New Here: 1989 325i

[SEA382]

Hello all,

Been a lurker for a while, used to have a 1991 318is and sold it. I regretted that a lot, so I recently picked up a new to me 1989 325i.

Purchased the car near Modesto Ca with 212k on the ODO (working) and it made the 400+ mile trek back to Southern California.

Anyways here's a few pictures of the car after her first wash and wax on Day 1:







Not sure what my long term plans are, but for now I want to do a complete refresh of the suspension. Planning on dropping both subframes and blasting and coating them in the coming weeks (as long as it takes). I'll likely lean towards an aggressive daily that can handle a track day here and there. At some point I'd love to see a turbo on this thing but we'll see.

Day 2 I dropped the front subframe and received a short shifter/rebuild kit and a bunch of bushings from Condor Speed Shop. Their customer service was awesome a parts arrived fast!!!

[stitched]

The '91 318is is a great little car, but this is nice upgrade in power. Looking great man.

[SweetLew]

I dig it, clean car! I ordered the Condor Speed Shop motor mounts earlier this week, I'm stoked to try them out. I'll probably order some more mounts and bushings from them in the future.

[SEA382]

The '91 318is is a great little car, but this is nice upgrade in power. Looking great man.

Yeah I loved it but thought I wanted something "newer" I was wrong haha.
I purchased a 2005 2.5XT to replace it but it just wasn't the same....




Yeah the 318 seemed to rev quite a bit peppier but the power and torque increase is definitely noticeable!

Thanks!

I dig it, clean car! I ordered the Condor Speed Shop motor mounts earlier this week, I'm stoked to try them out. I'll probably order some more mounts and bushings from them in the future.

Thanks! Yeah they seem to make great products that they actually put to the test. Can't wait to get them in the car!

[stickerrebel]

shes a perfect starting platform. I picked up a similar 318is slicktop with bbs rear bumper and zender sideskirts already on it :D

[IzzY_325is]

Really nice car.

[SEA382]

Not too much progress yet. Pressed out the ball joints and lollipop bushings. Mostly waiting on the sand blasting and powder coating now.



Ordered some new Moog balljoints, and tie rod assemblies as well as the Garagistic reinforcement kit. [ http://store.garagistic.com/ocart/co...-reinforcments ]



Also picked up some some TR Motorsports wheels. They'll get coated semi gloss black.



Dropped off the wheels, subframe, control arms, and lollipops off at a local sandblasting place to be stripped at lunch today.

Going to place an order for SS Brake lines, Motor mounts, and the rear toe/camber kit tomorrow.

Meanwhile I was off exploring the forest in Northern California this weekend.

[ArdaMK2]

WOW, very nice car.
I also see that you are local, you should make it to our bi-weekly g2g that we hold in Moreno Valley and meet some the r3v members in the area!

[SEA382]

WOW, very nice car.
I also see that you are local, you should make it to our bi-weekly g2g that we hold in Moreno Valley and meet some the r3v members in the area!

Thank you! Yes that's pretty close to me! Once I get it back on four wheels I'll definitely make it out that way! When and where are the meets?



Not much progress, still waiting on the subframes and control arms to be sand blasted. I should be able to pick them up on Monday.

Meanwhile I got a dash cover. I'm not the biggest fan of them but it's a cheap solution until I am able to find a crack free dash and install it.





I also got the wheels back from blasting and they look great. I'll wait until the subframe/arms are done and my work runs semi-gloss black.





I also received some pads/rotors and printed out/bound a Bentley manual.





While I am waiting for all this prep and coating I was thinking about trying to clean up the wheel wells, anyone had any luck rattle canning them?




Helped my friend pick up an E21 on wed. Pretty neat car, needs some love but it has tons of potential.





Definitely not a BMW but here's me in my other favorite car. [Photo by Regine Trias Photography]





Working on a mold and some prototypes for carbon brake ducts for my friends EG Civic. I'd like to do the same for my brake ducts on the E30 at some point down the road. I was able to create a CAD model of the OE brake duct by plotting surface points on a CMM. Pretty fun stuff!

Here's the EG 3D printed prototypes to ensure fitment before printing the mold.










Getting excited, hoping to start assembling soon.

[CRBR30]

Sick '89! I love mine, just wish the previous owner didn't put a metal bumper on it. Still don't know why he did that lol..

[SEA382]

Sick '89! I love mine, just wish the previous owner didn't put a metal bumper on it. Still don't know why he did that lol..

Thanks! Haha yeah, not a fan of metal bumpers either!

Got the subframe and control arms back from media blasting and set off to get the Garagistic reinforcement tabs all welded in.



Everything seemed to fit up pretty well.





I'm certainly not a great welder but I got the job done haha.





Here's everything all done and ready to go to coating:

[SEA382]

Got the front parts back from coating. I'm stoked they look great!





Went ahead a pressed all the balljoints/bushings in. Coating the ID's of the ball joint holes wasn't an issue for pressing them in.





It is however an issue for getting the offset lollipop bushings over their respective shafts. I'll probably just have to sand it off. Oh well.

[SEA382]

I've been slacking a bit.

I have gotten the dampers, hubs, and wheel bearings off of the front struts and sent them off to Ground Control.

I also installed the front subframe and control arms. I'll be replacing both of the tie rods as well.

Here's a few photos:





I should have the front dampers back soon. From there I'll reinstall everything and move on to rebuilding the rear!

[garagistic]

Looks great!

[Wh33lhop]

Oops, you've installed the offset bushings wrong in the lollipops. The hole in the bushing should be right next to the bolted tab.