I’ve been following these n52 builds for a while and am super excited to have acquired a 2006 330i with a RWD manual transmission within last 24 hours.
Here is a quick picture for now:
Happy holidays, everyone! I look forward to rebuilding and swapping this into my 1990 325i.
Edit1: 12/24/22
Some background information:
I purchased my 1990 325i (auto) from the original owner back in August 2019. She had mentioned she stopped driving it because she inherited a Honda Civic and the 4 cylinder was great on mileage compared to the BMW.
Per CARFAX, the last recorded information was on 3/20/2009 with 127,491 miles (odometer stopped here).
Per AAA / DMV representative, it was placed on NPO 6/29/15.
Assuming she kept up her average miles per year from 1990-2009 and projecting forward to 2019, it would have less than 200,000 miles.
Over the last 3 years it spent a lot of times on jack stands as I performed 80-90% of the work. From timing belt, to cooling system (radiator, hoses, heater valve, heater core), suspension (Garagistic reinforced subframes, bushings, Bilstein B8 + H&R sport springs, rebuilt the brake calipers), Strömung exhaust, and finally some fun stuff like a Z3 rack, Mod.07 steering wheel, and F22 seats.
This is not only my first BMW, but also what I would consider my first project car. I’ve always had an interest in cars, but never the space for it. I’ve also never worked on a car to this extent. It’s been a great learning tool and I hope to continue to learn, grow, and contribute back to the community as I have learned so much already.
Original goal:
Manual swap + daily driven reliability on the M20, keeping it simple with no interest in tracking the car… at least not yet. But over the past year or so, I’ve been infatuated with not just an N52 swap, but one with all the electronics working, such as CAS/CANBUS to get my F22 seats properly working among other ambitions. Oh and one minor detail, because I live in California, the swap would also need to be CARB legal (must maintain all emissions related equipment / accessories). One last detail, it had to be a 2006 330i or equivalent due to its higher HP output. Realizing that if I wanted all of the above, it would be easier to find a local mechanic’s special as opposed to CoPart. Ideally, the car would still be running and I would be able to test drive it, perform a compression and leak down test, etc. I’ve been searching almost daily for the past few months, most of the time if I found something within my price range it would be an automatic, quite frustrating.
Updated goal:
Story goes, car was getting kicked out of its storage spot and project had to be abandoned by owner. A known issue of rod knock was disclosed. Without getting into all the details, the car arrives with much to be desired, most of the interior or items of worth have already been stripped. The ideal gut checks were all removed, no test drives, compression or leak down tests. I was caught off guard and smitten by the idea of finally finding a swap candidate.
I’m taking this as a large learning opportunity. I plan to fully tear the down motor, down to its rotating assembly and rebuild everything within reason. This will give me peace of mind when it goes into the E30. The timeline will definitely be drawn out further because of this, so I hope I don’t come across too many obstacles along this journey.
Running Cost: https://tinyurl.com/4xtd59ee
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Here is a quick picture for now:
Happy holidays, everyone! I look forward to rebuilding and swapping this into my 1990 325i.
Edit1: 12/24/22
Some background information:
I purchased my 1990 325i (auto) from the original owner back in August 2019. She had mentioned she stopped driving it because she inherited a Honda Civic and the 4 cylinder was great on mileage compared to the BMW.
Per CARFAX, the last recorded information was on 3/20/2009 with 127,491 miles (odometer stopped here).
Per AAA / DMV representative, it was placed on NPO 6/29/15.
Assuming she kept up her average miles per year from 1990-2009 and projecting forward to 2019, it would have less than 200,000 miles.
Over the last 3 years it spent a lot of times on jack stands as I performed 80-90% of the work. From timing belt, to cooling system (radiator, hoses, heater valve, heater core), suspension (Garagistic reinforced subframes, bushings, Bilstein B8 + H&R sport springs, rebuilt the brake calipers), Strömung exhaust, and finally some fun stuff like a Z3 rack, Mod.07 steering wheel, and F22 seats.
This is not only my first BMW, but also what I would consider my first project car. I’ve always had an interest in cars, but never the space for it. I’ve also never worked on a car to this extent. It’s been a great learning tool and I hope to continue to learn, grow, and contribute back to the community as I have learned so much already.
Original goal:
Manual swap + daily driven reliability on the M20, keeping it simple with no interest in tracking the car… at least not yet. But over the past year or so, I’ve been infatuated with not just an N52 swap, but one with all the electronics working, such as CAS/CANBUS to get my F22 seats properly working among other ambitions. Oh and one minor detail, because I live in California, the swap would also need to be CARB legal (must maintain all emissions related equipment / accessories). One last detail, it had to be a 2006 330i or equivalent due to its higher HP output. Realizing that if I wanted all of the above, it would be easier to find a local mechanic’s special as opposed to CoPart. Ideally, the car would still be running and I would be able to test drive it, perform a compression and leak down test, etc. I’ve been searching almost daily for the past few months, most of the time if I found something within my price range it would be an automatic, quite frustrating.
Updated goal:
Story goes, car was getting kicked out of its storage spot and project had to be abandoned by owner. A known issue of rod knock was disclosed. Without getting into all the details, the car arrives with much to be desired, most of the interior or items of worth have already been stripped. The ideal gut checks were all removed, no test drives, compression or leak down tests. I was caught off guard and smitten by the idea of finally finding a swap candidate.
I’m taking this as a large learning opportunity. I plan to fully tear the down motor, down to its rotating assembly and rebuild everything within reason. This will give me peace of mind when it goes into the E30. The timeline will definitely be drawn out further because of this, so I hope I don’t come across too many obstacles along this journey.
Running Cost: https://tinyurl.com/4xtd59ee
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Comment