Barton's E30 Project - ON EBAY!

[Barton]

Thought i'd start a proper thread on the car

so far:

couple of quick pics on the phone of the 320i







picked up a 2.5

plan is to fit it next weekend

the engine is/was filthy and had quite a few leaks (oil over absolutely everything), so i've ordered a complete gasket set and some head bolts to give it a mini freshen up

whilst i'm waiting for the bits, i made a start cleaning some parts

inlet side of engine:


some smaller parts:



took off and cleaned the t/b and oil fiter bracket

removed the exhaust manifold

started to clean up the exhaust side of the engine

sooooo much oil. dont really know where its all come from

thans for the comments guys

here's some more progress on the e30
Cleaned up the inlet manifold, fitted with a new fuel pressure reg and 6 cleaned and tested injectors, new gaskets, and a properly cleaned t/b and icv



Cleaned the insides of the airbox and maf unit, new gasket fitted (new filter to go in)


front of block stripped, revealed the cam seal letting oil out

de-greased (cam seal has now been removed, awaiting new seal when rebuilt tomorrow, half moon seals have been re-sealed with hylomar)


rear of head also seems to be leaking, i've re-sealed the half moons



Head removed from block, for new headgasket to be fitted, rocker cover gasket was also leaking so this will be replaced


collected a few bits for the rebuild / swap incl z3 short shift conversion


plan for tomorrow:

get engine rebuilt, and the e30 stripped

plan for sunday:
new engine in

[Kemix]

Lots of goodies! Good luck on sunday mate

[Felix79]

Xmas come early.

Good luck with the open bay surgery

[Duke137]

Quick question, how have you cleaned the block?

Looks good, keep us posted!

[Barton]

wire brush, petrol, white spirit, gunk degreaser, fairy liquid, etc etc just a combination until it was all clean

[Barton]

Well a bit of a weird update, nothing really went as planned

the back of the head was leaking through the plug, i suspected it was cracked, so tried to find a new core plug, which after being told the wrong size and having to go and get another, we replaced this.

on further inspection of the head, if appears the valves and valve seats need to be re-seated, and a general clean up, steve kindly started to strip the head, but we found it quite a difficult task (the haynes manual is shite)

steve is going to remove the valves and do the clean/ re-seat at work during the week (thanks dude)

we also found one lobe on the cam to be worn a fair bit more than the others, so no sure what to do about this.

sump was removed and cleaned, re-fitted with a brand new gasket

old auto flywheel removed

painted the block

painted inlet manifold, timing belt covers, exhaust manifold, and a few other bits with VHT paint

so basically waiting until next weekend to re-assembe the head, fit it to the bottom end, re-assemle the rest of the engine and fit it into the car.

[E30BeemerLad]

I think I would be getting a pressure test done on the head before going any further, just to make sure you're not investing money into something that is going to bite you on the arse.

[oomz1975]

I think I would be getting a pressure test done on the head before going any further, just to make sure you're not investing money into something that is going to bite you on the arse.

This, keep us updated.

[Barton]

head has cleaned up like new, so with the valve reground should be mint

i've done a bit more whilst steve's got the head

cleaned the loom


bolted a few bits back onto the block



painted the rocker cover


then rubbed back the raised bit

[Alpina99]

Looking good,
Keep the photo's coming,

[Barton]

this is the stage we got to today, big thanks to steve for sorting the head

[Andyboy]

Looks good. I'd keep it looking stock - bottletops, 320i badge etc and keep the 320i diff. That''ll p1ss a few thrusting w@nkers off!

[Dezzy]

Good attention to detail.

Nice Looking motor

[Barton]

todays update

we finished assembling the engine, fitted new timing belt and tensioner, waterpump, temp senders, adjusted valve clearances etc.

plenty of seized bolts etc, and just generally taking the time to tidy the engine up as it was going back together slowed progress. that and the fact that when we got the engine out, we realised the clutch had seen better days, but couldn't get a replacement, being 3pm on a sunday

so until next weekend i'm left with this:


and this



over the week, i'll give the engine bay a tidy up (try and sort the leaky PAS reservoir and hoses), clean the gearbox, fit the Z3 short-shift and new gear linkage bushes, and get the final few hoses on the engine

[Barton]

oh, and i noticed there is actually some play in the steering guibo, i reckon its a good time to get to it and replace it, do bmw do a kit that includes new bolts to replace the rivets?

[Barton]

bought and fitted a new clutch

took the rest of the gear linkage out to replace all the bushes, and fit the z3 shifter

cleaned up gearbox, fitted new mounts


fitted a new steering guibo, has taken a lot of play out of the column


gave they bay a quick clean


have also fitted a new guibo to the back of the gearbox, and re-attached the slector rod with new joints, and fitted the z3 shifter into the car with all new bushes

tonight i removed the propshaft centre bearing (eventually) and am awaiting a replacement

[aj_mckay]

Proper job

[Barton]

engine in


bonnet on


got a bit of a random oil leak coming from somewhere i cant see, could be the cam seal, which was replaced, if it stays like it is (minor leak) i'll leave it for the time being

if it gets worse, i'll have to strip a few bits out to have a look and maybe re-seal it

[bridgemond]

Good work man. She coming along nicely

[Barton]

first test drive in a minute, i shall report back

[Barton]

Whilst trying to source the oil leak on the engine, i got to here:



having found this on the cam seal



i made up a new o-ring and slapped a load of hylomar around it before re-fitting

no more leak

[db8]

nice!

[Barton]

Smashed it

the abs on these is pretty crap

just slid into the back of someone

need:

o/s front wing
front valance
complete front grill
o/s headlight wiper
front bumper
o/s front indicator lense

hopefully havent damaged anything else although the o/s headlight has been pushed back about an inch at the top

[toby]

Oh bad luck! Hope you get the bits sorted easily.

[andrew320i]

That engine is looking sooo clean, top job!

[kman82]

No way! Was it on ice?

Ive just seen this thread and read through, did the engine fire up first time? I'd love to do something like this with mine bit think that's a bit optimistic!

[Barton]

its just wet and cold out, and the area i live in is a joke with roadworks and temporary traffic lights

yeah, fired up on the button

[kman82]

After all that hard work, I feel your pain. Oh well good excuse for a paint job?

[Barton]

i wish

i dont have the money, i need to do this as cheap as possible

[Barton]

now for sale!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0641709725

[tonybtonyb]

A top job there

[Barton]

thanks, will be a shame to see it go, but i need to get my other projects on the move again

[brian_s]

Any pics of the damage? and you still got the old bonnet?

[Barton]

nah, bonnet went, it was fucked when i bought it