nath

In an accidental/ brain fart moment today, I connected the jumper leads to e30 backwards and fried the ABS relay. Repaired the relay, jump started and drove back to the city to put her back in storage with the red car.

Hi guys I’m slowly chipping away at the m325i. Lately I have removed all aftermarket stereo components and reinstated the factory wiring, sans amp only to find that the original head unit is shonky. Something for another day. Everywhere I uncover I’m delighted with the absolute absence of rust! One thing that bugs me is that the speedo reads 10 km/h too slow, at all speeds. Any clues on this?? nath

I told my son he had nothing to be scared of at Kawau a year or so ago so he uneasily kept eating his lunch with those birds around… then a big one grabbed the food from his mouth and left the boy with a bleeding lip!

I’m putting the original Premium(Alpine) stereo back in my 1987 E30 but am missing the amplifier. Does anyone have one available, or an alternative that will work? thanks. Located Auckland.

Extra spice for that one

Just to bore the shite out of you with updates: -Checked timing marks, timing belt is spot on. -Re-checked distributor incl all resistances and all good. -Both crank sensors test ok for resistance. Removed both and cleaned them up and checked for existence of reference ‘pin’ (small steel cleat). Apparently it should be 58 degrees btdc, I didn’t have the foresight to check this but it was aroundabout there. Could the flywheel have been fitted one hole off? Removed and had a basic look at and test of the injectors, they seemed ok. 4 are blue and two are more a grey-blue, does this mean anything? Visually the same and I think k the numbers were same. some photos to make it more interesting:

Funny little things, but yep considering I was shopping for a chrome classic, the weeny wheels suit better than 80’s race. Here’s what was on the way before dad passed(and hey maybe still will be?)

Thanks- I’m keen to get rid of any light weight flywheel anyway so am keen to source an original one, and certainly also check the timing…

Latest update: Tried another ECU, no change, at least I have a spare now. Compression tested all cyls- all within 5% , about 170 psi. So I'm left with I'd say a smoke test to be done, a re- check of the dizzy, and the biggest question, is the flywheel indeed non-original and is the reference peg in the wrong place... Anyone got a PFL 325i flywheel available? Nath

Fuel pressure regular checked swapped no fault, AFM tuned no change really. Vacuum leaks meticulously checked(not smoke tested but well checked and sealed). All new leads resistance checked, and crank reference and speed tested ok. TPS good. I think it has a lightened flywheel and hefty clutch, with a yuck rattle/chatter off throttle/coasting. Perhaps the lack of inertia could contribute to lumpy idle? Or maybe the timing belt is a tooth off?

Disassembled the front seats in the E30 as there were a few niggles, sorted all excluding the stuffed backrest shocks, which will be replaced one day. The drivers side backrest bolster had broken and missing plastic piping and a split wide open seam for a few inches. I sewed a new run of piping using the original nylon core around some spotlight vinyl, then sewed that into the two parts of leather using the existing holes so as to not make a ‘tear here’ line(leather needles have a blade which cuts as opposed to separates the fibres). Happy with result.

Mm yes- in the service history (done about 25,000km in last 20 years) the afm was tuned with an analyser but I feel like the car still smells like a fume machine. Will keep looking for vacuum leaks, but feel that they tend to give an unstable/surging idle more than this very distinct short sharp lumpiness? May as well get or borrow a different coil to rule that out- doesn’t seem to be available locally new?

Thanks SJ, I think you may have had his car in before? I’m keen to get her as nice as the B3, so one step at a time. Gotta sort out some original wheels first…

I recently had fully lined up a good E30 Alpina in the UK to import, and a donor car here for parts or shell. Then my father passed away unexpectedly and with that upheaval the big project wasn't a good idea, so I grabbed a local 1987 M325, with a few things that need ironing out. Stumbling idle. The car idles at a steady speed wherever set, but has a distinct stumble/misfire. No issues apparent at speed but it may be masked at those revs. Idles as if it has a lumpy cam. Valve clearances have been done Spark plugs replaced dizzy cap checked/cleaned- was new 10,000km ago injectors were apparently serviced and found to be clogged or grubby, fuel filter has been changed, presumable after that. All injectors are actuating. Vacuum leaks checked to a simple level, intake boot appears new as do various other parts. AFM has no flat spots and tests with steadily increasing resistance. Spark is apparent at all plugs Car has the two crank sensors on the bellhousing, an unexpected hall sensor on the harmonic balancer with cable up to the OBD plug(smooth rimmed balancer, where is the sensor picking a signal from?) and a sensor on one spark plug lead plugged to nowhere, I presume for facelift cars with newer motronic. That is really my core interest. The metallic rattle from under the car could be an undisclosed lightened flywheel, a crappy input shaft bearing, throwout bearing or clutch springs, or simply the effect of a misfiring idle on those components. Am happy to have them all replaced. Could the ECU (Motronic 1.0) cause this, even though the car basically runs well and there is no major misfire? Could the coil cause it? I'd not imagine it could being as it generally gets spark to where it needs to go. Thanks Nathan

Fitted my new spoiler… Paid a pretty penny for it from Alpina to replace my (probably fitted at dealer when new) M3 item, only to find that the sedan spoiler is the same as coupe and I could have used the one I found on a Jap import 318iS coupe a couple of years back! Ah well. Will probably replace the boot with a non-spoiler one and have it repainted, as the holes are very different to the M3 ones.