My beater 325e

[jdvorwe]

Bought her a little bit back, had to tow it home and haven't done much with it since.

I got it real cheap for $500 because it had been sitting for awhile, PO thought it was the differential, but ended up being the axle shaft. It isn't in the best shape, but he threw in a bunch of new parts so I couldn't pass it up.

I'll try and get some pics up this weekend. Just thought I'd put this up and introduce myself.

This is a teaser :


Looking to meet some people in the Baltimore area.

[ill4noreason]

Welcome to r3v. nice pickup man. If you need any help or parts I'm in Essex so let me know. I have a big garage full of e30 parts and always there working on different cars.

[jdvorwe]

As long as the weather is nice, this Saturday we will be doing rear suspension and differential('89 is), and hopefully front suspension (if time allows).

I have Bilstein Struts/Shocks and Vogtland Springs.

So far, all I have done is tune-up, new ignition wires, ignition coil, spark plugs, fuel filter, etc and some clean up.

Here are some pics to get everything up to date:























And finally back home...



Looking forward to having a fun summer project. I'll be sure to keep y'all updated.

[jdvorwe]

Welcome to r3v. nice pickup man. If you need any help or parts I'm in Essex so let me know. I have a big garage full of e30 parts and always there working on different cars.

I have a parts list that doesn't seem to stop growing. How are your prices? lol.

[dnick]

lookin good man, call me up if u need a hand!

[devon.818]

I have a parts list that doesn't seem to stop growing. How are your prices? lol.

his prices are probably the best in MD!
ill4noreason has the hookup!

btw, welcome to r3v, im in pikesville if you need anythin hmu.
always good to get more local guys together.

p.s you should also do timing belt.(better be safe than sorry) and seafoaming is good too.

[jdvorwe]

p.s you should also do timing belt.(better be safe than sorry) and seafoaming is good too.

10 steps ahead of you! Already have Timing Belt and Water Pump to be done in the coming weeks. And going to seafoam this weekend if all goes well.

[jdvorwe]

We didn't get as much done today as we hoped! These 24 year old bolts are certainly a b-i-t-c-h. But so far haven't snapped any bolts or anything! Knock on wood.

We soaked everything in PB last night and it almost worked to perfection!
We got everything off but the 4 mounting bolts today, sprayed on some more PB and hope we can get it done tomorrow. If anyone has any recommendations to get these off, please PLEASE let me know.

Tomorrow we are looking to get the install (should go a lot smoother than the removal) and suspension done. *crosses fingers*

Anyway here is what everyone wants to see, the pictures:

To start the day:





The task:





Getting some work done:



^Contraption to get the nuts/bolts off the Driveshaft and Differential Flange





^Most of the bolts we took off today

I'm not really good at the whole taking pictures step-by-step (plus my hands were filthy) so If someone is looking for something to follow to change their differential (beside their Bentley's) I would recommend Pelican Parts tech articles and I found this very helpful : http://www.e30eta.com/ecdiff.htm

I figured while I was under here I would take some pics of the undercarriage:





Just some miscellaneous stuff....

The bolts that are a pain (I took pictures of them on the 3.73 I am putting in):





And also, does anyone know where this goes? No idea what it is. PO had it duct taped to the arms in the rear.




Anyway. That is all for today. Hope you guys enjoy.

[jim325]

I think that is an abs sensor? Check the backside of your trailing arm, around the edge of the hub where your cv axle goes in.

[jdvorwe]

I think that is an abs sensor? Check the backside of your trailing arm, around the edge of the hub where your cv axle goes in.

Ah, that would make sense. Thanks for at least giving me an idea of where to look. I had no idea of even what system to check and did not want to just start flipping through my Bentley's on a wild goose chase.

[jdvorwe]

Got the diff out today. Accidentally spilled some gear oil and compromised our work area though. Install tomorrow!

[jdvorwe]

Alrighty! Got the new one in, but we ran out of daylight to double check everything.






I hope everything works well with this diff, because I do NOT want to have to do this again anytime soon. lol. *crosses fingers*

[jdvorwe]

Alright, so tested it out... Looks like the driver side axle shaft was the problem the whole time, PO really screwed me on that -- oh well. When you try to spin the wheel it starts move like it is trying to spin then makes like a grinding noise and then looks like it pops out of place. Would you guys say that is wheel bearing or actual axle is bad -- or both?

Since my progress has been halted on that, I started replacing my heater trim -- since the PO cracked the old one in multiple places and overall it just looked bad.

How it looked:


"New" one:







A lot more complicated then I thought it would be! :






Darkness halted my progress, but it already looks so much better! Would have finished but radio is now not working. Looks like I will have to fix the PO's hack job of what he calls "splicing" and redo every wire. [rant] Ugh. I think I have benefited this car more in 2 months than the PO did the 8 years he owned it. I have found receipts from 2007 and pretty sure he hasn't vacuumed or cleaned it or anything since he owned it. [/end rant]



And my BavAuto Ignition wires -- I never uploaded a pic.

[dnick]

your bav wires... hate ya.

hahahahha , but lookin good man

[jdvorwe]

Got the new axle in today. Forgot to take pics along the way. Finally after 2 months I was able to take her for a spin around the block! Loads of progress. Can't wait to start doing more work.

Next on the agenda Timing Belt/Water Pump/Detailing then Suspension/Brakes then Headers. With some other odds and ends here and there.