The Budget BMW

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CincinnatiFiero
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The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

Picked this up, not sure why, well I know why, but with something like 17 cars in my garage, its filling a gap that didn't exist.

1991 E32 735iA with the M30B35

The first option is the only one I find interesting. Though passenger lumbar is not all that common.

S209A Sperrdifferenzial Differential lock 25%
S216A Servolenkung-Servotronic HYDRO STEERING-SERVOTRONIC
S240A Lenkrad Leder Airbag Leather steering wheel
S436A Edelholzausführung Fine wood trim
S488A Lordosenstütze Fahrer u. Beifahrer Lumbar support, driver and passenger
S537A Standlüftung Independent ventilation control
S640A Vorbereitung Telefoneinbau universal Preparation f tel.installation universal
S694A Vorbereitung BMW 6 CD Wechsler Provisions for BMW 6 CD changer
S818A Batteriehauptschalter Battery master switch
S925A Versandschutzpaket Transport protection package

Image
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Bought it at donated car charity auction for....... $225.00

Plus buyers premium, documentation fee, title fee, and sales tax... $288.69 out the door.

Now, they refused to start it, pulled the dipstick and... wow, worst I have ever seen. Looks like a milkshake in the crankcase. Drove back to the warehouse, grabbed the trailer, and went back for the 7. Hooked up my jump box car fired right up, and drove up onto the trailer, no knocks, no ticks, no nothing. I wanted to make sure the bottom end wasn't totally screwed before I did a headgasket.

This is all the faster it poured out, its incredibly thick and eerily white. I let it drain for hours, got around 10 quarts of fluid out of the motor.

Image
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Head was not too bad to pop off,
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Head is at the machine shop to be cleaned, pressure tested, and milled if need be. That the most expensive bit thus far at $110. But with as blown as that gasket was, I am a little concerned that maybe the head is cracked.


Headgasket set was around $87 from FCPEuro, didn't buy it, then it randomly dropped to $78.11 shipped. So I snapped it up, next day it went up to $98.99. Who knows what that is about.

So currently I am at:
$288.69
$78.11
$110

=$476.80


Needs a radio, fluids, interior work, and potentially brakes. Goal is to be done by $800. Could make a decent winter car if the LSD will still lock up.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

Nice find. How many miles are on it?

M30's run forever, but tend to need head gaskets about 200k. I did that on my E34.
#6 the leaking bore? :wink:

The LSD is a ZF unit... and while they do wear out, they're not hard to rebuild. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=207170
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

182,500.

Being a short wheelbase E32, an E34 M30 5speed setup would bolt right in...
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Emc209i
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by Emc209i »

Are you going to try and flip it?
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

CincinnatiFiero wrote:182,500.

Being a short wheelbase E32, an E34 M30 5speed setup would bolt right in...
I happen to have an E34 M30 5 speed kit...
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

Emc209i wrote:Are you going to try and flip it?
This is a useless rant, but, I hate the term 'flipping cars' its so impersonal, 'flippin' cars' is usually followed by words like 'my baby cousin's sister in law's paw', 'ford contour', 'bondo', and 'I don't take no shit.'

I view myself as an enthusiast/collector who sells to be able to experience as many interesting cars as possible. Buying and selling has gotten me things like the 280SL and the 190SL at my age. However I do not see cars as my business (despite making a substantial amount of money selling cars) and I only ever buy cars that I like. There have been exceptions, but you guys don't see me posting about this dope-ass Buick Century I got and am going to make a killing on. I do this for the cars, the money is just an exciting byproduct, that ultimately gives me the opportunity to snap up silly shit like this without thinking twice.

But yes, ultimately, a black "big body bimma" I think some wanna-be gang banger will unload $2,500 during tax season for it.


I thought your 535i was still kicking around... I need to fix the car as is and drive it and see how much I like it. If I really enjoy driving it, a large German luxury sedan, with a manual gearbox would be super cool. If I am meh on the car, its not worth the work, or wasting a good manual box on a car I'm going to sell to someone else.
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Emc209i
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by Emc209i »

Sorry to offend you. Good look with your personal enriching, collection maximizing, profit byproduct generating, gang banging mobile. I hope it brings you much fulfillment.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

You didn't offend me, I figured you'd actually appreciate that perspective.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

CincinnatiFiero wrote:
Emc209i wrote:Are you going to try and flip it?
This is a useless rant, but, I hate the term 'flipping cars' its so impersonal, 'flippin' cars' is usually followed by words like 'my baby cousin's sister in law's paw', 'ford contour', 'bondo', and 'I don't take no shit.'

