325e turbo / fun project

[Cyrix2k]

I bought this 1985 325e last week for $500 delivered, not running. The seller told me the car stopped running a year and a half ago and he just let it sit. A little bit of troubleshooting found the main relay to be bad, so I jumped it and the car fired up. I bought a new main relay, throttle body boot, ICV line, CSB, and an oil filter which all arrived yesterday. I just finished installing everything but the CSB & oil filter and the car runs GREAT. It idles VERY smoothly and pulls fine. I really can't believe the car runs so well considering it hasn't been run in a very long time. Now to do the CSB tomorrow and change the oil.

On to what we did today:


Interior mostly intact


Rust free trunk, but anti-freeze in the bottom? Lol. Also, heavy sound deadening removed.


My friend goofing around with the seats out


No seats & I broke the center console. Oops.


Carpet out


Sound deadening removed. The car seems pretty solid overall, little rust with the exception of that rear fender. All you guys from texas/out west, shut it. I hate all of you :p


Seats back in, door cards removed (rear is in decent shape, are they worth anything? Also saved back seat and some assorted trim)


I thought this shot was cool. Check control works and will be staying; the P.O. started taking out the headliner or something? I need to reattach the rearview mirror too.


The bimmers (e36 vert in the garage too)


Crap that isn't weighing my car down any longer


Finally, turbo


And tomorrow will see more work done. I need to do the timing belt next week when I get the parts. This car will be getting megasquirt EFI installed in the near future in preparation for boost! Progress will depend greatly on the amount of money I have :)

[structured]

You're pretty cool for a redneck.











...kidding. I've got a bunch of family in MD, love the place. Keep posting progress!

[Cyrix2k]

lol, my dad wouldn't let me have the garage :( I *will* be making use of it tomorrow though. It's nice having to space to actually work on the car; I'd have a hard time doing this in baltimore.

[Kershaw]

really cool project. good luck.

[KillaCam]

lol, my dad wouldn't let me have the garage :( I *will* be making use of it tomorrow though. It's nice having to space to actually work on the car; I'd have a hard time doing this in baltimore.

weather fail!
do a head swap first then boost

[ttrousdell]

looking good dude. guess your goin to turbo the 2.7 motor. was there any problems start up considering that fuel was sitting so long. did the prev owner use stabil.

[Cyrix2k]

weather fail!
do a head swap first then boost

I was planning on it until I did some research on the turbo. The turbo was given to me and it appears to be off a volvo and is quite small. It would run out of steam very quickly at high rpms, so I'm going to get the stand alone ecu up and running, turbo it (but build everything to handle a proper turbo), then swap the i head over & probably pick up a garrett GT35R. My goal is 300-400 whp when I'm done.

[Cyrix2k]

looking good dude. guess your goin to turbo the 2.7 motor. was there any problems start up considering that fuel was sitting so long. did the prev owner use stabil.

nope, it fired right up. The car had a rough idle for a few minutes and no power steering. I took it for a run up the street, then just let it idle. Everything smoothed out and the power steering came back (wtf?). It runs like a top now. No stabil as far as I can tell.

[xwill112x]

nope, it fired right up. The car had a rough idle for a few minutes and no power steering. I took it for a run up the street, then just let it idle. Everything smoothed out and the power steering came back (wtf?).

after sitting for a while, do a full lock to full lock to circulate the powersteering fluid. or a few mins of driving will do it as well.

[Cyrix2k]

after sitting for a while, do a full lock to full lock to circulate the powersteering fluid. or a few mins of driving will do it as well.

Cool. I didn't know that.

Update for today: CSB was replaced and I just cut the exhaust off behind the rear O2. I need to fabricate new exhaust for the turbo anyway (3" as that's the size exhaust tubing I have laying around). Car had the factory cat!

I can't believe someone wrapped the drive shaft with duct tape instead of just replacing the CSB. WTF?


The remnants of the old CSB. This thing was BAD. I just ripped that bracket off prior to taking the earlier photo... that shouldn't happen.


Anyway, car drives down the road quite nicely now. I also noted that the rear sway bar is out of it's left end link, so I need to fix that. The car will be getting fatter sway bars as part of a suspension refresh later on. I'll probably start tearing into the A/C tomorrow.

[Be30mer]

subscribed. More pictures of that m3? I have been looking at those cars lately and really want to buy one. Just waiting for a good enough deal.

[Cyrix2k]

subscribed. More pictures of that m3? I have been looking at those cars lately and really want to buy one. Just waiting for a good enough deal.

sure. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1423638

It's a 2004 with 54k miles iirc. Cost $24k with two sets of rims. My friend in the orange shirt is the proud new owner :)

[1mz]

hahah I read this thread and didn't realize it was yours. You boost hungry little bastard - I'm determined to always be multiple steps ahead of you now :)

[Norgs3030]

Why not an i head swap?

[Cyrix2k]

Why not an i head swap?

it's getting one. I'm trying to find an intake manifold cheaply now... every time I plan a run to the junkyard, it rains beforehand so I just haven't had time to pick one up. I've had the head for a while :)

Also, I should point out the car has been running & boosted (6 psi, current injectors are maxed) for the last 1300 miles now. I've been revving it out to 5500 rpms on the eta head and haven't broken anything yet. This thread will be updated with the build photos once I complete the head swap and clean up the engine bay.