1988 Alpine White 325iS Build

[EuroChriz]

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[KIRIEIW]

Andddd she's back on the road! I've been cruising around in the neighborhood and took her out on a few mile drive yesterday. Shift's into all gears great, clutch grabs good, couldn't be happier. That being said though, I found a few issues..


-The brakes are a bit sketchy, sometimes they grab a bit "low" to the floor. Air in the system? Rear calipers plugged up? Master cylinder taking a crap? Vacuum leak to the booster?.. Need to investigate.

-The transmission has a leak from the "Manual trans detent plate". I've never seen a leak from here before but after a quick google search and a few R3v links, it seems to be a pretty common spot that leaks.. Should have replaced it when I did the damn shift shaft seal!! Part's now on order.

-Pulls to the left a little bit. The tires are 15 years old though so could be that but also all the suspension is original. Once I get new tires mounted, control arms, tie rods, ect. If it still pulls to one side then we have a problem. I'm pretty confident after all that she'll drive strait as an arrow though.

-The stupid heater valve my dad rebuild is seeping every so slightly. Found a guy on eBay selling them brand new though (New/old stock never installed, original BMW) for $69 shipped. He only has like 3 or 4 more so I'd act fast if one of you needs one. Even with my discount at the dealership I'd be paying over $2xx! Ordered one and it's on the way. Sucks I need to pull the heater core out again to get this valve out but screw it, I need a heater..







Interior cleaning, new fuel filter, ect...

[mike.bmw]

Wooohooo! Good news on getting the car running.

Sucks about the heater valve, but it's good that you caught it now. $69 is a crazy deal. I paid $2xx for mine via FCP Euro.

Looking forward to more updates. :-)

[KIRIEIW]

Wooohooo! Good news on getting the car running.

Sucks about the heater valve, but it's good that you caught it now. $69 is a crazy deal. I paid $2xx for mine via FCP Euro.

Looking forward to more updates. :-)

Thanks! Yup I had a hard time believing it myself, had to read the ad. twice just to make sure. Almost worth grabbing an extra just to keep on my spare parts shelf lol.

[mike.bmw]

I don't think the valve in your attached photo isn't the correct one... hopefully I'm wrong, but I believe most e30s use one without the L shape below the housing.

Here are my old and new heater valves. The new one is a different design, but the pipe positioning is the same between them. Yours has an L shape and extended pipe.

20200521_123643 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[KIRIEIW]

I don't think the valve in your attached photo isn't the correct one... hopefully I'm wrong, but I believe most e30s use one without the L shape below the housing.

Dughh! Dumbass me, your totally right. You just saved me a huge headache thank you! Looks like I'll be spending $2xx tomorrow at the dealership then .

[mike.bmw]

Dughh! Dumbass me, your totally right. You just saved me a huge headache thank you! Looks like I'll be spending $2xx tomorrow at the dealership then .

Ugh, sorry it was't the right one. :(

I edited my post above with a photo of the old and new style heater valves. Be sure to take a look at the "instructions" as it briefly describes how to rotate the top of the housing and then lock in back into place. The housing on top of the new style valves is a bit larger than the originals, so it needs to be rotated to fit.

I posted more details (and photos) about it here: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...07#post9927307

Don't forget new o-rings! :)

[KIRIEIW]

More work done! First and foremost, I got the new $2xx heater valve installed. The new valve looks nothing like the old style valve and doesn't fit the greatest either. The very top portion of the valve "pivots". Once you have the very top portion that "pivots" in an OK spot, you can tighten down on the top nut hand tight (Thank You Mike for the pics in your thread ).


I also fixed my transmission leak, it was leaking from the shift detent pin covering cap.. You need to be super careful when replacing this because not a whole lot of room/ you don't want to loose the springs that hold everything in place.. Not to mention the springs aren't all the same size so if one falls out you better pay close attention to where it went.


Lastly since I was under the dash,, I cleaned up the messy Aftermarket Keyless Entry Alarm system installation.. Total eye sore when you'd remove the kick panel. I contemplated removing it entirely but in the end decided to leave it for the only feature I somewhat cared for.. Keyless entry. All the other BS was removed and in the trash now (last picture), so it truly is only a keyless entry system now..I zip tied everything nice and neat and used Tesa tape to wrap up the wires/ double sided tape to mount the little module.. Looks much better now.



