Unbeatible Beater Build - 87 BMW 350is

[stevegolf]

nice work. Where can I get that shift knob in the 4th picture from the bottom?

Heard back from the P.O, its most likely from a 2002 but was in an older E28 that he bought.

Looking good. I would have stayed efi (this is coming from a carbed guy). Ill be running an exploder motor as soon as i can find a decent donor and efi will def stay. The double pumper is fun but i get like 8mpg and it can get a bit finiky sometimes.

Thanks. I may switch to EFI some day but I'm a lot more comfortable with carbs. Mileage isn't too big a concern since it is my 3rd car but I may feel the need to mess with it some more once its running well.

Looking good, best of luck!

Thanks man! I read through your build before starting mine. Definitely an inspiration for my project. :D

[FilthyFarmKraut]

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[z6ne]

Heard back from the P.O, its most likely from a 2002 but was in an older E28 that he bought.

thanks, I'm gonna try to buy one

[Eddie Lives On]

thanks, I'm gonna try to buy one

Looks like the one I have in my car. PO told me 2002 as well.

[stevegolf]

Been a while since an update. Two major items were going on at the same time, the engine block refurbishing and re-doing the engine bay. I can happily say both are done.

I decided to go with a Ford blue for the bay to make the V8 feel at home. That meant stripping the bay, grinding off the paint and rust, and priming it. This took a while going a section at a time. Since a lot of it is going to be covered I just hit the most visible damaged areas with some bondo.



Then I masked it off and sprayed it. This was my first non rattle can paintjob. I got the gun for almost nothing at the local industrial auction. I had to thin the paint a bit before the spray was fine enough, but once that happened it went quick and was fun. The paint is engine enamel, so it should be strong and I used almost 2 pints on it. The Ford blue rattle cans I got had more glittery flakes to it so I misted a can of that on as I went. Added a heavy clearcoat. Can't wait to wetsand/buff it out. Its a really cool blue, I'm so glad to have it done, not half ground up, half primer, and half old crappy paint.







I think it looks pretty good.

There are some runs and imperfections but is a $500 car's engine bay. When it is polished it will look 100 times better than the outside which is what I was going for. I'm going to have to find a set of the stock BMW stickers and put them back on. I'll need to have the color sticker remade, maybe fordenblau.

Of course now I'll be extra picky on putting the old parts back in. Going to have to clean a lot of them up, don't want dirty old looking parts attached to a shiny new bay.

Speaking of shiny new parts, I picked up the engine from Automotive Machine in Fraser. Man, it looks brand new. Decked, line bored, balanced, had to go 0.02 over on the pistons, new plugs, bearings pressed, new pistons and rod bearings installed, polished crank, oil pump and shaft, as well as all the gaskets and probably a few other things. Really happy with how it looks and the service. I spent more than what I was at first planning (just getting it cleaned and checked) but its well worth the piece of mind knowing its been refurbished and will run really well vs. not knowing if it would crap out after putting in all the work with getting it installed.

The money shot





So thats all exciting. I still haven't sold the old engine which is taking up a ton of space in the garage. I'll practically give it away at this point. I have a ton of stuff to do now and I have most of the parts to do it with. Don't have a trans yet but that will have to wait until my wallet recovers.

Woodward was also way too ambitious for the timing. I think next year's Eurohangar is a good goal.