e30 325i Sport M-Tech1
Discussion
Sorry for being so quiet recently.
I've been a bit less enthusiastic following the events that left me stranded at the petrol station on the day I was collecting the car and hoping to take it home. I've narrowed it down as to why. It's because I haven't yet had the chance to bond with the car, and it has become a little bit of a time/financial thorn. The initial budget that i'd put aside for the recomissioning was spent on the expected items quickly and this wasn't a problem as I was excited to get the car home and back on the road. A few other items popped up - fuel tank etc, but again, not unexpected and not unreasonable for an old car that has sat for so long. The electronics issue has pushed me a little over two points:
1) I'm not yet in LOVE with the car - I haven't driven it and then it's been taken off the road, so I don't yet feel i've developed enough of a bond with it to 100% justify the spend without reason (i'd 100% have been ok with that in my old subaru for example).
2) the electronics issue isn't something that was clearly an easy fix and has taken time to sort out.
The recomissioning budget creep hasn't yet been tempered by me being able to take the car out, bond with it, grow to love it and therefore easily justify the costs involved, so i've had a hard time over the last month, but the final invoice is paid and the work has been nearing completion. I'm hoping to collect the car on wednesday or thursday this week.
The electronic issue has caused more headaches than first might have been thought. It wasn't an issue that Spencer at BMP conversions had worked with before and was a little unusual. After working through much of the wiring system, replacing the coil pack, relays etc, we noticed that there was an intermittent issue with the coil pack getting really hot under use, when the car had sat for a little while and when re-starting, this meant the car wouldn't spark. Replacing the ecu with a unit off a donor car in the yard didn't help.
Off the car went to an auto electrician.
Scorch marks on the ECU were found.
Further testing of the ECU revealed the following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciAR43aBadg
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48jWjAVEo4I
So it seemed that the ECU was over stimulating the electronics on the car. Oddly, the donor ecu demonstrated the same issue, but the board had some solder marks from a previous attempted repair and signs of water ingress so we thought this might be a dud.
Decision time - wait for an ecu of a working car to become available, or admit defeat and replace the wiring loom with a facelift loom and ecu off a working engine, loosing some originality, but improving on reliability.
Given that I haven't got any plans to sell the vehicle, I need it to be reliable, so i've gone for the updated loom installation so that we can be rid of the gremlins for good.
Pray it works. I don't want to have to sell the car to realise any investment into it, and I hope I fall in love with it once I get to finally drive it properly!
Updates will follow.
I've been a bit less enthusiastic following the events that left me stranded at the petrol station on the day I was collecting the car and hoping to take it home. I've narrowed it down as to why. It's because I haven't yet had the chance to bond with the car, and it has become a little bit of a time/financial thorn. The initial budget that i'd put aside for the recomissioning was spent on the expected items quickly and this wasn't a problem as I was excited to get the car home and back on the road. A few other items popped up - fuel tank etc, but again, not unexpected and not unreasonable for an old car that has sat for so long. The electronics issue has pushed me a little over two points:
1) I'm not yet in LOVE with the car - I haven't driven it and then it's been taken off the road, so I don't yet feel i've developed enough of a bond with it to 100% justify the spend without reason (i'd 100% have been ok with that in my old subaru for example).
2) the electronics issue isn't something that was clearly an easy fix and has taken time to sort out.
The recomissioning budget creep hasn't yet been tempered by me being able to take the car out, bond with it, grow to love it and therefore easily justify the costs involved, so i've had a hard time over the last month, but the final invoice is paid and the work has been nearing completion. I'm hoping to collect the car on wednesday or thursday this week.
The electronic issue has caused more headaches than first might have been thought. It wasn't an issue that Spencer at BMP conversions had worked with before and was a little unusual. After working through much of the wiring system, replacing the coil pack, relays etc, we noticed that there was an intermittent issue with the coil pack getting really hot under use, when the car had sat for a little while and when re-starting, this meant the car wouldn't spark. Replacing the ecu with a unit off a donor car in the yard didn't help.
Off the car went to an auto electrician.
Scorch marks on the ECU were found.
Further testing of the ECU revealed the following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciAR43aBadg
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48jWjAVEo4I
So it seemed that the ECU was over stimulating the electronics on the car. Oddly, the donor ecu demonstrated the same issue, but the board had some solder marks from a previous attempted repair and signs of water ingress so we thought this might be a dud.
Decision time - wait for an ecu of a working car to become available, or admit defeat and replace the wiring loom with a facelift loom and ecu off a working engine, loosing some originality, but improving on reliability.
Given that I haven't got any plans to sell the vehicle, I need it to be reliable, so i've gone for the updated loom installation so that we can be rid of the gremlins for good.
