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325ic resto mod Picture Heavy!

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    325ic resto mod Picture Heavy!

    I'm the pround new owner of a 1991 325ic. I bought the car for cheap, because it was a project car in pieces and the motor snapped a timing belt. I figured its cheap enough to have a winter project and perhaps sell it in the summer. It's been only two months since I bought it, but I think I'm starting to see the appeal of E30's. I mean besides the classic good looks and legendary build quality, the community is really really helpful and friendly.


    First Night:





    The next day taking the head off:




    Look at that Carbon! My machine shop tells me that 6 valve guides need to be replaced....is that oil all from leaky guides?




    This kinda looks like all the oil is all coming from the guides in this pic



    I don't think the oil is from the rings take a look at the cylinder walls, you can still see cross hatching - unbelievable because the motor has over 286,000 Km (almost 178,000 miles) Did I mention the motor rotates incredibly smooth



    5 Bent Valves and one broken Rocker!
    Not too bad... the pistons don't even look too damaged



    oil was leaking in #1 for sure


    Quick clean up:



    And now porting and polishing:



    3 Gasket Matched 3 polished and left OEM dimensions (Grouped like this: 1,2,3 & 4,5,6 - works with the firing order)
    I'm hoping it will increase the scavanging effect in the exhaust
    Cleaned up the bowls and polished the combustion chambers





    While the head is in the machine shop, I've been buying parts to put it back together. At the moment I'm trying to figure out if the injectors used in these motors are maxxed out and should be upgraded.

    My old VR6 motor made 200whp with the same size valves, but from the factory come with 19lbs injectors in a 2.8

    A 2.8 is only 12% bigger then a 2.5 so simple math tells me to achieve 200whp I should use 16lbs injectors (14lbs x 1.12 = 15.6)

    However I don't think the BMW engineers made a mistake when choosing the injectors, because the head flows and tumbles air really well. 2nd only to Porsche in terms of filling the combustion chamber. Maybe the intake velocity makes up for the smallish injectors. This info is from this guy, using a AVL Tippelmann flow bench in Germany:




    Perhaps all I need to do is clean the injectors and buy an adjustable Fuel Pressure regulator...kinda like what Alpina did.

    More to come!
    Last edited by Paradox; 02-23-2011, 08:56 PM.

    #2
    I don't think you want those pitted Amber fog lenses.
    Send them to me! :D

    1991 BMW 318i (Old Shell RIP, Now Being Re-shelled & Reborn)
    1983 Peugeot 505 STI
    1992 Volvo 240 Wagon
    2009 Toyota 4Runner SR5 Sport 4WD

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by Paradox View Post
      Look at that Carbon! My machine shop tells me that 6 valve guides need to be replaced....is that oil all from leaky guides?

      This kinda looks like all the oil is all coming from the guides in this pic

      I don't think the oil is from the rings take a look at the cylinder walls, you can still see cross hatching - unbelievable because the motor has over 286,000 Km (almost 178,000 miles) Did I mention the motor rotates incredibly smooth
      i was reading through one of my ASE books last night about this. the most common cause of oil consumption issues is bad valve guide seals and or worn guides.
      "A faulty intake valve seal allows oil to be drawn into the cylinder during the intake stroke."
      "This results in burnt oil exhaust smoke when the engine decelerates because the oil is not being diluted with gasoline during that time."
      Last edited by !kid; 02-23-2011, 09:20 PM.
      :borg:

      Comment


        #4
        thanks for the reply!

        Putting this post up made me examine all the pictures a little better and I'm confident all that carbon was a result of the nasty cap and rotor on the car. I don't think they have been changed in a very long time. Poor Combustion + leaky valve guides equals carbon build up.
        Last edited by Paradox; 02-25-2011, 07:33 AM.

        Comment


          #5
          A lot of carbon scoring there..

          Looks like that droid has seen a lot of action.
          -----Zen and the Art of e30 Maintenance - / - Zen TOC - / - Zen Summary

          Comment


            #6
            Are you on bcbcimmer.com? If not you should join up! There's a ton of us with e30s. One of the members from there went to check out this car and said it was in really bad shape.

            Comment


              #7
              Yes I am on bcbimmers. I'm Peter_M there. Yeah the car is alot of work besides the snapped belt, it's missing carpet and needs a new top but if you ignore that the body is in really good shape.
              To me it was worth it. I guess one mans junk is another mans treasure.

              Comment


                #8
                Update

                Got the head back from the machine shop today.

                Took a closer look at all the rockers what do you guys think






                And now a little head











                I just bought the rear Slam Specialties SS-5 bags today
                already had the Universal Air fronts....air ride kit is almost complete just need 4 more valves

                also bought a new late valence, plastic bumpers and an IS lip

                New top picked up in Portland....wow what a drive for a top 10 hours and 2 hours at the border

                Finally found carpet and got hooked up at JJ Custom Interiors

                Have to keep telling myself Low and slow....but a 5 speed swap and turbo would make it so much more fun...crap say it again Peter: "Low and Slow"

                More updates soon!

                Comment


                  #9
                  That head looks purdy! keep us updated.

                  Comment


                    #10


                    New Jack Stand Stance!



                    Exhaust Removed - Prepping for engine and transmission removal

                    This is why I want to remove the engine and transmission:



                    Nice and greasy
                    Oil Leak probably from camshaft seal or maybe from the cracked oil cap.

                    Grease Everywhere



                    Hmmm....the cat's heat shield wrap is full of holes




                    Ever wonder what the inside of the heat shield looks like



                    Old Ceramic Fiber Insulation - to bad it got wet rusted the heat shield and destroyed itself

                    This is why you don't work on a car when you are frustrated:




                    Bolts holding the flanges were not turning - so I decided to cut them then got a little carried away. Since I plan on getting a new cat welded up this shouldn't be a problem

                    The second chamber after the cat is a small resonator



                    Time to retire this muffler




                    Next weekend I plan on removing the motor and transmission, clean the engine bay and prep it for paint.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      looks fun. How much was the head work?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Subbed. Good progress!

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by Vtec?lol View Post
                          looks fun. How much was the head work?
                          $601.83
                          - 6 new exhaust valve guides
                          - 1 new intake vavle guides
                          - recut valve seats - valves grinded to match
                          - min. deck resurface

                          I did the port and polish myself
                          I also bought 12 new rockers from Guten Parts
                          and 6 exhaust and 1 intake valve

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Looks like it's time for all-new exhaust too

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by CorvallisBMW View Post
                              Looks like it's time for all-new exhaust too
                              For Sure! I actually just purchased the Ireland Engineering style one off ebay and muffler install kit from Bav Auto. I'll be picking those up next weekend from the shipping Depot.



                              While I wait for the high flow cat, I decided to build a platform so I can use my engine hoist - for some reason the wheels don't like turning when they are stuck in the mud.






                              This should make it easier to take the motor and tranny out.

                              My Ghetto Style Garage!



                              Pallets and OSB FTW!

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