New Member - 1989 325ix and Evo

[AWDBOB]

I have the 284/272 schrick cam on a 2.7 stroker with 10.2/1 compression. I lightened the stock flywheel to 13lbs. The car idles around 900 with some lumpiness. Stock new valve springs and rockers have held up for 40k+ miles with frequent redlines. The vibration is ok until you get aftermarket motor mounts, stick with stock.

An engine with slightly less cam and stock compression will be the hot ticket for a daily. It retains the smoothness these engines are famous for.


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I hear you on the motor mounts. The Evo has solid mounts and there's definitely some serious vibration, but damn, that 1-2 shift is smooth :)

I ran a 2.8 m20 turbo before and it reved 7000 all night long! Balance was great and the bearings etc looked great when i parted it out after 2-3 years of heavy use with minimum 480whp :)

Fantastic! I had the wrist pin moved up 6mm to accommodate the 100mm crank and 156mm rods in the Evo, but on the 4g63/64 rod angle is pretty crucial to bearing wear. Glad to know we can get away with it here :up:

Also, if you're going to, order those Koni gland nuts now, as mine have been on backorder for a while with no expected delivery date. It's the only thing holding me back from putting the coils on.

they're MM pistons. the pin height does require the use of a special oil control ring but I haven't had any problems with oil burning and I've put 80,000 miles on it - doesn't burn any at all (leaks are another issue).

there are lots of good or better options these days but I do have to say the MM pistons have been extremely trouble free and they do not make any noise during cold starts. other than having more power and torque it drives pretty much like a stock engine does.

Not that I've been around long, but it doesn't seem like a 'driven' M20 exists without leaks. I guess it adds character haha.

MM makes some great stuff. I'm actually using their ring set for the stock i pistons, as they apparently break in far better than the stock chrome-faced rings.

[AWDBOB]

Out with the old, in with the new. Yes, that is electrical tape, and yes, it held up for far too long.




Also, stole the front end from the 4dr!

[AWDBOB]

Gland nuts finally came in from Koni. Man, these things are short compared to the stockers! Finally going on tomorrow.



Started the lip polishing, got through 320, 400, and 800. Starting to look good!

[AWDBOB]

got the front coils on today. This is almost maxed out on high. Had no idea it was going to be this low.

I need adj endlinks too, which I forgot to order. Do the M3 ones work on the iX?

[nando]

Yes

As far as height, its where you welded the perch. Thats only a 3" adjuster, you could have welded it up 1" higher. You can also get 6" adjusters on ebay and cut to suit.

GC camber plates would raise it up a tad as well (~1/4").

[AWDBOB]

Yes

As far as height, its where you welded the perch. Thats only a 3" adjuster, you could have welded it up 1" higher. You can also get 6" adjusters on ebay and cut to suit.

GC camber plates would raise it up a tad as well (~1/4").

Yep, unfortunately the PO welded the perches on. eBay adjusters aren't a bad idea. I don't hate the ride height, though. In person it looks pretty sweet, and the car is pretty damn responsive. Can definitely feel the swaybar geometry being off, though.

What end links do you run? Also, do you have a rear sway or any other suspension mods?

[iXguido]

that looks amazing! reminds me of my old ix :(

[AWDBOB]

that looks amazing! reminds me of my old ix :(

Thanks, man! I'd say you need another :up:

[AWDBOB]

Suspension settled

[fresh_TD]

Looks sweet...I need this set up

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[iXguido]

what are your driving impressions so far? that thing looks awesome, well done

[TehRaydarlover]

Dang, that's a low ix! Looks great!

[Mlarsen]

This is almost maxed out on high. Had no idea it was going to be this low.

Damn, that's awesome! Haha, I feel like I'm building the exact same car. I just got a bimmerheads head with a 280 cam with a 2.7 bottom end. Also, was planning on building similar coilovers. I didn't see, what struts did you use?

[bradnic]

Looks damn good! cool to see a low IX.

We figured that for heavy winter driving a bit higher advisable.. you're in Philly so maybe only an issue for a few days a year. I've got H&R sports on our IX coupe. Low enough for us, but I do like the low on yours! If I ever move on to coil overs I'll get a setup like nando's that sits a little higher.

[AWDBOB]

Looks sweet...I need this set up

You do need this!

what are your driving impressions so far? that thing looks awesome, well done

Driving impressions:

Ride quality is great. FAR better than I expected. Our roads back here aren't very good at all, especially during winter, and the car is still very forgiving and doesn't send you through the roof when you're not able to dodge a pothole.

CV Shafts obviously increase in angle once you go low, but they do not feel strained/binded on hard right/left turns, and I don't see the lowering causing them to be any less reliable than they are at stock ride height.

You really don't feel every bump in the road, and the car is still pleasant to drive, but VERY sharp and precise when you want it to be, which was my goal. I think the Konis made all the difference in the world, as their valving matched my spring rate great, and also since I shortened the struts/housing, suspension travel is retained!

Hope that helps.

Dang, that's a low ix! Looks great!

Thanks, man!

Damn, that's awesome! Haha, I feel like I'm building the exact same car. I just got a bimmerheads head with a 280 cam with a 2.7 bottom end. Also, was planning on building similar coilovers. I didn't see, what struts did you use?

Baha there's nothing wrong with that! I'm jealous of the Bimmerheads head/2.7, that's going to be a killer setup!

I used shortened Konis that aren't advertised for the iX. They're 2.1" shorter than standard iX struts, so that is the length you'd need to shorten your housings.

P/N: 8610-1436race

Also, when ordering these struts you need to order special Koni gland nuts with them too, as they don't come with them since they're not actually iX struts.

P/N for gland nuts:

73.25.01.003.1 (M48 x 1.50) - [Thanks Nisse]

The only other annoying thing is that the threads are bigger for the top strut nut than stock so you'll need to get creative. I took a 21mm (I think) socket and shaved it down so it fit in the hole to tighten the nut down. The nut is the same thread size/pitch as your ball joint nut.

Looks damn good! cool to see a low IX.

We figured that for heavy winter driving a bit higher advisable.. you're in Philly so maybe only an issue for a few days a year. I've got H&R sports on our IX coupe. Low enough for us, but I do like the low on yours! If I ever move on to coil overs I'll get a setup like nando's that sits a little higher.

Thanks, man! Ironically, we got hit HARD this Winter, but thankfully this setup wasn't on for all of that snow or I would've stayed inside quite a bit more haha.

The H&Rs look great and are definitely functional for Winter status!

Thankfully, the only thing I'll need to do is get a longer thread for the coilover adjuster, as the GC sleeves aren't quite long enough, but that is only due to the position in which the perch was welded on, if that makes sense.

So- my setup is virtually the same as nando's (I used Konis, he used Bilsteins), but he has a longer threaded sleeve for the front to raise it higher, and he welded his perches on a tad higher than mine!

I'll have to get him to take a measurement, and I will too, so that way the info is there for anyone deciding on where to weld the perches in the future.