Has anybody made an IX convertible?

[mattdk318i]

Low can be added:D


Power can be added:D



I keep seeing cheap clean verts and rotted out IXs, I was hoping it was just a matter of swapping everything over but i knew that was unlikely.

Not really practical but its something but still thinking about it, i dont even really like verts much.

This is what got me thinking:

bmw snow by offwhiteghost, on Flickr

my old vert, Before me was nick, before him was 2 other guys i believe

[nando]

I always thought an ix touring would be super-cool..

But yeah - doing and ix cab or touring would basically involve grafting a whole front ix clip to recipient car. Lotta work.

The ultimate franken-30 I can imagine would be a 2 door, ix touring with /M fenders - now THAT would be something else !!

uhm, they made ix tourings - from the factory - up to the very end of E30 production in the mid 90's.



as far as the convertable, WHY? okay, I'll never "get" convertables personally, so I'm probably not qualified to ask that..

[Erik j]

as far as the convertable, WHY? okay, I'll never "get" convertables personally, so I'm probably not qualified to ask that..

A iX convertible would be a novelty item really.

As the owner of both a iX and a iC I can say that combining the 2 would be worthless..... unless you lived in southern Cali and used it as a sand dune fun car.

[slammin.e28]

I'd rather make a truck out of an IX.

[Erik j]

Like this?

[slammin.e28]

Like this?

Yeah, but with a bed cut out to haul shit.

That it pretty badass though!

[offwhiteghost]

Like this?

Think of this but with out its top, like an old ford bronco. Pointless but sweet.

Great ix^^^^.

[Simon S]

uhm, they made ix tourings - from the factory - up to the very end of E30 production in the mid 90's.

I did not know that. Man - that would be a great winter car - 'cept I wouldn't want it in salt..

[kway]

Go all in and make it a diesel while you're at it.

Like this one?

I am building one (not the one pictured here) now. its going to be a 324tdx

Not quite. OP was talking verts so it would be a 324tdcx (tdxc?).

Your car makes too much sense.

[schtozo]

Well, i was just remembering that back in 1995 or so some guys did a crazy thing that has to do something with this thread. Back then i was not on the bimmer scene so obviously i dont have the specific details, i quickly called my cousin and asked him what happened to that car project, he barely knows little abouy it too. But here you go, he told me that it started as an e28 that they cut in half, eliminated the back doors and made it convertible, then thet put e34 front and back, its something like that, i saw that car oncr back then and didnt remember exactly the finished product, im in communication with my cousin to see if they have an pics of it so i can post it here in this forum. This was done in lebanon BTW. Im obviously missing many details, but this thread just pimped me to remember this, cool story huh! I wish they find any pics of it.

[glucklich21]

Flyboyx is trying to do such a thing with a S52. Quite a few hurdles to jump to get it accomplished, but I think he'll get it done.

[flyboyx]

above is mentioned that you would need two cars to make this work. this is a true statement. you need a donor ix because that would be the only feasible way to obtain all the parts you would need at a reasonable price.

getting down to the engineering standpoint, the frame rails are probably fine on the cabrio. i say this because the 3 cabrios i have owned all have the same style frame rail as the ix. some cars(coupes? my m3), however, do not. the front ix sub frame is different and mounts further forward on the rails. there are 4 caged nuts that will need to be added. the inner fenders will need to be replaced. the transmission tunnel is completely different-particularly the driver side(and also where the trans brace mounts up to the body). in the austrailian photos that erik posted, they did not change the inner fenders which likely imparts some fairly nasty handling characteristics to the new front drivetrain.

as mentioned above, it is correct that in '85, bmw did in fact make an m3 ix cabrio for the frankfurt auto show. no one seems to know what happened to this car. other than this one example, i am pretty sure no one else has accomplished this "feat".

i don't think an awd cabrio would be worthless by any standard. awd cars have other purposes than getting around in the snow. is it not the subaru's that kick ass in track events? i think many would agree that a well set up suspension on an awd car is in a different class than its rwd counterpoint. not that you would race a vert, but what about spirited driving down california mountain pass roads? what could be better than that? now imagine it with ground control's new ix coilover package!

here is a link to a thread that basically talks about finding a way to put a 24v engine into an ix body so it will sit at the angle bmw intended. interspersed in this 9 pages of arduous reading are some comparison photos and a bit of dialogue on this subject. http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88582

[Julien]

baur w00t

[flyboyx]

i guess that would be a bauer ix? cool photo but not aesthetically pleasing to me.

[Raxe]

Julien wins.