Spring is in the air - who wants a project car? :-)
For sale is my 1991 325IX 2-door with 187,633 miles. I am asking $2000 obo.
This car has a weird history with me. I own a small woodworking shop which shares a parking lot with a mechanic. Some dude had brought this car to the mechanic to have work done on it but then basically disappeared (moved to Nevada). It sat there for 3 or 4 years being ignored while I slowly grew more irritated. Finally, I went to a judge and had the title awarded to me and trailered it back to my home.
So - I had grand hopes and plans for this. First off, before even trying to start it, I replaced the timing belt since I didn’t know it’s age. Then it pretty much fired right up and ran great - amazing! I drove it down the road a mile and back just to verify there was nothing awful happening. I decided next to replace all the (hard) brake lines since they were a rusty mess, especially the ones running the length of the car. Here’s where “project creep” kicked in ;-).
I decided it would be much easier to replace the hard lines where they ran over the rear axles if the rear subframe was removed, and then I could do all the subframe and swing arm bushings too! Oh, and replace the fuel lines. Now, my progress slowed way down. Why not put new seals in the diff while it’s out? In the meantime, my job situation changed so that my free time (and free money) evaporated. At some point, I began to think I would just get everything running again and then sell it, but after many more months it was clear I couldn’t even accomplish that. So, i got the subframe and diff back in, wheels back on, and now I’ll just sell it as it is.
So, its status when I bought it:
- hadn’t run in several years
- Power steering inoperable due to fluid leak at one of the little pipes which runs along the outside tube
- No major through-rust anywhere except underwear the right rear bumper
- Interior quite messy, but not awful - usual cracked dash
- Black exterior paint faded and peeling
- Last couple inches of left rear spring snapped off. Did not discover this until I moved it
What I’ve done to it:
- replaced timing belt and water pump
- Replaced outer driveshaft seals on rear diff
- Replaced speedo timer unit on rear diff
- Sanded down and chassis-saver’d rear diff and subframe
- Installed poly bushings on subframe and swingarms
- Replaced 4 rotors
Other parts I have but haven’t installed:
- new pre-bent gas and return lines
- New stainless brake lines
- New parking brake lines
- New muffler
- I bought a rack and pinion off eBay but didn’t realized that the IX has a different version. You can sell this one to finance finding a correct one. Or, it might be that you can just replace the leaky return tube on the outside of the current one.
What needs to happen:
- Front to back brake lines and fuel lines need to be re-installed. This includes drilling out and retapping the screws which hold the line clamps on. I have all new clamps ready to go
- Re-installing rear brake lines, hard and soft
- Re-installing the driveshaft
- Re-installing the exhaust system
- Fixing the power-steering
I have lots of pictures, coming in a minute...
For sale is my 1991 325IX 2-door with 187,633 miles. I am asking $2000 obo.
This car has a weird history with me. I own a small woodworking shop which shares a parking lot with a mechanic. Some dude had brought this car to the mechanic to have work done on it but then basically disappeared (moved to Nevada). It sat there for 3 or 4 years being ignored while I slowly grew more irritated. Finally, I went to a judge and had the title awarded to me and trailered it back to my home.
So - I had grand hopes and plans for this. First off, before even trying to start it, I replaced the timing belt since I didn’t know it’s age. Then it pretty much fired right up and ran great - amazing! I drove it down the road a mile and back just to verify there was nothing awful happening. I decided next to replace all the (hard) brake lines since they were a rusty mess, especially the ones running the length of the car. Here’s where “project creep” kicked in ;-).
I decided it would be much easier to replace the hard lines where they ran over the rear axles if the rear subframe was removed, and then I could do all the subframe and swing arm bushings too! Oh, and replace the fuel lines. Now, my progress slowed way down. Why not put new seals in the diff while it’s out? In the meantime, my job situation changed so that my free time (and free money) evaporated. At some point, I began to think I would just get everything running again and then sell it, but after many more months it was clear I couldn’t even accomplish that. So, i got the subframe and diff back in, wheels back on, and now I’ll just sell it as it is.
So, its status when I bought it:
- hadn’t run in several years
- Power steering inoperable due to fluid leak at one of the little pipes which runs along the outside tube
- No major through-rust anywhere except underwear the right rear bumper
- Interior quite messy, but not awful - usual cracked dash
- Black exterior paint faded and peeling
- Last couple inches of left rear spring snapped off. Did not discover this until I moved it
What I’ve done to it:
- replaced timing belt and water pump
- Replaced outer driveshaft seals on rear diff
- Replaced speedo timer unit on rear diff
- Sanded down and chassis-saver’d rear diff and subframe
- Installed poly bushings on subframe and swingarms
- Replaced 4 rotors
Other parts I have but haven’t installed:
- new pre-bent gas and return lines
- New stainless brake lines
- New parking brake lines
- New muffler
- I bought a rack and pinion off eBay but didn’t realized that the IX has a different version. You can sell this one to finance finding a correct one. Or, it might be that you can just replace the leaky return tube on the outside of the current one.
What needs to happen:
- Front to back brake lines and fuel lines need to be re-installed. This includes drilling out and retapping the screws which hold the line clamps on. I have all new clamps ready to go
- Re-installing rear brake lines, hard and soft
- Re-installing the driveshaft
- Re-installing the exhaust system
- Fixing the power-steering
I have lots of pictures, coming in a minute...
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