80k 325i Convertible Barn Find "Sun Machine"

[SSE30]

Oh boy look at that engine bay. Nice find dude.

[dadsbmw]

Tomorrow I'm going in to get the car in my name, and possibly a new set of plates.

Aww dont get new plates, then you wont be munchin' on sun anymore!

[2mAn]

Keep those old plates! If not, lmk I would be interested in buying the plates

[Das Delfin]

Aww dont get new plates, then you wont be munchin' on sun anymore!

Exactly what I saw too

[KIRIEIW]

^I know this will be the first e30 engine bay I don't need to scrub down! I'm amazed by that. As for the plate's, I went into AAA to get the car in my name and they asked me to surrender the plates, I'm not sure if your forced to surrender them when you buy a used car with personalized plates? Anyways, I do still have them and when I go back in after smog to get the reg sticker, I'm going to ask if I'm forced to surrender them. I actually kinda like them now and the previous owners definitely don't need them.

Just made the parts order last night, updates coming soon!

[ncsubowen]

I know, your right. I just figured since they've been out of the sun/ UV light I could possibly get lucky and use them but it's definitely not the best choice. Last thing I want is a chunk of tire to come loose and hit the paint at high speeds, or worse loose control of the car.


Thanks everyone, bout to order a ton of parts tonight to get this thing up to date on maintenance. Tomorrow I'm going in to get the car in my name, and possibly a new set of plates.

Let me illustrate the danger of driving on old tires. My passenger rear tire blew out as I was on the way to have new tires mounted, and as a result my ~70k mile one owner delphin garage buy was 100% totaled.




Don't let this happen to your beautiful new vert.

[2mAn]

^I know this will be the first e30 engine bay I don't need to scrub down! I'm amazed by that. As for the plate's, I went into AAA to get the car in my name and they asked me to surrender the plates, I'm not sure if your forced to surrender them when you buy a used car with personalized plates? Anyways, I do still have them and when I go back in after smog to get the reg sticker, I'm going to ask if I'm forced to surrender them. I actually kinda like them now and the previous owners definitely don't need them.

Just made the parts order last night, updates coming soon!

I dont think you are forced to surrender them, in fact I would try to maintain them and keep it rolling with the car. I would ask a few hypothetical ?s Previous owner wanted to keep them so I have nothing to surrender, NBD? IF I can get the previous owner to leave them on the car and I have both, can I continue using them for the car? I think the answer is yes in both cases.

I purchased a custom CA plate that reads 28OOFUN from a 2800CS owner who took a car out of CA to WA, its the older style plate that was stamped in the mid 80s. I know only having one will make it impossible to legitimately register them to my car, they would be fun to throw on for a show or track day, you know, off-road events

I think the DMVs main concern is that you have both plates, and if you do you should be able to continue using them.

[kronus]

^I know this will be the first e30 engine bay I don't need to scrub down! I'm amazed by that. As for the plate's, I went into AAA to get the car in my name and they asked me to surrender the plates, I'm not sure if your forced to surrender them when you buy a used car with personalized plates? Anyways, I do still have them and when I go back in after smog to get the reg sticker, I'm going to ask if I'm forced to surrender them. I actually kinda like them now and the previous owners definitely don't need them.

Just made the parts order last night, updates coming soon!

the previous owner needs to sign a form saying they're deeding them to you. you can look up what form this is.

(p.s. "they" can also "sign" it)

[KIRIEIW]

Let me illustrate the danger of driving on old tires. My passenger rear tire blew out as I was on the way to have new tires mounted, and as a result my ~70k mile one owner delphin garage buy was 100% totaled.


Don't let this happen to your beautiful new vert.

Jesus, I'm sorry for your loss. Definitely going to take the advice here and get some new tires. Seems like the only tires you can buy for 14's anymore sadly are crappy Chinese all seasons, I guess it's just a cruiser anyways.

the previous owner needs to sign a form saying they're deeding them to you. you can look up what form this is.

Appreciate the info, I knew it had to be something along the lines of this. Actually they wanted me to surrender them when I went into AAA for registration but luckily I told them I never received them with the sale. I learned from the last car I had, if you want new plates and surrender your old ones they charge you $20, but tell them you never received plates with the car and its free. I'm sure the previous owner could careless if I reuse these, they'll never be buying a BMW, nor convertible again.


Back to the mechanical side of things though, I received my first box of parts. I planned on pulling the drain plug in the gas tank this weekend but after reading around here it looks like its a easy plug to strip, and jumping the fuel pump relay/ putting the hose in a tank is the better way to get the old gas out. Last time I did this in a friends e30 we syphoned it out from under the rear seat but it took a really long time. All I know is one way or another this crap has to come out, and I have no idea what I'll be doing with over 3/4 tank of bad gas.

[ncsubowen]

Jesus, I'm sorry for your loss. Definitely going to take the advice here and get some new tires. Seems like the only tires you can buy for 14's anymore sadly are crappy Chinese all seasons, I guess it's just a cruiser anyways.



