My current project, Pics

Here are the pictures of whats going on right now.

Here it was after a few things were fixed. Finally outside running!




The only thing I cleaned was the Valve cover here

I re-painted a few pieces:

Side mirrors

Window trim and door handles

Straightened up my bumper a little and got a used iS lip from the local junkyard for $13! with all new clips from pelican

As mentioned before I started taking things apart to clean them and now I just cant seem to stop pulling things apart. Considering the age of the car (27 years old) and the PO poor care for the car. I am replacing every gasket/seal/and sensor that I pull off (of course if it isnt operating fine) I really will have my work cut out for me.

Here are some pictures of my current "teardown" process and the nasty condition of the engine.

WORN out hood seal

Shot with Intake manifold/PS pump/altenator and brackets off

Brand new water pump (notice how dirty the block is and rusted heater pipe)

Started cleaning the passenger side

Cleaned the hood (new insulation will be ordered)

Notice the old dirt built up on the hood

New battery and ground cable (new power cable will be ordered)

New pads and rotors all the way around (swaped to 325i rear disc) along with a complete fluid flush (also all new radiator hoses and T-stat)

Cracked/bad condition of the windsheild gasket (will be replaced along with the rear seal and sunroof seal)

Look at the build up of oil on the top of the oil pan

More oil built up on the side of the pan (i semi cleaned the bottom to show the difference)

Oil build up on the head (again I started cleaning some)

Oil on the Steering rack (yes that little gold you see is the clean part of the rack!)

New water pump

Pieces from the intake manifold (things will be cleaned and some stuff replaced)

Already cleaned the Valve cover

More oil build up around the Crank pulley


That is all the pictures I have, will post stuff up as I get to them. Thanks

Nice work!

Thanks! It will take some time, but i will try and get on it when i can.


Sent from me, who else?

Well I got around to pulling the A/C compressor off and the bracket. I also was able to take off the distributor housing and replace the gasket and the distributor shaft o-ring.

I moved around to the bottom and pulled the lower half of the oil pan to start the cleaning process and was very disappointed at what I saw

This is what I was greeted with, it looks as though the oil hasnt been changed in years! And im thinking that the car either had or has a blown headgasket in the past considering how milky/pudding like the oil is. However when I drained the radiator and the block the coolant was very green and didnt have oil floating around in it. So I am debating whether or not to pull the head off and find out

What do you guys think?

if youre goin that far in, i would pull the head and replace the gasket anyway. you can also get the head resurfaced and check the cylinders walls for wear.

coolant in the oil doesnt mean there will be oil in the coolant. all of that milky sludge is coolant mixing with oil. id replace the hg

Originally Posted by fcsteve

coolant in the oil doesnt mean there will be oil in the coolant. all of that milky sludge is coolant mixing with oil. id replace the hg

why not? that doesnt make sense. Usually the signs of a blown HG are oil in the coolant floating around, or white smoke from the exhaust constantly or overheating.

This is the first time I pulled the pan, When i first got the car I simply replaced the water pump put in new coolant and started it up and it never smoked. And now that I am around to tearing down the motor, when I drained all of that brand new coolant I put it from the water pump, none of it had any traces of oil. So It wouldnt appear to have a blown HG, but I think I will be pulling the head off and just replacing the HG and every other seal while Im at it. Thanks for the input guys.

ive seen blown headgaskets many times. never once saw oil in the coolant. you have that backwards its coolant in the oil/smoke in the exhaust almost all of the time. 100% of my first hand expierences have been that way.

sometimes you can get condensation under the oil cap and it will cause a little milky subastance under the fill cap. as much milk as is running down your pickup is signs of a problem.

Originally Posted by fcsteve

ive seen blown headgaskets many times. never once saw oil in the coolant. you have that backwards its coolant in the oil/smoke in the exhaust almost all of the time. 100% of my first hand expierences have been that way.

sometimes you can get condensation under the oil cap and it will cause a little milky subastance under the fill cap. as much milk as is running down your pickup is signs of a problem.

