***Editors Note: Ive gotten to know Charlie quite well since he moved to SoCal and Ive watched his car go through its phases and its exactly what draws us to the cars and the community. He hasnt followed any trend and has built and will always continue to build the car to suit his taste. I also want to start spicing up the COTM and got another member to photograph his car. I hope you will enjoy this and hopefully the cars for the year to come. Congrats Charlie, you get to close out the 2016 Cars of the Month, bring on 2017!***
Color:
Bronzit beige metallic
Interior color:
Tan
Engine modifications:
OBD2 S52B32 rebuilt from the block, copper O-rings, stewart water pump, M50 IM, clutchmasters FX725 twin disc street/race clutch (one ceramic disc and one fiber disc), fully balanced rotating assembly, mishimoto x-line radiator 56mm core, 16” spal fan, revshift poly 24v swap mounts
Exhaust:
OBD2 headers, homemade Y merge, 2.5” magnaflow center muffler, 2.5” vibrant streetpower muffler, v-bands
Transmission:
ZF320, all new pins bushings and detents, all new seals, new selector rod and joint, IE short shifter, early model shift carrier bolted to trans tunnel (homemade DTM/AKG style shifter), no more than 1cm of play in any gear
Differential:
3.25 LSD created from an open e30 diff and an e36 LSD pumpkin, poly bushing
Suspension:
megan coilovers, swift springs (8k front, 10k rear), GC RSMs, IE swaybars (25mm front, 19mm rear), rear camber and toe adjusters, poly trans mounts, poly TABs, poly subframe bushings, front subframe reinforcements and clearance for exhaust, e46 330 steering rack
Wheels:
klutch sl1 black/bronze 8x16 et18, dunlop dz2 225/45, wheel studs
Exterior modifications:
zender evo style rear spoiler, is lip, depo smoked smileys, morimoto mini 7.0 retrofit, euro front/rear trim, euro headlight shrouds, black kidney grills, modified lower valence
Interior modifications:
corbeau gt2 seats black microsuede, reupholstered black leather rear seats, momo mod 07 leather steering wheel, custom shift boot and knob, water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, afr, voltage gauges, kenwood stereo, planet audio amp, lukebox and sub, all new speakers, e36 window switches with one touch, stealth ashtray usb charger, refurbished cluster
Story behind the car:
After I moved to LA three years ago I realized I needed a daily to avoid putting miles on my e36. I was looking for an e30 with reasonable exterior condition but very good mechanical condition. Manual transmission was a must and I was leaning towards red exterior black interior. Saw a few overpriced abused cars and then came across this 89 bronzit 325i. Went to look at it a day after it was listed, mechanically and electronically everything worked (and exterior was good enough) so a price was negotiated and I bought it on the spot. After doing some basic maintenance, some interior/exterior mods and coilovers/wheels I decided it needed to be a bit faster to keep up with my e36. I also told myself this was for “reliability sake” and “for better gas mileage” even though the original 240k motor was running strong as ever and I was getting 22-23 mpg. So what started as a simple motor swap turned into a full blown engine build which resulted in quite a bit of “while you’re in there”s and massive scope creep. Wound up finding an correcting a few weak points after the swap was finished (like the necessity of an LSD, broken g260 trans, broken clutches etc.) which also resulted in more “while you’re in there’s and more scope creep.
I did daily the car with the s52 for about a year after completing the swap but as time passed and the modifications started adding up (and I started sweating without AC through the summer) the car was becoming less and less suitable for daily duty even though I continued to convince myself it was. Then almost exactly a year ago, the “inevitable” happened which I think was only a matter of time given that I commute ~110 miles a day through some of LA’s worst highways. Someone cut me off in stop-and-go traffic and immediately slammed their brakes leaving me time only to swerve and try to stop. I didn’t make it and smashed the left front corner of the car into their right rear bumper. To throw salt in the wound I had pretty much just decided that the car was “done” for the time being and I was on my way to pick up my girlfriend for our anniversary dinner. Luckily I escaped frame damage and what was damaged was mostly cosmetic minus a bent control arm. That said, it was a lot of damage. Not to be robbed of my pride and joy by some fools on a highway, I made plans to fix the damage and take things a step higher (aka more scope creep and “while you’re in there”s). At this point I was still telling myself that the car would continue to be my daily and I planned to install AC. LOL. About halfway through the repair work as I was welding plates into the engine bay prepping for a shave and tuck I came to my senses (***Editors Note: Pretty sure this was MY idea! ;) ***). I was going to stop pretending like this was a reasonable car to daily drive and embrace what it had become; a weekend toy to carve canyons and autox/track and safely enjoy away from highway warzones. So I ditched the AC idea and felt much better with the plan to detune the e36 making it my daily (it is quite a bit more comfortable and a convertible
) and then not having to feel guilty about slowly transforming the e30 into a racecar.
This more or less brings things up to date. I have mostly finished the repairs and additional upgrades/mods with a few details remaining to be completed. I will be attending my first track day with the s52 the first weekend of December at willow springs on the streets of willow course. Immediate future plans will probably bring fixed back seats, a roll bar, harnesses and no more rear seat. Long term plans will see the supercharger that was on my e36 installed on the e30. And probably more scope creep in the form of fender flares and bigger wheels.
and now the dope pics. thanks J.Rizo!
