charles28

Does anyone know if the engine in the below link would fit in my car? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-239961517.htm Its a 1989 525i, claims to have M20B25 engine, (they said v6 though lol). According to carjam it had only done 99,000ks at last WOF, so i'm thinking it could be a good engine for my sick E30 325i, as standard this has a better head then my 2.7 setup anyway. Would this engine fit in a E30 325i though? or would it need some changes. cheers

Hi guys, As my engine is about to have a rebuild, I was wondering if the compression might be too high? My headgasket blew between 2 Cylinders, I think this could have been from Detonation. There is 2 possible ETA blocks that my car could have, one being 11-1 and the other 10-1, standard compression on a 325i was only 8.8-1 for facelift model. On ebay I have seen cometic headgaskets listed, these are triple layer stainless steal headgaskets available in differn't thicknesses, anyone thing something like this is necessary for my car? The Current 731 head was fitted to the engine in 2006 (by a previous owner) in my mind 3 years isn't very long for a headgasket to last considering the car had only done 5000 Miles in this 3 years. My guess is that its had detonation issues, once I check the number on the block I can confirm which compression ratio I have. Another question, should I get an ECU chip designed for the 2.7 Conversion? there are a few available over seas, also locally Autopassion can re-map the ecu, but at a cost of over $1300, however this option allows for the most power output, as its custom for the car. I assuming dyno tuning is part of it.

That sounds like excessive fuel usage, however is the air filter clean? is the car warming up to normal operating temp? (Middle position on Temp Gauge) Thermostats that are faulty stop this happening which will increase fuel usage due to the car never really warming up to normal temp. I used to have an E36 320i auto, I did find it a bit heavy on fuel, but more like 12-13L/100k, what your suggesting is 20L/100k

Cars been diagnosed, has blown head gasket between 2 Cylinders. Am getting the engine rebuilt though, ie new rings, bearings, etc, the engine is coming out of the car next week, am paying a mechanic to do the work as If I did it the car would be off the road for months, but this way I should be in it driving again in 1-2 weeks and a decent job should be done, where as I might mess it up. Will most likely get a Racing cam of some kind, 272/272 kinda thing, just need to find one

yeah tru, just thought I might get more than 3 days out of it though, might look at getting a more aggressive cam for it, will probably just rebuild it to standard specs though, + the cam and maybe some tuning so that its setup the best it can be.

Mines shown no signs of overheating, infact it runs too cool if anything, temp only sits at 1/4

My 325i I just got (as per my topic in showroom) died today. I went to an exhaust shop today to get a quote on a less rude looking muffler, drove home, car was fine 2 hours later I go into the garage and notice a big puddle of coolant is under the car and running everywhere.. i notice that its leaking from the coolant hose (Thermostat Housing to Waterpump outlet). I take the hose off, it looks ok, but it did seem loose, I put it back together, re-filled the coolant, let it run for a while and bled the air out. Took it for a drive, came back, noticed that it was still leaking a little bit and for some reason coolant was going out the overflow of the coolant reservoir down the passenger side of the car. I topped the coolant up again, drove to the mechanics, asked him to have a look, when I got there there was no more water leaking (typical) he commented that the car ran nicely and sounded quiet etc in the engine. I then leave the mechanics, start driving home, 5 mins later car stars running bad like its down on 2 Cylinders. I turn around and go back to the mechanics, he can't believe it, takes all the plugs out, 2 were oiled up really bad, cleaned them, re-installed, still only running on 4cylinders. took out one that had oiled up, got the compression tester.. only had 50psi in both oiled up cylinders. doh. the others were 190psi approx, so no wonder its not running well, my guess is that it needs a reconditioned head and new rings and bearings, however comments most welcome

Nice car you got there, mmm maybe I might look at some sideskirts, + painting black bit under back bumper.

Hey man, are these now sold? if not i'm keen

I'm with you on that one man, I am going to the exhaust shop tomorrow to get that damn fart canon removed, in place i'll get a Dual Outlet exhaust, Euro style!. I'll put an updated Pic on as soon as its done!. As for the car being all white, I like that about it, its one of those things that everyones not going to agree on. This is my 1st Manual trans BMW and my 1st BMW with more than a 2 Litre engine. All I can say now is that I wish i'd had one before, I didn't know what I was missing i guess.

yes i'll be sure to come along to a BMW meet sometime soon in Christchurch.

heres a video of it starting from cold and idling, has a pretty mean sounding idle i reckon

Just made a dodgy 0-100km approx video, it was on a mates driveway that goes into his farm, so private, but only long enough for that much. The car was warmed up of course, just that the Temp gauge only seems to go up to that point and stay there.

