'87 Vert For Her

[m2d2]

Today, I completed the installation of the Euro Depo Smileys. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive about tackling this project because of all the articles I had read and videos I had watched. However, it turned out to be quite straightforward.

My car is an early model with sealed beam headlights originally, so I utilized the three provided wires on each side for the low beams and two of the three provided wires on each side for the high beams (the third wire was capped and unused). To ensure a secure and weather tight connection, I purchased a quality connector set from Amazon and replaced all four connectors with weather-resistant ones. I simply cut off the wire connectors that came with the headlights, crimped on the new ones, and that was all there was to it.

Having both low beam and high beams on simultaneously wasn't essential for me (since I seldom drive this car at night), and the LED bulbs I installed are more than bright enough without needed all 4 housing illuminated with the brights on. I have no complaints regarding their quality or the light output.

I would personally recommend this upgrade to anyone who's uncertain. It's an affordable, straightforward process that results in good-quality lighting.

[m2d2]

I decided it was time to upgrade the suspension since most of the components are worn out. After taking the suspension apart, I figured there was no better time than now to remove the engine so I could address all of the leaks (rear main seal, front seal, head gasket, oil filter housing, oil pan, etc). In doing so, this will also make replacing the steering rack much easier. It seemed like the further I got into things, the more issues I found. For example, my driveshaft was floating inside the carrier support. The rubber was completely ripped, so I guess only a matter of time before that got significantly worse, and, also probably the reason I still have a bit of steering wheel shake. Got everything out of the car, garage cleaned up, and ready to tear down to take to the machine shop. Looking forward to not having wet cardboard under the car anymore :)

High level plan:
Clean/reseal engine
New timing belt
New steering rack (z3)
New driveshaft
New Suspension bushings and ball joints
New H&R lowering springs
Chase steering reservoir and lines upgrade

Still deciding if I want the shop to rip the engine apart and rebuild for an extra $1500 in labor. Hmmm

[m2d2]

Few more pics. Excited to tear this thing apart!

[Driftin]

Damn dude. Getting after it. I've enjoyed reading through your thread. I'm working on a convertible as well, and got audio on my brain. I was looking at those jl c2, are you saying the mounting holes for the jl do not line up with factory?
Also, I see you Coloradans have copied us Utards with bringing back the black plate.

[Panici]

Having both low beam and high beams on simultaneously wasn't essential for me (since I seldom drive this car at night), and the LED bulbs I installed are more than bright enough without needed all 4 housing illuminated with the brights on. I have no complaints regarding their quality or the light output.

If you change your mind, here is how I modified a relay to have low & high beams on at the same time.
Since it's just a modified relay, you can return to stock by replacing with an unmodified one.

Pictures in my build thread here:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/296561-panici-s-87-325is-e30-boosted-in-bronze?p=6949275#post6949275

[m2d2]

Damn dude. Getting after it. I've enjoyed reading through your thread. I'm working on a convertible as well, and got audio on my brain. I was looking at those jl c2, are you saying the mounting holes for the jl do not line up with factory?
Also, I see you Coloradans have copied us Utards with bringing back the black plate.

Thank you ~ I'm glad you are getting some enjoyment from my craziness with this car :). I would love to talk audio and/or answer any questions you may have. I did a lot of research and feel fairly well equipped, although I know there are others on this forum that would run circles around me with their audio knowledge. Regarding the speaker install, admittedly, I had to go back through my post and re-read what I wrote to refresh my memory. I said the following, "like the speaker mounting holes not lining up with the factory mounting locations." I had kind of forgotten about this but now that I think of it, I do recall having to slightly modify the mounting tabs on the new speakers in order to get them to line up with the mounting locations. It was honestly just as simple as using some dikes and opening up the mounting holes (turning them into slits). I can't recall if I was able to mount all 4 screws either in the front; I may have only been able to mount 3 of the 4 screws, but don't quote me on that. Either way, it was nothing that held me up or was hard to overcome at all and I would still definitely recommend the speakers I purchased, or similar. The audio system in this car is incredible and I have no regrets!

[m2d2]

If you change your mind, here is how I modified a relay to have low & high beams on at the same time.
Since it's just a modified relay, you can return to stock by replacing with an unmodified one.

Pictures in my build thread here:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/members-rides/the-project-forum/296561-panici-s-87-325is-e30-boosted-in-bronze?p=6949275#post6949275

Dude you are the GOAT, as always. Thank you so much! This may become a spring project since I have my hands full at the moment, but I really appreciate you sharing this!

[m2d2]

An update on things...

• Head is disassembled. Everything looks great except the intake rocker shaft, which had some marks on it (maybe from previous work done). Nonetheless, I purchased the set of rocker shafts from IE.
• Shortblock is disassembled. Having the block just sitting there, we decided to fully disassemble so we could take the block to the machine shop and have it cleaned, surfaced and inspected. During teardown, we found bad scoring on rod bearings of one cylinder. Mains and all other rod bearings looked fine. Some debris definitely made its way into this bearing. Yikes!
• All parts are at the machine shop, some for cleaning and some for inspected. In fact, we are already getting clean parts back and it feels so good to not be working with heavily-oil and greased coated parts. Talk about boxes and boxes of gloves and paper towels, lol.
• At this point we are waiting for parts to start arriving and for the machine shop to finish up the head and block.

Some pics for your viewing pleasured :popcorn:

[m2d2]

More pics with a cameo featuring my dog, Harvey