Black 89 325is Build Thread

[Ian McClure]

Starting a build thread for the first time ever for my 89 325is. I wanted to make an actual build thread on the forum as a way to give back to a forum that has given me so much over my E30 journey. Back in 2010 before I even bought my first E30 I would spend hours just reading posts and looking at other people's build threads. Time spent just learning the basics like what "M20" meant or learning terminology like what the bitch clip was.

I've had this particular E30 for about 7 years now and over that time it has become something I've grown extremely attached to. As most of us here can relate, many hours have been spent on this car. The car started off as my daily. I finished the S50 swap sometime during 2017 and during 2019 is when I really got serious about the looks of the car and making it a complete package. I have had a vision for this car since day one and only just within the last year or so have finally seen the "finished" product come together. I am making this as another way to document the process and if you'd like to follow along that would be great. I'll start off by listing the major things below to give a general overview of the car. There are many things I won't list like basic maint. stuff and various gaskets and seals that have been replaced over time.

Drivetrain:
US S50
E34 M50 oil pan with welded in VAC oil baffle
Dinan chip
Ebay headers to Vibrant resonator and Vibrant Muffler and Vibrant dual tips. On car sound clip > https://youtu.be/4kXO9UmTkDQ
Mishimoto aluminum radiator External Sound clip > https://youtu.be/FJAVLnWtn3w
Spal pusher fan
JB Racing aluminum light weight flywheel
Condor engine and transmission mounts
ZF320
Rebuilt driveshaft
3.46 LSD
Condor diff bushing
New GKN axle shafts

Chassis:
5 lug swap front: 96+ M3 setup including new spindle, control arm, and hub
5 lug swap rear: SRS concept adapters utilizing E30 trailing arm, axle, and wheel bearing matched with an E89 Z4 hub and E46 non-M rotors, pads, and calipers mounted upside down
New E30 parking brake shoes and hardware
Pads front: PFC 08 Pads rear: Hawk street ceramic
E32 master cylinder and E21 booster
Fortune Auto coilovers 7K front 9K rear with adjustable front camber plates and spherical bearing upgrade
Rebuilt Z3 steering rack with new E36 tie rods and a modified steering shaft with new rubber flex disc
Enforced front subframe and rear subframe
Condor rear trailing arm and subframe bushings
Garagistic eccentric adjustment for rear camber and toe

Interior:
Replaced dashboard with non-cracked unit
Carpet replaced with black single ply unit from Auto Custom Carpet
Sound deadening placed in various spots
Recaro pole position seats
VAC floor mounts and side mount adapters for seats
Schroth 6 point harness for both driver and passenger
MKAH false floor panels
MKAH dead pedal
Garagistic DIY four point cage painted gloss white
Garagistic rear shock tower brace painted white
Condor center guage panel
Speedhut custom gauges including engine oil pressure, engine oil temperature, engine water temperature, and differential oil temperature
CAE body mounted shifter
Vintage Italvolanti steering wheel
Center console removed

Exterior:
Repainted front valance, brake ducts, all trim painted, window trim, and other various small things
Replaced and painted rear bumper cover
Replaced front and rear bumper trim
Installed and painted IS lip
Front euro plate
OE Mtech 1 rear trunk lip
New OEM windshield and seal
Condor door handles
DTM side view mirrors
Depo euro smileys
Smoked front turn signals
Used slightly broken glass fog lights


First picture I ever took of the car. I bought it with a steering rack that would leak P/S fluid out as fast as I could pour it in and a subframe bushing that was completely separated on the passenger side. So I got to work on it almost immediately.


The first track day I ever did with this car, still M20 powered. Sitting next to my good friends NASA time trial car.


M20 removal winter 2016


S50 in and ready for first test drive with open header. My brother hanging out the window ready to go with me. Spring 2017.


Taken sometime late 2018. This was right before I got serious about making this car look good, both inside and out. A lot of things were faded and turning grey like trim and lower valance.

[Ian McClure]

Pic taken early 2019. A lot of work went into the car and it went through it's biggest transformation yet IMO. Over the winter between 18/19 I had removed a bunch of trim to re-paint, installed new rear bumper cover to replaced the cracked old one, painted the front valance and installed an IS lip for the first time during my ownership. I also did the 5 lug suspension and brake conversion and coil over install. I took this picture when I had to roll the car out and take a good look at it even with all the missing trim. The front obviously sat way too low but damn I just couldn't keep the smile off my face seeing the car change this much. Just a really big moment for me.


The rest of the trim installed and freshly aligned after 5 lug conversion. Wearing it's first set of 5 lug wheels and tires. Spring 2019


First time on track testing the new suspension and brake setup.


Second set of 5 lug wheels.

On track at NCM in Bowling Green KY.

[Ian McClure]

End of 2019 and into most of the whole year of 2020 was when I got to working on getting the interior the way I always wanted it to be. I ordered the DIY cage and had it fabricated and installed, put fresh carpet in, installed the most amazing shifter to ever be created, and many other things that transformed it almost as much as when I got the car sorted cosmetically.


Interior picture take sometime in 2017 I think. I only took the picture because I was excited about installing the MOMO Prototipo wheel.

Just got the car back from the fabricator after cage install. Pic taken mid 2020 sometime. Shortly after this I took the car to have the cage painted.


After getting the car back and the cage painted in started installing the false floors and putting some sound deadening down. Could have done better with the sound deadening but even with the amount I put down I think it helped a lot.

Interior mostly done in this pic. Taken mid to late 2020. Mostly happy with the way the carpet turned out but in person it has a lot of wrinkles and isn't very smooth. I am also still not happy about the way it meets the heater box and looks unfinished. Still need to figure out what to do with that. My main goal was to have a clean center tunnel with no center console and really display that absolute unit of a shifter.


Tartan seat inserts installed and coco mats installed.

[Ian McClure]

FINALLY received a set of Apex ARC-8 wheels for track use. I had to wait for an E30 M3 group buy to get 5 lug wheels that were the right size and because 2020 was all screwed up it took 8 months from the close of the group buy to actually receive them. Worth the wait though!


BBS LM wheels installed. I only ran these wheels for about two months before I decided they didn't click with me on this particular car. I ended up using them on my M3 where they were a much better fit in terms of looks.


And now this is the latest picture of the car. Removed the tint, added a euro plate up front, installed DTM mirrors, and swapped out the LM's for RS wheels.

And that brings us to mostly current day. The car is currently on jack stands in my garage because one of the front coilover struts is leaking oil so I will have to send if off the be re-built. That's ok because I have gotten to the point where I don't drive this car in the winter at all.

Looking at this thread now maybe I should have just made a thread in members rides and not build thread but I do hope to update this thread going forward with things that are happening to the car.

[amcp]

Whats up Ian. Car still looks good!

[Ian McClure]

Whats up Ian. Car still looks good!

Thanks! Took me a minute to realize who you were, I didn't recognize the username.

[808ETA]

Love the Apex wheels

[2mAn]

Love it! thanks for sharing.

Whats the plan from here? More Track time?

[Ian McClure]

Love it! thanks for sharing.

Whats the plan from here? More Track time?

Yep! Definitely more track time in 2022. Future plans for the car I'm not sure. Mostly little things. I'd like to figure out a rear seat delete at some point, I need to clean up the engine bay as it is really dirty and there is some wiring that could look a lot better. I'd also like to build the diff too.