Putting my 325is up for sale. I picked up this car in the back of a barn last fall where it had been sitting since 2008. The previous owner purchased the car from an older lady. As the story goes, he had plans to do an s52 swap and turbo the car but within a few days of having the car he cracked the oil pan on a sewer drain and the car sat there ever since. He had several other BMW projects in the garage and I guess this one had been put on the back burner. I happened across it picking up some parts for my s52 swapped e30 m3. When I saw the car in his barn I asked about it and we made a deal. Engine and trans were out of the car so a friend and I loaded it on the trailer and got to work bringing it back to life.
The good
- It’s a late model 325is 5speed which are getting harder to come by
- According to Carfax the car spend its entire life in Texas and it shows. The car is completely rust free and under carriage in great shape. The downside is the dash has a few cracks and a lot of the plastic connectors and such are pretty brittle. I have a really nice, crack free, said to be brand new by PO, dash that I am willing to part with if you are interested.
- All vin tags are in place and original
- The paint appears to be all original except the front fenders which show evidence of a respay. The original vin tags are visible.
- All electronics appear to work correctly, the wiring under dash appears completely unmolested which is pretty nice.
- Complete tool kit, working sunroof.
- The following was replaced in the process of getting it running again;
o 3.73 LSD (PO had a 4.10 in it)
o New timing, AC, PS belts and timing belt guide
o Oil pan and gasket (pan was used)
o New front is lip
o Mint is rear spoiler
o Oil + filter
o New oil pump
o New motor and trans mounts
o New emblems
o New high beam bulbs
o New front rotors and pads
o New giubo, CSB and trans cross member
o New radiator hoses
o New intake boot
o Refurb AFM
o New shift boot
o Pass door handle and trim
o Rebuilt injectors
o New spark plugs
o New battery
o Mount and balanced a good set of tires we had around with good tread left
o Front bumper and trim (both off parts car and rattle canned to match)
o New o2 sensor
The bad
- Mileage appears to be incorrect based on the Carfax which shows 160k back in 2005 timeframe. It currently reads 108k. Honestly the interior looks more like a 100k car than 200k but the exterior shows more mileage. Has a few dings here and there most notably on the hood near the badge and the driver side fender.
- The paint cleaned up pretty decent with just a light compound and buff but it’s pretty thin in some spots. There are two spots on the hood that appear to show alittle burn from a previous aggressive compound and a few spots along the edges of the fenders and trunk show similar evidence. It looks good from 10ft but if you want a show car it needs a repaint. I still need to claybar and buff it and I think it will look pretty good.
- Throws a CEL now and then, I think I may have wired the rear o2 sensor incorrectly and I need to check that.
- Wheel caps are missing
- FCAB’s are not in good shape and should be replaced (have new ones, will install if I get the chance)
- AC aux fan has a broken blade and is out of balance so its currently disabled (have replacement, will install this weekend if I have the time)
- Haven’t connected the PS yet cause the banjo bolts were missing, I have them now and will hook it up this weekend to verify it works.
- Front turn signals are on the fritz as of the other day, they were working fine until I had the bumper off and the connectors basically disintegrated (common) I tried to wire them back up but I may have messed it up, need to investigate, probably just mis-wired it.
- Need to reinstall the fan and fan clutch, it needed replacement, PO had bolted the clutch mechanism so it was locked, have replacement.
- Front subframe has a ding in it from when the PO hit the sewer drain
- PO had some BC coilovers on the car. At some point while it was sitting he put the front ones on his e34 so we had to get struts, shocks and springs for the front which are off a parts car. Rear still has the bc springs, shocks and adjustable perches in the rear (brand new) so the car should probably have new shocks and springs in the front to match We cut the stock springs to level it out for now. I did look into it with CAtuned and they will sell you a set of coilovers for the front only for about $600..
- Car was missing the exhaust center section. We patched it together with some exhaust pipe from napa, it’s not the prettiest job but it’s solid. I just wanted to get it drivable and the next owner can decide what they want to do with it. It sounds pretty awesome without the cats.
- Car did not have a title so it now has a bonded title which is currently in my name. If you are not familiar with a bonded title in Texas this is exactly the same as a clear blue TX title but it says “BONDED”. In three years you can apply for a title w/o “BONDED”. The bond is in place to protect the owner in the event someone were to come fwd saying they have ownership of the vehicle and they would be paid a set amount by the bond company. It is fully transferable to the new owner.
Other notes
Overall it’s a decent little car and could be a great project for someone to restore, build a turbo car or just do a little more basic maintenance and have a great daily driver. It’s rust free, the interior is nice aside from the dash including the headliner, wiring is unmolested and it runs good. I am really torn on selling it, if I had some more free time I’d build myself a nice little turbo rat rod style e30, paint the hood flat black, add some fender flares and call the body a day, but I already have enough projects on my m3 to keep me busy so this needs to go.
