88 325is no idea what im doing but here we go

[Wergen7]

Well I bought this vehicle at the end of summer 2012. I've wanted an e30 for years and finally bought one. Here's what she looks like as of now sitting lonely in the garage waiting for me to buy her parts. I hate the missing headlight look. Makes it seem like someone gouged out its eyeball and its disgusting. Stripped interior, half way bolted in bolt-in cage (coming out soon). And the best part is....drumroll.....it came with an m50 thats going in asap (when i acquire all necessary swap items) because the m20 leaks oil like an upside down bucket. Its a beater but ive never been so stoked. So heres to the beginning of a long ass project wooo!!

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[Wergen7]

a few more shots of this beast...


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[ttrousdell]

looks like someones cheaply build track car. Looks like you have a lot of work ahead of you. I remember I was stoked when I got my first e30 beater. good luck.

[MattAvino]

Interesting start. 88is ftw.

You're kinda close and I have a shit ton of parts for sale, let me know if you need anything.

[Wergen7]

Well today marks the day I made actual progress on my car. An exciting day no doubt. My friend (who does body work) and I took the trunk off and fixed the small bit of rust and pitting that was occurring under the lip. Pretty much the only rust on the body.
I'll be making some good progress as soon as I start collecting paychecks. The plan is to paint this bad boy. I'm going gunmetal gray. Eventually with white engine bay, white stripped interior, maaaybe white wheels but thats so far away. After the body is painted I want to essentially refresh everything on the car so it's drivable. New fluids everywhere, replace as many engine gaskets and seals without pulling the motor as possible, fix all the small stuff, good to go. Might get polyurethane bushings too. Well thats the plan.
Stay tuned

[Swanny]

Ya gotta start somewhere and a rust free shell is as good as anything up here! Looks like you have some good space to tear into her and get things going pretty fast. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Wergen7]

Here's an update from this summer. I didn't get anything done, I got busy and lazy when I was freeBut I'm aaallmost done sanding so some dent deletion and paint might happen.
Current state:

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I also finally got this parts car I've been eyeing in my town. It's a rusty rusty 84 e. I'm in it for the interior, sat in the shade with a cover for like 10 years at least. My friend recalls seeing the car when he was on the bus going to elementary school. Some nice blue fabric. Some slightly ripped seats, whatever. Crack and Cocaine free dash.
Pics suck but:


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Shes a beaut:


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I'm also hoping the nice shiny bumpers can be swapped over too.

And last but not least I bought all new calipers, rotors, stainless lines, and pads. Sneak peak


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Made a photoshop of what I'm going for I suppose. Sorry if this is your car haha


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and heres a nice old 911 I saw. Im sayiiinnnn 1971

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That's all for now

[Swanny]

Good work! I'm going to be up in Syracuse all week if you need a hand with anything. Gimme a holler.

[Wergen7]

Teaser update: I'm back from that stupid in-between summer bs and working on the car again. Much thanks to my friend who has a little powder coat set up, I was able to have my calipers coated/still in process. Here's a little before and after (though the "before" is sort of half done up). I'm pleased with the results. I'll have the nicest brakes in town if nothing else


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[gotaloveRWD]

Glad to see your still working on her, I still haven't used the cage
I actually bought a rust free 325is and now I might ditch the track car I was building
Decisions decisions

[Wergen7]

Progress update. I'm depressed. As of today when I pulled the motor, the only major component in the car is the front suspension.. which is coming out soon. Planning on a tear down/rebuild of the old m20b25. Then I can refresh some suspension/drivetrain stuff and put the car back together hopefully by the time I'm 65 years old. Most exciting news: I got the hook up on a euro m20b20 (thats with the 731 head) and if you don't know, my parts car is an e (2.7 block). Some of you might see where this is going cough cough high compression nasty N/A build. But I have a lot to do and a lot to learn before I even touch those motors. Pics coming soon if I muster up the will power. In the mean time I'm going to sit with a box of tissues on youtube searching e30s.

Yup, pretty empty

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Rear suspension with some goodies on. Still need CV boots.

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Mmmmm condor stuff...

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As she sits.

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Thanks for checkin in. Stay tuned.

[Wergen7]

End of summer update. Things are pretty far apart but honestly I think I'm pretty "close" to having many components in the car again. But I'm leaving for school to learn about composite technology, so now I'm boned time-wise.

b25 block is all torn down. I need to get some measurement tools then some bearings to continue on the motor right now.

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Typical...

