1989 325i Sedan Rebuild

[T_Dub]

I decided to kick off this thread. I fully expect this to take 4-5 years minimum due to the time and capital required, but I have to start sometime. Car has been in my garage now for over 3 years.

History on the car. I'm not sure when it came to Newfoundland but definitely late in life, as the drivers side rocker and the bottoms of both fenders are GONE but thats about it. A past owner (not the guy I bought it from) says the M20 hydrolocked and exploded so he attempted an M50 swap. This is where I feel really bad for him. The breaker he got the non-vanos enigne from also supplied a harness and ECU. The harness had a 413 ecu attached, and the corresponding Vanos harness. I can't imagine the frustration as this guy tried to get this car to run. It just wasn't going to happen. The breaker must have just pulled an E36 325i Vanos harness and ecu off the shelf to go with the engine without knowing the difference. He had the proper engine mounts and the trans mount for the e30 trans, and looks like he must have modded the shift rod because the shifter is upright in the car and seems like it works. So mechanically the car seems pretty complete.

I now have a 403 ecu I got a good deal on, and I'll get an engine harness eventually but I dont really need one for a long while yet.

The first pic is where I left it yesterday, I stripped the bumpers down to get the brackets. My plan is to attach the rotisserie to the bumper shocks. I figure they can handle the load of a stripped shell, and I'll likely be getting new shocks later anyway. If thats a bad plan please let me know.

Next on the hit list will be to strip the interior while I wait for a buddies shop crane to free up so I can borrow it. He's putting a turbo diesel in his Defender.

Anyhow bumper skins look good, inner bumpers in good shape. Anyone have any luck restoring the trim pieces? Mine are showing their age, but have no damage, so I might have a go at cleaning them up.

Last pic is some new metal. Still waiting on a couple pieces. These are all new from the BMW dealer, the guy gave me a great deal. This lot was cheaper than getting aftermarket from the US. I bought the front valance because mine's been hit in a couple spots. I don't think I'd ever be able to get it 100% straight. Bought the speaker panel because it was like $10, just in case any rust crept into the bottom of it.

[Speedtouch]

Good luck with getting it up and running - the wiring looks like a bit of a brain-ache, to say the least! Nice exhaust manifold, I see...

[T_Dub]

Good luck with getting it up and running - the wiring looks like a bit of a brain-ache, to say the least! Nice exhaust manifold, I see...

Thanks. That harness will be junked, wrong ECU connector on those I believe. I would much rather start with something uncut too. Body side harness is in great shape.

Manifold is some ebay job from about 10 years ago or more. Looks decent though.

[martauto]

Good luck with this and keep the pics and info coming please ?

Mart.

[T_Dub]

Thanks and will do. Updates will be regular but slow. I don't intend for this to be a quick project with the large sums of capital required.

[T_Dub]

Finally got a day to start stripping the car. Got most of the interior removed, the glass, and the doors.

Very lucky to find no extra rot, apart from what I already knew. I know, the carpet isn't out yet so don't hold my breath. Shell is in surprisingly good shape. Dash has one crack I hope to repair as soon as I get it out of the car. Then it will sit for however long it takes me to get the shell finished.




One spot I was worried about was behind the breather cover, I've seen guys find a nightmare there. Mine is solid as far as I can tell. Cover is gone, it broke off.

[T_Dub]

Taking apart the dash tonight. That's fun.

I found the flashlight!!! Tucked in under the fan control. So happy.

[T_Dub]

Finally some good news.

I was looking at my engine harness to see if I could use it with the 403 DME. Unfortunately the pinouts dont match. But when I tried to confirm a couple pin locations, they werent in the right spot. So I checked the pin locations against the early E36 non-vanos pinout.

Lo and behold, its the correct wiring harness! This makes me a little sad for the guy who did the swap, since all he really needed to get the car running was the proper DME. Oh well, if he had gotten it running it never would have came my way.

So I'll keep this messy harness and go through it at a later date. The guys are coming to help pull the engine next weekend. I will continue to strip the engine bay til then.

[T_Dub]

And now the engine is out. My journey to a stripped shell is getting closer.

[T_Dub]

Finally got another day at the car. Took me a while to wrestle the steering column and heater box out, then I pulled the carpet to really see whats what.

I found one hole I didn't already know about, and the bit of floor around the throttle pedal mount is a bit scabby. Pretty pleased with the condition overall.

The carpet is pretty bad. I'm strongly considering a new carpet. They aren't cheap I know, but after getting this one out, I never want to do it again on the finished car.

[T_Dub]

I was curious about my wiring loom. So I started tracing all the connectors to their corresponding ECU pin. Everything looks good, corresponds to the DME 3.1 diagrams, to match the 403 DME I have. I labeled everything, and I pulled out the auto trans cables. Will be easy to splice my E30 engine side connector onto this now. But that's a story for another day long in the future. For now if goes in the box and I can rest a bit easier knowing my loom is correct.

