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E30 M3 number 2....(photo heavy)..

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: E30 M3 number 2....(photo heavy)..
    Posted: 30 Jan 2016 at 10:13pm
So after the sale of my old white E30 M3,

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=259586

Another E30 M3 needing some love came along.... so i bought it!


Unfortunately i don't have many pictures of it when first bought but here is one not long after bought and mid way through some work.

A bit more about this particular M3. Like the white one, this is also one of the first 5000 built to homologate the M3 for group A motorsport with this one being an even earlier built car. 
Another AK01 (non cat 200bhp car) Built on 14/11/86 in Lachs silver 203 with anthracite "houndstooth" cloth 0211 with the following options.

300 Central locking electric
400 Sliding Sunroof Manual
410 Window Lifts, Electric At Front
428 Warning Triangle Warndreieck
551 On-board Computer 2 With Remote Control
663 Bmw Bavaria C Electronic
681 Roof antenna
800 Air conditioning
979 Velour floot mats

So a bit more optioned up than the white car!

This car however was not an original UK supplied car but more on that later!

The car came into work with a view to being sold by the usual sale or return arrangement at Munich Legends but after being inspected it would have needed at lot of work to get it up to our high standards some of which would have required a high initial investment before it could even be advertised and as the owner wanted a quick sale i made an offer and it got accepted.



WOW! I'm sure some of you thought that after looking at the last couple of pics and this was one of the more expensive things that would have had to have been sorted before the car was even advertised.
Someone (more on that later!) went to a lot of time money and effort to create this two tone effort and that had to go!
As you can see from the first pic, the car was rolling on a set of racing dynamics - in 15" - which seriously dated the car but in a bad way, another thing which would have needed to have been changed prior to advertising and also not cheap to sort out.
These two things combined with the window tints made up to create a very late 80's/early 90's look now considered distasteful so this had to be sorted ASAP!

Other than the style efforts, the car was very low and stiff which turned out to have BMW motorsport group N bilsteins and unknown progressive rate springs which i estimated to be approx 50-60mm lowered.

Body condition is very good with virtually no rust, the only bits found are some very early stages of where the wheel arch meets the sill and the square factory lifting pads being a bit frilly.
The car has only covered 77k miles from new and a big part in why the mileage is pretty low is due to the fact that it has been dry stored and not been taxed since 1994!!!  Unbelievable!


The story behind the car is that it was taken in payment for a building job and for some reason kept unsold, possibly because no one wanted to buy it looking the way it did?!

So work commenced pretty much straight away and first thing to be tackled was the suspension because it was so stiff and uncomfortable to drive on the road.


New front brake back plates were bought and those along with the front struts were blasted and power coated satin black.



Four new Bilstein B8 shocks and eibach pro kit springs (same as what was on the white M3 and my 325i Sport) were ordered up as well as a pair of new wishbones, eccentric wishbone bushes, camber correction top mounts, E46 convertible rear top mounts, Z3 reinforcement plates, front drop links, and a set of new unused eibach adjustable roll bars sourced from Kos were fitted which has transformed the way the car rides and handles compared to what was on before.


The red dashboard removed and the bulkhead inspected as much as could be with with no signs of rot or dampness. Some rectification work was required to the alarm wiring and a minty mint black dash from Paul Z3I was fitted.



A set of very nice original heated black leather seats were bought from Paul bmwe30metch and various other interior parts such as door cards, Hifi pack rear blind shelf and consoles from pacerpete plus some new seat belt stalks all made up to create a nice place to be.

Last of all, the 15" racing dynamics needed to go and a few sets of wheels were considered but one set i did want were a set of M3 16" BBS and as luck would have it a fairly tidy set with tyres popped up on the E30zone FB page being sold by Joel so these were snapped up a completed to "back to OEM" look.


As you can see, it has an Evo 2 front spoiler which it came with and the window tints have since been removed.

So thats where we are at but some digging of the cars history has revealed an interesting past.......


