Hello Everyone,
This is the comprehensive project thread containing all of the previous progress done on my 1989 325i, current 335i progress and future Turbo progress. I wanted to create a single unified thread to cover everything Start to Finish to illustrate my vision with this project.
Prologue
My E30 enthusiasm first started with the car blog Jalopnik, I always seen them talking about these very iconic fun cars known by their chassis number E30. This was when I was around 17 before I got my first car. My Dad and I went to Impound auctions to find my first car. The first auction I immediately seen a beautiful Zinno E30 and wanted it but wasn’t selling yet. (Ironically, when I pulled the CarFax on my current E30, it WAS that car I seen at the auction as the dates at the auction lined up with when I was there) The first auction didn’t have much, I was picky but settled on bidding for a VW Mk1 but sold above our budget. Three weeks later we returned and found a clean 1991 Alpine 318i. The auction had begun and the price quickly rose but at the last minute my Dad threw up his hand and landed it for $700 dollars. This started the beginning of the E30 cravings.
Just to briefly explain about the 318i, it was my first car AND my first time driving a manual. My Dad and I did our best to refresh the car with the little money we had. Cleaning the carpets, little body work, paint and of course some bumping tunes. Our neighbor who is a car enthusiast as well as an automotive engineer applauded me on my first car being a BMW and an E30. My Dad took me out to try my hand at driving a manual, I did alright but had plenty of stalling. He gave me 20 bucks to take the car out all week and learn manual before school had started. I spent a good week not getting it until he took me out again and showed me the ropes. Explained that I needed to learn to feather the clutch and told me there is a point in which the position of both the clutch and throttle must be achieved to take off. Truly nothing helped more than understanding the mechanics and figuring it out myself.
I drove the car for about 8 months, I am grateful to have learned to drive and a manual at that in Gods Chariot. I learned a lot about driving, went through the High School mentality of loud exhaust, autozone intake and driving like an idiot.(Also trying to rally it over washboards, trying to drift it in the rain but ended up parking it in a ditch(thankfully no damage) and took it up to top speed in the middle of the desert, thankfully didn't kill myself) Driving around with tabs of paper jammed in my A/C Button because it was broken. The 318i forever will ever be in my heart but it is a car I would never want again as I abused the utmost hell out of that thing. The 318i was a necessary step but I didn’t learn a damn thing about cars during owning it being more worried about other things. Towards the end of its time with me, it started to feel the wrath I had bestowed upon it. Mechanically, issues were showing up and school was almost over, I figured I better get money out of it before it became a project. I eventually sold it for $2500 to a BMW Mechanic who said he couldn't find a cleaner body and could handle the mechanical issues.
The 325i Project
While I was away at Basic Training the summer after high school, my best friend sent me a letter and told me that he had seen the 318i popped up on Craigslist with a ton of mechanical issues. Returning back home I needed a car to get me around, I always had the thought of my 318i in the back of my head. I asked my best friend if he knew of anyone who had E30s, said he might. Got back to me and let me know of a buddy who has four E30s in his junkyard. We went down to check them out. What I found was pretty awesome, two Zinno 89 325i(I now own both), a 87 Zinno 325eS(Full M3 Interior) and a 87 Alpine 325iS(Parts Car). The Zinno Coupe 325i(My car) was in the best condition of the 4, interior was in perfect condition besides the cracked dash, engine bay looked clean and supposedly ran. Owner wanted $1000 for anyone of them. After arguing that he wouldn’t drop the price considering we couldn't confirm if any of them actually ran. I told him I would be back in the morning with $1000 and a tow truck. I picked up the 89 325i Zinno Manual Coupe and took it home. Begins the never ending cycle of repairing, replacing and upgrading E30s...
