My 87 325is needs to go?

[Rancho5]

Hey guys it's been a long time since I've been here. My 87 325is 5-speed broke a rocker arm last year and I have not driven her since. And realistically I probablly won't get around to it any time soon.

She has 210k on the clock and is in almost perfect condition. Before she broke the rocker arm I'd put in...

New fan clutch
Four new rotors
New clutch
Guibo center carrier bearing
New fuel injectors
T Stat
Motor mounts
Tranny mounts
Redline synth tranny fluid
Redline synth rear gear oil
All three belts replaced
Bosch plat plugs
Breather hose
Drive shaft

Your thoughts on what I should do?

[gearheadE30]

How much damage did it do? I'd say keep the car and at least repair the damage. If you have the means, a motor swap may be in order ;)

[SpecM]

I say fix it, and get those plats out for Bosch copper plugs

[Rancho5]

I'd like to do a swap but financially it's not in the cards. NM is not known for getting high quality used parts. If someone around here had a motor, I'd give it a whirl. For me the question is this. "Am I in a posotion financially to put money into this car or get money out of it?" Depending on what I can get for it (??) I'd probably just sell it. I won't give it away but when people start talkng about pullings heads, etc, it get's way over my comfort level of what I can do.

Somebody said the number 1 rocker can be replaced without pulling the head. Is this true?

[SpecM]

Somebody said the number 1 rocker can be replaced without pulling the head. Is this true?

not really... I don't see it happining

[jflip2002]

I think if you are mecahnically inclined, why not try fixing it? You can sell it a lot easier if its in running order. NGK plugs FTW. Find a used head, you can have it shipped, and will be like $50 shipping.

[Rancho5]

A guy at e30tech said to:

think of it as a puzzle. if you undo all the eccentrics and slide the rockers off the cam lobes, you can remove enough tension on the rocker shaft to slide it out of the head with very little force. I believe the exhaust side is a little easier becaue there is more room to slide the rockers out of the way.

You would first undo all the rockers (loosen/remove the eccentrics, remove retaining clips), slide them out of the way (off the lobes, you will have to rotate the cam/engine so the lobe is pointing away from the rocker), and them remove the cam gear and slide the shaft out. the last rocker you may have to push open with a screwdriver if you can't get it off the cam lobe. Remove the keeper that holds the rocker shaft in place, and use a screwdriver in slot at the end of the shaft to push it through the head.

Using this method in the bench takes about 15 minutes to completely disassemble the head with only a flathead screwdriver, a torx socket to rotate the cam, and a 10mm wrench. It's going to take longer in the car, but it's still faster than completely removing the head.

It sounds like it would work. Opinions?

I'm definately up for trying to fix it instead of selling it, I just don't want to pour any more money into it.

[Gladeoffer]

Hey man I have 2 spare motors in Denver if you would like to buy one I'll sell it to you. M20b25 150,000ish with 10,000 on timing belt and H20 pump. Includes Alt. Let's say around $350.00

PM me if interested

[Rancho5]

PM sent

[HOVER]

Any picts??

[Rancho5]

PM me your e-mail and I can get some to you. Resizing pics to fit on forums is a pain.

[Seph]

PM me your e-mail and I can get some to you. Resizing pics to fit on forums is a pain.

Check this out sometime. I use it for forums and it makes it a breeze!

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/learnmore/tips/eschelman2.mspx

[einstein57]

Resize them by opening them up in MS paint and then save. You don't have to make any adjustments either. It automatically shrinks the file to to about a quarter of its original size.