91 325i S52 Build

[Bimmerguy91]

Hey guys! I've been a R3V member for probably 3 or 4 years now. My first project was a 1984 318i with an M50NV swap. Now I have moved on to a new project which will be my 1991 325i S52 OBD2 swap.

The project car is a Schwarz on Tan 1991 325i coupe with 130k miles. The car is relatively original and a good driver in decent shape. I've had the car for a few months now and it's a lot of fun driving a slow car fast but I have grown tired of the originally 168 horsepower M20 (probably far less than that now).

I just picked up my donor car today. The car is a Fern Gruen Metallic on Modena 1999 M3 automatic convertible with 147k miles. I already have a refreshed ZF320 trans and most of the other swap parts needed so the autotragic doesn't matter much to me. I will be either selling the car as a motorless roller if I can get the right money for it or I will just part it out. Body and paint are pretty good, interior sucks asshole (too bad since it's Modena), top is crappy and leaky (probably what ruined the interior) and the mechanicals are all in pretty good shape. I drove the car home 120 miles and it drove great and never skipped a beat. :)

Here are some pics of the E30:

When I first picked it up in Atlanta:
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr

Upon arrival at home:

Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr


And the E36 M3 donor car:
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr
Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr

[Bimmerguy91]

Update: I am going to be pulling the S52 and parting out the M3 donor next weekend. Once the engine is out I am going to start going through and cleaning it up, regasketing the entire engine and installing the E34 oil pan, M50 intake manifold, headers, etc to get it ready to go in the E30.

Wanting to have everything ready to go before I pull the M20 out of the E30 so I can minimize down time.

[paynemw]

hang your pictures on FLICKR and use the bbcode tool to share your pictures without having to add attachments.

[Bimmerguy91]

I was going to do that using Photobucket but my work computer blocks Photobucket lol. Let me see if I can access Flickr. Otherwise I'll just have to do it at home :-(

[butters]

Nice car.

Photobucket is terrible, very slow interface. I used it for years and switched to Flickr last year.

[agent]

Nice car.

Photobucket is terrible

[Bimmerguy91]

Flickr is accessible at work! Hooray! It also works WAY better than Photobucket so thank you all. I'm not sure why most of the pictures are huge. If someone knows how to fix that let me know.

[Jb325is]

If you select a photo in "photostream" there will be an arrow on the bottom right, select that, then bbcode tab, and it'll let you choose a size.

You can also re-size in their built-in editor, which is the paper/pencil icon right next to the share arrow

Nice car though, should be great with the S52

[Bimmerguy91]

Any idea what the optimal size for forum posts is? Sorry I'm not much of a media person lol.

Edit: Looks like 1024x768 works pretty well. See photo below.

[Bimmerguy91]

I actually did this a while back but figured I would share. Swapped the ugly airbag wheel for a 350mm Momo Monte Carlo. Also added a dual jumbo cup holder that a guy on Etsy makes. Actually a pretty nice piece and fits perfect. Now I can drive the car to work and not have to forego my coffee! :D

Here is a link in case anyone is interested. He has a bunch of options for size of cupholder inserts, power outlets, vinyl or leather, etc.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/160264019/e30-front-cup-holder-w-dual-jumbo?ref=related-1

Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr

[Bimmerguy91]

Went in and fixed all the super huge pictures so the thread isn't all jacked up anymore. Sorry guys.

Here is a picture I took while screwing around with the Iphone 7+ "portrait mode". New BMW CCA grille badge installed as well.

Untitled by Austin Graner, on Flickr

[UgkNW*]

What are you doing about your harness and dme? are you keeping it obd2? my car is same year my s52 is out a 96 im still deciding what ima do about the harness want to keep it obd2 dont want to spend 450 on a harness repin tho..

[Bimmerguy91]

Staying OBD2. Having the DME reflashed to delete EWS, wanted to tune it anyway so no added cost there. I have a friend that is going to repin my harness for me.

[Bimmerguy91]

I have just about completed the part out of the M3. S52 is sitting in my shop and waiting for new gaskets and a good cleaning and painting.

[ThatM20Guy]

Sub'd. Looking forward to this build :up:

That Monte Carlo is probably my favorite wheel for e30's!

Says the cupholder on etsy is unavailable :/ Looks pretty nifty though