My plan of attack was ordering up the Exterior refresh goodies to keep me occupied while I diagnose the mechanical side of things.(You should know that I don’t know the difference between a Valve cover and a cylinder head at this point.) After getting a battery in, the car would crank, everything seemed good but just wont turn over. Did some research and was told to pop the fuel pump. So I did, it was terrible. Bad fuel and the tank was very rusty. So dropped the tank and ordered up a new fuel pump and tank. Got those in and it ran like a champ. Ordered up some Klasse and turned that oxidized nasty paint into a work of art.(Spent a couple days using compound, polish then wax to get my paint to where I wanted it) Car was doing well for three months then my fan clutch decided to explode in traffic on a narrow bridge…smoke pouring out of the crankcase, oil pouring out of every possible place, car stalled getting off the freeway, coolant boiling insanely loud. I then decided it was time for a new engine.
The 335i Project
I had looked at many swaps and wanted the perfect one for me. You cannot argue with a M30, OEM Swap, Period correct, it is a monster of an engine, it is reliable and readily available cheaply for parts or replacement. Well I spend weeks looking for an engine, I was about to ship one from CA but was tipped off that a few E32/E34 were in a local yard. I picked up a E32 M30B35 and C101 Harness from a E34. Drove the M30B35 home in the back of the other 325i, a couple local E30 members spotted the car or had friends spot it and posted pictures of me driving this massive engine in the trunk. Refreshed the engine and dropped it in on Garagistic mounting arms. It ran very good until I took it on the final shake down, the car was acting very different that day the coolant gauge was all over the place possibly from air bubbles. Get home think nothing of it, next day walk out to check on it. For S&G I pop the oil filler cap, only to find the dreaded milkshake. After doubting the swap for a few days I finally pulled the engine bay apart and got the head off. What I discovered was a bad casting head. The entire length of the head was cracked front to rear below the intake rocker guide, It was quite a large crack. I will never be able to determine if it was my doing or if it was just a bad head, either way the show must go on. Also have some electrical gremlins to chase, high beams dont work, engine dies when you turn on headlights and alternator charge light doesn’t work. So that concluded the last of the 335i project before I wait to begin the next phase of the project.
This is the comprehensive project thread containing all of the previous progress done on my 1989 325i, current 335i progress and future Turbo progress. I wanted to create a single unified thread to cover everything Start to Finish to illustrate my vision with this project.
Prologue
My E30 enthusiasm first started with the car blog Jalopnik, I always seen them talking about these very iconic fun cars known by their chassis number E30. This was when I was around 17 before I got my first car. My Dad and I went to Impound auctions to find my first car. The first auction I immediately seen a beautiful Zinno E30 and wanted it but wasn’t selling yet. (Ironically, when I pulled the CarFax on my current E30, it WAS that car I seen at the auction as the dates at the auction lined up with when I was there) The first auction didn’t have much, I was picky but settled on bidding for a VW Mk1 but sold above our budget. Three weeks later we returned and found a clean 1991 Alpine 318i. The auction had begun and the price quickly rose but at the last minute my Dad threw up his hand and landed it for $700 dollars. This started the beginning of the E30 cravings.
Just to briefly explain about the 318i, it was my first car AND my first time driving a manual. My Dad and I did our best to refresh the car with the little money we had. Cleaning the carpets, little body work, paint and of course some bumping tunes. Our neighbor who is a car enthusiast as well as an automotive engineer applauded me on my first car being a BMW and an E30. My Dad took me out to try my hand at driving a manual, I did alright but had plenty of stalling. He gave me 20 bucks to take the car out all week and learn manual before school had started. I spent a good week not getting it until he took me out again and showed me the ropes. Explained that I needed to learn to feather the clutch and told me there is a point in which the position of both the clutch and throttle must be achieved to take off. Truly nothing helped more than understanding the mechanics and figuring it out myself.
