New owner, BMW 325iX Touring

[e30m3s54turbo]

I like the electric headlight aim switch. I’m interested how it works out for you.

[eternal24k]

headlight housings look great! Now i kind of wish i painted mine when I had them all apart.

[D.Martijn]

The 3-pin connector I ordered arrived this week. I already made the wiring loom for the front of car to connect both aim adjust motors.
I'm still figuring out what's the best way to connect the 12V to the system. I'm sure I can take some ground from under the dash.
DIY articles regarding this retrofit tell you to take power from the light switch but I'm not a big fan of cutting in the original loom of the car. I still haven't had any luck finding the plug for the accessory connector under the dash..


In the meantime I painted the light housings after letting the primer cure for a couple days.
I had the shop where I bought the paint make 0,5L as that was the minimum amount I could get anyway. Still have tons of paint left. Looks like I'll have to restore some more headlights in the future ;)




The paint has since then dried, I removed the masking tape and applied the same quartz coating (like on the aluminium parts of my engine bay) onto the aluminium parts of the housings.


I also found a listing in Germany of a guy selling NOS ZKW front turn signal lenses. On the Touring there is one that's a little dull. I remove both lenses to clean out the housing and the reflectors, they were a little dirty but nothing mayor.
While I was busy with the turn signals, I also decided to sandblast and repaint the little screw that mounts the side turn markers on the front fenders.

[D.Martijn]

I've gone ahead and remodel the original Ford Fiesta bracket that got modified to fit the original switch mounting location/face.
The previous owner had removed some sections from the bracket to clear the fixing point for the cover.






I had to tweak the length a little to get the button to protrude just the right amount


I had a hard time removing the plastic caps of the high beams. The upper part is made from aluminium which got corroded quite a bit, making the removal of those caps near impossible.
(Luckily I never had a bulb go bad on me otherwise I wouldn't even have been able to replace it haha!)


I decided to print a little cap that fits very snug into the opening of the lamp to keep most of the blasting media out of the housing, the glass got covered with a thick tape.


Today after work hours, I sandblasted the housings. For the projectors, I made a small plate that fit's in the the projector housings lip. I used this for sandblasting as well so I didn't have to fiddle with the tape.
Currently letting the anti rust primer (Corroles) dry. I might give them a second coat before painting them in color.


I also ordered a 3pin connector for the wiring loom. This way I can disconnect the right motor if I ever need to.

[D.Martijn]

You need to send me that STL!
We are already in contact on instagram :-)

@uberkaro is my username

Send me a message with your email if you want it

[Glaede]

You need to send me that STL!
We are already in contact on instagram :-)

@uberkaro is my username

[D.Martijn]

Got some more things done on the 325iX.
I was still having the same issue with the idle not being constant. It eventually got worse with the car just stalling unless revving a little bit.
Using some kind of trouble shooting guide from BMW, I checked the wiring at the ECU and everything checked out fine.

I then tried to replace the ICV and AFM from my uncles iX to mine, but that didn't solve it neither. Talking with a friend about my problem, he suggested to check the compression when cold.
Today I finally had some time and I got 10-11bar on all cylinders. I too got some new sparkplugs (the old one were still fine) and I did notice the new pump being a little loud, so I decided to replace the fuel filter, because why not it's cheap anyway.
Well, it's idling great now..

I also got started on removing the headlights, bought all new hardware, new wiring plug housings, some new wiring to make the loom a little nicer for the aim assist motors. (in Germany it was mandatory to have headlight aim assist in the 90s)
Since the original hydraulic stuff starts leaking after a while, it got converted to an electric system (from a Ford Fiesta) I found out it's a pretty popular mod in Germany after googling a little bit.

Electric motor and the SWRA motor, it's pretty cramped at the left front corner with the ABS pump as well


Headlight rings still look great




The adjusters are completely seized and the plastic end caps just crumbled away..


