1991 325i SE

[tha881]

Thought i'd start a thread on my 325i which i bought in March. Some of you may remember my last e30, a brilliant red 320i

I owned this car for 6 years, used it daily, and the only real fault in that time was a knackered starter motor. I did tell myself i would never part with it but in reality i was sick of looking after the red paint and it needed some bodywork

So for quite a while i was keeping my eyes out for a clean e36 or e46 sport. However this 325i SE came up and i thought it was worth a look

The bodywork actually suprised me, it was very straight and tidy. The downside immediately was the electric sunroof, it works fine but i could see some rust in the channels and wasnt sure the extent of it. The handbrake wasn't working. Only other issue was the engine was a bit tappy but noticed a snapped exhaust stud. It turns out both studs on cylinder 6 have snapped off

So got a few quid knocked off and set about getting it home to swap some parts over and make a to do list

Option list

200 KATALYSATOR - ENTFALL
215 POWER STEERING,DEPENDING ON ENGINE SPEED
219 SPORT LEATHER STEERING WHEEL
281 LM-RAD 6 1/2 X 14
339 SATIN CHROME
350 WAERMESCHUTZGLAS GRUEN, RUNDUM
401 SLIDING/VENT ROOF, ELECTRIC
411 WINDOW LIFTS, ELECTRIC
428 WARNING TRIANGLE
497 CENTRE ARMREST IN REAR
498 HEADRESTS IN REAR, MECHANIC. ADJUSTABLE
500 HEADLIGHT WASHER SYS/INTENSIVE CLEANING
551 ON-BOARD COMPUTER II W REMOTE CONTROL
723 EDITION ZG
750 BASISUMFANG FUER EDITION
812 ENGLAND VERSION
850 ADD FUEL TANK FILLING FOR EXPORT
925 SHIPPING PROTECTION PACKAGE

No sport suspension but some good options being an SE. Not sure what 723 and 750 are?

Original dealer plate is Coombs of Guildford, although i can't confirm this is where the car was sold

So i swapped the bbs replicas onto the red car and put on my original bbs. I also got some old font plates from ebay

Swapped over the correct sports seats from the red car

In the mean time tackled a few small jobs

oil and filter
plugs
valve clearances
front arb drop links
fitted my blaupunkt stereo
new speakers all round
changed the bumper trims
sprayed and fitted is lip

Also took the car to Barry for a few quick jobs and an inspection

handbrake fixed
fog light switch replaced
boot badge replaced
electric mirrors fixed
seized rear bumper mounts fixed

The sunroof is worse than i'd hoped and is going to need some attention at some point.

So heres the car at the moment

Lots of work planned, will try to keep this updated..

[capri_rob]

Nice.
6 cylinder saloons on a J plate are pretty rare most of the J plate cars seem to be 4 cylinder cars and Tourings in particular.

[magpie]

^^ what he said making that interior you have very rare especially with the sports seats option ticked .

[SeanOB]

looking good! very jealous of the sports seats too.

will be curious to hear what you decide to do to fix the sunroof troubles. Mine leaks like a sieve

[AndyE30]

That looks nice. Where in Kent roughly are you if you don't mind me asking? Guessing most with sunroof issues check the underside of their carpet?

[tha881]

I think the fact I had the correct sport seats was what swayed me in the end. Most would think it crazy to go from a 2dr non sunroof to a 4dr with rust trap on the roof. Also the 2.5 with full scorpion exhaust may have had something to do with it

[tha881]

Snapped exhaust stud on cylinder 6. It turns out both the studs on this cylinder have snapped and will involve dropping the engine to repair it. In fact there were 4 studs missing in total..



