Belgium 1986 325ix coupe

[325ixav]

Hello Everyone,

My name is xavier, I'm from Belgium, i'm the owner of a 1986 e30 325ix since 2013, it is my first car and it is a great car. The car is originally from France. It had 173t km and i bought it in Luxemburg.

The car had a lot of rust, but we didnt noticed it since we are not pro..

We drove it back home, at this moment, i understood that 6 cylinder engine sounds cool :mrgreen:








first thing i did to her, was to change all the trunk seal because the water was going in..

Then the chase after the rust has begin.
















after










here is few things i did

exhaust pipe



some random pipe oil vacum

new plugs

new front trunk

new rear trunk + mtech 1 spoiler

New bmw Logo.. thanks thiefs..

new brakes

new suspension bilstein b6 specific 325ix

went a bit lower


i bought some winter wheels


i added head thing from touring seats


2x new front arms .. specific 325ix = 300€piece thanks bmw

i bought some Lenso BSX wheels but sold them.. i didnt like that much

i bought 5x 15" ET41 original 325ix wheels, it is being restored

I went from 3.63 to 3.91 differentials ! much better !

I bought some Recaro front seat, it is not in the car yet, i want leather on it.



back in 2013





end of 2015

switch from summer (15" ET24 ) to winter wheels (14" ET30)


Mai 2016

The car is now around 190t km (i picture it each 1000km :D)


I blew the engine :(
I haven't got the time yet to open it. but seems like connecting rod broke and went trough the motorblock.


water leek

oil leek

the hole



the new engine coming from 1986 325ix, got it for 300€ :D



things hasn't moved for a year now
I should have the m20b25 running again for Mai-June 2017


and right now, i'm about to buy another crappy 325ix to get the engine and all the mecanics and i will build a m20b30, i just order a M54b30 crank 89.6mm stroke from a guy in Germany. I already have m21b24 crank with 81mm stroke but i wanna go bigger.

here is some pict of parts i bought last year ;D
schrick 288/288

Nuke cam pulley

some forged connecting rod 135mm i make sur it doesnt brake no more

HD rocker arm from ireland engineering

the last but no least, RHD ITB 40mm with carbone air box



the crappy 325ix will not arrive before summer, and my good 325ix neither. so i gotta be patient.

I came on this forum to share my bmw and also the m20b30 rebuild, i think i will need a few advises from you, since you do have a lot of stroker build on this forum.

[PJH]

Cool project. Good to see that it will be saved.
Best of luck with it :)




Slightly off topic: I'm also from belgium, and I have a set of 325iX BBS wheels for sale. If interested, shoot me a PM.

[Zeemz]

Awesome first post! Car looks awesome, looking forward to seeing you get it back on the road.

Nice find on the Recaros!

I studied at the University of Antwerp for a semester and loved every minute of my time in Belgium!

[2002jm]

nice

I would say you do good work:). Will be nice to see it all running again.
jm

[bradnic]

GREAT 1st post! welcome. Keep a close look on the rust. IX and rust are constant companions.

Looking forward to the engine build!

[CorvallisBMW]

Welcome! You're going to have a great car when you're done. 3.0L, ITBs, and 3.91 gears, should move along nicely

[325ixav]

Thanks PJH ! well i just bought 5x 325iX BBS, thanks anyway :)

Hello Zeemz, yes awesome first post, lol ofc 3-4 years of work, it is nice to see !! the Recaro came from a Ford escort i think, the ford seat frame is compatible with E30 chassi, but i think, i will maybe be swap with E30 seat frame.
and myself i went study a year in Canada Ontario, i also travelled in US, great country

tx 2002jm i will post photos when it is running again :coolphoto:

ye bradnic ! i noticed in the engine bay, there is some more rust to kill !

Corvallis, thank you, yup i'm so excited to start the build, i'm actually negociating with the seller, i will get the 325ix around June.

i'm also buying my first place, that is why it takes time to continue the e30. :)

[jeenyus]

I've heard that the differentials can't be swapped out because of the from diff being a different ratio. Is this the case? or is that just internet hearsay?

Awesome project though. Can't wait for the updates.

[iXguido]

I've heard that the differentials can't be swapped out because of the from diff being a different ratio. Is this the case? or is that just internet hearsay?

Awesome project though. Can't wait for the updates.

Differential swaps are totally doable on an ix. I've swapped 4.10, 3.91, and 3.73 and I have a set of 3.64 to try and some point. You just have to swap the front diff as well so the ratios match. There are 4 factory ratios available for the ix that were found in the following cars:

3.64 prefacelift manual
3.73 prefacelift auto
3.91 facelift manual
4.10 facelift auto

[downforce22]

3.64 = best diffs for 325ix making enough power to turn them like the high compression euro m20

[325ixav]

i did switched the both diff at the same time, 3.91 ratio is very interresting for the stock m20b25.
it is only short when you go on highway's, and the engine runs around 3-4000rpms


downforce i've read your thread on 3.1 turbo, it is really nice !
Did you have to do any mod to get the M54b30 crank in the m20 ?
thanks

[downforce22]

i did switched the both diff at the same time, 3.91 ratio is very interresting for the stock m20b25.
it is only short when you go on highway's, and the engine runs around 3-4000rpms


downforce i've read your thread on 3.1 turbo, it is really nice !
Did you have to do any mod to get the M54b30 crank in the m20 ?
thanks

Thanks, only modification to the engine block was the crank spacer on the front of the engine (chain vs belt) and the longer crank throw caused the rod to contact the bottom of the block. One rod did not contact it, while a rod in another cylinder did. I am not sure if that would have been a problem with stock rods and/or with the 86 mm bore, mine was 84 mm bore at the time using H beam rods.

[325ixav]

Ok nice tx !

Well some sad News, the german guy i bought the crank is a theft, and he is not responding anymore. I must now try to get the money back and find another seller. Pff

[325ixav]

Hère i got my m54b30 crank ! Finally. I must say it was not easy to get one !!

[stonea]

Great looking build so far! Its funny that the M54b30 crank was so hard to get, I have 4 of them just because they kind of fell in my lap, lol.