Always finish someone else's racecar

[Not a Fed]

Hello all, I would like to share my (relatively) new to me 1989 325is.

I was doomscrolling marketplace one evening, as I know we all have done, searching for really anything but specifically a not completely clapped E30 when I came across an interesting listing. An almost fully disassembled 325is with a nice looking roll cage already installed, a lot of new performance parts and seemingly all of the pieces to put it back together. The chassis looked clean and Mr. Facebook man answered all of my questions so I drove 9 hrs. to pick it up. I was able to get what I feel was a good deal since the cost of the cage alone was surely more than what I paid for the whole car. I don't currently have a very fleshed out plan for where I want this build to go other than turning it at least somewhat back into a street car, being a local menace, and probably autocrossing it.


Mandatory Bucees picture of the new purchase.


The previous owner got a little excited about weight reduction lol.


Suprisingly nice cage.

When I started working on it I noticed that drivers side lollipop bushing was missing a bolt, which I thought was odd. I figured it must've fallen out during transit or just been lost by a previous owner so I swung by Lowe's picked up a new one and tried to toss her in there. For some reason the bolt wouldn't go in. Upon further inspection it appears that someone snapped and then welded the old bolt in there.


No idea how this kind of thing even happens.

After a couple of weeks of deliberating, pb blaster, a tungsten carbide grinding bit, a broken bolt extractor, and an M10 tap I finally got her mostly back in shape. Though the new hole is definitely looser than the old one.


I emerge victorious in the end.

[Panici]

Subscribed!

And you probably already know this, but a full cage in a street car is a serious risk.
Unhelmeted head + steel bars could be a literal killer.

Might look at converting it to a half cage, depends on your use and risk tolerance.
FWIW my insurance company specifically will not ensure cars with a full cage, but a rollbar behind front seats is okay. Found this out in my '90 Miata.

[Not a Fed]

Hmm, I have heard that from a few folks now, I'll have to revaluate later down the road. The cage is tucked so well though that I don't know if it will be physically possible for me to smack my head on anything when I'm strapped in. Obviously there aren't any seats in it yet so we'll see what it looks like when I get some and toss them in there. And as far as my insurance company and I are concerned this is a completely stock 325, though it will be a sec until I need to get it insured lol.

[Not a Fed]

On this episode of how the heck did this even happen we encountered a strange weld while I was attempting to remove the lollipop bushing bolt.


Just why

It is quite the hideous weld on the passenger side between the front subframe and chassis. At first I figured it was just a botched attempt at fixing some rust or something then I noticed that there was only one subframe bolt on this side of the car. As the astute among you have already guessed the rear subframe bolt is in fact snapped and one of the (highly intelligent) previous owners decided it was a good idea to weld the subframe to the chassis of the car. Why they thought this was a good idea I will never know.


Absolutely stunning work

At least the weld appears so poor that cutting through it shouldn't be too bad. The plan now is to remove the engine and transmission, drop the subframe, remove the old bolt/retap the hole and finally start putting parts back on the car. And there isn't much to disconnect from the engine since there is nothing in the car lol. While I have everything out I will be tossing the engine on a stand to give it a once over, though Mr. Facebook man claimed it was built "by a shop" I don't have much faith. Trust but verify as it were.

Is there any trick to removing the other front subframe bolts? I really don't want any more broken bolts on my hands.

[Panici]

Hack stuff there with the subframe welded on.

Shouldn't be too bad to rectify. Do you have a welder of your own to close up the holes blown in the body side?

[Not a Fed]

Yeah, I have a welder it's at my parents house though. I need to get a 220 outlet in my garage lol. I'll patch the chassis and probably the few holes in the floor at the same time.
In other news I got everything disconnected from the engine so should be able to pull it and the transmission tomorrow night.

[Not a Fed]

Was able to get the engine and trans pulled last night. It went surprisingly smoothly, the hardest part was putting the engine on the engine stand lol. For the first time it was convenient that there was nothing in this car, we only had to undo like four connectors and loosen the mounts then we were able to slide her right out.



Engine coming out, ended up lowering the front end while the back was jacked up to get some extra angle after we maxed out the leveler


Got her out in one piece


Got the engine on the stand, this was by far the hardest part somehow

While I have everything apart to fix the subframe bolts I'm gonna give the engine a good once over. While the previous owner put quite a few nice parts on this car some of the work has been iffy at best. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to check on the engine to make sure it was assembled correctly? My current plan is to take everything off the front of the engine and check the timing then take the oil pan off and make sure everything looks okay down there. I'll also just go over every bolt I can get to with a torque wrench to make sure everything is in spec. Everything should be new except the block and I'm relatively sure this engine has never ran so I just need to make sure it's put together properly.

Also I assume I have you to thank for the new tag Panici lol

[Panici]

Also I assume I have you to thank for the new tag Panici lol

Nope wasn't me. (I think you need Admin powers to change titles?)

[2mAn]

Gotta be careful with who you interact with at the shows...

[Not a Fed]

lol, I don't go to many shows but I'll remember that. Can't have folks discovering my handlers, uh, I mean employers now can we.

Not much on the car today, started soaking the subframe bolts in pb blaster and confirmed there was no oil in the engine. I hadn't seen any on the dipstick so thought it might've just leaked out but after pulling the drain plug she was bone dry. I'm now 99% sure this engine was never ran after the previous owner had it put together. Hopefully there is still a healthy layer of assembly lube on everything, I'll probably start pulling it apart next week.

[Not a Fed]

Howdy gents, got the subframe off the car today. Thankfully all of the bolts came out without a fuss and were probably looser than they were supposed to be. Convenient for me but very thankful I decided to bolt check the entire car.


Came out pretty easy all things considered.


The damage from the poor welds to hold the subframe in


Broken bolt. Joy

Once I cut through the weld from the previous owner the subframe dropped pretty easily. Now it's time to deal with snapped bolt number two. I can barely contain my excitement to work on it. I'm so glad I decided to try to finish someone else's project.

It's hard to tell if there is something snapped off inside of the bolt or whatever is stuck in there but I'll just try the safe stuff I did on the previous bolt. Gonna grind it down and try to center punch it with a reverse drill bit then attempt to use a bolt extractor though I think those only ever work in fairy tale land. Wish me luck lads.