1989 325 Touring 5-lug

[DisgustipatedAP1]

Hnnng. Gorgeous. Can't wait to see what you do to it.

[240zs30]

..

Nice, subd for the updates.

[CorvallisBMW]

Sub'd, nice looking touring!

[lostbeachbum]

Last night I finished painted the last wheel, during that time I realized I had lots of time in between coats and extra paint so I decided to paint the valve cover, and Treehouse CABS. I also cleaned up the diff with a wire wheel and got it ready for install. This weekend I will take the car to get its yearly inspection Smog, and mount the Star Specs on the wheels. Hopefully starting Monday I can start the actual 5 lug swap as I now have everything prepped and ready for install. Hopefully the updates will get more interesting from here on out.

This is how my valve cover looked when I took it off. Looks like the previous owner took good care of this car.













The diff was one of two things that I wasnt able to bring with my in my luggage as the airlines only allow 50lb bags and the diff weighs in at 90lbs.



With these products being 2 to 3 times the price over here I brought these with me during my last flight back home. I would have liked to buy Redline but since this was a last min trip I could not order online and all the auto stores around my house do not carry Redline diff and trans Fluid.



Picked up some used THR CABS that were in rough shape aesthetically so I decided to clean and paint them.



that is it for the boring posts hopefully all post from here on out will be of the actual 5 lug swap.

[lostbeachbum]

Changed the title of the thread because the other one sucked.

[lostbeachbum]

Last night I had about 4 hours so I decided that I would start the swap. First thing I am doing this swap in the parking garage of my apt complex which is underground which means there is little light, and little space since I Have a car parked next to me. I know its not an optimal location to do a swap but its all I have.

sorry for the grainy pics but the low light and Iphone dont mix well.



so after removing the front left suspension I noticed that all the ball joints on the the old control arm were blown, the strut was blown, and the H&R spring had a coil cut.









this is my work area.



Hopefully tonight I can finish up the left front and then R&R the front left side.

[KamakaziX]

Looking good man!

[lostbeachbum]

So before I start im sorry that the quality of pictures suck but it is so dark in the underground parking garage that the picture comes out super noisy.

I finally for the front installed, but have also encountered an issue. One of the control arms I installed i believe is bent as the drivers side wheel is approx .6inches further back compared to the right side wheel. I have a replacement arm and ball joints being sent to the shop for them to get pressed in, and then I will have to figure out the logistics of getting it over here ASAP. Also I have found that the 6" springs in the front have left the car with a nice 4x4 sized wheel gap, so I have ordered 4" springs to reduce that gap. Other than that the front with the sparco strut bar and IE camber plates have been installed.






With that done I started on the rear and where I had the most difficult time was removing the rear axle nuts. since there was no retaining washer in the rear my only idea is that the rear had already been removed and that the person decided to TQ the shit outta these NUTS.

I sheered 2 half inch extensions trying to get these off before I moved to plan B.



Plan B. I bitched and complained for a while and started looking online on what people did, and I came across a video on youtube.



Since I am a one man army this was the perfect way to keep the socket from slipping off and stripping the nut and also allowed for me to get MAX TQ.

I sprayed the shit out of the nuts, placed the jack in the perfect spot and used a 4 foot long 2" pipe and got both nuts off with ease. Highly recommend this method.

SO with that removed I was able to uninstall everything else without any issues. I finished the night with only the trailing arms, and diff bolted on. Next work day I will remove the TA, and Diff and hopefully get the new TA and diff installed.





To be continued.......

[e34m50]

Man! Love the color combo. If only it's that easy to get one of those into the US, I would be all over it!! Nice car dude!

[SeatownE30]

Are you kidding me? It looks brand new! Enjoy and take care of her!

[lostbeachbum]

FINISHED!!!!

[ForcedFirebird]

Looks great! Maybe will see it in person some day. Glad the parts worked out :)

[cbouchez]

It looks awesome! The color combo with the wheels look great!

[lostbeachbum]

Looks great! Maybe will see it in person some day. Glad the parts worked out :)

John did I send you the pic of the F&^% control arm next to the good one? Thanks again for all your help in welding up the struts and pressing in the bushings.

[ForcedFirebird]

No. Guess I could have looked them over better, but would be hard to tell comparing right/left, and it's not like we have a ton of e36 parts laying around like we do e30 parts lol.