second chances.. 1987 325is

[evandael]

I'm back in an E30!

After selling my eta to buy a jetta, I couldn't quite fight the urge (some might say illness) to once again be at the helm of God's chariot. So I searched and searched for a suitable base for a project and found it here on r3v.


Here she is..







a schwarz/cardinal 1987 325is with 288K on the clock. No rust (NC car for most of its life), couple of mods already (RD springs/Bilsteins, Supersprint exhaust). It has a clean title, and came with a couple nifty brochures and the original invoice ($30039.40 back in the day!) Why on a trailer, you might ask?


Well..










That's what I'm dealing with (here with the help of my girlfriend, who is remarkably supportive of the E30... problem.. I have).


Good news though.. it cranks, and starts, and drives! So all is not lost. In fact we figured out the cause of the fire.. a shitty aftermarket alarm system was installed many years ago, spliced into the headlight harness. After enough friction and corrosion, the wires shorted, ignited the hood sound deadening, and a small fire spread across the front of the engine bay.


So it has it's issues (many actually) but I'm excited to start a project again. And I'm keeping this one this time. :up:

[TimKninja]

Is this that car from Newyork That a guy thought the firecracker from an asian lady set it on fire?

Beautiful car!

More pics of GF?

[evandael]

Yeah it is the car from NY! And yes it is beautiful. Unfortunately I'm at school, 170 miles from it.. which means I'm stuck dreaming or doing little projects..

Like fixing the little light in the key!

I followed this tutorial: http://e30.bmwdiy.info/key-led/

An $8.14 trip to Radioshack later and I got started.




All the little parts inside..




LED soldered in place, new battery on top.




And voila (excuse blurry grainyness).




Well that was fun. :up:


Also, my girlfriend was positively tickled by your request.

[seatown88]

looks like a nice little project you have, good luck and have fun with it. Looking forward to updates.

[evandael]

some parts acquisition over the past weeks: ellipsoids and euro grilles, black lockstrips, new cruise stuff. and 205/45/16 dz101s for future (undecided) wheels.

I've got a line on a couple of local parts cars and may be picking up an m50tu, zf trans, diff and e36 rack in a couple weeks. should get exciting soon! pics of current disassembly are forthcoming.

[evandael]

well, i've got a bunch of parts sitting in the basement and the engine will be here soon. in the interest of getting the swap done quickly, i delved into the ETMs and did a pin-out. it took a little while and was confusing at first but eventually i decided that it was kinda fun. anyone want to comment or verify?

1995 325is > 1987 325is




the E36 is automatic, so i plan on just removing the common wires the EGS computer shares with the DME. does anything else need to be done?

also, it has EWS on a silver-label 413. initially i was bummed out by this because of the additional cost of an EWS delete chip, until i read that i could clip either the output wire (pin7) on the EWS module, or the input wire (pin 66) on the DME connector. any additional knowledge of this?

[SkorcherX]

YES! Another 24v swap! These are so fun.

[evandael]

iphone photo dump as a placeholder for real updates..

there's an e30 in my basement





got a complete OE cardinal leather set from member h8tbills here.. for the most part they are pristine (at least by my standards)



my girlfriend started on the reupholstery/seat refurbish project. i've got the gangster lean and the seatback shocks are toast.



scored a bunch of parts from a parts car... better looking 13 button OBC, check panel, door handles, window motors, to name a few.



and shadowline lockstrips/newish window seals



i'm starting a cluster refurb.. replacing SI batteries, with motometer guts going into a VDO shell (will require slight modification for coding plug). i'm still undecided on red needles and chrome trim rings, we'll see.



scored a nice set of US ellipsoids from craigslist for a deal and got euro grilles from member cddallara. they'll be getting SEM'd with the rest of the trim when i get around to that!



a lightly used M20 sachs clutch kit from drez14.. I'm using a machined M20 flywheel with this clutch kit and my stock G260 for the swap.



current state of the interior, ugly i know. i've yet to remove blower assembly (since i'm replacing and changing HVAC components anyway, it won't be such a big inconvenience), then i'll remove the carpet and steamclean/redye it grey:



janky ass engine bay, and the problem harness (will be splicing a new one once the UPS man arrives). can you believe this thing still drove? down on power, yes, but no major hiccups for 150 miles.. m20 FTW.



i feel bad for my poor car just sitting in the driveway.. but she's going to be better than ever by the end of the summer.






i just bought an ATE 944 booster off ebay... the parts just keep rolling in (and money out )