E30 1986 2-door from ESTONIA - restoration project.

[MarkoEST]

Every bolt and nut and washer will be bagged and tagged. Otherwise when im starting to assemble the car i won't be able to remember those few thousand fastening bits and pieces which came off the car. So i bought whole buch of mingrip bags for that.



For a change some new parts i have managed to find and buy. Front foglighst made by HELLA. If i remember correctly also the original ones which came off from the car were made by HELLA. But yes, old ones had cracked glasses and burnt reflectors.I definately needed new ones. Luckily these are available in a autoparts store not only in the dealership and thats why the price is also more affordable. I think they were around 90 euros per pair. But what you can't buy any more are the frames for the foglights. These are 3D printed by my friend and cost me 25.- euros per pair. Better than no frames at all.



Same story with the front indicators. No other solution than original ones from BMW.


And a ///M badge for the i would say rare steeringwheel. I have 370mm one M-Tech wheel.

[MarkoEST]

nice work. keep it up.

Thank you! I'll do my best. :)

[MarkoEST]

You have a great workspace there!
Lots of room to lay everything out.

At that time i had lots of room, +14C all year around but there were some difficulties with the owner. I will explain it later in the future post when the time is right.

[MarkoEST]

Next step was to lift the engine off. But before that we had to get rid of the exhaust system, propshaft and more. Unfortunately i don't have 4 post or even 2 post lift, i have to do everything on the floor. It's doable, but it would be more enjoyable on the lift. Can't complain at least i have warm garage and lots of room to stack stuff.







Engine off. Now we can inspect it bit closer. This car came from the factory with M20B20 inline six engine. Now its been bit "upgraded" if i may say so. The lower part or the block is from 2.7L ETA engine (M20B27) and 885 cylinder head from 2.5L engine. It also has lightened flywheel and custom headers which are scrap. I already found a guy who will build me new ones.
Every seal, gasket nut and bolt will be replaced in some point. I want this engine to be with NO leaks and when you open the hood (in some language bonnet) it has to look like new.

[MarkoEST]

I think this is and will be the sweetest part of the car. Not many have dogleg gearboxes except for M3's and few of the E21 models and also some older E30 323'i had this as a factory option.


I tried to find the indetification number or something that could say what kind of gearbox this is ? Only what i could find is the "GETRAG" written on its side and thats it. Maybe it's buried under that layers of filth. I have to clean it anywway before installation. Hopefully i will find it then.

[MarkoEST]

Bought myself a engine stand. Much easier to work with the engine and you can also roll it upside down if needed. Also the height is perfect to work with it. You can take a workshop chair and sit on it while working with the motor.







I don't know, maybe it's a taste thing or maybe i have a bad taste, but i hate when people painting rockercovers. You just killing the beauty of the original brushed aluminium look. We will fix that too. ;)

[MarkoEST]

Weird that timing belt had a hole in it. Nobody know since when. I bought the car in this condition. Probably previous owner replaced it. I have to ask but i bet he won't remember. Well thats not very important at the moment. What is important that the engine stayed in one piece and didn't break it. Cause if that timing belt would have broken it would have been a pretty awful mess and a mission to find another engine. Nowdays finding an decent M20 in my country is already a mission close to impossible. Whats left of them are in use or taken to the scrapyard. Yes, in the states there are probably many of those but to ship it here from other side of the world would be too expensive.

Stripping it down to a bare block.

[MarkoEST]

Rocker cover removed. From the inside it looked good. No wear on the camshafts. So they will stay.



One way or another i had to remove the cylinder head beacuse of the gasket leak. What i find odd was that doesn't matter what manufacturer gasket you take (ELRING, VICTOR REINZ) the coolant holes wont line up properly. I tried many different ones, but still the same. And i don't remember the old one which was installed, was it lined up correcly or not. And i didn't take pictures. How stupid of me! I couldn't try OEM cause only gasket cost 120 euros. And just throw the money and find out later that everything is the same i pointless. I could use that 120 euros for something else for example.

New gaskets and head bolts.



New gasket installed and as you may notice, in the middle near the pistons are coolant holes and those won't line up. Is that okay or is it something that i should be scared of ?

[MarkoEST]

Started to clean the engine. It looked filthy and needed a new paint for sure. I used different sizes wire brushes and paint remover.

Before cleaning.

[MarkoEST]

After painting. I used Motip matte black paint. In the beginning it seemed pretty good but when it get dry, i was't sure of the result. I'm gonna probably paint it glossy black, but later.









So what do you think? Does it look better than before or should i kept it blue ?

[MarkoEST]

In the mean time my ordered parts arrived. Most of you should know that certain parts are not available as a aftermarket, so i had to go and knock on the dealership door to order some original parts. Money well spent.

Because my E30 is the latest pre-facelift i already have some of the facelift parts installed from the factory. This concerns petrol tank ventilation hoses cover. Fuel tank filler rubber and i was missing timing belt cover rubber "thingie".



Original fuel feed and return line and some clamps.



Inlet gaskets, thermostat, oilpan drain plug with washer, exhaust manifolt copper nuts, rocker cover studs, few o-rings and half moons for the cylinder head.



Alternator adjustment bolt with a nut and adjusting bar. Also recieved rubber grommets for the brake fluid reservoir and rear stabilizer support brackets. Weir dthat i didn't have rear stabilizer at all. So i had to buy one.



OEM thermostat housing and cover. The old one was so corroded so i couldn't use it anymore. Well i could have but after that i wouldn't forgive myself that small mistake. Everything has to be beautiful for my eye. And for others as well.

[MarkoEST]

Little teaser how the engine will look like. I have to do some minor adjustments and fix some of the mistakes i made along the assembly but over all it looks just a tiny bit better than before. Starting to look like an engine again. Before i can asseble it finally, i need some bolts and brackets sent to be galvanized. Small details sometimes makes the huge difference.



I hope that this huge amount of pictures and little less story doesn't upset you and the moderators. :)

Thank you for cheering if you did that and thats is all for today. I think we are about half way there where i am at the moment. So stay tuned for more!

[The_Glory]

Hello
A good approach to work.
I am also doing roughly the same thing now, so I understand very well how much effort, time and money it takes. Patience and inspiration to you! )

PS
Greetings from Ukraine! )

[MarkoEST]

Hello
A good approach to work.
I am also doing roughly the same thing now, so I understand very well how much effort, time and money it takes. Patience and inspiration to you! )

PS
Greetings from Ukraine! )

Taking it apart and put it back together is a piece of cake. Two most expensive things are bodywork and taking it to a paint booth(i dont do that myself). But yes, all the free time and money goes in to that car and hopefully i can drive it on the road next season, it means 2024. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for the good words!

[MarkoEST]

Continuing with much delicate job. Interior. Stripping it down. But it takes lot of time beacuse i dont want to break anything and i need to mark down all the wires and tag all what comes out of the car.





Looks like a proffesional has done the wiring. It had the manual sunroof but some of the previous owners fitted electrial sunroof and also powerwidows. But i will fix it. Trying to find the right wire for it and also right connector. Everything will be like from the factory.



I told you that i dont want to break anything. Well i lied! I didnt but they just broke. It was so friable and just broke in to few pieces. Another part i can add to the visit the dealership list. :)



I also bought the proper lightning for that kind of job. Easy to use and lights up the whole car. At least now i can see what im doing.