My 1987 325e

[Scywrath]

I'm currently restoring my 1986 325e, this thread just reassured me that I'm not the only one out there with an e30, and restoring on a budget. Good luck buddy!

Thank you! Good luck to you too!

[Scywrath]

We swapped the heads this weekend.

Crappy cellphone pics, as usual...

Just took off the head. Surprisingly, the cylinders are in very good shape.


The "new" head with new exhaust valves.



The head on the block.



I don't have pictures of the engine compartment yet, but it looks like a stock 325i with that blue oil catch can and strut bar. :)


The machine shop had to shave 0.4 mm off the head for resurfacing which is a lot, but we used the thinner head gasket anyway. Camshaft timing wasn't off, and it doesn't knock with the 95 RON gas available here.

Also, it seems you must swap the water pump pulley and the crankshaft pulley too, otherwise they would touch. (I also didn't have a new belt, so I was glad I found out when swapped in pairs, they will work together perfectly :))

While changing the ECU, I found out some idiot already fitted a "173" ECU in earlier. This car has seen many idiots in its life, hopefully I'm not one of them.

The ignition system still needs a tune-up, but the car idles and runs like a charm compared to its former self, and it also feels much much stronger. In fact, I've never driven a car this strong.
It's a little funny though with the 3.25 differential, I'll need to get a shorter one.

[Scywrath]

In the last few months, I got an E36 steering rack fitted with spacers meant to increase steering angle which resulted in this:

It requires more effort to steer now, but it's also quicker, which I like.

I replaced all shifter bushings and had a custom adjustable short shifter made out of the original shifter.

I also had a lightened flywheel with IX pressure plate and clutch fitted. The flywheel really does make a huge difference, the engine revs up much quicker now, but I didn't feel any loss of low-end torque or driveability, even though I had a twin-mass flywheel before.
And, like most lightweight flywheels at idle in neutral it makes a lot of noise.

I also had a 3.45 LSD fitted replacing my open 3.25. I don't really feel the difference in acceleration, but the LSD unit is a lot of fun :)

The engine had worn crankshaft bearings, so I took it to the shop where they found out that the pistons were also really worn. I bought an M52B28 short block for its internals, we'll see how it'll turn out...

[Scywrath]

The crankshaft did not appear to be an easy fit with the available parts, so the ETA crakshaft stayed with the M52B28 conrods and pistons. The pistons had their top shaved 1mm yielding a compression ratio of 9.5:1. The reduction in rotating/alternating mass is cca. 160g/cylinder. The engine revs up really fast now.
I had a chip made for the current setup for 98+ octane RON, which works really good.
I also obtained a ZF S5D320Z transmission which I'm currently servicing by changing the pin bushings of all gears.

I wanted to do some creative activity and some intake noise, so I fitted a Honda S2000 air filter just for fun. It took me kind of a lot of time figuring out a durable way of supporting the AFM. The silicone tube between the AFM and the filter is also self-made.


I also acquired an M-tech 2 steering wheel which I reupholstered myself. It didn't turn out to be perfect, but it is not as bad... (no pictures yet)

Things were going too well apparently, so a dear old lady thought my car needed a rear-end redesign which had to be delivered using her Fiat 600...

[Scywrath]

Before:


After:


Insurance paid about $600 which covered the cost of the repair but I had to use up my spare bumper and right tail light.

[nickflic3]

Dam, glad to see you stayed with the chassis! Looks better than it did before :up: