I acquired Project Ilse (eel-say) May 2022, after selling my glorious E91 which I loved a lot, but the E30 was something I always wanted to tinker with. So as soon as I saw the car, I had to buy it.
1989 325i Sedan, Automatic (not anymore), ~280k kms, bone stock. All things considered, for an Southern Ontario car (nasty rust belt) and general condition I got her for a good deal, albeit a bit overpriced for a slushbox sedan but the options are pretty limited here (being a realtively broke 20-ish year old).
Here's a pic of the ol' E91 (Project Ida), had it for about 4 months before I came across the E30, so I had to sell it. Plus bonus pic of my dream garage that I had too soon :(
Did a little photoshoot with Ilse a couple days after I picked her up.
I figured I'd do some work on the car before posting on here and not leaving you people hanging. It's still in the mechanical restoration stage so I'm not paying attention to the horribly scratched paint job I currently have.
Maintenance + Mechanical Stuff So Far
June 2022 - CLEANING THE INTERIOR.
It definitely wasn't the cleanest so I ripped out all the seats and gave the carpet + seats a thorough vacuum and some carpet cleaner too. PO also had some red LED light strips taped throughout the car, so I had to get rid of that.
July 2022 - Radio/Cluster + Valve Cover
Gas gauge was being a bit funky so I had to clean the usual grounds behind the gauges. Valve cover was dripping oil onto the exhaust manifold so I had to swap that out too.
August 2022 - First Roadtrip!
Took her on her first big road trip, around 1200 km (~750 miles)! Nearing the end of the trip the car started sputtering and dying under load, so I needed to fix that immediately. After I got back it turned out to be a crappy unnamed fuel pump, I installed a brand new Bosch unit + a new Mahle fuel filter.
September 2022 - Oil Leak!
Noticed the oil pan was leaking from the rear end. Oh no! Anyways.
I also took out the front bumper to check the valance for any rust, to clean it and to better align it since that was bothering me since I purchased the car.
October 2022 - Prepping For Surgery!
After months of scouring and finally finding a manual trans, I got one out of another 325i with about 215k kms (with a weird DIY short shifter) and only a clutch pedal.
Started disassembling the old stock shifter linkage and transplanted some new parts. Sourced a Z3 1.9 shift lever (not pictured) locally and got a Garagistic shifter rebuild kit.
Later In October 2022 - Time For Surgery!
I went into the swap knowing it was gonna be a long one because I only had a couple hours after work each day + some time on weekends. And boy am I glad I did.
Taking out the auto trans//driveshaft was a huge pain, exhaust wasn't too bad since I used some PB blaster a couple days before starting. Had to bring out the big guns for the rear driveshaft bolts, heat is a godsend.
The starter was actually the easiest part of the job for me, couple of extensions and u-joint sockets, it was out. After a couple days of fighting with the trans bolts I finally got the torque converter + trans out. Turns out the last bell housing bolt was actually a 16mm e-torx and not a 14mm e-torx. 8 hours spent on that.
Next was the pedal assembly! Now I only got the clutch pedal part of it so I had to make do with the auto brake pedal. A couple minutes with the angle grinder and I was good to go! Mildly proud of that cut. I also got the pedal in without removing the full pedal assembly bracket as well with some struggle.
A day or so later I tackled putting the actual transmission in which was not fun without a clutch alignment tool. I really struggled to get it in the last inch (heh) but ultimately didn't get it fully in. I couldn't get my hands on an alignment tool since I reuse the clutch and I needed the car done by the end of the day so I had to finish it no matter what.
Thankfully e30zone gave me a couple ideas. I got a 6" 3/8 extension, the end fit perfectly in the pilot bearing, and then got 4 thick washers in and kept wrapping it until it filled the clutch plate hole perfectly (or close). And it worked!
And on late October night, it was done!! Filled her up with some transmission fluid and did the wiring using a quick video on YouTube where no splicing was required.
A couple days later I gave her a mildly thorough wash and a new rubber insulation boot.
Next Steps
Getting Ilse ready for winter...
1989 325i Sedan, Automatic (not anymore), ~280k kms, bone stock. All things considered, for an Southern Ontario car (nasty rust belt) and general condition I got her for a good deal, albeit a bit overpriced for a slushbox sedan but the options are pretty limited here (being a realtively broke 20-ish year old).
Here's a pic of the ol' E91 (Project Ida), had it for about 4 months before I came across the E30, so I had to sell it. Plus bonus pic of my dream garage that I had too soon :(
Did a little photoshoot with Ilse a couple days after I picked her up.
I figured I'd do some work on the car before posting on here and not leaving you people hanging. It's still in the mechanical restoration stage so I'm not paying attention to the horribly scratched paint job I currently have.
Maintenance + Mechanical Stuff So Far
June 2022 - CLEANING THE INTERIOR.
It definitely wasn't the cleanest so I ripped out all the seats and gave the carpet + seats a thorough vacuum and some carpet cleaner too. PO also had some red LED light strips taped throughout the car, so I had to get rid of that.
July 2022 - Radio/Cluster + Valve Cover
Gas gauge was being a bit funky so I had to clean the usual grounds behind the gauges. Valve cover was dripping oil onto the exhaust manifold so I had to swap that out too.
August 2022 - First Roadtrip!
Took her on her first big road trip, around 1200 km (~750 miles)! Nearing the end of the trip the car started sputtering and dying under load, so I needed to fix that immediately. After I got back it turned out to be a crappy unnamed fuel pump, I installed a brand new Bosch unit + a new Mahle fuel filter.
September 2022 - Oil Leak!
Noticed the oil pan was leaking from the rear end. Oh no! Anyways.
I also took out the front bumper to check the valance for any rust, to clean it and to better align it since that was bothering me since I purchased the car.
October 2022 - Prepping For Surgery!
After months of scouring and finally finding a manual trans, I got one out of another 325i with about 215k kms (with a weird DIY short shifter) and only a clutch pedal.
Started disassembling the old stock shifter linkage and transplanted some new parts. Sourced a Z3 1.9 shift lever (not pictured) locally and got a Garagistic shifter rebuild kit.
Later In October 2022 - Time For Surgery!
I went into the swap knowing it was gonna be a long one because I only had a couple hours after work each day + some time on weekends. And boy am I glad I did.
Taking out the auto trans//driveshaft was a huge pain, exhaust wasn't too bad since I used some PB blaster a couple days before starting. Had to bring out the big guns for the rear driveshaft bolts, heat is a godsend.
The starter was actually the easiest part of the job for me, couple of extensions and u-joint sockets, it was out. After a couple days of fighting with the trans bolts I finally got the torque converter + trans out. Turns out the last bell housing bolt was actually a 16mm e-torx and not a 14mm e-torx. 8 hours spent on that.
Next was the pedal assembly! Now I only got the clutch pedal part of it so I had to make do with the auto brake pedal. A couple minutes with the angle grinder and I was good to go! Mildly proud of that cut. I also got the pedal in without removing the full pedal assembly bracket as well with some struggle.
A day or so later I tackled putting the actual transmission in which was not fun without a clutch alignment tool. I really struggled to get it in the last inch (heh) but ultimately didn't get it fully in. I couldn't get my hands on an alignment tool since I reuse the clutch and I needed the car done by the end of the day so I had to finish it no matter what.
Thankfully e30zone gave me a couple ideas. I got a 6" 3/8 extension, the end fit perfectly in the pilot bearing, and then got 4 thick washers in and kept wrapping it until it filled the clutch plate hole perfectly (or close). And it worked!
And on late October night, it was done!! Filled her up with some transmission fluid and did the wiring using a quick video on YouTube where no splicing was required.
A couple days later I gave her a mildly thorough wash and a new rubber insulation boot.
Next Steps
Getting Ilse ready for winter...
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