Alright boys, official build thread for my latest impulse purchase, a Malaga 72 Bavaria 4spd. I don't know much about these cars, I've never driven one, but I did have a 71 Malaga 2002 (Click here), had a lot of fun, learned some things, made some money on it. I typically document my builds on youtube, so here's the first video of the series:
TLDW, car is solid and complete, interior is nice(ish), exterior is shot, trim is all there, no major damage other than 2 small holes in front footwells, lower door skins, and spare tire trunk area. Oh yeah, front valance is smashed, hood and grill are smushed, and both front and rear bumpers are tweaked.
Mechanically, car is all there, hasn't been touched with the exception of an electric fuel pump on the firewall, but nothing works. Brakes don't do anything, tried bleeding them, can't get any fluid to come out of the calipers, guessing all the lines are clogged. Clutch pedal doesn't feel connected to anything/dry/full of air, so no idea on that, e-brake worked once but then froze up and still drags, and upon pulling the plugs, hoping I could revive the engine, I was bummed to find corrosion on spark plug #3. Confirmed my worst fears with an endoscope, cyl #3 is full of coolant, and has probably been that way for 40+ years. Super bummed.... however....
M30B35?
I happened to find an M30B35 w ECU + Harness for sale about an hour from my house, and offered $400. Seller said sure. What do I know about it? Said it was serviced regularly, headgasket was new, and then car (91 535i) was crashed, but still drove. Drove it to their shop, parted out the car, have the engine left over.
Tomorrow, I am headed north to inspect this engine. The bummer is, the trans has already been sold, so no starter available to check compression. This really limits my ability to check this thing out. So far, here is my plan:
1. Exterior inspection, look for damage from crash, if the pulley shows anything I'm going to bail because the crank could be junk.
2. Open valve cover filler, look at valvetrain, hoping to not see black/gunk/varnish. Hoping to see clean.
3. Drain oil, look for metal flakes.
4. Pull plugs, hopefully all the same color this time (blackish w light tan)
5. Throw the scope in each spark plug hole, and check piston walls for major damage.
Anyone else have any other ideas? Not too concerned with keeping this car bone stock, since it's so far gone, I'm sure I'll be doing creative shortcuts to bring it back to life. Also been absorbing B35 swap info like a sponge, sounds like I can either keep motronic, or if I want to do carbs, I need to swap my cam from my old engine since that has a distributor drive gear, or buy a Schrick cam with a dizzie gear. Also, since this isn't an early B35, it will need an adaptor on one side, I think Ireland makes them?
Might be a while for another video update, I shoved the car into storage and I'm focusing on bringing a 73 Jaguar XJ6 back to life, drive it a bit, then sell it to fund this project. XJ6 is pretty cool too, has a manual swap and triple SUs, cali car, show it in the end of the last video.
Cheers dudes, thanks for all the help so far! Oh, and if anyone sees a front windshield and weatherstripping for sale, PM me!
TLDW, car is solid and complete, interior is nice(ish), exterior is shot, trim is all there, no major damage other than 2 small holes in front footwells, lower door skins, and spare tire trunk area. Oh yeah, front valance is smashed, hood and grill are smushed, and both front and rear bumpers are tweaked.
Mechanically, car is all there, hasn't been touched with the exception of an electric fuel pump on the firewall, but nothing works. Brakes don't do anything, tried bleeding them, can't get any fluid to come out of the calipers, guessing all the lines are clogged. Clutch pedal doesn't feel connected to anything/dry/full of air, so no idea on that, e-brake worked once but then froze up and still drags, and upon pulling the plugs, hoping I could revive the engine, I was bummed to find corrosion on spark plug #3. Confirmed my worst fears with an endoscope, cyl #3 is full of coolant, and has probably been that way for 40+ years. Super bummed.... however....
M30B35?
I happened to find an M30B35 w ECU + Harness for sale about an hour from my house, and offered $400. Seller said sure. What do I know about it? Said it was serviced regularly, headgasket was new, and then car (91 535i) was crashed, but still drove. Drove it to their shop, parted out the car, have the engine left over.
Tomorrow, I am headed north to inspect this engine. The bummer is, the trans has already been sold, so no starter available to check compression. This really limits my ability to check this thing out. So far, here is my plan:
1. Exterior inspection, look for damage from crash, if the pulley shows anything I'm going to bail because the crank could be junk.
2. Open valve cover filler, look at valvetrain, hoping to not see black/gunk/varnish. Hoping to see clean.
3. Drain oil, look for metal flakes.
4. Pull plugs, hopefully all the same color this time (blackish w light tan)
5. Throw the scope in each spark plug hole, and check piston walls for major damage.
Anyone else have any other ideas? Not too concerned with keeping this car bone stock, since it's so far gone, I'm sure I'll be doing creative shortcuts to bring it back to life. Also been absorbing B35 swap info like a sponge, sounds like I can either keep motronic, or if I want to do carbs, I need to swap my cam from my old engine since that has a distributor drive gear, or buy a Schrick cam with a dizzie gear. Also, since this isn't an early B35, it will need an adaptor on one side, I think Ireland makes them?
Might be a while for another video update, I shoved the car into storage and I'm focusing on bringing a 73 Jaguar XJ6 back to life, drive it a bit, then sell it to fund this project. XJ6 is pretty cool too, has a manual swap and triple SUs, cali car, show it in the end of the last video.
Cheers dudes, thanks for all the help so far! Oh, and if anyone sees a front windshield and weatherstripping for sale, PM me!
