Gabriel's 86 325es

[rightcoastbias]

It warmed up this week so; What I remember:

Resoldered speedometer board contacts.
"Rebuilt" diff speed sensor plug. Yay working speedo and OBC functions!
Welded in a exhaust flex coupling where exhaust cracked.
Installed new telescoping antenna assembly.
Replaced all dash lamps and lighted switches.
Removed OBC backlight panel and soldered in two LEDs and a resistor.
Swapped for working glovebox latch.
Cleaned/fixed washerfluid and coolant level sensors.
Retapped oil pan drain plug hole.





Still tracking down why the drivers door will chime, but won't activate lamps. The passengers door will activate lamps, but no chime. :???:

Trying to do as much as I can before I'm back at school fulltime. Engines been too strong and healthy for me to spend much time tracking down more M50 swap parts. Everythings working.

[Omaliyo]

lol looks like you need some coolant bro... haha

car looks awesome man Es ftw!

[rightcoastbias]

Well, I weighed my priorities and school is more important than the e30. My brother now owns it. He is a fine enthusiast with a lot more time on his hands than myself. The car is definitely going to be receiving more attention now. I'll be back in an e30 once I have my mechanical engineering degree.

Time to change my sig and status. I'll still be working on it and we're still tracking down DOHC parts.

[JoeyBones]

I remember seeing the car sitting off wade hampton for quite a while. When I first started looking for an e30 actually...Glad you took care of it!

[rightcoastbias]

Update:

I picked up what was supposed to be a "non-running" 1991 318i sedan from Craigslist. I showed up planning to tow it, but after some duct tape and elbow grease, ended up driving it home.

Cars driving great after a fishing line alignment, injector cleaner, oil change, and a scrub down. Upper and lower oil pans were loose and even missing bolts. I put them to spec.

I pulled an upper/lower M42 pan before I picked the car up, but won't need it. Might be listing it or keeping as a spare.

Looking for:
Decent M42 intake boot
Suspension options
Suggestions

Edit: Pic added

[JoeyBones]

you can have my is springs cheap as hell if you want, but not sure they are much of an improvement.

also, if you plan to lower in the future, keep the oil pan as you'll likely crack one...i'm just waiting now that mine is lowered.

also, after you told me about this, I still highly recommend replacing all vacuum lines and doing the mess under the intake mod. Its a PITA, but worth it to solve the issues once and for all. My car wouldnt idle before, but now i know its rock solid.

also likely should plan on new ball joints/arms/bushings all around. The front is fairly easy compared to dropping the subframe in the rear...so plan to refresh all that, then continue looking for leaks/drips and such as you may need gaskets and the like.

um....thats about all i've done... oh my brake lines were also pretty dry rotted so I replaced them with some stainless ones from UUC....highly recommended for safety.

[ZLandrum]

Hey, just found this thread, thank GOD you got ahold of this car, i remember stopping and looking at this car a while back on wade hampton with those shitty blue wheels on there, and then i saw it at the BMW classic euro car show last year, and couldn't believe it made it in with all that color.. Glad your brother's driving it now - i remember seeing him drive it around 6 months or so ago, back when i had my e30.

If you're looking to get into swapping in an M50B25 shoot me a pm, My brother's got a 92 e36 that's been sitting for a while, trans. is shot i think (it was auto anyway) but the engine should be pretty strong, i think it's around 60k on it since it was rebuilt before he got it. Where'd you pick this one up, and what'd the duct tape do to get it home for you? I'll be happy to see another e30 around town.

[JoeyBones]

Hey, just found this thread, thank GOD you got ahold of this car, i remember stopping and looking at this car a while back on wade hampton with those shitty blue wheels on there, and then i saw it at the BMW classic euro car show last year, and couldn't believe it made it in with all that color.. Glad your brother's driving it now - i remember seeing him drive it around 6 months or so ago, back when i had my e30.

If you're looking to get into swapping in an M50B25 shoot me a pm, My brother's got a 92 e36 that's been sitting for a while, trans. is shot i think (it was auto anyway) but the engine should be pretty strong, i think it's around 60k on it since it was rebuilt before he got it. Where'd you pick this one up, and what'd the duct tape do to get it home for you? I'll be happy to see another e30 around town.

haha hating on Mike! I agree, the wheels were horrible. I think the duct tape patched up the vacuum leaks he had to make it idle and run decent. Hence why I mentioned he should do the mess under the intake.

The car was listed on craigslist for really good price as the owner thought it had a cracked oil pan. I almost purchased it for spare parts, but decided against it because i have absolutely no room.

What kind of price is your bro asking for the M50? You done a compression test on it? How long has it been sitting?

You should see mine on the road in a week or so. just gotta mount my seat, and get my registration ironed out so the 5.0 doesn't bother me anymore. For now, look for the really dirty silver e90 with black kidneys and what looks like a bullet hole in the rear bumper! haha

Edit: BTW Gabe, tell your bro to give me his rear spoiler.....NOW... or I wont put forth any effort in saving a spot for ya'll at Petit...

