What did you do to your E3 today?

Mike Goble

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Going through the boneyard recently with my constant companion Stanley Leverlock, and I came across an E28 with a recently rebuilt driveshaft. Comparing the measurements to my E3 driveshaft, it was very close in overall length. For the princely sum of $50 I took it home with me, compared to the few hundred bucks to have my E3 shaft rebuilt. I took out my E3 d/s and laid it side by side with the E28 unit, and it looks very promising. Due to short nose/centering bearing I can use a thick M3 guibo with no spacers and I need to adapt the center bearing mount to locate the attaching point 3-1/2" aft. The E28 shaft also has easily removeable u-joints, held in with clips. Initial fitting looks good using some 1" angle iron adapters. E3 shaft is on the top in the pics.
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ArVe

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My 2800's nose was sitting really high and the wheelwell gap was annoyingly big so installed lowering front springs to my E3.

On the left my oem non A/C E3 springs and on the right E9 (manufacturer unknown) -50mm lowering springs.

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I got stiffer suspension in front but luckily not annoying and still joyful to drive. Better handling and better looks:

before
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after
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The pictures dont give the right impression but the difference is huge and the looks improved a lot.

The rear still has oem springs but adjustable Bilstein B6 shock absorbers, which i lowered -10mm. Still possible to lower -20mm more.
 

E911

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Nicely done, this is the same route I'm going on my 2800, nice to see the results before I find time to do it.
 

dp

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Time to address the noisy guibo, whoa! There's a chunk missing. Remove driveshaft, pull donut and toss. What the heck?? Centering bearing in the nose is...what the heck is this driveshaft? Fine splines?!? spongy rubber in the driveshaft nose for "centering"? What a kludge! "Supposedly rebuilt" Drop and remove exhaust, Remove trans mount, speedo cable, and clutch slave (late, bolt-on) The ribbed housing on the damn 5-speed does not make it any easier to remove only four 19mm nuts. Bottoms easy of course, tops half of an eighth of a turn at a time. No idea why I can't reach them with a long extention like back in the day. Damn this thing is wet, at first I thought the speedo drive seal....not so sure now. OK time to put the jack under the tranny and roll it back, slippery p.o.s....what the hell to do about that driveshaft, it won't take the sealed bearing and tin cap. Shit I can put a 4-speed in, have one and extra drive shafts to choose from...damn mosquitos. Thats enough for this eve, hot shower time....will take both trans and blast them clean at the carwash tomorrow. Sure hope that tail shaft seal is ok, maybe I should just pay someone to re-seal the whole trans to be on the safe side. Where's the redline MTL??? I can't find anything in this damn garage...this OD will go good in my coupe....
 
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JMinPDX

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any progress on the front bumper? I need to do mine too!
Only to look at the bolts that I need to remove to slide the shocks out. They're a little harder to get to than the rears.
I've been pretty busy lately and have had no time to spend on the Bav. I'm actually think of selling it.
I did take it out for a drive on the 4th.

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GolfBavaria

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Since the Golf Bavaria Mini Build Thread has pretty much run it's course I felt like us e3 owner's should also have a thread dedicated to the misc. on-goings of our builds. The on-going maintenance of our breed so to speak. LOL.

I thought I would start it off with the removal of the speedo and clock. As we all know the clock in the e3 is very different from the clock in the e9. Both placement and design. It can be a tricky little bugger to pull out. It seems straight forward by removing the veneer, unscrewing the plastic nuts behind the veneer and clock, pull it though the back and viola right? Well, not so fast. A lot of times they get caught somehow under the metal portion and the dash and get wedged or hung up in there. This was the second time it happened and of course one should never force anything like this right? Especially a clock with glass and a bezel etc.

With some careful prying up on the metal portion and a small flat-head screwdriver to press the side back in eventually it came out undamaged. Be careful, have a little patience, and just know you may need to do a little finagling.

The speedo needs to be re-calibrated and the clock didn't keep time first go of rebuild so I'm debating on putting a modern quartz-back in (just the back part not an entirely new clock). Notice the LED lighting that fits right in the dash stock inserts around the gauges and the smaller ones that fit right in around where the clock gets lit up. They are nice, only thing to remember is to make sure the negative and positive correspond.



Some feedback for all of you thinking of sending your Speedo to North Hollywood Speedo or your Bavaria clock. I was having reservations after I heard there were new owners etc. and some people had some bad experiences. I heard some good ones too so I eventually gave it a shot after trying to repair both with a friend and it didn't work out as planned.

I am happy to report, both turned out great and turn around time was minimal. It was not cheap, but within reason (I guess). The Speedo needed parts, so it cost $138.75 + $46.25 "assorted parts" (that's all they said). So $185.00 speedo. Clock they do not repair anymore, but they will put a quartz back on it. I wanted that anyways, supposedly they come out of a Porsche 993 and that explains the cost. For all I know it came out of a VW. But I will say this, it runs like a charm. Right on the money. This was the hard part - $288.75 plus $96.25 for Parts = $385.00. Shipping $21.74 + 12.47 Sales tax.......Total bill: $604.21 ouch...... but all done. Checked speedo with Waze App and various radar speed traps around town and seems to be working great. I love having the clock work like a charm, it's the little things sometimes that make this all worth it. I have no affiliation with NHS at all, just an onsite e9coupe.com Yelp review...LOL Oh, and be very careful replacing the clock, don't force it in, it can be tricky, have some patience and it will get back in place.
 

ArVe

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mine is missing! where did you get yours from?

I got my new one from W&N:
https://www.wallothnesch.com/en/container-2-5-litres-you-need-1-for-1-car-61-18-02.html

The item price seems to be more or less fair, but i dont know what are the terms and costs when buying from the US.
When buying from W&N we always put together many people wanting parts so we could divide transportation costs. We even have a thread for this in the local Classic BMW Forum.

If your old one is not leaking and you want to sell it, PM me with a number......thx!

The old container is not leaking it was just about the looks. It has BMW stamp on the rear but the new doesnt, so i would like to keep the old one to myself.
But i am ready to help you find a used container from EU, can help you looking for one and with shipping if you want. Just PM me if interested.
 

GolfBavaria

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I got my new one from W&N:
https://www.wallothnesch.com/en/container-2-5-litres-you-need-1-for-1-car-61-18-02.html

The item price seems to be more or less fair, but i dont know what are the terms and costs when buying from the US.
When buying from W&N we always put together many people wanting parts so we could divide transportation costs. We even have a thread for this in the local Classic BMW Forum.



The old container is not leaking it was just about the looks. It has BMW stamp on the rear but the new doesnt, so i would like to keep the old one to myself.
But i am ready to help you find a used container from EU, can help you looking for one and with shipping if you want. Just PM me if interested.

Smart, keep it. I have one I'm good, thanks, it would have been for backup if the one I have on there now ever split or cracked. I have not had good luck patching them, they always seem to leak right after patch. Hang onto it. I like the patina on it, it matches the rest of my cars stuff. The new one I bought like yours stood out like a sore thumb. A very generous member on here gave me an extra they had and it is still on the car, working great.
 

OLD_DTM

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Removed old undercoat on replaced floors and applied stronger bedliner

Also just figure out that I posted on E3s
 

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JMinPDX

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After a deadbeat eBay bidder and no sniffs from CL , I've decided to keep the Bavaria.
Today the front bumper came off. I may keep this look for awhile till I figure out how to mount the 73 front bumper.

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This is what I hope to put in place:

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