E30Pdee's 1989 alpine 325i rebuild and restoration project

[e30pdee]

alright guys so i finally managed to get the head off my own m20.

Put the fuel lines in some water bottles so it doesn't go everywhere



here she is headless! ill probably pull the intake mani and get the inside completely cleaned too.



Bottom: original head i pulled off my car.
Top: head i pulled from the junkyard, gonna send this puppy to the machine shop get her cleaned up!



exhaust mani gaskets were messed up



now i finally get to take a break, God this is getting redundant


whats left is
send my head to the machine shop
get my gasket set
finally put everything back together and hopefully have her run good!

[e30pdee]

alright guys so i added some stuff to my project list here's what i have so far!

ground control coilover conversion kit with koni shocks
z3 rack, and complete refresh on steering related components
trans swap (already on the list)

if you guys could give me some feedback/ input/ suggestions i would appreciate it!

[2mAn]

here's some photography just for shits and gigs haha

is that your brothers vette?

post junkyard trip! dirty enough?

alright guys so i added some stuff to my project list here's what i have so far!

ground control coilover conversion kit with koni shocks
z3 rack, and complete refresh on steering related components
trans swap (already on the list)

if you guys could give me some feedback/ input/ suggestions i would appreciate it!

looking good man, just take your time with everything and bag and tag anything that you might forget where it goes, you will thank yourself later.

GC coils are great, but are probably overkill if its just a daily. you can find a comparable coilover for about half price.

I wish I had done more research before I bought my car, we installed a brand new E30 rack I wish I had gone with the E36 or the Z3. Ive heard the Z3 is the best, but not really sure what is different between that and the E36. Also, I think the rack needs spacers or something. Enough people here have done it, search and you'll find the answer.

Have you seen Edisons' mtech convertible? I saw some pics of it on FB.

We should have a mini E30 gtg next time I drive mine into town, maybe go blast Hicks Road! Hopefully you'll be done by then. Maybe we can convince my cousin to use take over ownership of his uncles vert, that thing is sweet!

Anyways, keep it up youngster. Great platform to start on.

-Simon

[e30pdee]

is that your brothers vette?







looking good man, just take your time with everything and bag and tag anything that you might forget where it goes, you will thank yourself later.

GC coils are great, but are probably overkill if its just a daily. you can find a comparable coilover for about half price.

I wish I had done more research before I bought my car, we installed a brand new E30 rack I wish I had gone with the E36 or the Z3. Ive heard the Z3 is the best, but not really sure what is different between that and the E36. Also, I think the rack needs spacers or something. Enough people here have done it, search and you'll find the answer.

Have you seen Edisons' mtech convertible? I saw some pics of it on FB.

We should have a mini E30 gtg next time I drive mine into town, maybe go blast Hicks Road! Hopefully you'll be done by then. Maybe we can convince my cousin to use take over ownership of his uncles vert, that thing is sweet!

Anyways, keep it up youngster. Great platform to start on.

-Simon

haha yea that is actually my brothers vette is been sitting there for a while now actually.

im going to definitly take my time doing everything, i have a friend willing to help me put everything together that have rebuilt e30's several times over. my head is in the machine shop right now, so its only a matter of time before it starts running again. i got an LSD for the car today also, haha cant wait to put this all together by next weekend!.

i havent seen Edisons Mtech vert, but i have actaully seen your uncle's blue e30 you're talking about, it really is awesome. i may just go bc coils or megan coilovers possibly, a little cheaper and still pretty functional.

yea we should definitly have a get together the next time your in town, i have a few other friends with e30's who are trying to get a meet starting in SJ, hicks sounds pretty fun too! haha ive heard stories from my brother about the fun he's had on that road when he was my age!

Thanks again dude! Really appreciate the encouragement! ill keep wrenching and hopefully finish up!

[e30pdee]

picked up a lot of goodies over the past few weeks!

4 weaves all with center caps!



4.10 LSD




and some foglights!




all this for 200 bucks!


oh yea, and heres a little teaser of my dads e30 daily e30 :D

[e30pdee]

finally got my head back in, and boy does she look purty! all i need now is my gasket set, and i finally get onto the installation!

[e30pdee]

Update so the head is on! heres some progress pics of what i was doing throughout that time, i cleaned my fuel injectors and replaced the o rings, painted my manifolds and valve cover, adjusted my valves replaced all my seals, on the head, and im running a Goetze headgasket now and i cleaned my pistons! the pictures will be soon to come, the car didnt run the first time because my spark plug wires were plugged in the wrong order, i rearranged still didnt run, and then finally i switched the fuel lines turned the key and voila! running! better than ever too runs amazing now, almost no ticking whatsoever!

[EDirtyZ]

Lookin good paulie! Good to see how it's coming, by the way this is sam. ;)

[e30pdee]

thanks man!

[e30pdee]

so just a quick update before the car can be driveable theirs only two more things left to do, i get a new throttle cable that goes to the gas pedal and a working battery (for some reason i need to jump it from the front to get it to start. once all this is done ill probably be getting new piping and smog it. with the more important stuff done ill be moving onto the steering, suspension and transmission stuff.

[e30pdee]

could i get some feedback guys?

[EDirtyZ]

could i get some feedback guys?

Hey as for the smog make sure you don't have a hole or anything I had a rust hole and wouldn't pass smog so that's why I used glasspacks. And before you go around changing all the piping I have a buddy that'll check your cat for free. Cause if there's no hole that means you have enough at pressure and your cat is solid you'll pass smog. And you know I still have smog hook.

[e30pdee]

Hey as for the smog make sure you don't have a hole or anything I had a rust hole and wouldn't pass smog so that's why I used glasspacks. And before you go around changing all the piping I have a buddy that'll check your cat for free. Cause if there's no hole that means you have enough at pressure and your cat is solid you'll pass smog. And you know I still have smog hook.

yea ill probably just get new piping, is my cat is bad ill get a high flow cat with a magnaflow muffler or something, ill have Andy figure it out LOL

[EDirtyZ]

yea ill probably just get new piping, is my cat is bad ill get a high flow cat with a magnaflow muffler or something, ill have Andy figure it out LOL

Yeah I was gonna say Andy can check your cat for free lol, but do you wanna blow that much money on a muffler dude? I bought 2 glass packs and Andy welded for me for $20 and the glasspacks cost like what? $10 a piece? Get new piping a new cat and glass packs Andy will do it all together for 3hun, and you know I got one of the nicest sounding e30's around ;P

[e30pdee]

soooo today, i did an oil change, fixed the battery problem, and replaced my throttle cable. once it was ready to drive low and behold i pull out the driveway, and come around the first turn, *clunk clunk* it died out. i tried to turn it on, nothing, the crank wasnt turning so i thought my crank had locked but that didnt make sense. i luckily someone was kind enough to tow my car around the block free of charge, got it towed, im sitting here looking to see whats going on and i saw it, the tension on my timing belt has completely failed, the timing belt is so loose that i could wiggle it back and forth effortlessly. so basically my tensioner failed, and i feel like valves hit pistons, because i did not hear nice noises when i lost tension. :(

whatever, i guess this calls for new pistons, or atleast new valves depending on what got messed up, today is a very sad day. has anyone had such experiences and would care to share them?