[rightcoastbias]

Edit: BTW Gabe, tell your bro to give me his rear spoiler.....NOW... or I wont put forth any effort in saving a spot for ya'll at Petit...

LoL, Good luck prying that from his cold dead fingers. I do have an MtechII rear wing in Diamond Schwartz I'll be listing soon.

I started prepping and painting the hood and mirrors. I picked up two 14" basketweaves. Adding the other two to my list. I'm looking for inner/outer ball joints and control arm bushings. I was told Powerflew purples RTABS/RSFB and black CABS.


I was under the car again today and cleaned off the diff tag. "S4,10 8982" => Factory optional 4.10 LSD.


Anyone know why the M42s stutter and hesitate if restarted while warm? If I make a series of short trips, around the third warm start the car runs terrible. I have no power, anywhere past partial throttle just bogs. If it idles for awhile it is back to its healthy self.

[rightcoastbias]

Well, the issue with the suspension/alignment made itself very clear this morning. The driver's front wheel bearing 'assploded.' It went from bun bun to BUNRRR BUNRR RRRRRRRRRRR. Just like I wanted it to, so I know I'm replacing the right part. It's on stands now and makes a crunchy sound when spinning the wheel, but no play at 12-6 or 9-3.


Funny note: The driver's front wheel bearing fails within the first 200 miles of ownership on every e30 I buy. Very acquainted with swapping these now.

[JoeyBones]

LoL, Good luck prying that from his cold dead fingers. I do have an MtechII rear wing in Diamond Schwartz I'll be listing soon.

Anyone know why the M42s stutter and hesitate if restarted while warm? If I make a series of short trips, around the third warm start the car runs terrible. I have no power, anywhere past partial throttle just bogs. If it idles for awhile it is back to its healthy self.

Not really interested in the MtechII..oh well. As for the idle thing, check your run like crap wire, if thats unplugged then it's likely still vacuum leaks if you havent replaced all those hoses, and also check your ICV make sure it's clean.

[thedeal]

What BBS wheels where those that you refinished so nicely? Size?

[325ix]

It warmed up this week so; What I remember:

Resoldered speedometer board contacts.
"Rebuilt" diff speed sensor plug. Yay working speedo and OBC functions!
Welded in a exhaust flex coupling where exhaust cracked.
Installed new telescoping antenna assembly.
Replaced all dash lamps and lighted switches.
Removed OBC backlight panel and soldered in two LEDs and a resistor.
Swapped for working glovebox latch.
Cleaned/fixed washerfluid and coolant level sensors.
Retapped oil pan drain plug hole.





Still tracking down why the drivers door will chime, but won't activate lamps. The passengers door will activate lamps, but no chime. :???:

Trying to do as much as I can before I'm back at school fulltime. Engines been too strong and healthy for me to spend much time tracking down more M50 swap parts. Everythings working.

Love the white car! It is so clean.
I'm not calling you an idiot or anything but, did you make sure that the switch on the overhead lights is flipped to the correct direction? I belive it is pointed to the outside of the car for the lights to come on when the door opens.

[rightcoastbias]

New wheel bearings, control arm bushings and inner/outer ball joints are on their way from FCPgroton. :D Its nice to have friends with shop presses.

What BBS wheels where those that you refinished so nicely? Size?

BBS RZ 15x8, 4x100, et 33

Not really interested in the MtechII..oh well. As for the idle thing, check your run like crap wire, if thats unplugged then it's likely still vacuum leaks if you havent replaced all those hoses, and also check your ICV make sure it's clean.

The run like crap wire is unplugged. The ICV will be cleaned during the mess under the intake. Although, the visible hoses look ok.

For a fact, the duct tape is allowing unmetered air into the gash in the intake boot. :pimp: It runs fantastic, but warm restarts are so bad my wife notices (an excellent gauge for proper vehicle operation). I have never had a vacuum leak only cause problems only after a restart.

Love the white car! It is so clean.
I'm not calling you an idiot or anything but, did you make sure that the switch on the overhead lights is flipped to the correct direction? I belive it is pointed to the outside of the car for the lights to come on when the door opens.

Thanks. The interior light problem was bad grounding on the switches.

[JoeyBones]

Well, i know for a fact that I had the exact same issue as you and when I did the mess under the intake and replaced all the crapped out vacuum hoses (there are alot more than you can see) I now idle great, and has no restart issues.

Be extremely careful when pressing the ball joints. Do your best to make a proper shaped tool for this job, and try to align the balljoints properly so they grab "new meat" when pressed in. Know anyone who can put a tack weld on them to hold it? I was going to go this way until I really studied them and found the FCP arms at their price (remember I have a 40,000 sq ft machine shop at my disposal)...Also a word to caution, any FCP branded item with splines (aka your ball joints) will likely fail..haha their strut tops are garbage and I had to go back to stock up front as the studs failed and started spinning as i was bolting them into the car...