WIBIMMERS

Getting the interior cleaned up a little bit. Shampooed the carpets and have some new floor mats coming in addition to a factory parking brake handle to get rid of the M handle thingy. 

Back on the ground! Need oil and more coolant. And gotta put a couple bits and pieces here and there back together. 

Fuck yeah. 

It needs to be cleaned out and lubed up, but this is a big win for me.

It’s on the ground. Last night I started it up and bled the cooling system. Have PS rear window trim to put back on, a piece of door moulding, and the trunk panels. 
 

Interior cleaned up and looking oh so good. 
 

The WI Bimmers sticker that will live on as part of the car. 
 

Taking it for a test spin this weekend when my wife is home and the kids aren't napping juuuuuust in case. But super excited. The wagon has some overdue maintenance, but in the meantime I had the windows tinted. 

And did a little cleaning up. 

jc43089 said:

I have a UUC flywheel which is very light at 8.5 lbs and I use the mix of Redline fluids that they recommend.  There is still a little rattle but not much.  It is good advice.

That's good to hear. I will definitely try that. 

Car is back home. Drive home was just as magnificent. Car is so much smoother without the should mounts. I cam actually hear the exhaust and m20 now. I couldn't hear anything but vibrations with the solid mounts. 

And with the combination of the chip, lightweight flywheel, and new tires it is so enjoyable. I was smiling the whole way home. 

I put on new auxiliary belts and one of them is squealing a bit. Need to try tightening it but the brackets were just about stripped.

How about some e30 content? 

All cleaned up for Road America tomorrow. 

Clear coated. Very happy with how these turned out for being my first time. 

Next up is to wetsand it and then do a cut and polish. Going to order a setup from Chemical Guys. There are some really good spots, and there are some spots where the clear feels a little dusty - assuming it’s overspray. 

I’ve been driving it to work for the past couple weeks and the power steering seems to be fine. I bought one of those home alignment kits with the plates and tape measures and got pretty close to a good alignment. Needs some real minor adjustment. But all in all, it’s been very enjoyable! 
 

The night mode on the new iPhone seems to work pretty okay. Have some condensation in one of the headlights, so I’ll have to pull that out and reseal it. Save that for this winter or something.

We also have some basement walls at our house!

Did the Overcrest Rally with @The Full Banana over the weekend. Tom did most of the driving since I was technically the passenger and we were supposed to be in his 240. But we both had a blast and the e30 exceeded my expectations and was able to keep up with the 911s in the group we drove with most of the time. Got a lot of compliments on how quick we were on the roads. 
 

After about 400ish miles that made up the rally, the car came home with a significant number of rock chips, a season’s worth of tire removed, and very tired suspension. But it was all totally worth it.

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

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.

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. 

Took a cruise last night and these lights do not disappoint. 
 

Engine getting back together (even though I have to replace the head bolts). And got all my parts back from being powder coated! 

I made a graph of my car so far. 

Hit 2,000 miles on the new engine today. Still going strong. Need to really look at an exhaust soon. It’s be very nice driving it to work like it’s a “normal car”. Hot out with the AC on. 
 

I love parking next to new vehicles. 
 

KaiserRolls said:

I sense an autox in your future

To be honest, I think this made me want to do autox less. Back country driving with the windows down is what I have always enjoyed most and this was the epitome of that. I cannot say enough how idyllic the driving experience was. Autox would just be a let down to me.

Update. But not to the e30. Since we got Katherine’s Atlas, we don’t use the wagon for anything other than me going to and from work. So, the wagon is going and I got something more fun for a daily. 

Needs and exhaust and some other minor things, but, I’m very excited to have something more fun for a daily.