325ic Calypso Euro Conversion - Houndstooth & dbilas now, MT1 & MM 3.2 stroker coming

[bradnic]

still working the engine.. taken longer than expected as in addition to coolant flush, fluids, timing belt, water pump etc I'm replacing all hoses and doing some light head work (new seals, hot tank, inspection, planing if necessary, valve lap and new seals). also pulled the oil pan and did a thorough inspection of the motor.

should be back together this week, then on to the bumpers and winter storage after that.

[bradnic]

Well she's all back together and running great. ended up getting the head tanked and planed, valves ground. new rocker hardware. put her back together myself, went very smoothly.

de-carbonoized the pistons,
replaced all vacuum and radiator hoses + clamps,
gaskets for oil pan, camshaft, valve cover, thermostat and head,
rebuilt the fuel injectors,
replaced timing belt, water pump, plugs, rotor, distrib cap, radiator cap, exhaust manifold bolts..
another set of plug wires and new intake parts coming soon, will swap those too.

she's so damn CLEAN under the hood now, above and below. It's an absolute joy to see and drive. wife and I finally got to use the new windscreen too - those things are just great.

gonna start the euro transformation in a couple of weeks (euro bumpers, valance, grilles, headlamp washers, euro smileys, europlate filler). on the interior will keep going with the leatherique restoration, but I scored another set of natur leather seats with heating elements, so gonna be rebuilding and swapping things around. Will wait on the MT1 install until after I've seen the euro bumpers on.

will post some pics tomorrow.

[bradnic]

Here's my "pre MT1" target, straight from e30.de. sticking with my nogaro euroweaves though, and I already have the 2nd set of natur headrests.

2017 EDIT: lol on the Alpina wheels comment. this car is very close to my spring 2017 setup (except for the M30)

I just absolutely love this car. no pinstripes needed with that character line - one of the best features of the side profile. Will get the MT1 painted and ready regardless of which way I end up.



couple more from a sister car on same site


love this pic of both
e30de m30 verts by bradn, on Flickr

btw both these cars have M30B35 conversions done. Definitely not my preference - there's an S52 swap in my future. just not sure which car yet (this one or the MT2).

EDIT: Changed my mind - sticking to an M20.

[bradnic]

head rebuild's been absolutely solid except for 1 issue - a *very* slow, small drop of oil that appears to be coming near the oil filter/oil cooler lines. crappy pic here but you can see the drop of oil accumulating.



I get about a tablespoon a week. still trying to track down where it's coming from. I didn't remove the oil filter mounting flange or the oil cooler lines, so not sure what's going on here.

[jeffnhiscars]

Needless to say I'm liking this thread :)

I used this dye & a black light to track down a steering fluid leak and threw the rest in the engine just in case. It's $6\bottle and the 3400 is concentrated so I'll recommend that to find your oil leak.

http://tracer.drupalgardens.com/content/dye-lite%C2%AE-all-one%E2%84%A2

The window seals are all available from the dealer but the rear are confusing since both realoem & etk say they are "door seals". They aren't so if you need PN's let me know.

I also have a heated seat kit after buying a pair of indigo front seats just to get the bolsters. Turns out they had elements so I sourced the rest of it (be here tomorrow) but after pulling the cushions off the frame today, Im not so sure about removing the elements to put them in another seat. In Chitown, definitely, but I'm not convince its worth the trouble here. Point being Id love to see pics of how the elements come out.

Otherwise, carry on. Great build.

[bradnic]

THANKS for the post! loving your barn vert thread as well - sub'd. we've done the same head work.

will take you up on the tracer. used something similar for my a/c work.

btw just picked up a Stromung cat back, billies and eibachs from alB5.

[jeffnhiscars]

Here's what the dye looks like with a crap UV light. This is about 3/4 of a bottle of 3400 in the crankcase with the rest in the steering. The good news is that I had to pull the dipstick to find an oil. The PS not so lucky although it IS more neon

[bradnic]

As you'll see there's alot of tweaking needed to close the top properly, but it's clearly still in very good condition. I'm learning alot about the top mechanism as you can imagine. You can tell from the pics in the first post that the top cover wasn't closing properly on the driver's side - it was sticking up. The top itself also has a gap in the back to the deck lid.

This is a manual top car btw.



I have to guide the rear windows to the rear weatherstripping when closing them. The cloth is pulled away near the lower window because the "pocket" that slides into the frame appears to have a tear in it. this pocket is on the inside, so just guiding the top into the frame by hand takes care of it.



I pulled the rear seat and door panels, and the top. adjusted the driver side top cover latch and re-leveled the top per the bmw videos on youtube. the top cover now sits perfectly when closed, but I still have a large gap in the back. As you can imagine it drives me nuts ;-)




the top is shimmed exactly to spec, and the rear top seal appears to be resting on the top lid fine. So my guess is the top material itself has pulled away from the frame in the rear. This pic seems to confirm that.



