NPulver's E30 build...$400 car.

[Npulver]

Build thread is to catch everyone up on the progress i have gotten done over the last few months since i didnt start a build thread on this forum, Car is ever evolving (slowly).

The day i got the car 1991 BMW 325i Sedan





Got her home to find out it has some piston slap on cylinder #2 (should have known, but the sound was awkward=in-line 6... lol)

Got her up in the air the next day and have been slowly getting it ready for being pulled.

[Npulver]

Picked up an engine from a local salvage yard (paid way to much but all the other E30 guys are so damn far away!)



gross....oil everywhere. Apparently the rear main is leaking along with the power steering rack and possibly a p/s hose and input seal lol...




new engine on the stand ready for surgery.



My kid approves!

[Npulver]

Camber and caster stuff showed up! (still have yet to put on...)



Getting work done...



new shoes showed up...wasnt sure if they would fit, at this point yet. lol



This picture is with the strut torn apart. Spring/Bump stops removed, Strut slammed...lol

[Npulver]

parts come in from England...which are from Denmark...sweet.






Got the rims mounted with some tires, Also came home to two boxes sitting in front of the car....sweet. (running shorter tires now)



Got to work on the rears, super simple, drop strut, disconnect sway bar, clamp spring, install in reverse order. (sorry no pics of new parts installed....WTF??)



Fronts Just as easy for removal, take off nuts for tie rod and knuckle, take off caliper, remove strut bolts. (i recommend tying up a caliper, however this was supposed to be a 10 minute sway..ugh.)



This is the assembly that comes off the front. The nut that holds the spring assembly and retainers can be real bitches sometimes (got the other side of easy) However sometimes they need the persuasion of air tools (taking to work to zip it off..) Install after it being removed will be 5 minutes.



Since the other side is nearly complete i figured i would test fit the rims with the new suspension. Not what i like, however after a little adjusting of the suspension, some camber, and some retooling of the inner fender lip it should sit pretty decent, and lower than they look in the pics. (as you can see its just held up by a jack.)

front



Rear With adjuster and spring pad.

[Npulver]

Well small update, clint and i worked on it for about 3 hours last night and didnt get very far. Stupid BMW and needing special tools for everything! However were planning on doing some more hammering away at it on sunday. However the car did get the suspension put on the rest of the way. And just to make me feel more accomplished about the night i decided to drop the car on the ground and look at the stance without any suspension adjustments.





Front needs cambered about 1 degree (waiting for camber plates still) and the rear needs about .50 degrees of camber. Car also needs to be lowered about 1/2 inch all around (after suspension settling it'll equal about a total 1 inch drop)

But not worried about that until the engine is back in.

Next day...

Well, decided to do some work on the E30 again tonight. Tonight was fender rolling night for the rears, also did some mild adjusting of the rear height to get it closer to what i want. Still need to add the new camber/toe bolts i purchased and mess with the camber a touch so it doesnt rub when the suspension jounces. Getting there though.

Pics as usual.





back on the ground now, little less wheel gap then before. still will need to figure out a way to lower it about 1/2 inch more, as once i lower the front more it'll have rake...ugh



Bmw keys i have with some nylon strap thing about 1/8 inch thick.

[Npulver]

been doing a little work today while the kid is sleeping, cut the exhaust off (was already missing a muffler) and cut it even for when i start the exhaust build. will be going from stock sizing to 3" all the way back



more stuff came in the mail...

Some GC camber plates so i can actually get the front as low as i want lol...




The special exhaust stuff i ordered, Doing v-band style for the entire exhaust, more clearance all around, plus much easier to take off!



Also a few things i've had for a week now, just need to get everything lined up so i can hammer all the stuff out!



Finishing up the suspension tonight. Tomorrow night i'll be working on the engine (pulling the old one out.) Saturday i'll address the new engine and hopefully have it back in or pretty close.

[Npulver]

So Bryce (Silverstang) came over last night and we decided to get hammering some more on this. Progress was made. Me being stance minded i decided to start with the suspension (again...lol)

Installed camber plates..took out all adjusters. Took out spring pad in rear...lol









Low enough that i cant get a jack under the car anymore...period.

Ran into an issue with my rear camber/toe situation...needless to say im slightly irritated at my self about it. The rear camber/toe bolts i purchased for the rear are harder to install than i previously realized. (use to honda rear LCA design with typical camber bolts) However, BMW's apparently dont have camber bolts AT ALL. To make this setup work, you drop the rear subframe, cut the outer mount, do some welding, then install the bolts. This will get done, however not now. Running first. lol

After standing around the car staring at my stance we decided to yank the motor...



Bryce doing his best ass shaking...(hes pretty good i might add...) No homo..



Up up and away!!!



And now in its almost cleaning position.







Engine bay needs some cleaning, but for a car with 250k on the clock, one could definitely expect worse!

[Npulver]

Before...



After...



Its not perfect, but its hellavu lot better than it was. Hardly any grease, just dirt spots now. Once i drop the steering rack out i'll clean up the subframe better.

And a little arts shot of the car with the engine out. Still lower in the front with an engine out the 90% of the cars on here lol.



trans before....



