New owner, BMW 325iX Touring

[D.Martijn]

In preparation of our Alps roadtrip, I decided to re-tension my handbrake as it got a little bit looser.
When removing the rear wheels and rotors, I also noticed some black CV grease leaked out of the right joint. When I refurbished them, I also removed the crimped metal cup, there is an O-ring that seals the grease but I think I might have damaged it when installing. I decided it was best to remove the CV shaft and reseal the metal cup with some sealant.
Should hold up just fine


A while back I got a new center console piece; however with shipping one of the plastic ribs had broken. I was able to epoxy it back together, it's barely visible.
The old one that was currently fitted was broken on several places.. When swapping the consoles out, I noticed my original one was made by SIEMENS and on the new one there's a brand name (Helpos?) but I can't seem to find it on Google..
There are a couple of small differences between both of them.


1) I'm not sure for what this little grill is used but on one of them the hole is off center + the grill openings are smaller and some of them are closed.






2) Top section at the OBC is on one of them smaller


And fitted, I also received a replacement oil temperature sensor. The original one I bought suddenly had a bad connection. I contacted the seller and he send me a new one.
If there are people interested in one of these, this is his instagram account. He uses original buttons, it's possible to turn of the display as well. Very nice guy. https://www.instagram.com/bad_e30/

[D.Martijn]

Still the nicest topic for iX owners - a lot of good information from your side.
What I recently found out was that it’’s quite easy to add bluetooth connection to old BMW radios. I think this would be a great upgrade.

Thanks man! I'm try my best to give correct information however there are far more iX enthusiasts that know a ton more than I do on this forum :)
Yeah, I've had a second look on Google and found some sort of adapter that might work on my radio as well. I've contacted the company to ask if they can confirm that this adapter also works on my radio.

That would definitly be a nice upgrade; although I don't really listen to any music when driving my iX. I prefer the sound of the straight six

That would be such a good car for an Alps ski trip

Thank you! We're planning on doing an Alps trip in September.
(Furkapass, Bernina, Silveretta, Stelvio... just a couple from the list ;) )

[econti]

That would be such a good car for an Alps ski trip

[Aigar]

Still the nicest topic for iX owners - a lot of good information from your side.
What I recently found out was that it’’s quite easy to add bluetooth connection to old BMW radios. I think this would be a great upgrade.

[D.Martijn]

It's been a pretty uneventfull couple of weeks on the Touring *knocks on wood*. My uncles very happy with the work done on his Touring and is loving the short shifter.

I have a full set of 5 iX wheels but only have 4 normal besketweaves.
This week I had a day off of work, I decided to go the The Netherlands and pick up a spare regular 15inch basketweave (ET24). Mainly so I have a correct spare for when we do our roadtrip to the Alps :)
The seller had a nice selection of a couple cabrio and Baur E30s, a design edition E30 Touring, a E34 Touring and an E21.

I also found a company who were able to repair my original Bavaria C Business radio, It's very common that the display fails on these. Turned out it's actually not the display but the ribbon cable.
After disassembling the radio and making sure the cable looked the same as the one listed, I contacted the shop. Turned out they didn't have a manual for this repair. I decided to send my radio over to them so I didn't f*ck it up :p
This week they got it repaired and shipped out. Today it already arrived.

While it was gone, I also ordered a new power/volume knob.

Very pleased with the result and finally figured out how to manually tune in to radio stations as I couldn't see anything before :p

[D.Martijn]

Machinists swear by a mix of ATF and acetone for penetrating fluid, put some of that in the sensor and see what happens

Yeah, I've also had good luck with that mixture to loosen up bolts/nuts or the O2 sensor. thanks for the suggestion!

[econti]

Machinists swear by a mix of ATF and acetone for penetrating fluid, put some of that in the sensor and see what happens

[D.Martijn]

Quick update on my uncles iX Touring which was in for replacing all rubber hoses (brake, fuel, vacuum & coolant), refreshing the calipers, new clutch, O2 sensor....

