BimmerFest BMW Forum banner

New to BMW's

88K views 356 replies 43 participants last post by  ForcedFirebird 
#1 ·
New to the site and BMW's although I am an avid car enthusiast. Just picked up this 1986 325es with just over 75k miles as an anneversary gift to my wife for $3500 (a little over book, bit worth it IMHO). The only rust found throughout the car is on the corners of the differential case and the inside corners of the exhaust bends. The only mechanical problem seen so far is the fan clutch which I picked up yesterday and will be installed soon.
The bimmer was added to the collection (my friends call my driveway a "used car lot,lol) which contains a mint 1990 Firebird w/88k mi (in the process of being turbo'd), 1998 F150 (work truck), 2000 Excursion w/80k miles (for the four kids), and the 2002 Lincoln Navigator (the only one for sale).
.
I'm just curious if there are any inherent problems to look for in these cars (aside from the timing belt). I am very mechanically inclined, have lots of tools/equipment, and have no problem doing the work myself (jeeze the parts are expensive enough).
.
So enjoy the pics, hopefully I will be an asset to your site and look forward to corresponding with other enthusiasts.
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Bmw 3 series (e30) Personal luxury car
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Coupé Sedan

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Coupé Classic car
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Steering wheel Steering part

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Steering wheel Center console
Land vehicle Vehicle Car Engine Auto part

Land vehicle Vehicle Engine Car Auto part
 
See less See more
7
#37 ·
might not look like every other enthusiests, but it does look like any other stock E30. if i lived in the US id be importing chrome euros, i dont think ive seen a US car with them. Its your choice though. DBs dont do wonders for the E30s shape and look like the afterthought they are imo
 
#39 ·
there is no statement you can make with diving boards, there is nothing unique about them. EVERY e30 from 84-88 in the US had them. you can polish them, paint them black, body color, tuck them .. whatever you want. its been done thousands of times .. literally.

from the looks of it both you and your wife need to take driving lessons.

why did you buy coils and leave the car at a level thats higher then non-adjustable suspension ?

if i lived in the US id be importing chrome euros, i dont think ive seen a US car with them.
finding good condition chrome euros is like finding gold .. every set we get here is pretty destroyed and needs to be re-chromed or painted. there is a decent amount of US cars with euros. you just might not think those cars are from the US. its cheaper to get them from the dealer new .. at around $800
 
#38 ·
To each his own. I like my diving boards :D

Euro bumpers is where it's at, but until I get them for a reasonable price, I'll stick with my DB's.

Update:

Well, I found the perfect wheels!

15mm offset all around...



3/4" spacers on the rear...



Think I will do 15mm offset in the front, zero rear, these rubbed a bit on the rear with 3/4" spacers (19mm)

Now I have to either talk my buddy out of these we tested with (and get spacers), or buy them for myself :D

Glad the shadow trim never got painted, like the way it looks with the polished lip on the wheels. If the shadow trim stays shiney, perhaps the polishing the big-arse bumpers might make more of a statement?
 
#42 ·
there is no statement you can make with diving boards, there is nothing unique about them. EVERY e30 from 84-88 in the US had them. you can polish them, paint them black, body color, tuck them .. whatever you want. its been done thousands of times .. literally.

from the looks of it both you and your wife need to take driving lessons.

why did you buy coils and leave the car at a level thats higher then non-adjustable suspension ?
OK, so all this has been done to the DB bumpers EXCEPT!!!: Leave them alone ;)

Go ahead and make me feel insignificant on the internet, but I am the one who is fixing the timing belt slippage/breakage on cars from owners who don't know the difference between an m20b27 and an m20b25, or an '885 head or a '200 head, I have just collected the 6th stock camshaft from an m20b25 and will be sending them over to my grinder for modification. I am just the guy that sits back and watches 'yall, and just so happens to own a flow bench, powdercoating equipment, ceramic coating equipment, chamber-measurement devices, lift, sandblaster, 300 amp welder etc etc etc. The Mazda was the 7th turbo kit built in my place, and the fastest small-displacement engine just so happens to be a 12 second 1994 Chevy Corsica who also pulls a 2.2 60' while still managing a 113mph (he was turbo kit #4).

You know what? You are right, I have no idea what's going on! Maybe I should take my Zender apron, stock valence and the coil-overs fabricated in my shop, and go elsewhere.
 
#45 ·
Phuckin E30 owners you guys are hilariously retarded.

IMO I liked the Taurus side skirts the first time I saw it done on E30tech. I would have done them on my 89E30M50 if I kept it. Firebird don't let the kiddos bother ya too much. Haters gonna hate. :tsk:
 
#46 ·
Phuckin E30 owners you guys are hilariously retarded.

