Welcome to my E30 rehab build!
I created this thread to document the build progress on a neglected 1990 325i that I managed to get my greasy hands on for a steal. I'll do my best to keep things interesting and post plenty of pictures. I am very open to suggestions and advice, so any input is greatly appreciated! Quick snapshot of what has been done so far:
Build Progress:
Brake System:
As the car currently sits:
Onto the build, enjoy!
The story:
From the Craigslist ad:
The pursuit of a project car began shortly after graduating college. After relocating for a job, I spent the first month perusing craigslist for Miatas, and BMW E30s. I wanted a handler, a car with limited assists, and a wealth of online knowledge so it seemed these two fit the bill. I soon stumbled upon a ratty looking 1990 E30 325i labeled “parts car” that lacked a price tag and had been sitting in a trailer park for the past 9 years. I setup a time to look at it and it was actually in much better shape than expected. Sure, it was covered in dings, dents, and had cracks that ran the length of the windshield, but it was rust free with just over 100,000 miles on the clock and a clean title.
The car had potential.
After some back and forth, I worked the seller down to $650 and the next weekend I pushed his lawn ornament and my new project up onto the back of a U-haul trailer and drove her home.
The Trailer Park Queen:
Front seats missing, along with other random interior bits:
Clean rear bench:
Picked over engine, it was a parts car after all:
The car had no seats, no fuses / relays, a missing valve cover, a broken rocker arm on cylinder 6, no window switches, light front end damage, and many other miscellaneous parts had been pilfered over the past 9 years that the car sat. Probably the worst part of all were the critters that inhabited the BMW; dead spiders the size half dollars littered the engine bay, brakes, and underbelly of the car and after 3 days of wrenching we realized two wasp nests the size of my fist were tucked behind the driver's side headlight. I had nightmares of my condo becoming infested with these death critters.
Broken rocker arm on the cylinder 6 intake side:
After fumigating the old car, we tore into the engine to see what we had. The plan was to remove the head and rebuild it, but that plan was quickly thwarted when we realized the camshaft was seized into place. One $500 eBay head later, and a full top end refresh with all new gaskets, the engine started going back together. We would have rebuilt the bottom end as well, but there was no signs of oil leaks, the tops of the pistons were still in good condition, and there was no scoring to be seen on the cylinder walls. I made the executive decision to slap everything back together and crossed my fingers this decision wouldn't bite me in the ass.
Fresh 885 head after being surfaced, valves lapped, and hot tanked:
The ol'girl was topless for a while:
Old head, notice the bent valves from when the timing belt snapped:
Car sat like this for a while, I swear my garage wasn't always this messy:
Installing cylinder head with ARP head studs:
Fresh timing belt, water pump, pulley, tensioner, etc.:
Starting to look like an engine again:
Just about back together:
With the engine nearly assembled, it was time to address the other issues with the car. Namely, the gas tank. At first I was hoping to simply fill it up with some fresh fuel and try to burn off the old gas, but upon inspection the gas tank was rusting bad. Since the tank was beyond repair, eBay supplied the new gas tank, and I set off to remove the drive-shaft and drop the old tank. An excessive amount of cursing and busted knuckles later, the drive-shaft came out, gas tank came down, and the new one went in. I also replaced all the fuel lines and did the walbro fuel-pump retrofit to replace the likely dead fuel pump that sat in the rusted tank.
Old Tank Out:
Finally, it was time to try to start the car after 9 years sitting dormant. Except, that didn’t go quite as planned...
With the new battery supplying juice to the electrical system, I tried starting the car. The starter motor whined, but no luck. Realizing I had just replaced nearly the entire fuel system, I started pumping the gas pedal to get fuel into the lines, and the engine began to turn over. All my excitement came to a halt when the smell of fuel hit my nose, so I jumped out of the car and immediately saw a pool of gas forming under the driver's side door. It turns out I forgot to replace a short length of rubber hose that connected the fuel filter to the fuel lines. Moral of the story? Double-check all your rubber fuel lines on any car that has sat... I thought I replaced all of them, but must have missed that one.
After replacing the rotted out fuel line, the car fired right up without issue and idled at a steady 750rpm all while totally smoking out my garage. Hearing the old engine fire up was a great feeling!
Pretty happy with my first mod:
Also installed E36 window switches to replace that ones that were unceremoniously cut out:
With the engine running again, I turned my focus to the interior. I perused Craigslist nearly every day for a month for a set of reasonable seats and other interior bits until I finally had a stroke of luck (at the expense of another's bad luck). A local wrapped his 92 vert around a tree and was parting it out. The car was garage kept nearly it's entire life so the door cards and seats were in excellent condition, so I scooped them up.