Hmmm, well in may experiences some of the time the gasket would be so bad that there would be oil in the radiator that i can see floating around when i opened up the cap and when i would drain the block. Not huge amounts, but more than should be there.

So I wouldnt say in my experiences that im backwards. but we all have different sightings now dont we?

So I have broke down to just pulling the motor out and doing a complete rebuild. It does have 250k miles on it, and if they have been this harsh in the past, a little refreshing wouldnt hurt it. of course if I had the extra money lying around I would just pull out the M10 and go with a S50(2) motor. But ill dream some other day.

Originally Posted by First time

why not? that doesnt make sense. Usually the signs of a blown HG are oil in the coolant floating around, or white smoke from the exhaust constantly or overheating.

This is the first time I pulled the pan, When i first got the car I simply replaced the water pump put in new coolant and started it up and it never smoked. And now that I am around to tearing down the motor, when I drained all of that brand new coolant I put it from the water pump, none of it had any traces of oil. So It wouldnt appear to have a blown HG, but I think I will be pulling the head off and just replacing the HG and every other seal while Im at it. Thanks for the input guys.

The white smoke is from coolant getting into the combustion chamber.

Originally Posted by markseven

The white smoke is from coolant getting into the combustion chamber.

yes i know. LOL thanks though. HG will be ordered.....ummmm. Maybe tomorrow.

Originally Posted by First time

yes i know. LOL thanks though. HG will be ordered.....ummmm. Maybe tomorrow.

Sorry to state the obvious, but this threw me off:

Originally Posted by First time

or white smoke from the exhaust constantly or overheating

you could buy a decent m20 for less than a rebuild. much quicker...and more power. you might even dream of turbo later...

I would just like to throw this in there. Didn't the BMW F1 cars used to run M10's with 1,000+ hp? and Group 5 cars with M10's as well?

Originally Posted by Kamakazi21

I would just like to throw this in there. Didn't the BMW F1 cars used to run M10's with 1,000+ hp? and Group 5 cars with M10's as well?

Yes they did up until turbocharging was outlaw around 1988 or 89ish? iirc.

It was a M12 motor (based on the M10) and displaced 1.5L and in some case made around 1200+ HP.

Originally Posted by eieio4tn

you could buy a decent m20 for less than a rebuild. much quicker...and more power. you might even dream of turbo later...

Yea but then I would want to pull apart and rebuild the M20 as well because it is already out of the car and a rebuild would be very easy at that point. As mentioned before, I want to try and get this car as close to OEM as possible. It has been abused quite thoroughly from the PO and it could use some TLC. I plan on picking up another FL car soon anyway. That one can be my track whore.

the ONLY piece of the f1 engine was the block . all other parts were completely different. f1 used DOHC , fully built turbo race engines. they used to run 50-60 psi and would detonated within a few laps. they were also laggy as could be.

the m10, while it shares the same block, is still nothing like the f1's motor.

f1 race engine :

Originally Posted by fcsteve

the ONLY piece of the f1 engine was the block . all other parts were completely different. f1 used DOHC , fully built turbo race engines. they used to run 50-60 psi and would detonated within a few laps. they were also laggy as could be.

the m10, while it shares the same block, is still nothing like the f1's motor.

f1 race engine :

I understand that, but its still damned impressive to get 1,000+ hp out of any 4cyl.

Originally Posted by fcsteve

the ONLY piece of the f1 engine was the block . all other parts were completely different. f1 used DOHC , fully built turbo race engines. they used to run 50-60 psi and would detonated within a few laps. they were also laggy as could be.

the m10, while it shares the same block, is still nothing like the f1's motor.

f1 race engine :

i dont think any of us was expecting to make those HP levels with my M10. Come on thats laughable.

Originally Posted by Kamakazi21

I understand that, but its still damned impressive to get 1,000+ hp out of any 4cyl.

especially back in the early to mid 80's

Originally Posted by First time

especially back in the early to mid 80's

you guys clearly havent read about the rally group b cars. sad.