'86 E30 325i maintenance/restoration/build

[kronus]

you need some elbow grease on the various fluid tanks :p

is that a intensive wash tank in there, actually? don't see those in the states much.

[Europeaben]

That's real nice. well done.

edit: you can get a more minimal cover by using one off an l-jet 323i

Thanks for that. Did not know that! That would have saved a lot of time.. Ohwell, the one I made is on now so probably will stay there for quite some time.

Today I put the timing covers and pulleys on, with new belts


Mounted the 16" SPAL electric fan


Mounted the coilpack



And made some custom spark plug leads, as the old ones weren't the right length, and had the wrong style connectors on them. Used a 8.5mm MSD Streetfire kit, was much easier than I expected... Thought about running flashy MSD coils and red wires, but decided to try and keep it more oem looking. This coilpack is nearly as powerful, and looks like it could be stock to the untrained eye.


Cut to length, ends crimped on with included crimper


Modified the stock wire cover to put the wires in the other way, put some labels on the wires and put the ends on



Only thing I would have done differently, and might change if I can be bothered, is white on black labels instead of black on yellow, they stand out a little too much for my liking. All in all, pretty happy with how it turned out though. When I clean up the rest of the engine bay it should look pretty neat ;)

[kronus]

That's real nice. well done.

edit: you can get a more minimal cover by using one off an l-jet 323i

[Europeaben]

And that basically brings us up to now... I'll try and keep this updated and it will flow much nicer.

Half of my shed is literally full of new bits and pieces ready to be put into the car, but I won't give it all away just yet, you can watch as it comes.

So for a fair while I've been having random intermittent complete loss of power, from the original pump cutting out. 700hp+ capable Bosch 044 seemed to fix that up for a while ;) Ran new wiring, fuel hoses and made a custom bracket to fit it, didn't take any photos of it mounted though


Even after replacing the fuel pump though, the car still has some intermittent problems, which are definintely electrical. I've spent way too much time trying to figure it out with no luck, and have been wanting to tune the car anyway as it's definintely not making nearly as much power as it should, so **** it, I'm replacing everything engine related that's electrical and am finally putting it on Megasquirt 2 standalone.

First step was to assemble the JimStim (which basically simulates your engine, for testing the ms2) to get a bit of practice soldering circuit boards with my new soldering station.



Then it was onto the MS2 itself..



Ignition mod kits mounted on heatsink (this has been tidied up since, and more jumpers added for other things, but only underside photo I have)




Initial testing, plugged into the laptop... and it works! No smoke or anything, success.


Finished up and put into the case, internal serial to USB converter mounted and wired up



I'm not just building an ECU and new wiring harness though...

Once I got the ECU built, I put the car back in the shed, jack it up, put it on stands and removed the front end and bonnet, to make some more room.

Mechanical fan is being scrapped, low profile 16" electrical SPAL will be taking it's place ;)


Distributor also went straight in the bin.


Pulled the radiator, fan and pretty much all the pulleys on the front


As my car is an early mode 325i, it uses 2 sensors on the flywheel instead of a single crank position sensor. Unfortunately you can't set ms2 up to work off that signal, so the crank pulled with teeth, crank position sensor and crank position sensor bracket from a late model have to be fitted. While I was at it, I also replaced the power steering pulley with a spare one I luckily had, as the one on the was bent as **** and was wobbling something hectic.


Pulled the timing covers off and noticed the upper one was broken... find more dodgy **** on it every time I pull it apart.


Posted up in an e30 parts ground on facebook, and picked another one up within an hour of realizing the original was broken... the internet is such a great place.

Since I'm not running a distributor anymore, I decided to blank the original distrubitor hole off and try to keep it looking oem. Got a piece of thin plate and cut it out with my plasma cutter (was my first time using the plasma cutter, so it came out rough as hell, but did the job). Then I just jbwelded it to the timing cover, and ground it down to fit with a die grinder. Turned out pretty nice I think, not perfect, but not something most people will be looking at anyway, and certainly cleaner than most ways of doing it







Not back at work for another week or so, so can expect much more to be done in the next few days ;)

[Europeaben]

Thought I might make a proper thread for my e30 to track and share it's progress.

Have owned this car for nearly a year now, and have slowly worked away at it, but the real fun has only just begun....

Have basically copied a small selection of photos and stuff from another thread on another forum to bring us up to date. A few details of the car: It's a 1986 series 1 325i, imported from the UK back in 99. Came with fresh paint, schrick 288 cam, 19lb injectors and a whole bunch of dodgy things I'm still finding every time I work on it...

The day I flew down to Sydney and bought it..


Took it to the track



Fixed a few little things, got QLD rwc and rego


First breakdown, when the ecu died


Fixed that up and hit the track again, more bad luck...


Picked up a fender from a mate


Painted it up along with a spoilerless bootlid



Picked up some headlights as left one was also fucked in the crash


Smoked them


Wetsanded and buffed the panels I sprayed







Took it to All Stars show



Random interior shots (interior is about to get a lot of work, but these are a good before reference))






Starter motor died, so pulled some stuff apart, fixed some stuff, deleted ABS, replaced the started motor, replaced some gaskets, adjusted valve clearances, cleaned and painted some bits, tucked some wires





Put in some recoed injectors from a golf VR6


Sound clip




Completely rewired to central locking as it never worked and I gave up trying to find the problem, fitted new actutors and installed remote central locking.