6_zpsmh6sh1s4 by 2mAn
7_zpsbzmumkdk by 2mAn
12_zps6pwyn5qh by 2mAn
26_zpszokkyp6v by 2mAn
27_zpsg4ofpcbq by 2mAn
29_zps4swc3d7r by 2mAn
32_zpsnke1hynq by 2mAn
39_zpskiqewmho by 2mAn
42_zpskft9htzl by 2mAn
16_zpsplorbkl6 by 2mAn
Cruising the PCH
44_zpsgxioz50k by 2mAn
45_zpsglqnnkvt by 2mAn
link to the build thread here
Color:
Bronzit beige metallic
Interior color:
Tan
Engine modifications:
OBD2 S52B32 rebuilt from the block, copper O-rings, stewart water pump, M50 IM, clutchmasters FX725 twin disc street/race clutch (one ceramic disc and one fiber disc), fully balanced rotating assembly, mishimoto x-line radiator 56mm core, 16” spal fan, revshift poly 24v swap mounts
Exhaust:
OBD2 headers, homemade Y merge, 2.5” magnaflow center muffler, 2.5” vibrant streetpower muffler, v-bands
Transmission:
ZF320, all new pins bushings and detents, all new seals, new selector rod and joint, IE short shifter, early model shift carrier bolted to trans tunnel (homemade DTM/AKG style shifter), no more than 1cm of play in any gear
Differential:
3.25 LSD created from an open e30 diff and an e36 LSD pumpkin, poly bushing
Suspension:
megan coilovers, swift springs (8k front, 10k rear), GC RSMs, IE swaybars (25mm front, 19mm rear), rear camber and toe adjusters, poly trans mounts, poly TABs, poly subframe bushings, front subframe reinforcements and clearance for exhaust, e46 330 steering rack
Wheels:
klutch sl1 black/bronze 8x16 et18, dunlop dz2 225/45, wheel studs
Exterior modifications:
zender evo style rear spoiler, is lip, depo smoked smileys, morimoto mini 7.0 retrofit, euro front/rear trim, euro headlight shrouds, black kidney grills, modified lower valence
Interior modifications:
corbeau gt2 seats black microsuede, reupholstered black leather rear seats, momo mod 07 leather steering wheel, custom shift boot and knob, water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, afr, voltage gauges, kenwood stereo, planet audio amp, lukebox and sub, all new speakers, e36 window switches with one touch, stealth ashtray usb charger, refurbished cluster
Story behind the car:
After I moved to LA three years ago I realized I needed a daily to avoid putting miles on my e36. I was looking for an e30 with reasonable exterior condition but very good mechanical condition. Manual transmission was a must and I was leaning towards red exterior black interior. Saw a few overpriced abused cars and then came across this 89 bronzit 325i. Went to look at it a day after it was listed, mechanically and electronically everything worked (and exterior was good enough) so a price was negotiated and I bought it on the spot. After doing some basic maintenance, some interior/exterior mods and coilovers/wheels I decided it needed to be a bit faster to keep up with my e36. I also told myself this was for “reliability sake” and “for better gas mileage” even though the original 240k motor was running strong as ever and I was getting 22-23 mpg. So what started as a simple motor swap turned into a full blown engine build which resulted in quite a bit of “while you’re in there”s and massive scope creep. Wound up finding an correcting a few weak points after the swap was finished (like the necessity of an LSD, broken g260 trans, broken clutches etc.) which also resulted in more “while you’re in there’s and more scope creep.
I did daily the car with the s52 for about a year after completing the swap but as time passed and the modifications started adding up (and I started sweating without AC through the summer) the car was becoming less and less suitable for daily duty even though I continued to convince myself it was. Then almost exactly a year ago, the “inevitable” happened which I think was only a matter of time given that I commute ~110 miles a day through some of LA’s worst highways. Someone cut me off in stop-and-go traffic and immediately slammed their brakes leaving me time only to swerve and try to stop. I didn’t make it and smashed the left front corner of the car into their right rear bumper. To throw salt in the wound I had pretty much just decided that the car was “done” for the time being and I was on my way to pick up my girlfriend for our anniversary dinner. Luckily I escaped frame damage and what was damaged was mostly cosmetic minus a bent control arm. That said, it was a lot of damage. Not to be robbed of my pride and joy by some fools on a highway, I made plans to fix the damage and take things a step higher (aka more scope creep and “while you’re in there”s). At this point I was still telling myself that the car would continue to be my daily and I planned to install AC. LOL. About halfway through the repair work as I was welding plates into the engine bay prepping for a shave and tuck I came to my senses (***Editors Note: Pretty sure this was MY idea! ;) ***). I was going to stop pretending like this was a reasonable car to daily drive and embrace what it had become; a weekend toy to carve canyons and autox/track and safely enjoy away from highway warzones. So I ditched the AC idea and felt much better with the plan to detune the e36 making it my daily (it is quite a bit more comfortable and a convertible
) and then not having to feel guilty about slowly transforming the e30 into a racecar. This more or less brings things up to date. I have mostly finished the repairs and additional upgrades/mods with a few details remaining to be completed. I will be attending my first track day with the s52 the first weekend of December at willow springs on the streets of willow course. Immediate future plans will probably bring fixed back seats, a roll bar, harnesses and no more rear seat. Long term plans will see the supercharger that was on my e36 installed on the e30. And probably more scope creep in the form of fender flares and bigger wheels.
and now the dope pics. thanks J.Rizo!
6_zpsmh6sh1s4 by 2mAn7_zpsbzmumkdk by 2mAn12_zps6pwyn5qh by 2mAn26_zpszokkyp6v by 2mAn27_zpsg4ofpcbq by 2mAn29_zps4swc3d7r by 2mAn32_zpsnke1hynq by 2mAn39_zpskiqewmho by 2mAn42_zpskft9htzl by 2mAn16_zpsplorbkl6 by 2mAnCruising the PCH
44_zpsgxioz50k by 2mAn45_zpsglqnnkvt by 2mAnlink to the build thread here
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