P_Roloff

it may be your car had a BMW alpine alarm/keyless back in the day.  they were never a factory option on e30s, but were installed by dealerships. its hard to find info on e30-specific systems, as they were rare to begin with ($$$) and also prone to failure, so people ripped them out along the way as they became unnecessary/obsolete.
as an example, this is an early 90s alpine BMW factory alarm/keyless system. it came on e36s/e34s/e32s. the e30 one is similar, but i cant find any photos of it. if there is/was an alarm box in your car, it would have been in the glovebox area. you might also find another floating plug for an additional horn siren somewhere under the hood.
 
 
 
 

I appreciate the input gentlemen, as this whole motor is a new endeavor for me.

Got a good bit of progress this weekend, put the E30 oil pan on it, with the e28 pump (internal pressure relief) 
There are straps that hold the block together, thought that was interesting. 


I changed the timing belt on it as well, the old one was quite cracked and we all know how m20's like their timing belts...
It's kind of odd because the timing belt is a multi-rib on one side, and a timing belt tooth style on the other. 
I wish I would have taken a picture under the valve cover because it is not like a normal m20!

Pulled a whole bunch of random crap off the motor, like cruise control, and all of the other 5 series niceties. 

Luckily a friend of mine was in town this weekend who has done a bit of work with older diesel VW's and he came over and lent a hand. I can confidently say that he is the reason I am posting this update. 
We put both fuel lines into a bucket of diesel and hooked a vacuum pump up to the #6 injector return and started sucking diesel through the system. After that we hooked up a sketchy array of batteries and a charger to get the thing to crank over. The starter motor is just about 3x stronger than the gas motor so it takes some grunt to get it moving! 
I cranked the starter while he cracked injector lines to bleed air out, and we could start smelling a little bit of burnt fuel, no running, just something happening. 
Decided to crack open the harness (it was on at this point) and connect the glow plugs together and give those some voltage before cranking it. 
It ran on the first crank after heating the glow plugs! 

Went for another go and had some humor to go with it!
I didn't have the drain line for the turbo, and the turbo is in need of a rebuild so I threw it on just to quiet things down a touch, well apparently the turbo feed moves a lot more oil than I would have thought. 
Brett took a second to kill it because the motor was actually running without human intervention, so he had to actually remove the 12v wire from the fuel solenoid (which was a bright yellow wire that was barely clipped to the battery for this exact reason)
You can see/hear air working out of the system in the second video, it was shaking and running poorly to start, then an injector cleared and it started running somewhat well. 



Next steps, insert motor in chassis, get proper oil flow and fill block with coolant, then get the motor to the point where I can verify the thing will run on its own without throttle assistance. 
Step by step I will get this thing rolling coal! 


Current state of compressor wheel

Current state of compressor housing

 

*ugh*

Took advantage of the long weekend and got started on the subframe/trailing arm bushing replacement. Everything came apart pretty decently, aside from the e-brake cables. Built a puller for the subframe bushings, which worked pretty well.


Had to modify it a little to pull the new bushings all the way in. Turns out the top and bottom of the subframe are slightly different diameters...

New rubber bushings pulled in easier than I thought they would.
After that I decided it would be a good idea to bend a trailing arm...

I was using a long threaded rod through to the other side of the arm to pull in the new bushing. Turns out the arm will bend far easier than I would have thought. So, instead of spending Saturday putting the car back together, I got to go to Gibsons and pull a trailing arm (luckily they have a couple TIs there). Broke a socket while I was there trying to remove the caliper bolts, so I had to carry the trailing arm with caliper, rotor and half of a half shaft a good quarter-mile back to my car. The axle nut on the junkyard trailing arm was seized pretty bad, so I decided to cut through the entire hub with a sawzall, right behind the nut. Should have taken a picture of that, as it was pretty comical, but worked well. Needless to say, between that and cranking on home-made bushing pullers, I was starting to feel my age by the end of the day Saturday...
Up until this point, I was kind of worried that I might be wasting my time, because none of the bushings that I pulled out really looked that bad. Then, when I was cleaning up Sunday, I found this guy:

One of the trailing arm bolts. Funny, I didn't notice that earlier. Dug through the old trailing arm bushings and found one had a larger ID than the others...