Ordered new gaskets, studs and nuts. Around £35 from c3bmw for the lot (excluding downpipe gasket)

I also bought another good used manifold as a backup which was used in the end. I would have liked a 6 branch but time wasn't on my side to find a reasonable option



As the engine was being dropped it made sense to tackle a lot more jobs while it was out. Here's a list of what was done

Cambelt, waterpump, thermostat and belts
Engine and gearbox mounts
Gearshift parts
Prop bearing and guibo
Front control arms with offset bushes
Front shocks and top mounts
Eibach springs
Complete track rods
Replace rusty subframe

Parts stash



The rear exhaust hangers are for the scorpion back box and were bought from scorpion for around £25. I thought this was very reasonable and would be worth buying for a standard back box at that price. Being stainless steel they should last longer

Six cylinder Eibach springs £130 from Germany



Engine out



Studs removed and replaced





Also discovered someone had been here before but didn't take note of the dots...



Suprisingly it didn't vibrate at all, although it did have a vibration damper fitted. It's all been put back together correctly

So the car is back and driving very well. The annoying tapping from the snapped studs has gone. The eibach springs are exactly what the car was missing. The original springs were standard so very soft, also it emerged that the rear springs had been cut by a previous owner to lower the back end...

Before



After







I've still got new rear shocks and mounts to fit this weekend. Will be giving the engine bay a tidy up aswell. Im missing the fan shroud so if anyone has the correct one for this rad please let me know

[jimbom30cab]

Nice work and cool pics also

The rad shrouds are not expensive from BMW.

[tha881]

Thanks Jim, i think they are around £50 which i thought was a bit steep for a bit of plastic! Managed to get one fitted its not the best but it was free a massive thanks to Barry once again. Along with a new viscous the engine is keeping a lot cooler

This was the engine bay and what a mess it was, bits missing and snapped studs



And now - not perfect at all, but everything's pretty much where it should be



Still need to get new bonnet foam but as always got some other jobs to do first

I ordered some reinforcement plates for the rear top mounts but found a bit of a problem. I tried two different sets and neither would fit so think i will forget that idea!



Also got my hands on a new steering wheel. The SE wheel was in great condition but always wanted something a bit smaller. I did look into aftermarket wheels for a while



Liked the look of this but decided to stay oem in the end



P/s fluid flush next along with roll bar bushes. Should be fun!

[MouseRat]

This is a really cool car man. I love 4 doors!
What is the aftermarket steering wheel in the second to last photo? Looks quite nice..

[tha881]

Thanks MouseRat, i must admit i do prefer 2 doors but finding a good one isn't easy. Having owned both i would say this is more practical and once you are behind the wheel you dont even notice. I think these days the condition and spec is a far more important factor

The steering wheel is from this company in the US and i think it was 360mm

http://www.renownusa.com/

The 370mm wheel feels great though, i was really suprised, and don't think there is any need to go smaller unless its a track car or something

[tha881]

looking good! very jealous of the sports seats too.

will be curious to hear what you decide to do to fix the sunroof troubles. Mine leaks like a sieve

I now have a plan of attack for the sunroof. Its going to be done the best way possible which is to cut out the entire tray and weld in a decent used one. Then do a respray on the entire roof and respray a rust free sunroof panel. I will also look into a replacement headlining as the current one is a bit tatty. Ideally i would like a black sport one, i will see whats about nearer the time.

[SeanOB]

looking good! very jealous of the sports seats too.

will be curious to hear what you decide to do to fix the sunroof troubles. Mine leaks like a sieve

I now have a plan of attack for the sunroof. Its going to be done the best way possible which is to cut out the entire tray and weld in a decent used one. Then do a respray on the entire roof and respray a rust free sunroof panel. I will also look into a replacement headlining as the current one is a bit tatty. Ideally i would like a black sport one, i will see whats about nearer the time.

I was afraid you would say that! but that is by far the smartest option... honestly I am procrastinating digging into mine. well done for getting on with it.

[pk1976]

Car looks really nice. I know what you mean about upkeep on the red. Constant job! You finding white any better?

[tha881]

Car looks really nice. I know what you mean about upkeep on the red. Constant job! You finding white any better?

