1988 325is Alpineweiss II

[mbonanni]

I’m not too concerned about the alignment as I’ve got a place less than a mile from my house and I don’t plan to drive it much without getting that done. I guess my question is how far should I screw on the outer tie rods. I bought the e46 steering rack with the inners already installed and have to thread on the outers separately.

[iwantspeed]

one easy diy alignment until you get a real alignment is to take 2 tape measures and put on in front of the wheel and one behind the wheel.
with the steering wheel straight adjust the tie rods to get the numbers on the tape measure to be the same which will give you zero toe
you can do it with out this tool to just ballpark.

[mbonanni]

1988 325is Alpineweiss II

Drove her up/down the street today. I need an alignment, but first to mess with the ride height.. Is there a general rule of thumb how far to thread outer tie rods on? I really wasn’t sure what to do so I just bottomed them out then reversed each side 6 full rotations.

Same pic different location.

[mbonanni]

Been slacking on updating this, car is on the ground. Rear is going to get lowered a bit and the front is going to go up a tad. Couple more things before I take her for a drive. [emoji1591]

[mbonanni]

1988 325is Alpineweiss II

I think I found my problem yesterday. I removed the little line that goes from the fpr to the nipple on the intake. I believe this is the cold start vale?? Someone please enlighten me. Anyways, pulled that off and plugged the nipple with my finger and it ran like a champ, then noticed gasoline flowing from that line. I did this a few times and each time the car also immediately died when I put the hose back into the nipple. This means a faulty fpr, which is most likely causing my erratic idle as well as explains why there was a ton of shit inside my intake when I removed it and cleaned it. Can anyone confirm this to be true?

[mbonanni]

Thanks for the heads up, posted links instead.

[Staszek]

Let me know if the embedded YouTube videos in my last post are not working. They show up for me on Tapatalk, but not when I use safari browser on my phone.

Not working, I dont think embedding works anymore on this site.

[mbonanni]

Let me know if the embedded YouTube videos in my last post are not working. They show up for me on Tapatalk, but not when I use safari browser on my phone.

[mbonanni]

1988 325is Alpineweiss II

Thanks guys! Really enjoying putting this one together.

Yesterday I started the car for the second or third time since doing the water pump and timing belt - fires right up. I let her get to operating temp for the first time and then it sat halfway between half and 3/4 on the temp gauge however died a few times for no apparent reasons and then took a good 5-10 seconds of cranking to restart. Not sure what the problem is here, but before I get to chasing that down I need to get a few hose clamps as I am missing a few key ones most likely causing some serious vacuum leaks.

With that said I was also experiencing erratic idle, a misfire or just plain running rough and the rpm gauge would flutter a loot when I would bring the rpms up and sit at one spot. I have a video posted below, Any reasons that would cause this? I think perhaps the cluster is bad as my fuel gauge is intermittent as well. I tested the TPS and it checked out, could it still be bad? I also checked the spark plugs and cyl 3 was a tad loose as well as very wet with what looked like oil. After wiping it down and tightening it up it seemed like she ran a bit smoother.

https://youtu.be/2EQqhLcV8XM

And here is a short little video of it starting and running. Sometimes when I rev it up and let it go back to idle it drops real low and then starts to hunt so I tried to replicate that to with no real progress. You can kind of heard how it is running rough in this video, and the exhaust note sounds really deep and not like something’s I’ve hear from an e30. Almost boat like - however that might be the rusted out stock muffler.

https://youtu.be/m2rmKkn8LuI

I went ahead and checked the oil after letting it sit for a few minutes and it was well above the full line - going to drain some today and see if that does any good. Damn previous owner must have put 6 qts or something in.

Those problems aside I have ordered some wheels, good ol classic Ronal LS. [emoji41]

Now moving onto suspension - I received my Camaro KYB agx a week or so ago so I need to figure out how I am going to install the lower end of those. Normally a step down spacer would be ideal but I cannot find one online anywhere, anyone have experience installing these? Recommendations?

Also will be paying Jokester for some sway bars today as well as ordering a few more odds and ends so hopefully I will get all those next week and I can put her on the ground [emoji1591]

Annd a pic of my daily e30 just because what’s an update without some kind of pictures.

[Staszek]

Looking good, like seeing another AWII IS build!

[laidback93]

Loving the progress. And that interior is delicious!

I'd drop on by if I still lived in Modesto.

BTW - I bought my e30 from a guy in Sac. He's a lead fabricator at Kontrolle Engineering in Rancho Cordova. He did a crap ton of work to my car before I bought it. Super cool guy.

He's now working on a DeLorean project.

[mbonanni]

1988 325is Alpineweiss II

A little bit more progress - Coilovers and controls arms are installed but not torqued because I still need tie rod ends, controls arm bushings, and sway bars. I also installed a power steering delete I had laying around cause my ps reservoir had an inch of gunk in it and I did not want that shit in my new rack.

[mbonanni]

I googled some thread engagement rules of thumb and It said generally 1-1.5 times the bolt diameter for steel is good enough. I believe I have about 1 full diameter of the bolt so I am just going to machine a spacer at work tomorrow and keep an eye on it like you said. I absolutely do not want to deal with drilling this out unless absolutely needed.

Moving on from that I will be installing my steering coupler and power steering lines today. If that goes smoothly I should be able to bolt up my control arms and strut housings as well. I’ve got a bit under two months before I move again, so my goal is to have it completed a couple weeks before that.

I really need to figure out what wheels I want to put on this thing... My all time favorite wheels for e30s are style 32’s but I didn’t plan for five lug and already bought new rotors and pads so I’m strugglin to find something else.

[Jokester]

I had to remove a broken bolt from the frame in the control arm location.

Total pain in the ass. Lots of yelling, banging, and drilling got it out.

If it has enough threads, I don’t see any issues with a spacer, just make sure you torque it to correct specs and check in on it every now and then.

[mbonanni]

Having my car be a project car it made the seat job less stressful. If I had to do them in a weekend I would definitely make sure you have everything you need right there.

I actually have a new update, progress has been slow but I’ve been in between jobs the past couple weeks and finally settling in at my new place.

Anyways, assembled my coilovers yesterday. These are American Racing front springs, aftermarket adjusters and sleeves, new top hats, IE top seat thing? (maybe I dont rememeber) and KYB adjustable MR2 rear struts. I like the way they turned out, and for only ~$200 total! Very excited to try them. Sorry more iPhone pics.



I also was able to get my subframe reinforcements welded up by a new coworker and powder coated at one of our vendors. Stupid me forgot to have the sway bar reinforcements welded in so I may have to just rock it as is or find a way to secure them on. Do you guys think I can’t just install them with my sways and not weld them on?? Hmmm... I also got my e46 330i rack mounted up to the subframe, but now for the issue I encountered today...

While installing the subframe, rack, and new motor mounts everything was going well until the last bolt [emoji19] Welll it was very difficult to screw in and then ended up not going in all the way. Turns out the previous owner broke the end of the old bolts way deep in the threads, sooo now what do I do? I read I can come from above the rail from the engine bay and possibly drill it out then extract it using a left hand drill bit?? I have no clue... I would hate to use a spacer for this, but if it comes down to it I may have to... Aside from that I will be ordering rear shocks soon and then getting her on the ground so I can see what other gremlins are hiding from me.