IMO I liked the Taurus side skirts the first time I saw it done on E30tech. I would have done them on my 89E30M50 if I kept it. Firebird don't let the kiddos bother ya too much. Haters gonna hate. :tsk:
Thanks. Watr off a duck's back, if I was modifying the car for someone else, then I would do what THEY wanted, not what I like.

I didn't realize the wheels are that cheap, found them on ebay, but I am doing a HG job for an e30 with an m30 swap in exchange for the wheels and tires. Tried them on the car and liked them, who cares how much I paid/didn't pay for them!

Well back to finish this m50 swap in my friends 87 eta :D

-John
 
#47 · (Edited)
Man, even with the 2.93 diff, the m50 car is a hoot to drive!

Videos of me driving it...

in car
http://www.youtube.com/user/johnlcaraher#p/a/u/2/lNNJ0Rx57qg

drive by
http://www.youtube.com/user/johnlcaraher#p/a/u/0/moHZeqXr8XA

Update on my car:

Well, it looks like I am doing the 885 head swap sooner than expected due to a blown HG :( Was driving home last night and noticed the temp guage was a little high, does it all the time and have to tap the dash for it to go back where the actual temp is, but instead of going to the middle, it went to max! I was actually on my street when it happened, so I pulled in the road in front of the house and smoke was billowing from the hood. The fan belt broke and the battery light didn't light up, so I had no idea. Tried to start it this morning and it's acting like it has no compression - DOH!

Waiting on the tow truck now to have it pulled to my shop and will start the swap. Have to pick up a side-exit water pump, but have a new timing belt, tensioner, HG, fresh i top end, crank sensor, ECU/harness etc, but I will need to get a tach is all. This sucks because I have about 5 885 cams that I was going to send over to my grinder for a re-grind before I did this, but since I have yet another spare 885 head, I will just have to build it with the new cam and swap the head out later - right now I just want to get the car back on the road. The wife drives the Excursion (four kids), so I will have to drive the PT Cruiser in the meantime, it's a pce of crap and doesn't have A/C :(

I'll take some pics as the swap happens, just don't know how the stroker will act with the long rear gears, guess I'll start looking around for a better ratio sooner than expected. My friend said he would trade his 4.10lsd for my 2.93lsd, but don't think I want to go that high since I do drive on the highway often.

-John
 
#48 ·
Man, even with the 2.93 diff, the m50 car is a hoot to drive!
Great to hear, as I'm doing an m50 swap myself with an '86 eta :D

This thread is great for me because it gives me lots of ideas & inspiration, and like you I don't have access to the best stuff (ex. plastic bumpers/euro bumpers, a facelifted car, etc.)

So yeah looking forward to future updates :thumbup:
 
#50 · (Edited)
Well the head gasket is in perfect shape! Don't know why it wouldn't start after adding a little water, but when I was putting it in, I noticed it wasn't coming out of the bleeder. Maybe the t-stat was stuck, but it's getting replaced anyways. Should have put the compression tester on it, but hindsight is 20/20, and if it had started. I would be driving around with a timing belt about to go, so whatever, only bad thing about jumping the gun on the 885 head swap is that I didn't send the cams out to be re-ground :(

More pics in a bit.
 
#51 · (Edited)
Gasket is perfect...



Motor...


Got to love Formula88 and Scotch-Brite :D



Gonna pick up the side-exit water pump in the morning, getting tired and don't know if the the new head will go back on tonite or tomorrow after my 9-5er. Sucks having a full time job, shop and program part-time at the CNC machine shop :/ 4 kids, 6 cars and a sick mother in law living with us is taxing when only one of us works :(

Nice thing about these parts not moving very fast is that I get to put one of each on my car, w00t! I powder-coated them satin black and polished the raised letters. Kinda like the way the ETA covers look a little better, but will probably go with the i cover...



EDIT:

I just realized the there isn't a cylinder indication sensor here and am toying with the idea of leaving the eta harness in, and just burning a new eeprom chip for it, or try to run without it for now. Would be a lot more work to leave the 027 DME in there because of tuning time, but if I did, there might be a market for chips with an 885 head swap and 027 DME/harness...

BUT! AllData says the car will just revert to batch fire if the sensor is damaged/missing and since the current ECU is batch fire, then the sensor can just wait - who needs sequential injection anyways ROFL.
 
#55 · (Edited)
Problem is, unless you have the same exact setup as me, the tune would be useless. The Motronics has no way of dataloging, so I can't even help your tune over the interwebz - takes a wideband and at least a butt-dyno with a trained eye, real dyno is best.

