straight6pwr

and if you say 'fixie' or 'how much does your bike weigh' i will hire chuck norris to punch you.

SEM trim paint looks great and is high quality and matches the OEM trim look.  however, like most paint, your trim that has been on the car in the sun for 30 years won't really match anything perfectly if you are trying to touch it up.  repaint whole pieces for the best effect.

skip the name brand exhaust.  these motors sound so freakin good all on there own, and it doesn't take $1200 to get that sound.  go down to the muffler shop, have them cut off the stock muffler and replace with a y-pipe and a cheap single pipe 3" muffler like a magnaflow and you will drool at the sound your $300 exhaust makes.  a side bonus is that you will lose a ton of weight from the stock can to the smaller aftermarket one.
 
my m20 e30 with a magnaflow muffler sounded awesome
my m50 swap e30 with a $50 auto parts store 'turbo' muffler sounded awesome
 
you could also delete the resonator if it was still too quiet for you. here it is on a wimpy m60b30:

and if you say 'fixie' or 'how much does your bike weigh' i will hire chuck norris to punch you.

our world is falling apart because of this attitude.
 
/oldmanrant

and if you say 'fixie' or 'how much does your bike weigh' i will hire chuck norris to punch you.

I always buy new for wear parts, and always shop for the lowest prices. pelican parts, fcp euro, or ebay. i contact Blunttech for anything unusual or hard to get as Steve knows exactly what I need and seems to always have it.
 
for non-wear stuff, its always the forums or craigslist.

car was looking good the other day john!
 
also, spotted my old e30 on google street view.  they updated the images of the last place i rented at: (some may remember it from the cold-ass day we had a meet there)
 
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=432+east+bay+street&ll=43.005871,-87.90291&spn=0.005547,0.011362&sll=43.006162,-87.902977&layer=c&cbp=13,34.34,,0,1.06&cbll=43.005883,-87.903041&gl=us&hnear=432+E+Bay+St,+Milwaukee,+Wisconsin+53207&t=m&z=17&panoid=Lz8Bd57Vfx5EDPQiuyyfKA

here is what I have witnessed since getting into e30s many years ago.
 
 
nice condition e30: prices have risen slowly over time, as should happen because they are lasting very well.
 
crap condition e30: prices have risen recently, like you stated, because people think that any e30 is 'rare' and 'super awesome'.  i don't know if people are actually buying them at these prices, but I really hope not. HOWEVER, paying $1500 for a solid runner w/straight body is worth every penny for what these cars are, even if it is rough around the edges.  all the shit that falls apart in most other cars just lasts forever as long as its not broken by careless owners.
 
convertibles: much higher prices than non-verts consistently until the last couple years. now people can barely give them away. great time now to get one for the same price as any other e30
 
ix models: same as verts with prices falling in the last couple years. now (unless it is super clean) they cost the same as any other e30 because the awd systems are falling apart more and more and $$ to fix.
 
m3: dont bother unless you are rolling in cash will always be the story

here is what I have witnessed since getting into e30s many years ago.
 
 
nice condition e30: prices have risen slowly over time, as should happen because they are lasting very well.
 
crap condition e30: prices have risen recently, like you stated, because people think that any e30 is 'rare' and 'super awesome'.  i don't know if people are actually buying them at these prices, but I really hope not. HOWEVER, paying $1500 for a solid runner w/straight body is worth every penny for what these cars are, even if it is rough around the edges.  all the shit that falls apart in most other cars just lasts forever as long as its not broken by careless owners.
 
convertibles: much higher prices than non-verts consistently until the last couple years. now people can barely give them away. great time now to get one for the same price as any other e30
 
ix models: same as verts with prices falling in the last couple years. now (unless it is super clean) they cost the same as any other e30 because the awd systems are falling apart more and more and $$ to fix.
 
m3: dont bother unless you are rolling in cash will always be the story

Base fee for attendance of armco truck: $204 Removing damaged armco: $14/metre (x2 or x3 or x4 for multiple-height sections) Replacement armco: $42/metre (x2 or x3 for double/triple height) Removing damaged armco posts: $7 each Replacing armco post: $53 each so if you spun and clipped the wall and bounced off, you might damage say 4 meters of armco. to repair it would be 204+56+168+28+212= $668.
 
you know what milwaukee county billed me for doing less damage than that to their armco barrier? (damaged a 10ft section, plus replace two wood posts) ....$3500 fuckin dollars.
 
sounds worth it to travel to germany and crash there instead.

ever since the 80s its be a roller coaster of poor styling, giant proportions, and technology cramming. 
if they would have only stuck to round headlights, this would have all never happened. goddamn e36.
 
i think the best evidence of their lack of concetration on making great driving cars is the fact that they havent had any sort of supercar, super performance coupe, etc for sale in over 10 years. 

i definately recommend the rebuilt to save a few $$, its not very difficult.  the hardest part is getting the c-clip on and off to remove the cylinder from the car, but once you master that doing this is a breeze.
 
heres a picture i took of how I diagrammed the rebuild
 

 
of course, get a new key at the same time you rebuild the lock so they work the best together.  when I rebuilt the lock on my last e30, the original key was so worn it wouldnt work anymore with the rebuilt cylinder.

$50 is a pretty low expectation, considering if you buy a fixed one you never have to replace it again.  spending $150 on a power one every 4 years gets old though.
 
you can use a z3/318ti/e36 vert one, which if you buy it new may cost a little more than 50, used would be cheaper.
 
http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23843&page=6
 
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=263716
 
http://www.bimmerwerkz.com/forum/faqs-diys/e30-e28-flexible-antenna-upgrade-55269.html
 
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=289110
 
 
as a 2nd option, someone has figured how to just convert the power mast to a fixed one, so all you have to do is buy the mast/parts
 
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1004311-DIY-E30-Antenna-Conversion-%28power-to-mast%29
 
 
alternatively, you could plug the hole and run just an antenna wire inside the car along the pillar roof, if you dont mind pull interior peices to gain access.
 
http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=175860

Well I was able to do my first full shoot with a new camera (finally dumped the P&S) and I am loving the quality so far, and I'm not even doing it right yet. Got about 6 good shots of 150 taken, lol.  Found a cool 'abandoned' building in Milwaukee and snapped some shots.  Group shots are definitely in order in this location.

Click for the high res, this forums downsizes everything automatically....ahem...admin....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hot sauce! 
 
merl i just received a reported issue on this thread regarding you not going to the meet and brian wanting a perma-ban. after seeing the beautiful condition of your car i've decided he is right, but, alas, i have left the ban hammer at home today.

I cant possibly allow this to be left alone...we all have high school educations here.
 

i meant that he didnt need to say it, we figured it out lol

'boy i'd never make it in college'
 
because no one else noticed that.

finally mounted.  was 10 min early to work so I stopped and snapped a shot or two:
 

 


 

pretty good match in size. pretty good match in worn out look.

so when you shoot a car a bunch of times the gas tank doesn't explode like in the movies?!
 
mind blown.