Neighbors cat helped with the install:
The passenger side door card was damaged in the accident, so I reinforced it with a couple of thin brackets and some gorilla glue:
Whoa, stock ride height!
Time for a drop, snagged some H&R race springs and E90 drop hats off Craigslist and ordered a set of Bilstein sport struts.
Obligatory stock spring comparison pics:
Rear installed:
Compressing front stock spring:
Front assembly installed:
Much better ;)
Also, for anyone interested I started a group of E30 enthusiasts in the Austin, TX area. PM me if you're interested in joining, basically we just give each other a hand with the cars, go on drives, and hopefully we'll start attending autocross events here soon. Here's a pic from last time we met up:
I created this thread to document the build progress on a neglected 1990 325i that I managed to get my greasy hands on for a steal. I'll do my best to keep things interesting and post plenty of pictures. I am very open to suggestions and advice, so any input is greatly appreciated! Quick snapshot of what has been done so far:
Build Progress:
Brake System:
- Front: Blank rotors and pads (Stoptech)
- Rear: Blank rotors (Brembo) and pads (Stoptech)
- Rebuilt calipers
- SS braided brake lines (ECS)
- 3.73 LSD w/poly diff bushing (80a)
- Reinforced front / rear subframes
- 885 head (Resurfaced, hot tanked, valves lapped)
- Head studs (ARP)
- Head gasket (Goetze)
- Mishimoto radiator
- Mischimoto 9 row oil cooler
- Oil pan baffle (Ireland Engineering)
- Oil pan w/-10AN turbo drain bung
- E24 engine mounts
- Cruise control delete
- Wiper fluid reservoir / pump delete
- Oil filter sandwich plate w/oil pressure / temp senders
- Coolant temp sender w/M14 -> 1/8NPT adapter for thermostat housing
- Ellipsoid headlights w/9012 bulbs
- IS Spoiler
- Roof / bike rack (Yakima)
- Z3 Antenna
- Full 3" with dynomax muffler
- Ceramic coated turbine housing and down pipe
- Fuel-pump retrofit (Walbro 255lph)
- Alpine head unit
- Rockford Fosgate 250W amp
- Infinity kappa speakers
- Crack free dash
- Dual trunk lights
- E36 window switches
- Nardi deep-dish wood wheel / hub
- Non-airbag check panel
- Odometer gears (Garagistic)
- Refurbished wood shift knob
- Retrofitted voltmeter
- Tan interior swap
- E82 rubber floor mats
- PODI vent gauge
- Bosch boost gauge
- Black carpet swap
- OBC phone holder
- E-brake center console cupholder (from member: cup o fanatic)
- Euroweaves (15x7) w/Yokohama Advans (205/50, 200tw)
- Camber plates (Ground Control)
- Poly rear sway bar bushings
- Reinforced front / rear sway bar mounts
- Rear strut mount reinforcement (Ireland Engineering)
- H&R race springs
- Bilstein sport struts
- Poly control arm offset bushings (95a)
- Poly subframe bushings (80a)
- Rubber RTABs
- Rear camber and toe plates (Garagistic)
- Front and rear strut bars (Garagistic)
- Z3 steering rack w/Z3 tie rods
- E21 transmission mounts and reinforcement cups
- Dual shear selector shaft (Garagistic)
- Delrin shifter bushings (Garagistic)
- Clutchmasters FX350 clutch
- Brass pivot pin
- Borg Warner S257 SX-E, T3, .82 A/R
- Mint Performance M20 manifold w/38mm wastegate provision (Owner of Mint Performance is rude, difficult to work with, and no longer produces a quality product. I do not recommend this manifold or anything from this company.)
- Tial 38mm wastegate
- Tial BOV
- Mischimoto G-Line Intercooler
- 2.5" no name intercooler piping
- Deka 60lb injectors
- StimTech vacuum distribution block
- Megasquirt PNP ECU
- Innovate LC2 wideband and controller
- MAC 3 Port boost controller
- Wasted spark conversion w/Delphi GN1203 coil packs and Quadspark igniter
- Converted AC system to R134
- Airbag module delete
- Docooler keyless entry
- Trunk tar removed
As the car currently sits:
Onto the build, enjoy!
The story:
From the Craigslist ad:
The pursuit of a project car began shortly after graduating college. After relocating for a job, I spent the first month perusing craigslist for Miatas, and BMW E30s. I wanted a handler, a car with limited assists, and a wealth of online knowledge so it seemed these two fit the bill. I soon stumbled upon a ratty looking 1990 E30 325i labeled “parts car” that lacked a price tag and had been sitting in a trailer park for the past 9 years. I setup a time to look at it and it was actually in much better shape than expected. Sure, it was covered in dings, dents, and had cracks that ran the length of the windshield, but it was rust free with just over 100,000 miles on the clock and a clean title.
