What is E30 update?
E30 update
E30 Update began as a quick project repairing a marker light housing clip. Over several years it snowballed into an increasing number of projects focusing on repairing, and updating BMW’s legendary 1984-1992 3-series platform.
Michael Powers grew up in and around air-cooled Volkswagens, and still owns his first car, a 1974 Karmann Ghia. Being around those old VWs led him to become passionate about several older German makes and models.
Upon graduating from SCAD and relocating back to his home town of Chattanooga, TN, Michael needed a car for work. While not yet a BMW enthusiast, he was intrigued by his mother’s E46 wagon. He also liked the look of “those older BMWs”, so when he saw “Isis”, a “Brilliantrot” 1990 BMW 325is sitting in the back of a used European car lot, he couldn’t resist.
It didn’t take long for Michael to realize that the parts for the older models were starting to get expensive and disappear altogether. That’s when the 3D printing of parts began. After several projects he began thinking that he probably wasn’t the only one that needed increasingly unavailable parts for an E30, and thus E30 Update was born.
Using 3D printing, we are able to reduce manufacturing lead times, save money on up-front tooling costs, and just do some really cool stuff, really quickly. One particularly cool thing about 3D printing is that it allows you to do things which otherwise might not even be possible with injection molding and other traditional manufacturing processes.
Keep checking back often because we will be adding many new products to the shop in the coming months. We also have very big plans for the future that we can’t wait to share with you, so thanks for stopping by and supporting the dream of getting Any Part You Can Imagine™.