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New old car day... I found an 86 325e for sale locally, guy wanted $500 for it. It has 43k on the clock, a 2.5l I6, and a 5 speed. The 1st and 2nd gear are dead, but the engine still runs. It's been sitting since the guy bought it in 2008, he never even transferred the title. It needs new seats and a detailing, but there's a plan to facilitate everything it needs.







The passenger fender is the only body damage, body is completely straight otherwise. 43k original miles.

So the plan... I'm really tired of dealing with BMW, and I have the Pathfinder running again, which means, it's project car time. I picked this up so I could shoehorn my 330's engine and trans into it. I'll also use the seats from the 330, so that's covered. I'm going to put the 225hp, 212lb-ft engine into this little car. The best part is, it weighs significantly less than the stock cast iron engine, and it weighs less than the S50/S52/S54 swaps people do in these cars, meaning better handling at the expense of a little bit of power.

I plan on lowering it, the right way, not the Grimm way. I'm also going to be doing a 5 lug swap, which will also allow for much larger brakes, and I will be using the 5 spoke rims currently on my 330 when I do that. My mechanic is going to take my 330's rolling chassis and turn it into a solid axled drag car, so he doesn't need anything but the shell and the suspension. In exchange, he's going to do any fab work I need done, which will include a custom oil pickup(have to use an E34 oil pan on the new engine), and a 3" exhaust. I'm going to be running headers as well, so I will be roughly at 245hp at the crank, which is 10lbs per horsepower. I'd say that's pretty damned good. Eventually I'll get the paint redone, but that's not a priority, as there's not a spot of rust on the car, so it's still well protected.

No, its not pretty, get over it :lol: its my first project car in 5 years though :D

I like it, and I'm anxious to see what you make of it. The dent gives it personality, no one will expect it to be fast. :evil:

Best of luck with the project! :cool:

Very nice. :up:

Sounds like so much fun. I wish I had a car to work on. :cry:

Where can I pick up a $500 car? :lol:

Looks like a damn fun project car to me, all I see is potential. I would take damn near any Fox Mustang to work on, with the only exception being better than average paint because it costs so much to paint a car.

I think it would be fun as hell to tear a car apart and replace it with new or good condition parts. Being able to look back and think "Hey, I did that and here is what it use to look like" would be a great feeling.

Best of luck, can't wait to see what you make of it! :drool:

I have a buddy who did a LS1 swap into a 318. I believe he was going to sell it as he was more interest in the project rather than keeping the result. If you are interested, I could check with him. The car is fast, but needs a little suspension work (some new shocks).

Nah, I'm in this one for the long haul, I need a good project car.

Why are you going to molest your 330 like that? I thought you still owed $$ on it?

BMW's poor quality sheet metal and crappy subframe mount design has already molested my 330 enough. It's totalled if BMW won't fix it, and I'm really tired of fighting with them to fix it. I don't owe much on it, it'll be paid off by summer.

I'm just thinking your bank might have a problem with that. It's not really officially your vehicle.

What my bank doesn't know won't hurt them :bleh:

Got the engine out today. Still need to strip everything out from under there, I'm actually going to strip the car down to it's bare shell, no wiring, fuel lines, nothing, and clean the hell out of it, but that's going to take some time, I'm in no rush for that.

Also, the 330 will be paid off next month, so that hurdle will be gone!

What year is your 330?

2001 iirc

Seriously to rip apart a 2001 330 and put the motor into that old pos?

Did you miss the part about the 2001 being virtually totalled? The 86 isn't the POS, it's a perfectly fine rolling chassis, something that can't be said about the 01. Sorry you don't approve, but this is my project, not yours, so run along :)

Sorry, didn't read the whole thread. What happened to the 330, is the subframe separating?

The sheet metal around the subframe mounts is physically trying to seperate itself from the car now. The car hasn't been driven in a couple of months now, I'd rather use as much of it as I can and sell off the rest.

Is that the norm with these cars? I have an 05 745 and 2010 335, knock on wood, no problems so far.

No, it only happens to the 99-06 3 series, it was poorly designed sheet metal that's also too weak. There was a class action suit about it. The newer 3 series are just too new to tell right now, but I'd imagine after the class action, BMW got their crap together.

Worked on the 330 some today, the engine is almost ready to come out. Need to give it another once over, but I believe the only things connected right now is fuel and the trans stuff/driveshaft. Tomorrow if I have a chance to work on it in the morning it might be fully ready.

Cool project, bro! :up:

Post lots of :Pics:

Are you putting that motor in the other one? I must have missed some back story.

Cliffs?

The 330 is f'd, totalled, the 86 is getting its engine. Frankenswap.

So how will the 86 run in comparison to it's original motor?

Its original motor is a horrid piece of junk. The old engine made 121hp out of 2.7l, and doesn't rev past 5krpm. It was originally meant to be a fuel saving design, the camshaft only has 4 bearings as opposed to the traditional 6, for less friction, but thats why it won't rev past 5krpm. It was so dog slow, it was just absurd. It did get great fuel economy though. The thing that makes this car perfect as a donor though, is that, because of the engine in it, it was absolutely positively 100% never abused, so the wear is going to be minimal on the transmission, which I'll be using in the swap. The rubber parts of the suspension will need changing however, but that comes with the territory, it's German :lol: Heres a page with everything about the car you never wanted to know:

http://www.e30eta.com/hotrod.htm

Do me a favor and paint that 86 in flat black, with black wheels with a red lip.

Always wanted that.

Thats gonna be crazy. Can you show us some more pics of the damage to your 03? I just don't see how thats possible from a first tier manufacture like BMW.

I like the 03 looks better but this thing is going to be a sleeper for sure.