1988 Alpine White Convertible Build

[KIRIEIW]

nice find, glad she is getting some love. Are you keeping it stock?

Right now I'm keeping my eyes out for some used lowering springs actually. I already have new control arm's and bushings for the car (not in these pics), and had ordered a set of wheels a few days ago but they called me back the next day saying there NLA. I really don't want to do the ESM 002 thing like everyone else, maybe I should have bought those $550 euroweaves off Craigslist last week..

great find. Cleaned up super nice.

Thanks!

[KIRIEIW]

I got lucky and found a complete late model valance at the junk yard three weeks ago, I actually bought it before buying the car, but I had high hope's that she'd eventually make the decision to sell. It's going to need paint but besides that everything there, lip, fog lights, oil cooler grill, ect. Barely fit in my car to bring it home!



Here's a picture of my 87' coupe with one mounted, it's really a must have in my book for early models

[KIRIEIW]

Got the new timing belt in today, along with a few other random parts. The belt looked brand new believe it or not, it would have been fine for quite a while longer I'd say but whats the point on taking a chance. The sticker on the car said it was last replaced in 2004 at 147k miles, and the car barely has 150k now so really the only reason for changing it was the age factor. Everything went pretty smoothly this time around, but I did have two random visitors stop by the house when I was working, they both swung by to see how I was doing with the new project. The biggest problem I ran into was the head of a bolt snapped when I was loosing it from throttle body heater housing. I'll need to order a new one at work but I successfully removed it with vice grips and penetrating fluid. I still need to drain the old gas tomorrow, replace spark plugs, oil change, and I also want to paint the valve cover. I'm sure I'll end up doing much more then that but those are the few planed plans I have.

Pics of today!



13 year old timing belt:





New Belt 8/20/16



Thermostat replacement:







Brand new belts:







New OEM Throttle Body Gasket, also cleaned the ICV and Throttle body.


Anddd the bolt head that snapped:





This hose was somewhat a challenge to replace, you can see the hose clamp better in the second pic:

[KIRIEIW]

Got some more work done today, I had hopes of starting and driving the car but it just quite didn't happen. It was close though, I was able to crank the car over but it wouldn't start. I'm 99% sure its the fuel pump because when you jump the pins where the relay goes I couldn't hear the pump running.

So today I got a new fuel fuel filter in, replaced a fuel line that was leaking, replaced the intake boot and put everything in the engine bay back together from yesterday, oil change, painted the valve cover, valve cover gasket/ rocker plugs and replaced the spark plugs (plus I'm sure I'm forgetting to mention a few other things).

By far the most challenging part of the day was the oil filter, man that thing was stuck on tight! I tried 3 different filter wrenches until it finally budged with a leverage bar. I thought forsure it was just going to collapse because the filer wrench was in the center of the filter and while it did squish it, it broke it loose.

Because the car sat so long, I decided it would be a good idea to pour a quart of oil all over the valve train when I had the valve cover off for paint. After that I poured the rest of the oil in and since the engine only cranks at what, 300 RPMS? I just let the oil pump do its thing and pump oil threw out the rest of the engine. Sounds really healthy cranking, I'm sure once I replace the fuel pump it's going to run great.


Pics of today;





Spark plugs very well could have been the original ones, they say "BMW"





Valve train is surprisingly clean, as for the underside of the valve cover I was shocked.. It must have been cleaned at some point that's just way to clean!













Old fuel filter and fuel line replacement





And the new filter in with new fuel line



Replace the valve cover gasket and rocker plugs



And once the paint drys completely I'll be sanding down the raised lines and "BMW" for a nice silver aluminum finish

[Alpina]

Great work

[KIRIEIW]

Just diagnosed the fuel pump to be bad. I got my multi meter out and measured 12v power at the connector leading into the pump, which is telling me the cars giving the pump power yet the pump's still not doing it's job. I ohm'd the pump out and it did have a complete circuit, but there was high resistance. The pump wasn't looking too pretty anyways, it was still the original one which would make it 28 years old now.

Got the new one on order, hopefully it'll be here shortly within the week!

[htseng]

1988 Alpine White Convertible Build



Replace the gasket on the throttle body heater. Its a common source of failure. It will just suddenly start leaking coolant on you. I also replaced the cover with the two hoses as once i got it off i found some corrosion. I also figures you prob know this. Just saw how many previous e30s you've owned


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[KIRIEIW]

1988 Alpine White Convertible Build

Replace the gasket on the throttle body heater. Its a common source of failure. It will just suddenly start leaking coolant on you. I also replaced the cover with the two hoses as once i got it off i found some corrosion. I also figures you prob know this. Just saw how many previous e30s you've owned


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Actually that bolt snapped while being removed, and the only reason I was removing it was to replace the gasket. New gaskets already in the car. Believe me, it's failed randomly before on me and I had to bypass it by connecting the two hoses with a piece of tubing I had in my glovebox to make it home.. This was a while back on my Mtech 2, not a fun afternoon. Since then it's always one of the first pieces I replace while doing maintenance on a new e30. Thanks for the tip though! I'm sure others will find it helpful.



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[CorvallisBMW]

Great work! Glad to see this car being rescued :)

[KIRIEIW]

Thanks guys! I'm also glad to see this car getting rescued, I'm 100% sure if she would have donated it it would have ended up at a local junk yard just cause of the fact it has back fee's, and the more obvious reason's, it didn't run and the old gas smelt really bad.

Today was a real achievement, the car now starts and runs! For the first time in 9 years, the engine's been turned over, fuel injectors have been fired, and spark plugs have sparked. Not only that but I drove it forward in my driveway 8 feet to re-park it. It still needs a lot of work, the idle was hesitant and wanted to stall but it's a champ and kept on idling.