Pray it works. I don't want to have to sell the car to realise any investment into it, and I hope I fall in love with it once I get to finally drive it properly!
Updates will follow.
Tri_Doc said:
I hope I fall in love with it once I get to finally drive it properly!
Summat wrong wi' ye if you don't!!Hope your electrics get sorted OK. If it's anything like mine, bits will continue to fall apart for a while when someone so much as looks at them, but you'll soon get them sorted. These are pretty simple cars in a modern context, and there's still a decent parts supply both new and second hand.
Incredible evening. Received a call at work this afternoon, various wiring repairs had been completed and the car had been put through 100miles of mixed driving, start/stop, tested in most everyday situations and the electrical issue that was overheating the coil pack has disappeared. It was ready to collect.
I dashed home from work, rang a number of people to call in a favour to drop me down to the garage and good old mum answered the call-to-arms.
An hour later I was driving back on some of my favourite roads, into the sunset and back home. The brakes clearly need more time to bed in, or I need more time to adjust to them, as they're not really part of the party at present., but the rest of the car is fabulous. I even called the insurer on the way to collect it to add 'drive to work' to allow me to use it to drop the kids at nursery tomorrow.
The whole process cost a little more that I was hoping but less than it could have (thank goodness no rust). The car drives well, sounds superb, is wonderfully analogue and the whole process of steering it down the B1105 this evening couldn't have been more different than in my daily. I hope it is the start of a long love affair!
I dashed home from work, rang a number of people to call in a favour to drop me down to the garage and good old mum answered the call-to-arms.
An hour later I was driving back on some of my favourite roads, into the sunset and back home. The brakes clearly need more time to bed in, or I need more time to adjust to them, as they're not really part of the party at present., but the rest of the car is fabulous. I even called the insurer on the way to collect it to add 'drive to work' to allow me to use it to drop the kids at nursery tomorrow.
The whole process cost a little more that I was hoping but less than it could have (thank goodness no rust). The car drives well, sounds superb, is wonderfully analogue and the whole process of steering it down the B1105 this evening couldn't have been more different than in my daily. I hope it is the start of a long love affair!
Couldn’t help but use it to drive to work today. That does mean getting the kids to nursery though....
First day out of the garage and a huge seagull has taken a massive dump on the windscreen and bonnet, but has dried on so hard in the morning that scrubbing with some Evian and paper towel hasn’t got it off. Damn it!! Enjoying the car though. Slow steering rack is a real surprise but getting used to it. Car is lovely to run through 3rd and 4th gear on the country roads, but off into Norwich tonight to see a mate and hopefully I will get a chance to enjoy it on the smooth tarmac of the NDR.
First day out of the garage and a huge seagull has taken a massive dump on the windscreen and bonnet, but has dried on so hard in the morning that scrubbing with some Evian and paper towel hasn’t got it off. Damn it!! Enjoying the car though. Slow steering rack is a real surprise but getting used to it. Car is lovely to run through 3rd and 4th gear on the country roads, but off into Norwich tonight to see a mate and hopefully I will get a chance to enjoy it on the smooth tarmac of the NDR.
Edited by Tri_Doc on Friday 16th August 14:09
The slow steering is the only thing that dates them. However, the e30 was a handful in the wet, esp on the roly polly standard suspension and tyres of that time. I I think BMW did it to prevent sudden turn in and thus pendulum effect of a light rear end.
Yours should be more stable given it’s an m tech. I know people swap the Z1 rack and I would love to try a well sorted E30 with one.
Yours should be more stable given it’s an m tech. I know people swap the Z1 rack and I would love to try a well sorted E30 with one.
48hre of driving about in the e30 and I’m falling for it hard. It looks great, comfy ride, handles well (I’m not confident enough to have started exploring the cars limits), and the engine is simply addictive when it comes to revving it, especially through second and third gear.
It goes to highlight how legislation and improved safety and build quality has worked to remove the driver from the action when it comes to the process of driving. It’s also painfully obvious why they don’t build cars this way anymore. It’s fragile, and doesn’t give me the confidence I’d be ok in a side impact. It’s simply fabulous to drive though and even at low speed it’s a lovely thing to steer along the road. Also, because it’s not especially powerful and because you’re included in the action far more, it’s fun and engaging and exciting to drive at speeds below the national speed limit. This makes it so much more relevant in a speed restricting obsessed world. It shows you don’t have to go fast to have fun. Nice to know a car can give so much back, even when sitting stationary and just being looked at.