The car had potential.
After some back and forth, I worked the seller down to $650 and the next weekend I pushed his lawn ornament and my new project up onto the back of a U-haul trailer and drove her home.
The Trailer Park Queen:
Front seats missing, along with other random interior bits:
Clean rear bench:
Picked over engine, it was a parts car after all:
The car had no seats, no fuses / relays, a missing valve cover, a broken rocker arm on cylinder 6, no window switches, light front end damage, and many other miscellaneous parts had been pilfered over the past 9 years that the car sat. Probably the worst part of all were the critters that inhabited the BMW; dead spiders the size half dollars littered the engine bay, brakes, and underbelly of the car and after 3 days of wrenching we realized two wasp nests the size of my fist were tucked behind the driver's side headlight. I had nightmares of my condo becoming infested with these death critters.
Broken rocker arm on the cylinder 6 intake side:
After fumigating the old car, we tore into the engine to see what we had. The plan was to remove the head and rebuild it, but that plan was quickly thwarted when we realized the camshaft was seized into place. One $500 eBay head later, and a full top end refresh with all new gaskets, the engine started going back together. We would have rebuilt the bottom end as well, but there was no signs of oil leaks, the tops of the pistons were still in good condition, and there was no scoring to be seen on the cylinder walls. I made the executive decision to slap everything back together and crossed my fingers this decision wouldn't bite me in the ass.
Fresh 885 head after being surfaced, valves lapped, and hot tanked:
The ol'girl was topless for a while:
Old head, notice the bent valves from when the timing belt snapped:
Car sat like this for a while, I swear my garage wasn't always this messy:
Installing cylinder head with ARP head studs:
Fresh timing belt, water pump, pulley, tensioner, etc.:
Starting to look like an engine again:
Just about back together:
With the engine nearly assembled, it was time to address the other issues with the car. Namely, the gas tank. At first I was hoping to simply fill it up with some fresh fuel and try to burn off the old gas, but upon inspection the gas tank was rusting bad. Since the tank was beyond repair, eBay supplied the new gas tank, and I set off to remove the drive-shaft and drop the old tank. An excessive amount of cursing and busted knuckles later, the drive-shaft came out, gas tank came down, and the new one went in. I also replaced all the fuel lines and did the walbro fuel-pump retrofit to replace the likely dead fuel pump that sat in the rusted tank.
Old Tank Out:
Finally, it was time to try to start the car after 9 years sitting dormant. Except, that didn’t go quite as planned...
With the new battery supplying juice to the electrical system, I tried starting the car. The starter motor whined, but no luck. Realizing I had just replaced nearly the entire fuel system, I started pumping the gas pedal to get fuel into the lines, and the engine began to turn over. All my excitement came to a halt when the smell of fuel hit my nose, so I jumped out of the car and immediately saw a pool of gas forming under the driver's side door. It turns out I forgot to replace a short length of rubber hose that connected the fuel filter to the fuel lines. Moral of the story? Double-check all your rubber fuel lines on any car that has sat... I thought I replaced all of them, but must have missed that one.
After replacing the rotted out fuel line, the car fired right up without issue and idled at a steady 750rpm all while totally smoking out my garage. Hearing the old engine fire up was a great feeling!
Pretty happy with my first mod:
Also installed E36 window switches to replace that ones that were unceremoniously cut out:
With the engine running again, I turned my focus to the interior. I perused Craigslist nearly every day for a month for a set of reasonable seats and other interior bits until I finally had a stroke of luck (at the expense of another's bad luck). A local wrapped his 92 vert around a tree and was parting it out. The car was garage kept nearly it's entire life so the door cards and seats were in excellent condition, so I scooped them up.
Neighbors cat helped with the install:
The passenger side door card was damaged in the accident, so I reinforced it with a couple of thin brackets and some gorilla glue:
Whoa, stock ride height!
Time for a drop, snagged some H&R race springs and E90 drop hats off Craigslist and ordered a set of Bilstein sport struts.
Obligatory stock spring comparison pics:
Rear installed:
Compressing front stock spring:
Front assembly installed:
Much better ;)
Also, for anyone interested I started a group of E30 enthusiasts in the Austin, TX area. PM me if you're interested in joining, basically we just give each other a hand with the cars, go on drives, and hopefully we'll start attending autocross events here soon. Here's a pic from last time we met up:
Since this only occurred with studs on the exhaust side, I'm thinking they must have weakened over time due to heat cycling. I temporarily hand tightened all the valve cover nuts until I could get a new set of studs, so there was a small oil leak from the valve cover. 
I mean very loose, I could pull them off with my hand. This got me paranoid so I decided to check my timing belt while I was at it and I tore off my timing belt cover.
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