New owner, BMW 325iX Touring

[D.Martijn]

It's been a while!! I've been quite busy with the renovation of our house. Still quite a bit left to do but we're getting there.
After the house will be fhe workshop.. :)

Two weekends ago we made a little drive with a couple of friends and their E30's.
Mine unfortunatly couldn't make it becausee my battery died. However riding along with a good friend, it started to tickle...




Since my girlfriends birthday was the next weekend and there was an extra holiday in Belgium, we decided to go to the Belgian sea. I bought a new battery, first couple of cranks without the fuel pump relay to build some oil pressure.
After that it fired right up! God I love this thing, been sitting for probably a year now. In desperate need of a wash, first one at the house!





engine bay still looking fresh


Interior as well, still in love with the Alpina wheel.


Touring doing Touring things!



I did notice that my oil temp doesn't get much higher than 75/80°C on the highway.
Letting it sit idle a while, it's rising to 90°C.


I measured the oil filter housing and got 106°C. however it's pretty hard to measure closely because of the hot exhaust manifolds.. Tried measuring the oil filter housing bolt but couldn't reach close enough..
Might need to have a look and see if I can get a better temp reader.

Definitely fit one, its very easy to do and makes a car much nicer to drive. Plus the benefit of not harpooning the slave pushrod into the bellhousing.

Also took the time to finally 3D print a clutch stop! Took me a while though

[Rollforever]

Hey,

Thanks for the comment! Cool that you are also having a try on the steering rack replacement, it's quite involved though.

I did remove material from both sides, can't recall on top of my head how much though. I did have to make the threads deeper, the counterbore "catches" the X83 tie rod, it fit's inside of this counterbore. The original steering shaft has these as well.

Inner tie rods are indeed E83, outers are E36. I think I shortened both.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!

edit: just had a look at the measurements I took, I think I removed 17mm from both sides.


I also measured the total length of the original rack and tie rods and matched the total length by shortening the new ones.

thanks so much for the information! I really appreciate you taking the time to help!

[D.Martijn]

hey man, love the build and write up with everything! I’m about to start the process of modifying the e83 rack to fit into my 325iX.

I have a question about the Steering Shaft. When you removed the material to shorten it, did you remove material from both ends or just from one side? Then you rethreaded it and then what did you mean by counterbore?

For inner tie rods - You used e83 and then removed 20mm from each side?

Did you end up using e36 or e30 outer tie rods?

I just wanted to confirm before I start modifying.

Thanks in advance for the help. 🙏🏼

Hey,

Thanks for the comment! Cool that you are also having a try on the steering rack replacement, it's quite involved though.

I did remove material from both sides, can't recall on top of my head how much though. I did have to make the threads deeper, the counterbore "catches" the X83 tie rod, it fit's inside of this counterbore. The original steering shaft has these as well.

Inner tie rods are indeed E83, outers are E36. I think I shortened both.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!

edit: just had a look at the measurements I took, I think I removed 17mm from both sides.


I also measured the total length of the original rack and tie rods and matched the total length by shortening the new ones.

[Rollforever]

Couple small things got done over the several last days.

I painted the steering rack housing, I'd prefer to have a more mat finish but at least the color is pretty much spot on


I also re threaded the shortend steering shaft, added a counter bore as well to be able to fit the tie rod and chamfer on the outside.


I also got my hardware back from the plated, on the last minute I decided to also include the tools form the tool kit however they didn't turn out all that great.
Probably since they are casted? not sure.


And gold plated hardware. Somehow the cooling fan turned all white.. not sure if this is some kind of coating they used to protect the plastic or it just changed color from the process.
The plastic is still flexible like it was..


Very happy with the result of the bolts, they came out nice and shiny.


I also had the chance to rebuild the alternator, I got a new rotor (aftermarket brand) but had to modify the collar a little bit where the plate that hold the bearing into the housing sits on to.
Happy with the results.


New bearings, voltage reg., rotor, sandblasted stator + new red isolator varnish, replated hardware and glass bead blasted + ceramic coated housing.

hey man, love the build and write up with everything! I’m about to start the process of modifying the e83 rack to fit into my 325iX.

I have a question about the Steering Shaft. When you removed the material to shorten it, did you remove material from both ends or just from one side? Then you rethreaded it and then what did you mean by counterbore?

For inner tie rods - You used e83 and then removed 20mm from each side?

Did you end up using e36 or e30 outer tie rods?

I just wanted to confirm before I start modifying.

Thanks in advance for the help. 🙏🏼

[econti]

Makes sense, my dad drove a bit with it and he is the one that first had this problem. Probably pushed it too far. I don't think I have a clutch stop.

Definitely fit one, its very easy to do and makes a car much nicer to drive. Plus the benefit of not harpooning the slave pushrod into the bellhousing.

[D.Martijn]

If you don't have a clutch stop fitted or it isn't adjusted correctly, on a hard pedal push it can overextend and the pin falls out.

