I'm back baby!! with a 1991 325i with m50 swap

[skater4145]

well ladies and gents, I'm back!!!
heres the story:

I traded a honda grom (motorcycle) for an m10 318i. you can read all about that here:https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...-e30-1985-318i

then I was hit by a car while commuting on my bicycle. I broke my femur/fibula and was told by the docs that it would be 3-4 months before I could drive any manual transmission car and so I sold the 318i back to the previous owner and bought a 2001 lexus ls430 for a daily. Now its been almost a year since my accident and a week ago or so my co worker offered me his e30 which I bought without hesitation... a 1991 325ic with an m50b25TU
needless to say the lexus is already up for sale and I am diving head first into this sweet ass, but slightly neglected '91 vert.

I am really going to lean on the community for this project as my knowledge is limited and this thing needs a lot of help.
so now that everyone is up to speed,
I have already reached out to the m50 swap sub-forum in order to see what my next moves are... you can read about that here: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...-running-rough

I will document my progress here and update with pictures and the like. this forum has already been a huge help to me, so i appreciate any effort by anyone to help me... thank you!
so without further ado here are some pictures!

[skater4145]

ok first things first. I bought the car without really looking at it... so I'm discovering things as I go.

1st order of business is the engine runs/idles rough, like an race cam or harley motor... PO says the car was running great... then one day he went to start it and it started idling like shit and he stopped driving it immediately, and its been sitting ever since. he usually had a shop do the work for him so he doesn't know very much of what has been done to the car to make it run.

first thing I did was check the compression.
results are as follows:

cyl 1: 179psi
cyl 2: 180psi
cyl 3: 180psi
cyl 4: 175psi
cyl 5: 175psi
cyl 6: 170psi

after that i pulled and replaced the spark plugs... they all looked exactly like this:


next I tested ignition coils/coil wiring/spark plugs
all 3 components tested fine. tested with a cheap amazon kit with the light bulbs and everything checked out ok.

thats it so far. my next move is to make my own diy smoke machine and test for vac leaks. after that i will check fuel pressure.

I will also simultaneously check the thread I made in the engine swap sub and see what people suggest doing next... I have already started gathering parts, so far i've gotten a MAF and intake elbow, along with lots of fuses and relays...