ISRGC Claims Another E30

[ClayW]

I picked up this E30 today. It's a 1991 325i 5 speed with 211K on the odometer before it stopped working. The price was right and the car seems to have been maintained well. Of course, it is red.

This is my first E30, so I'll be learning as I go.

Better pictures and ham-fisted maintenance to follow.

[M3M3M3]

not bad for a few hundred bucks. you gonna keep this one?

now you have three red cars.....

that stash of 22 cars we all picked must be down to near zero...

if speedo still works, the odometer fix is easy. common internal gear breakage. take odo out, id whether it is motometer or vdo, go to odometergears.com, order new gears, follow instructions on how to fix.

see pics in my "saved another e30 today" thread in the OT section.

[ClayW]

not bad for a few hundred bucks. you gonna keep this one?

now you have three red cars.....

that stash of 22 cars we all picked must be down to near zero...

if speedo still works, the odometer fix is easy. common internal gear breakage. take odo out, id whether it is motometer or vdo, go to odometergears.com, order new gears, follow instructions on how to fix.

see pics in my "saved another e30 today" thread in the OT section.

Yep, that stash, which began at 25 cars, is down to five or six, most of which are spoken for by family. There's still an E24, but it's not catching my eye.

I ordered the gears already. So far the list of maladies includes:

- Non-operational odometer

- Finicky AC compressor - Two spares in the trunk

- Central locking doesn't work

- Driver's door lock doesn't lock

- Driver's side doors only engage the dome light up to 1/3 open - Weird.

- Brakes have a funny rattle under light braking - New discs and pads in the trunk

- Paint is faded - What kind of beer does Jim Gerock like?

[brad_c-ville_VA]

the silver e24 is spoken for...we're picking it up this weekend!

brad.

[ClayW]

I dove into fixing the minor issues today. My parents are visiting and my dad graciously helped to hunt down the electrical demons that plagued the windows.

As it turns out, the front passenger window has a weak motor. I'll be finding a replacement soon.

Also, per the inspection station guy, the front window tint was too dark. He generously offered to remove it for $80. I thanked him for the offer and bought a $30 fabric steamer to do the job.

Then I discovered this:

I've never seen a broken door pin on a BMW. Repair kits are under $8 from www.blunttech.com.

[ClayW]

I cleaned out the interior and made a list of the necessary parts, which includes a dashboard with not so many cracks. Also, I discovered $2.15 in change plus one Eurocent. So, based on current exchange rates, I netted $2.1629.

[ClayW]

Got a few things done, but I keep adding to the list.

First, I received this door pin repair kit, since the last one snapped.

Then I tackled the odometer repair with new gears from www.garagistic.com.

Here is what the original small drive gear looked like when I removed it. This piece snapped into smaller pieces when I picked it up. Time for the replacements.

You leave this green gear and carefully remove the brass center of the destroyed small gear.

New gears in with their retainers.

And the cover...

Then reinstall everything and forget to take pictures of your work.

I also did the "Red/Black Wire Fix" to get the central locking system to work. Apparently, BMW ran the power for the central locking computer through the driver's door, to feed the heated lock (if you ordered one--most didn't). This created a failure point in the door wiring. Since the loop is unnecessary, you can just bridge the wiring before the door connection in the kick panel.

Here is where the loop in my door failed.

So I pulled this wire from the "to the door circuit."

Then I cut the "from the door" wire and soldered the two together. Now I just need to rebuild the door lock cylinder (waiting on parts) and lube the system up and I should have working locks.

[ahlem]

e30tech.com will be a good resource. A link is there to the complete wiring diagram if you need it.

[Koblenz]

Clay,

Nice e30. Thanks for the DIYs. My e30 (318is) has the central lock issue and the odometer problem. I guess I have found my next weekend fun. Go Terps!

[jgerock]

Clay -

I just read this posting. How bad is the paint? Have you tried a spot-check for polishing?

Jim

[ClayW]

Go Terps!

Go Tech (I'm from TX).

[ClayW]

Clay -

I just read this posting. How bad is the paint? Have you tried a spot-check for polishing?

Jim

I don't have a picture, but Dudley and I did a small spot polish. It'll clean up nice, with a few spots of imperfection. But hey, it'll look like show paint next to my 1600's patina!

I would really like your help when I get around to it. After I sell off the wife's Corolla, I plan on investing in a decent polisher/DA.

[ClayW]

I seem to be completing every common repair for E30s.

I ordered a driver door lock repair kit and assembled the new lock cylinder, keyed to match my existing key.

Old lock cylinder:

Assembly of the new lock cylinder:

I also installed a keyless entry system from German Engineering. Not bad for $65 shipped!

I also replaced this bad door lock actuator:

The locks are still sticky, so I might replace the mechanism, since it's the only thing left to replace.

Also, the passenger door got a new (used) window motor and regulator, since the old one was on its way out.

And, last but not least, new belts and a new power steering pump tensioner rod.

It looks like the local parts store sold me the wrong power steering belt, though. It was a little too wide, which meant that it was so tight that it broke and liberated itself on the test drive. That's what I get for not ordering OEM belts!

[Raccoon]

It's nice to see an e30 on here. I love my '90 325i. Your build is inspiring me to start getting down with the little things on my car. Most of which are exactly what you are dealing with.

[CubbyChowder]

Funny, odometer gears and GE keyless entry were the first two things I did to my recently acquired '91 318is. I have a build for it here in the project blog section as well. Keep up the work!