E3 Project!

[BenM]

Well after looking high and low for an early E3 since early August, I finally found one that seemed worthy of the time that'll be needed to get it up to par.

The car I purchased is a 1970 US-spec 2500 in Malaga over Grey cloth interior. Number 2120446 of only 750 imported to US. It's a 2 owner car with only 57000 original miles and the 2nd owner purchasing it in the mid to late 70's and parking it 6-9 years ago (said he couldn't remember when he parked it). The PO said the motor seized which was one reason he stopped driving it, but when I got it back to the shop I was easily able to hand crank the motor. The other funny thing was when I pulled the valve cover off I noticed the cylinder head was brand new. Not barely or lightly used, but brand freakin' new. There are also Zeniths on the car and the head is stamped "75" so I'm wondering if the motor was swapped for a 3.0 at some point. It also came with an old, but never mounted set of 14x6 Momos that are some funky 80's design. I ended up starting the car last weekend and started smoking like crazy, but idled well and wasn't overheating so we'll see what the issue is. Could be the 112 leaded race fuel I used.

There is some rot in the doors, rear valence and corner of the hood, along with the driver's side frame rail needing a patch, but the car is not bad at all considering it to be an original NY (Long Island) car. The nose, trunk and generally everywhere has some surface stuff, but the roof is pretty badly rust pitted. However, the rockers and floors are in great shape.

The interior and trunk are something else too. The shock towers are amazing clean and the trunk somehow retained zero moisture which really shows.

[euroshark]

Very cool! I always love watching cars like this come back from the brink.

[ZM Blue Devil]

very nice.

[BenM]

Heh, thanks guys! I picked up an '83 euro 635csi a few weekends ago that I'm parting out, but swapping in the high compression M30 and 5-speed in at some point. Probably going to slam it on the 16x8/16x9 Ronal Centras I have and add some meaty tires.

[BenM]

After a few years, figured I should update this thread.

I ended up selling the car to a good friend of mine about 4 months after purchasing it. Too many projects and not enough time for me to dig into it, plus he needed it as a parts car for his super nice '69 Verona 2500. So I delivered it to him and he pulled some minor stuff off of it like the distributor, mechanical fuel pump and mirror glass. Then the car sat inside until last month. Was in a bad motorcycle accident 8/30 and insurance totaled my bike and gave me some $$ to play with so I decided I wanted the car back. Was still sitting, with just a few more minor issues, but was mostly complete.

The car on stands:


Engine before being dissembled:



Hauled it back to my place down the road and started ripping into it. Found out the brake master cylinder had failed and nearly filled the brake booster with nasty brown/yellow brake fluid so I promptly removed that and replaced it with a Porsche 944 ATE Booster (they fit nearly the same, just need space it out to clear some wires running by the drivers frame rail). Clutch slave cylinder had rusted into the transmission and since its the lovely press fit kind with cir clips, I spent one afternoon with an acetylene torch, brass punch and dead blow hammer to get it out. Rebuilt that and the clutch master cylinder, and put a new brake master cylinder along with the booster to try and get the hydraulics working. Unfortunately I must have cracked the reservoir or plastic connectors to the Master, because as soon as I pumped up the pressure bleeder, brake fluid starting running down one of the lines and dripping off the master cylinder. So now I have to order lines, connectors and a new reservoir or convert mine to an E21 or E30 style that sits directly on the master cylinder. Now onto the engine.

Brake booster filled with fluid:


Brake fluid is not good for paint and/or metal:



Originally I thought the head gasket was blown or cylinder head was cracked due to white smoke puffing out the exhaust, overheating, and some really strange compression readings (135psi - 80psi), so I went about pulling off the head. After pulling it, I looked it over quickly and the entire head looked very clean and zero cracks between the water passages and combustion chamber. Only upon closer inspection did I find that the combustion chamber on cylinders 4-6 (the ones giving me the worst/weirdest readings) were quite a bit cleaner than 1-3. Coincidentally these are also the 3 that are also tied in with the large vacuum hose to the brake booster. This led me believe that the brake fluid that had leaked into the booster was being sucked into the engine and trying to be burned off. Hopefully it didn't do too much damage to the rings and main/rod bearings, so I sourced a head from another friend (thanks again man!) from an '88 535i that I cleaned and am awaiting some parts for (mech distributor cam adapter nut, seals, etc.).

2500 shortblock, note the differences in cleanliness of pistons 1-3 vs. 4-6.


