New owner, BMW 325iX Touring

[D.Martijn]

I finally received the custom lines I had made for the steering rack.
In the evening after work I test fitted them and they were pretty much spot on, I might 3D print a little holder to keep the two lines together






While we were in the workshop, we wend ahead and test fitted the rack + subframe for the first time since all of the modification were done.
The steering rack was touching on the lower reinforcement rib as well as very closen to hitting the ribs on one of the connections of the hard lines.






This weekend I removed some more material on the steering rack housing, after giving it some quick touch up paint, we got started on reassembling the rack.
Unfortunately not all of the oring were the correct size in the kit.. So I ended up reusing the old ones, they still looked fine though

Rack centered on both ends


And fitted (hopefully for good.)


Checking clearance




I knew the clearance between the hard steering rack lines and the front left driveshaft would get close, but before going and further, I needed to fit the transmission and transfercase back into the car.
So everything was sitting right as it should


Z3 shifter fitted back, with the new poly rear shifter mount instead of the derlin that was fitted before


Transfer case, drive shaft and heatshields mounted


And this is how much clearance we ended up with. Not much but still, clearance is clearance right?


To prevent the engine from shifting/rocking forward, I decided to put some shims between the front rubber stops to keep the engine from shifting.


Steering coupler fitted, it's crazy how easy it slides together when the splines are nice and clean! PITA to get them loose!


New high pressure hose was made locally and everything fitted again


Finally the steering pump mounted back into it's place

[D.Martijn]

Yesterday I finally finished the X3 steering rack conversion, transmission rebuild etc.

Alternator got fitted and connected as well


I still had a new rubber clutch line laying around as a spare when I fitted the new clutch some time ago, however I somehow didn't end up fitting it then.
Decided to replace it now since I the front axle was out anyway. Had some difficulties bleeding the system but in the end managed to get it beld by pumping the slave cylinder by hand.


Swaybar got fitted as well. When putting ATF fluid in the new steering reservoir, after some time I noticed a little drop hanging from the subframe.
After looking more closely, it was dripping from the upper steering line I had custom made. I had to remove the left control arm so I could pull the axle out.
Turns out I forgot to put an oring on the top fitting, luckily an easy fix!


After fitting the radiator, couple hoses and the new viscous coupling for the fan, it was time to lower the car back onto it's wheels. Strange seeing the car sitting this low again (although it's still an iX)
It's been almost 6 months!


I decided not to prime the engine at first, but after cranking it, it took rather long to get oil pressure.
So I quickly turned it off again and figured out it's probably the best to prime the engine by manually turning over the oil pump.
After doing so and fitting the airbox back, starting the car resulted in only firing/running on 3 cylinders. I've had this happen before when coming back from the Alps roadtrip.
Cleaning out the plug below in intake manifold and it's running like it should..

It's crazy how much air is blowing from the fan now, before you could barely feel the air. Even at idle it is now blowing quite a bit.
Hopefully this will cause the temp to stop rising when it's hot outside and sitting at idle.

[mike.bmw]

Nice work as always. I also pumped my slave cylinder by hand to bled it. Seemed like it was the only way to get it bled properly, even after trying a power bleeder and someone pumping the clutch pedal.

[D.Martijn]

Nice work as always. I also pumped my slave cylinder by hand to bled it. Seemed like it was the only way to get it bled properly, even after trying a power bleeder and someone pumping the clutch pedal.

Thanks Mike!

I know I had a hard time bleeding it last time as well when I replaced the laster and slave.
I did press the pedal a few times after and got a couple small bubbles coming into the reservoir. After this the pedal feel was pretty positive. I might remove the slave once again just to be sure

[litu]

I decided not to prime the engine at first, but after cranking it, it took rather long to get oil pressure.
So I quickly turned it off again and figured out it's probably the best to prime the engine by manually turning over the oil pump.

So you was taking out that oil pump cover and used some power tool to prime it??
Thanks for that info, need to do to this mine ix tomorrow.

To that clutch bleeding, why not try nest time reverse bleeding. Use some syringe to push fluid backwards, i have been using this method in mine fluid clutch system in supemoto.

[D.Martijn]

So you was taking out that oil pump cover and used some power tool to prime it??
Thanks for that info, need to do to this mine ix tomorrow.

To that clutch bleeding, why not try nest time reverse bleeding. Use some syringe to push fluid backwards, i have been using this method in mine fluid clutch system in supemoto.

(sorry for the late reply)
Yes correct. when you remove the aluminium plug, you will find a small gear. Remove that as well, using a 6mm socket and a couple extensions, you're able to rotate the oilpump with a drill.
I think iX is counter clockwise, regular E30 clockwise (best to look this up as I might have switched them)

[jeenyus]

awesome man! you've been doing some cool stuff these days. Did the M3 sway never work out properly? what was the limitation?

have you had a chance to drive the car with the new rack in yet?

