First time owner - 1985 320i Coupe
Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2018 1:17 am
Hello fellow zoners,
Followed the page for a while before I even had a car and finally got my first thirty last month.
*Warning - this car may be considered by some to be a rust bucket.
It’s a 1985 Saturn Blau 320i Manual Coupe which was owned by two ladies and came with all the original paperwork and service history. It even has the original receipt of purchase for £8000 in August ‘85!
So far I’ve managed to do some work on the front end to get it MoT worthy and made a few upgrades whilst I’ve been at it.
Put some new Meyle control arms on along with Garagistic 95a offset FCAB bushings. Fairly easy job but I quickly learned that 33 year old nuts like to stay exactly where they are
.
Also gave the M20 a quick service with fresh oil + filter, spark plugs and fuel filter. Cold start was much better with new plugs.
Been installing a purple tag rack this past week which has been the most challenging task. Got everything off within a couple of hours but the linkage clearance made things tricky and then made a costly mistake with the PAS pipes and bent them the wrong way round the pinion. Had to buy some fresh ones from DanThe which I have to say were quality items.
Ended up putting new engine mounts in and grinding away some of the knuckle to make the clearance at the exhaust manifold and thought everything was kosher. Had a nasty feeling the high pressure hose was gonna give me trouble after the bolt to the pump started to spin but put everything together and hoped for the best.
Managed to push it out of the garage and start it and within 20 seconds heard a big bang and a puff of smoke... ATF all over the engine bay and the high pressure hose 6 inches above the pump!
Cursed for about 8 minutes, parked it and left it.
Now on the search for a new PAS pump to finally go for that drive to the alignment shop.
Followed the page for a while before I even had a car and finally got my first thirty last month.
*Warning - this car may be considered by some to be a rust bucket.
So far I’ve managed to do some work on the front end to get it MoT worthy and made a few upgrades whilst I’ve been at it.
Put some new Meyle control arms on along with Garagistic 95a offset FCAB bushings. Fairly easy job but I quickly learned that 33 year old nuts like to stay exactly where they are
. Also gave the M20 a quick service with fresh oil + filter, spark plugs and fuel filter. Cold start was much better with new plugs.
Been installing a purple tag rack this past week which has been the most challenging task. Got everything off within a couple of hours but the linkage clearance made things tricky and then made a costly mistake with the PAS pipes and bent them the wrong way round the pinion. Had to buy some fresh ones from DanThe which I have to say were quality items.
Ended up putting new engine mounts in and grinding away some of the knuckle to make the clearance at the exhaust manifold and thought everything was kosher. Had a nasty feeling the high pressure hose was gonna give me trouble after the bolt to the pump started to spin but put everything together and hoped for the best.
Managed to push it out of the garage and start it and within 20 seconds heard a big bang and a puff of smoke... ATF all over the engine bay and the high pressure hose 6 inches above the pump!
Cursed for about 8 minutes, parked it and left it.
Now on the search for a new PAS pump to finally go for that drive to the alignment shop.
