an open hole on the cover. So it literally was pouring out. Fixed that. Drove it around this weekend some. Realized I forgot to tighten up the nut on the driveshaft where it splits. Sooooooo one more fucking time on the lift to do that, but then it should be all set!

Other notes: 

This winter I also made rear speaker boxes and front door tweeter pods and fitted in Focal component speakers in the front and rear. I installed an Infiniti Basslink Mini under the front seat. The sound system is now fantastic and sounds like what I've always been chasing. 

Interior is exceeding my expectations. I love them. The seats are so comfortable. Also finished the e-brake handle boot. 

Also able to test my H1 LED high beam kits. Since the caps on the euro smilies can't really accommodate the larger LED bulbs or the wiring, I wanted to make these since I don't have my US Ellipsoids anymore. I am not disappointed with the performances of the MLED projector and LED high beams. 

Made a stop at Fermentorium in Cedarburg with our youngest while the older two and my wife were at a birthday part. After Fermentorium, I used the e30 to pick them up and continue on to Sahale in Grafton. What a family car. 

[KaiserRolls]

I should really just buy headlights from you lol. 
 

interior looks awesome

[gilber33]

Well, the saga comes to an end. A family put a deposit down on it yesterday and they're coming to pick it up today. One day I'll share the full story of what is going on, but that's not today. 

I realize my posts in here were pretty infrequent but I sold my X5 to my brother. And bought a 2013 XC90 R-Design. I just sold that to my parents last weekend.

They drove me in my old car to Milwaukee and I took a train down to Chicago and picked up a 2013 Allroad. Higher miles, but the PO gave me a stack of maintenance done in the last year with the anticipation of keeping it for a long time before finding a good deal on a 5 series. 

This car fits the girls great after ditching the Graco Tranzitions car seats for Diono Radian 3's. Other than doing coilovers and maybe carplay, the car will remain as-is for a while.

Thank you everyone for the constant help with the e30 while I diagnosed goofy things, ranted, etc. It was a really fun car to own and was my first project where I was thoughtful in what and why I did things to it. The girls will miss it, but are OK  with it as long as it's replaced with a "red race car" one day.

[m42b32]

I'm sad to see it go but hopefully it's headed to a good home! 

gilber33 said:

The girls will miss it, but are OK  with it as long as it's replaced with a "red race car" one day.

That is a fair compromise on their end

[Jdesign]

Is the E30 staying local? 

I hope the red racecar is in the near future. 

[gilber33]

m42b32 said:

I'm sad to see it go but hopefully it's headed to a good home! 

That is a fair compromise on their end

It was a family in Hartland. The Dad has an M4 Comp, the kid has an m340i, a RHD GTR, and a couple other japanase cars I know I've heard but am not familiar with. So, it will be taken care of. 

Jdesign said:

Is the E30 staying local? 

I hope the red racecar is in the near future.  

Yup. Hartland. Hopefully sooner rather than later, but not immediately. I'm going to enjoy some time without constant car projects.

[Jdesign]

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/617764916953479/?mibextid=6ojiHh

Well that was quick…

[Bassboy3313]

Jdesign said:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/617764916953479/?mibextid=6ojiHh

Well that was quick…

Just saw that too

[gilber33]

Jdesign said:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/617764916953479/?mibextid=6ojiHh

Well that was quick…

I know....

RIP

[gilber33]

New owner messaged me and said they had some power loss issues while driving around the other day. Old car problems. I don't miss that in the slightest.

[gilber33]

Huge photo dump. By the time I sold the e30 I was pretty well over it. The old car problems were enough for me and it was taking time and money away from other things. Ultimately, our family may be looking a little bit different in the next year or so and I wanted something that I could fully enjoy with my girls. I went camping with my girls for a weekend with my brother and his new camper and they absolutely loved it.

So, I bought this complete and utter turd of a camper and have spent the last two months or so rebuilding in. It's ironic that one project leaves and another takes its spot, but this one is going to make so many memories and my girls are beyond excited to use it. My focus and priorities have shifted to them. A "racecar" will still find a new home with me someday as long as it's red per their requirements. 

Still got to put my 3D printing to use with this exterior box. 

The inside is 98% done. 

That's it for now! Hope everyone here is doing well and I've always been grateful for the wealth of knowledge here and all of your help during my ownership with the e30.

[YoungCR]

Very cool! Are you just doing solar for power?

[patsbimmer1]

Wow!  What a transformation!  I'm still traumatized from replacing the floors in our last camper, no way I'd have the stomach for a project like this.  Very nice job and the good news is you put it back together 1000X better than they originally built it.

Pre-kids, I would have never thought of owning a camper.  Two kids and a dog later and we're on our 3rd camper.  From a pop-up to 26' TT and now our 31' TT with a slide out.  We did 6 trips this year with the kids and what makes it all worth it is when I was sitting outside my sons classroom for his 1:1 with his new teacher last week and when he was asked, "what did you do this summer?" the first thing he said was "We went camping so many times!".

Lemme know if you need any camp location suggestions!

[gilber33]

YoungCR said:

Very cool! Are you just doing solar for power?

I did a battery and a 120 hook up. It has electric heat and I'll put in AC this winter for when we have an electric site. Which I'll try to always have during the summer. But the electric heat gives us the ability to camp earlier and later. I may try to do solar for charging the battery, though. 

patsbimmer1 said:

Wow!  What a transformation!  I'm still traumatized from replacing the floors in our last camper, no way I'd have the stomach for a project like this.  Very nice job and the good news is you put it back together 1000X better than they originally built it.

Pre-kids, I would have never thought of owning a camper.  Two kids and a dog later and we're on our 3rd camper.  From a pop-up to 26' TT and now our 31' TT with a slide out.  We did 6 trips this year with the kids and what makes it all worth it is when I was sitting outside my sons classroom for his 1:1 with his new teacher last week and when he was asked, "what did you do this summer?" the first thing he said was "We went camping so many times!".

Lemme know if you need any camp location suggestions!

That's awesome! My kids are super excited. They play it in all the time. I have Harrington booked in a couple weeks for its test trip and Blue Mounds in November so we can do Cave of the Mounds, too. 

Next year we have WI Dells and Devil's Lake booked. I plan on doing Peninsula earlier in the year since all the electric sites are booked and Nelsen Dewey in August so we can check out Dubuque and Galena. Learning all about the games you gotta play to get some of the more desired parks.