New owner, BMW 325iX Touring

[D.Martijn]

Got some more stuff for the iX.

All fluids for the diffs, transmission and T case.
Also bought 2 new rear Sachs dampers as I find that the Bilsteins, that are fitted now, quite harsh to drive daily.
On the front there are currently also Sachs dampers so it'll be more even..
I'll replace the valve cover seal and plugs when re adjusting the valves.

Got these extremely cheap on a online site. 33€ but got a 15% discount so I only paid 28€ (30$), not a bad deal if you ask me!

When driving around 90kmph (55mph) my steering wheel vibrated quite badly, decided to rebalance the front wheels. Guy are the tire shop said there was a 20gram difference on one of the wheels which is a lot he told me. When taking the car for a spin, there were no more vibrations in the steering wheel :)

There is still some sloppiness in the steering, when checking the tie rods there isn't any noticeable play so I assume the problem might be the steering quibo which I also ordered with the dampers.

Still waiting for some better weather so I can fit all the parts :)

[bostonvert]

Where did you get the Sachs shocks from if I may ask?I think I might get a full set of 4 for my 520i e28 since bilstein would be a bit overkill for a (bompabak) cruiser!

[D.Martijn]

Where did you get the Sachs shocks from if I may ask?I think I might get a full set of 4 for my 520i e28 since bilstein would be a bit overkill for a (bompabak) cruiser!

Sure, I got them from besteonderdelen.nl
But it looks like autodoc.nl or autodoc.be is the same vendor.
As the box where my parts arrived in, had autodoc printed all over it.
Shipping was pretty fast too.

[D.Martijn]

I noticed a few weeks ago that the boot floor was damp.
When looking from where the water came in I noticed the seal at the boot pump was twisted. which caused water to seep in and drip on the carpet.


Already grew some mold too


I decided to buy a new seal but it seems like BMW doesn't offer the boot seal for the Touring anymore.. So I checked ebay. I found a brand new seal in Germany for 55€ shipped, seems like a pretty good deal to me.


New seal fitted on the boot. I also removed as much water/dampness with paper towels.


Hopefully it won't leak again :p



I also decided to look into cleaning the valve cover. I tried using a soft brass bristle brush so I wouldn't make scratches into the aluminium and also Nanolex Race film remover to dissolve the cosmoline.
Old picture which shows the before


And after




Also took the opportunity to take a picture with my DSLR of the valvetrain


Also adjusted the wiper arms. When I was driving on the highway when it rained and the wipers were on full speed, they were lightly tapping the rubber seal on the bottom of the front windshield.

[D.Martijn]

As it's getting colder over here in Belgium, I noticed my 325 had a rough idle on start up (about 500rpm on the tacho)

Decided to clean the ICV. When removing the rubber hose that's connected to the little elbow that's mounted on the throttle body, I noticed it had some play to it.


I tried to seal it up again by removing it completly and applying gasket sealant.


Also noticed that the little tube that goes from the ICV to the elbow is starting to crack. So I ordered this one new from BMW.

But it's fixed for now atleast. :)

I also received more parts for the E30, Brembo rear discs, new brake pads, E brake cables and shoes.

[D.Martijn]

Received some more parts for the iX.
Before mounting the new Sachs rear dampers I wanted to be sure to replace the shield that covers the fuel lines that run by the rear shock at the passenger side.

I also got the new rubber ICV hose, 2 new clamps for it and a new breather hose.
When doing the timing belt, I noticed the little rubber bushings for the radiator were missing so I also got 2 of those.


Also, no more noise coming from the boot when going over bumps as the spare wheel is now fixed into place with some new hardware :)
Still needs a bit of a clean though..


And finally, cleaned it completely


Paint stills shines pretty good

[burzaa]

Lazurblau I'm guessing? Looks similar to mine, sweet to see it on a Touring!

Build looks awesome, keep up with the updates

[D.Martijn]

Lazurblau I'm guessing? Looks similar to mine, sweet to see it on a Touring!

Build looks awesome, keep up with the updates

Yes, Lazurblau :)
Thanks for the comment!

[squidmaster]

Beautiful car! Exactly what I've been personally looking for, but they're impossible to find in America

Looking forward to future updates

edit: thank you for removing that M badge :up:

[D.Martijn]

Beautiful car! Exactly what I've been personally looking for, but they're impossible to find in America

Looking forward to future updates

edit: thank you for removing that M badge :up:

Thank you! Looks like these are a pretty rare breed of E30's over there in the US.

Hah, yes! Took me long enough to remove it.. in my defence, it was a genuine BMW badge.. ;D

[D.Martijn]

Finally got the new Sachs rear dampers installed on the Touring.
Took my time to clean the inner wheel wells too.
I first had to gut the rear trim panels from the boot before I could remove the nuts of the upper mounts.

Upper shock mounts were in need of replacing


The old Bilstein shocks had both cracked lower rubber bushes, were also pretty rusty.


New shock in place. Rear rotors need to be replaced soon. But it looks like I ordered the wrong rear (non vented) rotors.. Will have to return them and get the correct ones straight from BMW


Other side, as you can see the metal shield for the fuel lines was non existed.
Also noticed some rust were the shield slides partly in the body of the car.. :(
I'll have to treat it with Brunox for now and weld in some new metal later on when I have my own workshop.


New shield in place, gave it an extra coat of primer and black paint as the factory layer seemed quite thin.


Went for a test drive afterwards, definitely much improved on bumps, also noticed a more 'secure' rear end probably because of the new upper shock mounts. Of course could be placebo effect.. :p

[docleary]

beautiful touring. i wish north america got tourings as europe did, its rare to see them here, and i've only seen 1 iX touring in the last 8 years.

[D.Martijn]

beautiful touring. i wish north america got tourings as europe did, its rare to see them here, and i've only seen 1 iX touring in the last 8 years.

Thanks you!
Yes, it a shame they didn't sell them over there.
I haven't seen many driving around here either (except my uncle his iX Touring) but there are still a few for sale here in Europe as of now.

[car_gal_jenni]

Gorgeous car!! Oh man, I've been telling my boyfriend for a long time that I want a Lazurblau IX Touring. He thinks I'm crazy for wanting a touring at all (I'm in the states, parts are harder to find if needed), but I just LOVE how these look. I really need to get myself one of these soon before they've all rotted to death.

[D.Martijn]

Little update,

So since I ordered the wrong rear rotors (for a regular ix sedan/coupe) and I don't want to give up on the vented rotors yet, I started searching on the internet.
Turns out no one has the specific rear vented rotors for an iX Touring in stock. Even BMW doesn't have these available anymore..
You can however still order them but there is no ETA.

Because of this I tried searching for some used ones that are in better shape than the ones on my iX.
I have found these 2 rotors along with a whole rear sub frame assembly.
They seems to be in pretty good nick besides some rust. (still measure 19mm)

I might pick these up for the Touring.

Also received the toolkit for the Touring as mine was missing from the car.
There is some slight corrosion but everything is included.

Gorgeous car!! Oh man, I've been telling my boyfriend for a long time that I want a Lazurblau IX Touring. He thinks I'm crazy for wanting a touring at all (I'm in the states, parts are harder to find if needed), but I just LOVE how these look. I really need to get myself one of these soon before they've all rotted to death.

Thank you for the nice comment! I just love this car in the Lazurblau, it's such a nice color. Yes, some parts (like the rear vented rotors) are pretty hard to get.