I picked up this is a few weeks ago for a new DD (getting married, needed to downsize). So far she's been extremely enjoyable, lots of work that needs to be done however. Work is going to be slow on it as my goal is to enter into marriage debt free and I'm splitting funds between wedding stuff and the car.
Right after I picked her up....
She's not passing smog, had tons of vacuum leaks, rust holes in the muffler, leaky pipes from the exhaust manifold, and sounds like a typewriter at low RPMs, the interior was terrible (no good pics unfortunately) but I feel like I got her at a good price at $1800. Also notice the stupidly fat tires....rubbing inside the fenders like crazy!
Very clean engine bay however, I love the way the M20 looks! These are after we swapped out all of the vacuum hoses that were either busted open or cracking really bad.
No good pictures of the old interior (sorry!) but lets just say it was gross...you guys have seen it a thousand times before. So first things first...
The awsome news is that the floorboard was in amazing shape. No rust anywhere to be found! Getting the carpet out is a pain in the butt by the way.
After a super lucky find at the local junkyard I managed to pick up an entire black leather interior for only $68. Also redid the carpet with glossy black duplicolor fabric spray.
Came out fantastic if I can say so myself! Much more enjoyable being in there now, I love the BMW smell. :-D
In the midst of all of this interior work I've also been working on getting her to pass smog. After swapping the muffler and vacuum hoses I failed...
We found this...
Leaky downpipe has to go! Found a better looking one on a 325i vert at the junkyard for $12 bucks. Welded in for $50. But I'm still failing! Only a few numbers off on the high RPM portion though. Next step was seafoam, I'm not too far off so this should help right? Wrong! Not only did it not pass, but my numbers jumped up over 500 points on the high RPM portion. I'm not knocking seafoam, but our best guess was that the O2 sensor was already bad and when I ran the seafoam through the FPR hose all of the junk coming out of the engine clogged up the sensor.
New bosch sensor in last night, next smog test coming thursday, I'll be back with results. :)
Sitting on new properly fitting shoes...
Plans in the future after we pass smog are looking like:
Timing belt change (duh!)
New tie rods (both tie rod boots are broken)
Pause in upgrades for wedding and restructuring of finances.
Full suspension restoration, she's driving like a boat at the moment. Can the E30 M3 suspension be swapped into the 325?
E36 M3 Steering Rack swap.
Bumpin' sound system!
More interior work, I want sport seats eventually....and a new dash!
And finally exterior work....IS lip, paintjob (way in the future!), euro grill and headlamps, you know the deal.
I love this little coupe so much, and the community too, you guys are what make owning one of these so much better. Big props to Neil at Oceanside Motorsports in SoCal, they've been a ton of help in getting this car back up to road worthiness that a BMW should be held to.
Right after I picked her up....
She's not passing smog, had tons of vacuum leaks, rust holes in the muffler, leaky pipes from the exhaust manifold, and sounds like a typewriter at low RPMs, the interior was terrible (no good pics unfortunately) but I feel like I got her at a good price at $1800. Also notice the stupidly fat tires....rubbing inside the fenders like crazy!
Very clean engine bay however, I love the way the M20 looks! These are after we swapped out all of the vacuum hoses that were either busted open or cracking really bad.
No good pictures of the old interior (sorry!) but lets just say it was gross...you guys have seen it a thousand times before. So first things first...
The awsome news is that the floorboard was in amazing shape. No rust anywhere to be found! Getting the carpet out is a pain in the butt by the way.
After a super lucky find at the local junkyard I managed to pick up an entire black leather interior for only $68. Also redid the carpet with glossy black duplicolor fabric spray.
Came out fantastic if I can say so myself! Much more enjoyable being in there now, I love the BMW smell. :-D
In the midst of all of this interior work I've also been working on getting her to pass smog. After swapping the muffler and vacuum hoses I failed...
We found this...
Leaky downpipe has to go! Found a better looking one on a 325i vert at the junkyard for $12 bucks. Welded in for $50. But I'm still failing! Only a few numbers off on the high RPM portion though. Next step was seafoam, I'm not too far off so this should help right? Wrong! Not only did it not pass, but my numbers jumped up over 500 points on the high RPM portion. I'm not knocking seafoam, but our best guess was that the O2 sensor was already bad and when I ran the seafoam through the FPR hose all of the junk coming out of the engine clogged up the sensor.
New bosch sensor in last night, next smog test coming thursday, I'll be back with results. :)
Sitting on new properly fitting shoes...
Plans in the future after we pass smog are looking like:
Timing belt change (duh!)
New tie rods (both tie rod boots are broken)
Pause in upgrades for wedding and restructuring of finances.
Full suspension restoration, she's driving like a boat at the moment. Can the E30 M3 suspension be swapped into the 325?
E36 M3 Steering Rack swap.
Bumpin' sound system!
More interior work, I want sport seats eventually....and a new dash!
And finally exterior work....IS lip, paintjob (way in the future!), euro grill and headlamps, you know the deal.
I love this little coupe so much, and the community too, you guys are what make owning one of these so much better. Big props to Neil at Oceanside Motorsports in SoCal, they've been a ton of help in getting this car back up to road worthiness that a BMW should be held to.
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