1989 325i 24V Sedan Refurbishment

[89_325i]

Thanks for the encouragement. I have something to do in the basement for the next couple weeks so the rotisserie will wait a bit. Hoping to get at it before June. I have all the materials, pre cut too. So it's just a matter of welding it all together. If only i made a drawing when I did the cut list!

[Northern]

Maybe you didn't touch the car since January, but it still looks like good progress to me.
+1 for BOM

[89_325i]

OK, haven't touched the car since Jan. Got out for a full day and pretty much completed the tear down. Front and rear suspension is out, along with the petrol tank and wiring harness. Ready to build the rotisserie now.

[89_325i]

Bit premature I know. But my radio is here!!

[89_325i]

Found that little clip thingy.

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/par...&q=61131353661

[89_325i]

I'm learning so much. Who knew the driveshaft needs to come out to get the last of the wiring out.

[89_325i]

Thanks! It's a TEA mug!

[CompleteCustoms]

I scrolled through this way too fast to have anything of real value to add but wanted to compliment you on your coffee mug, that channel is amazing.

[89_325i]

Anyone got a part number for this guy? I broke a couple where the wiring goes under the rear seat and I've scoured the internet and come up short. I managed to find some of the white ones for along the rocker on fleabay.



Any Binky fans? Got my BOM mug and little garage kettle so tea is on offer in the shop now.

[89_325i]

Got my sunroof out and headliner down. Cassette looks to be in ok condition, the passenger side rear drain hose looks to have some junk in it. I also have to split the sunroof itself to deal with some internal rust. Looks like the glue BMW used for the headliner foam also was a little corrosive, the overspray that hit the rood has caused some surface rust.

Second pic shows the only significant rust I can see on the roof itself. My current plan is to stick the sandblaster in through the various holes in the sunroof cassette and get it mostly cleaned up, then I will neutralize the rust and coat with por15, which should stop anything from occurring in the future.

Headliner foam ripped while being removed, so I'll have to replace it. I think I'll stick dynapad to the cassette and trim around the sunroof hole with an exacto knife.

[89_325i]

I was curious about my wiring loom. So I started tracing all the connectors to their corresponding ECU pin. Everything looks good, corresponds to the DME 3.1 diagrams, to match the 403 DME I have. I labeled everything, and I pulled out the auto trans cables. Will be easy to splice my E30 engine side connector onto this now. But that's a story for another day long in the future. For now if goes in the box and I can rest a bit easier knowing my loom is correct.

I also took a peek in the 403 DME I got for $40. There's a Turner chip inside already. So that was a good deal.

The bottom pic is my little setup for testing the E36 climate module. I wanted to see exactly what signals were coming out. Looks like pin 85 and 86 on the 403 DME both get 12V when AC is off, and 0V when AC is on. Then pin 48 grounds to activate the AC compressor. I will use the pin 48 output to flip mu compressor relay, this way the engine should run smoothly.

[89_325i]

Finally got another day at the car. Took me a while to wrestle the steering column and heater box out, then I pulled the carpet to really see whats what.

I found one hole I didn't already know about, and the bit of floor around the throttle pedal mount is a bit scabby. Pretty pleased with the condition overall.

The carpet is pretty bad. I'm strongly considering a new carpet. They aren't cheap I know, but after getting this one out, I never want to do it again on the finished car.

[89_325i]

And now the engine is out. My journey to a stripped shell is getting closer.

[89_325i]

Finally some good news.

I was looking at my engine harness to see if I could use it with the 403 DME. Unfortunately the pinouts dont match. But when I tried to confirm a couple pin locations, they werent in the right spot. So I checked the pin locations against the early E36 non-vanos pinout.

Lo and behold, its the correct wiring harness! This makes me a little sad for the guy who did the swap, since all he really needed to get the car running was the proper DME. Oh well, if he had gotten it running it never would have came my way.

So I'll keep this messy harness and go through it at a later date. The guys are coming to help pull the engine next weekend. I will continue to strip the engine bay til then.

[89_325i]

Taking apart the dash tonight. That's fun.

I found the flashlight!!! Tucked in under the fan control. So happy.