The alpine white is much easier to keep looking good. I have clay barred the car once and a polish, and all it needs is a wash and wax once a month and it looks fresh every time.

[tha881]

Been an eventful week for the car... feels a bit pointless these first few pics.. you will see what i mean in a bit....

Anyway down to Barry's to get new subframe bushes fitted. Out with the old



The difference is really felt in the driving, anyone that doesnt know when theirs were last changed, what are you waiting for? These were stamped 1990 i think so definitely the originals

New diff bush Meyle



Resulted in this



Luckily for me Barry had a spare 188 diff laying about so hooked me up with another backplate for free, we wasnt keen to try pressing the meyle bush into that cover though! Ive now got a febi bush which should be better quality

Washed and out for a nice Sunday drive...







Then this happened today



I was stationary indicating to turn right, the woman had actually stopped behind me then moments later i get a massive whack from behind. Her excuse, she thought i'd pulled away. Minor scratches to her 64 plate Merc and im left with this. Phoned insurance and have an engineer coming next couple days to inspect, but they are saying they will probably be attempting to write it off which i disputed... gutted...

[SeanOB]

darrrrrn man, sorry about the crunch! Insurance companies are absolute scam artists. I'm sure it's fixable

[tha881]

Thanks mate should be fixable it drives okay, we will see what the engineer says tommorow. It's still completely straight down the sides which is the main thing. I wouldn't have minded so much if it was a proper accident but she stopped behind me then thought I'd turned off??? Things like this should result in a ban in my book, total negligence she was obviously paying attention to something other than the road in front

[SeanOB]

couldn't agree more... but if it were up to me I would go around banning everyone for their incompetence

[pk1976]

Hope all goes well. You know she was looking at her phone!

Out of interest does an agreed valuation with your own insurance count if another company has to pay out?

Methinks not...

[tha881]

Time for a little update. The car is now back in regular use after it's winter hibernation, the MOT was in January and it passed with no advisories. The large jobs of rear panel and sunroof tray replacement are still in the planning but they should be completed this summer

In the mean time I've been working through bits and pieces with the help of Barry on the bigger jobs

The OBC bulbs were packing up and the heater panel had a crack so I set about replacing those



Quite fiddly to do, luckily I didn't lose any screws and the soldering was straightforward once the light strip was removed

I really wanted to try out an m-tech 2 wheel and got my hands on this 370 version



Its great to use, it has been retrimmed and although its not original, whoever did it did a great job, the perforrated leather matches my gear shifter so it all looks good. The problem I have now is I can't decide whether to keep the tech 1 or 2 :/

The brakes were to get some attention next with braided hoses and new front calipers aswell as a full brake fluid flush





New rear ARB drop links were fitted at the same time, i recently fitted mondeo links at the front as well superpro bushes on the bars

Fronts are now looking like this



Need to do something about the backplates and mounts at some point

Always liked the bmw heckblende although i hadnt seen one a white car i thought i would give it a go



Fitted it this morning and took a couple pics

[jcm325]

Lovely car mate doing well with all the work ....roof will be a pain in the ass I'm sure but well worth it!!!
Love the heck blende thing where did you get it?

[tha881]

Thanks mate. The roof will be a major job, but the guy that's doing it has done a few before so he knows what he's getting in to!!

The heckblende I found on german eBay, it's a bmw part but nla, so only option was to wait around for a good used one to pop up

[brutus]

congratulations ! wot a stunner

[brutus]

congratulations ! wot a stunner

[tha881]

Ive been using the car daily over the summer (except for the wettest days) and slowly ticking off jobs. The steering rack seals went so replaced the whole unit with the purple tag e46 rack. This has transformed the car. I've been on a few days out to the south coast without any problems at all. Its been a pleasure to get it on some decent roads and with all the suspension and steering work complete its a blast to drive







Ive also had the injectors refurbed and given it a full service. A front strut brace has been fitted aswell which makes it seriously planted in high speed motorway corners. Just making the most of it now until the weather gets shitty!

