Just found this place last week and finally feel at home ;P I'm on my second bimmer, Early 86 325ES.... my last one was the same car from the late months. This is the first one I've decided to mod at all. Love these forums and seeing what people do to these lovely little versatile cars. I'll never sell mine. Not much of a car guy, beyond hoses and brake pads and oil changes, but I'm willing to learn, much of my planned work I will probably take to a friends auto shop.
Found a Dinan chip for 58 dollars on Ebay, bought it, scared to put it in myself. Stories of having to adjust the idle and mixture to rock it right have put me on my guard. There is an experienced shop in Santa Rosa ( a couple hundred miles but probably the closest shops I would trust my little bimmer with)... Plan to have it installed down there.
Ordered a K&N Cone filter, in the mail. Can't wait to rip that monstrous airbox off the engine and let it breath. I spend about 1/3 of my cars time bouncing around on dirt roads... any problems with these as compared to stock in heavier than normal dust applications....
Suspension, as I said above, I spend a 1/3 of my time bouncing around on dirt roads. My first 325 I killed by ripping the oil pan and exhaust off on a protruding rock that was just a bit too high. Obviously, I can't afford to lose an inch of ground clearance, and would even prefer finding a set of springs that would gain me an inch. I'm considering Bilstein heavy dutys, but I fear they will be too stiff for the dirt, so I'm considering boge low pressures, but I'm afraid they won't be stiff enough for screaming corners on the paved. So far I can't find any springs that won't drop my ride height, so I'm pondering leaving the stock springs in, but worry that the stiffer suspension will overly dampen them and reduce my ride quality... any advice on balancing this issue? I saw the airbags in the e30 pickup forum and have been toying with the idea as I could get ideal ride heighths on both concrete and dirt, not sure they can be installed on the front too? Would aribags make my ride a total failure? I know my application is a little weird. Anyone who knows anything about rally/dirt/hybrid suspensions for my ride, I would be thrilled to hear about it. I imagine someone's made a go at it with an 325iX at least but I've heard the suspensions are different on the ES and that. Fairly certain I can't afford coilovers at this point.
Getting a 3.25 LSD out of a 533 I think, anyway, it'll fit my ride, but I want to stiffen up the slip percentage a bit, Having seen diagrams of how these work and knowing it for myself are two different things... I'm looking for advice based on experience here. I can get a shop to do this for about 100 bucks I hear? Help!
Wheels and tires. I'd like to go up a rim size, but a moderate one, as the dirt and rocks and bouncing would eat low profile tires and ding and ruin fancy rims. I'd like to go slightly taller than factory recommendation on the tire, to try and eek an extra half inch of ground clearance. and sneak a little wider tire in there. Anyone with experience in this area I'd love some advice. I've been told by my friend who builds drift cars (after telling him that I didn't want a drift spec) that 16 by 9 in rims will fit snugly but not be too big. They sound huge though, and I'm having trouble visualizing. I'd like to go a little wider on the tires but not so wide that I can't continue to bounce down the road in the mud and snow (a lot of fun on dirt let me tell you) I was looking at some 15 by 7.5 rims that looked a good mid size, and had some good middle-of-the-road-but-wider-than-stock options. Any opinions on this would be welcome.
Exhaust. Every year or so I rattle or rip apart an exhaust, and the stock one is more expensive than a lot of the aftermarket ones I've seen. I want my exhaust to perform up to par with the intake and the rest of the system, but it's either got to be cheap (ansa looks viable to me) or built like a damn tank... (super sport?) either way I'll probably rip it to shit. Like to just rip it back to the catalytic and stick in a straight free flow muffler under the back seat, as I'll never sell this ride, but I'm nervous about that too.... Any advice in this area would be lovely.
HID headlights, my eyes suck, I drive a lot, often at night, gotta have them... can't find a kit)
I'll not bother you with the dream projects I can't afford. (325i top end when this engine finally fizzes etc) but I have a couple more things I'd love decent opinions on...
Short shift kit for a daily driver, which one is best... I'm looking at the Bavauto kits...
Gearing in the Steering... project fascinated me from the moment I read about it. You can change the gearing ratio in the steering system? Is this true? I would LOVE to have tighter steering. Any more turning of the wheel than necessary seems wasted to me, and I love responsive steering.... but I don't want it so racing tight that I can't drive with my knee while rolling a cigarette.... anyone know what ratios will fit in my car and give me both these feelings?
Skid plate... see one from 666 industries, but it's got their logo all over it... anyone else manufacture one.
Ok, to review, and thank you to any of you who actually read this far. I drive my 325es every day... live in rough terrain, there's 3000 feet of elevation change and 25 miles of road between my house and the nearest gas station or grocery store. and the last 5 is poorly maintained gravel and dirt skid roads and such. I also love to go down to the bay at 70 miles an hour and be comfy on the highway, I love to rock down the 1 with my tires squealing on each corner, I need 1 car that does all these fairly well....
I'm looking for advice on best shock/spring combos... somehow to lift my ride height a bit, possibly airbags. I'm stepping up to the 3.25 cuz it's the best diff for my purpose, I want to stick with an lsd but want to toughen in up and need advice on that, I know shit all about wheels and tires, just that mine are stock and fairly wimpy, and the crazy looking low pros ya'll use aren't going to cut it on the dirt. My cone filter good enough or not, should I build it a turbulence shield, is there another option? Exhaust... need something built to last, tucked up at least as neatly as the stock one, and I'd like to get a small bump in torque/hp out of it...
thanks for your consideration and keep playing....
