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| Never Ending Learning Opportunities
Hopefully, you have all enjoyed some of our last articles outlining services, upgrades, and advice for the best possible experience with your BMW this summer. We at Turner Motorsport would not feel right if it was a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type of relationship between us and our readers, so we thought it would be a good time to take a break from the technical articles and throw in a Turner Motorsport Weekly update about what we have been doing to act on those nuggets of wisdom. This week, we are pleased to share with you the past few months of work we have been steadily completing for this writer’s E30 to be perfect this year.
At the end of last year’s season, my E30 had road tripped up, down, and across most of the East Coast. While it has been reserved for enjoyment use only for the last few years, this past season was enough to be the last few miles of several key components’ lifespans. It had finally reached the next major service interval, so a mechanical refresh was in order, some bushings had seen better days, and a few choice upgrades had been waiting in my garage for a chance to go in with all new parts. As I put it away for the winter, my living room became a parts staging area while I collected everything I needed and concocted a plan for the refreshing process.
What began as a basic series of services quickly morphed into a much more involved project. As things like this often do, the parts list snowballed while I tore apart my E30. I told myself; “well, I’m going to be taking out all this stuff like brakes, lines, coolant hoses, subframes, etc.. I might as well replace everything I can while I’m in there.” Naturally, that led to a much more exhaustive project. I had intended to replace my brake pads, brake fluid, service the new 3.73 LSD I scored from a local enthusiast, and do the full Inspection II maintenance. Naturally, items quickly found themselves added to the list that I had not set out to replace. |
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| I needed a new radiator, which prompted me to swap to the 318ti radiator with an attached surge tank for a cleaner look. This new radiator meant I would need new coolant hoses, so those were sourced from a local parts store and cut to fit. Insert joke about OEM+/swap cars. With the radiator out, I pulled the water pump to preemptively replace it while servicing the cooling system. Naturally, this made me want to replace the drive belt on my aging M52. But why replace it when I have a Condor Speed Shop power steering block off plate in my workbench that would let me use a smaller belt and one fewer accessory? Of course, this logic made sense to me, so out came the power steering system and in went the block off plate and a MINI Cooper S drive belt.
The water pump, belt, radiator, hoses, thermostat, and coolant all were replaced, the weather turned brutally cold, and I began to plan the next steps. You see, I have a few long drives scheduled once again in this car and I wanted it to be as perfect as possible. This E30 has always been a fantastic example of the model thanks to meticulous previous owners and extensive work in my ownership, but it has never felt ‘finished’ or ‘restored’ to me. At least not completely so. I wanted that to change. Despite the good parts list I already compiled, I decided to keep adding. |
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| | Replacing just the brake pads wouldn’t be good enough. No, I wanted everything to be new. This meant new calipers, new rotors, new pads, new fluid, and braided steel lines. I can’t tell you why I put off replacing my crusty old rubber brake hoses until now, but I did. With nearly everything else on the car modified or custom, the old hoses had to go. Replacing the brakes went as smoothly as always, but upon further inspection of the rear end, I found I had more work ahead of me than planned. Once again, this is par for the course when it comes to E30s or any old BMW for that matter. |
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| | My rear subframe bushings, diff mount, and rear trailing arm bushings all looked worse for wear. More concerning, however, was the completely missing CV shaft boot that left a bare axle joint exposed on the differential. That had to go. Add two axles to the list along with all those bushings. This meant the subframe would be leaving the car. All this in my less-than-ideal home garage quickly had me wondering if I would be better suited to let a shop handle the refresh, my pride and conviction be damned. It had never been to a shop other than my own before, but it might have to for this considering my dirt floor and lack of a lift. |
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| Ever the optimist (and stubborn penny-pincher,) I decided to just do it all myself. Besides, this was hardly my first rodeo. What could go wrong? Actually, not much, though I did run into some fun hurdles. Namely, that pesky roached axle made an absolute fool out of me. No punch, hammer, air hammer, or press I had in my home garage would free the little guy, so I had to call in a few favors. Fortunately, a local BMW shop owner and friend of mine saw this challenge as an opportunity to prove himself. Together, with the help of a lovely gas torch and inverted truck hub puller, we were able to finally un-stick the seized axle. That obstacle overcome, progress moved at a much faster pace.
