first car and project 85 316 carb criticism and help welcome

[charlston250]

this is my first car and first time working on cars except oil change on my mums, i have some knowledge of engines and cars but very limited. in portugal anything more than 316 is really expensive and so is insurance as im only 20 so im stuck with this but i love e30´s so i dont mind and tunning and such is illegal although you can get away with small things usually. the car was cheap and needed a water pump and had been sitting a year. has only had 1 lady owner since 1985 but is in need of a lot of love as it doesnt seem to have had much maintenance over the years. very little rust, but im trying to sort out the intake, carb, spark plug wires, change timing chain and tensioner, replace radiator, change oil and filter and do other general maintenance. so far ive replaced 2 engine mounts, changed water pump, changed fuel filter, cleaned cooling system out, made and replaced some intake pipes(still needs work)cleaned up around eninge a bit, cleaned air filter(still need to buy another) cleaned spark plugs(need new ones) cleaned out tidied it up a bit, banged out some of the panels and a few other little things. any advice or help would be appreciated. at the moment its idling rough and making a lot of black smoke and not revving out that well. i think it has to do with intake pipes and spark plugs and leads, im going to get spark plugs and order air filter tomorow, and try sort out intake a bit better. here are some photos of when i got it, il update with some photos and videos of it running(badly) tomorrow

[charlston250]

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/8mx2c5niovm2 ... HKBdh7olwa

[JF008]

Needs a bit of tlc Look up the sticky on how to upload pictures, you will get more responses and advice that way.

Welcome to the zone and good luck with your project!

JF

[charlston250]

Needs a bit of tlc Look up the sticky on how to upload pictures, you will get more responses and advice that way.

Welcome to the zone and good luck with your project!

JF

yeah quite a lot of tlc but its a nice car to put the work into and i managed to put some up on dropbox but il try see if i can do it better.
thanks for the welcome

[charlston250]

Needs a bit of tlc Look up the sticky on how to upload pictures, you will get more responses and advice that way.

Welcome to the zone and good luck with your project!

JF

yeah quite a lot of tlc but its a nice car to put the work into and i managed to put some up on dropbox but il try see if i can do it better.
thanks for the welcome

can you not see the photos on the link i posted?

[charlston250]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p5bligadnbmnr ... n.jpg?dl=0

if not can you see this one?

[Brianmoooore]

in portugal anything more than 316 is really expensive and so is insurance

If this car is the same spec. as a UK 316, it will have a capacity of 1.8 litres, not 1.6 litres as the model type implies.
Most running problems with these cars are caused by the electronically controlled carburettor, and the standard cure is to replace it with a totally manual, old school Weber.
Your link to Dropbox works, but ideally you should post the pics. themselves on the thread.

[charlston250]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dq0h5hnm221b3 ... 2.MP4?dl=0 here is a video of it running, the smoke looks blacker not on camera. doesnt really look white in real life. my friend came over and said its probably head gasket, there was sludge on oil filler cap but the oil on dipstick was black not brown. im not sure, going to flush engine and put some cheap oil in see it its gets water in it. ive changed the spark plugs and air filter now but still making black smoke. and im not sure how to upload differently. il have a look at the sticky tho and try again after. does anyone know how the timing works on this car?

[charlston250]

in portugal anything more than 316 is really expensive and so is insurance

If this car is the same spec. as a UK 316, it will have a capacity of 1.8 litres, not 1.6 litres as the model type implies.
Most running problems with these cars are caused by the electronically controlled carburettor, and the standard cure is to replace it with a totally manual, old school Weber.
Your link to Dropbox works, but ideally you should post the pics. themselves on the thread.

yeah thats the engine i think it is, and yeah carb seems electric, my friend said head gasket, im going to put engine flush in and some cheap oil see if it gets water in it, before i pull head off atleast, and do you know about how to do the timing? thats what were not sure about

[Brianmoooore]

My very first E30 was one of these, some 25 years ago, when they still had some considerable value, and mine was "aquired" with a blown head gasket. The gasket had already been replaced before I got my hands on it (whether or not it originally needed a head gasket or not, I don't know), but the job had been done so badly that it promptly blew again. Another gasket, this time fitted properly, and I had myself a nice little E30, which I sold on three years later, for enough money to cover my initial cost of the car, the repairs, and all running costs for the period that I'd had it.
Black smoke doesn't suggest a head gasket problem to me. That produces white 'smoke'.
Rather than see if water gets in the oil, it's easier to see if it uses coolant at all.

