Bronzit Build

I thought I would start documenting my "build" here. I picked up an 89 325i sedan for pretty cheap, I am going to keep the auto for the time being until I can source all the parts for a manual swap. The man who sold me the car offered me a parts car e28 with a manual trans, only problem is I have no space for the the car right now. Car is decent on the inside but the outside needs work. 

Right now the auto trans slips in 4th, drove it home keeping it around 40 for an hour and it went well. There seems to be battery drain as well, not sure if I need a new battery, alternator or find the drain. Need interior trim pieces including a sunroof crank. 

Paint is busted, will clay bar soon. 

My cluster is not working, the only functioning gauge is the tach. It's an old motometer, I am looking for a replacement since I don't want to pay for a bavrest resto quite yet. Also needs exhaust, won't bother with a picture since it's pretty terrible but at least it doesn't sound too bad. Also looking for motor mount suggestions as well. 

For this weekend I plan to swap the auto trans for a newer one, I have never done anything like this before so I hope I can do well, and I hope I can find a windshield as well. If anyone have any tips to put in a new trans please let me know or link threads, I see a ton of stuff for manual swaps but I want to make sure I am not missing anything. 

If you have to replace the auto box, and have access to a transmission that fits, I would bite the bullet and do the swap. I've done a similar swap in a Mercedes of that era and it's not that much more work. I would do it side by side with the parts car if that is an option.

For used parts such as your cluster and 5 speed swap stuff I'd check r3vlimited.com and if the old e30tech site is still up. I use to sell and buy quite a bit of parts there but sadly sold off my stash when I sold my last e30. 

And if I remember right, the bmw auto trans was a decent unit for its day but suffers issue with age. Something to due with a seal/o-ring shrinking and giving it issues in park. 

In reply to bgkast (Forum Supporter) :

I think the swap is the best option as well but I just don't have the space right now, the auto trans is pretty cheap so I'm not too stressed and It'll give me an opportunity to learn. 

No big updates, manual swap should be done by fall, will probably put in trans additive to see if that helps the old auto. Biggest thing is trying to clay bar the trunk after washing. I still suck at this and I am in desperate need of a respray on the entire body but the car was cheap enough for me not to care too much at the time. Will probably upload a checklist of all fixes needed. Also not sure if something is always drawing power, my alternator is bad or I just need a new battery since it needs a jump every time to start and now starting the car is a little rough as well. Will eventually clean up the bay and locate any leaks. 

Still nothing huge, slammed with work but I bought another auto trans, oil change, and new front brakes and rotors. Still need to install control arm bushings and the trans. Also had a problem with rough idle but I have been driving it about 1-2 miles a day and it's gone so I hope that's a good sign, I have to rewire the electric fan installed by the previous owner since it has never kicked on and I can't figure it out so any advice would be great. 

I found a guy local looking for an auto swap ( I didn't ask why, says he hates traffic) in exchange for his manual, I am very tempted to try to swap them out over the weekend but I am doubting myself and swapping out a trans into another car. Should I do it anyways? 

Very long time since an update, I finally finished timing and cooling system. Also since the original fan was swapped for an another cheap unit I upgraded to a spall puller. Coolant was disgusting as well, replaced with BMW blue coolant and seems to be running at temp now. Z3M radiator was also used instead of an auto m20 one, the trans cooler lines were already looped so I figured it would be ok. 

Also picked up another Auto trans and a correct speedo and upgraded my incredibly old battery to a group 49. 

Also picked up a set of 14 inch weaves, front struts, rear trailing arms, brake calipers and Raceland front coilover conversion for $150, been looking for weaves all year and could not find anything under $300 so I hopped on these immediately. 

I also picked up a camera so here are crappy shots of my E36 M3box. 

Now to more text. Most of the progress I have made has been within the past month or two, I have been focusing on other home projects, I built a fence and instead of pre made panels opted to set them up one by one due to the fact that both sides are slowing downwards, I also painted the house, finished renovations on both restrooms, still wfh so that also has helped. 

I have ordered a new front suspension kit from FCP (8 piece kit) and will be installing that soon, also been hearing a loud thumping when driving and turns out the sway bar bracket is missing entirely so I ordered new hardware and bushings as well. Since I have the spare struts I will be considering coilovers and definitely reinforcing the rear trailing arms. I also plan to get 80a bushings all around to prepare for more spirited driving. The end goal is to have the car as a daily since I will be working from home indefinitely it will not be very much. 

The engine is struggling under load and even more when cold, I believe I didn't tension the alternator belt correctly and will be working on that this week. I also suspect the fuel filter and will be changing it since it's cheap but I doubt it will fix it. The car is also running incredibly rich. I will be updating this more frequently as I have more time now. All things considered, I believe I got a good deal and I am trying to do things as cost effective as possible. I just hit $3042 in all money spent on the car including the car itself. Fiance also gifted me a Continental unit and I will be uploading photos as soon as that is wired in.

