disgusting to bearable transformation.

[TreFlip]

Hello all i have a 500 dollar 1990 schwarz 5 speed. i bought it with these problems: timing belt snapped with messed up head, destroyed interior, bottle caps, bald tires, janky suspension, hit finder, missing plastic bumper piece, slightly bent valence.

my plans is to get it running nicely then try to make it a good looking e30.
if that can actually happen.



fender damage


the terrible interior


the broken head


the new head :)


old and new



old intake


new intake


after day 1


after day 2


day 3 - will be finishing up bolting the intake and throttle, replacing the timing chain and v belts and putting things back on. then hopefully will be running nicely.

interior will be taken care of after running.
more to come! hopefully

[rbartongrimley]

You should have painted the mailfold black too! Was there any frame damage where that fender got bent in?

[TreFlip]

You should have painted the mailfold black too! Was there any frame damage where that fender got bent in?

yeah i don't think there is any damage frame looks ok, hopefully.
i was going to paint it black then realized i didnt want to delay it any longer and just wanted to get it running. i didnt clean the intake if thats what your saying its a completely different one.

[Dragowl]

I hope it was cheap...hopefully you're right about the frame...although I don't think its affected

[rhett325i]

Let me know if you wanna sell me those door / rear side panels

[TreFlip]

Alright so its been a while, but since those pictures I've:

put the new head on
cleaned the fuck out of the inside.
got some random little things at the junkyard
replaced the weather stripping on the passenger side door.
trying to locate a seat in my area
got it running
stripped the bolt for the sunroof crank


it had a little tick going on and i was thinking because of the new head and it not fitting perfectly with timing apparently that shit happens when the head is decked. then got a mad oil leak, oil pan gasket was fucked. ordered the parts waiting to fix that. put new distributor cap, rotor bug, air filter and plugs waiting to replace fuel filter.

the thing is the tick i had 5w-30 in it because thats what they recommended but read up on here that it might be to thin so i put some 10w-40 in it ( was what was laying around.) and it ran way quieter and way better idle.

what oil should i be using. i was think 20w-50 but correct me if im wrong
ill post some pictures of it this weekend. if anyone is actually interested.

[iwantspeed]

nice work
I run castrol 20w 50 and my m20 loves it.

[TreFlip]

alright some recent pictures

after a wash


engine running decent i'm thinking once i get the oil pan gasket fixed and 20w-50 and the fuel filter changed, then it should be running pretty good.


not the greatest looking interior but cleaned up pretty good compared to when i first got it.

dont think about the seat ;)


the only thing really holding me back right now is getting a new seat because well 1. the seat is god awful and 2. the seat belt is fucked and wont click in.

[ban1]

Really enjoying this rebuild for some strange reason.

[TreFlip]

my friend searched on craigslist and found a 90 schwarz 325i for sale for 850, he checked it out and suggested that i should just buy it because it has a way better body and just swap the good parts to 1. i went to check it out and the guy had a motor ready to put in it because the timing belt snapped, but i didnt need the motor since i have one with a tune up kit, brand new head, and 165k on the lower half. the guy said he'd give it away for 450 without the other motor! which in my case is a steal even if something is fucked because it has all plastic bumpers in good condition, and only one crack in the dash, which mine has like 25. ill be picking it up in a couple hours. ill post some pictures later tonight.

[TreFlip]

Alright picked up the car for 450 i took one picture then it started to rain, so ill get more pictures maybe tomorrow.



only picture i have, body is pretty clean only rust on the fenders which i have replacements for. came with almost full tool kit, and some random other things. and only 3 miles from my house

[thereisnoyun]

I hate you.

[TreFlip]

Update:

been almost 2 months since last post.

in that time me and a friend:
pulled the motor out of old e30
parted it out
sadly scrapped it
changed the oil pan gasket
changed the clutch
pulled the destroyed motor that came in the new one
put in new motor and trans
got it running

everything seems to be running ok, gas was really bad sitting for i think a little over a year not sure. motor runs strong no problem with getting it started.





some pictures of the new one. ill take some more later, when i clean it ;)

title should come in 5-7 business days and inspection is on thursday.
really close to driving it the wait is unbearable.

[TreFlip]

Depressing update

so i found some interior in the area looked in good condition and picked it up for $400, came with front seats, rear seat, carpet, and all the panels. basically everything that is tan except for the back shelf.

install pictures

old cloth interior




carpet out


old vs new





new carpet in


everything in


overall the interior was in great shape took about 2 hours to put everything in with 2 people.

then my friend decided to smoke his tails, so i was going to red mine.
they turned out pretty decent the right is spot on match, left side is a little lighter




then.... the unthinkable happen. with having it for not even 2 weeks.




i wasnt driving crazy, speeding, texting, or on the phone, and i dont have a headunit so i wasnt messing with it or the music wasnt to loud.
i just looked away on the highway and looked back and traffic was at a standstill because of an accident up ahead.



my girlfriend and i are fine, some burns on her legs from the leather, and swollen kuckles from my hands slipping and hitting the dash, and airbag burn on my arms.

it might be fixable though. i will find out this week, the doors, glass back look fine. ill see how the frame is later. i am extremely bummed and i loved that car and i only got to drive it for like 2 weeks. but i will either get another or fix this one because thats all i want to drive now.

[mbonder]

Find another, that is not worth fixing. Just find another roller and swap parts, you should be getting good at it by now!