Nathan
Found a Dinan chip for 58 dollars on Ebay, bought it, scared to put it in myself. Stories of having to adjust the idle and mixture to rock it right have put me on my guard. There is an experienced shop in Santa Rosa ( a couple hundred miles but probably the closest shops I would trust my little bimmer with)... Plan to have it installed down there.
Ordered a K&N Cone filter, in the mail. Can't wait to rip that monstrous airbox off the engine and let it breath. I spend about 1/3 of my cars time bouncing around on dirt roads... any problems with these as compared to stock in heavier than normal dust applications....
Suspension, as I said above, I spend a 1/3 of my time bouncing around on dirt roads. My first 325 I killed by ripping the oil pan and exhaust off on a protruding rock that was just a bit too high. Obviously, I can't afford to lose an inch of ground clearance, and would even prefer finding a set of springs that would gain me an inch. I'm considering Bilstein heavy dutys, but I fear they will be too stiff for the dirt, so I'm considering boge low pressures, but I'm afraid they won't be stiff enough for screaming corners on the paved. So far I can't find any springs that won't drop my ride height, so I'm pondering leaving the stock springs in, but worry that the stiffer suspension will overly dampen them and reduce my ride quality... any advice on balancing this issue? I saw the airbags in the e30 pickup forum and have been toying with the idea as I could get ideal ride heighths on both concrete and dirt, not sure they can be installed on the front too? Would aribags make my ride a total failure? I know my application is a little weird. Anyone who knows anything about rally/dirt/hybrid suspensions for my ride, I would be thrilled to hear about it. I imagine someone's made a go at it with an 325iX at least but I've heard the suspensions are different on the ES and that. Fairly certain I can't afford coilovers at this point.
Getting a 3.25 LSD out of a 533 I think, anyway, it'll fit my ride, but I want to stiffen up the slip percentage a bit, Having seen diagrams of how these work and knowing it for myself are two different things... I'm looking for advice based on experience here. I can get a shop to do this for about 100 bucks I hear? Help!
Wheels and tires. I'd like to go up a rim size, but a moderate one, as the dirt and rocks and bouncing would eat low profile tires and ding and ruin fancy rims. I'd like to go slightly taller than factory recommendation on the tire, to try and eek an extra half inch of ground clearance. and sneak a little wider tire in there. Anyone with experience in this area I'd love some advice. I've been told by my friend who builds drift cars (after telling him that I didn't want a drift spec) that 16 by 9 in rims will fit snugly but not be too big. They sound huge though, and I'm having trouble visualizing. I'd like to go a little wider on the tires but not so wide that I can't continue to bounce down the road in the mud and snow (a lot of fun on dirt let me tell you) I was looking at some 15 by 7.5 rims that looked a good mid size, and had some good middle-of-the-road-but-wider-than-stock options. Any opinions on this would be welcome.
Exhaust. Every year or so I rattle or rip apart an exhaust, and the stock one is more expensive than a lot of the aftermarket ones I've seen. I want my exhaust to perform up to par with the intake and the rest of the system, but it's either got to be cheap (ansa looks viable to me) or built like a damn tank... (super sport?) either way I'll probably rip it to shit. Like to just rip it back to the catalytic and stick in a straight free flow muffler under the back seat, as I'll never sell this ride, but I'm nervous about that too.... Any advice in this area would be lovely.
HID headlights, my eyes suck, I drive a lot, often at night, gotta have them... can't find a kit)
I'll not bother you with the dream projects I can't afford. (325i top end when this engine finally fizzes etc) but I have a couple more things I'd love decent opinions on...
Short shift kit for a daily driver, which one is best... I'm looking at the Bavauto kits...
Gearing in the Steering... project fascinated me from the moment I read about it. You can change the gearing ratio in the steering system? Is this true? I would LOVE to have tighter steering. Any more turning of the wheel than necessary seems wasted to me, and I love responsive steering.... but I don't want it so racing tight that I can't drive with my knee while rolling a cigarette.... anyone know what ratios will fit in my car and give me both these feelings?
Skid plate... see one from 666 industries, but it's got their logo all over it... anyone else manufacture one.
Ok, to review, and thank you to any of you who actually read this far. I drive my 325es every day... live in rough terrain, there's 3000 feet of elevation change and 25 miles of road between my house and the nearest gas station or grocery store. and the last 5 is poorly maintained gravel and dirt skid roads and such. I also love to go down to the bay at 70 miles an hour and be comfy on the highway, I love to rock down the 1 with my tires squealing on each corner, I need 1 car that does all these fairly well....
I'm looking for advice on best shock/spring combos... somehow to lift my ride height a bit, possibly airbags. I'm stepping up to the 3.25 cuz it's the best diff for my purpose, I want to stick with an lsd but want to toughen in up and need advice on that, I know shit all about wheels and tires, just that mine are stock and fairly wimpy, and the crazy looking low pros ya'll use aren't going to cut it on the dirt. My cone filter good enough or not, should I build it a turbulence shield, is there another option? Exhaust... need something built to last, tucked up at least as neatly as the stock one, and I'd like to get a small bump in torque/hp out of it...
thanks for your consideration and keep playing....
Nathan
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