A good friend of mine (Shant on the forums) was looking to get a 2nd E30 for a daily driver to keep the miles off his 1990 S50 325iS. I picked up this 4 door Super Eta car for super cheap with a blown headgasket. We also picked up an 85 325e for just as cheap to use as a donor car for the stick shift parts. We gutted both drivetrains and went to work!
The 88 was an automatic like most of them are so a 5 speed swap was in order. Another friend of mine (Karzrtoyz on the forums) donated an i head to us that needed a couple valves replaced. Shant took the head to work, tore it down, cleaned everything, replaced the valve seals, and did a mild port and polish. The bottom end of the motor was in great shape so we didn't touch it other than seals, gaskets, and paint.
We began to put the 2.7i engine together. It of course got a new headgasket, intake seals, oil pan gasket, rear main seal, pilot bearing, cam seals, timing belt, water pump, thermostat, etc. We hit the block with some Grabber Green and the valve cover and intake manifold are painted with Harley texture black paint. Shant opted to remove the power steering and air conditioning, something neither of us have on ANY vehicle, lol. We installed a good condition resurfaced M20B25 flywheel with a brand new Sachs clutch and Sachs 533i throwout bearing. A late model shifter assembly was installed with all new bushings, new selector rod joint, and a Z3 1.9 shift lever. The driveshaft recieved a new guibo and center support bearing.
On to the car itself, overall it's a very clean Zinno 4 door with all original body panels. It still needs a good polish but that's coming soon. We removed the nasty diving boards and smashed front valance and installed a set of flat black plastic bumpers and a mint valance we got from Karzrtoyz as well. To go along with the 2.7i engine, we installed a good condition factory oil cooler up front using all factory mounts. This car happened to be an original ellipsoid car so we installed Shant's mint set of US ellipsoids with clear/yellow Lamin-X on them. We got the fogs working and tinted those yellow as well.
On the interior we of course swapped in a cluster with a 7k tach and a working odometer! The broken HVAC panel was replaced with a 316i panel that centers the radio (which we still need to install). Who the hell needs a 6 button OBC anyway?! The torn cloth seats were swapped out for a set of tan sports from a 318iS we had laying around. Definitely nice to have the sport seats in the 4 door.
The car has come a long way from what it was and still has a ways to go. I am happy to report it passed CA smog with amazing numbers, I couldn't be more extatic about that! Next on the agenda are Bilstein HD shocks, M3 springs, new CAB's, and ditching the ugly purple tint for a nice moderate tint job. Oh, don't forget a plate filler too! Also, we scored a nice 3.73 LSD from Brian 89 325i to replace the terrible open 2.93 that's currently in the car. I'm really looking forward to the diff swap.
More to come, here's a couple pics I have for now...
You'll have to excuse the ugly AFM and airbox, it's temporary!
The 88 was an automatic like most of them are so a 5 speed swap was in order. Another friend of mine (Karzrtoyz on the forums) donated an i head to us that needed a couple valves replaced. Shant took the head to work, tore it down, cleaned everything, replaced the valve seals, and did a mild port and polish. The bottom end of the motor was in great shape so we didn't touch it other than seals, gaskets, and paint.
We began to put the 2.7i engine together. It of course got a new headgasket, intake seals, oil pan gasket, rear main seal, pilot bearing, cam seals, timing belt, water pump, thermostat, etc. We hit the block with some Grabber Green and the valve cover and intake manifold are painted with Harley texture black paint. Shant opted to remove the power steering and air conditioning, something neither of us have on ANY vehicle, lol. We installed a good condition resurfaced M20B25 flywheel with a brand new Sachs clutch and Sachs 533i throwout bearing. A late model shifter assembly was installed with all new bushings, new selector rod joint, and a Z3 1.9 shift lever. The driveshaft recieved a new guibo and center support bearing.
On to the car itself, overall it's a very clean Zinno 4 door with all original body panels. It still needs a good polish but that's coming soon. We removed the nasty diving boards and smashed front valance and installed a set of flat black plastic bumpers and a mint valance we got from Karzrtoyz as well. To go along with the 2.7i engine, we installed a good condition factory oil cooler up front using all factory mounts. This car happened to be an original ellipsoid car so we installed Shant's mint set of US ellipsoids with clear/yellow Lamin-X on them. We got the fogs working and tinted those yellow as well.
On the interior we of course swapped in a cluster with a 7k tach and a working odometer! The broken HVAC panel was replaced with a 316i panel that centers the radio (which we still need to install). Who the hell needs a 6 button OBC anyway?! The torn cloth seats were swapped out for a set of tan sports from a 318iS we had laying around. Definitely nice to have the sport seats in the 4 door.
The car has come a long way from what it was and still has a ways to go. I am happy to report it passed CA smog with amazing numbers, I couldn't be more extatic about that! Next on the agenda are Bilstein HD shocks, M3 springs, new CAB's, and ditching the ugly purple tint for a nice moderate tint job. Oh, don't forget a plate filler too! Also, we scored a nice 3.73 LSD from Brian 89 325i to replace the terrible open 2.93 that's currently in the car. I'm really looking forward to the diff swap.
More to come, here's a couple pics I have for now...
You'll have to excuse the ugly AFM and airbox, it's temporary!
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