My First Project: an '86 Arktisblau Metallic 325e

[Northern]

In terms of e30 stuff though, mine has mostly sat since I left for college. I had intended to drive it while home on breaks, but I couldn't get it to pass smog. It's hazy now, but my guess is it's related to my resealing of the engine back when I started this thread. When I first got the car it passed smog fine, then after the resealing it barely passed, and it failed the next smog after that. I recall having done stupid stuff like using a dremel on the intake manifold's mating surface to get dried gasket off, which just spells bad news for how the rest of that went when I was starting out.

I could look more into the smog issue, but I'm rarely in San Diego anyways because of college. I think I'm just going to start planning out the rebuild of the M50 and buying parts for it, since parts seem to have gone up a crazy amount since 2022 and I imagine they will again by 2027 when I'm out of school. Meaning that this thread won't actually see any building for a good while, till at least winter of this year (possibly) or next summer if I land an internship in San Diego. Oh how I wish I could drive it sooner...

Try to not feel bad about this kind of shit. I know it's not realistic to fully let it slide, but you just don't have time to do shit on a project car when you're in school.

I always got carried away and tried to do too much during breaks, then was left with an undrivable E30 for the year.

[rudy]

Well, college has mostly happened so far. I'm going into my senior year at Carnegie Mellon now, but I'll probably be stuck there for another year to do my master's. Out of curiosity, is anybody on here a computer engineer doing ASIC/FPGA stuff?

The prelude that was talked about previously in this thread is still around. I did end up rebuilding the engine which was a great experience, but trying to rebuild the carbs was not. I didn't know anything about how to do it properly and messed them up bad, so the car was driving and dying by the time I left in August 2022. I tried again on spring break in 2023, but worsened them to the point where the car would just die under any load. Plan now is just to buy a rebuilt set off a guy in Canada, hopefully that's the solution to the car mechanically. Here's a picture of the rebuilt engine for tax:



In terms of e30 stuff though, mine has mostly sat since I left for college. I had intended to drive it while home on breaks, but I couldn't get it to pass smog. It's hazy now, but my guess is it's related to my resealing of the engine back when I started this thread. When I first got the car it passed smog fine, then after the resealing it barely passed, and it failed the next smog after that. I recall having done stupid stuff like using a dremel on the intake manifold's mating surface to get dried gasket off, which just spells bad news for how the rest of that went when I was starting out.

I could look more into the smog issue, but I'm rarely in San Diego anyways because of college. I think I'm just going to start planning out the rebuild of the M50 and buying parts for it, since parts seem to have gone up a crazy amount since 2022 and I imagine they will again by 2027 when I'm out of school. Meaning that this thread won't actually see any building for a good while, till at least winter of this year (possibly) or next summer if I land an internship in San Diego. Oh how I wish I could drive it sooner...

[rudy]

It's been a while! I got really busy with the college admissions process, finals, and AP tests so I had to back off of the car stuff for a good bit. I got back into it a bit over a month ago though and I've been plugging along at restoring the prelude mechanically. I currently have the short block assembled, head rebuilt, carbs rebuilt, and most of the suspension stuff done. I plan to finish assembling the engine this weekend and then I need to go through an ungodly list of other stuff before putting it back in. It's been fun rebuilding my first engine though.

In terms of e30 stuff, it's treated me well as a daily and the only two things that have happened have been my driver-side interior door handle breaking and a small crack on my oil pan from speeding over a dip in Oceanside. I JB welded it though and it's held up just fine. I need to install the new door handle soon.

I also bought a m20b25 from a local guy with the intention of swapping it into my e30 before going to college. He bought a rebuilt engine but only used the head for his own car after his timing belt snapped because he didn't have a hoist. So I have a rebuilt block with a trashed head. I thought I'd be able to get away with rebuilding the head for cheap. but every valve is bent and all of the guides are absolutely trashed, so this b25 won't be going into my car unless I can get a used head for cheap. For now I plan to sell the engine and all of the stuff it came with because I simply can't afford to rebuild the head.

In addition to the car stuff going good, the college admissions process also went really good! I guess that they really liked my essays about working on the e30 and reselling shoes. I applied as a mechanical engineering major and I was accepted to UCSD with the Regents Scholarship to make it a full ride, UC Berkeley, WashU in St. Louis with them paying me $1,500 a year, Harvey Mudd, Vanderbilt, and Carnegie Mellon. I even got my trips to WashU and CMU paid for by the universities to check the campuses out! I ended up narrowing down my list to make a final decision between Berkeley and CMU, but after visiting Berkeley I just did not like the people there or the surrounding area, so I'll be attending CMU. I loved everything about the school and the fact that it's a private with smaller class sizes really appealed to me. Plus I'll be debt free with the offer they gave me. :D

My move in-date is August 20th, so I only have a month left in SD. I'm planning to just finish up the prelude before I go and leave both Blu and the prelude here while I attend college. The m50 swap is on the back burner until I can afford to rebuild it properly. I'll be spending my last month here enjoying Blu with her b27 and hopefully getting to beat on the prelude. I'll post photos if I can find the time to, everything's a time-crunch with a month left here.

[808ETA]

Nice!

[rudy]

Great series of posts. That Prelude is something I have not seen running around the Midwest for quite some time. Should be a fun project.

Thank you, I haven't even seen a 2nd gen around here before actually. Really excited to work on it and learn about carbs and FWD cars.

