My 1987 325e

[nickflic3]

A hornet's nest. :-)

Dam!! Thats crazy haha Any honey in the mirror ;)

It's a little bit more comfortable without pieces of rust falling on my head while driving. :)

Nice! Its coming along man, keep at it!

[Scywrath]

Dam!! Thats crazy haha Any honey in the mirror ;)

Haha :D

Nice! Its coming along man, keep at it!

Thanks!

[Scywrath]

Today, I replaced the turning signal and the windshield wiper switches. The problem with the turning signal switch was that it didn't stop blinking when I finished turning right. The replacement was from a low mileage 318i touring and it was so good, I felt I had to replace the other switch as well. They're like brand new. :)

I also found a picture of my 318i from last summer. Somewhere I read "Who said you can't tuck a tire on an early model?". In this photo, we were going on vacation with friends and the trunk was packed with beer. (and some luggage :))

[Conki]

Today, I replaced the turning signal and the windshield wiper switches. The problem with the turning signal switch was that it didn't stop blinking when I finished turning right. The replacement was from a low mileage 318i touring and it was so good, I felt I had to replace the other switch as well. They're like brand new. :)

I also found a picture of my 318i from last summer. Somewhere I read "Who said you can't tuck a tire on an early model?". In this photo, we were going on vacation with friends and the trunk was packed with beer. (and some luggage :))

And how low it was when the four of us sat in it too! haha

[Scywrath]

In the last few months, I only did some minor work since I'm low on budget.

I had the fuel pump (used) and fuel filter replaced, the filter was 20 years old and there was practically mud coming out of the fuel lines... Now the car still starts up like crap, but at least the engine doesn't knock at higher revs.

There was a vacuum leak at the intake manifold, so I had to change the gaskets. Since it didn't seem to be a minor job, I didn't want to put the original intake back. So I got this:


It was pretty cheap, brand new, and came with the throttle body.
The original intake had extreme amounts of carbon buildup, this is the reason I temporarily disconnected the purge valve and the valve cover breather hose. The engine produces a huge amount of blow-by gases, I will deal with it with a catch can soon. (And with a 325i cylinder head later)

Since my engine is similar to the super ETA, the B25 intake was a perfect fit, I only needed to buy a 325i intake boot. As we removed the original intake, we noticed that some idiot also changed the gaskets before, to regular ETA gaskets, blocking a great percentage of the intake ports...

Since the swap, the car is noticeably a bit weaker at lower revs, but at higher revs (max 5500) it pulls much stronger and makes beautiful noise. :)
Thanks to Conki for helping me with the swap.

The instrument cluster didn't always light up, and the fuel economy gauge didn't work, so I took it out and reflowed every solder joint on the cluster. Now it works fine. (The batteries were OK, there was some contact issue) And as if I can, I don't put anything back unchanged, I did this:

I used the ink container of a permanent marker, it turned out to be fine.

I was also interested in precticing heel-and-toe downshifting so I made this:

It's about 8-10 mm wider than the original, and it's also tilted a bit more towards the driver, so it's parallel to the brake pedal while braking. It's really worth the hours I spent making it. :)

[Scywrath]

Today, I fitted an ebay oil catch can improved by an additional drilled plate separating the inlet and outlet areas, and filled with stainless steel cleaning pads, so I could get rid of the little air filter venting the fumes into the atmosphere. I also fitted the 325i brake booster valve and hoses.


I also had the rear subframe and differential mounts replaced with ones made of polyurethane along with polyurethane bushings inserted into the stabilizer links and teflon stabilizer mounts. Makes a world of difference. :)

Thanks to the combination of a slope and a high bump on our fantastic roads, I successfully destroyed my oil pan. :neutral: This makes my next project a skid plate...

[Scywrath]

Since all the ball joints in my front suspension were totally shot, I had to have them replaced. If it had to be disassembled, it seemed to be a good time for some modifications as well.

Polyurethane eccentric CABs:


I bought the same cheap suspension set as I bought for the 318i, only this was the 6-cylinder version. (TA-Technix -40/-40) I swapped the rear suspension myself.




Watching some newer car's stabilizer links, I had an idea:


Assembled with E46 stabilizer links:

The guy who did the front said he never did this before but always wanted to, and now he has these pictures on his website.

Now the car handles like a go-kart, and I love it. Maybe an E36 or Z3 steering rack swap would be necessary to further improve handling.

[Conki]

Awesome updates! Now start saving some money for a 327i turbo mod!:)
As soon as I receive my first paycheck next month I'll start bugging you about stuff you did:) My car is in serious need of bushing update/replacement.

[Scywrath]

Awesome updates! Now start saving some money for a 327i turbo mod!:)
As soon as I receive my first paycheck next month I'll start bugging you about stuff you did:) My car is in serious need of bushing update/replacement.

Thanks! I will need a new chassis first. :( When I get my paycheck, I'll start bugging you about the pre-supply pump which costs $420 here...

[Conki]

A new chassis? A third one? Dude well these two and buy one in better shape before you invest even more money in these haha

[Scywrath]

A new chassis? A third one? Dude well these two and buy one in better shape before you invest even more money in these haha

I'm planning to buy a rust-free 316i from Italy and swap most of the stuff in it.

[Scywrath]

I had a pretty unexpected event of a spark plug shooting out of the engine. Even though I could screw it back where it happened, the car started to behave very strange.

The spark plug in question is the second from the right. It did tear out some of the threads in the cylinder head on shootout.



So I purchased a 325i head from a '89 525i along with its AFM, ECU, crankshaft and water pump pulleys. The head is in quite good condition, except for the fact all the exhaust valves are bent, but it is being rebuilt at the time of this post.



Quite recently I replaced my really awful 20-year-old Grundig stereo with a new LG one. It is really awesome compared to the older one.

I also obtained these:

Very good upgrade vs. stock non-sport seats. :)

I was going almost bankrupt, but found this at a very good price:


Very comfortable, and a lot smaller (320mm) than the Mtech-1 (385mm):

I don't really see the upper part of the gauges while driving, but it's a small price to pay for such improvement :)

While the cylinder head is being rebuild I did some fabrication on the intake manifold:


closeup:

I port-matched the end of the runners to the ports of the head. It took me about 16 hours of labour (grinding and cleaning), I hardly think it was worth the 0.5 to 2 HP gain, but now I know that the intake manifold won't be the part of the system which restricts airflow. It's unbelieveable how the end of the runners differed even from each other in stock form. It obviously isn't a very high quality part.

[Conki]

What are you gonna do with the blue manifold? Just sell it?
And when is it going to be done? I want to drive the 327i in December!:)

[Scywrath]

What are you gonna do with the blue manifold? Just sell it?
And when is it going to be done? I want to drive the 327i in December!:)

I think I'm gonna sell it or use it for a later ITB conversion.
It should be done this weekend. The lightweight flywheel and new clutch when I'll have the funds.

[JOATiUBER]

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!