92' Vert Rebuild

[ZeeVaughn]

Hell everyone! Thought I’d start a thread to track the progress on my build. You can also follow along on my Instagram @zee_e30

This is my 92’ 325i vert that I purchased back in October 2018 for a pretty low price. It was pretty rough when I got it, but also how I wanted it so I could bring it back to life! It had sun beaten paint, ripped top, best up interior, and a filthy bay from unadressed oil leaks. I drove it home a little over an hour away and got to work. This is right when I got her home and parked






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[ZeeVaughn]

Next order of business was to start tearing it down and compiling a list of everything that needed to be done (so everything lol)



Fenders are both shot, and the valance has a small dent which I think I can get out


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[ZeeVaughn]

I started to get everything prepped to pull the motor out, making a nice mess of the garage on the process







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[ZeeVaughn]

Everything was pretty straight forward, just a lot of brittle hosing and connectors in the harness that will need to be replaced. As you can see the engine was filthy and obliviously had been leaking for some time






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[ZeeVaughn]

Next I wanted to get strip down the engine and get it cleaned up before I bring the head to a machine shop. The grim build up was unreal and a real pain to clean up









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[ZeeVaughn]

I used a spray bottle of undilluted simple green, another with soap and water, some engine degreaser, and a lottttt of harbor freight wire brushes lol (snapped 80% of the handles off) also once I got it cleaned up I found a nice huge job weld repair job on the oil pan haha so time for another








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[ZeeVaughn]

After it was all cleaned up I removed the head in preparation to send it out to a machine shop. Also I took that time to paint the block. Went with a low gloss black.




Stripped down the intake manifold and valve cover so I can send them out to be powder coated black as well.






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[bradnic]

Great start! SUB'D

[ZeeVaughn]

After all that I prepped to clean the engine bay. I removed everything I was either scrapping or upgrading (A/C, reservoirs, etc...)





I used the same cleaners and some elbow grease and the bay came out looking great





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[ZeeVaughn]

After the bay was where I wanted it to be I went ahead and dropped the front subframe, suspension, and steering rack. Going to be upgrading the steering rack to a z3 rack and refreshing the suspension parts while I’m at it




Also ripped out a mess of an alarm system the PO has installed that was really janky




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[ZeeVaughn]

Ended up stumbling on a deal and picked up some perfect comforts eats from a coupe. Installed them for about a day or two but decided to sell them and recover my sport seats instead



Also picked up a sport wheel to replace my 4 spoke who’s was faded and cracking.





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[ZeeVaughn]

Tomorrow morning I’m off to sell my comfort seats and some door cards. Going to put that money back into the project, and aim at getting the engine completed.

I found a shop about 20 minutes from me in Napa, Ca that specializes in Spec E30 builds and m20’s. The owner races e30’s and their shop is going to do all my head work. Super pumped to get that off, powder coat the manifold and valve cover, and get my new oil pan on order.


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[iwantspeed]

you torn down a lot of components off the car in a small garage.
wouldn't it be better to tackle certain areas and complete it before moving on to the next area?
a lot of people on this forum do the same then get overwhelmed with the project or don't have enough time to put it all back together.

nice work so far, and cool that you found a shop familiar with spec e30 engines

[2mAn]

ambitious start!... keep the progress going

[ZeeVaughn]

you torn down a lot of components off the car in a small garage.
wouldn't it be better to tackle certain areas and complete it before moving on to the next area?
a lot of people on this forum do the same then get overwhelmed with the project or don't have enough time to put it all back together.

nice work so far, and cool that you found a shop familiar with spec e30 engines

Yeah I hear where you’re coming from. I just wanted to be able to work on other things while waiting on certain things like the head work, and sandblasting/powder coating being done. The shops have lead times so I don’t want to be too stagnant!


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