https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/ en Fri, 23 Oct 2026 01:42:26 GMT vBulletin 60 https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/images/misc/R3V.jpg https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/ https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/10168139-keeping-a-classic-in-the-family-89-325i Sun, 11 Oct 2026 04:03:41 GMT
Before I took ownership we spent a few evenings and a Saturday putting new Billies and Eibach Pros on all four corners.














































The wheels definitely aren't my favorite, but I'm optimistic some Euroweaves will eventually make their way into my possession.







First weekend in, and I was working on mounting and wiring in some E90 seats when I discovered the driver's side footwell was fully saturated from the previous night's rain. I traced the water intrusion to two points, the rocker drains had been pinched shut and were overfilling into the floorboard and the seam sealer inside the cowl drains had cracked there was a small rust spot and seepage on the firewall directly behind the dash. Rocker drains was a quick fix, followed by a flush and some Dinitrol Cavity Wax.




First step to remove old seam sealer was give better access to the cowl drain on the driver's side. So off came the front bumper, fender, blower motor and wiper linkage. With a heatgun, flat head screw driver, chisel, and some picks it was surprisingly easyish to remove all the old seam sealer.











































































































The rust inside the frame portion of the drain did not look great through the small hole, so i fed an inspection camera in and after cleaning out the old sealer and hitting it with a wire brush Dremel wheel it looked rough.




























Not ideal be be staring at the drivers footwell from inside the frame of the engine bay.

Not an ideal first couple of weeks of ownership, but i'm sure that's par for the course when it comes to 35+ year old BMWs. Looking forward to finally taking it for a rip next weekend (weather permitting) and learning about all its quirks, charms, and shortcomings for the next 30 years.

I'll try to keep this Post updated with progress and changes through time, but the upgrades will likely be slow as a project car is quite far down on the totem pole of monthly expenses.]]> The Project Forum ckrock946 https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/10168139-keeping-a-classic-in-the-family-89-325i https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/10167618-alpine-redemption Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:49:14 GMT
A few weeks ago a buddy in southern IN reached out saying his brother's Alpine over Cardinal '87 325iS might be available soon, and that I should come down and take a look.

He sent a few photos and I did just that.

It has been sitting for a while after the engine mounts failed and oil pan cracked being loaded onto the transport truck, so it's desperate for a detail.

I'm going to put the correct transmission in the car and clean it up over winter to see what we might have.

The car is rust free and has mostly original paint as far as I can tell. I looked it over pretty extensively for accident damage and found nothing.

They already did Konis/H&Rs, staggered Alpina wheels, and generally looked after the car pretty well.

Pretty excited to get this project underway! I figured this one deserved its own thread.

Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr
Untitled by bimmertown, on Flickr]]> The Project Forum AWDBOB https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/10167618-alpine-redemption https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/10167532-m20-2-7i-na-stroker-build Tue, 29 Sep 2026 23:34:35 GMT WORK IN PROGRESS

Here's a description of the history from my project car and the build process to get the stroker running.

Beginning 2009
18 years old, just got my driver's license and was looking for my first car, I always had a week spot for e30's but was also considering the mercedes 190, vw corrado, Audi quatro.
I was not very technically handy during that period but had some friends who were and a dad who's job it is to fix mechanical things, so enough support from that side to buy and fix/maintain an older car.
Eventually decided to choose for an e30 316i, a friend had the same car and I liked how it handled.
Looked and test drove an 316i shitbox with a worn cam first, I was pleased, but was immediately warned that it would be a financial disaster by my dad and friends.
Later my mom found a car on the internet, a 1991 316i edition with around 190k km on the odometer, we went over there, looked at the car that had been sitting still for around 3 months, car was covered in bird shit, weeds growing underneath, brakes were stuck.
Somehow the car started right away, only took some extra effort to get the brakes to release.
After a few kilometers during the test drive the car started to drive as it should so at that point my dad got out and I was allowed to take the car for a test drive.
Car seemed fine to me, so I bought the car and that was the start of this project.



2009-2026
316i edition m40b16
The car I bought is an edition version, so special upholstery, sport steering wheel and the black trim above the front window but this one without the check control panel.
Exterior colour is sterling silver with 14 inch bottle caps wheels.
First day I had the car we discovered that an immobilizer was installed, took around a week to find this out, but during this ' problem solving' I had the opportunity to inspect everything on the car.
During this period the car was driven daily.
Learned to wrench and do maintenance.
Lowered the car with some unknown springs and a mix of Koni and Billstein dampers.
Tested a Remus sport exhaust, just made a lot of noise and and felt like probably less power.
No major breakdowns during this time, but basically changed out every component at least once.

During this period I did have the opportunity to drive multiple engine configurations in the e30.
M50b25, m20b25, m10b18 and an m30b34. I've never tested the m42 engine in a e30 but experienced this one in a e36.
After testing a 6 cilinder I already decided to go that direction, choice was between the m50 and m20, but in my opinion the m20 sounds better although it has less power,
Managed to make some movies of these cars as well with a GoPro:


Eventually managed to find an engine somewhere for a low price, they tied me it was in good shape and came out of a running car so I assumed this was ok.
The engine was an m20b25 with gearbox, cable loom and some extra parts.
Bought the engine and put it in storage.



Eventually started rebuilding the m20-engine but was still driving in the m40.
When the engine was already rebuild I tried to get the 316i to 316000 km, unfortunately the odometer broke down first, so I ordered some replacement parts and fixed the gears.

Before I had to chance to reach the 316k the differential failed, so instead of getting a new differential I started the swap because I needed a different one for the m20 engine.

Next posts will be about the the disassembly of the m20 and the rebuild process.]]> The Project Forum MWe https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/10167532-m20-2-7i-na-stroker-build