My Hoopte30 Project Attempt #6 - the painless way to earn cash back every day

[AWDBOB]

Do poly subframe bushings come out easier than rubber ones?

They usually do- this time around I used a late model dropout I was saving for this and the bushings I had to remove were rubber.

Tight spaces can be tough, big spaces get filled up with junk.

Glad to see some more hoopty wrenching.

What CR you going with?

Yep, my garage is made up of piles of parts that should all be at the warehouse, which is also full, lol. I have been focusing on turning my garage back into a breathable workspace. I would say it's getting there, but I'd be lying if I did.

The 2.7 build ends up being 9.4:1 compression using the above pistons, 325e 81mm crank, 325e 130mm rods, and shaving the block ~2mm.

I don't think I'm going to jump right into the 2.7 though, as I don't want the car to be down for any more time than it has to be. Just gonna toss a head gasket on it for now and reassess later.

[moatilliatta]

Tight spaces can be tough, big spaces get filled up with junk.

Glad to see some more hoopty wrenching.

What CR you going with?

[twright]

Do poly subframe bushings come out easier than rubber ones?

[AWDBOB]

Hoopty 325iS is a rolling parts car, and in true Bobbie fashion, a customer needed a known good S3.73, so I sold him the one out of the car that I installed last year at Jakes that I put some verified miles on. I used it as an excuse to swap out the poly subframe and trailing arm bushings for rubber, and to also swap in some nice late model trailing arms, as the ones I had installed were '85 and had the smaller bearings.

Nothing like pulling a subframe with 2ft of space around your car from not having enough room for anything.

I got a cheap torsen 4.10 I may toss in the car for the time being. Or a 3.25. Or a 3.46. Who knows?

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

aaaaand it looks like my spidey senses were correct, sadly.

Showing NLA now on multiple sites that showed stock last week when I saw stock numbers getting weird.

https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-406726-7-piston/

https://www.bimmerworld.com/BMW-Parts/BMW-Piston-11251714810.html

[AWDBOB]

I have been putting off buying pistons for 2.7L hoopty engine build, and noticed that the half a mil over Mahle pistons I planned on using (11251714810) had some really wonky stock readings, much akin to what happens right before a part becomes NLA, so I grabbed a set for my Christmas present to myself. I am finishing up another m20 for a buddy, and then can get going on this one for hoopty!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

SHE'S ALIVE!!!! I swapped the fuel filter, and replaced the fuel hoses in the engine bay that were hard as a rock, and she came to life!

I tested the original CPS and it was fine. So, for future reference, CEL doesn't need to be on while cranking, only on with key in accessory position to verify power at DME.

I drove the car around the lot and it was fine, but will need plugs/cap/rotor, all of which I have.

The suspension, and sadly the steering rack, is totally shot, so I will find a cheap E36 rack to swap in on the lift. I have used Bilsteins from a parts car that I can't sell that I'll toss in.

I also had a mediocre set of grills/kidney that I threw on.

Now that I heard the car run, I felt okay ordering a sunroof delete panel from turtle labs for a whopping $100 shipped.

I love cars like this, because I get to keep it on the road, and make it drive significantly better with used inventory that isn't valuable to other people, that I don't want to toss.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

...and having a blast doing so...

yessir!!! at least most of the time, lol.

got all of the missing bits replaced and a good battery in the car and we have two issues.

1) CEL illuminates with key in accessory position indicating power to DME, but CEL goes out when cranking, which means computer isn't seeing it crank to send power to fuel pump, which in my mind means bad crank sensor.

2) No fuel at rail with fuel pump relay jumped and pump running. the gas in the tank looked like alabama swamp water and smelled like varnish, so before i fitted a new pump I drained the tank and refilled with fresh lawn mower grade petrol. Assuming filter is totally clogged

in regards to the sunroof debacle, I am debating on riveting an aluminum sheet on as opposed to welding, due to the existing corrosion around the edges of the roof. I will make the sunroof headliner functional and keep it up there so the headliner can be kept closed to mitigate some noise pollution from the lack of insulation

after annihilating the already broken glove box latch that looked permanently affixed to the dash, i found a mouse nest and chewed wires above the dme, per the usual

[mjweimer]

Bob- Saving America's E30s... one sh!tbox at a time

...and having a blast doing so...

