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New (to me) 1991 325iX

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    New (to me) 1991 325iX

    After owning two Saab 900s (a red 1993 Turbo and a black 1991 SPG) over the last 16 years, I am joining the E30 ix fold with the recent acquisition of this 1991 325iX. Car has about 131K miles and looks pretty good from the exterior, but needs some rust remediation (not structural) underneath and then has a lot of areas for improvement internally. Here's what I know needs to be done in order to get it in decent condition right now:
    • Replace hard brake lines ideally with stainless steel assuming it is easily available - not sure what one should expect to pay a mechanic to run these (seems like a complicated DIY)
    • New Battery - existing one is at least 5 years old
    • Engine
    • Replace spark plugs and wires
    • Install new timing belt (last done at 97K miles)
    • Identify oil leaks - possibly head gasket and near oil filter[/INDENT]
    • Cooling system
    • Replace coolant hoses and flush system
    • Replace fan (blade broken)[/INDENT]
    • Replace exhaust (corrosion) and hangers - is there a good stainless steel option?
    • Suspension
    • Torn left inner axle boot[/INDENT]
    • Replace driver's side control arm bushing (currently has an M3 offset CAB which I am not sure is even a fit for this car)
    • Shifter out of line - need to adjust driveshaft linkage (something must be out of alignment since the reverse lights go on when the car is in neutral)
    • Temperature Gauge Not Moving - possibly the nut on the back of the instrument panel needs to be tightened
    • Locks - central locking works, but only by using the trunk cylinder; not sure whether to purchase re-build kit for driver's and passenger's side cylinders or if there is something simpler I could try first
    • Find a set of stock 15" ix wheels - car is currently on Ronal LS wheels with 205/60R15 tires (perhaps I could sell these though I am not sure of their value?) which appear to be too big for the car


    I am relatively inexperienced with these cars, but would like to start small and grow into doing more DIY work on this car. At some point, I would like to swap the transmission to be a 5-speed though I need to source all of the parts, so for right now I am just fixing things.

    In addition to the iX registry and the R3VLimited sites, I welcome any advice you have for other iX and/or E30 resources. In the meantime, your suggestions for independent BMW mechanics that have expertise with these cars would be helpful.

    I am looking forward to being part of this forum.

    Bill

    #2
    You're going to have a mechanic do all that? I wouldn't be surprised if you're looking at $5000.

    The brake hard lines suck to do. I've done it before and I'm looking at doing it again on my newest acquisition. If you're not doing it yourself, let them choose what material. Stock lasted 30 years, are you going to own that long? If you do choose, go copper/nickel alloy.

    If you have an oil leak near the oil filter and it's present ABOVE the oil filter, then yeah, your head gasket has an oil leak. Super common in that area. Might as well get the head gasket and timing belt done at the same time. All coolant lines and fans are coming off, replace those too at this time.

    Axle boot, easy job. Control arm bushings, suck but straight forward job.

    Shifter, you need to drop the transmission to fix anything there. Might as well swap it to a 5 speed at this point.

    Locks, easiest thing to simply install keyless entry. http://gecoils.com/?page_id=9

    Ronal LS are worth about $800, IX weaves are worth about $600. I'll trade you a set of IX weaves if you drive down to me in MD. :-P
    AWD > RWD

    Comment


      #3
      Welcome to R3V Bill!

      If you decided to fix the trans issue and have to pull it out, just swap a 5 speed. For me the auto was a bitch enough to get out that I wouldn't put i back in just to have to pull it out again.

      Running new hardlines isn't super hard, just time consuming, although I would agree with Kershaw. They suck to do. Just have to pull the old ones and mock up the new line next to it and bend accordingly. (about to do mine)

      The temp gauge not working could be the brown sensor on the thermostat not working. The blue sensor controls your idle mixture and brown sensor sends the temp to the dash gauge (I am pretty sure this is right. E30 wizards please correct me if im wrong). Not sure if there is a way to test it but it's only like $25 I believe, so it wouldn't hurt to replace it.

      All of the other stuff is relatively straight forward.
      89' 325ix Diamantschwarz/Black rattle can...

      Insta: r_moose_w

      Originally posted by flyboyx
      I imagine her smelling like spoiled milk and having a half inch crust of doodoo circumnavigating her butthole.

      Comment


        #4
        May I ask what you paid? I'm thinking of selling my iX. I just spent $2k alone on suspension refresh parts and another $1500 on labor at a discount with a mechanic who I work with at times. Parts are expensive for the iX and harder to find as well :(
        '89 325ix
        '88 M6 Royal Blue
        '13 128i "M-Sport"
        '04 ZHP Mystic Blue-SOLD
        '02 E46 330xi-SOLD
        '89 325i Laachssilber metallic-SOLD
        '89 325i Bronzit-SOLD

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by ziazhp View Post
          May I ask what you paid? I'm thinking of selling my iX. I just spent $2k alone on suspension refresh parts and another $1500 on labor at a discount with a mechanic who I work with at times. Parts are expensive for the iX and harder to find as well :(
          It's all in the condition. I recently (within the past couple months) saw a mint IX go for like $13k. Granted that was in basically showroom condition. But I'd say most are in the 5-7k range for a clean one? Might be a bit high.
          89' 325ix Diamantschwarz/Black rattle can...