[Stefan on probation]

Looks fantastic for a more door ;o))))

[Moz]

Absolutely lovely car! White has always been my favourite E30 colour!

[tha881]

Thanks all for the comments. Updates have ground to a halt as I've become a dad which hasn't left much time for fettling. The good news is my 1 and a half year old son loves being in the car so it will still get full usage during the summer.

Rewind back to 2017, and I can't remember the symptoms but the clutch was on it's way out. So the car went down to Barry for a replacement

The new release bearing also means no more nasty rattle when I leave it in neutral.

More recently I decided to tackle the intake manifold gaskets due to a visible leak from cylinder 4 inlet.

And looking much cleaner

[tha881]

Also fitted some restored speaker units on the rear shelf, a big improvement over the flat pioneer covers that were well past their best

Not sure why the photo is upside down. And now nice and clean before a week of carving up some b roads.

And one week and 350 fun filled miles later

[SeanOB]

Congrats on becoming a dad! Glad to hear the car is still getting used, looking great too!

[tha881]

I see a lot of the old pics are gone. How about a quick update to show what's been going on with the car over the last year. So last July I took the car on 1000 mile round trip to see some family in France

I was anticipating a head rebuild on the car for a while, but it got thrust on me a bit sooner than I had hoped as I snapped a rocker.... on the motorway near le mans. Certainly not ideal, luckily this was on the way back home. The car was faultless the whole trip up until then, but I think I pushed on it a bit hard straight after letting the car cool for 30 mins at one of the service stops

The head had suffered a broken rocker in the past so the cam was showing signs of wear, but the previous owner obviously decided a replacement rocker was cheaper than doing the job properly. At least this gave me the chance to do it to my own standard

I decided to tackle a lot of the work myself, and set about removing the head and gathering parts

The worst part removed was the dizzy and rotor, still on the originals stamped 1990

After getting a few quotes I decided on Corry Motor Services to do the head rebuild. I took my original 885 head but it was evident the cam journals were scored. Luckily he stocks brand new AMC heads and it was cheaper to buy this and have him build it up than what most other engineering firms wanted just for the labour on the old head

So I supplied a brand new cam and rockers and a few days later it arrived

The main job for me was cleaning the old gasket off of the block, an extremely tedious process that must have taken at least 6 hours in total

I cant recall whether I took that photo once it was fully cleaned but you get the idea. I made sure the bolt holes were clear of any moisture before reassembly

[tha881]

Next came refitting the head. Neil at Corry's was kind enough to blast the cam cover for me, I cant recommend him enough

I do like them painted black but I had enough work to keep me busy. So the list of new parts includes the AMC head, cam and rockers, oil spray bar, all gaskets, dizzy cap and rotor, all belts and tensioner, all filters, most hoses - especially important was the one at the back of the head, spark plugs, cps, and lots of the little nuts and bolts. I used a Fuchs phosphate free coolant and distilled water. I was nervous about tackling it all myself but I'm glad I did. It gave me a chance to clean parts that a shop might not have time to do when working to a price. I wish I had painted the block though

New bonnet foam

Got it all back together and over a 1000 miles on it now and it's running lovely. More recently I had a wheel returned by Lepsons, an outstanding finish, not a single blemish

[JungleGus]

Looking lovely!

[tha881]

A pair of new Yokohama Advan Fleva in 205 55 15

Got those fitted and a wheel alignment, the choice in 205 55 15 rubber seems to be getting smaller year on year, but I'm more than happy with these so far

I've recently fitted this little oil temperature sensor kit from JR parts. They produce a lovely Alpina replica gauge that was a bit out of my price range, but this was good enough for me

And just a couple of pics how its sitting at the moment

The latest problem is my exhaust centre box, which should be getting sorted next weekend