'76' cast cylinder head off the car, its pretty clean. Also note the differences in 1-3 vs. 4-6:


Freshly cleaned '86' cast head from ahab. Ran it through the hot washer at work a few times:






Thats pretty much it right now for the car, just hoping at the brake hard lines aren't completely rusted on the inside, and that I won't have to replace them. My overall plan is to run an electric fuel pump and Crane XR700 with the original zeniths, and maybe upgrade to a 5-speed and B34 if I really want to swap it. The car is ugly and rusty overall, the only bodywork I plan on doing is patching the driver's side rocker and maybe some work on the engine bay. Surprisingly enough the floors, nose and shocktowers have zero rust, but there is some small stuff here and there. Not really into whole "StaNceWErkS" thing, but it might be cool to slam it on the Ronals I pulled off the Schnitzer.

Test fit of the 16x9 et14 Ronal Centra in the rear:




As always, C&C welcome.

[bmw325csi]

How far are you gonna take this car? Full restoration or surface only?

[M-technik-3]

Cool but I want to see the E28 back together. Is that lamenting outside?

[BenM]

How far are you gonna take this car? Full restoration or surface only?

Definitely not a full resto, just engine/brake/suspension work for now and then driving it. Patching up/replacing the driver's side frame rail for now and just leaving the surface rust on the vertical surfaces. There is some rot in the rear valence and a quarter sized hole on the floor, but it is solid car overall. Plus finding good E3 parts here in NE is pretty tough.

Cool but I want to see the E28 back together. Is that lamenting outside?

Nope, its been inside since the accident, only moved it up to Justin's shop last month. All the the front bumper and associated front end parts are off it, might bring it to a restoration shop and have the frame pulled/looked at. Thanks for the link you sent me, just forgot to reply. I'm looking at a pair of '85 535i (one auto, one 5-speed) up in New Hampshire either this or next weekend. Just need a good donor for the minor stuff.

[M-technik-3]

That single one was a good deal. Looked super clean no idea if it sold.

[slammin.e28]

I hate carbs, but lovvvve carbbed M30s!

That's not a dirty motor is it? Piano topped pistons?

[BenM]

I know when they're working right, they are awesome. However they are carbs and half the time aren't working right.

It's a stock 2500 (2.5) M30. I know the stroke is the same as the B34 engines (86mm stroke), but the bore is significantly smaller. I'm thinking they increased the compression with massive domes on the pistons to help with the lower displacement.

[slammin.e28]

I know when they're working right, they are awesome. However they are carbs and half the time aren't working right.

It's a stock 2500 (2.5) M30. I know the stroke is the same as the B34 engines (86mm stroke), but the bore is significantly smaller. I'm thinking they increased the compression with massive domes on the pistons to help with the lower displacement.

Cool. Never seen inside a B25. I love these motors.

[BenM]

Well its been slow going for the past few weeks with the holidays and other projects, but I have made a little bit of progress.

I ended up getting the cylinder head on last week (among other things) along with the exhaust system. Did a cold compression test just to see how everything was and ended up with some pretty good results. Cylinders 1-3 were pretty dead even at 150-155psi, while 4-6 were pretty even at 130-135psi. I threw the battery on a charger which might be the problem, but I'm suspecting worn rings which isn't too much of a concern. Unfortunately I need to drop the exhaust again to drop the driveshaft, which desperately needs a CSB.

Also figured out why I had no brakes. The brake soft lines were completely clogged with solidified brake fluid/debris. I cut one in half to investigate and it had basically rubberized from the inside. Old brake fluid is pretty catastrophic. Replaced those with Braided SS Lines and checked all the calipers, which look ok.

Right now I'm in the process of painting the intake manifold and thermostat housing, along with rebuilding the carbs. Also picked up some ST Progressive 1" Drop springs for an E12 that should work out nicely with Bilsteins. Going to evaluate the suspension before installing those tho.

I'll grab some pics later today, but it all looks about the same as it did before.

[N2MYE30]

Very cool project. I like were this is going.

[BenM]

Just got settled into the new garage/space and got this thing is on the lift, so no pics yet.

Been working on getting the engine running so the carbs are out being rebuilt as I don't have the time or experience to rebuild them.

New water pump is on along with a painted thermostat housing and new thermostat/seals. Pulled the oil filter housing off as well and tapped it for the Fuel Pump Oil pressure switch. Now that Fuel Pump OP switch is in, I have to mount the fuel pump by the tank. Had a hacked up E30 engine harness so I stole the relay/wiring off that to wire up the fuel pump the right way. Tank is also out to get a good cleaning and maybe fix some of the rust by the rear valance.

Also replaced the rear brake line (from master cylinder to rear distribution) and the driveshaft CSB. Just put the Ronal 16x8s with 205/55-16s on the front with some 10mm spacers and they fit perfectly. Before, they were rubbing the strut due to the offset (et18), but are perfect now.

Car will hopefully be running in another month!