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:37pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dteagles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Jan 2016 at 10:04am
Looks very nice now (not so much when you bought it!)

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Feb 2016 at 10:16pm
Thanks!

SO, being the inquisitive type i was looking though the history and found an old log book from 1991 with the first and second owners details. The 3 owner from who i got the car from for some reason never registered it in his name when he got it in approx 1995 and the story goes is that he took it in payment for a building job.

I googled the two owners on the log book and the second owner came up as a company director for a couple of companies but nothing significant but when i searched the first  owners name, it also came up as a company director and i instantly recognised the the company name... Zeemax.

http://www.zeemax.com/general%20information.htm

The guy who bought the car new was Barry Perman aka mr Zeemax and some of you older guys who were into modding in the 90's may remember Zeemax and after an exchange of emails via the website i got the story on the car up until he sold it in 1991.

He had the car imported by a company in Hayes, West London called Cars international who sourced the car from a German dealer called Kohl who are a multi franchise dealer and is also AC Schnitzer.

Kohl.de

The car was a couple of years old but unsold and unregistered when it was imported and as with the white M3, it was one of the first 5000 built to homologate the M3 for group A motorsport. One can only assume that BMW just built the first 5000 cars within the required 12 months without all of them being ordered and sold so this may go some way to explain why this car was kicking about for a couple of years (and the white one 11 months) before being sold.
I asked Barry Perman about the sale and he just said that it was cheaper and better specced than if he ordered new in the UK and it was then that the car received the reg IIB 95.


This Porsche was one of Zeemax's creations in the early 90's and note the reg of the car. What relevance the IIB plates has to Zeemax i do not know.

Not long after he bought the car he had the interior done in the burgundy and grey leather which fits if you look at some of Zeemax's work and by sheer coincidence he saw the interior for sale on ebay a few weeks back... what are the chances of that?!

As well as the interior he also fitted the 15" Racing Dynamics wheels and he also had an exhaust made by a "racing company in Milton Keynes. I informed him that it has since been replaced with a standard BMW system to which he replied "I'm not surprised as it was very loud and used to spit flames".


When i first drove this car i instantly thought "this is quick!" much quicker than any non Evo E30 M3 I've driven and I've driven many through the course of work. The other two people who drove the car at work were also in agreement without being prompted on how quick it was and that always had me intrigued.
When i ended up speaking to Barry and he said it came from AC schnitzer when new i began to put two and two together so i asked he if anything had been done to the engine as the car felt quicker than any non evo i had driven.
His reply was "it had a complete rebuild and was uprated with cams etc by BBR". When i asked why, he said he put it into second gear at 100mph!! 8O

http://www.bbrgti.com/about-bbr-gti/

BBR aka Brodie Brittain Racing were well known for the exploits in tuning Sierras Cosworths in the 80's and 90's and also went on to develop the Mazda MX5 turbos which were sold in kit form through Mazda dealers in the UK but they also had their hand in other sorts of performance cars back in the day.

I contacted them to see if they had any info on the car and sadly the founding partners sold the company in 1999 and the current owners do not have records going back as far as 1989-1991.

http://www.brittainconsulting.net/ken-brittain/

http://davidbrodie.co.uk

I have since contacted both Ken and David but have not heard back from either.

So where does that leave me. I know its not a 2.5 from a simple check but I need to find out whats going on inside the engine so when i get the chance i will be doing a compression test, cylinder leakage test and an oil pressure test to check the health of it. I will then be checking and adjusting the valve clearances so when doing this i will inspect the cams for any identification as to what they may be.
I will also check the part number of the head to see if its an evo or 215 head and i will inspect the top of the pistons with a bore scope to see if these are different from standard.

Before all that I'm going to check the part number of the DME and also pop it open to see if its been chipped. My 325i Sport has a copy of a BBR chip incidentally and i know who has the original.

Once all thats done it will be off to the dyno and if it churns out 220bhp i will be very happy, any more and ill be over the moon!

