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

[Civilian]

Looks great, nice update. The exhaust looks good! And that HID looks very good too.

Keep it up, and Merry Christmas!

[gkurey]

Long time no post...today I hit a critical mark in my project while being at home during Christmas stand-down...I finally got the car on the road and burned 1/3 of a tank! It feels wonderful...I sorted out all of my issues and I can definitely say all the hours have paid off. The car still isn't where I want it to be ultimately, but its now a living/breathing machine that I could easily use every day! I'll recap the last month and a half...

So the last thing I really posted was a video of the car idling with no exhaust on. I know I posted up some pics of the front section of the exhaust I built, which I have since rebuilt to make it more modular/removable/installable. Now, I will show you the modified e36 M3 Muffler I fabbed up. Below you can see I added two generic hangars w/bushings and bent them to fit up to the e30 body. I hated the OEM style of exhaust hangars so I felt this was superior. I also cut and rewelded the tips to be at a semi-DTM angle. I don't like it as much as I thought, but it works.



And here is a finished/painted shot.



And installed!!



I then moved on to several things that were worn out/performing inadequately for my tastes. I started on the headlights...my low beams were abysmal. After hearing some shoddy reports on the popular HID vendor on BMW sites, I went with another vendor (Visionari) and was very very pleased with their shipping, their kit, and the light output of their kit. I'd say everything was spot on. I'm running a 4300k kit. Here are some shots of my install of the ballasts and then the output.

The kit:


The driver's side ballast:


Passenger ballast:


And....light color....kind of blue in the picture, but I assure you, its white as white can be!


Next, I had a nasty 20+ year old roundel on my hood...it had to go! Here is a shot of the freshness:


After that...tons of components in my front end suspension were begging for some attention. I decided to replace the front control arms, sway bar bushings, end links, and CABs. I went with M3 style offset rubber bushings and I must say, the difference is night and day!! I highly recommend this mod to anyone who has old/worn CABs.

New CABs:


New control arms all set up, ready for install:


Hot endlinks


While I had the car up in the air, I ended up swapping my 3.73LSD for a 2.93LSD I got for a wicked price. After driving today, I'm really glad I did....the few moments I had the 3.73 on...gears seemed way too short for my liking. The one I got was pretty old n rusty, but I put some love and elbow grease into her, and gave it a dusting of rustoleum which cleaned it right up! Pics:







Thats it for now...in about an hour or two, Ill hop back on and post the rest...I need to run for a bit, sorry for the hasty end, I'll be back!

[bbaction]

Nice build dude looks like how i would do it. Too bad you had to take one more from albuquerque haha

[BimmerTim]

I've never heard of those coils before. They look decent though.

Nice build, BTW.

[gkurey]

Thanks guys...I'm getting a ton of goodies this week so look for a substantial update soon.

SC guys...when is this rally? I'm heading off to OCS (Joining the Navy) for December through early March so if its then, I'm unavail...but if it is in March or before Dec, I stand a chance of going!

[Huff]

This thread has my attention.

[tabasco]

Awesome build!!!Well done!

[Infamouscrew02]

looking good Gavin. You should join us for the next southeast rally!

When is it? Hopefully by then I will have a car worthy of showing off and not being embarrassed about the body.

[mattdk318i]

looking good Gavin. You should join us for the next southeast rally!

[The Humjet]

Realy cool project keep up the good work, how are BC coilovers like i'm think about getting a set of those soon?

[gregslow318i]

glad to see the adapter worked for you...looks good I love alpine weiss

[Infamouscrew02]

What spring rates did you go with on the coilovers? I'm going to order them from bc racing once they come back form SEMA show on November 10th.

If I ever come to Charleston, we will have to meet up and get a beer.

[ian e30 318is]

I just read this whole thread! Awesome job on the car! The engine looks and sounds great along with the rest of the car! Keep up the solid work and keep the updates coming

[gkurey]

Great work, but dude, do you still have those wheels? i've been looking for them for ever, mainly 2 of them :D

The ASAs? Yeah I have em...I could be convinced to part with them as well, haha! PM Me if you are really interested.

[castros]

Very nice work man.