I also took a peek in the 403 DME I got for $40. There's a Turner chip inside already. So that was a good deal.

The bottom pic is my little setup for testing the E36 climate module. I wanted to see exactly what signals were coming out. Looks like pin 85 and 86 on the 403 DME both get 12V when AC is off, and 0V when AC is on. Then pin 48 grounds to activate the AC compressor. I will use the pin 48 output to flip mu compressor relay, this way the engine should run smoothly.

[T_Dub]

Got my sunroof out and headliner down. Cassette looks to be in ok condition, the passenger side rear drain hose looks to have some junk in it. I also have to split the sunroof itself to deal with some internal rust. Looks like the glue BMW used for the headliner foam also was a little corrosive, the overspray that hit the rood has caused some surface rust.

Second pic shows the only significant rust I can see on the roof itself. My current plan is to stick the sandblaster in through the various holes in the sunroof cassette and get it mostly cleaned up, then I will neutralize the rust and coat with por15, which should stop anything from occurring in the future.

Headliner foam ripped while being removed, so I'll have to replace it. I think I'll stick dynapad to the cassette and trim around the sunroof hole with an exacto knife.

[T_Dub]

Anyone got a part number for this guy? I broke a couple where the wiring goes under the rear seat and I've scoured the internet and come up short. I managed to find some of the white ones for along the rocker on fleabay.



Any Binky fans? Got my BOM mug and little garage kettle so tea is on offer in the shop now.

[T_Dub]

Good luck with this and keep the pics and info coming please ?

Mart.

I'm pretty much ready to give up, the only reason I post on a forum is to engage with people who know more than I and get answers to questions, maybe a touch of helpful advice. Is there maybe a facebook group thats more active where I could post questions?

Seems like this place is on its last legs, few friends posting in the chat but nobody seems interested in engaging with people trying to put an E30 back on the road. Its a shame because this place is a great resource, the wiki is amazing.

[martauto]

Good luck with this and keep the pics and info coming please ?

Mart.

I'm pretty much ready to give up, the only reason I post on a forum is to engage with people who know more than I and get answers to questions, maybe a touch of helpful advice. Is there maybe a facebook group thats more active where I could post questions?

Seems like this place is on its last legs, few friends posting in the chat but nobody seems interested in engaging with people trying to put an E30 back on the road. Its a shame because this place is a great resource, the wiki is amazing.

Try posting in the technical section where almost all questions get answered at some point.
If you have any questions then please ask away, we are here for one reason only
You may not like the answers you get from the facebook side of things!

Mart.

[T_Dub]

Good luck with this and keep the pics and info coming please ?

Mart.

I'm pretty much ready to give up, the only reason I post on a forum is to engage with people who know more than I and get answers to questions, maybe a touch of helpful advice. Is there maybe a facebook group thats more active where I could post questions?

Seems like this place is on its last legs, few friends posting in the chat but nobody seems interested in engaging with people trying to put an E30 back on the road. Its a shame because this place is a great resource, the wiki is amazing.

Try posting in the technical section where almost all questions get answered at some point.
If you have any questions then please ask away, we are here for one reason only
You may not like the answers you get from the facebook side of things!

Mart.

Alright I will. I figured I'd keep down the clutter by asking in this thread.

[martauto]

No probs about clutter mate, ask. post away , we have no limits here

Mart.

[T_Dub]

OK, haven't touched the car since Jan. Got out for a full day and pretty much completed the tear down. Front and rear suspension is out, along with the petrol tank and wiring harness. Ready to build the rotisserie now.

[T_Dub]

​Got some work done on the spit over the weekend. Last night I welded the shaft into the c channel. Now gotta get the other one finished as well. Going to have a think about some bracing too.
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[Khaldoun]

I have e30 325 and im in the process of restoring i want to buy the OEM internal cloth for seats and doors my car is black. Where should i search.

[martauto]

I have e30 325 and im in the process of restoring i want to buy the OEM internal cloth for seats and doors my car is black. Where should i search.

Welcome to the zone mate and post an advert in the "wanted" section.
Throw some pics up of your car please, we all love pics

Mart.

[T_Dub]

So now I find this crap. One rusted so bad I'm not sure if it's usable. The other is WELDED in.



A good set of uprights is now on its way to me from California. I'll strip these and stick them on the shelf in case I ever want to make coilovers.

Got my MIG set up for gas and .030" wire, since I have all my chassis reinforcements and whatnot now. Going to get some good practice in first but early results with the MIG are good. (For the welding experts, I fixed the polarity on the MIG after I took the pic)

I'm doing all the chassis reinforcements I can because the roads here are awful, and I do intend to run aftermarket sway bars. I will also autoX from time to time. I figure do them all now while the car's apart.