Looks like bolt was loose and inner sleeve of the bushing was rotating with the suspension instead of being clamped by the subframe. Thankfully the subframe doesn't seem to have any wear from it. So, I guess that explains the wonky feeling in the rear of the car...
The inner race came out of the wheel bearing while disassembling the salvage-yard trailing arm, so I'm replacing that. As long as I'm ordering stuff, I decided to get new CV boots, and a couple other little things. Looks like the outer boots will be take a couple weeks to get here, so I'll probably leave the half-shafts as-is for now and just put everything back together. Probably a godsend, #missioncreep is real.

Warning: another long winded snap post

Something that is simultaneously great and horrible is the fact that no two 24V swaps are quite the same. Some have clearance issues with something while others do not. Someone will post on a forum the radiator hoses they used and another person will say they didnt fit well.

Adding to the unique creature that a 24V E30 is: I am using am E39 sourced engine. The E39 M52.

I chose to use the E39 M52 coolant neck because it was already aluminum instead of plastic, so no need to replace it, and I hear of occasional difficulty bleeding the cooling system and this coolant neck has a bleeder screw unlike the X50/S52 and is, for whatever reason, about 4 inches longer.



The typical E36 coolant hoses are said to work for the 24V swap, but the top hose would need to be shortened because of the longer coolant neck

“Then get a stock E36 hose and a pair of scissors, idiot”

Well BMW hoses are not constant diameter and flare up at the connections so trimming them eliminates the flare and tada! it no longer fits.

I had this issue with the M20 on the rear coolant hose from the head to the bottom heater hose pipe. The heater hose pipe is just about 11/16” while the connection on the back of the head is approximately 15/16”. After receiving a new hose that didnt have the flared end that i needed, i figured i received the wrong part. I ordered that stupid part a total of 3 different times (those little guys are NOT cheap!) and even a genuine BMW hose and a new aluminum coolant neck for the back of the head JUST IN CASE for some reason I owned some rare Antarctican Domestic Market cylinder head or something. I even had one of the guys at Pelican Parts parts baffled as well. Not a single one of them had the required flared end.

Ever since this I prefer to use Gates/Napa hoses of my own choosing. They are constant diameter, can be trimmed for a perfect fit, and inexpensive.

I used a NAPA #8484 hose for both the top hose and the bottom hose. Fits great after some trimming. The original application for this hose is for an AMC the parts guy told me.

The hose from the back of the head to the heater core is NAPA #11605 (from a Camaro) which fits with no trimming. It is about 3/4” diameter. To account for the larger diameter required, I heat the one end with a heat gun and install it with some coolant/water to help slide it on.

So I have the cooling system together, radiator in, and coolant added.

Back to the power steering pump situation. i need to replace the $$$ high pressure line with one from a 328i/528i and hope the rack side fits, machine down the mounting bracket 12mm for the M50/S50/S52 pump I have, or make an M14 to M16 banjo adapter.

I started with an M16x1.5 drain plug which fits the PS pump, drilled it so I could tap an M14x1.5 which fits the original E30 banjo bolt. It would have ended up working just great but my M14x1.5 tap isnt a bottoming tap and I was able to get about half a thread cut.

I will go to the Parker store this week or else buy some round stock that will give me more meat to work with and make another one.




The shifter is now welded correctly and installed. I am NOT thrilled with the weak detents on this transmission I have. i replaced the detent springs but i believe those are for fore/aft motion, not left/right.


Here’s to avoiding money $hifts in 2018 [emoji482]

It was such an amazing day for late november, bet it was great with the top down!
What do you drive in the winter and why do the tires go in the basement?

Went for the last drive of the season, car is going on jack stands and the tires are going in the basement tomorrow. It’s a sad day.
I also rolled 192,000 miles, so that’s cool. 

Went for the last drive of the season, car is going on jack stands and the tires are going in the basement tomorrow. It’s a sad day.
I also rolled 192,000 miles, so that’s cool. 

Had spare sport seats taking up room in my storage unit so I figured I’d put one to use.

Added some bracing on the top and pedal stays on the deck to keep everything from moving
Bring on winter I guess

that song blows

This is as close as we get

Twas the night before Christmas....

Far better my friend. 
 

PSA: Attention IE3, H&R race, and other lowering spring users.

Use some racing ties through the drain holes in the lower perch to keep your spring from getting off-kilter when your car is jacked up/while jumping railroad crossings.





New drivers side control arm and delrin control arm bushing installed. I noticed a bonus starter power wire in the harness that i need to remove, and pulled the paper towels out of the intake ports. I had a dream that I forgot to remove them for my first startup/drive. Not good.