I do have the 027 DME base binaries as well as the binaries that you buy on ebay (for the 173, and 027 DME's, turbo and N/A with multiple inj sizes), chips are cheap and the burn only takes a few minutes, $25 covers it, but you are on your own if things don't go right. We tune GM ECM's via internet, but that's because they have factory baud data going through the OBD1 port - we can see all the voltages and feedback for every sensor in the mix...
 
#59 ·
Going real slow, making everything look pretty and neat :D

Got the harness in...



Since I have the old style starter, had to solder the female spade connectors on the wires...



and we have an 885 heads w00t!





Maybe I'm anal, but I soaked the bolts in phosphoric acid both to clean them and give them a controlled oxide finish that will take forever to rust. They look like they are an alloy anyways lol...



Oh, and a new water pump...



Set the valve cover on...

 
#61 ·
Appropriate injectors...



Most people skip this step, but I have had 1 snapped timing belt and one that stripped in my shop because they torqued the tensioner too tight, ABSOLUTELY MUST BE 16ft/lbs!



Timing cover is on, crank trigger installed (not there before lol)...



and look at the difference between the 200 and 885 castings, this gasket matches the 885 almost perfect, these ports are ridiculously small haha...

 
#62 ·
Well done for the night. Few more hours left. Still have to push the harness through the firewall, install TB, intake tubing, radiator, fan, weld in o2 bung close enough for the harness (or extend the wires), wire the tach to the ECU, tq the crank hub and put the accy belts in, and hopefully that's it to fire 'er up!

 
#64 ·
Nice work!

Curious why you didn't install headers while everything was apart.
Thanks!

...and because when I build headers for it, they will go to a hair-dryer, dunno maybe build a set of long tubes for fun, I'm sure they will sell when it get's boosted. I have eeprom tuning/burning equipment and will play around with the stock tune first (bigger injectors/AFM etc), and I will use one of the t3/t4's off my Firebird motor since I just sold the motor (kept the twin turbo kit).

Well I am missing one part of the TB :( It's the little fitting for the brake booster, don;t know if I lost it when moving into the new shop, during the acid bath etc, or just never had it, but it's almost done. Tomorrow I'll jump the tach wire from the glovebox to the ECU and see how she sounds...





 
#65 ·
Update:

After taking a weekend off from the shop and a slight mishap on Thursday, need to remember next time to disconnect the batt when working on the car, fried the harness, but got a new one Fri :(

Not starting right away, replaced the main relays and she fired right up once the fuel lines were full!

I must have a vacuum leak somewhere cause when I give it gas, she wants to stall. Either that or I may have the TPS off a little. Took it off the TB to give it an acid bath, but marked it pretty good, we will see. My car sounds so crazy revving so high lol. Still need to connect the tach/econoguage, push the harness through the firewall and put on the fan/hose/shroud, but am so relieved she's running!

More details/pics to come...
 
#66 ·
It was the AFM, put the Motronic 1.3 AFM in it, cleared right up. Took her for a drive and all I can say is WOW what a difference. Need some shorter gears, even with the 2.93 lsd, it screams, but I haven't even been able to top out 3rd, 2nd takes me over 70 haha the speedo just climbs like mad. Feels almost as fast as my friends m50 swapped car (we used the Getrag 260 and same 2.93 diff). I have a 4.10 lsd here and am contemplating installing it, would really like a 3.73 or even a 3.42 out of a 5 series, but I'll probably use whats on hand. Looked funny going down the road in front of my shop, banging gears at ~6800rpm with no hood and the ECU tucked in the corner of the engine bay...
 
#70 · (Edited)
Yes. Also did the Motronic 1.3 upgrade. even with the 8.3:1 compression, this heap moves out. This combo is perfect for the project after next. Next is long headers, then it's turbo time.

Well, I was on the hywy 1/2 way through 3rd at ~130mph and blew off the A/C belt :( Shorter gears is a must. Can shift into 2nd at 45 and have to shift into 3rd at about 65, don't want to see how fast it is for fear of the law.

EDIT: I take that back, the CR is a little higher due to the .005" of the deck surface of the head, didn't CC the chambers, but it can't be much more than a point or two.

Have the instruments to measure here in the shop...

 
#73 ·
Took it to a dyno today just to see. Nothing too impressive 134whp at 5k, and 140.1tq at 4k. My injectors are too small, it was borderline 15's throughout the runs for afr.





I have some injectors from a Corvette that will be a hair under 22lb with the stock 3.0 bar BMW FPR, might actually be a bit much, really need about 19's (they will be 20# with the eta 2.5 bar FPR, hmm)...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top