Moving quickly ahead, I completely serviced the new-to-me LSD, added a Turner Motorsport Delrin Differential Mount, reassembled the housing, and filled the diff with fresh Redline fluid. With the diff and axles had also come the subframe and rear trailing arms. Since they were fairly old, new OEM subframe mounts went in along with SuperPro adjustable RTABs for some more rear suspension geometry adjustments. Lastly, before I installed the new axles and diff, I decided rear wheel bearings would be better to do now than later. Yet again, more parts. My simple services had ballooned into a full refresh of the whole car. Who saw that coming? |
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| | | Finally, everything was back together and in my car. Only a few days of driving it around with it reassembled, however, had me thinking I would really like some better summer tires and realistically needed to face the music when it came to the condition of my convertible top. Tires are no big deal, but the vert top, that I had been dreading since I purchased the car over four years ago. From ten feet, it looked great. Inside the car on a rainy day, though, was not exactly a comfortable place. Remembering years past when I sat in misery with water pouring through every bit of the canvas, I once again set my mind to making the car perfect. Besides, no matter how mechanically fresh it is, if the top is trash, the car doesn’t look like it’s at its best.
This is where I felt as though I was actually working on a different car or even something else entirely. While virtually everything in my E30 is there because I put it there, the top I had never touched. Not only that, I had never done anything of the sort before. It has been a long time since I began a BMW project with absolutely no experience, which was both frightening and incredibly exciting. Thinking about the possibility of mistakes I didn’t know how to undo initially intimidated me, but I was quickly reminded of my first instances working on my earliest cars and felt the exhilaration at the chance to add a new skill to my repertoire.
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| | | That anticipation of a finished project with the potential for quite visible improvements is something I had not felt in a long time. Thinking about the project, I realized I had no clue what I needed to do, but let my motivation and determination carry me step-by-step. That started with ordering a new top and boldly proclaiming that I would replace it myself. This led to several people I know offering advice such as “I wouldn’t want to do that myself.” And; “Good luck, you’re gonna need it.”
Those gems are often associated with any dreaded project, but for the top replacement, I knew damn well how patience-testing this job would be. Rather, I had a clear idea of how terrible it would be considering I didn’t know where to begin other than buying a replacement top and figuring it out.
Figure it out I did, though, as I scoured the internet for resources. I found hardly any consistent information that was directly E30 vert specific save a vintage video posted to YouTube years ago that must have been imported from a Betamax tape. It was a BMW official guide to convertible top maintenance and canvas replacement. I have to take a second and thank whoever uploaded that video. Seriously, they deserve an award or something. With its help and my own problem-solving brain, I was able to replace my convertible top over the course of a week. The result, in my humble opinion, is stunning. Finally, I can say I feel like my car is more than ready to stand up to an observer’s scrutiny. More importantly, I think it can finally stand up to my own judgment. |
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Looking at the last few months of work, I find myself reminded that there is always something to do, always some way to improve or maintain your BMW. Whether it is just routine service or an expansive overhaul, the results are always worth it. Now, when I drive south for European Experience in two weeks, I will do so in comfort with a fresh rear end, fresh fluids, a fresh top, new brakes, suspension, tires, and more. I can enjoy my car to the fullest, know its quality has been retained, and feel the pride of an owner who did it all himself. While I might be slightly more suited with my experience to tackle larger jobs even in my home garage than the average BMW owner, nothing I did is out of reach for even a novice enthusiast. The gratification I feel from my work, the extra sense of ownership I receive from having done it, and the reward I experience behind the wheel now make all that effort more than worth it.
With that, I’m going to go out and enjoy my Sunday with a drive through some back roads in my lovely little E30. Hopefully, you will feel the motivational surge of emotion to go out and tackle that daunting project hanging over your BMW with the added confidence that there are others who, like you, tackled something well above their experience level in the interest of learning something new, unafraid of mistakes or failures. It's all a learning process, but it is one that rewards those dedicated enough to follow it through with confidence the greatest satisfaction I believe you can experience when it comes to car enthusiasm. Have a wonderful week, everyone! |
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