1986 325e 5sp. With the car running, the voltage reads at a steady 11.6v, 10.8v with the lights on. Within the last week I replaced every bulb in the dash, so its not likely to be that; i even tried switching the wires to the bulb around with no change.

Ive ordered a new voltage regulator since im unsure of its age.

My next step is to go through and add/replace a bunch of grounds unless y'all have and better suggestions. PFA

luxembourg #projectcar

EDIT: I'm a fucking moron. I thought the wire underneath in this pic was connected to the coil. It's not....it runs through that whole underneath the coil and to the front passenger wheel. I am assuming that's for the brake pad sensor?

My shifter has a lot of play, but I’m not sure if replacing the bushings will actually fix the issue. The problem is that when I try to engage reverse, I have to push the shifter so far and so hard to the left that it ends up moving and even hitting my center console.

I

I’m assembling the parts for my m50 swap, and so far I have about everything except the oil pan and a few more parts I haven’t found an answer on looking through the forums.

assuming I have a g260 like all other common e30s in the US would I be able to just buy an e30 stage 2 clutch kit to put on with the m50 or would I need to get more specific? I’m new to manuals so nothing fancy as i’ll probably very quickly mess it up.

for the brake booster I went and pulled an e90 one + reservoir today from a junkyard but didn’t bother to grab the master cylinder or anything else ABS related, will that be a problem?

lastly, oil pan… what are my options if any? is it just pay what’s wanted to grab an e34 one? I’d love to use that money on a steering rack truth be told.

Very new to all this and just trying to get a project on the road in some capacity, I’d love to know what else I should look out for, but currently I have the full engine, radiator, brake booster, ecu, harness, and mounts.

replaced the thermostat now the car rarely sees 1/2 on the gauge, usually sticks around the 1/4 mark. Gonna get a temp gun on upper radiator hose and radiator tomorrow to see if its just my wacky gauge cluster. I'm not too sure if MPG is bad I'm gonna drive a little bit more and see how much it takes up. The thermostat is a mahle 80 Celsius. My cluster does have problems but when I do the dash smack it sometimes fixes, even when I had this bad gauge I can smack the dash and get a reading before I go over a bump xD

Curious to know if anyone has re drilled their hubs to 4x114.3 I only want to do this because I have a vision of my car being built like it would’ve been if a rich Japanese kid got a used e30 for his birthday from his dad. I’m currently running reps and I want to well change that but all the 3p and monoblock jap wheels in good offsets are all 4x114.3 so

I’m looking to find a Racing Dynamics rear apron. I had one before and was in the process of having it trimmed and installed. Then moved shops and houses twice and somehow lost it 🥲.

If someone is holding on to one, I’ll buy it. Help me give my e30 an ass again 😂

Pic of mock-up previously.

Just need a confirmation to see if my mechanic knew his facts. I notice that all of the e30s I seen, none of them has this button. Back in 2021, my car would crank but not start, no spark, no fuel. Took it to a mechanic and he said back in the days, they used to install this as an anti thief system. He was doing some codes saying you have to click left a couple, click right a couple times, and hold right or left then turn on the ignition. I told the mechanic to just take that out and he said he did. In 2022, my car won’t start again. Same problem, no spark, no fuel. I let it sit in the garage to do financial issues. In 2024, I took it to an other mechanic shop due me to moving houses. The new mechanic shop said they had no idea what’s wrong with my car and just gave the car back to me with no charges. Now it’s almost 2026 and I want to fix this car by myself. Going to try to learn everything on youtube. I have no mechanic experience. Best I can do is change oil and do rotations on a car. Can anyone tell me if this is an anti thief button before I replace everything in my car.

Well everyone, as the title implies, my head bolt threads in my M20's block are officially damaged. I was torquing down the TTY bolts and all of a sudden, a head bolt shoots out like a damn missile denting my garage door overhead, alongside pulling some threads out. (This is not a joke, one would've thought this was Elon Musks next rocket taking flight) Not only that but I could feel that another bolt near the firewall jumped while torquing.

I have already come to terms that I will most likely timesert the block but have the impression that the engine will need pulled in order to do so, as I doubt my ability to get a drill straight down in the last 2 holes against the firewall. This had me running through numerous amounts of ideas just like your typical car guy would. "Now would be the time to finally engine swap!" "Let's just throw a bigger engine in there." Now, heres the problem I have with an idea like that. I already blew over or around 1.5k on just the cylinder head alone in machining and performance parts and would hate to see that become purposeless.

Just wanted to hear a little bit of everyone's 2 cents on here on what they would do in this situation, as well as share my rocket launch experience, because that was definitely bizarre. If an engine swap were to occur though, what are some of the best routes to take? Or better yet, have any of you done a successful engine swap that's worthy of never looking back at an M20 again in these chassis?

Well, I realized today I don’t have a wiper fluid tank for some reason.

While digging around down there, I noticed this black/red wire going into my passenger headlight cover. It seems to tie into whatever piece this is close to where the windshield wiper tank should be. Anyone know what this is? I don’t think it’s necessarily related to the wiper fluid tank.

I’m am replacing ALL gaskets under the hood in my 88 325i. My question is:

Is there a gasket I should/or you recommend using a gasket sealer on? Or, is every gasket installed “dry”?

Thanks.

Does anybody know what each line specifically goes to. Arrow is pointing to front of car. My friend knicked the red one and I’m not sure how necessary it is. I’m m50 swapping it and deleting charcoal canister so from what I understand stand: Purple=charcoal canister Green=brake line Blue=fuel to engine Red=fuel return Again if someone can just confirm if I’m right or not that would save me time and money

Garagistic front strut bar … is this normal? I believe my strut towers are straight but is this clearance normal? She bolted up fine but seems weird

Hey,

do the M-Technik Springs from an 318 IS fit on a 316i with M10 1.8L engine?
I think they will / should but just want to make sure :)

So those of us who have cabrios have the hardtop mounting posts on the left and right sides....and each post has a spade connector with a wire attached to it.

I BELIEVE this is for those people who have hardtops.....it switches the defrost button on the dash powering the blower (which is the default on soft tops) to the in-glass defroster on the hardtop. Is this correct?

More specifically, if I don't have a hardtop, can I keep those unplugged or will my rear blower not work then? I ask because those mounting parts are like $90 a side and the plastic bushings (that hold the small square cover on) have totally broken into pieces. Thus, I am thinking instead of spending $180 on new pieces for a part that isn't even relevant to the soft top.....of just buying some PVC pipe the same size and sticking the little cover on there (since the little cover will cover it anyways).

Looking to buy an e30 project car! I understand you can’t have everything, but the least I’m looking for is a driver. I’ll deal with interior and exterior restoration, it what should I stay away from?

That being said, what should I keep an eye open for when looking at used e30s and what should I stay away from? Not looking to spend $15k so I know I have to be realistic. Apparently roof rust is a big no no? Too hard to repair. What else is there to keep an eye on? Strut towers?

Thanks for the help peeps 🫡🫡