My E30 M3 - rear axle missing

[ARMAN]

^^ +1 what they say

[Phobo]

if you come with the mazda again, you can create your own rebelrun, nobody will speak with you !!!

Seems there will be a Mazda Run. I changed the wheels today and found some stuff that wont let me pass the
government check: rust

I have my check on wednesday and I dont think there will be enough time to fix everything untill then , after that I have to
pay a fine when the car wont pass the test plus have to get another check .....

I talked to a e30 m3 owner who had to be there 3times before he passed and his car is nearly perfect

[danidmas]

Seems there will be a Mazda Run. I changed the wheels today and found some stuff that wont let me pass the
government check: rust

I have my check on wednesday and I dont think there will be enough time to fix everything untill then , after that I have to
pay a fine when the car wont pass the test plus have to get another check .....

I talked to a e30 m3 owner who had to be there 3times before he passed and his car is nearly perfect

Too bad mate, seems that your em-three has caused more trouble than good things so far Hope that changes soon!

And don't worry about the Rebel Run... the Mazda will be fine, especially when you use the special racing fuel you used on your sister's Fabia

[Phobo]

Tomorrow or so Ill post a little report about what happened in the last month on the beemer.

So far just the proof that the car made it to the Ring - or at least to the parking lot ->


Massive THANKS to Mihals for creating that picture I hope its ok that I post it here.

[danidmas]

Fantastic photo!!

[MIHALS]

I found better way to make a nice picture (this one looks too unusual), just stay tuned

[Saadie]

:|
thats one amazing photo 

[ARMAN]

very nice pic

[Phobo]

Cant find my memory stick atm so I just post some words and no photostory (maybe I can post some more pix in the next weeks)

As some of you might know when I wanted to insure my ride some days before Rebel Run 2008 they told me that I have this stamp inside
the papers that require a very strict MOT. Alot of tuning cars are being sold because of this stamp because. Testing very detailed and the car has to be completly standart or the tuning stuff has to be in the papers. Talked so someone who attended the test 3 times with a mint! m3.

Nearly 1 year it costs me to sort out the engine troubles which was basicly a faulty cooling system (still needs some work but for now its ok), to get some parts so that the car can past emissions tests, organise some transit plates that the car can be transported to the testing area .....

When I arrived it was quite funny the inspector (who has not seen the car) asked if I came by car or motorbike and he was a bit relieved when I said car. I discovered later on why: Outside were 8 young kids who lost their plates due to motorbikes that go faster than 50kmh so the inspector put these bikes on a standing road and reved the max out of these bikes which caused a lot of noise and exhaust fumes.

AFter he was done with these kids and some old mazda that had a funny "sponsored by mom & dad" sticker on the back he asked me to drive around the building and wait infront of the gate. When I arrived his first words were "I am a liiiiiittle bit worried already if you will pas the exhaust tests and in general if you are able to drive to the roll that meassures the braking tolerance. (ground clearance)

I passed the braking tests, exhaust test (very very close it was) convinced the tester plus another tester who was called because the first one was worried about the clearance of just some mm from the rim to the rod end of the steering. Altough I had the right BBS rims I later discovery that these must have been from a 5 series which has different wheel offset. My luck was that nowhere in the papers the correct offset was listed and that the other tester conviced the first that the car must have been delievered with that rim. (If I had chosen the AC schnitzer rim I would have send home again without any doubts).

Next on the list was the breaking fluid which was measured with a rapid test. The signal turned red so he had to get another tester which was more accure. I already though now I have failed the test - the accured testing machine was 12v powered and I know that I did not secured my batterie properly. I only placed it into the batterybox in the trunk and put the cover on so I grapped his testing machine and connected it to the baterie myself so that he can´t rattle the batterie around discovering that it was not secured the right way.
The machine said that the fluid should be replaced but overall its ok.

In the beginning the inspector was very strict and a bit harsh but then he discovery that the car was not leaking any fluids, brakes are completly new, the rear wing was standart, lights were working ... and all the other major stuff is ok so he let me pass with just some minor faults.

If he wanted me the fail the test it would have been an easy job for him. The catalytic converter had a ground clearance of 10,5cm normally you have to have at least 11 at the lowest point but again with a bit of talking also about the totalheight of vehicle (yes they ever measure stuff like that) which was strangly not the same that bmw recommends he gave his ok but only after I drove with him for 30seconds around the buildings (maybe he was a hidden e30 fan ).

The next day the car was insured and I put plates on it so that I could test the car some days on my way to work for being RR09ready.
The car made it save to the ring and back home with just some minor problems but hey with these old cars its pretty easy to work on and over the past years I was able to improve some of my mechanical skills so at least I can sort out the smaller problems and got to know my car alot better.

