Lachs Silver 1988 325 Sedan

[TFJR]

Nice morning for a cruise around the city. Decided to stop and snap a few photos.

SEM trim painted my euro grills with OK results. BMWCCA Badge + Bosch euro smilies


This hood alignment eats at my OCD




The rear ass sag also crushes my OCD. I have 10mm spring pads on H&R OE sports with E46 M3 Heavy Duty Mounts on new Bilstein HD. Not sure why the hell it sits so low (this is with nothing in the trunk, less than half tank of gas. WTF.




I love this Garagistic clutch stop, great mod well worth the money




Happy St. Patricks Day everyone!

[2mAn]

I would swap out the front with E90 drop hats to get the front down just a smidge.

Jealous of that 3rd pedal. Im hoping that I can finish up my swap at the end of the month...

[TFJR]

I would swap out the front with E90 drop hats to get the front down just a smidge.

Jealous of that 3rd pedal. Im hoping that I can finish up my swap at the end of the month...

The front is already on E90 drop hats. I’m stumped!

[Mpolito3355]

[/QUOTE]


Wow Heated seats with crank windows =0

[TFJR]

Been a while since an update. I wish I could say this was a happy one.

I began to notice an oil leak about 6 weeks ago. Couldn't see anything apparent underneath the car.. started looking from the top down. Head gasket is seeping oil out at a slow rate. I'm pretty bummed as I really didn't want to do anything more with the car this year.

I'm taking my spare 885 cylinder head I purchased from Austin! to Autosport Seattle in Ballard. They're going to refresh the head; milled, cleaned, pressure tested, valve guides, stems and seals + take a look into the valves and cams to make sure they're up to the task. I'll pair this to a set of 19 lbs yellow top injectors I have, as well as a 91 octane SSSquid 2.7i tune for my 173 DME. It'll be sweet once it's all back and buttoned up, it's just that the timing really sucks. My wife is ending her first trimester in pregnancy and I'm budgeting for the baby.

In happier news we traded in our '16 Golf hatch for a new '18 Alltrack SE DSG in Great Falls Green metallic. Got a great deal on the car, our trade and financing. The F31 Msport will have to wait for that next promotion!

In other news someone please buy my Hartge's so I feel less guilty about dumping money into this cylinder head! LOL

[TFJR]

Here are a couple of pictures of the Alltrack. I love the color personally. We plan to do the APR Plus program with it (+64hp) as well as their DSG tune which is covered under the Plus Program. The 6 year/72k mile bumper to bumper warranty is nice to have.






- Being upset about the leaking head gasket really didn't do me any good. I decided to dive into the project and get started:

I sent the valve cover + intake manifold off for powder coating. These were extremely disgusting so I'm excited to see them come back all pretty. I went with gloss black with silver accents



I got my SSSquid chip for my 173 DME. I ordered the 327i conversion chip, 91 octane, 19 lbs injector, Stage ".5" - I've heard nothing but good things about these and it should be a considerable bump in power for the Super ETA.



I am dropping off the 885 cylinder head at Autosport Seattle (Ballard) in the next week to get refreshed. I'm having them mill the head, pressure test it, clean it, do the valve stems, seals and inspect anything else that looks ripe for replacement. I want this thing to be solid so I might as well do it right the first time.

Lastly I struck gold and found new, OE, 0269 anthrazit sport seat fabric here on the forum! I'll update with install pictures later on this summer.

[TFJR]

Summer Update: I hope everyone is having a great summer. I've been away on business and time off for the past month in New Orelans, Western Mass. DC and the southern Virginia coast.

I'm still plugging away at the cylinder head refresh and conversion, piece by piece. I recently got my i intake manifold and valve cover powder coated by a gentlement in Tumwater, WA (just outside of Olympia). He is a fellow bimmer enthusiast and gave me an excellent price on the work peformed. They look outstanding in person.





I also got the Squid Tuning chip.
I purchased a Scorpion catback exhaust at the E30 Picnic. I had one on my last M20 E30 and thought it sounded quite nice, albeit maybe slightly louder than I'd like.
Next up I'll sending off my spare i cylinder head to a shop local to me in Ballard.

My other big focus has turned to the rear suspension and doing an elevated refresh. I'm looking for a set of rear trailing arms, a rear subframe and an OE sway bar to have powdercoated. I have the complete Garagistic 80a set of bushings I'll be using.

After attending the E30 Picnic twice before, I finally got to bring my own E30 this year! It was a great event. I love this community

[TFJR]

August Update

August Update:
I've been steadily making good progress on my "i" cylinder head conversion for the E30. I've all but taken the car off the road until the cylinder head conversion is complete due to an external head gasket leak I noticted at the beginning of the summer. About once a week I take the car out for a 30 minute leisure cruise. It being a dusty summer, I start the drive by taking it to a U-Spray place called The Car Wash Palace, wipe her down of dust and enjoy the visceral and analog experience down the road. I have to say I've been really looking into getting a 996.1 Carerra 2/4. As much as I love E30's, I really love Porsche and think I'd get more out of the ownership experience.





