'91 Sterling S50 Swap

[zcenterb]

UPDATED ON LAST PAGE

Hey r3v,
I've been slowly building a track car for a few years now and thought I'd upload my progress now that its come together. I picked up the car when I was in high school and was saving up for each part as I went and am now in college spending whatever free time I have working on it. I didn't want to skimp on anything in this build and I think i've done a pretty good job of that. The goal is to take it out to the track for the first time this summer, still needs a few things but I'm sure it will be one hell of a time in this car.

Sterling Silver
'91 325i
141xxx
5 speed
black vinyl sport

Upgrades:
- S50 swap from a '95 with 101xxx miles
- Full Euro Supersprint race exhaust
- Turner Motorsport race chip
- Bilstein Sport shocks
- Eibach race springs
- Mishimoto radiator and Spal high perf. Pusher
- Custom Zionsville coolant expansion tank
- AKG Poly engine mounts
- UUC Evo 3 short shift kit
- 3.5" MAF w/ silicone boots and Turner foam intake (custom heat shield)
- AC, ABS, ASC, Air bag, Assisted Brakes (to come), Power steering (to come) removed
- Bimmerworld track cabs
- D-Force LTW 5 wheels with G force Rivals
- Z3 steering rack
- Momo tuner wheel
- UUC Underdrive pulleys
- Delrin Rear subfrasme bushings w/ 95a Poly everywhere else
- 25 front and 22 rear sways with reinforcements all around
- Autometer gauge set w/ oil pres. and temp and water temp
- Turner race studs
- Condor speed shop shift knob
- All red tails
- 3.25 LSD

Theres more I am forgetting...

Up next:
- Massive 300x32mm BBK with Wilwood booster less pedal box
- Sintered kevlar clutch and JBRacing lightweight flywheel
- Recaro race seats and harness
- Strip interior
- Roll cage?

The swap







OktoberFast




With the girlfriends e30 (nraub)




Random pics








Thanks for looking
Zach

[CirrusblauS52]

Thanks for the post - nice build! If you don't mind me asking, how did you do that airbox? I'm looking to do mine in a creative way and yours looks like it's worth exploring.

[zcenterb]

Thanks for the kind words. For the box I just bought a large sheet of abs plastic on Amazon and heated up sections of it enough to bend it into shape. It's crude but it works

[ethurtee]

Really clean swap man. Kudos

[Javier h]

Airbox

Looks like Castros. How much was the total cost?

[zcenterb]

It was like $15 or so for the plastic IIRC. No more than 20 in total. Thanks guys

[CirrusblauS52]

Thanks for this info. That's definitely within my budget! I'd like to give it a try. Do you have any up-close pictures of the box by chance? I'm guessing you used 1/8" ABS and heated it with a heat gun? Did you use nutserts or something to allow the lid to be screwed down? I'm guessing that there are others with 24v swaps who would enjoy an instructional write-up with templates and such. No pressure! :)

[bostonvert]

Very nice build, engine bay looks immaculate!

Same here with saving up as I go, the hard part with college is just finding time to finish stuff

[zcenterb]

Unfortunately, no I don't. Not from when I built it anyway. I can take some tomorrow though. Cars in storage for the winter so its a little tricky to get to at the moment.

^ thank you very much. Honestly I just enjoyed tinkering with it the whole time, it was an awesome project and a very good experience. Im studying to be a mechanical engineer though so I guess its sort of up my alley as they say...

[CirrusblauS52]

Look forward to seeing more pics when you get them ...

[JeLani]

Any vids of it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zcenterb]

Sorry for the delay, got held up on time. I apologize for the quality in advance. But as the pictures show it is two pieces of ABS plastic (one top cover bolted to a single heat folded piece) with some extra trunk lining I had as a gasket and a big hole cut in the front of it for my 3.5" MAF.

[zcenterb]

Hey guys, again sorry for the delay but I know a few people wanted some updates on the current status. Right now the car is put up for the winter, but come spring and summer or warmer weather, there is a list of summer projects that I will be doing. The car will be getting a new JBRacing flywheel and sintered kevlar clutch with the clutch masters pressure plate as well as a rebuilt and resealed transmission. While I am that far in I will be deleting my power steering and replacing the assisted braking system with either the Massive booster delete plate OR the Wilwood pedal set that garagistic sells. To accommodate the upgrade, I will be doing Massive 300x32mm BBK on all four corners of the car. In addition to all of these upgrades, I will be lightening a lot of the interior and electronics, i.e. getting rid of speakers and wires, carpets, antenna, unless wiring, etc. If all goes well Ide like to get the car down to Watkins before next winter, thats the goal.

Thanks for reading let me know what you guys think/ any suggestions, etc. Thank you!

Zach

[getouth]

The sum of the parts and the length of time hints to an exemplary build!

[bostonvert]

This will be insane with all the coming mods, porsche killer on the track!

Just realized you're a fellow Vermonter, this thing on New England roads must be sooo much fun! Ever been to Groton state park? It has such a great road that goes straight trough the park with loads of sharp corners and semi-jumps, really recommend it.