Price is $4800 obo. Car is located in Houston TX. Prefer local sale
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The good
- It’s a late model 325is 5speed which are getting harder to come by
- According to Carfax the car spend its entire life in Texas and it shows. The car is completely rust free and under carriage in great shape. The downside is the dash has a few cracks and a lot of the plastic connectors and such are pretty brittle. I have a really nice, crack free, said to be brand new by PO, dash that I am willing to part with if you are interested.
- All vin tags are in place and original
- The paint appears to be all original except the front fenders which show evidence of a respay. The original vin tags are visible.
- All electronics appear to work correctly, the wiring under dash appears completely unmolested which is pretty nice.
- Complete tool kit, working sunroof.
- The following was replaced in the process of getting it running again;
o 3.73 LSD (PO had a 4.10 in it)
o New timing, AC, PS belts and timing belt guide
o Oil pan and gasket (pan was used)
o New front is lip
o Mint is rear spoiler
o Oil + filter
o New oil pump
o New motor and trans mounts
o New emblems
o New high beam bulbs
o New front rotors and pads
o New giubo, CSB and trans cross member
o New radiator hoses
o New intake boot
o Refurb AFM
o New shift boot
o Pass door handle and trim
o Rebuilt injectors
o New spark plugs
o New battery
o Mount and balanced a good set of tires we had around with good tread left
o Front bumper and trim (both off parts car and rattle canned to match)
o New o2 sensor
The bad
- Mileage appears to be incorrect based on the Carfax which shows 160k back in 2005 timeframe. It currently reads 108k. Honestly the interior looks more like a 100k car than 200k but the exterior shows more mileage. Has a few dings here and there most notably on the hood near the badge and the driver side fender.
- The paint cleaned up pretty decent with just a light compound and buff but it’s pretty thin in some spots. There are two spots on the hood that appear to show alittle burn from a previous aggressive compound and a few spots along the edges of the fenders and trunk show similar evidence. It looks good from 10ft but if you want a show car it needs a repaint. I still need to claybar and buff it and I think it will look pretty good.
- Throws a CEL now and then, I think I may have wired the rear o2 sensor incorrectly and I need to check that.
- Wheel caps are missing
- FCAB’s are not in good shape and should be replaced (have new ones, will install if I get the chance)
- AC aux fan has a broken blade and is out of balance so its currently disabled (have replacement, will install this weekend if I have the time)
- Haven’t connected the PS yet cause the banjo bolts were missing, I have them now and will hook it up this weekend to verify it works.
- Front turn signals are on the fritz as of the other day, they were working fine until I had the bumper off and the connectors basically disintegrated (common) I tried to wire them back up but I may have messed it up, need to investigate, probably just mis-wired it.
- Need to reinstall the fan and fan clutch, it needed replacement, PO had bolted the clutch mechanism so it was locked, have replacement.
- Front subframe has a ding in it from when the PO hit the sewer drain
- PO had some BC coilovers on the car. At some point while it was sitting he put the front ones on his e34 so we had to get struts, shocks and springs for the front which are off a parts car. Rear still has the bc springs, shocks and adjustable perches in the rear (brand new) so the car should probably have new shocks and springs in the front to match We cut the stock springs to level it out for now. I did look into it with CAtuned and they will sell you a set of coilovers for the front only for about $600..
- Car was missing the exhaust center section. We patched it together with some exhaust pipe from napa, it’s not the prettiest job but it’s solid. I just wanted to get it drivable and the next owner can decide what they want to do with it. It sounds pretty awesome without the cats.
- Car did not have a title so it now has a bonded title which is currently in my name. If you are not familiar with a bonded title in Texas this is exactly the same as a clear blue TX title but it says “BONDED”. In three years you can apply for a title w/o “BONDED”. The bond is in place to protect the owner in the event someone were to come fwd saying they have ownership of the vehicle and they would be paid a set amount by the bond company. It is fully transferable to the new owner.
Other notes
Overall it’s a decent little car and could be a great project for someone to restore, build a turbo car or just do a little more basic maintenance and have a great daily driver. It’s rust free, the interior is nice aside from the dash including the headliner, wiring is unmolested and it runs good. I am really torn on selling it, if I had some more free time I’d build myself a nice little turbo rat rod style e30, paint the hood flat black, add some fender flares and call the body a day, but I already have enough projects on my m3 to keep me busy so this needs to go.
Price is $4800 obo. Car is located in Houston TX. Prefer local sale
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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