Calypsorat 325is(orta), manual everything, Spain->AZ->SoCal

[Vincent Brick]

This is the story of my Calypso, at least what I have been able to piece together...


According to BMW, there were 1603 examples of the 325i assembled in the 1991 production (calendar) year.
576 of those were U.S. market Sport package cars. (325i Sport replaced 325is for 1991)
128 of those had a manual transmission.
Of those 128, 10 of them were Calypsorot Metallic



This story starts in January 1991 when the car rolled off the assembly line in Regensburg, Germany. According to posts on E30tech, the car was originally sold new in Spain to a member of the U.S.A.F., and due to the nature of European delivery, the car was optioned slightly differently than standard U.S. Sport package car in that it came with the basic OBC and did not appear to come equipped with a LSD as normally standard on the '91 325i Sport. At some point the car made it to the U.S., Arizona specifically, and into the hands of what was described as an attractive female owner. Sometime around 2004 or prior the car was repainted very close to Calypso Red, in June of 2005 the head gasket was replaced and cylinder head machined, but by September of that year the engine suffered a catastrophic top-end failure destroying the cylinder head, camshaft and several rocker arms.

The car was then bought in this non-running condition in late 2005 for $1700 by r3vlimited and E30tech user TheRedHorseman. During this time a new cylinder head was installed, new water pump, the car received lowering springs and shocks, a 325iC front swaybar, and the beginnings of a planned turbo system were executed but never completed, later evident by the relocated 325ix washer bottle. Full service documents from new were with the car at this point but subsequently lost. I have not been able to reach this individual, and all posted photos from this period are no longer hosted.

Board member Alpinaclone bought this car in a "shady parking lot" at 10:00pm in late 2007, intending it as a home for the collection of rare parts left over from his former rusted-out Alpina B6 and Euro '83 318i.















The car's owner had spent time in Germany, and apparently had a rust-bucket Alpina B6 and other goodies he had brought back from Yurp. The Alpina was scrapped, and what would become my car got a bunch of cool parts out of the deal.


15x7" E21 Alpina wheels
(apparently have seen 160mph on the Autobahn):









Early black/gray interior swap, AC Schnitzer steering wheel, manual window conversion:







Alpina cluster bezel, euro clock, (IMO unsightly) auxiliary gauges and a worn Recaro seat:







Period engine photo:





The car was listed for sale here on this forum in 2009, and was eventually traded for an AE86 plus cash to another forum member from Orange County who was never very active. This owner brought the car to California, and in the short time he owned it unsuccessfully tried to sell the Alpina wheels off it, succeeded in selling the Bilstein suspension, swapped the Recaro for a Comfort seat to (almost) match the passenger side, and got rid of numerous other desirable parts off the car before selling it to a high school girl taking auto shop classes. I'm pretty sure this owner only bought the car to flip, and it would seem he made a bit of profit from it.

The high school girl daily drove the car unchanged for almost two years until the transmission failed. She bought a new transmission online from out of state but got ripped off, she paid to have the new one installed and it was no good. She was unable to get her money back for the bad transmission, couldn't afford another one, and so the car was then parked in a car port where it would sit the next two years, only occasionally started up and moved.


To be continued.........

[e30m3s54turbo]

Cool story. I will be watching your project.

[Vincent Brick]

A little back story:

When I first moved to greater San Diego a couple years back, I worked for Dynotech/DTM, a local tuning shop that specializes in BMW, at first just selling parts but I quickly became General Manager. While working there I met a pro skater who was really into E30s, had a Touring, a S52 swap car and an M3, as well as some manual-trans domestic iron, which is right up my alley. And if you know him, that pun was not intended. The shop moved, I quit, and I lost contact with the guy for the better part of a year.


The high school girl apparently got sick of owning a BMW she couldn't drive, she had moved on to Hondas, so she threw it up on Craigslist. The pro skater, always being on the lookout for rare parts, bought the car solely for the Alpina cluster bezel and limped it down to SD North County with no 2nd gear. Once again purchased solely to flip, the car sat for almost another year while it was relived of the bezel, Euro elipsoids, and a junkyard transmission was fitted.


I had been looking to get out of Neons for a while, I really liked them but I had driven them for 13+ years solid, I wanted something RWD, and was sick of owning a car I was always put in the position of defending. I had learned a lot about E30s from working on my buddy's and from my time working at DTM, but I never really considered owning one, I didn't think I could afford it, and I wanted something pre-smog, because to a Midwest native car guy such as myself, smog testing is pretty much the equivalent of fascism. A few VW guys I know had me talked me into getting a pre-'68 Beetle to daily, and I was on the hunt hard for a couple months trying to find the right car i wouldn't have to do much to, because with my schedule and living situation I absolutely cannot have a project car.

I had made arrangements to sell my clean Neon R/T to a serious enthusiast back east, and the deadline to deliver the car was fast approaching. I was getting pretty discouraged hunting for a Bug, it just seemed like every car cost way much more than it seemed to be worth. Seriously, $6k for a car that won't even do 75 mph on the freeway and it doesn't even have nice paint, nor is it comfortable. I'm telling all this to a buddy I worked with at Dynotech that has an S52 swapped car, and he's like "yo, homie has a clean E30 he's about to get rid of, I think its in your price range, you should go check it out." I gave the pro skater a call the next day, I stopped by his house, and among all the E30s and Big Block Chevy shit sat this thing:








I drove it, but only through his neighborhood at low speed because it was uninsured (this is very relevant later). My roommate worked with me at Dynotech and now works at another BMW shop, so I had him come over and take a glace too. I knew the car needed a little love, but it was solid and had some good parts on it, so we made a deal and I drove the thing home.