I drained all 6 gallons that where in the tank and re filled the car up with 2 gallons of fresh gas to make it to the gas station, which I'll most likely do tomorrow if I can get it running a bit better. Plans for tomorrow are to install a set of brand new rebuilt fuel injectors my buddy Robby traded me for a set of spark plug wires, and bleed the cooling system plus other various things.

AND to top it all off, my wheels came today. I wasn't going to do it, but I settled on a set of ESM 002's. The guys over at 2Kracing (which I'd never heard of before a google search on looking for new wheels) gave me a un believable price I couldn't pass up. To make a long story short they basically price matched a set of cheaper wheels that I originally wanted to order but no longer sold.

Onto the crappy video of the second start and pics of the wheels. I'll be holding off tires until labor day which is only a week or so away (should be a sale Americas Tires told me over the phone) and will be buying some OEM roundel's at work for the center caps.

Click on the pic bellow for video..

Untitled by Kevin O'Brien, on Flickr

[KIRIEIW]

Well today was stressful but I got a couple things done. First off I replaced the fuel injectors. Man, what a pain in the ass I've never had this much trouble doing injectors on a M20 ever. Worst part of it all is I'm still not finished, I have a fuel leak right around fuel injector #1 I just cant pin point. The injectors came with new O rings, but to be extra sure the leak wasn't coming from the injector O Rings I pulled #1 and replaced them with two brand new spares I had laying around the house, but the leak still remains.

Next I did the fuel level sensor, but of course it didn't want to go in most likely because the fuel pump is aftermarket. All I can say is I hope the level sensor is in working order cause its going to be a pain to remove.

Lastly I pulled the damn radiator and some hoses to figure out where a squeaking noise was coming from. Turns out the water pump pulley is making contact with the harmonic balancer. I removed the balancer just to double check it was aligned with the pin hole, and it is. I have no idea if the water pump pulley is bent, or if this aftermarket German water pump's shaft is too short but I'll figure it out.. eventuality.

And the only real thing I'd call successful today, I diagnosed why the car's idle was so bad. I had noticed the day I bought the car someone messed with the "anti tamper proof" cap on the mass airflow sensor, so one of the first things that came to mind when I got the car started and ran like crap was vacuum leaks, ICV, or the MAF. I decided to start with the MAF and swapped a known working one from my 87' coupe into the convertible and sure enough that was the problem. Looks like I'll be needing to make a trip to the junkyard soon to buy a used MAF.

[KIRIEIW]

Well I got the car in my name yesterday at the DMV, I still need to get it smog'd before they send me a title but once it's running smoothly and I drive it around a bit I'll bring it to a smog station.

Today I bought new tires (of course they wouldn't be in stock so they had to order them, BF Goodrich G-Sports) a new battery, and did a little more diagnosing on what exactly is making contact with the Harmonic Balancer. I had a extra water pump pulley so I swapped it out (you could see the old pulley bounding in/outward), but something's still hitting. Turns out it looks like the timing cover may be the issue, I can now see a mark forming on the backside of the Harmonic Ballancer. Either the mechanic before me was a hack and bent something, or I fucked up for the first time working on a M20. I didn't have much time to dig around but I will tomorrow.

I did get a chance to drive the car over to the gas station today, ran pretty crappy and was hesitant at time's, but didn't stall out on me. Possibly the TPS is what I'm thinking, I'll need to test it with a DVOM tomorrow.

[KIRIEIW]

So I figured out what/ why the Harmonic Balancer was making contact with something this afternoon. It was a stupid mistake on my part and I'm not quite sure how I messed up, but the stud that the timing belt tensioner pulley pivots on was installed backwards. Luckily it only set me back about a hours work, I was surprised how fast I got done actually. It started right up with no noises, but I smelt a slight whiff of gas and sure enough the fuel line that goes from the Fuel pressure regulator to a plastic nipple further down had a ton of cracks in it and had a slight seep. I'll need to look at all the fuel hoses once more carefully but non of the others have cracks forming as far as I can tell.

Then I went a head and installed my new Bosch battery. Pep boys is having a online only sale at 30% off most items (funny enough they had some kind of battery deal last year when I bought one) so I ended up getting $50 bucks off, $130.29 out the door which isn't that bad I suppose. Trick is to purchase it online and select local pick up in store.

I also replace the door handle that opens the tonneau cover, it was cracked and I had a spare laying around. After that I basically just conditioned all the seats once more and put the interior back in along with cleaning the door panels and stuff, plus I replaced the BMW roundels and rebuilt the power antenna.

Pics of this afternoon,








Stud installed backwards,


Correctly installed with the flat portion facing outward


















Brand new strait from the dealership

[rustneversleeps]

Wow great job..man i love this site to learn stuff like this..Not i don't know how to tinker but to learn the in and out of my new old dream car..
You have yourself a nice fine 325..

[KIRIEIW]

Well today was a slow lazy day, but I did get a few things done. First off, I installed the power antenna I rebuild last night, luckily the motor and gears where still in great shape so all it needed was a new mast. Next I took off the 3rd brake light and prepared it for paint. I ordered the paint from paintscratch.com, it was a near perfect match. I'm disappointed though because it took one whole can to fully cover the 3rd brake light, I bought two additional cans assuming it would be enough to paint my front valance but seeing that I needed a whole can to paint the brake light I doubt it'll be enough. The other disappointment is its a really dull white when it dries, I needed to use rubbing compound and various polish's to get it shinny which wasn't a huge deal I guess.

Besides that I really didn't do much, I cleaned the interior a bit more and drove it around the neighborhood.








Should have taken a before pic but here's the day I picked the car up, you can see the paint peal on the 3rd brake light. It was pealing all over, not just that one side you can see in the pic