DirtE30 - 1990 BMW 325i

[Senor_Taylor]

Tires and wheels came in today! Crawled under the car to look at the suspension. Oil pan, steering rack, or both are leaking and leaving drips on the floor. Front control arms look new (left side) and okay (right side.) Subframe bushings from what I could see, seem okay, rear diff bushing looks fine. Sway bar end links look awful, but I have new links to put on when I put the bilsteins I bought today on. Both axle seals on the diff are leaking, and the left hub looks... weird. It's covered in something, and it looks like it's missing the top of it? The end of the axle looks exposed; not sure what's going on. I don't see an obvious bend in the control arm, but I'll probably just snag a new one and put it in and do bushings on both sides. I took the car for a drive, and it kind of scared me a little bit. Both miatas, and the e46 were so weak that there wasn't enough power to lose the read end. This car is different. First and even second gear have enough punch to spin the rears and I can even get loose in second going straight on a hard shift. I think this is mostly due to bad bushings and shocks, but I can also see what people mean when they say E30s will try to kill you. The short wheelbase, high torque, and top heaviness really make it rotate quickly. I also know that these tires hate the cold, but I didn't think how the power difference would change how useful they were comparing e30 to Miata.

I also gave up the dream of buying new front seats and just got cheap seat covers.







Notice the top of the hub.



Minty control arms on the front and nice new tires.



Leaky leaky