"Bimmy"

[BlueJ85]

Got the engine in for transport...

Here's the bad 2.5 in the car (fyi it has a bad head gasket):





Junkyard Dog look...

[BlueJ85]

So my good ol' friend came today with the 2 engines...






We took off the transmission (don't know why this is blurry)






Took off the clutch and pressure plate





And put an engine in the passenger compartment for extra HP.











No, seriously...I'm not going to try to get all this done before I leave. I have so much to pack it's ridiculous (moving from the west side of WI to the east side this week), so we're going to bolt this, as-is:






into the car for transport. I'll have to pack as many other parts as I can into the trunk and back seat because nobody has bought anything, even though I've gotten probably 15 replies. Don't get it.

Will post more as they come!

[BlueJ85]

Ok, it's been quite a while since I updated this thread, but it's still alive, and kickin hard.

This project has evolved, devolved, and evolved again. We were unsure of even what we were going to do with it for a while...with no title it seemed useless...but we've found a guy who's been great to work with who is trading us our engine plus cash for a 2.7i stroker that we will eventually turbo. Here are pics of the progress on that swap so far:



























Saturday our friend is bringing a 2.5 with all accessories and the 2.7i stroker with none, so we have to transfer all acc. from the 2.5 to the 2.7 and bolt the motor back up. I am moving in one week and the car is coming with me, so we are only concentrating on getting the engine bolted in so that the car is trailerable. Once I get to my destination I'll hook things back up slowly but surely.

I'm really excited we got the engine out.

[BlueJ85]

Yes, it did...which I feel kind of bad about. But oh well. Not necessary for our uses...

[Court M3]

Good to see another e30 323i around. Mine is moving to WA soon though. Did the A/C work?

[BlueJ85]

Don't think I will do anything illegal on this one.


Updates:

Bimmy's a/c = discharged.




Guy didn't pay me for the R12, but he didn't charge me for removing it. Fair enough I guess, don't really feel like making a big fuss about it.

We are going to be making a bracket out of the slider the guy gave us with our racing seat.

We are also now going to remove the entire a/c system and all blower-related components...more to come soon enough.

[TopOfTheLine89]

find a brokedown pos e30 from early eighties,even just a shell with no motor. buy it, use the title, scrap the car and just use its vin plate. also maybe look up the fraud penalties as well.

[GOOBER]

keep the wheels theyre banging

[BlueJ85]

Update!

Had a little extra time tonight so I decided to get something done.

First I went to Farm & Fleet and bought one of these guys on clearance:



Works GREAT in the garage...but duh, I didn't realize that carbon monoxide was a factor! Started to get a little out of it and had to open the garage door a tad to air it out. Dumb story. Continuing...

Took the back speakers, back seat and rear seatbelts out. One step at a time, kind of:











Bada bing, bada boom. Pretty easy actually.

[BlueJ85]

We might not be completely parting it out.

I'll let you know about the seats. FYI, the driver's seat has a cover on it because it is a little ripped, but sitting in it you can't tell there's a thing wrong. The passenger's seat is mint.

I forgot about the possibility of having a dedicated track car. My only question is--do you need a registered vehicle to participate in autocross and drag racing events???

If so, we're fucked and we have to part this thing out.

I've been trying to think of other ways to get a title but I don't really want to become a felon, so the only options are either keep trying to find out about getting a legal title, part it out, or (if we can) making it a complete track car. I know you all would be disappointed if we had to turn this "euro beauty" into a track car, but if we can't title it, I don't see why we shouldn't!

[e30Squid]

That sucks! I hope you get things figured out with the Title/Registration, especially since you already started to work on the car.

If you decide to part the car, or go the route of race seats, I would be interested in purchasing your stock seats.

Good Luck!

[daniel]

thats how i got my steering wheel off.

[BlueJ85]

...................and after all that work I heard back from the DMV today--


because the car was sold as parts only with no title available, for some STUPID reason it will never be able to be titled again.

I'm trying to think if there is a way we could undo/redo the bill of sale or just have the person who sold it to us "donate" it to us instead...???

More than kind of disappointed though. You may be finding a part-out thread by me soon :(

[shmutzigE30]

looks like a fun project and a good price you paid. keep up the work

[rThor432]

First of all, what all is involved in the motronic swap? I will search it I guess but is it just a plug and play type of deal?

You've just got to transfer all of the engine harness and associated components from a 325i motor. Not too bad.

When I was working out the title transfer on my car ('85 323i) the insurance company told me the VIN wasnt real. They thought the car was stolen. After I told them it was from Europeland they kind of understood the VIN deal. They didnt have 323i in the computer, so they asked if it was closer to a 318i or 325 for insurance purposes. 318i, duh..

Good luck with it.