Tumeke Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumeke Posted July 15, 2021 Author Share Posted July 15, 2021 Discussion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tumeke Posted July 15, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 15, 2021 BACKSTORY Once upon a time - 1983 in fact, Auckland was the host of the New Zealand Motor show. All the manufacturers displayed their new offerings, including BMW with their new E30 3 Series BMW. Germany new the show as happening and sent out a top of the range 323i coupe, in hellrot red, with M-Sport interior, M stickers and a slightly breathed upon M20B23 motor with 5 speed transmission, just to give the press something a little more spicy than the average 323i, but not enough to raise alarm bells. The car went through a couple of owners until it ended up in a friends ownership in the early 90s. The car served the owner @Mr Burns's senior for a number of years. He was a spirited driver and enjoyed using the car to its full potential, including every trip to the shops for milk, or 4 up on family holidays around the country. By the early 2000s, as with most early e30s, there was more rust holding the car together than steel, so a running gear transplant was arranged into a 1984 4 door sedan and the old body was sent away. The blue sedan in better days. The 'new' sedan was daylied for a few years, until the same fate bestowed it's chassis. It was then parked up under a hedge for 15 years and forgotten about. Neglected The rusted car came into my possession at the sad passing of Mr Burns's senior, as reg had sadly lapsed, it hadn't run in an age. It was trailered and parked in my storage shed as a 'one day' project. 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tumeke Posted July 18, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 18, 2021 Roll on to 2017 and I got wind of a 1988 e30 Coupe without transmission and a uninstalled motor going for cheap. (This was before the prices of E30s started taking off) I ventured north with @Threeonthetree and found this: It was a facelift 318i 'rust free*' coupe in delphin grey. Povo spec and in pieces. Body looked straight and I saw potential so Dragged it home and parked it up until time allowed for further investigation. 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tumeke Posted August 10, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 10, 2021 Nec task - have a gander at the new shell. The M40 1.8 motor was resting on the front cross member - it seemed like a manwell conversion had started but to me it was weak-sauce and unknown so out she came. bye-bye boat anchor This then went onto marketplace and was swapped for some money and beer. With that out of the way, a bit of an assessment of the power-barn could commence along with a tidy-up. The expected rot was found behind the fuse box - which looked like it would be a good place for rain to come in and soak the carpet, so it was cut out and replaced with some fresh steel. Speed holes removed Next the donor car donated its M20B23 and getrag gearbox, driveshaft and entire loom from headlight, engine, cabin right back to tail light. @sentra also removed the diff and gave it a rebuild* The differences between the loom was so great, this seemed like the easiest way to do things, and as I had to remove the loom to do rust repairs anyway it wasn't such a big deal. New Mota Guv? Early engine with cold-start injector and non front-mount dizzy. @Mr Vapour is gonna have a visitor I think. Next came the additional pedal. You can see the state of the floor from the donor that it had got the cancers. Pedal box, clutch master etc. The steering rack was removed as it was a known useable unit. Measurements were taken for brackets from the donor before being de-spotweld for: the clutch fluid reservoir, radiator expansion tank, relay holder, power steer reservoir & radiator mounting brackets. These were then welded into the new body. Brackets to be removed and swapped over. Finally for this session, a rock-auto list was made: Cambelt, waterpump, tensioner, thermostat housing, gaskets, etc. Thermostat housing not looking so healthy. K. Gotta go back do some work now. Tune in text time pls. Thamls. *Reconditioning comprised of cleaning it with a hose and drinking a Hagen. 19 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tumeke Posted September 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted September 20, 2021 The show goes on due to @yoeddynz making comments about me not updating. Rock Auto came to the party with a lot of the bits needed: Offered everything up to the motor, including new cambelt, tensioners etc and put the motor back in the hole. I couldn't fire until I'd done the electrical though. With the old shell having given everything it could, it was sent to it's forever home. Next - the loom and heater-box needed some love as I decided to swap the whole loom over. This was a fun job - quite a few differences between 1983 and 1988 4 pt vs 6. Whole interior removed, whole loom fed through the dash, changes made due to 2 door instead of 4, manual instead of auto, electric windows instead of manwell etc. A bit of splicing from old plugs to new and plenty of reference to original wiring looms to get everything right. Also installed the 6 cylinder check-light system with all the additional idiot lights and reset. I think this photo was on the home straight as the carpet is back in. I often forget to take the photos. Pelican parts came in with some nylon bushes for the pedal box and a hard to find bung for the thermostat. With the interior close enough, I could try to fire the old girl up. Try being the word. I then learnt that the distributor drive runs off what I thought was an idler pully on the cam belt, so the timing decided it would prefer to make fires in the intake instead of the exhaust. A quick retime (luckily I hadn't put the cooling system in the way yet) and we had success! Timing was dialed in properly, but it still has an occasional hesitation. I might do an injector flush as well. Cooling system was then offered up, flushed, and bled, and an oil change happened. Quickly realised some of the rubber pipes were well crusty so another Rock Auto order sorted 90% of those, and one from ebay Latvia.... Tyres were changed to whatever I had lying around. I don't have a balancing system at home, just an armstrong tyre change. Managed to find some nice m-sport e30 seats to drop in: So where we're at Today: WOF Check needed when Covid allows. Change of plugs and I think there is a manifold vacuum leak somewhere as the idle seems a little high. I might do an injector flush as well. What's next? Further road-testing Level 3. Bushes and suspension shocks will need an update, so will install a little low at the same time. Things I'd like help with (?): Some nicer wheels ideally some basket-weaves that fit an e30 & some random trim panels. Drop me a line if you think you can help. Next report due with some completed photos when I'm allowed to leave home. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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