Charley's 325 Touring

[Charley]

I have owned two 318is before the touring but I never cared enough about
them to make a project thread.

So now that I have a car that is worth keeping in good shape/only driven
in the summer, It deserves its own project thread.

How it looked when I bought it:



And the project starts now....

Thanks to Kuuki I got this:

Type code AG51 Type 325I (EUR)
Dev. series E30 (5)
Line 3
Body type TOUR
Steering LL
Door count 5
Engine M20
Cubical capacity 2.50
Power 141
Transmision HECK
Gearbox MECH
Colour LACHSSILBER METALLIC (203)
Upholstery SILBER STOFF (0270)
Prod. date 1988-12-22
Order options
No. Description
215 POWER STEERING,DEPENDING ON ENGINE SPEED
400 SLIDING SUNROOF MANUAL
423 FLOOR MATS, VELOUR
428 WARNING TRIANGLE
510 HEADLIGHT BEAM-THROW CONTR. F LOW BEAM
551 ON-BOARD COMPUTER II W REMOTE CONTROL
668 BMW BAVARIA C EXKLUSIV
681 DACHANTENNE
690 CASSETTE HOLDER
708 M-SPORT LEATHER STEERING WHEEL II

I now know that the M-tech II wheel is original and why it now looks like this


The leather is worn, center section is faded and stitching coming apart. So
I swaped the wheel with my M-Tech I until this one is repaired.

I then swapped the front seats with the sports seats from the parts car

From this



to this



Now I can see the top of the cluster witch I could not do before with the
comfort seats+small M-tech II. I hope to still be able to when I swap the
M-tech II wheel back in...

Then I had to fix the fog lights. They were heavily pitted and not working.
So swapped in some ''new'' ones. Then after a diagnostic of the
electrical circuit found that the switch was bad...Its a euro fog light switch.
So it not like if I had a replacement laying there...well....

Maybe I do



Yeah that will work.

Another problem witch I still haven't found a way to fix for cheap is this



The antenna is missing its cap/cover and guess what its NLA and I can't find a replacement anywhere execpt a whole new antenna.

Then with the help of Guten Parts/Levent I did this

First I took apart my cluster



Then painted the bezel flat black



And the needles red



Then let the paint dry and enjoy the sun/beer/book (Everyone should read
Sherlock Holmes)



Then reassembled



And in the car



I also sanded/painted the sways that were on the 318is and my strut bar
as well as received my order from AKG



This should definitely help with handling. The car has H&R sports+billies
right now but it understeers bad and the subframe bushing are MIA so its
kinda scary now when I push the car in corners.

I also installed a Apexcone 4500K 55W kit earlier today I will go adjust
them after I finish this since its dark now. The smileys didn't light to well
but they had crappy bulbs in them...

And I also cleaned the front end a bit. Added missing trim, euro plate and
chrome kidneys



I also fixed a lot little problems but they are not really worth mentioning.
And I'm waiting for a shipment from Blunt. This should help with future
updates

And that is it for tonight

Charley

[amiller07]

looking good....i want one so bad

[TS323]

purdy

[ejnight]

Great car. Keep up the good work.

[N2MYE30]

Nice work. Euro clusters look so much better than US.

[Charley]

Ok time for an update, I haven't had much time to work on the car
this summer since it was my daily and I was working 60hrs a week...

So first, I removed the interior for 3 reasons

1. I had to remove what I couldn't reach with the carpet in...the last parts
from the 2 or 3 audio setup this car ever had this is only about half of
what I removed...


2.See the big f*****g hole there? it was hidden when the interior was still
in...no wonder the it was always full of water...


3.To take this picture. Not really, its to dye the carpets black and repair
a bit of rust up front.


Now the dirty work:

The car had a tendency to snap loose when I was taking a sharp right turn. Well I had the car on a lift few weeks ago to confirm that the
subframe bushings were shot so I went ahead to change them...

Started with removing the rear springs when I heard a crunch...well I was
not expecting that...


This is why the rear end was snapping loose, the spring pad was holding
for a while but when the pressure was to high, the spring moved up in
the body... not cool. It the first time I see rust there on an e30. So I
ordered a new frame rail and it will be fixed after I get the car on its
wheel since I have to drive to my welder's house...

Then discovered a leak from the brake line that loops over the gas tank
witch did a bit of damage with time(brake fluid is a very good paint
stripper)



Cleaned it up and hit it with some rust converter/primer:


Also anyone knows how does the fuel goes from one side to the other



Then I removed the rusty cover, the cover is removed in this pic. At first
I thought that some kind of foam was used by BMW to keep the hoses
from moving but it was just years of accumulated crap...


Also the diff was nasty


I cleaned it up and painted it.

Also I cleaned a part of my dads storage place and I now have a kind
of work shop. Electricity is still not working but I'm working on that.

Now I have space to store parts other than my bedroom.



As you can see there is already a workbench. And I found an old vice that
needs a bit of paint but other than that it is 100 time better quality then
what you can buy these day. You can also see that the rear trailing arms
are not getting any love since I'm going 5lug next spring and will pimp
the new ones instead. I don't really want to do the work twice.

Also I delete the abs today and started to replace every brake hard line
on the car. I will also add some stainless braided soft line to replace the
oem rubber one.

Update over
Charley

[accident]

dear god i want it so bad

[ZM Blue Devil]

I have something nice waiting for shipment on this beauty, its going to make it even hotter.

[Charley]

I have something nice waiting for shipment on this beauty, its going to make it even hotter.

Oh yes you do...but nothing will be installed before next spring unfortunately, I will need a few more parts to make everything perfect.

Also I may need your services again in a short while. And I still need to
check a few thing that you might have a nd that I need before you ship it.
will pm you tonight or tomorow.

Charley

[MatRacer]

Sub'ed!

NiCe project!! I've been looking to this car for a while. It for sale on Lespac right!?

[ZM Blue Devil]

north bound... 2 big boxes high side of 190 lbs left today...:D

[88SuperETABD]

looks great keep the updates coming...and the good work. Love wagons.

[Charley]

Sub'ed!

NiCe project!! I've been looking to this car for a while. It for sale on Lespac right!?

Yes it is.

[Hellabad]

RRRRRR. I have seen that antenna cover somewhere, in a thread about people restoring a different car that uses the same antenna.


It is somewhere out there, I promise. People have figured it out. Maybe available in chrome? and then they are painting it black? I have seen it somewhere, don't give up.

[ZM Blue Devil]

Charley,

I have the antenna complete.