If any e30 guys can chime in on the engine wanting to die under load that would be great, I cannot find any vacuum leaks as well so I am suspecting fuel system is to blame. I want to ensure this thing can run as well as possible for as long as possible. 

Plugged catalytic convertor? Maybe crack open the exhaust before the cat and see if it runs better.

In reply to NOT A TA :

I will give it a shot tomorrow, didn't think of that at all. 

Is the air filter clean? When I got my E12 it wouldn't rev over about 2k rpm. It had a black open cone filter on it. That black filter turned red when I washed and oiled it. And the engine revved again. Srsly, always check the easy stuff.

Started cleaning the wheels, it started raining to I just got to one. Blasted it with purple power and some scotch brite pads since the paint was already toast. 

Also before these I picked up some old luxors for a quick flip since they sell very well in my area and threw them on the e30 for giggles. They fit terrible but at least I sold them the next day and made a quick buck. 

I also found the source of the thumping noise from under my car. So I will be fixing this asap as soon as I find the bolts. 

I also have been tossing around the idea of buying jdm wheels and found these Work Rezax a few hours from me. 

Didn't make a lot of progress and I will try to fix the hesitation under load this weekend after I finish repainting the kitchen. 

Once again, did not make a ton of progress due to house projects but did get wheels off at my dad's shop to get them ready for a proper cleaning and paint, still undecided on whether to polish the lips or not. I also have a spare bottlecap now which I have no use for. 

Battery in place.

Mess of wires under the dash. 

Rusty bits. 

Old fan, vs new setup. 

Bad interior shot with a bad dashmat

I also got a quick video of the issues, could not swap the fuel filter tonight due to having forgot my tools, did go over the areas under the hood near the icv and I couldn't find a leak but I will order a new boot anyways. Link is included below if anyone is interested, very E36 M3ty iphone video but it works. I feel like this is still fuel or the cps now, I did do timing recently but the issue occured before the job but now it is just worse. 

E30 Issues

Also not entirely sure the ICV is original but I will check again. 

Small update, had to quarantine due to being exposed to someone with COVID so that was fun but I have tested negative. Regardless, I was able to change the blue plug finally, installed a new oxygen sensor and found a small vacuum leak which fixed the surging idle. 
Now, my car is idling at 1500 at park and neutral and 1000 while in drive, both are higher than it should which might mean another vacuum leak so I will find a way to do a smoke test. 

While the surging idle at cold start is fixed, the car has an insane amount of hesitation on when I apply a small amount of throttle but goes away as soon as I give it more, it still wants to die out when coming from a full stop. I feel like it is the throttle position sensor, I checked it under the throttle body and it is soaked in oil so I will take that apart tomorrow and clean it, if not I will order one. I hope I can get this car running well so I can at least try a couple of autocross events. Short term I want to keep this car as a beater for short drives to the office and long term I would like to swap the engine once this one blows up. 

Somewhat productive weekend not a lot of photos, I started taking apart the airbox only to find there was no filter. It could have been worse but I went ahead and put a new one in, I also took the opportunity to take apart the throttle body, clean the tps and install a new breather hose. I also took out the old radio unit and put in a continental unit. 

Bluetooth works great, calls are great as well, I could not figure out how to get actual fm radio but I am totally cool with that. Overall, this thing is a huge upgrade and makes rides bearable. I believe I fixed the idle issue, so I took it for a drive. 

Car did great, temp gauge rises over half when not moving but it seems good for now, no real overheating but I will install a digital gauge to get a better idea of what I'm dealing with. 

I also bought some Dodge Omni wheels out of impulse, I plan on cleaning them up and selling, maybe even polishing them but I heard VW people like them so I will give the local groups a shot. I plan on throwing them on the e30 before I get rid of them, 15x6 and I think +30. I'm still stalling on painting the basketweaves but I have some plastic caps ready until I can find the real BBS caps. 

I plan on installing the front suspension kit this upcoming weekend, sorting out any lingering idle and temp issues and hopefully pulling the carpet so I can start to dye it black. I want to do the parcel shelf black as well and order new speakers for the car too. I want to make this cozy enough for drives around town but I also want to be able to do autocross 4-5 times a year, a friend is interested in codriving so I want to get everything ready asap. 

Got bored and painted one of the basketweaves I have, going to paint the rest before the weekend. 

Gave them 2 coats of self etching primer, 4 (5?) coats of base, then 2 of clear. They came out ok with a few smudges but I am happy with them, when I get all 4 on I will snap some pics, going to try to clean up the paint as well with a polisher I have 

Love a good E30 project....following...