The pics/words ratio will improve here as we go on, I promise.

[efficient]

What size are those wheels on the Alpina?

[Vincent Brick]

Cool story. I will be watching your project.

Raul right, with the red S54 turbo M3? We've met several times, not sure if you remember me.

[Vincent Brick]

What size are those wheels on the Alpina?

15x7" et12. They are real Alpinas, not reps.



I'll add more later, its a rainy day but still I have been sitting here too long.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Raul right, with the red S54 turbo M3? We've met several times, not sure if you remember me.

Yes. I don't remember you. If you give me your name?:D

[Vincent Brick]

Most call me Vincent or Vinny, I had a desk in that side shop where your M3 sat, then later I was running the front. You're oddly about the only person I met from around that shop that I've found on this forum.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Did you own a silver 318is? If yes I do remember you.

[efficient]

15x7" et12. They are real Alpinas, not reps.



I'll add more later, its a rainy day but still I have been sitting here too long.

I'm sorry I meant tires. What size are the tires?

[Vincent Brick]

Naturally the first thing you do when you buy a car and live in a place called Oceanside, is you go to the fucking beach for some pictures.





















With my much-loved and much-missed Neon R/T:






I got the Calypso on a lift for a full inspection and inventory, found lots of poly and other goodies:








But also a lot of leaks, 3 oil leaks and 3 transmission leaks, to be exact.




US Elipsoids (are these really as shitty as they seem?):






Azenis on a basketweave for a spare:






But as I drove it around some, I quickly realized something was definitely wrong with the way it ran, and after getting it on the lift, the list of things that needed attention was VERY long. I got the Neon to its new owner and immediately had to take a job with a 35 mile commute with the E30 as my only transportation. Remember the part about where I can't have a project car? How I don't have the time and live out of a single room in a HOA neighborhood? This begins the months where the car consumed my entire life.

[Vincent Brick]

I'm sorry I meant tires. What size are the tires?

205/50. The Kumhos have a much blockier sidewall then the pair of Hankooks I just put on it.

Did you own a silver 318is? If yes I do remember you.

No, I drove a Neon R/T on ATS Mahle reps at the time. This Calypso is my first/only BMW.

[Vincent Brick]

The first things to do was plug/cap/rotor/wires, trace/fix vacuum leaks (the rear main was so bad it was a severe vac leak), replace the cracked oil pan, fix the transmission leaks, and replace the missing head shielding and bracing under the car:














Junkyard heatsheild cleaned up REALLY well, you don't get this back east that's for sure:






I got some clean trunk carpets that day too but failed to take a pic, mine were missing except for the mat.




Early 323i light flywheel, a little worn but does the job:








Once I got a good oil pan on it I bought a skid plate, which was a total PITA to get on due to both shitty welds on the skid plate and a fucked up core support from someone trying to jack from it:









Met a forum member at the E30 BBQ and copped an AFM off him, this was my parking spot by his pimp ass place on the water, I forget his name:






The tune up stuff helped, as did the AFM, but something still wasn't right. It ran strong for the most part, just inconsistent, and idled really bad, with a noisy valvetrain. We still had a couple small vacuum leaks to cure, but nothing that should have been causing it to run THIS bad. My roommate is very experienced with these cars but even he was a little stumped at this point.

[Vincent Brick]

Some random pics from around town, its a photogenic car, looks better in pics than reality to be honest.


No shortage of German cars at my house:




Here at the house lives my E30, a Boxster S, '08 E550 , '68 Beetle, '71 Westie, '72 Bus, and my roommate's 914 will be coming back from paint soon. We don't have room for everything, the neighbors hate us, its a HOA and there's also a '12 Civic, '04 Celica, a Del Sol, and a 450k mile LS400 living here.




With my buddy's S52 car:






With OMS Spec E30:






With my roommate/landlord's Benz:

[Vincent Brick]

One of my wheels was visibly bent when viewed from inside, and I needed a pair of tires, so I found an awesome place that does mobile alloy wheel straightening:






It was crazy seeing a wheel flex like that on their fixture. The straightener guy said there is no way a modern, cheap Chinese aftermarket wheel could hold up to the pressure he was putting on it without cracking. At first he didn't think he could even fix it, in the end it had less than .0003" run out. He messed up the finish on the face so he resprayed it for me quick, they really all need stripped and powdercoated though:








At some point I replaced the perished ITT tweeters in the factory pods with some new Pioneer units using epoxy:







Everything indicated my driveshaft was bad, but it turned out to actually be a CV axle, except the driveshaft was actually bad anyway. Carrier bearing, slip joint and U-joints were all toast so I got a rebuilt unit from a local company with a great reputation for their BMW driveshafts:







This is becoming a very familiar look at this point. Remember, I really can't have a project car, our neighbors already hate us:





Note the blanket on the roof, serving as padding for my roof panel to rest on as I was also in the middle of a sunroof cable replacement at this time. I've got it down now, but learning how the sunroof mechanism worked was one of the more frustrating things I have had to do so far.



I'm all about that hand-crank sunroof life:






That is going to be it for me tonight, will continue tomorrow. Its not some crazy mega build, but I've managed to save an old car that sat undriven for years and turn it into a fun, halfway reliable daily for my long commutes, I feel the need to tell the story of my Calypso.