My 1987 325e project

[train80]

Just getting started on my 1987 325e project. My goal is to build a racecar that has plates, so i can drive it anywhere. So started by buying a blown m20b27 which was in worse shape than i thought. I purchased the engine to use in my engine machining class at my college. I am going to build this motor back to basically stock and then run it in a car until i can afford a turbo or swap for an I head. Here are some pictures that show the motor during disassembly:









Ass of now the motor is down to a bare block and i am deciding on whether to over bore and buy bigger pistons or use a sleeve to bring my horrible cylinder walls back to stock. If i had lots of money for this project i would go the first route, but with funds low i am probably going to have to go with the sleeves. Anyways, this past weekend i have purchased a car to put this motor into.







And here is what i got (after a day of stripping unnecessary parts off):













And my favorite part, the engine in the car had blown a rod and put a hole in the block near cylinder 6.



As of today the car has changed quite a bit inside, the dash was removed and the ac heater box has been removed, and all the dash wiring has been removed and a new dash (that came with the car) that only had one small crack was put in. the dash was stripped of all its duct venting to keep the weight down. I will post pictures soon.

[structured]

Everything that you have sucks...




...and it's awesome. I admire that you are putting in the effort and I look forward to seeing it back in use.

[artoo93]

Welcome to the world of e30's!!! I had the same thing happen to a Detroit Diesel in a 2000 Freightliner. Blow the rod in the #5 cylinder and out the side of the block it went along with all 10 gallons of oil in under a minute. Hole big enough to put your entire fist through and not touch. Sucks when you're cruising across the New York Thruway at 75 mph hauling 80k lbs!! Good luck and hope to see more of your progress.

[train80]

damn

[train80]

heres an update on the progress. Today i got another dash from my friend. it is an early model e36 dash so tomorrow we will try and fit that, and i also picked up a racing seat for the drivers side. I will post picture of this stuff installed tomorrow.

[Danny]

Easiest thing would be to swap a different motor in, M20b25s you can find for 300-400 easy. M50s, 600-700. S50s, 1500-2000. M30s, 300-700.

[train80]

Ive been thinking about it more and more lately, I am going to see what i can find locally. Today i got the e36 dash fitted and placed the racing seat heres how it looks now.









And my buddys 2011 shelby gt500:



And something funny i saw at dinner:

[train80]

Here is how the car stands as of last week. The rain has sucked and no work has gotten done since the car is outside. The engine search is still going. Looking at getting an m50 or m60. The m20 has been stripped down to it bare block and is getting ready for machining. I will post some pictures when Photobucket decides to work again.

[train80]

Due to lack of funds and space for the project. I will be using the m20 i am building and just drop the fresh eta motor in it and get the car running. Unfortunetly nothing has happened on the car. But the time when the engine is done is only a few weeks away and everything will be coming together very quickly once that happens. This week i purchased new tailight for someone on here, and i am getting all my bearings and gaskets this week.

Here are some update pictures of the engine:

The block being decked on the Rottler








The Block after being decked .003"






The pistons and rods all cleaned up

[CHIF8008]

:D awesome. wanna see more!

[train80]

I found a picture of the taillights i bought from e30fish

[hi its me alec]

I'm personally a serious hater on those taillights. Just a distant warning

And holy huge hole! Looks like the head of the piston jettisoned right out the side. Nice.

Do work

[train80]

Here are a couple of pictures of the engine getting set up on the honing machine. The engine is coming home next week and will be final assembled and dropped in the car. Unfortunetly the tail lights i got don't fit.

[train80]

The basic bottom end is done and ready to go home and get final assembled. Unfortunetly, i picked up one of my pistons and the brand new ring just fell off. that means i have to buy a another set just to replace the broken one. but good news came when I had to buy a crank, i bought a crank that the guy couldn't get it out of the block, because the front nut was on really tight. We had to have three people sit on the block and me with a 1/2 in breaker bar and a jack handle to get it out. it was nice, because now i have a second good block the make as a side project, but when i pulled it out of the trunk of my e46 (which is a pain in the ass) i looked closer at the pistons and noticed they looked kind of funny and i realized what i had acquired, an 88 seta. I will post pictures as soon as i can.

[kermugit]

Holy shit, just wash and wax and your done. lol. Cool project man, cant wait to see it done. I too have a 87 325echo. I got her painted and she blew a head gasket, huuuuuuuh.