1985 325 buying advice.

[Mops]

Hello.

I'm currently looking at buying a 1985 E30 2 door manual 325 that has done 122000 miles.

I'm wanting to have a weekend car, that I could do some work on, with decent performance. I do realize it's not a new car, but i'm prepared to spend some time and money on it to make it better, just for the fun of it. THe particular one I'm looking at has been driven by older lady

It has a bit of rust, but nothing that I cant fix.

It drives allright, the only issue there I see are the gear shift bushes need replacing and brake is a little bit sloppy (i.e. i have to push it further down than than normally to brake), but it still breaks good. Performance is pretty good, exacly what I would expect from 325 (i never drove 325 beofre, i drove some 318, 320 and 323's).

My only major concernes are with the engine itself:
-valvetrain is REALLY loud. They just changed the oil with some elf synthetic. Thesed no bottom pressure (if I remove oil cap and dipstikc it doesnt blow any gases out of there -> sign of good engine), but you can hear those valves from miles. Can that be fixed with different oil or adjusting valves ?

-looking from the under of the car at the engine, it is coveded in oil and greases, like it was leaking oil from somewhere. What are the typical places those engines start to go ?

lastly, can you tell me what model engine do I have ? the car has badge 325 only (not 'i' or 'e'), the redline starts at just over 6000 rpm. I believe the engine is m20b25, is that correct ?

Are there any aftermarket ECU's that would improve engine performance ? Any otyher cheap/DIY mods for some cheap horsepower ?

Thanks in advance,

Mops.

[rickk]

THe particular one I'm looking at has been driven by older lady

They all are, eh

Anyway, these engines are quite ticky by nature, it could be valves or injectors and probably just normal, but it's impossible to tell from a distance and w/o experience.

Oil leaks usually come from the front cam- and crankshaft seals (not too hard to replace when you do the t-belt), valve cover gasket or if you're unlucky, oil pan gasket, around the engine mounts.

325i, M20B25 redlines at 6250 rpm, so that seems ok.

Upgrades: I'd say chip and headers, and don't expect miracles, these engines are quite tuned from factory. Best is to get everything back up to factory spec (vacuum leaks, spark plugs, valves, motronic sensors, etc) before starting with tuning.

- Rick

[pacerpete]

Don't do it ! sounds like landfill to me .