Central CA 1990 325i build

[bobaflesh]

Hello everyone,

I have been wanting to get an E30 for a long time as a project/hobby car that I would enjoy and learn how to work on. After months and months of looking on craigslist, I have finally found a deal I could not pass on.



This 1990 325i was being sold locally for 1800$, it is far from perfect, but I fell in love with it right away and decided that I will restore it to its original shape!

So I got the car, drove it home and started looking it over. Driving this car is a blast, but the shifter is really worn out so there is a lot of play in the stick while changing gears. Oh well.

The first thing I have noticed was that the car has been repainted and it was done quite poorly. Pictures of the manufacturer sticker and areas where the paint is already flaking off:







PO did not even bother to repaint the trunk.


Such a shame, since I really like the original gletshcerblau-metallic color...

The odometer stopped working, car still has OEM radio, AC and heater work fine. The OBC is faded and is inaccurate, I am planning on swapping it out with a euro clock..

Dash is also cracked as you can see in the picture.

yikes


Interior otherwise is in OK shape, the seats don't match, but at least they are not torn up right now.. Window switches also work and the doors are in alright shape too.






PO said the timing belt service was done recently on the car, but he could not back it up with receipts, so I decided that I will order the ECS tuning timing belt kit just in case and replace the water pump, thermostat, timing belt and camshaft seal.

Condition of hoses:


Yikes


Looks like I'm in for a new distributor cap too..


The engine bay:


Car is also leaking some oil from where the transmission bellhouse is attached to the crank, I am fairly certain it is the oil pan gasket, which I have purchased at O'reilly's the other day.



Also the kit has arrived, yay!


I will also have to look for a driver's side fender, since there is some damage to it. :(


Unfortunately the rear bumper has some damage too..:(:(


Anyways, I will be tackling the timing belt service tomorrow, will post pictures to update.

[iwantspeed]

Good luck on the timing belt job tomorrow

On that ac line you can unbolt near the hood Hinge and it will
Look Better

[CubbyChowder]

Nice you made a build thread Oliver! Excited to see you restore this

[bobaflesh]

Update

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I was able to replace the timing belt, thermostat and water pump on Saturday, but have not had time to completely button the car up from the maintenance just yet.

Some pictures:
Looks like I need a new rotor too..


Definitely need a new cap..


Cleaned up both the lower and upper timing belt covers.


Old parts did not look bad, I am still glad I replaced these items now, so I know when it needs to be replaced next exactly.


The thermostat was stuck open, however, which caused my engine to not warm up completely and run pretty rich. It was baked into its O-ring, I had to pry the old one out..

[2mAn]

Good for you on saving this one. If the paint job really IS as shitty as it appears you can try using a pressure washer and it might knock the crappy paint off, but then you might end up with a zebra looking car

[agent]

Looks like you're off to the right start - good work.

For future purchases, consider supporting our forum sponsors (Blunt, BMA, Guten, etc.) They can almost always give you better pricing than ECS or Pelican.

[bobaflesh]

Looks like you're off to the right start - good work.

For future purchases, consider supporting our forum sponsors (Blunt, BMA, Guten, etc.) They can almost always give you better pricing than ECS or Pelican.

I will make sure I do that! Thank you for letting me know.

[mistacarder]

Cancel? What part??

[bobaflesh]

Cancel? What part??

I am putting in an order for replacement Distributor cap and rotor, also Bosch super spark plugs.
I will update the thread with pictures once I receive/replace these parts. Meanwhile, I am looking for a new driver's side fender.

[2mAn]

I think that was autocorrect for CenCal :rofl: that would make more sense anyways

[Matt341]

Good Start! Has tons of potential

[bobaflesh]

I was able to completely button the car up now and fill it up with coolant, but I am going to have to get a new hose clamp for the expansion tank water hose, since it is not able to tighten the hose down properly anymore and coolant is spraying out when the engine is warm.

In other news, I ordered the garagistic odometer gear kit, so I can fix my ODO gears, yay!

[bobaflesh]

Hello everyone,

Sorry that I haven't posted in a while, I have been really busy with work and family and have not had time to update the thread.

I have done quite a few things to the car since I last posted, the biggest job being replacing the clutch slave and master cylinders, since they gave out on me. I also replaced the brake fluid line to the clutch master while I was down there.
Picture of the new clutch master


Picture of the new clutch slave


I have also been having some problems with my steering wheel rattling a lot and while I was working around the pedals I noticed that the 32mm nut holding the column together was hand tight! Grabbed my fan clutch wrench and tightened it up pretty good.



I also replaced spark plugs and ignition coils, rotors and the car, but unfortunately I did not take any pictures. Front brake service was also performed.

I also replaced fuel filter while I was down there.



My shifter started to feel really loose, so I decided to order a short shift kit and replace some bushings while im at it.

Picture of the worn shifter bushing


Picture of the kit I ordered



While I was under the car ready to take off my exhaust I noticed that the previous owner welded the catback to the rear subframe!









Very upsetting.. What can I even do right now about it? Take the entire exhaust system off? What seemed like routine maintenance has become quite a hassle.. Does anyone have any input? I would really appreciate it.

[bobaflesh]

Also sorry for the sh*t quality pictures, I did not have my iPhone handy.

[bobaflesh]

So I found a really good deal on a late E36 M3 steering rack down in Newbury Park, it only has 80k miles and never leaked.

Took the touring for a roadtrip and drove down there(its about 2 hours from where I live), traffic was really bad as usual.



As I was telling the seller how reliable the car has been to me, of course we see coolant under the car, leaking out. So when I checked, the car blew its bleeder screw off! (Must have been running pretty hot in traffic and the pressure blew the old, brittle screw).

Seller came out with a temporary fix of threading a bolt through the bottom end of the plastic bleeder screw and sealing it with high temp gasket around it. This solution actually worked and I was able to limp home without a drop of coolant leaking out!





The next day I went to our local BMW dealership right away and picked up a replacement OEM bleeder screw, then came home and got my trusty blowtorch and flat head screwdriver, heated the tip up and pushed it into the plastic. It came out like a charm after letting it cool off!



Yuck







And here is what I acquired.