Lachs Silver 1988 325 Sedan

[TFJR]

15" Hartge Wheels

I drove down to Portland on Saturday & back up to Seattle early on Sunday morning. I put more than 500 miles on the car in less than 24 hours and it did so without complaint! Well, I will complain a little... with the S3.73:1 rear diff on a supereta 500 highway miles are not so fun. It is loud in there as you're cranking 3250-3600rpm between 70-85mph. That wouldn't be a biggie in an "i" car but it felt strung out for that long in my supereta. More motivation to get my 885 "i" cylinder head machined, refreshed and installed!

I ended up mounting the Hartge's on the tires they came with. They're a big improvement over the awful marshmellow 185/70 (balding) nothing no-seasons that were on there before. Overall I love the look, just what I was going for. Subtle, and OEM+, just how I like a non-M E30.

Hope you all like the look too! I need to grab more pictures of the front with the smilies installed and all the other work that's gone down as well.

[scabzzzz]

Aaaaaand now I have lachsilber envy..

If you let me touch yours I'll let you touch mine ;D

[DBShiznit]

Awesome thread! Car looks great I'm Sub'd

[TFJR]

Bosch smilies are in & wired up. Picking up a set of 15" Hartge's this weekend. I'll be putting them on a set of 205/55 Dunlop Direzza DZ102. Pics to follow.

[bruner]

Hey man, I met you last night at the Dicks meet! (I was in that Schwarz II e34). Just read through your build. The car's come a long way and I'm impressed! BTW, I vote for f31 Msport Touring.

[2mAn]

don't throw it away. don't throw it into the ocean.

you should buy it... I will give you a great deal!

BTW Ive been trying out my city driving in "3" and its noticeably better, but still sucks overall

[jeenyus]

man, is mine the only auto that doesnt have the "S" ... another reason to throw this thing in the ocean...

congrats on getting the 5 speed swap done!

don't throw it away. don't throw it into the ocean.

[TFJR]

I never noticed there was just no "3" haha clever BMW marketing! Im going to drive around in 3 from now on

I liked “S” for everything but the highway.

We’re going to be family car shopping this summer and selling our Mk7 ‘16 Golf. Two top choices are a ‘13+ Audi Q5 Prestige S-Line 3.0T or a CPO F31 Sport/Msport 3-series wagon. Either will compliment the E30 really nicely

[2mAn]

I never noticed there was just no "3" haha clever BMW marketing! Im going to drive around in 3 from now on

[TFJR]

man, is mine the only auto that doesnt have the "S" ... another reason to throw this thing in the ocean...

congrats on getting the 5 speed swap done!

AFAIK the "S" is only "3". It miiiight help to hold gears longer, but sure as hell doesn't feel like it. It just locks out overdrive. This is just my perception, but driving it, the only difference I could feel, spirited or not, was the lock out of overdrive, no other characteristics changed for me.

[2mAn]

man, is mine the only auto that doesnt have the "S" ... another reason to throw this thing in the ocean...

congrats on getting the 5 speed swap done!

[TFJR]

3 Pedal E30

Big Update - The transmission swap is complete! Big thanks to S3 Designs Garage in North Seattle. These guys are awesome, and all E30 owners themselves. These guys handled the entire swap and got it done quickly. All it needs now is the detents in the transmission replaced as the springs have gone bad. The effect is that it's easier to find reverse than first gear and the shifter is a little sloppy. Hoping that will get done next week.

The weekend previous to the swap I did a bit of paint work on the car. This included:

• Wash with three bucket method
• Griots Garage Paint Cleaning Clay Bar
• Griots Garage BOSS Correcting Cream
• Griots Garage Poly Wax

Here are some horrible pics of some of the swap components. The shop has terrible lighting that isn't conducive for iPhone pics.







Got the single mass flywheel resurfaced and very minorly lightened (which isn't pictured)








Ordered some other goodies for when I get to the rear subframe. These will compliment the 80a Garagistic pieces that can be referenced in earlier posts









Got in a ZHP Shift Knob from ECS Tuning. The Hartge knob I got wasn't exactly as described... speaking of Hartge, I pick these up on March 3rd!











.... Bye Felicia!

[vtechnik]

Wow, I put off reading this build for too long. Without realizing it my e30 is following in your footsteps. I hope my e30s paint looks like your's once it becomes sunny again. Really nice work, and thanks for the support on my build. If I have questions along the way I know who to ask now lolol.

[TFJR]

Nice! Looking forward to how the swap comes together, in the middle of doing mine as well for my lachssilber sedan.

Also, does that flashlight fit an e30? It resembles an e46 flashlight and mine with its charger doesn't fit the glovebox.

I do however have an original flashlight.

Sadly, I don't even have the factory plugging/wiring into my glovebox. It's about as helpful as a pack of dead batteries at this point lol. It was dirt cheap, like $7 so I'm not all too worried about it.

Incredible update and ambitious plans, can't wait to see your progress.

Let me know if you need a hand with the 5-speed swap, I did my 318's clutch and just finished the m52's transmission, they're a pain to do with the engine in the car, but once you learn where the torx bolts are, (and collect enough socket extensions) they get easier.

Best of luck!

Thanks Zephyr! I appreciate the offer.

[Metallated]

It's a New Year - 2018 is the year I get my E30 dialed-in to what my vision for the car is. My manual transmission swap is taking place in just two weeks. I will never buy another non-manual transmission E30 with plans to convert it. It is spendy gathering up everything needed to do a proper swap. I've been making consistent headway with the car and am optimistic about the coming year.

Incredible update and ambitious plans, can't wait to see your progress.

Let me know if you need a hand with the 5-speed swap, I did my 318's clutch and just finished the m52's transmission, they're a pain to do with the engine in the car, but once you learn where the torx bolts are, (and collect enough socket extensions) they get easier.

Best of luck!