I dropped off the spare cylinder head I had with Autosport Seattle, located near the Ballard bridge. The machinists came highly recommended from a few locals. They're going to inspect, pressure test, clean and mill the head. They'll also likely do valve stem seals and gaskets. I also ordered the Bimmerheads "Ultimate Head Gasket Kit" & OEM head bolts through Bimmerheads. This will all be paired with a SSSQuid tuning chip, 19 lbs injectors and a Scorpion catback exhaust. Ideally I'd be doing cams and headers but with how little the car is being driven, I deemed it not worth the extra investment.









The car goes down to my painter next week to have the side mirrors and iS side skirts painted up & installed. I had purchased a set of lightly used side skirts from a member last summer in Bend, OR. I had been having a friend store them for me for an entire year. Sadly, when I finally got to Bend the side skirts were missing the front pods. I didn't waste any time and ordered all new hardware + pods through Blunttech. This paint work + finishing off the shadowline trim will complete the exterior of the car for me for a long time. Beyond some very light tint I'm not too sure there is much I'd change on the exterior to fit my tastes.









I'll update with pictures with the iS sideskirts installed soon! Sorry about the iPhone shots.

[2mAn]

I have to say I've been really looking into getting a 996.1 Carerra 2/4. As much as I love E30's, I really love Porsche and think I'd get more out of the ownership experience.

Have you driven one yet? I think you will be disappointed, especially once the cylinder head is done. Im a big P-Car guy and will own a Cayman at a certain point, but I dont pretend it will be a replacement for an E30. I routinely spend hours on rennlist looking at the cars, pricing out the mods, etc and then its all forgotten when I drive my E30 home. Mine isnt even special... The few mods for a 996 to make it more enjoyable will cost a significant more than the E30. Just keep that in mind.

Grass isnt always greener

[TFJR]

Have you driven one yet? I think you will be disappointed, especially once the cylinder head is done. Im a big P-Car guy and will own a Cayman at a certain point, but I dont pretend it will be a replacement for an E30. I routinely spend hours on rennlist looking at the cars, pricing out the mods, etc and then its all forgotten when I drive my E30 home. Mine isnt even special... The few mods for a 996 to make it more enjoyable will cost a significant more than the E30. Just keep that in mind.

Grass isnt always greener

I have ridden once in a modified 996TT in speed yellow. It was insane. I have not driven a 996 of my own. I'm very surprised to hear you say the driving experience was dissapointing. What was not up to par? The M96 motor? I know the interior material quality isn't anything to write home about, but from my understanding these are suppose to be excellent drivers cars. I even subscribe to Total 911 magazine.
I've been wanting to buy one for the past half decade. I feel like I should pull the trigger on one sooner than later before the prices inevitably go up and that I kick myself for waiting so long. It'd ideally be optioned with the M030 sports suspension, (220) LSD, and sport seats. Oh, and in arena red too.

[2mAn]

I've been wanting to buy one for the past half decade. I feel like I should pull the trigger on one sooner than later before the prices inevitably go up and that I kick myself for waiting so long. It'd ideally be optioned with the M030 sports suspension, (220) LSD, and sport seats. Oh, and in arena red too.

You totally missed your chance on this one... even though Im going to get a Cayman, I was sooooooooo tempted to bid on this one

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-porsche-911-carrera-33/

[TFJR]

You totally missed your chance on this one... even though Im going to get a Cayman, I was sooooooooo tempted to bid on this one

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...11-carrera-33/

The grey interior killed that one for me. I really don't like 90's grey interiors lol. I don't think they've aged well. I look at Rennlist daily as well. So what is so dissapointing about the 996 to you?

[TFJR]

885 M20 Cylinder Head Machine Work

Earlier this year, I purchased an 885 "i" complete spare cylinder head in Portland, OR. After discovering my head gasket now has an external leak on my current M20 SETA motor, it was time to get this one refreshed! I did a bit of research on a machine shop and many peers had great things to say about Autosport Seattle. The team there was fantastic to work with & I'm very glad I took it to them. They put in a new camshaft as the factory one was worn. I did not want a regrind and couldn't really justify purchasing a performance cam.

Before


After










Parts & Accessories
Powder coated valve cover + intake manifold






Bosch 19# yellow top injectors


Bimmerheads "Ultimate Headgasket Set"




Everything should get installed early next month. Not pictured is the SSSQuid chip, ARP head bolt set, and "i" 7k rpm gauge cluster.

[2mAn]

should be quite the bump in power, though I think you're going to wish that you had bought at least a 272 cam or something, but that can always be upgraded down the road

[TFJR]

should be quite the bump in power, though I think you're going to wish that you had bought at least a 272 cam or something, but that can always be upgraded down the road

It's always nice to have more power, but the truth is for what I use the car for, I think the SETA bottom end, refreshed i top end, 91 octane SSSquid chip, 19lbs injectors should be plenty for the occasional on-ramp rip in Seattle. I'm using the money I didn't spend on a performance cam to do the APR Plus program on the daily driver VW Alltrack I purchased earlier this summer. That thing desperately needs more power!