M3 E30 refresh and head gasket

[simon48c]

Hi All

I have bought a M3 E30 from a good friend of mine but it came with no keys and a blown head gasket. It was not locked so I have managed to get a set of keys cut but I have not been able to sort the immobiliser. The car has stood for at least 7 years. I have removed the front seats and various parts of the trim as there was water in the foot wells ( a few pints ) from a possible leak in the roof ( its a cabriolet ) which is now dried out . The car is in a local garage ( North London ) but they don't seem to have the time or energy to get it sorted.

I am now looking for a person who loves sorting these cars out or a dedicated garage to recommission the car and mot it. There are numerous small jobs but nothing major other than the gasket.

Any offers or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Simon

[flybynite]

If you want it doing properly, take it to BMR. No question.

[martauto]

Welcome to the zone mate and I hope you get it all sorted soon !!
Any pictures of how she is now would be great to see. ??

Mart.

[BristolE30]

Hi All

I have bought a M3 E30 from a good friend of mine but it came with no keys and a blown head gasket. It was not locked so I have managed to get a set of keys cut but I have not been able to sort the immobiliser. The car has stood for at least 7 years. I have removed the front seats and various parts of the trim as there was water in the foot wells ( a few pints ) from a possible leak in the roof ( its a cabriolet ) which is now dried out . The car is in a local garage ( North London ) but they don't seem to have the time or energy to get it sorted.

I am now looking for a person who loves sorting these cars out or a dedicated garage to recommission the car and mot it. There are numerous small jobs but nothing major other than the gasket.

Any offers or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Simon

If it’s just small jobs, sounds like a perfect weekend project!

If you’ve got a garage have a go at whipping the head off and replacing head gasket. Do some research before

[Brianmoooore]

Immobiliser: These are easy to defeat, but without a few details of what you have and what it immobilises, I can't really advise as how to defeat it. If it's the standard BMW effort, then it's as simple as connecting a piece of wire between battery + and the + terminal of the ignition coil. YES, IT'S AS SIMPLE THAT!
On an old design of engine, such as this, head gasket replacement is a reasonably straight forward task for a competent DIYer, but I'd want to know why the gasket has failed. No E30 engine is known for head gasket failure (although it's inevitable that the gasket between an iron block and alloy head will fail at some point), so I'd be on the lookout for other problems.

[flybynite]

If it’s just small jobs, sounds like a perfect weekend project!
If you’ve got a garage have a go at whipping the head off and replacing head gasket. Do some research before

S14B23 engines (and most of the parts) are not exactly two-a -penny these days, If you get it wrong it would be an expensive mistake.

As Brian says above, the reason for the head gasket blow is not known.

I would be tempted to leave this one to the professionals. BMR are pretty good at re-commissioning M3s

The value of that car would be easily dented by a bad DIY attempt

[Brianmoooore]

for a competent DIYer

Agreed you're dealing with expensive bits, but they're relatively simple, loose tolerance bits when compared to modern stuff.

[steve_k]

If you want it doing properly, take it to BMR. No question.

+1 for BMR, the main man barry is a member on here,

[BristolE30]

If it’s just small jobs, sounds like a perfect weekend project!
If you’ve got a garage have a go at whipping the head off and replacing head gasket. Do some research before

S14B23 engines (and most of the parts) are not exactly two-a -penny these days, If you get it wrong it would be an expensive mistake.

As Brian says above, the reason for the head gasket blow is not known.

I would be tempted to leave this one to the professionals. BMR are pretty good at re-commissioning M3s

The value of that car would be easily dented by a bad DIY attempt

I always like to think about the fact the guy at the garage that would be doing it, did it for a first time at some point in their life... gotta learn somewhere. Although I do see your point about it being an expensive engine to tinker with, I think it’s simplicity counters that a little.

.... do it do it do it

[flybynite]

Agreed you're dealing with expensive bits, but they're relatively simple, loose tolerance bits when compared to modern stuff.

Yes agreed, but they can still run wide of those tolerances on a 20+ year old engine. To check that still needs equipment that few DIYers would have.

The OP is already looking to take it to a garage so I would not think he is really a compitent DIYer

I always like to think about the fact the guy at the garage that would be doing it, did it for a first time at some point in their life... gotta learn somewhere.

Most "guys at the garage" did it for a first time under the supervision of someone who had done it many times before. That is the difference.

[simon48c]

Hi All

Thanks for the responses. I used to be a Ducati mechanic and have no fears doing all of the work but I don't have a decent garage ( thats not full of classic cars ) so BMR seem like a good choice. Ill contact them.
The info on the Immobiliser is great but at some point I need to get into the Sigma alarm and get it working ?
No doubt BMR will know how. Whilst Im tempted to do the work I have no service history for the car so having the work done by them may be a wise move.
Here are some pics I have ( not pretty ).

Thanks

Simon

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[BristolE30]

Most "guys at the garage" did it for a first time under the supervision of someone who had done it many times before. That is the difference.

Not always true, a lot of mechanics start out working on stuff at home and just having a crack it. But of course always helpful to get a friend round who’s done it before if you can. The interweb can also be a surprisingly good teacher if your good at researching. A head gasket is quite different to a full engine strip down and removal

Just my opinion

[flybynite]

I need to get into the Sigma alarm and get it working ?

I think the best thing with most alarms is to take them out including the dubious wiring most have and start again.

As you will read here, on an E30 most alarms will do very little to stop someone starting the car.

The best feature I had in an alarm was a shrill chirp whenever anyone got within a few feet, if they persisted the alarm went off. It saved some Alpina wheels on one of mine, they wrecked a couple of caps but thought better of it with the alarm ringing in their ears.

[flybynite]

Just my opinion

[BMGM3]

What a sad looking car, glad you are interested in rescuing it.
As has been said, speak to BMR . Check out his own M3 to see that it's in safe hands.
viewtopic.php?f=112&t=266832

[DanThe]

Hi Simon, that engine looks very sorry for itself!
Definitely an engine out and full checkover/rebuild job as discussed when you collected the wheels from me

[Radar]

I have one of these. I do what I can myself because tracing silly little faults can take hours and even with a favourable hourly rate at your friendly mechanic the bills very soon get silly. Some stuff just makes sense to pay a pro though, for example sorting the convertible hood and rebuilding the gearbox.

I would totally recommend doing your own engine assembly after you’ve had everything measured/machined/balanced by the pros. If you’ve done an engine before that is

Good luck with the electrics, hopefully there’s been no rodents in there.

As someone already said. It’s best to strip out the old alarm and start again as you could be chasing in circles on that for years. I had my alarm installed when I first imported mine 14 years ago... I’m even tempted from time to time to rip it out and start again..

[Acaciastrain360]

Immobiliser: These are easy to defeat, but without a few details of what you have and what it immobilises, I can't really advise as how to defeat it. If it's the standard BMW effort, then it's as simple as connecting a piece of wire between battery + and the + terminal of the ignition coil. YES, IT'S AS SIMPLE THAT!

When doing this... do you leave the immobiliser fitted?? Or can you rip it out??

[Brianmoooore]

Hardly practical or convenient to clip a wire in place under the bonnet every time you want to drive the car. The immobiliser connects into the car's wiring at a two pin socket, with a plain green wire to each pin, behind the glovebox. It is disconnected by unplugging the green and green/red wires from this socket, and plugging in a plug fitted with a short loop of wire. If the immobiliser was dealer fitted, this plug should be tied to the wiring loom nearby. The rest of the wires to the immobiliser can then just be disconnected from where they connect to the car's body looms.