The "Random E30 Questions" Thread

[ClassE]

There was a thread like this on a different forum I frequented in the past - it was quite helpful as a new owner for "simple" questions and allowed for a single place to read through to gain knowledge after a purchase.

If more knowledgeable users could help with answers or links to answers, hopefully this can turn useful for other users in the future!

I'll start it off with some of my questions:

-Does anyone know of an aerosol black paint that is close in color/texture to the existing trim on an E30? (I need to repaint my front lip and want it to match as closely as possible).

-What oil do you run in summer for a stock/lightly modified M20?

-How often should the fluid in the rear end by changed out? Any special tools or procedure for doing this?

[jc43089]

The only way synthetic oil can "cause" a leak is by cleaning sludge buildup that is currently clogging a potential leak.  Some people think it damages seals/gaskets somehow, this is purely a myth.  I prefer to have the inside of my engine look like this, perfectly clean, no sludge anywhere.  This is after 5 years/45k after a rebuild.  I change the oil with royal purple HPS once a year (about 10k)

 

 

I also use Synthetic in my Maxima and Land Cruiser.  The Maxima did not start leaking and it had conventional oil until I switched around 170k, it is now at almost 220k.  The Land Cruiser leaks alot, but it did that before I made the switch, it is hard to tell if it is any worse so I'm not sure.

[m42b32]

Thanks for all the info guys, I ended up getting screwed on time and didn't change my oil yet. I went through the service history a bit and found that it had been run on castrol syntec for a while (full synthetic) so I am going to switch to a synthetic 15w50

[Derflaminflitzer]

Rotella t 15w40. Its super cheap and im pretty sure my m42 loves it. So did my 1975 honda cb550. I wont use anything else ever

[YoungCR]

Rotella t 15w40. Its super cheap and im pretty sure my m42 loves it. So did my 1975 honda cb550. I wont use anything else ever

I second, haven't used it in my bmws yet but my truck has lived on rotella for 250k+. 1 gallon jugs can go on sale for $12 sometimes. Once I have the extra cash I wanna buy a barrel at farm and fleet for $550 haha.

[ClassE]

To those who have installed solid trans mounts in an E30. I just finished installing my solid engine mounts and trans mounts, and took the car for a quick test drive (1989 325IS, fairly stock M20). Engine/trans vibrations are fine, throttle response is great.... but under load between 3k-5k I feel a "rumble" from the driveline. I'm not sure if it's a "trans vibrating tunnel/chassis" rumble or a "Might lose a driveshaft" rumble. Any experience with a similar noise/vibration from others? I'm well aware I'll be feeling more vibrations and such through the car, but this one immediately had me going "uh-oh".

Also - are the OEM trans mounts a "straight through" design? When I removed my original mounts, one mount had the studs a good 1/2" or more "off alignment" from one another. Not sure if the new trans mounts "corrected" this misalignment and is causing a vibration - or if that's totally acceptable.

[ClassE]

This thread will get an up-tick in posts from me as fall approaches.... Time to get some wrenching done!!!

I need to order a CSB and guibo for my car, but after some searching it appears there's different sizes (year/model specific?). Also - everyone says to only get an OEM guibo, but everyone says to get them from different suppliers.

-Pelican or Guten for both parts?

-Best way to ensure I order the right parts?

Thanks guys!

[B C]

First of all, im the only one in the world that spells it correctly and I am trying to preach the truth.

 

G I U B O  

 

I personally dont have an issue running whatever brand giubo that pelican or any other reputable vendor would offer, just not some random Ebay Chinese  Lucky-Dragon Brand parts. For the center support bearing I would go with an OE unit for sure. it isn't a fun part to replace and from my perusings on the interweb it seems as if the cheaper ones dont hold up. The non-OE unit on my car  isnt noisy but the rubber isolator is already falling apart.

 

just say no to solid giubos  

 

[GunMetalGrey]

You can always email Steve at Blunttech, he is a great guy and emails back amazingly fast regardless of when you email him. He is out of Minnesota so parts come amazingly fast and he is very willing to work with you.

[YoungCR]

Plus for recommending BluntTech! Even buying the cheapest options from reputable part venders can get you in trouble. I blew threw 2 cheap CSB's from BavAuto before spending the extra $15 on a Febi Bilstien CSB that has the correct offset for the driveshaft.