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(long) resurrecting the '87 325is...

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    (long) resurrecting the '87 325is...

    hey all,
    i haven't really been on this forum much in a while. While I had the 928 running, I daily drove it and kinda put the 325 to bed for a year. It actually sat in a parking lot and got lots of dust, a flat tire, and a dead battery.

    "While I had the 928 running". Yes... I got into an unfortunate accident. To keep a long story short, a skater jumped out into the street while I was driving. He saw me, freaked out, and fell down right in the middle lane. Due to the short amount of time I had and the circumstances, the only thing I could do was put my car onto the sidewalk which ended up putting me into a tree. Everyone is OK. The kid ran away. My car is totaled. If you're interested in the story, its over on rennlist (http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...d.php?t=197371). I was not racing, and I was not driving too fast for the conditions.

    Anyways. I went down to the parking lot last night where the bimmer sat and I hooked up my jump kit. The car started right up, first try, no extra gas needed. I then put a can of tire sealant in (don't bash me, the tire is bald and needs replacing anyways). My goal was to get the car running well that night, smog it this morning, and take it to AAA for registration.

    I found a spare 325i AFM and airbox in storage to replace the 535i AFM and KN filter. The brakes didn't work well at all. I found that the driver's side caliper somehow got clogged. I replaced that with another spare I had in storage. Within 2 hours, I had the car starting, idling, running, and braking rather decently.

    I went in this morning to get a smogging. Car failed low-speed, passed flying colors on high-speed. I can tell the car had a few misses in it, so I bought a set of ignition goods from bav (cap/rotor/plugs/wires). I'm going to put a bottle of CRC into it today, and hopefully will be able to smog again on friday when the stuff comes in and I get it all put in.

    Aside from that... i've got interesting suspension issues. A couple years ago, I fishtailed my car in the rain and slammed into a curb. I blew the driver/rear CV joint and bearing. I also bent something in the suspension to cause the wheel to have permanently messed up camber. I got a parts car from Barry a long time ago and took all of the rear suspension off it. I replaced the pssgr-side trailing arm, but didn't have time to do the driver's side. I actually have a set of bushings from BMWbushings.com (scott's performance stuff) but never got a chance to put them in. Is there some kind of bushing puller I can buy that will extract the old bushings from the trailing arms? I don't really have the area necessary to burn the old bushings out (I live in an apartment). Also, if I hit the curb hard enough to damage the CV (which was replaced), and alter the camber by a few degrees, would you think the trailing arm was bent, or the subframe tabs that hold the trailing arm?

    I look at my bimmer and I feel very sad. I can't believe I let the car sit for a year and get as bad as it did. It looks like crap and it makes my stomach turn everytime I look at it. My goal is to get the car at least back to stock, then take a paint/body class and repaint the car on my own. I'll probably do some light suspension work, very simple performance mods, some exhaust work, and that's about it. I just want a nice, reliable, daily-drivable 325is.

    Thanks for listening.
    Michael Spiegle

    '01 Ford Escape / Daily Driver
    '99 M3 / Track Car
    '87 325is bronzit / wtf car
    '06 Daytona Triumph 675 / Daily Rider

    #2
    I'd like to add:

    Its good getting back into the 325... it will be much cheaper on gas, more comfortable to daily drive, and much cheaper to maintain/mod.

    Barry mentioned something funny to me... he says I should put the Supercharged 5.0L V8 from my porsche into the E30. It was a cool idea, and it would be one-of-a-kind, but no. I just cant... I need this car to be a reliable daily-driver within a week.

    Somehow, I just don't see how I can possibly put 400hp to use in a stock e30 chassis + driveline.
    Michael Spiegle

    '01 Ford Escape / Daily Driver
    '99 M3 / Track Car
    '87 325is bronzit / wtf car
    '06 Daytona Triumph 675 / Daily Rider

    Comment


      #3
      I also canĀ“t believe you left your e30 tinkering to porsche tinkering,

      Is there any chance you can find a complete E30 325i rear susp?
      replace all the bushings and swap it in ? That is of course the true long time E30 owner way :)
      That way you have minimal stop time for the car , altough it has bad bushings right now.
      Gunni
      @ Prodrive / Aston Martin Racing

      Comment


        #4
        hey there gunni. Yes, I have a complete rear susp (both trailing arms and subframe) sitting around. I actually put the passenger side trailing arm on my car already. I was hesitant to replace the subframe since its alot of work. If I can get away with just replacing the trailing arms and have a good alignment, i'll be happy with that.

        I'll need to pull the pssgr arm off, pull the bushings and put the new ones in. Just not sure how to remove the bushings. How would you do it without a press? Is there such a device as a bushing puller?
        Michael Spiegle

        '01 Ford Escape / Daily Driver
        '99 M3 / Track Car
        '87 325is bronzit / wtf car
        '06 Daytona Triumph 675 / Daily Rider

        Comment


          #5
          you don't need a special puller for the trailing arms. an old bolt and a regular 2 jaw puller (as long as it's long enough) will work fine. you do have to trim some rubber off on one side of the old bushings to provide a space for the puller to grip, but an exacto knife and 5 minutes takes care of that problem. the new ones just slide in..
          Build thread

          Bimmerlabs

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by nando
            you don't need a special puller for the trailing arms. an old bolt and a regular 2 jaw puller (as long as it's long enough) will work fine. you do have to trim some rubber off on one side of the old bushings to provide a space for the puller to grip, but an exacto knife and 5 minutes takes care of that problem. the new ones just slide in..
            thanks! that's exactly what I needed to know.
            Michael Spiegle

            '01 Ford Escape / Daily Driver
            '99 M3 / Track Car
            '87 325is bronzit / wtf car
            '06 Daytona Triumph 675 / Daily Rider

            Comment

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