It goes to highlight how legislation and improved safety and build quality has worked to remove the driver from the action when it comes to the process of driving. It’s also painfully obvious why they don’t build cars this way anymore. It’s fragile, and doesn’t give me the confidence I’d be ok in a side impact. It’s simply fabulous to drive though and even at low speed it’s a lovely thing to steer along the road. Also, because it’s not especially powerful and because you’re included in the action far more, it’s fun and engaging and exciting to drive at speeds below the national speed limit. This makes it so much more relevant in a speed restricting obsessed world. It shows you don’t have to go fast to have fun. Nice to know a car can give so much back, even when sitting stationary and just being looked at.
CYCOLOGY said:
Lovely car, used to have a very similar sport on a 'D' plate.
I know what you mean regarding the brakes, bit of a shock how poor they were even back then compared to other cars I'd had!
Wish we'd kept ours now......
Didn’t the RHD ones have a big bar that ran across the inside of the dashboard and connect from the brake pedal to the servo. I think it was because there was no space for the master cylinder on the right hand side I know what you mean regarding the brakes, bit of a shock how poor they were even back then compared to other cars I'd had!
Wish we'd kept ours now......
Edited by Paracetamol on Wednesday 21st August 08:11
Gave the old girl a clean.
I had recently invested in a snowfoam attachement and the autoglym polar range to use for my daily , so I tried that, with awareness of shut lines and old rubber seals. After that, polished it up with their super resin polish and have treated the rubber and plastic bumpers/grills to a trim restorer, again, from autoglym. Not sure why I use their stuff, other than the fact that first car cleaning kit I ever had contained their products and I’ve stuck with them.
I do use bilt hamber wheel cleaner which smells funny and goes red when you put it on, but had good reviews. I’ve also got a clay bar that I haven’t taken out of the packet yet, as haven’t really had time with the kids to give the car the full treatment.
I’m also enjoying the perks of retro motoring. I haven’t had a cassette deck since my GB270 wagon, so I’m embracing it to the full. The 80’s had an interesting selection of music, so I went out and picked up a couple of tapes for the car. Also, in the process of cleaning out the multi-cassette holder, I found a tape my wife had made as a teenager - a ripped copy of ‘Now41’. Nice.
I’m enjoying picking through my new selection of tapes. Just need to get a massive 80’s mobile phone and invest in Bluestar Airlines & Anacott Steel.
I had recently invested in a snowfoam attachement and the autoglym polar range to use for my daily , so I tried that, with awareness of shut lines and old rubber seals. After that, polished it up with their super resin polish and have treated the rubber and plastic bumpers/grills to a trim restorer, again, from autoglym. Not sure why I use their stuff, other than the fact that first car cleaning kit I ever had contained their products and I’ve stuck with them.
I do use bilt hamber wheel cleaner which smells funny and goes red when you put it on, but had good reviews. I’ve also got a clay bar that I haven’t taken out of the packet yet, as haven’t really had time with the kids to give the car the full treatment.
I’m also enjoying the perks of retro motoring. I haven’t had a cassette deck since my GB270 wagon, so I’m embracing it to the full. The 80’s had an interesting selection of music, so I went out and picked up a couple of tapes for the car. Also, in the process of cleaning out the multi-cassette holder, I found a tape my wife had made as a teenager - a ripped copy of ‘Now41’. Nice.
I’m enjoying picking through my new selection of tapes. Just need to get a massive 80’s mobile phone and invest in Bluestar Airlines & Anacott Steel.
Edited by Tri_Doc on Wednesday 21st August 10:20
What a fantastic thread / story OP.
I'm glad you're starting to bond with it and have found the love.....
I've always had a soft spot for an E30, my Father owned a couple and thought they were fantastic. Looks even better in M-Tech guise and in that colour.....
Look forward to plenty more updates and pictures, enjoy!
I'm glad you're starting to bond with it and have found the love.....
I've always had a soft spot for an E30, my Father owned a couple and thought they were fantastic. Looks even better in M-Tech guise and in that colour.....
Look forward to plenty more updates and pictures, enjoy!
Great thread
I recommissioned an Opel Monza GSE that hadn't been used for many years - oil & filter change without even starting the engine, new plugs and air filter as well as diff/gearbox oil changes - last bit was a partial coolant flush
Started it up and left it ticking over on the drive to warm the oil and then change it again - heard a goooomph noise and saw all the coolant running down the drive - centre of the rad had just given up the fight - you never get away with what you think it needs it's always much more
I recommissioned an Opel Monza GSE that hadn't been used for many years - oil & filter change without even starting the engine, new plugs and air filter as well as diff/gearbox oil changes - last bit was a partial coolant flush
Started it up and left it ticking over on the drive to warm the oil and then change it again - heard a goooomph noise and saw all the coolant running down the drive - centre of the rad had just given up the fight - you never get away with what you think it needs it's always much more
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