I drove the car for about 8 months, I am grateful to have learned to drive and a manual at that in Gods Chariot. I learned a lot about driving, went through the High School mentality of loud exhaust, autozone intake and driving like an idiot.(Also trying to rally it over washboards, trying to drift it in the rain but ended up parking it in a ditch(thankfully no damage) and took it up to top speed in the middle of the desert, thankfully didn't kill myself) Driving around with tabs of paper jammed in my A/C Button because it was broken. The 318i forever will ever be in my heart but it is a car I would never want again as I abused the utmost hell out of that thing. The 318i was a necessary step but I didn’t learn a damn thing about cars during owning it being more worried about other things. Towards the end of its time with me, it started to feel the wrath I had bestowed upon it. Mechanically, issues were showing up and school was almost over, I figured I better get money out of it before it became a project. I eventually sold it for $2500 to a BMW Mechanic who said he couldn't find a cleaner body and could handle the mechanical issues.
The 325i Project
While I was away at Basic Training the summer after high school, my best friend sent me a letter and told me that he had seen the 318i popped up on Craigslist with a ton of mechanical issues. Returning back home I needed a car to get me around, I always had the thought of my 318i in the back of my head. I asked my best friend if he knew of anyone who had E30s, said he might. Got back to me and let me know of a buddy who has four E30s in his junkyard. We went down to check them out. What I found was pretty awesome, two Zinno 89 325i(I now own both), a 87 Zinno 325eS(Full M3 Interior) and a 87 Alpine 325iS(Parts Car). The Zinno Coupe 325i(My car) was in the best condition of the 4, interior was in perfect condition besides the cracked dash, engine bay looked clean and supposedly ran. Owner wanted $1000 for anyone of them. After arguing that he wouldn’t drop the price considering we couldn't confirm if any of them actually ran. I told him I would be back in the morning with $1000 and a tow truck. I picked up the 89 325i Zinno Manual Coupe and took it home. Begins the never ending cycle of repairing, replacing and upgrading E30s...
My plan of attack was ordering up the Exterior refresh goodies to keep me occupied while I diagnose the mechanical side of things.(You should know that I don’t know the difference between a Valve cover and a cylinder head at this point.) After getting a battery in, the car would crank, everything seemed good but just wont turn over. Did some research and was told to pop the fuel pump. So I did, it was terrible. Bad fuel and the tank was very rusty. So dropped the tank and ordered up a new fuel pump and tank. Got those in and it ran like a champ. Ordered up some Klasse and turned that oxidized nasty paint into a work of art.(Spent a couple days using compound, polish then wax to get my paint to where I wanted it) Car was doing well for three months then my fan clutch decided to explode in traffic on a narrow bridge…smoke pouring out of the crankcase, oil pouring out of every possible place, car stalled getting off the freeway, coolant boiling insanely loud. I then decided it was time for a new engine.
The 335i Project
I had looked at many swaps and wanted the perfect one for me. You cannot argue with a M30, OEM Swap, Period correct, it is a monster of an engine, it is reliable and readily available cheaply for parts or replacement. Well I spend weeks looking for an engine, I was about to ship one from CA but was tipped off that a few E32/E34 were in a local yard. I picked up a E32 M30B35 and C101 Harness from a E34. Drove the M30B35 home in the back of the other 325i, a couple local E30 members spotted the car or had friends spot it and posted pictures of me driving this massive engine in the trunk. Refreshed the engine and dropped it in on Garagistic mounting arms. It ran very good until I took it on the final shake down, the car was acting very different that day the coolant gauge was all over the place possibly from air bubbles. Get home think nothing of it, next day walk out to check on it. For S&G I pop the oil filler cap, only to find the dreaded milkshake. After doubting the swap for a few days I finally pulled the engine bay apart and got the head off. What I discovered was a bad casting head. The entire length of the head was cracked front to rear below the intake rocker guide, It was quite a large crack. I will never be able to determine if it was my doing or if it was just a bad head, either way the show must go on. Also have some electrical gremlins to chase, high beams dont work, engine dies when you turn on headlights and alternator charge light doesn’t work. So that concluded the last of the 335i project before I wait to begin the next phase of the project.
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