Speaking of that, it's now in my driveway! I rushed up to Fallbrook after school and got there to help load the car. I'd like to say that everything went smooth, but the hook on the winch literally slipped off the car while it was on the bed and I was inside it. It was absolutely terrifying because only the parking brake works in that car. I ended up just pulling it once I processed that I had rolled off the bed. Other than that though it went smooth! Gonna order parts tonight and get to more diagnosing tomorrow.

New Owner


New Home

[mjweimer]

Great series of posts. That Prelude is something I have not seen running around the Midwest for quite some time. Should be a fun project.

[benwalsh91]

Hell yeah i really enjoyed reading this.

looks like you jumped right in and making great contributions to the forum!

good luck

[rudy]

The e36 is now gone after being listed for only a day. I had over thirty people message me trying to buy the shell; I think I really underpriced it lol. I'm still happy with the engine, tranny, driveshaft, exhaust, and harness for $350 though. It's going to a French guy in LA who owns a shop called BloodMotorsport. He strips shells down and converts them into drift chassis. Very happy with the fate of this car. Here's a link to an e30 he did:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9oGMfFoXuE/

Saying Goodbye to the e36



I also forgot to mention that I got a cluster from a new e30 buddy I met named Henry. I just went over to his place to go check out his e30s and ended up asking if I could buy the cluster, but he just gave it to me. He has three e30s, an e28, and his dad has an e30 as well. A bunch of rare parts too, his s52 swapped e30 has a bunch of cool Hartge bits.

This fixed my lack of a speedometer, but it also showed me some differences between the early early and late early clusters though, as in only clusters with the coding plug on the back. Going to just say early and late now for clarity.

-Blinkers: yellow and smaller arrows on early, green and larger arrows on late
-Fog Light: fog light in yellow and rest in green on early, all green on late
-Oil Service and Inspection Text: White on early, just a cutout on late
-Speedometer: Small board on early, not present on late
-Check Light: Hazard triangle on early, "CHECK" on late

Surgery Time


Blown Resistor on Speedometer




New Odometer Gears and Differences in Speedometers (Late on left, early on right)


Fully Working Cluster!


Henry's s52 Swapped e30 and my 325e


Immediately after the e36 got picked up, I began calling towing companies about the prelude. It's in a pretty hard spot so I just decided to have somebody else tow it instead of Roger. I ended up finding a place offering a decent price, so it's set to be picked up on Thursday. Gonna be able to start working on that by this weekend! Hopefully I can get through the prelude fast so I can get to the ranger and finally focus on the m50 rebuild. Very excited for everything.

[2mAn]

Unfortunately I'm one of the few active high schoolers on here, if not the only one. May you all envy me and my lack of responsibilities lol.

I also have that welding course you showed here on Saturday. Perhaps I can use what I learn to weld in the reinforcements I'm adding during the swap. Maybe even a removable core support!

Haha definitely jealous of that!

Tell Jake I said hi and let him know I’ve started cutting the rust out of my Alfa Giulia that was there a month ago. That’s a great class, just have to use the skills sooner than later otherwise you’ll forget some of it

[rudy]

Ahhh the good ol days when there was free time! haha

Unfortunately I'm one of the few active high schoolers on here, if not the only one. May you all envy me and my lack of responsibilities lol.

I also have that welding course you showed here on Saturday. Perhaps I can use what I learn to weld in the reinforcements I'm adding during the swap. Maybe even a removable core support!

Damn dude, you jumped right the fuck in! From "I dont know anything about working on cars" to, "I guess I'll do an engine swap!"

Yeahhh, I get rather obsessive with things I get interested in. Honestly I was going to hold off on the swap until I got offered the e36 for $500. Just couldn't pass it up and now I'm in for work. It's crazy though because most of my free time is spent on cars now, a lot has changed since I've started this thread.

LOL right? Reminds me of when I was 19 and bought my e30.

Rudy: I'm in SD. May be interested in some of those eta bits you're probably pulling off the car for the M50 swap. Always cool to be connected to another local, as well. I'll send you a PM.

Edit: Oh yeah - 100% love doing the Hella H4 swap on my car back in the day. Much more affordable than any of the euro/projector options.

Thanks man! I ended up sourcing US ellipsoids off some guy in Iowa for $200, same price as the H4s. Not sure if I messed up with this decision, but I like the look of the ellipsoids and I think I'll still get much better lighting.

Nice work - you’ve sure taken on a lot of projects! The old Preludes are screwed together pretty well, so once you get it going it should get you around reliably while you get on with the other projects.

I sure have, thank you!

Maybe some day I will see it in person. Keep with the projects.

I hope you will too and thank you for the encouragement! The prelude I'm picking up on Thursday is actually in Fallbrook, so maybe you'll see it on the flatbed LOL.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Maybe some day I will see it in person. Keep with the projects.

[lukeADE335i]

Nice work - you’ve sure taken on a lot of projects! The old Preludes are screwed together pretty well, so once you get it going it should get you around reliably while you get on with the other projects.

[atmh]

Damn dude, you jumped right the fuck in! From "I dont know anything about working on cars" to, "I guess I'll do an engine swap!"

LOL right? Reminds me of when I was 19 and bought my e30.

Rudy: I'm in SD. May be interested in some of those eta bits you're probably pulling off the car for the M50 swap. Always cool to be connected to another local, as well. I'll send you a PM.

Edit: Oh yeah - 100% love doing the Hella H4 swap on my car back in the day. Much more affordable than any of the euro/projector options.

[McGyver]

Damn dude, you jumped right the fuck in! From "I dont know anything about working on cars" to, "I guess I'll do an engine swap!"

[2mAn]

Ahhh the good ol days when there was free time! haha