A Day with My Car

Well, yesterday was the first time in a while that I didn't have anything going on on a Monday. No tournament, no golf for fun, slept until 9, just a slow day. So, I decided to give my car a little spa day. Which I used to do all the time, but have neglected as of recently.

Started by changing the oil. I enjoy rolling around on the ground getting greasy. While I had the jack out I decided to check a noise that has been coming from the rear suspension. Sure enough, some how, the rear sway bar and the connecting rod had dissasmbled?! Don't know how something like this could have happened? Actually I do have an idea. Weeks prior I had taken my car in to get the alignament checked along with the tires balanced and rotated. Even since that day, my car has been running like crap. That terrible noise, along with a nice shake from the rear when I got from 81-83MPH. So along with the rear sway bar ordeal, I think the knuckleheads at this place, simply rotated my tires without really checking the balance. I went to a different tire joint, and had the tires balanced.

Yesterday night, I hung out with my buddies downtown, about a 25 minute drive on the freeway from my place. Perfect testing ground for my tune-up. Sure enough, my little baby was running like a dream.

I will not be going back to the previous mentioned tire shop.

She's not as pretty anymore, but here she is:

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b148/elneb/E30/

An e30 enthusiast that also golfs! You are a rare breed and a dedicated man for keeping it in such good shape. I'm guessing this is an 85 or 86? I am not that good at identifying years of the earlier e30s. I am an e36 enthusiast myself, but a team and I just built a couple e30s for racing purposes, one of them we raced in the 24 hours of LeMons up at Buttonwillow this past summer, and we will be racing it one more time up at Thunderhill late November.

None of my "BMW friends" golf, well, except my GF who has an E36 Z3 M Coupe (those cars have e30 rear ends, so it's half like your car ). Seems my friends are either into golf, or they are into cars.

I love the e30 m3. Such a classic car that looks great. What model and how many miles does yours have ben?

Its an '87 325. My "mileage-o-meter" broke a while back at 165,000. I'm guessing its near 185,000 now. If I'd have done some research I'd have tried to find an '88 325is. But, I'm an impulse buyer. Found this one from the original owner about 4 years ago. I had it repainted (although the paint was still in decent condition). Have also redone the interior, suspension and braking. Ultimately I'd like to get the e36's M3 engine (M20?) in there. What a beast she'll be then. Looking at $11grand with a brand new engine. SQBimmer, maybe you've heard of the place? Its called AVUS in Glendale. Or, maybe your dudes could hook me up? That's pretty cool that you're into track racing. I'd love to get a nice car for that. There's a member at the club where I work, has

the nicest Porsche. I forget if its a 4S or Carrera or what, but its retarded nice! I used to have a '66 912 too. Got rid of it a little while back

The e36 m3 engine is s50 for 95, and s52 for 96-99. I'd recommend an s50, would be easier to transplant into the e30. If you're going to do all that, you may as well throw some suspension on the car and use THAT as a track toy!

Let me know when you decide to do the engine swap, add me to your "rolodex" sort to speak. PM me an addy and I'll mail you my business card. I sell used BMW parts and come across s50 engines every now and then. I can also hook you up with the conversion parts necessary to get the motor to mount in the e30. You need an oil pan from an e34 m50 5 series, e36 engine mounting brackets, different brake booster, etc etc. Pretty much any BMW part I can either get in good used condition, or I can get new for very cheap. I am familiar with Avus, I am an active member of the BMWCCA, LA Chapter and Avus is one of the shops that sponsors club activity IIRC. I don't have anything bad to say about them, but I can probably save you a couple thousand bucks on the engine/parts and you would just have to pay for labor. If you ever want to bring your car out to a BMWCCA autocross let me know. I volunteer instruction with both the LA and SD chapters and know a lot about it. There are events at AAA Speedway (Formerly California Speedway) as well as Willow Springs International Raceway out in Rosamond. My favorite autocross venue is Qualcomm Stadium (Chargers) in San Diego. Maybe we can trade autocross lessons for golf lessons! haha I kid, instruction is included in the price of admission. :)

S50, that's it! I've got the M20 now. Yeah, Avus is a pretty penny. I had my front suspension rebuilt there a while back. Quality work, ultra nice facility. I guess they gotta pay for that spot somehow. I use an independent mechanic now that really treats me right. Ultra fast, pretty cheap, good work. Can't beat it. But, I will most certainly keep you in check for when I finally pull the trigger on the S50 deal. I'll PM you now. You thinkin' like 8grand-ish? I've got some suspension mods though. Maybe not the best for track racing. But I've got H&R; springs with Bilstein shocks. Like I said, at Avus I had new control arms put in with E30 bushing. And I've got the front tower bar. I suppose I could beef up the back a bit. Still have the stock sway bars there and no tower bar.

Thanks!

The motor costs about $1500-2000 depending on mileage and condition. The swap parts cost about $500-600. From there, it depends what you're left with. Do you need new gaskets here and there, belts, hoses, clutch, accessories, etc? So that is the real big variable, the "additional" stuff beyond the main hardware. For that stuff if I don't have good used parts, I have an account with BMA in Glendale, and I can usually match or beat pelicanparts.com prices.

All good stuff to know. Thanks so much.

Digging that there are some car guys here as well.

I would LOVE to find and Alpin white E30 M someday....