Winter white e30 project: Zender 323i

[tire 10]

Well I bought my 3rd E30 yesterday - a 03/1983 323i coupe in Alpine Weiss. My first 6! Good sounding one at that

Me and my cuzzy and his son missioned up north in his landcruiser (gotta love rellies with tow cars) with a trailer to get it from a 2nd year mechanic apprentice who works at Perths bmw dealership. 3 1/2 hour round trip with a dodgy wheel bearing on the trailer which was getting really hot but it made it.

It has a full genuine zender bodykit which I think is sick, check control lights thing, sports zorst, adjustable strut tops, lowering springs and some stiffer shocks (not sure which). The engine has headers (3-2-1), a pod filter (bro), and apparently a hotter cam. The catch? Automatic gearbox, a dodgy one at that. Keeps burning clutch packs or sum sh*t. The dude who owned it last fixed it once only to have it go bad a few days later so he gave up on it and started parting it out. That's why its got no headlights, indicators (I bought them off him a few weeks back lol), rear seat, or door cards. It had some wicked leather recaro replicas but he sold them off before I got in. It also has a BIG oil leak from a cracked sump that will have to be addressed. This is why I got it cheap.

The short term plan is to convert to manual, get some headlights, another wheel (one of those funky 14s is cracked), repair a puncture, and put the muffler back on to get it road legal (it still has rego till end of June).

Other lower priority things I want to do are:

- BIG clean! It's been sitting out in the dusty Perth countryside for a bit and there is red dust everywhere.

- Repaint bodykit

- Repaint headlight grill surround

- Fix a bit of rust in the left rear quarter under the window, the battery tray and the bung above it in the firewall.

- Better seats, and get a rear seat

- Put central locking in (it had it once)

- Regas aircon, although I think it might be the old refrigerant so that could be tricky.

- Rebadge the debadged bootlid and add m-tech 1 spoiler.

- Put the immobiliser / alarm in that I found in the boot. I'll probably have to get that done professionally.

- Sounds - 4 chan amp, sub, good fronts, head unit. I have some Alpine type R 5.25's already which will do the rear.

- 16' wheels. I think alpinas would be purrrfect.

- M-tech 1 steering wheel

- Replace the tinny cluster with a genuine one, red needles to match the red details on the bodywork.

- New front badge

- New hoodlining

- Line the boot with something and add a factory toolkit to the bootlid.

- New control arm bushes, probably others too

- Stroke to 2.7, freshen up the engine and run megasquirt in the distant future - Its running good at the moment, with the last owner having recently replaced the cambelt, waterpump, dizzy cap & rotor, magneto / coil whatever its called, fuel pump relay, new battery, plug leads, and various hoses.

Anyway, pics!

Edited May 24, 2009 by tastic

[Forrest 35]

Looks like you will be keeping outa trouble for the next couple of months Max, looks like it has plenty of potential, look forward to seeing progress in the future. So you going to still keep the 318i?

[Jamez 2147483647]

looks awesome!!!! it sucks how its a auto tho

[e30plz 1]

Sweet project, Mint bodykit & Mint colour. Gonna ditch the tails though?

[tire 10]

Yea Nate I'm keeping the 318i to hack around in until this is driveable, then I'll sell it.

Thanks James

Cheers poony, I'm undecided on the tails what do you think? They are kind of... ratty, aye.

[Forrest 35]

I vote bin the tails and get factory ones back on it.

[jordyboy2 0]

^+1

Alpine Weiss FTW

[e30plz 1]

Cheers poony, I'm undecided on the tails what do you think? They are kind of... ratty, aye.

Haha, Poony

Yeah I think their a bit ratty/ricey, Factory would look a lot nicer. Or all red/Lightly tinted.

BTW M20s sound way better than M40s right?

Alpine Weiss FTMFW.

Edited May 24, 2009 by Poontangsquibble

[|ncary 0]

Ignore my comments on facebook trying to guess what it is haha, have seen this thread now.

Kick ass car, the B23's love to rev (well, to 6250 anyway) and are not that much slower than a B25, should have some excellent fun with that.. Have fun with the project mans

[Mark 178]

Wow, that's a very early E30... cool project, I look forward to seeing how it turns out. Kit looks to have a Tech I front spoiler instead of the Zender item though.

[tire 10]

Haha, Poony

Yeah I think their a bit ratty/ricey, Factory would look a lot nicer. Or all red/Lightly tinted.

BTW M20s sound way better than M40s right?

Alpine Weiss FTMFW.

I'm inclined toa gree with you on the lights. OMG the sound is a cut above. m40s are horrid, even my m10 sounded better on the accel.

Ignore my comments on facebook trying to guess what it is haha, have seen this thread now.

Kick ass car, the B23's love to rev (well, to 6250 anyway) and are not that much slower than a B25, should have some excellent fun with that.. Have fun with the project mans

Cheers I shall. I just checked fb before this lol.