Didn't seem all that Loud (no worse than my 320i that had a head rebuild in 2006), although with the noisy exhaust its hard to tell in some ways. I think i'd look at changing the head to a 885, eventually I'll rebuild it, but haven't decided what I want to achieve. Ie NA or Turbo. I'm going to take it to the Ruapuna Drags this Sunday all going well and put it down the 1/4 Mile, mainly to see what it does compared to a stock 325i.

And heres some pics of my 320i that i've had for a few months now, its pretty standard and an automatic.

Here's the new beast, just took these pictures, as you can see it has a stupid looking dumpy muffler, but other than that it seems to be a good tidy car, am happy with my purchase, but next week I will arrange for the Muffler to be changed for a normal Euro Style Twin pipe one. The interiors good on this car, but is missing the Tray that goes under the steering wheel, also there's no head unit, however I have a good sound set-up in my other E30 which is my daily driver. I had a good drive back in the car, only fault I found was bad wheel balance/alignment, will get that sorted out asap also. other than that, it goes hard, a lot of torque with the 2.7 ETA block + 731 Head Combo. the power flattens off just before 6000rpm though due to the longer stroke I assume and perhaps the 731 head, however up to 5800 it pulls very well.. I paid $3000 for this car, as the owner told me that it would blow smoke under hard acceleration, only had 190-195psi compression and could do with new rings, however I couldn't get it to blow any smoke myself and I gave it a good hammering, upon checking the oil this morning the levels still on full after the drive yesterday, so I think I can leave having to do any engine repairs for a while yet.

Yeah, that would be nice, it looks like I can get rings and bearings for a good price from Autohaus for $89 USD + shipping for the Rings, Main Bearings $92.99 + GST, connecting rod bearings $48.93 USD. I finally pick the car up in 2 days.. hopefully its a fun driving back, weather could be bad though

How long ago was it reconditioned? is it a factory LSD diff ? On saturday I collect my 325i with 2.7 engine, however its got no LSD, i think this would make a nice addition to the car.

I was seriously considering buying one of these cars recently. but got e30 325i instead.. Main reason was parts, theres loads of E30 parts for sale on trademe, but try finding parts for that car.

I really only want the block, the gearbox etc I could re-sell or perhaps the seller will sell me the block only. I can put my head etc on it, according to the guy i'm buying this car off it smokes if thrashed, but there's always a chance that this block won't solve this problem as it may be as worn as mine. I guess I should just keep an eye out for a block only thats cheap and rebuild it whilst keeping the car on the road

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.as...amp;permanent=0 so who thinks I should buy this?

This is it.. seems to have colour coded bumpers and door handles? but probably painted by an owner for all I know.. as for tech 2 kit, no idea if it ever had that, i'm thinking probably not though

yeah, that info was a copy and paste from a previous ad when the car was on trademe at another time. but yes.. the white one on trademe. I have a post about it in the Performance Section

Afraid not, the car is going to go through a process of "De Butchering" It needs a Euro Style Twin Pipe Muffler. Factory style infact.. thats how I like it.

Its a matter of keeping an eye out for bargins I guess. I'm paying 3k for a 1989 325i Manual, however its been butchered a bit with the following: Its not a perfect car at all, am picking it up this weekend, however its in need of an engine rebuild pretty much. but I thought it was worth it due to being a factory manual 325i. its gonna be a PROJECT car anyway.. I already have a cruiser (e30 320i auto) that I can rely on pretty much. 2.7 conversion, ETA bottom end, 731 Head,323 Cam, 325 inlet manifold ported to match, running later engine management ,new cam belt, water pump, tensioner, spark plugs, - 5 speed conversion - Recaro seats just been retrimmed in BMW fabric - Retrimmed headlining in black fabric - 15" Cross spoke alloys - lowered - new clutch, lightened flywheel - K & N filter - extractors - Nolathane engine mounts - Alpina badges - M gear knob - chrome dumpy exhaust