P_Roloff

Sheesh, long overdue for an update here. I’ve been lagging on getting this done; the spring ended up being completely full (like, every single weekend from January to May) with water ski team maintenance stuff, and the season went until May to now. The team hasn’t had an official member dedicated to fleet main fence in a long time so the backlog was enormous. Like, waterlogged and rusting boat trailer bearings that haven’t been repacked in a decade, rotting trailer floor, and broken bilge pumps and blowers, enormous. I’m finally getting a chance to get back into cars though thankfully, and have made some good progress! It feels amazing to be finally getting somewhere. Fuel tank is back in and the tank-adjacent stuff is plumbed in. I’m holding off on installing the fuel hardlines until the engine comes out and goes back in so I don’t accidentally damage them. My brake hardlines seem to fit nicely though, which is exciting! And tonight, for the first time in something like 20 months, the car’s subframe and chassis were reunited. Big stuff! My only concern so far is that the fuel tank neck is contacting the subframe because of the subframe riser bushings; it doesn’t seem to be severe though, so I’m probably going to leave it. Don’t have much of a choice I guess. Engine oil has been drained, PS hoses disconnected, a/c lines are unhooked, and all fuel/intake/other things have been disconnected in the bay other than the starter ground strap, oil cooler lines, coolant hoses, and the DME. The plan is to button up the rear end ASAP and get it back on four wheels so that I can reposition it, then yank the engine and get cracking on the swap stuff/timing belt. Also planning to get the HIKfab skidplate welded on by @rampelsauce while the engine is out, should make it a snap to weld and repaint. Hoping to make a lot of progress this fall. I’d love to get it done, but I’ve made promises like that before (look at how long it’s been sitting). It WILL get done before next summer; the ski team is doing an 80’s themed show and it’d be sacrilege to not have the quintessential 80’s car not running for it.

Also, seems stupid, but did you check all the inputs to make sure it isn’t just one of them that failed; I.e. a bad auxiliary input cable

Alright, since I’m working on the car today and tomorrow to get some preseason stuff done, I figured I would finally start a boring thread to chronicle this car and have a reference to look back on later. The car: It’s a 1989 325i convertible, automatic, (I know, I know) with a black interior and 192,xxx miles. It was originally purchased by my father about 8 years ago, then sorta handed down to me. It’s been a good car so far, as with all m20’s it can be finicky and a pain sometimes but overall it’s a lot of fun. Pretty much rust free as well. It’s had some recent maintenance work done, including: • Winter 2013-14: Timing belt was replaced, along with the water pump and tensioner. Head was removed and checked as a baseline at this time, I believe that there was also oil seeping from the head gasket so that was resolved as well. Before this, the timing belt was last replaced in 2001 at 140,xxx miles. Scary stuff! • Winter 2015-16: Refreshed rear suspension, excluding rear subframe and differential bushings. I went with all stock/OE quality parts, including bilstein shocks and I believe lemforder rtabs and end links. Wheel bearings and brake lines on the trailing arms were also done at this time. Rear brakes were also done about 6 months before this. O2 sensor replaced at this time as well. • Spring 2017: Broke the outer valve spring on the cylinder 2 exhaust valve, so the head came off at this time. While it was out, it was treated to a new cam, new rocker arms, and new valve springs. All related gaskets and timing belt were replaced at this time. While this was going on, the exhaust was dropped, midpipe to catback hardware was replaced with stainless stuff, and the CSB, transmission mounts and guibo were replaced. Fuel filter and the hoses directly connected to it were also replaced at this time. • Finally, I’m working on the front brakes right now. They’ve never been touched and I had the pads laying in a box for 2 years so I decided to finally get it done. Pics of the mess: First thing I noticed was that it appeared someone had attempted to remove the rotor set screw with a drill. Lucky me. I’m beginning to see why no one wanted to touch the front brakes. Then, when I pulled the caliper off, the pad surface fell out separate of the backing plate. Also fun, but doesn’t really matter since they’re going in the trash anyways. Finally, I’m having trouble getting one of the caliper bracket bolts out. Tried big wrench, nothing. Hammer, nothing. Heating with a torch, nothing. So I doused it in PB Blaster and I’ll come back to it tomorrow and try again, and if that doesn’t work, I’m not sure what I’m gonna do. Maybe get a bigger torch, I don’t know. Anyways, I don’t have specific plans for it right now other than just driving it and maintaining it due to a college budget. Ideally, I’d 5-speed swap it, refresh the front suspension, throw in a z3 or e46 zhp rack, put on some stuff like an x-brace, but for now it’s pretty okay. I’m in the Madison area in the summer and Milwaukee during the school year, so if anyone ever needs an extra set of hands or want to go for a drive or something, shoot me a PM.