'88 Henna M3 project

[gverelli]

Super clean, only thing I would change are the headlights and done.

[freeride53]

Very Very clean. Yeah, I'd just look into some nice Euro-head lights, side marker deletes, and maybe an Evolution Lip.

[IronJoe]

Thanks for the comments all. It's a work in progress, I keep slowly checking things off my list.

Very Very clean. Yeah, I'd just look into some nice Euro-head lights, side marker deletes, and maybe an Evolution Lip.

Evo II lip is definitely going to happen.

[IronJoe]

Time for another update...




Slave cyl started leaking on me, so I swapped that out. Very easy and I had no problems bleeding it whatsoever. Got a bunch of parts in which will be going in shortly:

-Rod bearings & con rod bolts
-TB o-rings & plenum o-ring
-Plenum rubber mount
-TMS oil pan baffle & oil pan gaskets
-PS pump bushings



Also, my taillights are still leaking! What is going on here! I can see it coming in directly from the seal between the taillights and the body, even though I installed new gaskets.

Is this just a a design problem or am I doing something wrong? Anybody have a fix? I am tempted to just take them out and cover everything in window sealant...

[cramer]

Are both tailights leaking? I believe it was the driver's side one that didn't sit the same as the passenger one. Perhaps shifting the driver's light out more will fit the body contour better for the seal?

[IronJoe]

Good day at the junkyard.


Swapped out my horrible-looking pitted headlight trim rings for a set of stainless ones from an e28. A bit of Mother's metal polish brought them right back to life!

Old on left, new on right:





Also scored a rear ash tray in perfect condition. It has taken me quite a while to find one that wasn't broken just like mine!

[IronJoe]

A pic from a few weeks ago at last month's Griots Caffeine & Gasoline:

[IronJoe]

Got my euro grilles installed and painted, finally. Some pics with Karlorado's 325is





Also installed new fog light lenses (as you can see above, the old ones were so cracked, pitted and dirty they looked smoked!)

[IronJoe]

Getting the car ready for the Leavenworth drive this week. Finished the rod bearing install which was a good move because they look pretty worn. I also added the Turner Motorsport oil pan baffle. Crank journals looked great which I was happy about.




Pressure washed the pans for reinstallation:



Got a few more maintenance items to take care of before the drive, other than that it just needs a wash/polish/wax and we're good to go!

[IronJoe]

Back on the road! Got everything put back together last night. Runs great, no strange noises or problems. I plan on keeping it under 4000rpm for the first 1000 miles or so, which is already proving itself difficult!

I'm taking the car in today for a valve adjustment, base idle set and throttle body sync. From there the only thing left to do for the Leavenworth drive is cleaning/polishing/waxing.


DD status once again:

[ahriley91]

I can't wait to see this again on Saturday. I don't know if you knew this, but I love you car. We gotta park close together. Haha. Stevo-ix might have his car done late Friday night for this.

[IronJoe]

The M3 made it to Leavenworth and back without any problems. I was very happy that I did the rod bearings before this drive. The biggest challenge was keeping the RPMs under 4000 especially over the mountain pass... because the S14 doesn't have anything under 4000!


Got some nice pictures of the car when it was parked down on the main drag... we fought like hell to get a decent parking spot so we had to enjoy it a little bit.






And a cool shot someone took of the engine bay (I had time to refinish the valve cover just before the drive)

[Mike The Bavarian]

one of my favorite m3s. mainly cause you're not molesting it and it just looks how an m3 should.

[archie]

Very very nice!

[CorvallisBMW]

I loved seeing this car on the drive. Very nice!