1991 BMW 325i Coupe - Build Thread - The end is in sight!

[MaksV]

I was looking around for a car I could build into a more aggressive street/track set up and came accross this gem from a friend of a friend.

1991 325i coupe

The only picture I have for now. This is going to be my build thread. I will post more pictures tomorrow.


build plan can be found here

Basically I am just going to do little (read: sub 2 hour) projects for the time being mainly revolving around the interior and electronics and order and stockpile parts until winter break rolls around. Then the real building will begin.

Aside from a blown suspension the car is pretty nice in every way, good tires, all windows, sunroof, obc work and it doesnt need any maintenance.

[MaksV]

Day 1 update.

I had a camera and I forgot to take pics of the car. :facepalm:

It got its first bath today, and I moved on to the interior swap. the car had a grey non sports cloth interior whose driver side seat was totally busted. The car came to me with a decent grey leather sport interior.

So as I started to pull the old interior out I noticed an oder of cat. I hate cat smells so out came the fabreeze and scented it all away. The car was pretty dirty but after about 40 minutes with a vacuum I had a pretty clean carpet and about $1.13 in change. :)

All in all the swap went great except for the fact the pre previous owner was a moron. he tried to raise the driver seat by putting wood blocks underneath the seat bolts. However the front bolts on an e30 are actually studs. so they ripped/drilled those oyut and bolted carraige bolts through the floor. :facepalm:

In the end I got the entire interior swapped but the front driver seat is still giving me issue. The leather on it is all cracked so I got a walmart seat cover to put over it. Very comfy and much more supportive than stock.

Tomorrow I am going to go out and get the right bolts to be able to bolt the driver side seat down properly.

Another issue is this morning the battery was dead. a jump and we were good to go, but after some voltage checks the alternator doesnt seem to be charging the battery very much. even under gas the best reading I got was 12.9 V across the battery. I spoke to the previous owner and he said he had recently changed the starter and might not have connected everything. He said the battery was purchased in june, and that for the last 3 years he had no issue with it. So I left the car parked at my parents, since I have the bike on campus, and will go back tomorrow to check if I have any random wires hanging off my alternator.

Cliffs:
- Successful interior swap to leather sport
-Driver side seat still not bolted due to pre previouis owner being a moron
-charging issue needs to be resolved.


Pictures from today:

Interior coming out

Morons :facepalm:



The only spot of rust on the whole car :censor:




everything out


Rear seat in - got washed with water and then leather treatment before going in to the car

Passenger side in all original hardware took like 20 minutes

door cards in


Sorry thats all the pics I got - I was getting frustrated and running out of time cause I definitely need to study. So time to grab dinner and do that.

BTW those wires run from the headunit to the rear speakers. did I mention the previous owner was a moron.....

[MaksV]

So i checked all the connections on the alternator/starter. Seems my alternator is dieing. Anyone know where I could get the brushes to rebuild mine? or do I need to order a new one. AutohausAZ.com has one for 150 with a $75 core charge.

[blunttech]

Could be the regulator . I have the regulator but if you want a rebuilt bosch I have the same one autohaus has at 145.66 with a 75 dollar core

[MaksV]

hold on. The thing is I charged the battery and got 12.1 across the terminals. Put it in the car and reved to about 1.5K (like the bently says) got a 12.9 peak. The bently says a healthy alt should be pushing between 13.2 and 14V - which is in accordance to what Ihave been told all my life. I was under the impression however that if the regulator was bad then the voltage would spike up? The bently says if the Voltage regulator is going then you should get readings in excess of 14V. Also there is no lopping the car runs fine, just needs a jump every morning. The battery is 3 months old.

[MaksV]

VOLTAGE REGULATOR 12311726022
CARBON BRUSH SET 12311727756


the part numbers for a rebuild - there isnt a DIY handy is there?

[blunttech]

the brush set is 16 bucks but the whole regulator is only 26

[MaksV]

are the brushes part of the regulator? I thought they were two seperate wear components?

[blunttech]

brushes come with reg. just buy the reguklater

[MaksV]

ahhh. sounds like i need a new Voltage regulator. best price i found is $37 @ BMA for the bosch unit.

[blunttech]

ahhh. sounds like i need a new Voltage regulator. best price i found is $37 @ BMA for the bosch unit.

I have bosch at 36 or Hella at 24.80
I also have Huco at 15 lol wtf is Huco?

[MaksV]

would you recommend the bosch over the hella? or does it really not matter?

[blunttech]

would you recommend the bosch over the hella? or does it really not matter?

Id get the Hella They have a good name and the warranty is the same

[MaksV]

pm sent.

[Bimmerista]

Looks like a solid car & you're already off to a good start.

One thing I'd suggest is dying the interior carpet black or dark gray to flow with the seats better.