Makes sense, my dad drove a bit with it and he is the one that first had this problem. Probably pushed it too far. I don't think I have a clutch stop.

[econti]

If you don't have a clutch stop fitted or it isn't adjusted correctly, on a hard pedal push it can overextend and the pin falls out.

[D.Martijn]

Long time no see..

I've been pretty busy renovating the house I bought with my girlfriend.
There's a ton of work that has been done, but still a lot to go.

However I had to go to the technical inspection with the E30, which it (of course) passed.
But, after driving back home and having the car a couple of days at home extra, the clutch suddenly sunk right to the floor.. Must be one of the two cylinders.
So I decided to just be sure and replace both. While I'm at it, I also ordered a new clutch hose.

FYI, the iX seems to have a specific clutch hose according to Realoem. However, I can confirm you can use a normal E30 clutch line as well. Fits right up. That'll save you a couple of bucks!

Been a while that it was on jack stands


New master cylinder


And new slave with new clutch line, pretty fiddly to fit the slave with the iX front shaft fitted..


While I was at it, I also flushed the brake system, as it was long over due


Turns out, the shaft got pushed into the transmission housing together with the rubber seal (it was filled with oil)
Not sure how that can even happen...?


Currently sitting at 260616km, not too bad!

[D.Martijn]

Incredible car Great job on the flush mount!
How do you like the Becker 0774 / Bavaria C Business?

Thanks!
I definitely need to drive it more though, just haven't had the time to.
I just bought a house with a nice big workshop as well so even less time 😄

I'm not a big audiophile, but it's okay. I did have to replace the display since it didn't work anymore.

I have same issue with my ix, i dont know why those sway bar links are sliding like that position, like in that pic

Yeah I'm not sure why it's popping off, if it'll happen again, I might drill a hole so I can use a washer and cotter pin to keep it onto the bar.

[litu]

However when we were driving I could suddenly hear a clunk, each time we drove over some kind of big bump, we could hear it.
At first I thought it was the exhaust that was noking somewhere, but when we made a stop I checked the underside and the swaybar link had come off!

I have same issue with my ix, i dont know why those sway bar links are sliding like that position, like in that pic

[bradnic]

Incredible car
Great job on the flush mount!
How do you like the Becker 0774 / Bavaria C Business?

[D.Martijn]

I finally got a chance to mount the radio with the adapter frame into the E30.
It's a little fiddly since you first need to screw the dashpanel onto the heater controls and then fit the adapter piece. you can only pull out the heatercontrols so far from the dashboard.
But in the end it's in and does look much better than the original design.

[D.Martijn]

Another small update.

I came across a Instagram post where I saw a modification done to the heater control panel that makes it possible to have the radio sit flush with the panel.
Now the radio is sticking out ~7mm or so.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C1QT8idiSJR/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I contacted the person to ask how it's done and it turns out he is selling a 3D printed part. Unfortunately he won't share the file as he is also selling this part.
No problem though, I have a spare trim panel, a caliper and 3D modeling software!

Couple hours later and voila, we have a functional prototype. I made some small adjustments on the model after fitting it the first time.
Still need to 3D print the new one to test fit it also with the switches and OBC in it's place as well, but that shouldn't give any further problems.

Originally my original radio (Bavaria C Business) is clamped on the ridge of the dashpanel. However for the radio to fit deeper this must be removed. I used a flush cutting plier to remove the bulk of material and a file to clean it up further.
A Dremel such also do the job.


Quick mockup on how it'll look


3D print fitted, using the upper screw of the heater control knob and both OBC screws.








Picture of how it looked before

[D.Martijn]

Been a little while.

Last time I drove the E30 I noticed a small squeak coming form the rear of the car. When pushing down on the rear of the car when standing still I could also hear it.
I tried spraying some white grease onto the swaybar links and bushings and that seemed to solve it for a little while.

Last weekend there was a small meet/drive and I decided to just remove the swaybar and grease the bushings properly.
Brackets are still looking good after plating them a few years ago, it's such a breeze to work on the car with nice fresh hardware..


Underside still looks good, could use a clean though :)


Getting the E30 ready for the drive, desperately needed a wash


However when we were driving I could suddenly hear a clunk, each time we drove over some kind of big bump, we could hear it.
At first I thought it was the exhaust that was noking somewhere, but when we made a stop I checked the underside and the swaybar link had come off!


Couple more pictures of the day

[D.Martijn]

I received the replacement clip and spring for the right trunk cover. While I ordered those, I also got a new trim piece for the trunk opening as the original had it's mounting brackets broken off (it's pretty flimsy material IMO)
Today I fitted both pieces









I also replaced the connectors for the front left speaker wiring with some new ones.
Didn't take any pictures but I do have a picture of a test piece I did to show off the crimp itself. I already had bought a crimping plier previously for smaller molex connectors
But I was able to find new crimping dies that fit this crimping plier to crimp this type of connector