So thats it, an interesting start to its life which hopefully will transpire to have something a bit tasty inside the engine.


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:47pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dteagles Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Feb 2016 at 10:27pm
Great story, keep the updates coming!


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote steveH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Feb 2016 at 10:54pm
yes a really good read

Put this to the editors for the mag Smile
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote MHunt Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Feb 2016 at 8:30am
Great story and thanks for sharing.  The low point for me was the ruched leather door-cards on the original interior.
 
But nice transformation - the car looks like quite a good find.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Brown Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 Feb 2016 at 11:19am
My my, that's quite some interior.  Just looks so much nicer in black. I'm old enough to remember some of the things Zeemax did to E30's back in the day. Testarossa style side strakes anybody?

I remember us getting the first MX5 turbo from BBR, when I looked after Mazda's press fleet in the late 80's.  They also did a conversion for the 323 4x4 that gave it 240+ brake and made it properly quick. It'll certainly be interesting to see what they did to your s14.

Happy to see another M3 getting used and not tucked away as an investment. :)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bayerische Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Feb 2016 at 8:34pm
Congrats on the car Barry.

What a great story behind the car. The OEM look has really transformed it. It looks great.

Did you try and source an anthracite interior for it? It would be nice to bring it back to original spec.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Mar 2016 at 9:12am
Thanks Nick!

An anthracite hounds tooth Recaro LS interior like my old white M3 had would have been preferable but finding original E30 interiors is not easy these days so I just went for the first acceptable interior.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Mar 2016 at 9:13am
Thanks for the comments guys!

 A recent pic of it parked up at work.


With the knowledge that the engine had been rebuilt and upgraded by BBR it was time to do some investigation as to what had exactly been done.


Firstly i removed the DME to find the correct bosch number but in black not the usual green or red and no VIN number label. Possibly a replacement?



Opening the DME up revealed that the eprom chip has been changed but I'm unable to identify it. I suspect its one of BBR's own chips as they built the engine and i know they offered chips for various cars.


Next up a compression test resulted in a healthy 210 PSI across all four cylinders.



Popping the cam cover off revealed a very clean cam box area of the engine which is always a good sign. I also checked the cam box and cylinder head parts numbers and the are just standard early 200bhp spec parts.




And the money shot!

A pair of early schrick cams which tallys up with what the original owner said about the engine built "with cams etc" by BBR! :D 
I'm not sure what spec they are yet as the markings do not relate to anything I've seen in the schrick catalogue and i did not have the correct tool with me at the time to measure lift but i hope to get this done before the end of the week.
Valve clearances were checked and all were within spec implying a well maintained engine.

I have a run on the dyno at Surrey rolling road booked for saturday morning so we shall see what we have!

Any bets/guesses? :)


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:49pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bayerische Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Mar 2016 at 2:32am
I'll get the ball rollling...........I'm guessing 223bhp
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Mar 2016 at 8:33pm
Originally posted by Bayerische Bayerische wrote:

I'll get the ball rollling...........I'm guessing 223bhp

That would have been immense but....



So yesterdays trip down to SRR resulted in a not to shabby 203 bhp, 170 odd lbft and most importantly ok AFR's. I was happy with anything over 200bhp and as i have a track day and ring trip looming i wanted to know the AFR's were good.

Ive noticed the oil level has been dropping and engine oil was spotting on the ground plus the coolant level has dropped a touch since I've been using it everyday for the last few weeks so today was time to start to tackle these issues.



Upper and lower sump gaskets clearly leaking and also the water pump shaft seal leaking.



The oily mess removed to be cleaned up.


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:50pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bayerische Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2016 at 10:10pm
I thought it would be a little more than 203 considering the work , but still very respectable considering it's almost 30 years old.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Mar 2016 at 10:25pm
Charlie at SRR has dyno'd many many cars and is a BMW man himself owning 7. He reckons most standard E30 M3's seem to churn out about 190 bhp so this one being 13 up on that would account for the cams and chip with incidentally i think are relatively mild 272's.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Mar 2016 at 9:09pm

Sump parts cleaned up before being fitted.