I view myself as an enthusiast/collector who sells to be able to experience as many interesting cars as possible. Buying and selling has gotten me things like the 280SL and the 190SL at my age. However I do not see cars as my business (despite making a substantial amount of money selling cars) and I only ever buy cars that I like. There have been exceptions, but you guys don't see me posting about this dope-ass Buick Century I got and am going to make a killing on. I do this for the cars, the money is just an exciting byproduct, that ultimately gives me the opportunity to snap up silly shit like this without thinking twice.

But yes, ultimately, a black "big body bimma" I think some wanna-be gang banger will unload $2,500 during tax season for it.
Lol.

I flipped a car once... looks better now than one of Rcheee's chop tops.
CincinnatiFiero wrote: I thought your 535i was still kicking around... I need to fix the car as is and drive it and see how much I like it. If I really enjoy driving it, a large German luxury sedan, with a manual gearbox would be super cool. If I am meh on the car, its not worth the work, or wasting a good manual box on a car I'm going to sell to someone else.
Drunk driver took it off my hands a couple years ago. The shell's still at my dad's place, but I didn't think it was worth trying to straighten, especially with the hidden rust under the front fenders that those car tend to get.
I also have the M30 from that car with Cometic gasket, ARP studs, new cam & rockers and recently resurfaced head...
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

I remember it got wrecked, and I thought I recalled you kept the wreck. If I absolutely love the car maybe we will have to talk about what you want for the shell. But as of right now I've got too many projects. Conveniently, my uncles Maxima just died and I've got to fix that too. Going to be a busy weekend.

Machine shop called, head was .005" warped. He said near the exhaust side on #6 was the last to clean up on the mill. I think .003" is allowable, so .005 isn't the pretzel I was expecting.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

Mine took .007.

Does your heater core connection come off the back of the cylinder head, or do you have a block off plate on the cooling jacket port there?

The E34's pull heater water from the front of the engine. #6 runs the hottest because of poorer coolant circulation. All the previous bodies which used the M30 pulled heater water off the back of the cylinder head. I had an E28 heater connection fitting in hand to replace the E34 block off plate, but the car was wrecked before I installed it. I'm pretty sure I still have it in the trunk.

It would be great to get the shell (or even just the 5 speed swap parts) to someone who will put all of the above to good use.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

If you look at the picture of the motor with the head off, both heater hoses lines run all the way to the front of the motor. One Tees into the upper radiator hose, and I believe the other goes into the water outlet housing where the temp sensors are contained.

That interesting to know about earlier models, pick and pull has two E23 733i's right now may be worth looking at how they handled it on those cars.


So I store a 986 Boxster for my uncles brother in law, and it is a turd. Battery is always dead, I have to move it around frequently during the winter because that's the only time its there, but I've got so many cars pack inside that to work during the winter, I always have to move something to make room for the day while I am working. It also is making an ominous rattle, at only 62,000 on a 1997, and no service history, I'm thinking his IMS may be about to pack it in. But what do I know. Anyway, I had it sitting on the ramp to the garage, couldn't get it to start, couldn't get it to start with a different battery, tried to bump start it, just ended up getting it stuck at the bottom of the ramp. So, I didn't get that maxima inside like I planned. So last night I set the head on the E32, put the intake on, and left frustrated. Got the chain hooked back up. I also needed to look up the torque values for the head bolts.


Image

Always impressed at how clean the machine shop gets the heads
Image
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

M30 heads are a PITA to assemble/disassemble.
My original cam was worn the F out, with something like .010 wear on the lobe where the rocker pads tracked.

Oops... I didn't think to look at the photo for the heater hoses. :roll:

Have you/he sent any of the Boxster's oil for analysis?
I don't think there's any known oil analysis precursor to IMS bearing failure, but the oil analysis could tell if it's a rod/main bearing or cam lobe.