Appreciate the info, I knew it had to be something along the lines of this. Actually they wanted me to surrender them when I went into AAA for registration but luckily I told them I never received them with the sale. I learned from the last car I had, if you want new plates and surrender your old ones they charge you $20, but tell them you never received plates with the car and its free. I'm sure the previous owner could careless if I reuse these, they'll never be buying a BMW, nor convertible again.


Back to the mechanical side of things though, I received my first box of parts. I planned on pulling the drain plug in the gas tank this weekend but after reading around here it looks like its a easy plug to strip, and jumping the fuel pump relay/ putting the hose in a tank is the better way to get the old gas out. Last time I did this in a friends e30 we syphoned it out from under the rear seat but it took a really long time. All I know is one way or another this crap has to come out, and I have no idea what I'll be doing with over 3/4 tank of bad gas.

My own fault, I should definitely have known better, and at the end of the day insurance paid out close to 3k more than I paid for the car. Just a warning.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[KIRIEIW]

I did a TON of work today, so much that I installed just about every single part I ordered except for spark plugs and the fuel filter!

Timing belts in, I was surprised by the condition of the belt I removed. There was a little cracking, but it definitely would have made the 94 mile drive back to my house but all in all the tow was free and it kept my piece of mind.

The water pump now, the original water pump was still installed on the car. That sucker was begging to be replaced, still had the original BMW logo stamped on it along with a part number.

Besides that I got in all the new coolant hoses, new thermostat, the throttle body coolant gasket (very common to fail, replace yours if you haven't already!), new O rings for the transmission lines into the radiator, new breather hose, cleaned the idle control valve (not very dirty, but it had to come off to get to some fasteners) air filter, and a full coolant flush (removed the block drain plug, back flushed radiator,ect). The car currently only has water in it, I plan to drive around for the next few days like this then drain the water for one last flush, and put in OEM BMW Blue coolant with distilled water. There was a little sentiment I was wasn't very thrilled about but I got just about everything out now.

I found a few thing's while I was digging around which I'm quite happy about though. The steering rack, power steering pump, AND alternator all have rebuilt/ re manufactured stickers!

I also drained out the old gas, 10 gallons to be exact. I did it the easy way, I removed the line going into the fuel pressure regulator, clamped on a hose that could reach one of the two 5 gal. empty gas tanks I had lying around, and jumped pins 30 and 87 with the ignition on. Worked beautifully, there's about a gallon left in the car's tank which will allow me to drive over to the nearest gas station to put in a full tank of good fresh gas. I also still need to do my oil change which maybe I'll have time for tomorrow. Onto the many pic's I took this afternoon. I worked from just a little past 11am to 7.30pm.











Tip: Cut the fingers off disposable gloves to cover lines you don't want dirt entering into.




TDC Markings, viewed threw the kidney grills

[KIRIEIW]

The very important plastic cover in place, protecting your oil sensor and CPS from getting chewed up by the pulleys

[shameson]

Man I wish my bay and m20 looked that clean... I snagged a 91k mile '92 vert a few weeks ago and under the hood its not nearly that clean.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Car is so clean. You could of just done what I did to drain the fuel.. Rip a hole in the tank by loading it on to a trailer just mm from the drain plug... that friggin sucked

[KIRIEIW]

^Thank guys, and ThatOneEuroE30 I feel like I missed that part in your build thread, totally would have remembered something like that haha. Man dude when your done with that car it's going to be one bad ass ride, daily driver worthy if needed.


So today I got basically everything else I wanted to get done, except for the transmission fluid and filter change. I started off by doing a well needed oil and filter change, I just browsed the forums for 30min while I waited for most of the oil to drip out. Quick tip, always remove the oil cap while doing a oil change. I can't tell you how many time's I've seen people leaving the caps on, you need gravity to push the oil out! I can't remember which BMW model it is (I'm pretty sure its the new N63) if you don't remove the oil cap/ filter while draining the oil, up to a quart of dirty oil can basically get "stuck" in the system. As soon as you remove the oil filter/ cap you guessed it, all that old oil rush's to the pan.

Next I did the spark plugs, they where in great shape and didn't need to be changed but because I already bought new ones.. The new ones went in. Quick 10min job no big deal.

Lastly, I drove over to my Dad's house so he could help me bleed the brakes. They felt so spongy and sure enough, both rear calipers where seized. A couple pumps of the brake peddle with the bleeder valve off and fluid finally shot out. Man after bleeding the system they feel great. No complaints, feel identical to the last automatic convertible I sold just recently to make room for this one.

Bedside's that I changed the wheels to what the factory should have put on the car, 15" euroweaves. I need to get the tires balanced eventually, they vibrate on the freeway slightly since day one of mounting new tires. I also washed the car for the first time, plus put in some e84 floor mats I found in a dumpster at work which fit surprisingly well.

Edit: Also found out the Electric top does in fact work still, but needs a little help folding down. Video at the bottom. Also the AC still works :shock:

Onto the pics;
















The sticker fell off of the tool kit when I was viewing the car the day I bought it, re glued it back on.