New vs old water pump.


Some brake upgrades were needed as well so some Pagid RS29's, new front discs, goodridge braided hoses and bled through with ATE type 200 fluid saw to that.



As you can see the rear axle beam bushes were totally shot and upon removal the date stamp was 6 so one can assume they were the original 1986 ones!




Out with the old and in with some new Lemforder ones.


The diff oil was in a sorry state! :o  No untoward noises though and seems to lock up ok. Some fresh castor SAF-XJ went in.


Four wheel alignment done at a mates garage after......



... four new Yokohama Neova AD08R tyres

https://www.yokohamatire.com/tires/detail/advan_neova_ad08_r


A lucky find on a 5 series forum were these Recaro SRD's for a bargain price. I wanted some more supportive seats as the standard ones are useless on track and even hard road use to be honest and it also means i can keep the original ones nice with minimal use.
I will get these trimmed in black leather to match at some point.


A couple of pairs of theses were ordered from Germany, correct Recaro E30 brackets to mount the SRD's.


Just enough time the night before the track day to get the drivers one bolted in with a 4 point harness i had.


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:51pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Mar 2016 at 7:15pm
A couple of pics from the track day last Friday at Abingdon.

http://www.motorsport-events.co.uk/abingdon.php



The car behaved very well and was a joy to punt along, most notable were how good the tyres were!

It has highlighted a couple of areas that need addressing one of which is the wear in the gear linkage giving a less than positive gear change and despite overfilling with oil to the first kink, the constant fear of oil starvation means a decent baffle is going in!


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:52pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bayerische Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2016 at 11:08pm
Great photos, it's rare to see E30 M3's on tracks these days as most cars are now tucked up in garages as prices have risen.

I see you have taken the wheel centres off to avoid having a Chris Harris moment. (Wheel centre being flung off the car like a missile!!)


Edited by Bayerische - 27 Mar 2016 at 11:09pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 May 2016 at 6:55pm
Yes Nick, at that track day a few people commented about how few see action these days.

So a bit of an update. A horizontal baffle plate was ordered from Frank at rsgarage.com.pt and fitted along with a fresh fill of castrol 10w60. The picture is not my actual sump as i forgot to take one but its exactly the same.



This sloppy mess was replaced with all new bits from BMW including a Z3 1.9 shifter which has tightened things up.


The well proven upgrade of 25mm master cylinder from an E32 750i was also fitted which has improved pedal feel.


A sparco/Hartge style alloy strut brace has also been fitted as it will clear a DTM style carbon intake.



The A/C system was not blowing cold, had not been converted to R134a and had no gas in the system. The condenser was looking worse for wear so a new one plus new receiver/drier, new dual pressure switch, R134a port adaptors and some new seals along with a shot of gas had the system blowing cold just in time for...........



....an epic weekend at the Ring! :) 

I have driven 3 different E30's there now, an S50B30 touring, my 325i sport and this which is by far the most enjoyable!
The trip was not without its hiccups though, the A/C compressor decided to seize on the way there and cooked itself nicely and at some point on track the compressor bracket broke which is a common problem.
The slightly worn alternator bushes saw a belt make a bid for freedom on track as well but a spare belt was fitted to keep going and i have new bushes ready to fit.

I also got brake judder from the OSF so I'm pretty sure i warped that disc. I'm mulling over some brake options at the moment and some Evo cooling ducts will be going on.

Despite replacing the gear shift parts with new and a Z3 1.9 shifter I'm still not happy with it so i may go down the DTM shifter route but that would also mean group N engine and gearbox mounts from either BMW or AKG. If anyone in the UK has this set up i would love to see how much extra noise and vibration this gives.


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:53pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bayerische Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15 May 2016 at 11:23pm
Fantastic photos on the ring...well done that man.


