Project: Evil M-Tech II Sedan

[ramirez54]

Hi everyone, so late last summer a close friend of the family gave me his old 1988 325i sedan. Yeah I got this car for pretty much free. The car ran but it was very rough. I decided to keep it and slowly work on it to turn it into a 4 door M-Tech II. Over the last few months I've been doing some minor work as well as collecting parts for the M-Tech II kit and fixing up the interior.

I've decided to finally start this thread as the project will be entering a few different stages in the next few weeks. Im currently working on a deal to have it painted. Over the winter I placed in some sport seats, basketweave wheels, Mtech I steering wheel and fixing up the interior including making the odometer work. From the rev counter to the temperature reading. None of those things were working. They're all set now.

In the next few weeks I'll be replacing the suspension, exhaust, radiator and other odds and ends. I'll be uploading new pictures as progress is made.

This project was something I took on to have some fun with but Im trying to do without breaking the bank. The M-Tech 2 kit is now complete with everything being OEM including the 4/door side panels thanks to German Ebay.

The final product will look something like this:



Hoping to be at that stage by mid summer. The wheels Im still undecided on.

Here are some photos from when I first picked it up. Forgive my crappy cell phone images. Once the projects kicks into a new gear I'll post good quality shots.













After having it for a few weeks I did a clay bar, wax and polish to give it a little bit of shine. It cleaned up well I must say:





And finally I'm practicing replicating the M-Technic front and rear badges:



These are not my final products. I'm creating new ones which for the front will be mounted on one of my old e30 M3 front badge which I modified to place one of these on.

Anyways thanks for looking, more progress coming soon.

[robrez]

Looking forward to see how it turns out.

[Reichart12]

Looks like a fun project to work on. I'll be watching as I just picked up a black sedan and have no direction with it lol. What's the emblem you have in the grill in the early pics?

[ramirez54]

Looks like a fun project to work on. I'll be watching as I just picked up a black sedan and have no direction with it lol. What's the emblem you have in the grill in the early pics?

Thanks guys, yeah it's going to be a fun one. This summer is going to be a busy one for me. That badge was there from the original owner (Im the third owner) who was italian. I have no idea what that badge was since it was all white but all I could make out was the shape of the country Italy.

[bades2001]

Looks like a great project! M-tech 2 sedans just look boss!

And finally I'm practicing replicating the M-Technic front and rear badges:



These are not my final products. I'm creating new ones which for the front will be mounted on one of my old e30 M3 front badge which I modified to place one of these on.

If your going to be making reps of these i'd be down for a set if your making a few extra sets:)

[ramirez54]

So I’m finally updating this thread. It’s been a slow process but Im finally ready to share the progress I’ve made over the last few months. Glad to say as I write this the car is already painted and just getting some last details before I pick it up from the shop tomorrow.

But enough words here are some pics:

I made the decision to keep the wheels stock. I wanted something I could work on so I picked up a set of pretty rough euroweaves from another forum member.



I picked up some Wurth Silver paint and clear along with some Nogaro Silver for the centers. My M3 has the same combination on 16” and I really like the look. These wheels are not perfect even after I worked on them a bit but thats ok. The purpose of this project was to have fun repairing stuff as best as I could.



After sandblasting



Glazing putty to get rid of as much curb rash as I could.



Primed and ready to paint.



Silver all around



And finally ready to go. These were a total pain specially painting the whole wheel not just the face but it was well worth it.



Mounted and ready to go.



Rear parcel shelf needed some love.



My M-Tech II rear bumper was US spec so now time to remove the rear turn signal holes.





Done with that, now prep for paint.



Carefully painted the needles red and I also had an original e30 M3 cluster surround (plastic piece with the ///M) from when I restored my M3 and I replaced it with a new one. So this car gets my old spare.



NLA M-Tech badges were not a problem. Took a couple of rounds but I was able to produce a few I was happy with.



M-Tech door sills was something I was dead set on having. I was able to get the rears but unfortunately the fronts are NLA. Instead of crying about it I did my best to replicate them. I took a stock set of front door sills and filled the grooves and painted it a somewhat close silver. They look ok, better than just the black stock pieces at least until I find a set of used fronts. The coupe ones are different so they need to be for a sedan.



They pass the 10 feet test.

Finally some goodies arrived from Germany





Could use some cleaning though.



Now the time came to dismantle the car as much as possible and get it ready for paint.





Four coats of jet black paint later we have it ready for buffing and shining.







Installation of full M-tech II kit began on saturday. Im a rookie at that so I still need to adjust the front bumper a bit and the side panels was a small pain in the butt but I got them on there.



My friend David hooking it up getting the sedan all nice and shiny





And finally this is where the car was left off on Saturday evening:



When I pick it up on Tuesday then I have to begin putting things together in terms of the interior and adjusting some of the panels a little bit. Next week Im putting some HR Springs and a full Bilstein suspension. I’m hoping to attend GFest with this thing but I doubt I’ll have time to put the suspension in by Saturday so stock height for that event it is. Another thing to come is the rear seat with the M-Tech cloth. That is still work in progress.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Chris

[MPLFoster]

nice! turning into a real gem. great job!

[ramirez54]

nice! turning into a real gem. great job!

Thank you, I appreciate that. Like every project, it's a long slow process to get as much right as possible.

I have a lot more plans for it including a swap but for now it will stay automatic m20. Im moving to southern California next year and I'll keep this car for commuting. I also did some mechanical fixes which I didn't post which includes a whole cooling system overhaul, fuel pump/filter and brand new stock exhaust. I still need to do the exhaust gaskets since those are beaten up and just clean up the engine bay a bit. But honestly that engine with more than likely over 200,000 miles runs pretty smoothly. A/C blows cold so aside from the coming suspension work and sway bars Im leaving it alone for now.

[reelizmpro]

Good job tackling this job and reproducing parts. Regarding the M tech badges, they are good but the letters need to be straight and the black background is a little too large. As for the front door sills, what you did was great...looks good! but couldn't you just cut the M tech coupe door sills down to fit the sedan?

[fresh_TD]

looks tits:-) great work!!

[ramirez54]

Good job tackling this job and reproducing parts. Regarding the M tech badges, they are good but the letters need to be straight and the black background is a little too large. As for the front door sills, what you did was great...looks good! but couldn't you just cut the M tech coupe door sills down to fit the sedan?

Thanks for the feedback. I think the photo may make the letters look a little off. I had them laser cut and then I used the template from the cut letters to line them up. As for the size I matched the size of the M3 badge width and height wise and made the letters about the size I needed in order to match the space around the letters. Anyways let me finish up the car and mount it on the grill. I test fitted it and it looks pretty accurate. I'll be posting those photos soon.

As for the door sills, yeah I thought of cutting a set but I guess I rather just wait to find an used set. Im sure they'll pop up one day.

looks tits:-) great work!!

Thanks!

[ramirez54]

Just a quick update. Got the car back home and began putting it together. Started on the front of the car, still lots of tweaking to do there to align things just a tad better. Hope to begin cleaning up the interior tonight.

[Mjrodriguez300]

Wow doing work. How much did that interior set you back?

[ramirez54]

Wow doing work. How much did that interior set you back?

Shipping was the killer, I'm into it for about 1k.

[leegf]

Chris, looks great! Update? Did you move yet? :(

-Drew