Ready for Spring: Reconditioning an e30 cabrio

Welcome back to another Friday edition of the blog!   Reggie will be flying to Dallas, TX this weekend to attend the annual BMW CCA Chapter Congress.   He’s pretty excited about the opportunity to learn more about the club, and to meet other enthusiasts from across the country.
Looking to upgrade your headlights?  We’ve got HID headlight kits in stock!  Give us a call at the shop for more information, 317.773.0074.

Also, the 1989 BMW 325ix is still looking for the perfect home!  We have had quite a few inquiries.  If you’re interested in going for a test drive or if you would like more information, please give us a call here at the shop.

The 1986 BMW 325es that we mentioned last week got new rear vent window seals, solving its leaky window issue.

Once the new seals were in place, Reggie re-installed the windows, and removed bits of the old seals that had stuck to the window:

Such a clean e30!

Next, Reggie converted the open fuses to closed fuses:

This bronzitbeige-metallic 1991 BMW 325i cabrio was purchased with funds saved after the owner’s father quit smoking.  Now I can’t think of a better reason to buy a BMW!  What a cool story!  And Reggie has been super excited about the way this cabrio will drive, especially after completely reconditioning the suspension with front control arms, rear sub-frame bushings, front struts, rear shocks, guibo, and drive shaft support bearing.  She’ll be more than ready for some nice Spring weather!

Reggie had already removed the old sub-frame bushings:

Here are some of the new parts that will find their home on the 325ic:  transmission mounts, guibo, and drive shaft support bearing.

New parts for the front suspension:

Reggie assembles the rear shocks:

Next, Reggie moves on to the front suspension:

Typically, the exhaust would stay in place for suspension work, but in this particular case, Reggie needs to remove it to install the drive shaft support bearing anyway.  Plus, with the exhaust out of the way, it does make it a little easier to do the suspension work.  Bonus!

The old control arms and sway bar links:

Reggie preps the new sway bar links for installation:

Reggie uses the strut compressor to remove the spring in order to remove the strut:

A rough running condition brought this 2006 BMW 325i to the shop.

Diagnostic work told Reggie that there was a misfire in cylinder #1.  A brand new ignition coil solved the problem.

Did you know we are a Tire Rack dealer?  We can have tires delivered here next-day, in most cases, and have them mounted and balanced right here in our shop.

This 2001 BMW 530i just got a new set of summer tires to replace its winter tires.

Reggie removes the winter tires from the wheels:

We got the repaired oil pan back from the welding shop, so it was time to re-install it in the 1995 BMW 525i that we mentioned last week:

That’s all for this week!  Have a fantastic weekend!