Couple of pictures :)
The old fuel lines were pretty hard + has some cracks at the ends




Thank to the transmission not being connected yet, I was able to tilt the engine to the front and access the hose clamp behind the cilinderhead


Pretty nice that these come pre bend!



New RMS


Resealed input shaft


Z3 short shifter, new poly front carrier bushings and rear delrin bushing


Also replaced the oil level sensor (pretty expensive piece). The floet on the old one is stuck, I might try to clean it up, although no real way to open it up. Would it be possible to let it sit in some diesel to clean it out?


Also had to replace the rotor and distributor as it hadn't been replaced before


Painted the calipers, at first I wanted to also get them zinc plated but the company is still in holiday till 15th of August so it would have taken too long..


Had to drop the rear subframe to get to these... I had new one made out of cunifer at the local parts store




New diff bushing as the old one was pretty cracked..


And went to my work to modify the hollow oil filter housing bolt




And back onto it's wheels, getting the cooling system bled. I might have to rebleed the brakes a bit more


That's pretty much it. We did pick up a beige Touring interior for his iX. Mainly because of the good trunk trim and the included rear head rests as he also wanted rears for this Touring. I'll have to swap them over since the fabric in the middle of the seats is not the same.

[D.Martijn]

Great photos and work as always! I love following this thread.

Thanks Mike!!

That's awesome! Looks like I got some goodies in my car.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Cool! I've also found a guy in the UK who produces the wiring looms for the mirror. Lookes exactly like the original loom.

Wow!! That's great car and black too. Thanks for sharing some beautiful pics.

Thank you!

[janialambar]

Wow!! That's great car and black too. Thanks for sharing some beautiful pics.

[jeenyus]

Yes, it has the Mtechnic 2 map lights; These seem to go well over 180-250€ depending on the state. This one is super nice, got it for 150 incl shipping.

That's awesome! Looks like I got some goodies in my car.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[mike.bmw]

Great photos and work as always! I love following this thread.

[D.Martijn]

that's a mtech mirror? I always thought it was just a standard mirror.

Yes, it has the Mtechnic 2 map lights; These seem to go well over 180-250€ depending on the state. This one is super nice, got it for 150 incl shipping.

[jeenyus]

that's a mtech mirror? I always thought it was just a standard mirror.

[D.Martijn]

Just a quick update, bought some more parts for the iX. :)

One of the holders for my rollo was broken which caused the rollo itself to 'eject' when driving over bumps.
I was able to find a set of used ones with the included screws as I'm missing one as well.
(If anyone needs a good left holder, I still have my original one)

I also ordered some SEM grey vinyl paint. I'm thinking of painting the rollo's screen as there are some stains.
I have 3 rollo's which I plan on making atleast one good one from.


I also got some axles for 230€ shipped, I can't feel any play. However I'll reboot them or maybe even get them rebuild, not sure yet.


And finally, I got started on repairing my uncles Baur, which had a failed clutch cylinder when we went on our trip to The Netherlands.
However when removing the clutch feed line, the little nipple broke of from the reservoir. As it's NLA from BMW, I source on on a Facebook group. Hopefully it arrives today or tomorrow so I can finish that car.

Meanwhile, I also got his iX Touring in the workshop. In preparation for the roadtrip to the Alps, we plan on also replacing the clutch, clutch hydraulics, gear shift assembly, coolant hoses, fuel lines (soft and hard) & rebuilding the brakes + brake hoses.
I already got started on removing everything, I roughly timed it and it took me 3 hours to remove everything on my own. Not bad if I say to myself


Pretty greasy.. I'm thinking it was coming from the black plugs in the head as I already had degreased the outside of the gearbox a while back and it's now still dry. However I'll replace the input seal and RMS just to be sure.


Flywheel will need a resurface


Also found a Mtech rear view mirror for him :)