Project 323 from the ashes...

I build commercial refrigeration units. The first time I pulled my dash apart, I just kept scratching my head. I thought, these guys were either berserk or geniuses.

Good luck on your build.

Joel, I decided to invest in quite a bit of Liteature when I started this project, as I knew it would not be easy

I wonder where all my parts are, that I ordered a month back

I did manage to have a look at steering wheels though which come with slip rings
and then I was offered

"BMW E30 3-soke steering wheel. The one I have without the BMW emblem in centre and the leather covering off. But otherwise in a fair-good conditio."

Also I got offerd a Control panel

So once I have made my choice in steering wheels & my parts from Febi arrive, I can take this baby for a spin again

On another note, I need some advice on posting pictures
Is there a way to show them bigger in this thread ?
Obviously, if you click on them, they blow up to full size. But I was wondering if it is not irritating to have thumbnails floating around my post(as above) & then having to click on them ?
I was thinking of making them about 2 to 3 times bigger to start of with.

Originally Posted by Nick323

On another note, I need some advice on posting pictures
Is there a way to show them bigger in this thread ?
Obviously, if you click on them, they blow up to full size. But I was wondering if it is not irritating to have thumbnails floating around my post(as above) & then having to click on them ?
I was thinking of making them about 2 to 3 times bigger to start of with.

please do i cant open them on my phone

Since it will take about 5 weeks for my parts to arrive I have decided to clean up this thread.
How do I resize these thumbnails, so they become larger
That way one can actually see what I took a photo of, without clicking on it...

I searched high & low to find the magic instructions, but nothing
Please help ?

Upload your photos to a storage site, like Shutterfly or Photobucket, then insert the image link instead of uploading the photo to Bimmerfest.

Personally, I'd rather have the photo uploaded here and click to enlarge. SO many times people have linked to photo storage sites, then let their subscription to the storage site lapse, or the site folds, and then you have nothing here but text and the dreaded "box with a red x" instead of a picture. There are a multitude of DIY threads here and elsewhere that are useless without the pictures.

Thanks Ol'grumpy
I agree with you

I'd rather have the photo uploaded here

but I was hoping to be able to do it bigger than thumbnail, such as Steve & others did

Nice to meet a fellow BMW owner with a morbid fascination with the unwholesome. Spares come from pelican Parts in Ca USA. Hope your Customs blokes are as understanding as ours. Its only owners like us that are prepared/able to look after older vehicles that will allow kids to know/understand how cars have evolved. Good luck (and I thought I had problems!!).

FatherFigure, I sometimes wonder if I am not a closset-masochist
I have found Febi & Meyle to be chaper than Pelican, check their invoice from a previous post in this thread.
I import for a living, so Customs is just one of those things...
I don't have problems, I cause them

Coming back to the issue of lights.
I want to replace the central high beam units with 140 LightForce HID units
Would be nice if someboy could tell me where to get the best outside (dipped) lights or even better where to get such with a high/low beam bulb or provision ?

I am off to the desert on Wednesday & as always will be hoping for parts to arrive when back next week

3-months is not bad to wait in order to get some quality parts

Sadly though, this is the time of the year we get heck of a busy. So how to get these installed
Right now I am Unichipping at least one car per day.
But I am glad, as there are people without a income.

So now you should be hearing more again from me
I don't know if that is a good or bad thing

Not sure if it will work for you but i've read and been told you can sand the cracks in the dash down and then fill them with a filler i would guess bondo might work then sand again and paint

Sent from my PG06100 using Bimmer App

I am sure filling the cracks would work
It needs to be a flexible filler though.
a Friend of mine who is a German masterpanelbeater said he could try a fibreglasss filler, but is scared that it will crack again after a few months.
So if anybody has tried this successfully- shout !

Well I now have comne to the 2 most common E30 problems
The speedo gears, which I will get from Garagistix.
What beats me though that the lousiest Japanese car has sturdier gears than BMW & Land Rover used

And the IS board Batteries.
Now I am not sure whether they have to be replaced yet, as they show 2.83v after 3 months of not getting power
But what I do find interesting, that all the posts that I been reading her in the past 1/2 year or so, always talk about NiCd rechargeables. & those in there are clearly Lithium type
These CR142 50 SE are also noticably shorter & fatter than the usual NiCd
Any thoughts on this ?

Obviously this will make it handle soooo much better

Then I might as well replace all bushes to tighten up the supension
No Polyurethan here.
Andreas (my Autotronics intern) cleaning things up

To make them look neat again

Who would not like a boot full of parts

Nick323 - On the matter of dash cracks: can you get that expanding foam that comes in a pressure pack? That stuff stays a little flexable and can be painted or otherwise refinished.

You talking about the foam used as insulation between the walls of refrigeration units ?
2-components, that you mix & then expand at a frightening rate
I have a feeling that you mean something else ?
But the idea should work
I'll amble past my panelbeater friend with 6-pack in hand...
But seeing that he wants to palm a 540 with front-end damage on me

The stuff I am referring to comes in 1 pack and sort of expands out of the end of the tube. I will get a name and maker for you when I am up and about (leg injury*).
* Yes I got it working on a car.