Edited by Bayerische - 15 May 2016 at 11:23pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote richardbaxter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 May 2016 at 6:51pm
Barry is that original paint? - it looks very well...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 May 2016 at 8:36pm
Thanks Richard.

The car has had paint by the looks of it and to be honest, to make it perfect I would paint the whole car.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Sep 2016 at 1:09am
Time for a another update of the last few months activity in some sort of order.



This was fitted before some time back but forgot to post about it. Its basically a Becker traffic pro but a BMW branded retrofit item for later models which has an AUX in, matches the dash illumination perfectly and doesn't look as offensive as the early 00's Pioneer that was in there when i bought the car.



A lucky find on eBay got this Italvolanti 360mm steering wheel as used on some of the Group A cars but Ive yet to fit it as before i bought it i had already sent the 370mm tech 2 wheel i had off to Jack at royalsteeringwheels.com.



I ended up going with black alcantara with M tri colour stitching as no one who does steering wheels seems to do suede as per sport evo.


As said in my last post i was going to to fit some evo brake ducts so it was a case of new ducts, tubes, lower engine cover and all 4 wheel arch liner sections.


During the last Ring trip the exhaust note got some what louder and i had noticed a popping sound on overrun at high RPM when on track, this was confirmed as a flame out the tail pipe by people following me as as the rear silencer has some corrosion and a small hole where they always start to go, i guess on pop to many caused the end to blow out.

The rear silencer was replaced with a second hand Eisenmann rear silencer as a temporary measure until a new OEM one is bought but no pic of this yet.


Also another thing mentioned in the previous post, worn alternator bushes replaced.

Some new rear discs and pads as well as a new pair of front discs and a reface of the paid RS29 front pads meant it was ready for.....



Another trip to the Ring which was not without drama but no real car related issues other than an OSF calliper that started to stick but that was sorted by stripping and cleaning the piston.

Once back it was time to make the car a little more road friendly so the pagid RS front pads were swapped out for some OE pads to get rid of the rattling and squealing as well as the savage brake dust!

Another thing ive not been happy with for road use is the front ride height as despite shortening the internal bump stops on the front B8 bilsteins, over harsh bumps or unavoidable potholes it was still bottoming out with a horrid bang. Great on track, crap on road.

For those of you who have read the thread from the start will know i ended up using a new set of eibach springs and as they don't do M3 specific ones, just 4 cylinder or two types of 6 cylinder spec springs for 2dr/4dr saloons i went with the 4 cylinder spec ones.

The OE front ride height with 16" wheels is 568mm and i was down to 520mm so a drop of nearly 50mm.



A pair of sport evo spec springs were worth a try as they are meant to be approx -15mm compared to the standard M3 springs so with these now fitted the ride height is 555mm so close enough.
More importantly no more crashy ride!

Interestingly the rear ride height on the eibach springs is pretty much bang on OE ride height at 533mm.


Thats it for now.


Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:55pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Bayerische Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 Sep 2016 at 7:56pm
Thanks for the update, great work as always.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Mar 2017 at 12:29am
While its been tucked away for the winter ive acquired a selection of go faster parts to give the 4 pot a kick up the arse.



Edited by BSS. - 27 Nov 2017 at 7:56pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Paul.R Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Apr 2017 at 12:26pm
Nice work Barry, looking good 😀
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Nov 2017 at 7:56pm
A LONG overdue update!

After Photobucket decided to try and ruin the internet I have been putting off reloading all my pics to another photo hosting site until now and this thread is the first one I've done so after spending hours sorting this and reloading pics I can now update whats gone on in the last 8 months.




The Becker wasn't cutting it for me and a lucky eBay find was this period brand new old stock Pioneer KEX- M700.


Coupled with this JL audio bluetooth receiver hidden away it gives the best of both worlds of having a nice looking head unit and being able to stream music from any bluetooth device.


New under dash panel while I was in that area.



As seen in my previous post one of the go faster goodies is a JB racing billet flywheel and above shows the weight saving.
This mod has given a nice improvement in responsiveness to the engine and well worthwhile.



