1989 325ix Dinan Turbo stablemate for my 1988 E24 M6

[Max325ix]

Check Amazon, they have flasher relays for leds.

Going to swap back the OEM bulbs for now. Maybe in near future will look to source relays to support the LED’s.
Thanks for the tip

Max

[ForcedFirebird]

If all windows stopped working, check the breaker/lockout. It's a little square or rectangle button depending year.

[moatilliatta]

Check Amazon, they have flasher relays for leds.

[Max325ix]

Most annoying…. In an effort to make the things more safe I had the rear tail light bulbs swapped for brighter LED’s. The result was brighter tail lights however, when using the turn signals the interval now is a rapid flash. The hazard flaw are still the same pace. Will need to swap them back. Second gremlin, none of the windows open. They did when I got the car before starting the project. I’m hopeful because none of them open so I’m hopeful it’s a fuse. Aside from these two item and needing to swap out the old gas it should be good to go.

[Max325ix]

Hello

Well… this journey has taken 5 years longer than I anticipated but this IX is finally mechanically ready. I thought it would take one year to complete…6 years later here we are :). Today it is on a trailer and on its way to Florida. Due to arrive late this evening in North/Central FL area. I plan to head up either Monday, Tuesday or Thursday to pick it up. Haven’t decided yet if it is best to drive it the 5 hours to South FL or trailer it. Either way, I should be able to share some photos and experiences in the coming days.

Max

[Max325ix]

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

It’s been over 1 year and 8 months since I’ve been on here. Many more years than I ever expected it would have taken to get this car done. Hurricanes, business changes, house disasters, a baby, a new business just be for the pandemic plus of coarse the pandemic itself. I cannot recall what else was thrown my way.

Well... after all this time and life set-backs the car is finally done. All except the radio which lights up but does not produce sound. It’s determined that its the head unit. I may send it out to be restored at a later date rather than replace. A few cosmetics remain which are being addressed now. I’ll be heading up to GA to pick it up shortly. Haven’t yet decided if I’ll be driving it down to South FL or trailering it. Big part of me wants to enjoy the drive home. It’s been tested locally by Steve, runs perfectly but maybe its best to do some more short driving runs before subjecting it to a long drive of 10 plus hours. I’ll post again when I have it home.

Stay safe.

Max

[Max325ix]

Steve let me know today the engine is running great and that it stays super cool. He ran it for over 20 minutes stationary without the fan clutch connected. It never crept past the 3/4 mark on the temp gauge.

He took out the instrument cluster to clean up all the contacts and grounds as the gas gauge wasn’t working properly, it amd all other gauges are now functioning as they should.

Ordered and replacing the front axel nut locking plates for the second time... since we had left the original front struts on the first time around due to Bilstein’s backorder but then decided to change them after the BO was lifted Steve said we shouldn’t reuse them.

Awaiting a new antenna and body guys assesment on the touchups I’d like done.

Almost there!

Max

[325isman]

Beautiful car

[Max325ix]

Steve (mechanic) advised me today that so far its running great :)

We are having the local old school body professional take a look at addressing some of the scratches, the tiny bit of imperfections it had on the top right corner of the sunroof area, right rear lower valance bit of surface rust on the black rock guard section, plus the black finish that peeled on sunroof frame.

Max

[Max325ix]

Update

Hi

Its almost done...
As per Steve (mechanic for those who have not read the entire thread) quote “got the fuse box squared away and front struts installed, runs good. Didn’t drive yet.”
He’ll be talking to a local ( local to GA) old school professional body shop guy to review some points that need touching up. Steve will begin test driving it to iron out any thing that may need adjusting or or sorting.
I hope I can make the father and son trip up to GA to pick it up at the emd of this month.
On a side note, I originally had intended to make this 325ix my daily driver. Took a little longer than I anticipated... I originally thought I’d have it done in six months, not two plus years. So, two weeks ago I bought an another bimmer to be my proper daily driver.
Picked up a really nice one owner super clean 100 % original paint free of scratches, blemishes or even stone chips.
2007 525i with 58K miles white with that orange redish brownish leather interior.




Max

[Max325ix]

I have a pair of ACS shocks I had in mind to be reconditioned to original specs... the price seems reasonable but you are saying the backorder is how long?

Hi

The rebuild time frame for Bilstien would normally be 14 days. I am sure they are back to a normal schedule by now.
This was back when Bilstein back order issues started around May 2018. That was when I called and they suggested that the rebuild of my shocks and struts would take longer than 11 weeks. Not wanting to wait I ordered new shocks and struts. The shocks arrived but struts were BO. By mid July with no ETA we chose to install the new schocks and put back the same front struts since my reasoning for replacing was proactive and not due to failure. Now that they are no longer BO I decided to replace the struts. Did not go rebuild route at this time because we already installed new B6 performance Bilstein’s in the rear. Now all four corners have matching new B6’s. I’ll rebuild the Dinan Bilstein’s some day.

Max

[TimeMachinE30]

I have a pair of ACS shocks I had in mind to be reconditioned to original specs... the price seems reasonable but you are saying the backorder is how long?

[Max325ix]

Front struts

I decided to bite the bullet again on taking apart the front struts.
Originally I was undecided on having the Bilstien struts and shocks refurbished/rebuilt or replacing for new. Rrason for considering rebuilding by Bilstein was in case Dinan had them revlaved yhus wanting to keep it original and true to how Dinan had set up the car. When told it would take 11 weeks I had decided to order new performance Bilstein’s and figured I’d keep the set on the car for future consideration. Well, that plan never turned out well as it was around the time Bilstein had the rediculas back order. Shown delivery on 12 days we dismantled everything. Only the rear shocks arrived. After a few months of waiting and no ETA in site, it was decided to install the new rear shocks and put back the existing front struts. That never sat well with me or Steve so now that they were no longer on backorder I sourced new matching front struts. So Steve will be taking them out for the second time :(.

Max

[Max325ix]

Fuse box update

Here is the back side.

Red board is the original. Beige is the good replacement.

[Max325ix]

Update on fuse box.

Ok. So here’s the final update on the fuse box. After some research I ended up finding the appropriate fuse box and able to source it via ECStunning. What wired is that when you search ECS’s site for fuse box specific to the E30 this replacement part for the red board type never shows up but if you put in the specific part number it displays.
The part that replaces the red board type fuse box is 61131386387. The board is bot red or green but beige. It was also less costly than the first box I purchased and for those needing red board replacements it is new vs sourcing a used one or needing to rewire to accomodate the five pin relay slots.

For those that asked what the two 5 pin relay slots are for, its is the headlights and fog lights. My car has the elipsoid lights.

Max