The One That Didn't Get Away [100K Mile E30 325is]
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Figure not worth bumping my F30 thread, more paint correction and paint related work. Did a full decon wash on the car last night, strip wash, iron remover, and then clay barred. Finished my taping off the car once in the garage to make the following day easier.
Went down to Cars and Coffee at Throttle Stop in Elkhart Lake with my buddy bright and early. Some pics:
^This guy is actually one of the SVP’s at my work.
We got back to tackle the car round 11, finished around 2:30. We did a polish with Sonax Perfect Finish, two people with polishers really makes this a breeze. We then sealed the car with Jescar Powerlock. This stuff is a breeze to buff off. Finally, we topped it off with Colonite 845 wax. Probably would have coated this car as well, but I don’t think I would have had enough to do the full car and my buddy had all of the stuff to do this method. Really happy with how it came out, car looks wet and the metallic really came out again.
This car was long overdue for some for exterior love. Do have a fair amount of little knicks and chips, highway driving will do that. Front bumper is pretty beat, but my plan is to replace it at some point with an M Tech one as I think I’m going to stick with this car for some time. Turbo replacement has to be coming up soon...
**Some of these pics look like shit because something was on my lens, I’ll take some better ones later.**
Having both cars dialed in is such a good feeling.
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Just been enjoying driving the car as of recently.
Don't really know if there's any other plans for this year other than a couple of maintenance things that I haven't had time to do. Maybe tidying up the spoiler fitment a little more. Gotta start looking for winter storage options.
Next year will probably be exhaust, steering rack, and maybe a little more notchy short throw?
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Next year will probably be exhaust, steering rack, and maybe a little more notchy short throw?
You still have the m20 in this right? What do you do for exhaust? Custom or off-the-shelf? I'd like to replace the exhaust in mine and get rid of the factory exhaust joints and go to a v-band or something. I've never been able to get a 100% seal on them.
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You still have the m20 in this right? What do you do for exhaust? Custom or off-the-shelf? I'd like to replace the exhaust in mine and get rid of the factory exhaust joints and go to a v-band or something. I've never been able to get a 100% seal on them.
Still M20. My plan is to go with Ireland Engineering long tube headers and then have my buddy who did the exhaust for my S52 fab me another custom one. My other plan is to keep the stock headers and then go for an off the shelf Billy Boat or something. I can hear exhaust leaks, so I know that essentially from the headers back, it will need to be replaced. The V bands on the S52 exhaust made taking it off when I sold it like a 10 minute job.
I don’t know if anyone on here has done a header swap while the motor is in the car, how was it? I’ve done some digging and it would appear that this should be easier than an M5X/S5X purely for the fact that they only use 2 bolts per exhaust port on the M20 as opposed to 4.
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This thing looked even better in person. I'm glad I got to see it yesterday!
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I’ve had my eye on these vinyl banners of vintage pictures at Road America for awhile now. Drove the E30 down to RA for the PCA event and picked one up while I was in the shop signing the form to get the RA license plates considered to be put into DMW rotation. 84”x48”, I’ll probably end up getting a couple more these when I have my own garage.
I went with the Mark Donohue driven Porsche 917/30.
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Haven’t done anything to the car other than drive it. Got a storage unit about a minute from my house to keep it in for the winter.
Does anyone have recommendations for storing their car in a non climate controlled garage over the winter? My plan was to swap back to the stock wheels and keep the style 5s in my parents basement so the tires stay in a warmer environment. Buy a tender for the battery and fill it up with gas before parking it for the winter.
Any other suggestions? Probably was going to put something between the tires and the concrete even though I’m not too concerned about the tires on the stock wheels.
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Ensure the coolant is able to handle Wisconsin winter, this can be done with a cheap "gauge" from a parts store. It's basically a pipette with a few balls in it to determine the freezing point.
Outside of that, nothing too drastic to do.Those wheels look oh so good!
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Ensure the coolant is able to handle Wisconsin winter, this can be done with a cheap "gauge" from a parts store. It's basically a pipette with a few balls in it to determine the freezing point.
Outside of that, nothing too drastic to do.Those wheels look oh so good!
Got it, will do.
Got something for the wheels that I’m hoping shows up before I put it away for the year.
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I always add fuel stabilizer to the tank and then run the car for a bit to circulate it through the system too
I second this ^^^^^
And don't forget the most crucial part of storing your bmw over winter ...... fold in the mirrors.
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And don't forget the most crucial part of storing your bmw over winter ...... fold in the mirrors.
An absolute essential!
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First thing I do is thoroughly clean out the interior and get rid of any wrappers, receipts, etc that may have made it through the winter then vacuum every crevice to get rid of any potential mouse food that my kids may have left in there. Then in no certain order:
- I add STA-BIL to a full gas tank and run it through for a bit
- Battery maintainer WITH overcharge protection
- Check all fluid levels to make sure they're full and winter ready including winter washer fluid. If it's not rated for winter use it can freeze and could cause some damage to that system
Something I've never done for winter storage is remove the wheels and tires. I do make sure the tires are properly inflated but other than that it sit's as is. I've never had an issue with flat spotting after storage over winter.
I'll also add that although I've never had a mouse issue with one of my stored cars I have worked on too many cars WITH mouse problems that keeps me paranoid enough to set up about 4 mouse traps and mouse poison in the garage over the winter. Dryer sheets are bullshit and have no effect on mice. I've pulled engine covers with the fucking dryer sheets in the mouse nest.
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I see there is a STA-BIL product labeled "storage". Is this the one I should I go with or is there just a standard one I should use?
I believe that's just the standard STA-BIL and that's the one I use.
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I see there is a STA-BIL product labeled "storage". Is this the one I should I go with or is there just a standard one I should use?
I didn't know there were different ones, the normal one has been fine for me
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Something I've never done for winter storage is remove the wheels and tires. I do make sure the tires are properly inflated but other than that it sit's as is. I've never had an issue with flat spotting after storage over winter.
Trick for this is park your car on cardboard!
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Am I the only one that just removes the battery all together??
I just toss them on a shelf and then slap them back in when the salts gone.
unless your radio station presets are that important
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