          Insta: r_moose_w

          Originally posted by flyboyx
          I imagine her smelling like spoiled milk and having a half inch crust of doodoo circumnavigating her butthole.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by ziazhp View Post
            May I ask what you paid? I'm thinking of selling my iX. I just spent $2k alone on suspension refresh parts and another $1500 on labor at a discount with a mechanic who I work with at times. Parts are expensive for the iX and harder to find as well :(
            I was not aware of this site when I bought the car. Now that I know more about what I need to do, I probably overpaid. I was drawn to the less common color and the car presented fairly well. Purchase price was in the $6K range. My focus now is on returning the car to really good condition slowly and hanging onto it for a while.

            Comment


              #7
              good luck, welcome to your new ( but fun ) money pit.
              Red-ish 89 325ix with dent in the door, bad paint, missing center caps, broken defrost, broken ac, p/s pump may be going, brake pad sensors missing. On the plus side i just had the trannie and tc fixed for 2 grand!!

              Comment


                #8
                Congrats! I just picked up an '89 ix myself

                Comment


                  #9
                  Same here....bought the '91 ix from Cleveland advertised on this site by NEO. Not AT ALL as advertised by him, I probably overpaid and am deciding whether to rehab the old girl or sell it on.
                  89 325ix coupe Diamondschwartz
                  1994 Mazda Miata

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Welcome to the club! You're gonna have a blast next winter once you get her up and running!

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by ThatM20Guy View Post
                      It's all in the condition. I recently (within the past couple months) saw a mint IX go for like $13k. Granted that was in basically showroom condition. But I'd say most are in the 5-7k range for a clean one? Might be a bit high.
                      Agreed, condition is everything, BUT, everyone's definition of "clean" and "mint" is different...

                      In my opinion, a good condition iX has minimal/no rust and up-to-date maintenance. Miles are not super important if everything has been maintained well. A clean, rust-free, well-maintained iX can easily bring over $10k. Your 5-7k estimate is a little low (in my opinion). My buddy sold his pretty clean iX (sedan/manual) with no rust for 10K last year, even though it had over 200k miles and no sport package, heated seats, etc... Like I said, a clean body and proper maintenance trumps mileage.

                      On the high-end, I know of a MINTY iX (coupe/manual) with 60k miles that sold for ~20k a couple years ago. That car is perfect, basically a show car. Most people would feel guilty rallying it in the elements, but it's a good high-end market gauge.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I paid $2600 for my first '89 iX, 196k miles. It was rusty but in pretty good mechanical condition, needed a tune up pretty early on but nothing major. The automatic transmission gave out about 6 months in and I 5-speed swapped it. That lasted until I got rear-ended, at about 229,000 miles. I feel I got a fair price on that one.

                        I paid $2500 for my second '89 iX, 184k miles on the stopped odometer. Less rusty outside, more rusty inside, but the body is overall better. Very poor mechanical condition, hacked up wiring, suspension completely hosed. I swapped in my 5 speed, then busted a rocker arm and put a rebuilt head on it. I overpaid for this one, the nostalgia goggles got to me. I don't regret buying it but I should have paid about a grand less.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I've paid:

                          $2600 - auto, no rust, frozen suspension, decent repaint, good interior. 7 years ago. RIP Fire.
                          $750 - manual, rust, swirled to hell paint, had an ok interior, broken head. 7 years ago. It's running better than ever, although the rust has slowly gotten worse. This is my "nice" ix and it's gotten fairly nice over the years, although the 2 year old VR head gasket is leaking oil. I think this year is the year for rust repair and repaint.
                          $800 - manual. rust. missing the front 20% (plasma torch). no title. 3 months ago. Parted.
                          $750 - manual. russsssssstttttttttt. not running. did I mention rust? decent interior. body and paint are bad. 3 weeks ago. It's running now and I hope to throw enough money at it in the coming few weeks to make it to the start of Rallyx season. This weekend I need to do the fuel lines, rear brake lines, control arm bushings, timing belt, water pump, tensioner, and hope nothing else breaks. Head gasket is leaking oil but I'll ignore that for now.

                          I'd love to have a non rusty ix ($8000+) but then I'd never drive it. My 540i/6 is a comfier DD anyway.
                          AWD > RWD

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I just bought 2 1989 Alpine white iXs.

                            First one is a 5-speed with good interior but lots of Vermont rust. Paid $500. Parts car.

                            Second one also a 1989 Alpine white iX but an auto with minimal rust issues (Under the heat shield by the headers and a small hole on the floor on the rear passenger's side). Great paint, runs perfect, great compression. Paid $1800 for this one. It had a bad transmission. I also discovered that the front strut housings are rusted through where the springs sit. luckily the parts car housings are solid.
                            1986 E30 325E
                            1989 E30 325iX
                            2003 E54 X5.
                            1993 Mercedes W124 300E
                            1995 Mercedes W124 E320.
                            2009 VW Touareg
                            2007 Porsche Cayman S

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