Project Revvin' Low: 1987 BMW 325

[andrew_j]

Yayyy I took these pictures.

[Jake]

Video time... the voice you hear is Cabell:

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/15921694[/vimeo]

[D_Eclipse9916]

lol I hope it was off for something good, but I cant say anything, my cat-back is completely off. Looks like fun.

[Jake]

lol I hope it was off for something good, but I cant say anything, my cat-back is completely off. Looks like fun.

It had to come off (cat back, not the entire thing) so we could get the driveshaft out. It was still tricky with the piece coming from the manifold but we got around it okay.

I kinda wanted to leave it off and drive around for a week, but then I'd have another little project involving putting it back on next Saturday... so back on she goes.

[caa337]

Sounded pretty nasty lmao

[Jake]

Nothing big to report on the "how she drives" front lately. It snowed a few days ago, and the cold (near single-digit) morning temps in town have lead to an interesting discovery. The doors, upon being opened in said 9° weather, will not latch shut. Apparently it's a common old BMW/old car thing, and the recommended solution is to run the engine and heat the interior up some. Surprise, it works.



And beyond that... I played the role of entirely-not-sleazy salesman and sold it.

Time to move on to something that is less of a project and a lot more of a "nice DD" soon. Probably another old BMW, but one that has everything sorted out already. And good paint.



Mike, one of our new-to-MM freshmen, is actually the buyer... so it's still going to be in the MM family, which was kind of my original intent back in August. And with that, I leave this project thread to him.

So long Eta, you were the best college beater car an MMer could ask for. And you left a LOT of stains in Pheasant Run.

[V1GiLaNtE]

Lots of fun was had in and with that car.. Hope the opportunity exists to take it around the block now and again.. Best of luck with it Mike! :thumbup:

[MRicci]

School's over, sad-face, but that means I get to tear into the blue bombshell I bought from Jake.

First project was a mini project but a necessary one. The wiper fluid would not squirt out so I tore the whole system apart to determine if it was a burnt motor, clogged lines, or clogged jets.

This is the motor, we disconnected it and ran the system and it made noise, good news.


Disconnected the lines running from the pump to the nozzles, blew some air through them and they weren't clogged.


This is the splitter along with the aux hoses and the nozzles. I blew air through it all and everything worked but the splitter, so we took a power drill and bored the gunk out. 24 years of use and it was clogged completely with lots of nice things. After clearing it out, we connected it to the pump to try and blast out the rest. long story short, it worked.


It appeared that we remedied the problem so we hooked everything back up and test ran it with water.


Success!!


Cleaned out the tank to prevent further clogging and then after adjusting the nozzles, it worked flawlessly.


Damn spiders living under my bonnet


This is the first project of many. Next up, twin turbos

[Jake]

So glad to see progress on this! Got a list of other stuff to fix?

And have fun turbo'ing the Eta tractor motor ;-) She's already chipped haha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MRicci]

to do list
-power steering tear down
-radiator
-coolant hoses
-fuel starve diagnostics
-wheel wobble

Did the P.P.O say if the valves n stuff were properly adjusted before he sold it?

[Jake]

to do list
-power steering tear down
-radiator
-coolant hoses
-fuel starve diagnostics
-wheel wobble

Did the P.P.O say if the valves n stuff were properly adjusted before he sold it?

I never replied to this and probably should.

Power steering... I think it just needs a new guide for the tensioner, and then the belt will stay on. The belt I gave you in the trunk is new so you can re-use that one. It may have been starting to leak fluid, too.

Fuel starve is likely rust in the tank. The apparent solution there is to drop and clean the tank, wampwamppp. Can probably be done on a day off of work.

Wheel wobble? Like from a front wheel, through the steering wheel, where? I have no idea if those wheels are properly balanced. They're stock for the car but still. Might be the cheapest thing to check out. The car does have new tie rods up front. The PPO knocked it out of alignment when he installed them, so that's something else to check on.

I know the motor got a new timing belt when it was swapped in from the 528. No idea about valve adjustments... my guess is they should be done. Joey has the tools for it soooo you could come to Fairfax for that one. Oh, and change the oil. I never did... the low oil light came on once and I added some, but it never got a full change. :dunno:

Can't wait to see the beast in person next week... I miss her.

[MRicci]

Update tiem.

About a week ago, the car wouldn't hold its idle. This was giving me a big headache because I would have to hold the idle myself while driving to work and such. I decided I would inquire into jakes "rusty tank" theory and pull the in tank fuel pump. After a couple minutes of careful tugging and twisting I finally removed the pump. A quick inspection with a flashlight showed no rust inside the immediate area. .