Or let it blow up and offer to let him pay you to do an LS swap. :-x

And get a battery tender for it... Howard has one in his Turbo.
I think it's hilarious that I can start an '80's GM car up after 2 months, but the finest pile of German engineering on the block won't keep a charge for 2 weeks.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

I took the battery out and put in a slow charge overnight inside. So hopefully the battery warms back up and holds some kind of a charge.

For an IMS if you start cutting open oil filters you can sometimes find metal shavings right before the explosion. I drove the car once at his request, 207HP, my automatic 330ci felt faster. It's blue/blue/blue, I'm staggered its not a Tiptronic. However I've driven 911s quite hard, and the Boxster is very nicely balanced when sideways. The 996 C4 I used to service, then later drove cross country was much much much faster, but when pushed hard, it was very ready to kill you if you were anything less than hyper-vigilant. I've driven Boxster S's back when I valeted, and I test drove a Cayman S once. I'd like to drive a Cayman S hard, more power, more rigidity, and the better balance. I'd think a modified (to get up to 911 power levels) Cayman S is a lot more car at the limit than a standard 911. But, I digress. I'm sure Steven could shed some light on their track performance.

The E55 started last night sitting for a month in about 7* ambient temps. My 284,000 mile diesel 200TD started on the first 30 second glow cycle below zero the other night.

Back to the E32, there are a lot of different stories as to what the torque specs are, the DIY that everyone seems to link to on the M30 HG job lists this:

1st Stage ; 50 Nm = 37 lb-ft

2nd Stage: 80 Nm = 59 lb-ft

wait / settling time of at least 15 minutes

3rd Stage: 100Nm = 74 lb-ft.

That is supposedly the S38 specs, but commonly used on the M30. Others mention 59ft/lbs, warming the motor, then angle torquing 30*, others say BMW removed the angle torque spec from the FSM in 1979. Some just stop at 59ft/lbs. I'm surprised there is this much discussion. I just did a Subaru EJ25 motor, and on all Benz motors I've done the specs were pretty cut and dry.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=209885

Do you remember what torque spec you used Will?
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

I'll have my dad look it up in the Bentley, which I don't have at my house right now. I'm pretty sure I went with whatever was in that book.

I used ARP studs and retorqued them after about a week of daily driving. They *ALL* moved, and the amount they moved increased progressively from the front of the engine to the back... more info for the "rear cylinders run hotter" folder.

I've heard that the Boxster/Cayman is very, very balanced. I've only driven one for a few minutes and only really got to take one corner, but it felt nice.
I could have a lot of fun in an LS powered 987 Cayman. It even looks like I could build subframes to install 996/997 rear suspension pretty painlessly.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

I was going cheap and reusing the original bolts, they all measure at the same length. Mercedes says to never reuse bolts in the FSM, in practice, everyone reuses them and doesn't have issues.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by Emc209i »

CincinnatiFiero wrote:I figured you'd actually appreciate that perspective.
Of course I do. Carry on.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

Got 3 5.1 quart jugs of Next-Gen Semi-Synthetic on closeout at O'Reilly's for $9 a container. That should be enough for 2 changes in the BMW, done in short succession to make sure I've gotten the water out of the crankcase. Got some $1.60 oil filters from rock auto, put them in a Benz parts order.

The penny pinching continues!

Went back to the auction today, buddy bought a nice 93 LS400 for $800. Needs a brake line, started, ran, and drove, just didn't stop. Not as cheap as the 735i, but still a lot of car for the money.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by The Dark Side of Will »

Not sure if I should post this here... but I just found an E32 750iL parts car for cheap. It's been where it is for two years; I told the owner I could be interested in the late spring.
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Re: The Budget BMW

Post by CincinnatiFiero »

Time for a V12 E34??

I've got the 735i motor back together but it won't start. I'm not getting fuel, the tank was reading below E so I put 3 gallons of fresh fuel in it, still no start. I've got spark, and a short shot of ether and it will fire right up and run for a second on the ether. So I don't think I'm 180 out or something like that. Also when you pull the plugs they are bone dry.

Tested the crank position sensor, it tests within spec, wiped the grime off it for good measure.

Jumpered the fuel pump relay and the fuel pump made this awful screeching growling noise. So, that's not good. I don't know if I burned the pump up when I drove the car in, and when I was cranking on it trying to start with no fuel in the tank. Ordered an Ebay replacement pump for $40. Even if the pump isn't the main issue, that growling screeching noise is not good and needs to be remedied.
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