I never see E30s for sale here in SA or up in Austin, and when they do pop up, they're coupes or convertibles.

Sedans and wagons are by far my favorite, and all that I would ever want, besides picking up another E34.

In reply to Azryael :

When I lived in SA I never found any for sale either, I want to make the car reliable enough to make it from DFW to SA and snap pics at The Pearl and drive back home! 

I've got to admit, in the 12 years I've lived here, I've never gone there once. I guess I should plan a day to take the significant other; I'm sure she'd enjoy it.

No major updates, tested positive for Covid and it put me on my ass for a day and I am still fatigued, the headaches were no joke. I took this opportunity to plan out the interior, and figure out how to fix the heater core leak. 

New windshield is desperately needed to register this car, I got a quote from safelite for around 140 and I might do that since I can't find glass anywhere. 

Rear parcel shelf is super faded and I will probably dye it black, another idea is wrap it in M Rain Fabric. 

This section will definitely be wrapped in fabric, with the visors in leather, I figured it'd be good practice, fabric should be on order from ASC Fabrics soon. 

still need a kick panel 

Wheels are on 

That's what I want to do so far, the car still has an idle issue but now it's only when cold, if the car warms up to operating temp it runs perfectly fine. I will have to sort that out soon but the usual suspects are on the table, vacuum leak, tps, and I have to change the fuel filter. 

pic of my daily because I am beyond bored with no tools in quarantine 

Was slammed by the cold and snow in Texas and lost power and water for a couple days. After all that I was finally able to reinstall the parcel shelf. 
Overall, it's ugly but way less ugly than the three different browns it was previously. I also installed Rockford Fosgate speakers in the back to replace the old kickers. Main reasoning behind this is that I think the circular covers look better than the square Kicker units I had. 

Happy with the results overall no big progress but I'm happy. 

I was able to sell these Omni GLH Pepperpots, overall poor condition but an easy flip.

I also hate how my exhaust sounds, it feels quiet but I will remedy that soon. The goal is supersprint but will probably settle for a Magnaflow 14815. 

https://youtu.be/uVTbX70hoaQ

On another note, dogs were happy seeing snow for the first time, we got an absurd amount and I'm glad it's over. 

Finally started working on the car again but snapped some photos because boredom strikes again 

Started removing the trim paint on the chrome, I was going to give it a fresh coat but I am conflicted since the chrome doesn't look terrible. 

Fiance ordered some BBS wheel centers for me and I think they look great, all in after selling the trailing arms, I am in about 60 bucks on all 4 wheels. 

I wanted to paint the trunk lid knowing very well I am terrible at paint but it arrived. I am getting another trunk lid locally so I wasn't going to spend time repairing the hail damage on it but it looks better than I thought it would but still very bad. 

I also started working on the front suspension but the ball joint in the subframe gave me so many issues so I only was able to do one side this weekend. I had to remove the motor mounts but I installed new motor mounts, control arm, FCAB and sway bar links. 

Also replaced the windshield 

Cosmetic stuff: 

Removed this

Installed this

I drove the car for a bit and it is overheating to right before the 3/4 mark, I will post a pic below but I think I have to bleed the system again. Also I still have that lingering cold start issue, starts right up every single time but when it is under 1/4 on the temp gauge it will want to cut out as soon as I let off the gas, it's a huge amount of hesitation and I cannot find any vacuum leaks so I am at a loss. I want to finish this car within the next month or two suspension wise so I can start autocrossing, I will have to run stock sway bars, only upgrade will be the poly control arms bushings after the new control arms and tie rods. I also finally installed the new blue plug and O2 sensor, I still need a new muffler and I have a small exhaust leak. This car has been on the backburner since I got it but I am very happy to finally start making progress. 

Another small update but I'm incredibly happy, temp gauge was being very twitchy and bouncing between the halfway point and the 3/4 mark, I assumed it was the cluster so I took it apart, cleaned anything that touched the board and put it back together. The issue consisted but only after the car was in motion. While I was doing the driver's side of the suspension refresh I noticed a chunk of the engine ground came off so I read something on RTS auto that temp gauge twitching was a sign of a bad ground so I replaced it and it fixed the issue. 

Both control arms are in, sway bar is finally secured to the car (no more thumping because one side bracket didn't exist), I also installed a new cupholder. 

Also snapped some photos on its first real drive in my ownership 

Took the car out for a couple hours tonight, did not overheat, the spal fan and Z3M radiator are performing incredibly well, conti radio and Rockford speakers make the drive a lot more bearable as well. Next steps are to start prepping for autocross and the rear suspension. Once I "shake" it down, I'll look into a new shock and spring combo. Things are looking great. 

I love it when a plan comes together.

Good progress!