Trans after...Couldnt get it as well as i'd like as its #1 ribbed, #2 has alot of small spots..ugh



New engine almost tore down (having crank bolt issues lol) They tighten these down to 302 ft lbs!!!! gezus...





Engine is getting cleaned and painted tonight hopefully. Tomorrow it well get tore down the rest of the way and HOPEFULLY reassembled.

[Npulver]

Got some cleaning and painting done last night, offically ready to be tore down and reassembled!

Was kinda cold outside (low 50s'ish) So after cleaning the block with degreaser and water the block was cold. So what better way to dry off the block and get it up to temp for paint? Jet heater!



Same process was taken for the intake manifold and the valve cover.





Color is alot lighter than i was hoping, however the fact that its clean is all i really care about. Will also be sanding down the raised lines and letters to be exposed aluminum.

This what it'll roughly look like assembled. As i said its lighter than i wanted but it'll do. It looks clean.



new day..

No huge updates on this, and no real pictures, however the entire front end is finished. All new components up front. Steering rack, control arms, and all ball joints and bushings.

Also go the good engine fully tore down and the head off of it. Tonight or tomorrow i'll be tearing down the old engine to swap over heads and get the new engine built back up.





Clint doing work...installing bushings on backwards lol (obviously not in this pic)



did some more work last night with the help of clint, didnt get as far as i was wanting, but decent progress was made...

Cannibalized the old engine of stuff i wanted...



clint doing work on the head cleaning it better for mounting...



Block ready and prepped now for mounting...



Mounted!!! and torqued!!!



Also got the front of the engine put together and timed correctly. Now comes putting the intake manifold on...



seems like i've been sleeping on this. however dont fret, i have not been!

Took a picture of my work area so you guys can see what im working with....a F'ing mess!



Finally got the intake manifold and V/C officially on and sanded down. I personally like it...that good lol







Im really starting to have a love hate relationship with this project. Im rediculously anal when it comes to putting on old parts that they get cleaned decently well (not 100% perfect, but ALOT better) This seems to be taking up about 2/3 of my time it seems! UGHHH...

Started assemblying all the extra garbage that makes a clean engine look gross....









Finished the night off frustrated. Seems that when they sent me my upper and lower gasket set that they forgot to put a throttle body gasket in with them...FUUUUUUuuuuu!

Luckily the engine is 90% ready to be dropped back in, if i feel like touching it today i can get it the rest of the 10% and possibly this week it'll be sitting pretty in the engine bay.

[Npulver]

Pan installed, just need to finish up with some wiring non-sense and it'll be sitting back in the car.



next night...



Clint and i eyeballing the clutch disc for alignment(no alignment tool), the first attempt was unsuccesful so we had to try again,

[Npulver]

Got some cosmetic stuff in the mail that needs to be painted and installed. Be a nice finishing touch to the outside appearance (old lip was missing, old grille was broke)





[IMG]also got some smoked turn lamp covers (came as a package deal) might or might not use them... And as i said previously the engine is in after clint came over and helped me drop it in.[/IMG]







next is getting the trans member bolted back up (being supported by jack right now) and finished up the little things. Then its on to welding up the exhaust!

next day...

did a hour or two of work last night, getting there slowly.

First i started off by doing a little rolling and flaring (just a roll wasnt enough) flared it out about 1/4 to start with as i dont want to do anything crazy (trying to keep the stock body look) Realized after putting it back on the ground im going to have to do another 1/4 inch to get it where it needs to be for compression.






Since the engine is now in, i went ahead and set her back on the ground for now. The front hasnt settled yet so im sure it'll be about 1/2 inch lower in a day or two. Also still need to do some rolling and a slight flare on the front...as well as fender well removal. Tires are hitting...





I also put the new Euro grille pieces on. I think they look good. need to do some body adjusting on the passenger side as the lines arent right (pushed to far center) As you can see i also put my lip on to mock it up (just pushed on half way) Theres about 4 inches between the lip and the ground.



Also put the hood back on so it looks like a complete car again!



I worked on the engine alittle got more things hooked up and routed, probably have about and hour or two in the engine bay still before its completed.

[Npulver]

I'll leave this here. (First crank vid)




kid was asleep, just wanted to make sure it would fire.

[Npulver]

next start..

[Npulver]

did some work tonight, car is just about finished, need to cut a thottle body gaset up, and get the exhaust made...then done...maybe some more flaring lol





Also got some new tires. Went from 205/50 to 205/45. MUCH better.





finally starting on the exhaust its other than welding up the the cuts its about 50%. only have about 45 mins into it between measuring and checking angles i just started spot welding. just need to spin the exhuast up to the muffler and its done.





dont mind my crappy spot welding, nor the crappy looking exhaust lol. Either way it should work well when done.





said vband tacked and put together.



what it looks like looking down the exhaust



the exhaust from the rear.



cars back on the ground'ish, only thing left is bleed the systems, get an alignment, get my hangers made.





vid of the exhaust, not 100% happy with it, i originally intended on throwing in a resonator mid way (which i will now anyways). But wanted to know what it would sound like with just a muffler. Guess the resonator can wait a few months though.

[Npulver]

First drive...nice to say the least.





took this on th trip to get his exhaust hangers welded on