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885 head maxin' out unbuttoned.

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Here's my brakes right now. All calipers done with powder coating. Im experimenting with some blues for the future. That blue is wrong btw.

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Yo dawg I heard you like boxes of parts...

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As she sits. View from the captain's chair :drink:

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Here's that m20b20 I mentioned in an earlier post. Got the dunce corner for now. Anybody want an automatic transmission? Seriously though pm me.

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Now I'll barely touch her for many months blaaaahhh :blowup:
Th-th-th-th that's all folks.

[Wergen7]

Ooook. Damn, life happened since my last post. Made decent headway too. I'll keep the back story brief. I moved to slightly north of San Francisco last February on an internship-turned-job and a whim. Some actual plans. So I moved 2800 miles from the car. Anyway some nice landlords, a dad that hates flying, and some impeccable timing later the car sits in my apartments one car garage. I can keep it there but I can't work on it :firehop:. Lease doesn't mention building engines in the kitchen though....

I went home for two weeks to pack up the car and get it trailer ready since it didn't have any suspension. I wanted to put what I was putting in once and for all so I did a lot of prep work during that time but it's all torqued and set to roll now. Mainly I've just been acquiring funds and irresponsibly blowing it on parts you know how it goes. On with the photos!! (Not many since I was hustling and totally forgot to document)

First off I did a fair amount of powder coating with my friend's setup (Thanks dude!!)

Finished up the calipers. These were the last parts of that. Turned out real nice.
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Next up was the lollipops which I can say came out the best of anything I've coated. They look the business. Also did sway bar mounts/ end link brackets as I have been experimenting with a white as part of my car's color palate. Shooting for as close to Alpine white as I can find. They turned out well.

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Thats right, powder coated nuts.

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Now I started assembling and this is where I lit a fire under my ass. Brand new control arms, condor solid mounts inside my super clean restored lollipops and contrasting end link brackets. Mmm.

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Now maybe I started getting a little flashy for my own taste but I liked the white so much I decided I'd do my diff cover with it. Unfortunately I didn't spend enough time with acetone on it but it still looks good, protects it, and it's under the car so whatever.

Before/half sand blasted:

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Just placed in the oven:

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And all finished and I did the bolts in black so I didn't have rusty hardware. Condor solid mount goes in there eventually but I need to clean the case first and put it all together. Case will be black if you're wondering. Storm trooper status:

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So front and rear subframes don't fit in the oven so I had to resort to spray paint which is whatever. Already scratched to shit.

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And here is probably the moniest of money shots I have of the car. Unfortunately I'm sticking with oem strut/shock situations for now. Meh.

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The second week I was home I commandeered my brother's ix. The first time I've really DRIVEN an e30. Not just 20 mph up and down the driveway hah! I had a blast and could not resist a photo shoot before I loaded mine on the trailer. This was about 5 minutes after it touched the ground for the first time in little over a year. His is dope but mine doesn't have rust so suck it brother! Obligatory dog (named Rusty) in photo.

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I have bought a bunch of boring parts like hoses and hardware but some of the goodiest goodies I purchased are this here 6 puck spring actuated clutch (got a brand new oem pressure plate too. Sticking oem flywheel for now by the way. As well as dual shear rod. No short shifter. Right now I believe the short shifter is the first step towards the demolishing of manuals. Love that throw people just keep it in line!!! And just took delivery of my poly steering coupler (e36 m3 rack purchase in the workings) so my steering and shifting is gonna be tight!!

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And here's how she sits now. Hanging around boxes of parts. Can't touch it.

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I also stripped out the crack free dash and some interior bits like blue cloth door cars and a nice sport wheel from my parts car. Oh and the windshield because I dumbassedly cracked mine pulling it. Calling that my moneys worth it was a 600 dollar purchase no?? No pics but maybe in another update.

Well since I move to California it's been insane cars cars in my face if nothing else. Here's two of the best I've seen. Koenigsegg Agera R at cars and coffee, which i did not walk around the event that day but I walked around the car and took 40 pictures. Here's one of those. And the other is my favorite Ferrari the 250 TR seen at a small vintage race venue at Sonoma. Jesus.

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Well thats about it for now. More to come soon.

[FreedomM3]

Slowly but surely! Keep up the good work. What powder coating setup did your friend have?

[Wergen7]

What powder coating setup did your friend have?

I believe it's from eastwood and using an old kitchen oven. Works well, sometimes you have to move the ground clamp around to get really nice coverage but otherwise its pretty good.