[AWDBOB]

Bob- Saving America's E30s... one sh!tbox at a time

man I'm trying! i need to finish the lingering pair of 318s, but it's more fun to ignore them and keep buying different beaters

[2mAn]

Bob- Saving America's E30s... one sh!tbox at a time

[AWDBOB]

I sold some shit boxes recently (don't worry, still have hoopty iS), and saw this beautiful creation lingering on my local marketplace for a while, calling me to it, and then grahamsy2k posted it up on R3V. It looked like a steamy pile of rusty e30 goodness, which meant I had to have it.

I was under the impression that the car was very rusty because the car has pretty bad sunroof rust, but upon getting the car home and looking it over, the floors are minty, the battery box has minimal rust compared to most e30s, passenger rear wheel well isn't bad at all, etc etc. The rust seems fairly isolated to the sunroof.

I need/want a winter beater, so I figured what better thing to do than to bring this '89 sedan on one more trip around the sun. I thought it would be funny to do a Youtube video where I part the car out as I drive it to its most minimal state to see how much I can sell off of the car while still keeping it running and then drive it to the vintage as a driving parts car.

The big achilles heel is the sunroof. It's bad/rusty/missing. It doesn't make sense to rebuild the sunroof with good parts, but it does make sense to weld it shut.

In looking over the car, it's missing:

ICV
Intake boot
Battery
Brown Top Coolant Temp Sensor
Coolant Level sensor

and a few other small odds and ends.

I am not sure if the car stopped being driven due to the sunroof rust, or because it had a mechanical failure, or what, but I suppose we're going to find that out pretty soon.

Was thinking E34 525i front springs and E36 Vert rear springs, sell the plastic bumpers and have cheap bash bars made. Who knows. Whatever I can sell off of it I will, to fund the senseless project I will. There's also a 50/50 chance I won't do anything outside of get it running and part it out. But it hurts my soul to send this car to the grave if it has several more good years in it.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

MMM hoopte.... Still looking like a fun car.

Any lead on someone who can rebuild these wiper motors? It would be nice if they had some speed behind them.

My car is in pieces again, but was looking at the C&C and its just to humid... WAHHh. :p

Just looking at them, and knowing what my old Volvo's wiper motor looked like inside, I'd say it's probably fairly DIY friendly. Crack it open, replace the brushes, re-grease the gearbox and replace the bearings/bushings if necessary. I'd guess the motor bushings/bearings are a standard sized part, it wouldn't make sense to drive up the cost of the motor by using special stuff.

I don't think it would be very hard if you found a good old school electrical repair shop... seems like standard equipment as varg pointed out. Unlikely that it would be worth the hassle to upgrade, but a nice rebuilt one I'm sure would be worlds better than what is on most of our cars.

Man.... C&C was so humid. AND i'm a sweaty italian...... i think i made people nervous with how much i was sweating standing still.

Hoopty isn't getting fancy cylinder head. Talked to Kevin and he said it doesn't have many refinishes left in its future, so I'm saving fancy head for 2.9L m20 in the event that something would happen to it while on hoopty's stock b25.

With Kevin so backed up (i told waaaay too many people how good he was, oops) I ended up picking this already redone 885 off of FB (also listed on r3v). Guy was super cool and met me halfway.

Got a rebuilt head for $260!!!!! deals. He bought a shop and the old shop owner had some random stuff left over from his dealings, one item of which was this 885 head. New Febi rockers from back when they didn't suck, refinished, cleaned, guides, etc. Gonna toss in the 272 cam I got from the Mississippi trip and call it a day.

Have OEM BMW gasket, bolts, etc all ready to put this on..... should happen soon-ish, hopefully.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[varg]

Any lead on someone who can rebuild these wiper motors? It would be nice if they had some speed behind them.

Just looking at them, and knowing what my old Volvo's wiper motor looked like inside, I'd say it's probably fairly DIY friendly. Crack it open, replace the brushes, re-grease the gearbox and replace the bearings/bushings if necessary. I'd guess the motor bushings/bearings are a standard sized part, it wouldn't make sense to drive up the cost of the motor by using special stuff.

[moatilliatta]

MMM hoopte.... Still looking like a fun car.

Any lead on someone who can rebuild these wiper motors? It would be nice if they had some speed behind them.

My car is in pieces again, but was looking at the C&C and its just to humid... WAHHh. :p