Gute besserung mate
no rush, just you get better !
Whathappunt ? Did your E30 maliciously trip you up ?

It took months (at least thats what it felt like) to get this original 3-spoke recovered in genuine animal skin

Then I slipped in my completely rebuilt & upgraded front suspension .

Of course I also replaced my front W-bearings.
The toothed ring is used so that I can build in a traction control in the future, should I wish to do so. I have done this before on other turbo cars; in when there is a difference between rear & front wheel speed (having a LSD helps) it tells the wastegate to drop the boost till traction is restored.

The PO must have been in posession of a hacksaw
Looking at the front springs, he must have also had access to a cutting torch
I used the stock-rate Bilstein springs all round.

I used B6 performance Bilstein shocks in all 4 corners to improve my ride without it scraping the road
I don't want to know what that thing below it is
Strangely Bilstein supplied the front shocks with boots, but not the rear

The rear has gone in, but still needs to be bolted up.
Look at the wire dangling in the upper left of the picture !
Sadly the car is full of those
I hope that I never get hold the "Electrician" who caused this...

10 more hours & I should be able to take this for a test drive
& then find out what father (or mother- to be gender equal) Christmas may bring me next

On the 19 November 2012 we had prepared the vehicle to such an extent, that it could go out on its first road test.
Andreas attaching the plates
Of course there are a lot of things still to do, but I first want to drive the car to see what is wrong & needs to be given attention to.
Since Kenneth did most of the work on this vehicle to date, I thought he should have the honours...

What I did not think of, is that they had to connect a pavement on the first time out

I have no panelbeating experince & no friends who can help either !
So this will hurt

After recovering from the shock, I decided to see why the car made so little power.

By the way, you can guess which sticker is going to go

Whilst checking for fuel pressure I realised that the in-tank pump loooked like it could be a OEM whilst the frame mounted unit shouted CHINA at me
The in tank unit gave me 1L in 22.06 seconds with a pressure head of 450 kpa, whilst the frame unit gave 19.35 L/sec @ 570 kpa.
Wrong ! So I am just using the in-tank pump for further testing. Sadly it immediately looses all pressure when not running. I will have to see whether it has a jammed or adjustable return valve or whether I can get a temporarily in-line one ?
The Pressure regulator works well at 2.5 Bar & immediately responding when blipping the throttle.
I will order the stock HVLP pump for the tank and a HPLV frame unit, as I might have to run two HP pumps should I want to go turbo. But this takes months to get here

Before I could star testing the VAF on Monday the clutch gave in on me
When I enquired yesterday about the rebuild kit I ordered, I was advised "we have been waiting for it for 2 weeks already" Africa !

This gives me time to get my next order for FEBI ready...

I only managed to get the clutch rebuilt in January
After installing that & solving some other mysteries I finally managed to get the car on the Dyno yesterday. It ran rich with the typical lean spot around 4000 Rpm. That is easy to fix
Today I sent it off to wheel alignment & to see what my guys might have hurt when attacking the pavement
The parts I ordered with FEBI in the first December days ????
The order I placed with my BMW agent at the same time got lost, as the salesman was dismissed
There are many positive aspects to living here, but this is not one of them.

When the car gets back I want to drive it for a few days to see what is still wrong
I am stumped in how to fix the passenger seat backrest unit It is a 2-door, so I need it to work 100 %.
Then to do a tune-up with cam-belt replacement & whatever else I can find on the engine (management) side...
Then it is back on the Dyno for tuning

I got the Aschenputtel back from Wheel alignment to find everything in order
Problem is that the front wheels lightly rub against the shocks
meaning that I have to either:
Fit shims (which I hate). Advantage is that I can incorporate a centration ring to centre the rim on the hub.
Or get different rims

I hope that my modifications to the left seat will proove permanent


I wish I could drive this, but the agents are unable to supply me with lock plates for the rear stub axles.
I would not know where else to look ?

I suppose this is an omen for me to service the motor...

Great thread! I love to see people working to save these cars.

What is strange, is that it is just the left front rim rubbing lightly on that shock tube (or cover)

I really do not want to space all the wheels out or look for alternate rims.
These are 17" and give me just the right stance & rubber size

On closer looks I see it is the tyre, not the Rim that is rubbing.
Even stranger is that the205 50 Dunlop are the culprits, while the Bridgestone 225 45 seem narrower WTF ?

What hit me now is the engine number 20 6ka 21777274 The agents tell me this means 2L ? But I have my doubts that they know anything
I was sold a 2.7
Is this now a 2L or 2.7
From a rudimentary stroke measuring it could be a 2.7 but I cannot get a straight rod in the plug hole to check accurately.
Yeah, the head will have to come off in the future to determine what I got, CR etc.

The head is a 277731 casting
What is this