87' Alpine 4 Door - Road to 400k

[Civilian]

Finally doing some work on my second E30 and wanting to document things.

A little back story, I got my first E30 in 2011. I was infatuated with the idea of getting into drifting, and began looking into E30s after seeing one from Enthusiast Auto on craigslist. That was 2009. It was a Delphin Gray 87is. To this day I love that color and would jump on one given the opportunity.

Anyways, I found an 1987 325is 40 minutes north of me for a decent price. The car was in good shape, and the initial photos had me convinced it was Henna (it wasn't). My parents purchased it in agreement that I would reach Eagle in boy scouts.



The car was lowered on vogtlands by the previous owner. It was an automatic. Good shape besides cracking paint on the passenger rear quarter. The interior was in fantastic shape, and remains one of my favorite aspects of the car.


The car was on and off the road consistently. I had no clue what I was doing, but was (fairly) determined to learn. A broken tensioner shaft lead to some bent valves/broken rocker arms, so my dad and I learned about removing the head. We refreshed it and the car was back on the road again.




Fast forward to the week of Thanksgiving of 2016 and I was rear ended on my way to work. Damage wasn't too bad, but I was unhappy. Frustrated, I ignored the car for some time. Insurance was slow, but I was able to get a nice check from it. The car is still road worthy, and with a new taillight, some time with a hammer, my dad dailies it now.



I searched Craig's pretty consistently for a few months post accident. I found an ad about two and a half hours away for an E30 with high mileage for a good price. White, four door, five speed. I contacted the seller and set up a meeting time. I hadn't purchased a car on my own before, so I didn't ask some crucial questions, as you'll find out.

I got there and checked out the car. He already had it running when I arrived, which I see looking back was to hide the fact that it had a hard time starting. The odometer was at 378,000 miles and he said it was accurate. The car had a binder full of receipts and services done. He stepped inside to grab the title and I ran through the binder. Expense hadn't really been spared on the car. We took it for a quick test drive and I put down a deposit.




The car had been kept bone stock besides a head unit. Oh, and a poorly done plastic bumper swap. The manual transmission is night and day to an auto, I can't believe I drove an auto E30 for so long. I think that has had me more excited to do work to the car. I started with mainly maintenance and drove the car stock for about a month or two, but I collected parts.

Since then it's received Euro grills, a wooden 4 spoke MOMO, some 2Mshiftboots, some rough Ground Control coilovers I found used, Enkei 92s I had sitting from the red car. Removed the tint and pinstriping. Discovered some poor things about the car which was to be expected. The front fenders aren't original, and neither have paint that is in great condition. Passenger door had paint redone and they didn't even bother to remove the pin striping before doing so. I've shadow lined half the car (lol) and have been waiting for warmer weather to finish it.

Here's the initial drop. I brought the rear down a bit more after this. The guy I bought the coilovers from took off the adjusters in the front and it's lower than I would like it to be. I need to find a way to raise it. I'm looking into helper springs if I'm unable to buy adjusters alone from Ground Control.


Recently took the car on a drive with the local 2002 group. Car handled the twisties well and felt solid. Turned over 383,000 miles mid drive. Pretty pleased with where it sits.


This past weekend I got 19lb injectors in with a tune from mpowerful. I've only been able to drive it briefly but my long starting issues have gone, which support that I thought the injectors were losing pressure in the rail. Car feels strong. I have a RED46 skidplate I was hoping to install but I've discovered my radiator support isn't straight. The car was in a front right end collision in 1991 according to the car fax, which I believe explains this damage. The passenger side front door doesn't seal quite right at the top, which I also think relates. Add in that my garagistic front strut support doesn't fit and I'm concerned I have a frame that is out of whack. Any comments on this?

Other issue I'm running into is a CEL that I haven't been able to check. I have a 173 ECU but I haven't been able to grab a code from the stomp test as it seems the CEL doesn't "Save". It popped up after I replaced the O2 sensor. I cheaped out and used a fourwire Bosch from autozone w/ splice from the original connector, so I may need to go back and double check my connections there.

Here's my most recent pic. The car is hardly a 10-footer but I'm happy with how it drives and that was always the intention.


The engine, as you can imagine, is pretty worn. Plans are to piece together an M20 stroker in preparation of it failing. I like the M20 and the sound it creates, and while 24v swaps are the more economic solution for power, I'd be happy to keep it single cam. We'll see if that mindset lasts.

Thanks for reading!

PS: photobucket is a garbage site, what other options are there for photo hosting?

[Civilian]

I've been looking to get rid of my comfort seats for some time. Yesterday I was able to snipe a cheap pair of tan sport seats from a local SpecE30 guy. Always nice to meet other E30 people in the area, and the price was unbeatable. He also had an S5 and '87 Targa in the garage that were fun to check out.

Excited to get these in the car. I'm looking into dyeing the leather to match the pacific blue interior, with a recover down the road. Anyone have recommendations for blue leather dye?

[TheWipprSnappr]

Nice intro. I really like that iS. Any project plans for it?
As far as image hosting I use Flickr and haven't had any issues so far. Also there is a sticky in the forum news for posting from it.

[Civilian]

The IS will remain as is for the time being besides some additional repair done to the accident damage. My dad drives it to work currently and it won't be replaced until the Tesla Model 3 is out. So it may be some time. However, if it survives his ownership and possibly my sisters, I'd like to see it taken back to stock in the future, possibly a five speed.

I have a flickr account that I haven't logged into in a few years, I'll see if I can find that information. Thanks!

[Civilian]

The car has been running extremely rich recently. Has a new coolant temp sensor, FPR, fuel filter, injectors, ECU, and O2 sensor. I'm going to pull the plugs tomorrow to take a look at them.

When I went to replace the injectors, I had disconnected the battery and let the car sit for some time. However, I still had a lot of gas exit the fuel return line at the rear of the fuel rail when I removed it. I believe signs are pointing to a clogged return line. Anyone able to weigh in on this, or provide information on confirmation? Can smell the gas at idle, and had some backfiring when decelerating :-?.

I've been through a couple threads and it looks like I need to:
Check AFM to be reading properly
Check my plugs being fouled, possibly leaving unburnt fuel (?)
Check O2 sensor to have gone bad
Check fuel rail pressure
Double check for vacuum leaks

I also recently adjusted my TPS. I can hear the "click" from the switch immediately after it leaves the idle screw. Too close?

My valve cover gasket and exhaust manifold gaskets both appear rough but I haven't had starting issues to indicate a valve cover gasket vacuum leak and the car doesn't seem overly loud like the exhaust manifold gaskets would be leaking. I'll probably order replacements in the sense of maintenance regardless. I also have some rocker shaft plugs (new) left from the red car that I can put in at the same time.

Thanks in advance for any help! Trying to keep this one on the road.

[Civilian]

Reference Threads:
One
Two

Post #2 in the first thread is what makes me think fuel return line. No fuel in the FPR > manifold hose. FPR is new. I guess checking my pressure would allow me to confirm that. 3 bar and 43 psi according to jlevie in another thread.

Thread two ^ had me considering the exhaust manifold gaskets. If there was a leak there, that would ruin the O2 sensors ability to adjust fuel properly. What would make a reasonably new (less than 2 months) O2 sensor go bad? Signs pointing to a bad O2 are the CEL no longer showing up and the car running extremely rich.