Hello Everyone,

As some of you might remember, after a long search and patience last april 2007, I became the proud owner of my dream car, '87 Henna ! Although she was in very good condition, she wasn't as perfect as in my dreams ! So after driving her around for a little bit, I decided to take care of some of its problems and failures here and there. Which started as a minor tune-up, rust repair turned into a small restoration project including a full enigne rebuilt... I knew it all along even before I bought the car that, this process would be inevitable. To tell you the truth, it was part of the appeal for me ! The works we started out on may 2007 finally ended almost a week ago.
Next year I plan to take care of the body with a full strip down respray and new trims all around the bodywork (grills, window surrounds, etc... )
but for now the result are satisfying for me...

I would also like to thank my great mechanic SAVAS PASAOGLU from PASAOGLU SERVICE (www.teampasaoglu.com)! He is by far the greatest mechanic in Turkey ! His great talent and knowledge made a huge contribution to my project ! Without him my car would travel from one ignorant mechanic to another... ! He has been a true saviour !

So without further ado, I leave you with the pics of the project...Enjoy !!

This is the day I bought her,



First thing first, we started out with rust repairs which were crucial,







After the welding works, painting the welded parts..



I wanted to replace and repair some parts which were worn and disformed during the years such as yellowed water expantion tank, peeled out engine cover, fuel line cover, etc...







Then we freshened up the interior with new steering wheel, gearknob and handbrake leather..

 

So far, all the minor work I've done was to prevent future problems and to get a cleaner car with newer parts BUT, a couple days later some sounds coming from the engine and the oil check light that lit up once alerted me ! So we wanted to take a look inside the engine before it would be too late to prevent a future breakdown.

Unfortunately, we were too late, the view we came across sent shockwaves to my brain. The crank was terribly worn along with pistons,rods and many other internals. This meant one thing, engine rebuilt ! At this second, dolar bills started to flash in my eyes. as I knew those old M parts would cost an arm and a leg but, what you gonno do ? I decided to do everything properly with the best parts out there to take care of this problem once and for all !



Then we took the engine apart and started the damage control,





I even tried to change the car to a rear engine one but, that didn't work out either



After we came up with a list of parts and ordered them at once !

After that, when the engine was taken out, we noticed rusting and peeling on various parts of the engine bay so we decided to paint the engine bay..



After the paint...much better !





While waiting for the parts, I sent all the screws, bolts and various other little parts that came out of the engine to be galvanized. I find this process very usefull for any classic restoration as galvanized metal lasts much longer and brings back the freshness of the parts !

 

After three long months and many bills later, my parts have finally arrived ; ( E30 M3 parts are really hard to find )



Using OEM parts is a very important thing for me but for the rods and pistons, I went with CR Forged parts not to experience anything like this again, EVER ! The rest of the parts were strictly OEM !





Bolts and screws came back from galvanization process...



Now that we had everything ready, my mechanic Savas was ready to start his magic,
Block polished and exterior repainted to the factory colour !!



Brand new crank and rods mounted,



Pistons and some of the galvanized small parts mounted,





Every single bolt was galvanized even the ones under the block on the oil pan...



Valves,

 

Gasket going in,



And after the repainted engine cover and plenum returns, our S14 is REBORN !!! Tried to bring it back to as factory new looking as possible.. Not a bad work, I presume...







Now it was time to put this beauty inside the car... (Camera phone quality, sorry ! )





Now that the hardest part was over, we took the car to the electrician to replace all the worn cables and fuses and etc...



Finally, we fixed this huge rust on the exhaust



and while at it, we painted the entire exhaust system flat black to keep a clean look...

 

After the exhaust was mounted back, my mechanic went through his final checks and delivered my Henna back to me after 6 LOOOONG months...



As soon as I got her back, I took her straight to my detailer friend to freshen her up since she was living in a dusty workshop for the last 6 months.. and here is what she looked like after the detailing...



Isn't she a looker ?



And my proud and joy ;





Later on, before I take her out for a spin....





I wanted to share this rather flattering and rather exhausting process with you all, I hope you all liked it, thanks for reading...

E30 M3 FOREVER !!!

 

Nice! Best BMW ever IMO

greetings from Slovenia

 

wow that is awesome my friend. Great project. Most e30s go with after market internals for a engine rebuild but you stuck to OEM very cool. It like you just took delievery congrats. This ones a keeper. get some wheels on that now

 

Wow the finish product came out great!! Especially with the engine. I'm just wondering did you consider looking for a different engine (e.g. e36, e46, etc.)?

 

Nice job. she looks so good after the detail. glad you went through all the trouble and did it right.

Missing the M3. See below and my username.

 

VERY nice, this may very well be my project next year. I'm glad to see you kept her as original as possible.

 

WOW thats nice! Great looking job!!!

 

Congrats the car looks great good job

 

phenomenal job

 

Fantastic. Congratulations on taking delivery of your brand new 1987 M3.

 

Fantastic job.

I have my eye on a 1 of 3 factory right hand drive model that is for sale locally, hopefully in the next month she will be mine. It is in perfect condition, only done 37k miles.

My absolute dream car since i can remember. This is the car. Stunning.