Lachs Silver 1988 325 Sedan

[TFJR]

Rear Subframe Refresh

One major difference from my last E30 (2-owner 325iS) and this current one was the incredibly sloppy rear end. Seriously, I feel like this E30 has been trying to kill me on my commute into work when it is raining. The back end would become unsettled and step out all of the time when wet, even unprovoked. It was scary sloppy!
I've been wanting to address this ever since I bought the car. Without tools, time or a garage, I had my friend Roman refresh the rear end while on an extended business trip. He discovered one of the subframe bolts to be completely stripped, adding to the already horrible sloppiness! Roman did a fantastic job refreshing, installing and bolting everything back together.
The car drives completely differently now - night & day change. It tracks more straight and true than any car I've ever driven from the 80's. I feel way more confident in corners and in the wet.

Parts
Garagistic 80a rear subframe, differential and trailing arm bushings. New trailing arm bolts & hardware


OE Sway bar bushings & mounting brackets. Lemforder rear endlinks. New rear spring pads... I hate these H&R OE Sport Springs. Terrible ass sag. Just bought OE E30 M3 rear springs




Garagistic rear stainless steel brake lines


Restoration
Rear suspension dropped - looking quite weathered


Stripped


Painted






Sway bar stripped, prepped, painted, new bushings & endlinks


Installation






Scorpion catback exhaust installed. Sounds really nice on this car




Hope you guys are enjoying these updates! Post cylinder head install I'll be installing a set of Dunlop Direzza DZ102 205/55/15 on the OZ Hartges.

[wworm]

i'll never tire of seeing suspension rebuild photo logs

[hendrixvodu]

Beautiful car man ! Love the color combo! Great work! One thing please for the love of god align your hood it’s the only thing wrong with the car hahaha

[hotbascosauce]

Great build thread. I read every single page! I remember walking past your car at the E30 picnic. Hope to see it around more.

[TFJR]

i'll never tire of seeing suspension rebuild photo logs

Thanks for the kind words! It has really transformed the car. Although with the current tires it still likes to have some fun

Beautiful car man ! Love the color combo! Great work! One thing please for the love of god align your hood it’s the only thing wrong with the car hahaha

Thank you! The hood alignment absolutely crushes me. The car was in an accident at some point, and this hood was "fixed" very poorly at some point in it's life. The hood is actually bent and torqued slightly, making a perfect fit impossible. My eyes are always open for a spare, good paint lachs hood.

Great build thread. I read every single page! I remember walking past your car at the E30 picnic. Hope to see it around more.

Cheers - likewise! I need to get the car out more. I am overdue for a Tuesday Dick's Burger meetup.

[ATL_E30]

Great Build thread! Have you had a chance to swap over the 885 head?

I have a SETA as well and also just picked up a M20 out of a 89is and i'm debating between doing a full swap or just refreshing the head and throwing that on the SETA block.

[AC_Schnitzel]

Great Build thread! Have you had a chance to swap over the 885 head?

I have a SETA as well and also just picked up a M20 out of a 89is and i'm debating between doing a full swap or just refreshing the head and throwing that on the SETA block.

I would remove the head and get it sorted instead of doing a straight swap. You will replace (or upgrade) head internals and get more useable tq w/ a “2.7i”

Just make sure you have all of the other accompanying parts ie: AFM, FPR, intake manifold , etc.

[TFJR]

Great Build thread! Have you had a chance to swap over the 885 head?

I have a SETA as well and also just picked up a M20 out of a 89is and i'm debating between doing a full swap or just refreshing the head and throwing that on the SETA block.

I would remove the head and get it sorted instead of doing a straight swap. You will replace (or upgrade) head internals and get more useable tq w/ a “2.7i”

Just make sure you have all of the other accompanying parts ie: AFM, FPR, intake manifold , etc.

The cylinder head goes on next week with updates to closely follow. I received my Gates Racing t-belt & ARP head studs + bolts over the weekend which were the last pieces I needed to get this going.

As AC_Schnitzel referenced, you'd get more usable torque utilizing the SETA bottom end & refreshing the i head from the '89iS. What I think you should keep in mind is your budget. I am well over budget now and the head isn't even installed in the car yet.

Things have added up quickly:

• 885 i Cylinder Head: $175
• Cylinder head restoration with new cam: $940
• Gates Racing Timing Belt: $67
• ARP Head studs & bolts: $160 (used)
• Bimmerheads Ultimate gasket set: $130
• Bosch 19 lbs Injectors: $60
• MotoMeter 7k RPM Gauge Cluster: $100
• MISC M20 i Parts (Intake manifold, AFM, ICV, etc.) $150
• Powdercoating service for Intake Manifold & Valve Cover: $120
• SSSQuid Tuning 2.7i Chip 173 DME: $255

That's over $2,100 and I'm sure I'm forgetting some little costs.

In any event let me know if I can be a reference or help to you at all!

[alkkamai]

Really tremendous work on this, Toby. You've got quite the clean undercarriage there and it's only looking better with the suspension refresh.

What paint did you use on the subframe/calipers?

[TFJR]

Really tremendous work on this, Toby. You've got quite the clean undercarriage there and it's only looking better with the suspension refresh.

What paint did you use on the subframe/calipers?

Thanks for the kind words! It's all a labor of love.

For paint, it was Duplicolor black caliper paint on the brakes. For the subframe + other parts it was VHT rollbar chassis paint. It applied/took the paint pretty nicely without crazy long prep time.

[connorb850]

Really enjoying this thread. The car has come such a long way!

I hope the engine work is going well. Looking forward to updates.

[AC_Schnitzel]

I may have missed this but why go w/ ARP hardware? Is the plan to add forced induction down the road?


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[TFJR]

Really enjoying this thread. The car has come such a long way!

I hope the engine work is going well. Looking forward to updates.

Thanks so much! You inspired me to purchase 4, circular 15" mesh things from the UK ;)
Hoping it will be complete by early November.

I may have missed this but why go w/ ARP hardware? Is the plan to add forced induction down the road?


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Fantastic question. My friend who will be leading the install and coaching me (as I assist & learn) demanded ARP hardware. He has heaps of experience with M20's and really does not care for the factory BMW head bolts. I do not plan on going FI with the car in the future. He thinks of it as cheap insurance for all the rest of the work & investment that is taking place.

With that said, I have some new, OE BMW head bolts I'll sell to anyone for cheap. Ordered through Bimmerheads :)

[2mAn]

you should do a before and after dyno!

[TFJR]

Some Progress...

The cylinder head will finally go on this week. I got some more goodies to further feed my anxiety :D

• I ordered this really nice E30 x PNW coffee mug from the BMW CCA. They only made 200 of them & I'm really glad I got mine!

• Decided to switch up my wheel setup to the ever popular 15" Ronal LS. I ordered a set brand new from performancealloys.com in the UK. I dealt with a gentlemen named Richard who I'd recommend to anybody. They take about 2 weeks to arrive in the US via DHL.

• I ordered new Yokohama S. Drives: 205/55/R15 through TireRack.

• The Hartge's are now for sale. PM me if you're interested.

• Purchased a 370mm M-Tech II steering wheel off the forum. It has yet to arrive from Europe.

• #MONEYSHOT - I dropped off the car with my buddy who will be leading the install of the cylinder head last week! Here are all the supporting items grouped together

• Ireland Engineering Strut Brace, OE E30 M3 Rear Springs & OE E30 M3 RSB + Bushings going in.

I took some engine bay pics I'll share in my next post. The "before" is very ugly...