Tag: Cosmetic

E30 cow catcher brackets for “diving board tuck” 3part kit Install

Can you spot the difference?
E30 cow catcher brackets for tucked diving board 3part kit Install

After doing the “diving board tuck” mod myself a few years ago, I just accepted the increased gap between the diving board and cow catcher as an inevitable tradeoff. It wasn’t until someone pointed it out to me At The Vintage, that I realized it was a bit more of an eyesore than I had let myself believe. Then, in the middle of an oil pan job, it hit me. Why not redesign the brackets to eliminate the extra space? So that’s what I did!

The cow catcher brackets for “diving board tuck” 3part kit is for a popular DIY cosmetic modification. This infamous E30 modification releases the gas from the impact shocks that support the bumper. Once all the gas (or goo) is expelled from the cylinders, they are compressed and reinstalled. The result is that it “tucks” the front (and rear) US Spec bumpers of the Series1 E30s for a more modern profile. Unfortunately, it comes with the minor, but noticeable side effect of increasing the gap between the aluminum bumper and the cow catcher mounted below. Why does this happen? It occurs because both the cow catcher and the aluminum bumper have significant draft angles for easy mold release. When the metal beams are pushed towards the cabin, the narrower side is closer to the narrower side of the cow catcher. Thus increasing the space between them.

The good news is that E30 Update has the solution!

We now offer the E30 cow catcher brackets for diving board tuck 3part kit which includes the center, left, and right brackets. Designed specifically for those of us who have tucked our diving boards, now you will have the tightest diving board bumper tuck at the next cars & coffee! That is, until you tell all your friends about this kit, and they install them too. But then we’ll be really happy. And you and all your friends will be happy! And everything will be great!

This kit does not include the corner, and side-support brackets. If you already have your corner and side support brackets, they are not necessary for installing these tuck-mod brackets. They don’t have re-engineered geometry.

If there is demand, we will add the full seven-part kit. Let us know!

*For off-road use only. This product has not been approved for road use by any Federal or State Agency.

Missing Cow Catcher

#e30 has a little different presence without the #cowcatcher in tact. Off to get some #hardware for an upcoming video. Bet you can’t guess what it’s about :))

Love 4 The Diving Board

This is a project that’s been on the list for a while, but recently I saw several prople on the forums and reddit looking for a “Diving Board” bumper strip, so I decided to go ahead and bump it to the front of the E30 Update project list. 

If you know anything about the E30, you probably know about pre & post-update versions. Before 1988, the US models shipped with the endearingly nicknamed “Diving Board” bumper; a big, bulky, impact regulation-meeting aluminum beam. Some people replace them with the Euro bumpers if they’ve got the kachinga, which, not gonna hate on that, they do look nice. At the very least they get tucked, which is a nice compromise and definitely one of the mods I’m thinking about for my car. Either way, while generally considered an inferior design to what was sold in Europe and the rest of the world before the 1988 update, I think it has aged, kind of like a fine cheese; a little stinky, but still, a delicacy to the seasoned pallet :p

So I thought it was time to give the “Diving Board” a little deserved attention. 

What would that be? Well the issue is the US front plate frame. Some states require front plates, but many don’t. So adding to the somewhat inelegant presence of the US spec bumper, is this dangling hunk of plastic which, may or may not need to be there. But if it doesn’t need to be there, you can’t really remove it, or else you’re left with the bare aluminum beam revealing the license plate frame brackets and some holes, including the tow hook hole. And nobody is going to do that unless they just don’t have it anymore. Which, many cars don’t. Even if they did, they don’t have any real way to mount a Euro-style plate like you could with the ’88 and on bumpers. Now there are a couple other guys out there making a similar part, but it doesn’t look quite “stock”, and it doesn’t have a “designed in” way to mount the Euro plate.

So I made the E30 Diving board trim strip to solve all these problems. If your state doesn’t require you to have a front plate, you can take the US plate frame off and streamline the look of your “Diving Board”. And if you like the Euro plate look, it’s got the Euro plate holes too. Even if your state does require a front plate, you can mount it over the Diving Board strip if you use longer screws. So you don’t have to you know, zip-tie it on or something like that… I’ve seen your pics bro! 

What you see here is the first prototype, but I made a few tweaks before I putting it on the site. First, I designed it a little tight, so I reduced the overall width by a few millimeters. Then I got a DM from a guy about the reddit poll I did for this project, and that’s when I realized that you could still mount a US plate on this with longer screws, so I added leveling around the US plate mount holes. That way if you do want or need to mount a US plate it doesn’t angle up awkwardly. Lastly, I added the tow hook hole with a little twist-off beauty cap. I also made a couple other little tweaks to make it a little easier to install which you’ll be able to see in the pics on the shop page. This part is made from professional grade MJF (Multijet Fusion) process plastic, and should provide many years of classy 80s impact resistance trimming! 

So here’s the deal! For the first 10+ orders, I can get the price down to $129. Because I’m small time & don’t spend money on Google ads & keywords & stuff like that I’m going to put a 30 day “Deal Period” on it. After that, the price will go up to the one-off price. So if I only get 9 orders in 30 days, nobody gets the discount, and if I get 99 orders in 30 days everyone gets the discount! So I’m pretty sure there are 99 E30s out there that need this… (mine did!). So if you’ve got a diving board E30, go order a front bumper strip at e30update.com! If you do, I’d love to see some pics of it installed! Post it on reddit or insta or wherever and let me know!