1989 325i- S50 Swap Project

[KIRIEIW]

Well guys, guess I'm back at it again. I picked up this 89' 325i last weekend and already have a S50 in the garage waiting on new rod bearings, gaskets and of course my labor to get it all together. It all started out with a silver 318i sedan a co worker kicked down to me. The M42 had bad chain guides and rather then repairing them, I decided to do a M50 swap. Fast forward, l got the M50 installed/ running but just to find out its low on compression. I then did the next best option and purchased a S50 for $1500 bucks to get the 318i up and driving ASAP since I already owned all the parts needed to swap a 24v engine into a e30. Sadly, the seller failed to mention the guides took a crap on the S50 as well.. and and I found the bearings now have pre mature wear. Being pretty bummed out I put this entire 318i project on the back burner for easily 4-5 months up until a few week's ago when I found this 325i.


I think that 318i is cursed or something, no comment on that car but you can see it in the pics bellow.. I decided I'd rather own a 2 door vs this beat sedan so when I had the chance to buy the coupe I jumped on it. I robbed a few small parts off the 318i (such as the 318i "hub cap" wheels due to having newer non dry rotted tires). I washed the 325i for the first time in maybe 7 years this afternoon.. Fingers crossed the guy interested in my 318i picks it up tomorrow.


And for those interested in a little info on the 325i, its a one owner car originally sold at Alison BMW in Mountain View, CA in 1989. The guy I bought it off of purchased it brand new off the lot, I honestly can't believe he held onto it all these years. It has a blown head gasket (still has the original 6 point cylinder head bolts at 212,XXX miles!). Moss growing all over the car, but solid car over all. All matching VIN tags (really the main reason I bought it), original paint but sun faded, rip free tan comfort interior. Nice guy, I told him I'd have to visit him again once I got the car running.



Anyways here are a few pics of where I found the car parked. The other pics are back at my house and the last picture is all 5 shit box's snapped in one pic..

[KIRIEIW]

Few more pictures, here's the day I picked up the S50. It's currently on a stand now waiting on a few parts to arrive from FCPeuro for it. I think the plan for the build is to first reseal the engine and once that's done, I'll pull the M20 from the car. I'm hoping to finish all this by March but we shall see..


Today I mostly focused on cosmetics. I washed the car once more and polished out the paint the best that I could. Definitely needs a full repaint at some point but the sides of the car came out great, along with the trunk lid. The roof and hood are a little faded from the CA sun but for now it'll do. The patina is growing on me somewhat, it's getting a bit hard these days to find a e30 with all original paint.


Anyways, onto the pics;

[mike.bmw]

I've enjoyed reading your last 2 S50 swap threads. Looking forward to this one!

You're going to S50 swap a sedan next, right? Then you'll have the S50 vert, touring (I know, not an e30), 2 door coupe, and a 4 door sedan.

[wworm]

did that 318i get sold?

How many s50 cars will you have after this?! lolol

[2mAn]

What are your plans to deal with the paint? Mine has some similar 'sun-burns' on the original paint so Im hoping to keep it as good as possible for as long as possible

[968Reckless]

Besides weekly waxes i think the only option is a respray.

[KIRIEIW]

Haha thanks guys, ya I've got way too many S50 powered cars now.. I've got problems. Speaking of problems though, I cleared up some space/ parking and sold the 318i on Monday.. but then Tuesday came along. Being a new day with some cash in my pocket now, I decided the best thing I could do with the few hundred bucks I got from selling the 318i would be to buy another e30.. I present to you, a rusty POS 325iS.

Impulse buy, but I'm super glad I bought it now looking back. I think the plan is to transfer over all the iS bits (Map Light mirror, spoiler, sport seats, Mtech 1 steering wheel, ect.) to this car and either sell the 325iS as a runner (wasn't running when I picked it up yesterday, but just got it running this afternoon) or just pull the M20/ 5 speed trans/ LSD and save it for another future project and part out the 325iS.


Oh! And about the paint. I think the best thing I can do is like 968Reckless said, just keep the paint polished up and hope it doesn't get any worse.


Anyways guys, that's it for now..

[jeenyus]

this should be a good time. Crazy how many cars you have out front. Are you worried about having that many car out front of your house, not locked up? Do your neighbors just love you?

[KIRIEIW]

this should be a good time. Crazy how many cars you have out front. Are you worried about having that many car out front of your house, not locked up? Do your neighbors just love you?

Lol I wish I had a garage, specifically for the Mtech. Ya.. the neighbors are a hit or miss.. A few will walk over and check in on progress but most I'm sure aren't thrilled seeing all these cars parked out front of my house, sometimes for week's such as the e36 M3 project. I try to do the best I can though and keep at least two in the driveway and two out front of the house. This way at least they're on my side of the street!

[jeenyus]

Lol I wish I had a garage, specifically for the Mtech. Ya.. the neighbors are a hit or miss.. A few will walk over and check in on progress but most I'm sure aren't thrilled seeing all these cars parked out front of my house, sometimes for week's such as the e36 M3 project. I try to do the best I can though and keep at least two in the driveway and two out front of the house. This way at least they're on my side of the street!

I completely understand this. I'm glad you've got a system. I can't do more than 1 out front.

[KIRIEIW]

Ok guys so got some work done over the weekend. I had my grandfather lend me a hand with this arts & crafts project, I pulled the sport seats from the 325iS (plan to install them in the 325i) and replaced the ripped leather bolsters with some good used replacement OE leather bolsters.

I still need to have my dad weld the broken seat bracket (the typical spot these always break at, causing the seat to lean). My grandpa was able to fix the foam, I was able to hog ring the bolsters back in place and my Dad will weld the broken seat bracket tab. These sport seats are taking the entire family to fix up!





I've done a few seat mat sensor jobs at work on the newer e90's/ e83's, guess the skill's learned from those really started to pay off haha.

[jeenyus]

that's awesome! gettin' ol gramps in on the project was probably a great experience.

[vasilis m3]

Subscribed!

[KIRIEIW]

Updates.. so I sold the 325iS on Sunday. Nice guy came out from Santa Cruz, CA to come pick the car up. Really chill dude, I think he'll have his fun with the car. I told him to buy a Bentley service manual because it should prove to be super helpful if he plans to keep the car on the road for a while.

Anyways I got everything I wanted off the 325iS before selling it, four parts to be exact. I grabbed the sport seats, the map light mirror and the premium sound speakers plus gave the new owner the option of a Mtech 1 steering wheel or base model 4 spoke wheel.. Surprisingly he liked the 4 spoke more so I got to keep the Mtech 1 wheel!

All in all, the comfort seats were in super good shape that I installed and he was just happy to find a running/ driving 5 speed e30 in the year 2020 for the cheap price of $1100 bucks that I sold it for.



Here's how the 325iS looked when I sold it with comfort seats (except it had a 4 spoke steering wheel because he liked that better then the Mtech 1). I gave him the 4 spoke wheel from this 325i coupe build.









Vacuumed the carpets for the first time in many years on the 325i..











The premium sound speakers from the 325iS. Tweeters already installed in the 325i.










Map Light mirror "installed"

[KIRIEIW]

Also I'm sure someone will ask why I "parted out a 325iS and kept a 325i". This is why the car was listed up as a parts car, under the auto parts section on Craigslist. Yes, the black duck tape is covering up a hole in the roof. You could literally touch the headliner once the tape was removed.

It's a shame though because the car is 100% rust free everywhere else. Even the oil pan gasket was done two years ago with the headgasket and didn't leak a drop of oil!