SweetLew's 1989 325is

[SweetLew]

Haven't posted an update in a while.

I ended up making do with what I had. So for a month or so, I was running a 35mm spacer on the front which BARELY cleared the suspension. (25mm spacer in the rear). It was pretty wide to say the least...





E30 friends are the best kind!



I decided it would be in my best interest to make these fit the way I wanted and not have a ridiculous amount of poke. So I ordered some new inner barrels from CCW so I could step down the fronts from 16x9.5 to 16x9. Also, since I plan on a turbo setup for the M20, I played around with a few different tire sizes... I spent countless hours searching for a 245+ wide tire with a 35 or 40 sidewall and had absolutely no luck. Everything has been discontinued! If anyone knows of any available, please leave a comment. So I ended up testing out 225/45R16 Direzza Star Spec's for the front and 245/45R16 Potenza RE-11's for the rear. There was just wayyyyyyy too much meat and not enough fender, so I popped them back off and decided to stick with the 215/40 setup I had before.

I've never assembled/modified 3-piece wheels before, it was a great learning experience and a lot of fun taking them apart and swapping in the new inner barrels. Best time to clean them as well!

Old barrels out!


New tires arrived!


I didn't even bother taking a picture with the new tires, I despised how big they were. Although the new inner barrels gave me another 10mm of clearance in the front, which I was stoked about. It's nice to have them tucked in a little better!

[SweetLew]

Since then, I've been to a couple local meets, running parts around, and tying up some little loose ends that have always bothered me in a small way.





The weather stripping around my antenna has rotted away and I could constantly hear my antenna clunking around while driving. So I pulled the whole antenna assembly out since I don't really listen to the radio anyway. For those doing the same thing, I finally found a plug locally that fit. I don't know what it's original purpose was, but it's a 7/8" diameter plug and fits super snug to keep all the water out.


When I bought the car, it had a gnarly little dent in the lower portion of the rear bumper. Which I later discovered was basically part of the car in it's entirety, and cannot be replaced by itself. After consulting with a few PDR guys and body shops, who didn't think they could do much with it, I took matters into my own hands and riveted on a thin plate of aluminum to cover it. Besides, who doesn't love that aggressive rivet look? :devil:





More local meets:

[SweetLew]

Depending on how good of an eye you have for body work/paint, you may have noticed that my front and rear bumpers haven't been wrapped yet. The original color is somewhat similar, so I've left it for a few weeks until I could find time to wrap them.

In the whole mix of having the bumpers on and off for the dent "fix", I took advantage of the opportunity to wrap them and test fit the new "duck tail" spoiler which recently arrived. ;D









Dialing in ride height for an upcoming show.


Working late certainly has it's benefits. For example, rad sunset pictures on the way out.

[SweetLew]

We had an awesome local show last weekend with a HUGE turnout. About 500 registered vehicles, and 8,000+ spectators! Definitely one of the best shows I've been to, lots of great car enthusiasts here in Utah.

On the way to the show:

[N2MYE30]

I really dig your car! :up:

[Reichart12]

I like this, the wrap looks good. Keep going with the progress and pics.

[scabzzzz]

Nice looking car and good progress. Really didnt like the Work's on there, although they are realllly nice wheels. Interesting how good the wrap turned out.

:thumbsup:

[SweetLew]

Thanks gentlemen!

Nice looking car and good progress. Really didnt like the Work's on there, although they are realllly nice wheels. Interesting how good the wrap turned out.

:thumbsup:

Yeah, I was actually pretty bummed when I saw how the Work's looked. Luckily I was able to sell them pretty quickly.

[SweetLew]

My buddy talked me into an exhaust, so I had a local shop called Simple Performance make me a straight pipe off the headers to a single in, dual out Magnaflow. It's 2.5" and somewhat OEM looking from the rear. I'm pretty stoked on it, kind of fun to have a louder exhaust again.

So far no droning on the highway, it quiets down unless I'm accelerating.



That new new.

[SweetLew]

A big step in the right direction!

I found a VERY well sorted turbo kit from an employee of Integrated Engineering who ran it on his E30. The kit came with everything needed for a great turbo setup (see kit list below). For the turbo install, I'll basically be swapping the whole head and both manifolds as a whole. I separately purchased the motor mounts, Walbro 255, and new gaskets to complete the solid setup.

Parts list:

• HX35 - Ported to T3 flange
• Tial EWG w/ dump to downpipe
• eBay turbo manifold
• eBay oil cooler
• eBay intercooler and piping
• Tial 50mm BOV
• Rebuilt and decked head
• Condor Speed Shop Motor Mounts
• ARP head studs
• 42lb Ford Lightning Green Top Injectors
• LS2 ignition coils with custom mount to valve cover
• Integrated Engineering distributor delete plate
• e46 cam position sensor
• Walbro 255 kit from CA Tuned
• Megasquirt V3
• Innovate MXL Wideband
• E36 modified wiring harness
• 3" turbo back exhaust

Here's the donor I'm pulling it all off of:




Everything is solid performance wise, but not super pretty. So this week I've spent a lot of time pulling everything apart and cleaning/painting/powder coating as well as heat wrapping the manifold and downpipe. Gives me a good excuse to get it done while I wait for the rest of the parts to arrive.












Getting the intercooler mocked up!

[pandaboo911]

What color wrap is that? Is it 3M? looks sweet.

[slc325ix]

Sweet car, seen it a few times in person and never would of guessed it was wrapped.

[SweetLew]

What color wrap is that? Is it 3M? looks sweet.

Thanks! It's 3M 1080 series, color is Gloss Anthracite.

[SweetLew]

Lots of progress in the past few days. While waiting for the weekend turbo install to arrive, here's what I started with.

I went for a dark red on the tail lights, 6 coats of transparent red (Night Shades paint). Followed by 6 coats of clear, so they're suuuuuuper glossy. :)

Please excuse my bird poop...

[totheredline]

I NEED that duckbill spoiler in my life