How's it going r3v? I used to be on this forum daily when i had my first e30.
After i sold my first e30 which was a m50 swapped 318is that i have restored i wanted to do the same thing and restore and build another and i will try to keep this thread updated daily or as soon as i can.
Here are some of the pics of my first e30 I have restored
DSC07133 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
DSC07072 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
e30 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Well, I found a 87 325e on CL a little over 3 weeks ago with a had a bad headgasket for a decent price. I though, why not? As it was the only good one in my area with not too much rust as some get here in the Midwest. So i went ahead and picked the car up with plans to make it a clean daily for now. My plans as of now is to clean everything up and start on the body and try to get the motor fixed up.
The day i brought the car
Wheels need to go asap!
20170120_185742 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170120_185749 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170121_181901 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Dont mind the mess in the shop. e36 m3 getting some body work done.
20170120_185801 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Started pulling everything out from the interior. Curious on how the floor pans look. Hmmm.....
20170120_185810 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170120_185815 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170120_201824 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170120_201834 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
So after about a few days I was on CL and i came across another e30 that i thought i could use for parts especially bits and pieces of the interior i was missing and most of the body is straight. I picked it up for dirt cheap almost nothing.
20170123_151747 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
the dash was faily clean only about 1 or 2 tiny cracks which is surprising
20170123_151708 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
could possibly part this car out for anyone r3v users on here needing some parts just pm me!
20170123_151717 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
EWWW! found a rust hole right were the pedal is mounted...just great. well i guess it could have been worse. Time to cut off all the rust and patch the floor.
20170126_175616 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
found some holes here and there and some minor surface rust in a few places but theres nothing a wirebrush cant remove
20170126_175618 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170126_182842 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Boom! floor pan welded in and added sealer to cover up the welds.
20170130_184155 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Alright so now the the floor is done, i had to make a bracket to hold the pedal down so i just made 2 L brackets and attached it to the floor and to the pedal.
20170130_184211 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170130_180701 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170130_183845 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Pedal is in! finally doesn't look like a deformed automatic pedal assembly.
20170130_191654 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Surface is all cleaned up and sanded down.
20170130_193141 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170130_193205 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170130_193452 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Good as new
20170130_193503 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Alright now that that has been done, I figured its time to work on the motor. Motor didnt fire at all when i was first buying the car which was a bummer as he told me it ran before i even got there. So i thought it has to be something minor as it did have fuel and spark and good comp. But what i didnt realize is that the spark was very very weak and upon changing the coilpak thats mounted on the rh shock tower.. the car fired at an instant and ran very good. So after all that i decided to change out the HG and all the "while you are there" type of parts.
20170127_202644 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170127_202651 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
took of the cylinder head
20170128_184208 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170128_184232 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
painted intake mani and valve cover wrinkle black and will sand down the raised markings.
20170128_184239 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170128_184248 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170128_184301 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170128_184308 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Sooooooo...... BAD NEWS. so upon taking the head off and inspecting it with a straight edge and a feeler gauge, everything looked ok. even the smallest shim barely went through.. I though, well it isnt tooo bad. But i didnt want to risk just putting the head back on with a new gasket i decided to take it to a shop and have them inspect it and mill it down if nessesary. Turns out, the head is toast. With a huge crack right underneath the cam. Well i was a bit disappointed after and was sort of out of options for the car.
here is when the head was brought back from the shop after finding out its busted.
20170202_175126 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
I had plans to just get a 325i head and make it a 2.7 stroker so after upon looking on CL again for anything in my area. Well, I found another parts car. Its a late 325i with the plastic bumpers(which i was looking for as well) and has way more useful parts than the other parts car i had. So i went ahead and just bought the entire car for cheap considering it has a running m20b25, full interior and the plastic bumpers i wanted that are kinda hard to find in my area.
20170206_144902 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170206_144913 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170206_144921 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
So next thing i did was pull the motor out of my 325e with the bad head
20170202_195118 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170202_195128 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
20170202_222629 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
Problem?
20170202_201535 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr
All this was in a span of about 3 weeks, I just decided to document my story of this car and i guess only time will tell where itll take me. Again, I will try to keep this thread updated as much as possible and load it with as much pictures as i can. Because well, Im sure i bore you guys enough with these short stories and pictures speak louder than words.
After i sold my first e30 which was a m50 swapped 318is that i have restored i wanted to do the same thing and restore and build another and i will try to keep this thread updated daily or as soon as i can.