I've removed a good 8 or 9 alarms from E30 projects over the years..This is the only keyless entry I've kept installed so far but if I have any issues it's coming right out.. like I did to the other 9 project cars.

















3x brand new O rings from BMW yet again...

[Mazi!]

Nice project!

[KIRIEIW]

Running into some issues, Koni Yellow's are back ordered.. Until late October at the soonest.. Pretty strange but I guess that's why I've been waiting weeks for my shocks to arrive, which never did. I ended up asking for a refund.. got the refund a few days ago. Not only that but the C191 connector disintegrated.. from me just looking at it wrong. I'll need to order parts new pins from work on Monday and re pin the connector.


Anyways all this got me thinking, I don't want to do Bilstein Sports because I hated the ride on my first e30. I have newer KYB shocks in the backyard but want something a bit nicer.. So I decided to call GC up. Two emails and two phone calls, no answer. Period. Why is it so hard to buy Koni shocks!!! I have extra strut housings in the backyard so I won't need to sacrifice the ones on the 325iS currently (the main reason I wanted to stay away from coilovers), but this is perfect. Just unbolt the front suspension, put them in a fancy storage box, and that's it. Wouldn't even need to separate the springs/ shocks.. Hopefully Ground Control gets back to me at some point.




In the meantime I detailed the car a bit more. I removed all the wheels/ scrubbed the wheel wells clean, and cleaned the 14's pretty good with a tooth brush. Everything's looking nice and purrrdy now .




Before...











After some soap/ water...

[mjweimer]

The car is cleaning up so well, it sure looks to be in really, really nice shape. You Westcoasters are so lucky to deal with these dry cars....even the cleanest E30's in the Midwest would have a little rust on the fuel vent pipe cover.

Bummer on the Koni's, at least October is not too far away...maybe Ground Control will come through for you. Hopefully it doesn't turn into a situation like Bilstein had a few years back with everything out of stock for a year or more....



MJ

[KIRIEIW]

More updates, I finally got in touch with Ground Control. I can't even count how many times I called but finally got someone on the line! I'm assuming they have less staff with all the Covid-19 stuff going on but anyways at least the order's in.


I also hooked up a new head unit, one of those fancy Continental VDO head units that have bluetooth and look somewhat period correct. The car had a aftermarket JBL headunit installed but I wanted to put something a bit nicer in the 325iS (Bluetooth was the main reason). Pretty easy install, no need to add a bunch of aftermarket speaker wires in the car.. I just re used all factory wires.




With the head unit out I went a step further and replaced all the bulb's behind the HVAC. 13 button background lighting, all the little bulbs that light the HVAC at night, ect.


I also ordered, and I don't know what to call it but, a new red/blue "euro temp surround". Looks the same as the stock one but has numbers in Celsius rather then no numbers at all. Pretty easy install, It's the small details that count..

[D.Martijn]

Nice pictures! The US bumpers look good on this one (never thought I'd ever say this haha)

Didn't know about the euro temp surround. I don't think my iX Touring has this, never seen one before over hear as well..

[KIRIEIW]

Well I finally got the suspension overhaul finished. Was a huge headache dealing with Ground Control this time around... never responding to emails, missing hardware for the front shocks.. A few more things I won't mention. If I could do it over again I would have bought the Koni shocks from somewhere else and only purchased the springs/ adjusters from GC.


Aside from the little rant, it's still a quality suspension set up. Maybe Covid 19 has something to do with my issues due to the smaller staff. This is the 3rd kit I've purchased from them over the years and definitely would order another kit because quality parts (Koni/ Eibash Springs) vs some of the Chinese coilovers on the market. In regards to customer service though.. I won't comment this time, they've been very helpful with me in the past.


















I also installed brand new Lemforder control arms, Control arm bushings, and sway bar links.
















I have all the stock suspension in a box now, I had extra e30 front struts in the backyard so modified the spring perches on
my extra strut housings rather then messing with the virgin 325iS suspension.














And the millage all the suspension was installed at is a pretty easy one haha.

[2mAn]

Updates?