My dad said to just get a new car...

[McGyver]

...so i told him that i would build one.

This is my 325i Cabrio. I have had it for about 2 years and the only work i have done is replace the control arms and CABs.

Some Dealer Photos:








I hit a deer and most of the damage isnt fixed. The bra is to cover the hood until i have enough cash to pay for a color change. This is how it sat yesterday.





Since insurance gave me cash to Fix the damage myself i bought some Christmas goodies!



I got all of the old stuff out



Stock vs H&R Race Springs


Stock vs Billy Sport Shocks



And in with the new!



more when i get back from C-Ville!

[ZM Blue Devil]

nice... keep it going...

[shiboujin]

LMK if you need misc parts. I have 1.5 parts cars in my basement :-p

lookin good!

[McGyver]

LMK if you need misc parts. I have 1.5 parts cars in my basement :-p

lookin good!

yeah, i need an M10x1.0 lock nut. apparently they only come on Bilstein shocks and the guy i bought mine from forgot to give me one...

[shiboujin]

front or rear? I probably have fronts.

[RicerX]

Looking good!

[McGyver]

So i got back from snowboarding yesterday and set to work on my car.

i got my front wheel bearing kits in



the inner race decided to stay on, but luckily i decided to throw in a bearing puller before i went to my mom's house for break!



then i pulled the entire strut out



Old versus new springs



then when i was hooking up what i think is the abs sensor the male side of the plug decided to deteriorate, so i think i will be going to a junkyard soon.



so that brings me to my problem. somehow i messed up the threads on the outer ball joint. i think i have fixed them, but now the lock-nut is stripped and wont go on. what do i do, if i can't find a nut to fit? i just replaced the control arms about 5,000 miles ago with e36 Meyle control arms and i really dont want to just scrap them.

The other issue i am having is that i cant figure out how to tighten the upper shock mounts to the shocks. any help on that?

[McGyver]

anyone have a good answer for me?

[ck_taft325is]

I hate to say it, but on the ball joint (control arm -> strut knuckle) I stripped out my 19mm nylock nut and couldn't for the life of me find one anywhere in the greater WA State area. Ended up buying new CA's and replacing the mildly worn CAB's.

Sucks to go that route.

[catchuk]

dealer should have one

[xwill112x]

electrical tape followed by duct tape. cheap, and it works.

[McGyver]

thank god for BavAuto! since the control arms are so new they are going to just send me 2 lock nuts for the outer ball joints for FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! so i cant drive until the middle of next week, but as long as i can tap the ball joint to get the threads straight everything should work out!!!!

As soon as my work clothes get clean im going out to do the other side! Pics soon.

[theox69]

Looks good so far.
Be sure to post some pics when you're done!
Not to mention a few boarding pics too.

[McGyver]

got to work again a few days ago. i was able to pull the wheel baring off, but the inner race stayed on too far in for the bearing pullers to grab it. so i took it to a machine shop to pull it for FREEEEEEEEEE!!!



well the new springs are on, but since they are bout half the size of the sock ones, they dont quite fill the whole shock length, will this be a problem? i already have the top and bottom pads in.



while tightening the shock mounts, i found out the true quality of my brand new strap wrench



OOOOOH a box from the UK! What could be in it?!?!



Euro grill, center, Euro tails (for the bulb carriers), double fog switch, and a set of smilies!!!



but, UPS couldnt make this easy on me, so now i have to deal with shipping insurance...



oh well, i guess i am hlaf way closer to smilies...

[McGyver]

actually it looks like both if the plastic things that hold the headlights are broken in the top where the low and high beam parts come together. the center of one of the bulb carriers is punched in. finally the tail light that was slightly broken has a few more cracks. all this in addition to the broken high beam...