[D.Martijn]

awesome man! you've been doing some cool stuff these days. Did the M3 sway never work out properly? what was the limitation?

have you had a chance to drive the car with the new rack in yet?

Thanks! I decided not to use it, I still have it though. It's probably better to get a stiffer rear bar in stead of the front.
As I don't drive it daily (so only when dry) it's has plenty of grip as is.

I haven't really driven it, just a couple rounds around the block and to the alignment. Hopefully this weekend!

[D.Martijn]

I guess it's time for an update after driving the car a few time of the last couple of months.
Overall, the steering feeling is great, nice and short compared to the original steering rack ratio.

The only thing that's not completely dailed yet is the steering just off center, going in a straight line the steering is nice and straight, doesn't track at all.
but coming out of a shallow turn, it seems like I need to overreact the steering wheel to keep is straight again. Not sure how it's best described.
It's like the steering rack is a little sticky in the center, having to actively find the center again to go straight, resulting in making constant small adjustments left to right.

I told a good friend of mine that also tracks a fully prepared E36 and he suggested adding a little toe in, it definitely helped the steering feel but it's still there.

I'm not sure if it's the plastic bushings/guides that are still a bit tight/need to get broken in (I remember having to tap the steering axle in with a rubber mallet).
There is also a big round plug on the front of the rack, with a spring behind it, maybe this is causing all of the friction. Since googling a little more I found a ZF manual describing the adjustment of this pressure.
So I'll have to give this a try and see if that fixes it.

When I'm able to get this sorted, the swap is very successful and a nice option to get a short ratio steering rack into an iX although quite a bit of custom work is involved.

[econti]

Yes it may be the preload of the rack, simple to adjust until it feels nice

[D.Martijn]

Not a whole lot has happend over the last couple of months. I've been busy with repairing some rust on our BMW 2002 Touring.
And we also got the notice that we have to leave the workshop by the end of this month. (we now rented this space) The lot is bought by the company that is our neighbor.
So it's been a little hectic trying to find a new space and also packing everything up for moving day.

Luckily we managed to find a work space, we will no longer rent and decided to buy. It's a 10min drive from our home, the current place was maybe 1min of driving so not too bad.
The new shop is 175m2 instead of 115m2 so a lot more room then before since we started running out of space a little..

The gate/garage door wasn't placed yet when we first visited the space, since then there is a door fitted (where there is a door opening now)
We will still have to do the electricity and lighting by ourselves but that's not a big deal as we can decide where to put lights and power plugs


It's a little bit narrower (roughly 80cm) but a whole lot longer obviously.


So stay tuned on some updates regarding this place :) We might finally get a 2 pole car lift as well
______

I decided to wait on removing the new steering rack after we are moved into the new place. So I can fit the old guide bushings and hopefully that with solve the hard to turn rack. As I no adjusted the preload nut just finger tight..
However I did join a meet and drive a few weeks ago with a couple of friends

[econti]

Cool new garage space, lots of potential

[D.Martijn]

Thanks econti !

I haven't done much on my E30. Last time I drove it I noticed it sounded like I had an exhaust leak. I thought it was coming from the gaskets between the cat and rear section.
But upon further inspection, it was rusted through at the seam where the bracket for the hanger is welded onto the tubes. I could repair it but it's has a few other rust spots as well.
I decided to go with a new one. I found a shop that was still selling an ERNST exhaust, since it looked to be a pretty much exact like the genuine BMW exhaust.
After ordering it and waiting, I got a message their supplier could no longer deliver this exhaust..

So I decided to have a look on Ebay, and found this one.. 90€! Looks pretty good. I did want to keep the original style angled exhaust tips and this one was spot on!








And a little update on the new workshop. We're still busy on arrangeing everything, it's taking quite some time now.
We also decided we wanted to paint the walls, as they are quite rough and loose quite a bit of dust when touched.

We plan on parking the cars like this, having still a doorway to the rear section of the shop where the real workspace is.
Also the gate was fitted


Then it was time to move everything from the old space to the new one, luckily we had already removed everything from the storage deck and put into boxes.






After a few of these hauls... it's empty!


In the rear of the new space there was a big I beam, we had a friend of mine remove it. So we could finally get the storage deck in it's new place




And current situation. It's already loaded with all the spare parts. The move it self was pretty good to get everything organized
We now divided the storage racks into sections, old parts, parts that need to be refurbished and parts that are new/restored.


We still need to mount the new light rails and finish painting the walls. But we are getting closer on having everything in it's final place :)

[paynemw]

would love to see more on the garage!

[mjweimer]

That's quite the space! All those Mk 1 Golfs are cool - is that a 2002 touring on the rotisserie at the back of the shop?