Couple pictures of the wiring, I'm going to redo the little white bracket for the switch as well since. The previous owner used the Ford Fiesta stuff to mount the switch


The power is taken from the park/city lights. I'm still contemplating if I will go the same route or take some power from under the dash some where, maybe the C302 accessory connector.?
Although I can't seem to find the correct pins/plug to use with this connector


I also got some paint that matches the original color pretty good, since there is some rust on the front the housings/reflectors


And finally, I got around to the mounting of the SWRA iX reservoir.
The original BMW retrofit guide tells you use the little plastic nut (if your car had a metal stud from factory) OR drill a hole for a M8 bolt. I was able to source some studs from a friend that converted his E36 to full race car.
But in the meantime, I printed a little pin. The plastic nut/clip is a press fit onto this pin, it's pretty solid + printed in ABS so should do well with the engine bay temps.

[D.Martijn]

Last time that we made a short drive, I took my camera with me and snapped a couple of pictures of my friends and my car.
They asked if I'd wanted to take a couple more so we decided to make a little drive and hit up a couple of spots while it's blossom season.

Only a couple of all the pictures I took;

[D.Martijn]

Well that was a succes, I drove the E30 back home after changing the front differential, while the car was on jack stands anyway; I decided to also top off the transmission fluid.
The car is noticeably less loud when driving 90kmph (60mph) than it was before. Should have replaced it a long time ago.. oh well :)

[D.Martijn]

I haven't figured out the idling issue, I did order new temp sensors since I wanted to get a new brown one because that sensor I haven't replaced yet since owning the car.
We'll see if this "fixes" the coolant temp needle sitting just over the half of the gauge. I ordered a new ERA fuel pump as well, pump including the whole assembly since I was able to get a pretty good deal.
I noticed the pump getting quite loud when I jumped the fuel pump relay to test the injectors.

In the meantime I decided to swap out the original front differential with a unit I bought maybe 1 or 2 years ago. The car is rather loud when accelerating and maintaining a high speed on the highway.
Since it's the only thing I haven't touched yet on the entire driveline.. fingers crossed.

Old on the left, "new" on the right.


I decided to remove the covers on both diffs, but only got a picture of my original one. I could see a lot of metal shavings.. The spare one wasn't nearly as bad.


And this is the wear on the crown wheel of the differential


I still need to button up a few things like the input axle for the diff and then we can make a test drive..

[D.Martijn]

It's normal to lose some injector pressure after sitting, I think your problem is elsewhere.

I started the E30 again last night after letting it sit for a while. It's definitely better, just still hunting for it's idle, after a raising the rpm a little it's fixed..

[econti]

It's normal to lose some injector pressure after sitting, I think your problem is elsewhere.

[D.Martijn]

Last weekend I took the E30 to a friends place to watch the Ronde van Vlaanderen cycling competition. The arrival is in my hometown if anyone here follows the Belgian cycling..
Anyway, when going to my friends place, I had a hard time getting the E30 fired up and keeping an idle - it ran fine last time I drove it..
I need to raise the rpm a few seconds for it not to shut of and find it's idle again

Video of it running:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ5Ma7MiS8A

Today I looked a little bit further into the problem.
I first checked the fuel pressure at the fuel rail, got 3bars while running so that's fine. I let it sit and after 1 hour it went to 2;5bar.


I removed the injectors, suspecting there would be a leaky injector, causing it to run pretty rich on start up, thus having to clear the extra fuel by raising the rpm.
After jumping the fuel pump relay, I could not spot any drip of fuel coming out the the injectors. I also cleaned up the ICV, although it was buzzing just fine and the little flap moved freely.
Got everything back together and it ran fine, not sure if I should have let it sat a little longer or I really did fix it.. I guess I'll have to start it again some other day.
Almost forgot, I also checked for vacuum leaks but couldn't see anything leaking.




I also repaired the undertray, I hadn't fitted it yet since the incident in the Alps. However now I can't find the hardware to fix it. guess I'll order some new..

[D.Martijn]

Good looking trio

Thanks, felt good to drive it again!

[econti]

Good looking trio