Unfortunatley last week this happened:


On my way back home the check control was flashing saying low coolant level. I was only 2km away from the next restplace on the autobahn so I stopped and checked the hoses. I discovered that was hose had a tiny crack and with higher revs water come out of it. I still had all the emergency repair stuff in my truck but didnt want to drop all the coolant to the ground so I phoned the ÖAMTC (basicly the austrian type of AA).

I asked myself why do I pay those guys every year so I gave it a go the friendly woman said to me 40min and after 2hours a guy appeared on the parking lot just with a towing truck. He then only had a tow truck and the order to tow the car home or to the next bmw dealership. I was a bit pissed because of that but hey at least I saved some fluel on my way home .
The hose is now temporarly fixed and I might upgrade to some samco hoses .

My total conclusion of owing the beemer now for 1 year is that although the car lets you down some times it is still an honest machine and no diva and for all the troubles along the way I had so much fun when driving it.

You cant believe how much reactions you get with that car just to give you some examples:

On my frist "testing day" to work I stopped on a restplace near the autobahn and guess who put in reverse when passing my car? -> The cops, asking if this is a real m3 and took a walk around the car just when they wanted to look a bit more into the details that got a call and off they went. So they did not discover that I still had not put on the fresh MOT sticker and already have the schnitzer wheels on the car.

Next major action was in a 100kmh zone to the ring I was driving behind a car in a construction zone noticing a car on the left lane that had free space in front but did not pass. When I looked over all I saw was a 5 or 3 series (didnt realise) but with camouflage.
The test driver pointed to the car  -- did this ->  and floored it. Man I had such a big grin on my face and was so proud on my old box on wheels like a little kid.

Today I had just the normal stuff happening
-a customer at work when seeing my car started immediatly to make me an offer for selling it
-after work eating at burger king stopping for a quick lunch. In that time 4 different people took pictures of the car (these TAU stickers will be a good advertising I can tell you ). 2times me and my female co worker pushed the central locking and waved from inside just for the fun of it.
-one guy on the autobahn passing with the horn and again -> 



thanx for reading - probably my biggest post so far (please ignore all the bad spelling and incorrect sentences)

[ARMAN]

great read Freddy, I honestly thought you will be on RR with mazda till Michal sent me MMS with your M

MOT is a real bitch in Austria I see, here it is much much easyer

love the "m owning experience" story's I actually reread those kind of story's on m5board

[danidmas]

Owning an M3 is great - even if there are some downturns every now and then!

[DMF]

If you can fix the car yourself, I'd say it's definitely worth it! I almost jumped on a low mileage E30 M3, white with cardinal interior  but decided I couldn't deal with the high maintenance.

It's funny, I get stopped all the time now with the 944.. Already this week I got pulled over twice by the police.. The first day a cop literally stopped traffic so he could talk to me about my car.."I owned one of these too.. blah blah blah". Yesterday I got pulled over because of my temporary inspection, which was still valid, but I need to get it inspected tomorrow. Crossing my fingers I don't get to meet any more pigs for the rest of the week!

[Guyon]

Yesterday I got pulled over because of my temporary inspection, which was still valid, but I need to get it inspected tomorrow. Crossing my fingers I don't get to meet any more pigs for the rest of the week!

Yeah, that sucks. My dad got pulled on the way to get the inspection once. 

Awesome stories, grats on getting it passed.   

[Schwalbe]

What a story, I didn't know it was that strict all the inspection im Österreich. Here it's a piece of cake to pass a car inspection. 

I'm glad to have seen you and your cool M3 at the RR2009. 

@Mihals: Awesome pix mate !!! 

Cheers guys !

Julz

[Phobo]

What a story, I didn't know it was that strict all the inspection im Österreich. Here it's a piece of cake to pass a car inspection. 

normally its not sooo strict but there are two possibilities that you have this strict inspection:

• you have alot of modified stuff on your car, police pulls you over and tells you that you have to get this strict
  check so that you get rid of all the tuning stuff or that you putt the tuning stuff into your papers aka legalize the stuff
• 10% or so of every car that is at least 12 years old

When I went there they tought of course that the car got pulled over by the police until I said to them the "bodykit" and wing are standart
on that car and that it is just too old .

[Phobo]

shot with my crappy cellphone but I think I will get better versions.
And next time I think I will bring a propper camera anyway.


An ultra rare Evo3 in the left - showroom condition.

Together we drove to a BMW 02 meeting. The others have been there before and said its no problem to bring an E30 M3
there because these are also welcome to the 02 gathering. Overall it was a blast very friendly people and altough in total
~150cars there were nearly 30 E30 m3 :-o

[Guyon]

I gotta get some pics of that event.. 30 M3's  .

[danidmas]

Your M3 really stands out! I love it!

[spanky]

I luv these stories. Its what gives the cars their character and makes your life interesting. 

[Phobo]

these wheels will be testfitted this or next week


It was already late, rainy and we all too tired to fit the wheels after coming back from the bmw museum so only took
a quick picture. 

hint: I also installed the front evo bumper tape