What next for my 325i ?

[satvir]

it's an '89 325i e30 which has been off the road for over a year (30/09/11).

I purchased it 22/6/12 and had no itensions of putting it on the road straight away, because of insurance etc....So plan was to slowly "do it up"

Well long story short! I've spent many hours and tonnes of money on the engine and i just want to gauge what i need to do next!

Below is all the parts that have been fitted to the engine:


This is the custom all one-piece stainless steel exhaust system that is fitted to the car:


And below is a youtube link of how the car runs TODAY:



It has been sitting idle after all the work and money spent. Due to a flat battery i don't get the opportunity to start as often as i should. On average i start it once a month. 6 odd times since all the work carried out (sept '12)

I would like your opinions on how she runs and sounds. I'm not an e30 specialist or anything but even i can tell it sounds "tappety" etc.

I was thinking just valve adjustments and clearances left for the engine?

Cheers

[Morat]

Sounds like an M20 to me, nice throttle response.
Make sure the valve clearances are set correctly, don't be tempted to go tighter than stock because these engines run best when the tappets are a little loose.

Edit: Another thought comes to mind. Brian often suggests that you rev up to about 3k and cut the ignition. If the tapping stops before the engine then the tapping is caused by injectors not valves. Worth a try?

[satvir]

Thanks for that. I'll give that a try!.....But my rev counter doesn't work.

[capnmchl]

£50 for a dizzy cap

[satvir]

£50 for a dizzy cap

Why the shock?! lol Euro are @£62 and GSF @£51. Can't remember where i got mine from though!

[H35-24]

Thanks for that. I'll give that a try!.....But my rev counter doesn't work.

Well that's probably next thing on the list of things to do then. Enigne sounds all right. The tapping is just the way these engine's sound once the have done 90-100.000 miles. But do keep on setting the clearence otherwise it will get much worse.

Anyway. The revcounter, could be something simple. On the back of the instrument cluster there are 2 nuts, if they get undone, which happens, then some of the instrument loses ground thus it stops working. But it can also be the service indicator PCB. Does the service indicator work? If not then that is probably a place to start. The 2 nuts are on the back of the cluster so they can be checked when removing the cluster, if it doesn't do the job, then go for the SI PCB. It ca nbe as little as replacing the 2 batteries because the are old, or the board can be damaged due to the batteries leaking, then the whole board is gone and needs to be replaced.