Here are some of the pics of my first e30 I have restored
DSC07133 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrDSC07072 by Daniel Pak, on Flickre30 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrWell, I found a 87 325e on CL a little over 3 weeks ago with a had a bad headgasket for a decent price. I though, why not? As it was the only good one in my area with not too much rust as some get here in the Midwest. So i went ahead and picked the car up with plans to make it a clean daily for now. My plans as of now is to clean everything up and start on the body and try to get the motor fixed up.
The day i brought the car
Wheels need to go asap!
20170120_185742 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170120_185749 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170121_181901 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrDont mind the mess in the shop. e36 m3 getting some body work done.
20170120_185801 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrStarted pulling everything out from the interior. Curious on how the floor pans look. Hmmm.....
20170120_185810 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170120_185815 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170120_201824 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170120_201834 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrSo after about a few days I was on CL and i came across another e30 that i thought i could use for parts especially bits and pieces of the interior i was missing and most of the body is straight. I picked it up for dirt cheap almost nothing.
20170123_151747 by Daniel Pak, on Flickrthe dash was faily clean only about 1 or 2 tiny cracks which is surprising
20170123_151708 by Daniel Pak, on Flickrcould possibly part this car out for anyone r3v users on here needing some parts just pm me!
20170123_151717 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrEWWW! found a rust hole right were the pedal is mounted...just great. well i guess it could have been worse. Time to cut off all the rust and patch the floor.
20170126_175616 by Daniel Pak, on Flickrfound some holes here and there and some minor surface rust in a few places but theres nothing a wirebrush cant remove
20170126_175618 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170126_182842 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrBoom! floor pan welded in and added sealer to cover up the welds.
20170130_184155 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrAlright so now the the floor is done, i had to make a bracket to hold the pedal down so i just made 2 L brackets and attached it to the floor and to the pedal.
20170130_184211 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170130_180701 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170130_183845 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrPedal is in! finally doesn't look like a deformed automatic pedal assembly.
20170130_191654 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrSurface is all cleaned up and sanded down.
20170130_193141 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170130_193205 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170130_193452 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrGood as new
20170130_193503 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrAlright now that that has been done, I figured its time to work on the motor. Motor didnt fire at all when i was first buying the car which was a bummer as he told me it ran before i even got there. So i thought it has to be something minor as it did have fuel and spark and good comp. But what i didnt realize is that the spark was very very weak and upon changing the coilpak thats mounted on the rh shock tower.. the car fired at an instant and ran very good. So after all that i decided to change out the HG and all the "while you are there" type of parts.
20170127_202644 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170127_202651 by Daniel Pak, on Flickrtook of the cylinder head
20170128_184208 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170128_184232 by Daniel Pak, on Flickrpainted intake mani and valve cover wrinkle black and will sand down the raised markings.
20170128_184239 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170128_184248 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170128_184301 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170128_184308 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrSooooooo...... BAD NEWS. so upon taking the head off and inspecting it with a straight edge and a feeler gauge, everything looked ok. even the smallest shim barely went through.. I though, well it isnt tooo bad. But i didnt want to risk just putting the head back on with a new gasket i decided to take it to a shop and have them inspect it and mill it down if nessesary. Turns out, the head is toast. With a huge crack right underneath the cam. Well i was a bit disappointed after and was sort of out of options for the car.
here is when the head was brought back from the shop after finding out its busted.
20170202_175126 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrI had plans to just get a 325i head and make it a 2.7 stroker so after upon looking on CL again for anything in my area. Well, I found another parts car. Its a late 325i with the plastic bumpers(which i was looking for as well) and has way more useful parts than the other parts car i had. So i went ahead and just bought the entire car for cheap considering it has a running m20b25, full interior and the plastic bumpers i wanted that are kinda hard to find in my area.
20170206_144902 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170206_144913 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170206_144921 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrSo next thing i did was pull the motor out of my 325e with the bad head
20170202_195118 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170202_195128 by Daniel Pak, on Flickr20170202_222629 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrProblem?
20170202_201535 by Daniel Pak, on FlickrAll this was in a span of about 3 weeks, I just decided to document my story of this car and i guess only time will tell where itll take me. Again, I will try to keep this thread updated as much as possible and load it with as much pictures as i can. Because well, Im sure i bore you guys enough with these short stories and pictures speak louder than words.
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