The old clutch dated 11/86 so the original to this car! It wasn't slipping but it was getting a bit on the heavy side plus there was not much life left in it upon inspection.


New Sachs clutch kit, new Genuine prop centre bearing and Guibo coupling all went on with the flywheel in time for a forthcoming road trip!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2017 at 10:46pm
For those of you that have read this thread from the beginning you may have seen me mention that I had an impending wedding. Well I got married in June which lead me to my honeymoon in august.

What has this to do with my M3 I hear you say? Well The wife and I had two weeks off work and instead of lying on a beach for two weeks we decided to do something different.

I've always wanted to do a European road trip taking in some of the Alps so I worked out a route with an overnight stay in a different city each night for a week with us leaving the car at an airport so we could fly out to Santorini for a weeks relaxation.

So, onto the road trip! The exact route was planned loosely around a route used by one of the companies that do driving tours round Europe but tailored to fit in with what wanted to do so the route went like this,

Calais via the tunnel - the Nurburgring - Munich - Burghausen - Innsbruck - Bolzano - Chur - Zurich - Stuttgart


As we were driving through Germany it seemed rude not to stop off at the Ring for a couple of laps and more to the point to show the wife what the fuss was all about. My wife is not the greatest of passengers and it took some persuasion and reassurance to come for a lap so after which she said 'that was not as bad as I thought it would be' we did another and I'm glad we did as it was a much cleaner lap with less traffic and a better flow.
This was followed by the obligatory meal at the Pistenklause and some drinks in Adenau.

The following morning we headed south toward Munich via a large section of the romantic road taking a more scenic route instead of sticking to the autobahns.

http://www.romanticroadgermany.com


Still managed to stretch the M3's legs on the autobahn though!


Parked up in a side street in Munich city centre. Even in its home town its surprising the amount of attention an E30 M3 can attract as several people waking past this sport would stop to have a look and take a pic!




We met up that evening with family for traditional German food and beer.


After leaving Innsbruck we headed toward Bolzano in Italy... the long way round!
This was so we could travel via the Grossglockner high alpine road in Austria.

https://www.grossglockner.at/gg/en/index



The following morning on route to Switzerland we tackled the famous Stelvio pass.

http://www.stelvio.net/english/

This was one of the highlights of the trip for me as it is simply breath taking.


Along the route we took from Chur to Zurich which included the San Bernardio pass, we made a stop off at the Verzasca Dam which was used in the opening scene to the James Bond film Goldeneye. 

I tried to keep this post mostly car related but there was much more I could have wrote about and posted pics of.

Needless to say, the M3 was in its element on some of the greatest driving roads in Europe!

I took with me a selection of spares and tools including a pair of crank sensors, fuel pump, relays, hoses but I didn't need to open the tool bag once!

Approximately 3700km's covered without a hitch and this fortifies my opinion that a well maintained E30 is one of the most reliable cars you can own!

After we flew back a week later then drove home from Stuttgart it was back into use on the Monday for the daily commute to work.
Its now tucked up in storage for the winter until I get some spare time to fit the rest of my go faster bits.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote steveH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2017 at 11:33pm
Absolute brilliant read Barry.
Keep us all informed of further progress over winter.

ps, this should be a Straight six feature Smile
Tell it how it is the Northern way.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BSS. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Nov 2017 at 11:57pm
Originally posted by steveH steveH wrote:

Absolute brilliant read Barry.
Keep us all informed of further progress over winter.

ps, this should be a Straight six feature Smile

How much of it would be suitable for the mag Steve?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote NickDE Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Dec 2017 at 9:09pm
Originally posted by steveH steveH wrote:

ps, this should be a Straight six feature Smile

That was my thought exactly. I would love to spend a cold winter evening reading a story of your trip. I love the way your using the car the way it was designed to be used.
Darkness gone, Tronic gone, Solo gone, DBA going, go Darknes2, go Frozen, go Black Pearl, go The Vibrator
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