My 88' e30 325i Touring build thread, wiretucked, ITB'd M20, Bagged.

[Luis325]

WOW how did i miss this!! keep up the good work man!!!!

[bmwandhonda]

Did a little test fit of the intake manifold and fuel rail. Just so that I could see what fuel fittings i would need to plumb it.




Cut a 50mm hole in the inside of the fender into the cabin to make way for the lighting loom. Just cut the whole for the indicator loom bigger and then bushed it. Will try and fill it with silicon or something to water seal it once the cables have all been run through properly. Painted the edges of the hole with some rust treatment stuff in the hope that it won't rust.


Removed the thermo housing to clean it up for paint


Ready for paint. cleaned up ok with some sandpaper and a wire brush, then a degrease


Also started on the engine loom. Waiting on some bits n pieces to come in from the states befor I can finish it though




And stripped the front covers for paint and will be installing the new timing belt and water pump

WOW how did i miss this!! keep up the good work man!!!!

haha cheers mate, plenty of updates still to come :) keen as to get it back on the road so want to work on it as much as possible.

[bmwandhonda]

Prepped and painted in wrinkle black. Timing belt covers, waterneck/thermo housing, engine hoist point, alternator case and alternator tensioner bracket.

[el bimmer]

I want!

[bmwandhonda]

Have been looking around for Aluminium radiators for the m20 e30 and could only find a few options (godspeed and CXracing) but from reading a few forums, turns out both those options weren't too highly regarded quality wise. Then read on a few forums that the e36 radiator was a direct fit into the e30 325i so decided to get the Mishimoto E36 radiator.

Turns out it is quite a bit bigger (as expected) but also found that the inlet holes were quite a bit further apart than the stock e30 325i radiator (about 70mm wider) which means the stock top hose won't reach.


The bottom hose will fit fine and all mounting points will all work fine, just the top hose.


I am thinking I will just get an inline temp gauge fitting which i can cut in and use to extend the top hose




I will be deleting the stock fan and replacing with an electric fan. Will be placing it in front of the radiator (which I know isn't the most efficient spot) but if it doesn't do the job on the street I will make the necessary changes and mount it properly, with shroud etc


Also here is how I have joined and extended the Crank sensor cable, two co-ax cables to extend the two cores. Shields have been joined so they are also continuous, hopefully it will work :/ I am a little concerned about this since it is probably the most important sensor for the engine.


How she currently sits:

[bmwandhonda]

I started on trying to mount the fuel rail properly today and decided that it wasn't sitting right, the injectors sat on a much harder angle than than when using the OEM rail. This was due to the rail sitting hard up against the original mounting holes on the intake manifold. cut a groove out with a hacksaw and file, this way the rail and injectors sit a lot better and should give a better seal.




Made up the small brackets to secure the rail onto the manifold. Had to drill new mounting points in the manifold as there was too much angle and not enough room to get a bolt into the original threaded holes. This photo was taken befor I cut them down a bit and sprayed them black:


Also decided to sand up and spray the hood mounting brackets white to try and get them to blend in with the body a bit more. A lot better than the surface rust covered half silver look they had previously...

[bmwandhonda]

New cam gear and water pump installed. Haven't adjusted it at all and this was taken after I span the belt around a few times, hence why the TDC mark is a bit out in the pic.


Got the belt covers back on


New belts all round :)


One small problem was that the back of the cam gear was slightly rubbing on two of the bolts behind it :/ only just, but after a few turns the bolt heads on the head behind the cam gear wore away the little bit of aluminum of the cam gear that was hitting so I think it should be fine.

Hard to see but these photos just show the back of the cam gear and the head of the bolt that it was hitting, the two long bolts in the pic are the studs for the thermo housing if that helps in perspective.

[bmwandhonda]

Got the radiator and fan in this afternoon. Bought a Davies Craig 16" fan and mounted it inside the bumper on the front side of the radiator. Should do the trick just fine i think. Only mod I had to do was make a little bracket on the passenger side, where the foot of the radiator sits on the frame and also will have to extend the top hose to reach the thermo housing. Have already ordered a pipe fitting for that so should be fine.

[bmwandhonda]

Mounted the tucked windscreen washer bottle. It is a 1.2ltr i found on Ebay. Mounted it under the passenger side front corner. Then ran a smallish silicon hose up from the bottle into the corner next to where the headlight mounts so that i can re-fill the bottle. Will make it a little hard to tell water level but i can manage.




Sort of hard to see but the hose is just there in the corner:

[dmoney(AB)]

just reminded me I need to come up with a solution for my washer tank!

thanks!

[e30abe89]

Great job mate on the tuck. In for finished results. Who knows i might tuck mine as well lol

[bmwandhonda]

just reminded me I need to come up with a solution for my washer tank!

thanks!

No problems. Was pretty easy to mount under there. Only had to make up one small bracket.

Great job mate on the tuck. In for finished results. Who knows i might tuck mine as well lol

Thanks mate. Hopefully the finished result will be worth it, it is a massive job so far. A LOT harder to tuck than the civic was :/

I am getting fairly close to finishing, am waiting on a big delivery of cable trunk/loom stuff as well as nuts/bolts/washers and -AN fittings to get over here from the US. Once that Arrives I can finish the main engine loom and fuel lines etc

[bmwandhonda]

Fitted the factory water level sensor into the tucked washer fluid bottle last night. Half way through extending the lighting loom as well.

[bmwandhonda]

Current status of the Tourings engine bay. Still need to run the cables for the Ignition coil and I am still waiting on the Radiator hose joiner to arrive. Fuel lines are all done and the rest of the wiring is all done now. Just need to tidy up all the cabling under the dash in the interior and also still need to mount the battery in the boot and cable that. But not far off now from turning the key and hoping it starts again :/



Hybrid Racing Fuel pressure reg


Nuke fuel rail with XRP AN6 fittings and fuel lines


Replaced all the bolts with new polished stainless allen head bolts and also replaced the fender screws with some matt black counter sunk washer screws.

[Jozi]

When mounting the battery in the boot make sure it's not mounted to high up of the compartment door won't close anymore. I used a 325 battery to boot kit but because the battery sits on a platform the door won't close.

Nice job on the bay!