Wow, that's a very early E30... cool project, I look forward to seeing how it turns out. Kit looks to have a Tech I front spoiler instead of the Zender item though.

Yes very early and I think it would have been pretty bloody expensive - auto, power steering, leather, check lights, biggest engine available, and air con. Yea I think it could be m-tech too although most I see have the 4 lines in the middle popped out whereas mine has only the lower ones popped out which makes it appear different. M-tech1 cars never came to Australia so the body kits are rare as. I'm not complaining either way

[pjay 8]

Thats pretty McDecent.

Cant beat that colour in my opinion

[tibbs.james 1]

Good project to start from Tastic

Looks like once you get the manual conversion & sump done its only interior/bodywork tidy up to get it actually running again.

I wish i had car with that Kit.

[QuickSilver 0]

Lookin good Max.

[tire 10]

^^^ta, ^^ta, and ^ta.

I forgot to add that the bonnet release cable is broken, and the heater core is blocked off as it is leaking, itl need to be replaced - mission

Edited May 26, 2009 by tastic

[tire 10]

Still got FA tools so I've just been pottering around painting. Done the B pillar exterior plastic, intake vents below windscreen, grills, and recond the muffler which was all rusty but now looks likke new with shiny as tips!

Want peoples opinions - should I blacken my chrome window surrounds? Does it suit white e30s or na? Got heaps more satin black paint so I'm lookinng for things to do.

[Forrest 35]

Black em

[tire 10]

(convince me with pictures)

[jordyboy2 0]

Yup Black

[M3 Cab 0]

Black ftw. Oh and congrats on multiple E30 ownership that's just badass

[tire 10]

Wee update:

- Replaced rear view mirror

- swapped digital clock for an analog one.

- installed all that plasticy material boot lining

- Chucked some rear seats in, but the bottom half is from a fl so it dusnt bolt in

- Bonnet ground strap installed

- Test fitted smiley headlights - works good. Now i need to find a passenger side set.

- bootlid toolbox installed.

All of the above has come from my smashed 318i.

On the manual conversion front, I've got the clutch pedal, brake pedal, clutch master cylinder, clutch fluid res, lower + upper shift boots, and clutch fluid line (s) all from my 318i. I've got a gearbox and other bits coming on the 20th (apparently). Todays job is to fit the pedals, master cylinder, and clutch fluid reservoir. It should be easy as I know where it all goes since I pulled the stuff out of the other e30 .

Theres one thing I'm not sure about - the radiator expansion tank is mounted on the drivers side strut tower where the clutch fluid res is meant to go, I imagine this is the same for all pfl m20 e30s, so where is the alternative location for said reservoir? I'm about to do some research so I'll probably answer my own question but yea.

Max.

edit, scrap that last question I just worked it out. lol@me.

Edited July 4, 2009 by tastic

[tire 10]

Auto box out, flywheel, clutch and pressure plate on. Struggling with getting the box itself on, it just doesnt want to go in, and I keep nearly dropping it on my face. Its really hard work under the car on axle stands

May have to invest in a clutch alignment tool and some grease... any other tips?

[QuickSilver 0]

Get the tool (handy to have), get the grease, their supposed to be a dry clutch but they need a bit of lube on the release bearing, a couple times I havent put enough on and I get squeaking noises as it slides along the shaft, but dont put too much on! The gearbox slides in on an angle, just put it on your jack (assuming you have a floor jack) line it up and slide it towards the motor, once its lined up (correctly) it will slide in fairly easily.

Edited July 25, 2009 by QuickSilver

[tire 10]

Get the tool (handy to have), get the grease, their supposed to be a dry clutch but they need a bit of lube on the release bearing, a couple times I havent put enough on and I get squeaking noises as it slides along the shaft, but dont put too much on! The gearbox slides in on an angle, just put it on your jack (assuming you have a floor jack) line it up and slide it towards the motor, once its lined up (correctly) it will slide in fairly easily.

Got the tool, got the grease, jacked the engine up from the front to get some good angle, and with a couple of helping hands it went in easy. The hardest part of this project is now over Thanks for the help man.

Now I need to bolt the driveshaft up, put the nuts on the starter motor bolts, connect the shifter, connect the slave cyl, spring the pedals, bolt up the crossmember, chuck in the fluids and itl be driveable. BUT I've got court tomorrow where I will be loosing my license for 3-6 months - fail.

Found the sump crack - its really little. I had a go at it with ultra blue but it failed. Shouldn't cost much to get welded (right?).

Sorry for the huge lack of photos, I dont have a camera :!

[QuickSilver 0]

Sounds like its coming along Max, sump shouldn't cost much to get welded if you just take it in and if its a relatively straight forward crack (doesent snake off in all directions etc etc)

Dont forget to bleed that bitch of a clutch!