Restoring a '91 325i, what have I missed?

[Sail Boat]

Happy Holidays!

I recently picked up a JDM-Spec 1991 325i slick top 4-door automatic with 29,100 miles. Before I begin, I want to get ahead of the inevitable question: why am I putting so much work into an automatic? While I'm a young guy (25), 15 years of competitive (and sometimes careless) cycling and skiing has caused me to develop patellar tendinitis in my left knee, which is my dominant leg. A third pedal is totally manageable on short drives, but spending an hour + crawling southbound on 495 (MD to VA) every night wouldn't be fun.

A little history: for most of its life, the car sat untouched and unused in the basement garage of the original owner's Tokyo apartment building. The owner spent most of his time in Germany but often traveled to Japan for business. I believe this neglect allowed the fuel, which smelled of varnish, to corrode the tank and ruin the fuel system. When driving the car home from the delivery point (5 miles), the valves seized and damaged the head. Piston #2 was kissed, but only slightly. While it is a huge bummer that this happened, Caveat Emptor is a principle that almost always bares its teeth. I've prepared accordingly and decided to go ahead and restore the car despite its less than desirable specification. Fortunately, the car is perfect in every other way so the investment shouldn't be totally pointless. If in the future I grow weary of the automatic and my knee stops being a jerk, maybe I'll give it the Getrag 260. Only time will tell!

All of this work is being completed by RRT in Sterling, VA. While I love to wrench, I was nervous that my relative inexperience with e30's would ruin the car. On the positive, it's nice to establish a legitimate paper trail detailing the rebuild, which I expect would make a future sale easier. On that note, I'm hoping you all can let me know what else should be done while the car is apart or if you have any other recommendations for future updates/modifications. I'd like to keep the car original as possible, save wear items. You all know better than me, so whatever knowledge you can pass my way in regards to shunned e30's would definitely help!

Here's whats been done/about to be done:

Head:
Machined + 3 angle valve job
TRW intake and exhaust valves
BMW Rocker Arms
BMW Complete Head Gasket Kit

Timing:
ECS Timing kit w/ Gates Racing belt

Ignition:
Bosch W8LCR plugs and rotor
Bremi Ignition wires and cap

Fuel:
Siemens Fuel Pump Assembly
Siemens Right Fuel Sending Unit
BMW Left Fuel Sending Unit
Spectra Premium 16.6 Fuel Tank

Drive line:
4.10 LSD pumpkin swap into 4.10 Open diff
Driveshaft Bearing
Transmission Mount

Steering:
Rebuilt e30 Steering Rack Assembly

Tires:
Michelin xIce xi3 185/70r14 on OE Basketweaves

Whats to be done in the future:

Suspension:
Bilstein B8 Inserts
H&R Sport Springs

Brakes:
They weren't great when I drove the car home, but worked nonetheless. Booster works fine, a vacuum issue might be present. Hopefully the pads are just awful and only needs a basic rotor/pad/fluid tune up.

Exhaust:
Does anyone make a midpipe/connecting pipe to the header for these cars?



So, what else? Thank you all very much!

[Blackthorn]

Looks good so far but i would do the following:

Water pump**
Timing Belt**
Timing Belt Tensioner**
The rest of the belts while your in there**

Thermostat

Camshaft seal and Oring

Check out your bushings & guibo and see if they need replacing

Also a Open diff is not going to be as much fun as a LSD (just my opinion)

Hawk Brake Pads are great, grab some cheap rotors if you need them and do yourself a favor and grab some Stainless Steel Brake Lines.

Brake fluid flush when you fiddle with the above

Id probably do a Transmission fluid change but then again some people go by the BMW book that says the fluid is good for the life of the trans.

There are a few exhaust kits, but unless your just looking for a different sound they dont do much in the way of significant HP gain.

[Sail Boat]

The ECS timing kit includes water pump, tensioner, cam seal, etc. I was surprised how cheap the kit was, tbh. Also, agreed on the Open diff - I was able to find a complete and original 4.10 LSD with less than 40k miles. The case was an awful shape since it sat outside in a wrecking yard for a decade or so, but the internals were mint. The LSD unit bolted in with no issues.

Good call on the bushings - do they require replacement based on wear, time, or both? If I'm not mistaken, BMW makes a tool to remove the subframe bushings without dropping the rear end... I'll look into that. Luckily, the flex disc looks in great shape.

[Blackthorn]

Its more of wear than time. TBH if they haven't ever been replaced id replace them all.

Condor has a great Poly kit the covers motor, trans, rear sub, rear trailing arm, front loli pops, and diff bushings. They also have an option for lowered cars for aluminum inserts that drop your diff down a bit as to not cause unnecessary wear on your drive shaft and CSB.

I dont represent them or anything but i just purchased their entire s52 kit and have been more than happy with it. Their CS team is terrific as well.

Also id just drop the subframe to do the bushing swap as the rear trailing arm bushings are going to be a pain in the @$$ if you keep the subframe up there not to mention the Diff bushing as well.

Good to hear ECS covers all that in the kit. I am in the process of locating a lower ratio lsd for my s52 swap if you want a crack at my 4.1 lsd here in a month or 2.

Check our garagistic for the SS brake lines i believe they have a set for 80 bucks. And if you want since your up in DC you may be swapping your snow tires and regular tires a bunch, id probably invest in a wheel stud kit when you get your new rotors. For 80 bucks youll avoid the headache of the OEM wheel bolts and hit or miss guide pin.