[charlston250]

My very first E30 was one of these, some 25 years ago, when they still had some considerable value, and mine was "aquired" with a blown head gasket. The gasket had already been replaced before I got my hands on it (whether or not it originally needed a head gasket or not, I don't know), but the job had been done so badly that it promptly blew again. Another gasket, this time fitted properly, and I had myself a nice little E30, which I sold on three years later, for enough money to cover my initial cost of the car, the repairs, and all running costs for the period that I'd had it.
Black smoke doesn't suggest a head gasket problem to me. That produces white 'smoke'.
Rather than see if water gets in the oil, it's easier to see if it uses coolant at all.

i would do that but the car needs a new timing belt, a new radiator, tires and insurance , so i cant drive it, and im going to england in a month so not worth insuring it. was the gasket change hard? what do i have to do about timing when changing head and timing chain? thanks again for answering

[charlston250]

just seen its got red koni adjustable shocks on the back, do any of the sport or m packs include koni shocks on the back?

[charlston250]

finally set up photobucket here are photos

[charlston250]

here you can see the state the head gasket was in, and how sludgy the oil was

[charlston250]

here is me starting to clean it up, had head skimmed, lapped the valves, cleaned as much as i can, replaced water pump... was starting to get there but when i started rebuilding head i couldnt get the rocker arms and cam shaft to line up properly,anyone had this problem? tried it a few different ways but no luck, im in England now untill 21st so i had to put it on hold, but as soon as i get back im carrying on

[pacerpete]

Looking at the face of that head, especially the damage around the combustion chamber, your new gasket is not going to last very long

[charlston250]

Looking at the face of that head, especially the damage around the combustion chamber, your new gasket is not going to last very long

i thought that, but its a lot better than before and i was going to rebuild it now, then in future do it again when i do the bottom end. its only been skimmed once, so i should be able to do it again. and im still not certain whether im going to keep it stock engine for the road or put in a bigger engine for track. so spending too much on this engine feels like a waste for now. if i enjoy driving it around and head goes again its an excuse to do a whole engine rebuild including bottom end. do you think thats a stupid idea? and i should just skim it more? ive already bought the ticker head gasket for the skim ive done
and thank you very much for the reply

[charlston250]

are these original bmw parts? paid 7 pounds for 4 at carboot

[4G63TEVO]

Hello,

I am taking out the same engine out albeit auto out of my car as I am doing M50 Turbo conversion.

If you need any engine parts etc. let me know. I want to get rid of the whole lot quick. Everything is in working order.

I will be scraping it otherwise.

Kam

[charlston250]

Hello,

I am taking out the same engine out albeit auto out of my car as I am doing M50 Turbo conversion.

If you need any engine parts etc. let me know. I want to get rid of the whole lot quick. Everything is in working order.

I will be scraping it otherwise.

Kam

hi i live in portugal but am in england at the moment untill september 19th, if i where to want anything it might be a couple of weeks as i have to see if anyone is driving down to take my parts. would you be able to wait or are you going to get rid of it as fast as you can? its quite hard to know what i might want. how is the radiator? what carb does it have? what condition is head in? what sort of price would you want for whole lot? i still dont know if i could even transport it or if it would be viable. but its an interesting idea

[Automaton]

Take it and save it!

We 316 boys need to keep our spirits up

[charlston250]

Take it and save it!

We 316 boys need to keep our spirits up

ahaha im keeping it and saving it ;D just in future i might need more power for drifting xD