I also cant forget to do the final torque the main crank bolt before I run it.


Saturday still looks like a good day to fire it up

The struggle is real

BlownRing Motorsports is now offering comprehensive compression and leakdown testing services exclusively to WIBimmers members! 

Our standard compression test includes:

Weeks of doubt about the head gasket being bad
A compression test to prove that the motor is okay
A shoulder to cry on once the compression test is complete
One complimentary forum post explaining what has happened


Get yours done before the winter build season so you can ensure to have a holiday full of "While you're in there's!"



^picture of at least one of your cylinders

Update
Today I will be receiving my Spal fan, control arms, a non Uro brand ICV hose and a couple other small bits. A silicone intake boot is on its way and Mitch has the fuel hoses under the intake that I need to get those connections finished.
What I have left to order is an new brake master cylinder (just because), and oil distribution block for my oil pressure sender, water temp gauge (to replace my vacant boost gauge spot), new front sway bar links since AFAIK they are original. I never upgraded them when I replaced the sway bars since I wanted to do it right with the correct length/adjustable links. I also plan on overhauling the brakes since these ones are on year 7 (a couple years of not driving of course  -___-)
aaaand last but not least, re-welding the shift linkage that I rotated the wrong direction, installing the driveshaft, welding in the skid plate and  finishing the exhaust system. This involves fitting a y-pipe with an o2 bung installed, adding a 2nd resonator, and finishing the connection over the subframe to the muffler. 
Thanksgiving weekend I will attempt first startup in all its open header oxygen sensorless glory. There's no reason it shouldn't just fire right up apart from the fact that the whole thing has been tampered with.
Early January still looks good for a maiden voyage so long as there is a day with dry roads not plastered with salt dust. 

PS: Don't "like" this post. there is nothing exciting about it. 
 

Just like that, the car saw tons of snow. Good thing I swapped my winter wheels and Blizzaks on.

Well apparently I’m going back to hoarder status again. This came home today.

You guys convinced me, it looks like I have some vinyl to start cutting.
Oh. Yeah I am not opposed to something like that, but I want to try and keep the rear of the car free of anything important. That way if I hit a wall, I can keep going(hopefully) 
I also am buying earls old centerlines and selling mine. Most likely going on this car. I shittily photoshopped them on above.

Haha, I didn't say the chassis code in person... thank goodness. I don't know pre-2000 BMWs very well.

So don't get your hopes up for any rage drift footage anytime soon. Based on my to-do list I should be able to fire the car up around thanksgiving and maybe drive it in January.
I am replacing the control arms, master cylinder, and hopefully the brake calipers, pads and rotors "while I'm in there" (these ones have about 20,000 hard miles) BUT my female counterpart is watching purchases like a hawk so I really need to liquidate some of my remaining parts stash items to justify buying some last odds and ends.
wish me luck n stuff..
this also assumes that my mechanical work, wiring, or vanos/timing aren't dickered so having a massive backfire through the intake, blowing a hole through the precious plastic m50 manifold is still a possibility when I finally get around to running it.
 

Well, I guess I'll start. 
Not sure what to post, but I suppose I could give a bit of background info on myself and my car. I'm a freshman at MSOE right now, mechanical engineering, and I'm originally from Madison where I met Chris a few years ago and was introduced to the forum. 
I've got a 1989 325i vert that I've slowly been bringing back from neglect. It had the rear suspension and driveshaft components refreshed/replaced last winter, and the head rebuilt with new cam/rockers/valve springs in June due to a broken valve spring. I've done a lot of interior refreshing as well, along with new tires and some other little things. 
Oh, and it's Alpine White, which seems to be a thing around here. 
Not sure where I'm going to go with it from here, probably gonna refresh the front suspension, maybe a manual swap, and maybe spring for a x-brace, but who knows with college and all that. 

Engine is installed.
I still have a long way to go before it gets fired up or drives but I have freed up the other side of the garage so the family truckster can park inside and avoid the snow.
The feeling of accomplishment from hitting this milestone will give me some fresh motivation to take care of the numerous smaller tasks remaining
Dave, you are the man! Thanks for your help yet again.

Will do, so far so good. They're a little more stiff than stock, but the car feels much better around corners. I'm happy with them.
New wheels went on last night.

Does the compression gauge rise slowly as we get closer to Christmas, and then drop suddenly on Christmas Eve?

Got an engine! 

I just wanted to draw more attention to this, because it is both hilarious and true.