I may try to pull the top fabric away from the frame and reglue it in the proper position, but that's one step away from just replacing the top completely, so best to do that once I have the replacement in hand (or at least ordered).

the rear window closing is slightly better now. some additional in/out window adjustment will probably help, but will save that for another time.

as to the top itself, it's really in quite good condition, but as you can see from the first post pics the top has separated from the frame. the tension straps have also started poking through their cloth. as you can imagine I'm really careful when putting the top up to make sure the strap metal is tucked under the cloth before closing. I went ahead and bought replacement tension straps.



I will replace the top eventually but there's no short term need to do so (my MT2 top on the other hand is toast so that will get replaced first). With this car I'll see how the leatherique turns out, then either move forward with the kevin chinn houndstooth or secure a new german top.

[bradnic]

Here's what the dye looks like with a crap UV light. This is about 3/4 of a bottle of 3400 in the crankcase with the rest in the steering.

Cool - just like the A/C dye.

The good news is that I had to pull the dipstick to find an oil. The PS not so lucky although it IS more neon

Definitely a relief I'm sure :-)

I have a small PS hose leak as well (one of the hoses coming from the reservoir). easy fix thank goodness.

[jeffnhiscars]

I've found that the LP hoses themselves arent usually the cause of a leak. Its either the clamp at the reservoir or the crush washers.

I also have to hold the rear window seal out when I close the back window (good thing its on the drivers side:). I think that seal has a metal backing and is riveted and screwed to the frame so I was thinking the seal frame could be tweaked outward....or did you adjust the window itself ?

[bradnic]

yeah you can't adjust the weatherstripping. there are a few screws in the rear window mechanism that adjust in/out, height etc. you adjust the door window height first, then push the rear window forward. you can adjust in/out as well.

great info in the bmw top videos on youtube. part 3 7 minutes in shows the window adjustments.

EDIT: you can tell from the pics that the rear weatherstrip is compressed together at the bottom. this is probably from continuing to ignore the problem when the window first starting to miss the weatherstrip slot. my guess is that if the window can't be adjusted to align then it's better to just replace the rear weatherstrip.

[bradnic]

replaced the power antenna assembly with another hirschman unit a couple of months ago. also put in a new mast, and managed to complete an incredibly tedious antenna cable repair (why do POs have to be such butchers!?).

everything works great now, though the antenna does keep trying to go up for 1-2 seconds after full extension. haven't been able to figure that out yet. I may put in a manual switch to override the power antenna when I'm just using my phone (calls/music).

[bradnic]

been a while since posting. car's been stored, started once a week. Just secured a brand new german cloth top for it, and the top straps.

Busy rebuilding the M42 on the 318is though, so it will be a while before I get back to this car - still my wife and I's favorite.

[bradnic]

Haven't updated in quite a while here.. been busy with the following projects (i do all my own wrench work, electrical, welding etc):
-- 318is M42 top end rebuild, engine bay refresh, rear and ebrake overhaul, 4.10 LSD, E30tech camber plate setup
-- 325ix complete suspension and brake overhaul (new control arms, bearings, brakes, caliper rebuilds, new park brake setup, new rear shafts, re-boot front shafts...billie HDs and H&Rs as well)
-- 318is and 325ix A/C overhaul (reman compressor, new lines, exp valve etc)

So "Callie" has been waiting patiently. Finally pulling the trigger on a few things:
-- getting the euro-bumpers re-chromed
-- all new window trunk and tail-light weatherstripping (all 3 E30s are getting this)
-- natur+houndstooth interior
The plan is to go without the MT1 fascias for a while, so I'm gonna get the blunt tech sourced eurovalance painted separately for now. The car will get a full re-spray when everything's sorted. There's also an S52 in it's future, but that's 1-2 years down the road.

Will post pics when there's something interesting to see, and probably start a new thread for the IX as well. The plan for it next year is strip to body shell, rust repair and paint..

[bradnic]

Quick update

Disassembled euro-bumpers today and shipped them out for re-chroming. Here's some of the worst of it, back side of the rear bumper


Looking into bumper trim replacement vs refinishing. Also need to sort through the side trim - apparently MT1 bumper side trim is different. Didn't realize that.

Unwrapped the euro-valance from Blunttech. Will be dropping it off at the paint shop later this week.


Pulling the trigger on the interior as well this week:
- houndstooth seating surfaces, door and rear panel inserts, headrests (front and rear)
- natur bolsters, sides, seat backs, doors and rear panels


Still deciding on supplier and whether to install seat covers myself or let an expert rebuild the front seats and install the covers.

Also picking up a hardtop next week ;-)

Hope to have all this back and assembled in time for WindyCity VintageFest mid September.