A trip down memory lane...89' 325is + S52 inside!

[gkurey]

I'm in Norfolk currently...I'd be down!!

[Clean318]

Hey dude, sorry for the late response; I live in the Ghent area. We need to get the weekly meet thing going on...look in the mid-atlantic area forum! And yeah, by all means, I can try n help with whatever you need!

ahhh gotcha i have a friend that lives out there with a lexus gs350 on vossens idk if you've seen him before, but yeah man that would be pretty dope. i need to get my car running first. Kinda changed my mind on what motor i want to go with.

[gkurey]

Long time, no update! Someone recently backed into me and crinkled my hood...working on the repairs now. Added a few other goodies I will post soon. Here is one:

[zumjosh]

Great read and I can see all the quality parts and quality work you've been doing. Well done. I am curious as to why you stuck with the OEM rubber bushings instead of going poly, especially since you are doing auto-x.

[gkurey]

Some parts I elected to keep rubber due to the fact I daily drive the car...engine mounts and a few bushings are rubber still. I don't track the car enough to go full tilt race-mode! Thanks for the compliments, glad you enjoy the build!

[viceversa]

bump for an awesome build. just finished and what a good read! thank you for sharing!

[gkurey]

Thanks Robbie, glad you enjoyed the read!

Well, it's been awhile and I think I owe a quick update. I've relocated to the San Diego area and am settling into my new surroundings...awesome place for a gear head!! I'll be looking to meet more BMW guys in the area so keep you eyes out for me!

Just before leaving VA, as I mentioned in a previous post, I got hit while parked and the offender didn't leave a note. I got great assistance with my insurance company and got it all fixed up however. Here's the damage:



Not terrible, but I needed a new hood and some lights. I took the opportunity to go with DEPO smilies and jumped back to a chrome grille. Here are the parts:



Did all the repairs myself except for paint because I trust no one, haha. The DEPO lights are much better than I thought they would be...good visibility and decent fit. Not bad for 150 bucks! Another big improvement was the new Nardi steering wheel I posted earlier...I love it! It looks great, feels great, and the light stitching accents the car well.



Once I found out I was moving to CA, I decided I didn't want to risk any damage from the long road trip (VA to CA is about 2700 miles IIRC!) so I opted to get another set of wheels for comfort and just shipped the Equips with my household. I ended up snagging a set of TRM C1s from a guy in town; they are 15x8 with 225/50 Kumhos. I love them wayyyy more then I thought and have yet to put the Work wheels back on...selling the Works to make way for more exciting performance stuff. Here is how the car now sits in my new garage:




I think the current look is the best iteration of my car yet...forgot to mention I also raised it about 1" for the road trip and have yet to bring it back down; roads are little bumpy in spots around SD so I might leave it up there.

Lately I noticed some weird coating on my intake manifold discoloring and flaking; so I went to a pick n' pull in my area and got a clean intake mani for 17 dollars on a 4th of July sale! Here are the results of the swap:

New vs. Old


New intake plenum and also a new AEM filter:


One last thing that I forgot to add a few months ago...I added oil pressure and temp gauges to monitor my low profile oil pan's performance. I got an oil cap that is tapped for the senders, got VDO gauges to match the interior look and illumination, and got various AN fittings to make a clean install. The gauge panel came from jaywood (thanks!!) and was a snap to install, just required some modification of the console and ash tray to have enough room for the gauges and wiring...here are the results:

Oil cap and lines/senders


Test fit on the panel and a modified tray


Installed


Look for a lot more exciting updates...getting a new TIG machine and lots of other goodies to start really making some cool stuff!

Thanks for reading!

[sam_]

this is one of my favorite threads! the car and new wheels look great!!

hope youre getting settled in CA! PM me if youre ever up in LA as I would love to cruise/do some tire kicking

[HertE30]

Looks amazing. More alpine white inspiration for me. What size diameter is the nardi?

[gkurey]

Nardi Classic 350mm, thanks for the feedback!

smhskns, I'll try to post up before I travel up there!

[itskingsteelo]

amazing build, car looks flawless.

[gkurey]

Its got a few imperfections but I'm trying to slowly take care of them one by one!

[RBE9]

I just found this thread and caught up on all of it. Great build thread and detail (love that wheel)! This inspires me to complete my 1990 325is! It's the stock twin of your car with AW on tan and I bought it late last year. Right now it's in the garage and I have been working on it in my spare time. Currently rewiring the audio system and then doing the 5 speed swap I have sitting for it. I think you will like San Diego, we have some really clean e30s over here and a great group of helpful people in the BMW network over here. I hope to meet up with you one of these days at a car meet/BMW CCA event or just whenever. :up:

[badnerd]

nice build...loving the progression
Subbed

[gkurey]

RBE9, badnerd, thanks for the props! RBE9, I'd love to meet up this summer when I get back on US soil...should be a great summer full of e30 action I hope.

Here is a small update of what I've been up to on the car. Not much in the way of mods except an awesome CA Tuned BBK. Everything else has been maintenance. About 4 years later, I have replaced the guibo (used the original off my donor car) and done a few other miscellaneous items.

About the BBK...the performance far exceeds my tired old oem calipers, even though I rebuilt those originally. The Wilwoods just do the job better. I selected the CAtuned kit because A) it was on sale for Black Friday, and B) I've been looking at UUC/CAtuned kits for the last month or so...the Black Friday sale was the tipping point. The install was straight forward and nice as it uses 4x100 custom Stoptech rotors and has complete hardware to accompany the kit. One gripe I have was the SS lines didnt adapt well to the OEM line brackets, but it was nothing my grinder couldn't handle. The brakes easily cleared my 15x8 TRM C-1s and look great. For the $$ spent, I couldn't be happier...feels like the hand of God is stopping the car! You be the judge (sorry I didn't cover the install process a little closer):







I have huge plans for the car this summer...keep checking in for some awesome updates and thanks to everyone for keeping up with this over the years!

-Gavin