Then inspected the in tank pump, quickly finding one of the sources of the car's problems. The pump filter was so clogged with dirt it appeared as if though it had been soaked in mud for 20 years. :vomit: I cleaned that off, bridged the fuel pump relay to rule out pump failure, and reinstalled everything. In the process I lost the filter in the tank. I was able to retrieve it with a coat hanger after a brief anxiety attack.

This lack of fuel delivery was apparently the cause of the car failing to hold its idle because after cranked the car, it ran like it normally did. (with normal meaning "runs like its fat and out of breath all the time")

This lack of power from the already lackluster power of the eta was irritating me. I wasn't exactly sure where to start out, so I pulled the plugs using them as a simple form of engine diagnostic. The plugs indicated poor ignition with carbon deposits and discoloration.

I then went for the distributor and rotor. As you can see in the pics, the leads and rotor have burning and pitting. The pelican article I was working off said that that pretty much means it needs to be replaced.

New cap and rotor are on the way, along with a new valve cover gasket (gunna get that valve adjustment done) plugs, and a new shifter knob that won't scare the people who I let drive it.

[ScottyB]

wow, yeah i'd say it's time for some ignition goodies.

[MRicci]

Yep, already on their way. I'm also going to refurbish the injectors with new filters, pintles, and o rings. Should make the car run extremely well after the valves, plugs, injectors, and distributor are all returned to like new condition. Shown here is a pic of the fuel that came out of the FPR after testing the pumps for fuel delivery rate. 1200 ml in 30 seconds, well above the 875 ml minimum BMW specifies.

[MRicci]

Made a bit of progress yesterday.

I got the valve cover off to check the eccentric clearances and make removing the fuel rail easier, cleaner than I thought it'd be. About half of the valves were in spec and the rest were not very far off.

The previous fuel tests showed no problems and all that was left was the fuel rail and the injectors. It was only right to suspect dirty injectors. I'll let the pictures tell the rest.







New NGK plugs

Now I just have to wait for the injector rebuild kit to come in to get the injectors back to running order. I'm also going to run a quick impedance test just to be sure they still work.

Still waiting for the other parts from pelican.

[V1GiLaNtE]

^ Holy crap... I can now fully understand why the SOB was fuel robbed when we Auto-xed it.. Like turbo lag fuel starvation...

[MRicci]

All parts are in, Hooooooraaaaaaay! Work is preventing me from completing work till Tuesday, Boooooooooooooo!

I got as much as I could get done today while racing the daylight. (Garage is reserved for miscellaneous crap and Mom's Benz). I put in my new distributor rotor, cap, and all the covers on and carefully put the spark cables in their proper places on the distributor so to prevent a horrible engine failure. Last but not least, I got my YouTube inspired injector cleaning system working and got all the injectors spraying like 13 year olds at a paintball course. I then got all the injectors ready for installation with the injector rebuild kit I bought on eBay. All that's left it replacing the injectors and fuel rail, torquing down the valve cover, and re-attaching all hoses and electrical connections. It sucks I have to wait till Tuesday, but I've got mad hours to do in preparation for the Freedom Festival in D.C.. If anyone is going, look for the "Gallettas" food vendor. I'll be there the third and the fourth.

And I got a new shift knob that feels heavy and planted. :thumbup:




This is when it first started. The stream isn't very good as you can tell, but I reversed flushed it then shot it through again and it came out better.


From this.....


To this!

[Jake]

You are doing this so right and not half-assed.

</proudpops>

[MRicci]

Well..... I was all excited after work to put her back together, and I was sure that I had put everything back properly.

When I turned the key








She lived!!


Anyway, I once again scrambled to get as much done as I could before the sun dipped too far below the Blue Ridge mountain tops. after checking and rechecking all that I had taken apart and put back together, I asked my sister to come witness the moment of truth. After telling her to hold the fire extinguisher, I pressurized the fuel lines with the relay, then hopped in the car and turned the key. It went a bit like this, "Na Na Na Na Brup Brup blurp, VrOOOooommmmm!!!!"

My smile was as wide as it had been in a long time. This has been my first real project car and I am happy to say that I am going to keep this one for as long as I can. I took my dad for a ride and it felt much, much better driving. It still has a tiny stumble while the motor is cold, and the idle isn't perfect, but those are projects for another day (probs tomorrow :mrgreen

All in all I think that this is a good start to a plethora of improvements to be done on good ol' Revvin' Low.

[Jake]

:thumbup:

Now that she's running, I need to make my way out to Leesburg or something.