88 325is no idea what im doing but here we go

[Julien]

Cool build! Your brother's ix looks pretty low, what suspension is he on?

[JeLani]

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[badwella]

Awesome build so far, man! No joke, but I powder coated my diff cover white a couple months ago myself for my own build. Thought I'd be the only one to do it. I thought wrong. . . .

Anyway, keep it up!

[Wergen7]

I did not realize how long it has been since I updated my build thread. I actually got a little frustrated with myself after realizing how much I really have not done in the past year or more. I got really caught up in life/work/failure/stress/heartbreak/winter/sitting and pretty much everything else that happened except my E30, my poor, patient, E30. I used to say it was a matter of money (read: parts) and not time, though I did pile up some serious parts boxes this year and before I knew it that ratio inverted, which is good, because I just quit my job. I would like to give thanks to anyone and everyone who asks me about progress on the car to the point where I got motivated enough to work on it, if for no other reason than to have something to say. Ha!

Special shout out to Bill and Nick at Road Rockets for letting me work on my stuff there. Nice to have a legitimate facility and absurd insight from time to time.

On to the photos. I think all I really managed to accomplish was sort out the nitty gritty of the engine build.

Cleaned (and I mean ca-LEANED!) everything. Like 4 times.
Honed block
Crank machined .25mm -----Shout out to George at Industrial Machine, Santa Rosa. Measurements were dialed :up:
Head decked
In process of replacing valve guides.
Zero effing around...except it's getting assembled next to my bed...

Other engine related purchases include:
Early model +.25 main bearings. Christ, if you're rebuilding an M20, get a late one.
Ireland Engineering windage tray
ARP main and rod bolts/studs
Total Seal piston rings. I mean, with a name like that...
New intake and exhaust studs
Good friend Nick traded me some long tube headers
New coolant plugs (whatever)

Here's a few photos of the process:

First off, I moved to a different town so the car resides under a cover in the driveway instead of a garage. But my landlord is cool with me working on the car there. Win.

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Clean crank case

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Heres the block post-sand blasting. Did I mention my friend Bill and Nick care take/ build some ridiculous vintage BMW metal from time to time??

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This is when I was checking crank tolerances in front of the Spanish Touring Car Championship winning M3. Some spiritual E30 vibes going on for sure.

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My super clean bottom end. ;D

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Painted the block up real nice with low gloss. ;D

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This is a decent shot

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I am still in process of painting everything that goes on the block the same semi gloss black. This is a shot with the oil pan mocked. I went with silver for superior oil leak identification capabilities and plus I mean, it looks really awesome.

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Bottom end torqued with one billion dollars in nuts and bolts

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Pistons and what not on the flip side

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Moving on to the head. A quick shot of the new deck.

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And I took this shot right after butt-clenchingly removing the valve guides. Which was just the butt-clench warm up round for installation.

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So, that took a year...
Other goodies purchases in that year include a set of Kosie K1's with half worn Dunlop Direzza (if i recall), enough tread for the car's initial shake down at least. A few other items too that I can't remember. I think the only big parts left on the list are a set of CA-Tuned full coilovers, fixed back seats, a radiator, and some light fabrications as well.

Other petrol related things going on for those of you into motorcycles, I just picked up a 1973 Honda CB350F for a deal. Planning on tinkering with it and getting it running like a top, which it already does, so I think I'll just ride it. It's my first bike so I look forward to to its simplicity and easy learning curve. It makes an E30 look like a Porsche 918 in terms of complexity.

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As per usual I will end this post with the best photo I took since the last one. This is a shot of the bay of (one of) Hans Stuck's IMSA 3.5 CSL's, known as "Chassis 987" on which an S38 head has been retro fitted to an M88 block. Go shit your pants like I did when I found out it makes somewhere between 5 and 6 hundo horses. Extra shout out to Bill for figuring that out. It's been an honor and a pleasure to be near these cars.

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[parkerbink]

Cool but you are nowhere near the procrastination award.

[Wergen7]

Cool but you are nowhere near the procrastination award.

That is an inspirational compliment

[parkerbink]

Take a look at the thread I just bumped. If Mtriple's artistry does not motivate you nothing will.