Absorbantnut's '87 325is

[AbsorbantNut]

Recently, thanks to silence8 on this forum, I have gotten a huge job upgrade, and now I should have some cash for some cool stuff. I'll probably start with the read subframe bushings & trailing arms so I can fix the camber issues

[AbsorbantNut]

It now has a decent exhaust I scored for 60 bucks & fabbed up with some of my best friends.

I ordered:
75d UUC poly TA bushings from turner
Stainless steel brake lines from turner
ATE super blue racing fluid from blunt
Front & rear brake rebuild kits from blunt

I picked up a power steering delete from Carlos(silence8)

Hopefully I can weld in my adjustable subframe stuff & put the whole mess above in before the event at Sebring this month!!

[Lof8]

What group are you running with at Sebring?

[AbsorbantNut]

Some pics of my snagging the exhaust & driving back


Was able to get my power steering delete installed today and boy does it feel....different! Much more road feel when I'm traveling at speed. Just what I was looking for;)


At Sebring I'll be running in hpde 1

[AbsorbantNut]

[AbsorbantNut]

Time for another much needed update. Judging by the last picture it seems like there was a big change in pace:twisted:

Well, as everything does, this plan started off with an idea. A very different idea which I wasn't fond of at all after all my hard work from previous years. But things change and so do people, so with some help from my friends we decided to mix up the gameplan.

Carlos at one point brought up the idea of rusting my car. Rusting my car!?!! Well we decided we'd give it a shot, after all it was a 300 dollar car, what harm could come. So we decided to test out some paint stripper on a very inconspicouos place. The quaterpanel So it began then, as Carlos, John, and I started stripping down the car.







So then we went to some car meets....




Then I autoX'd at Sebring while my friends went racing. It rained most of the day, and to make things worst I was driving around on bald, cording tires with absolutely no brake pedal even after multiple bleeding attempts. But, it's all about having a good time right:D



So a few days later I went to the local u-pull-it with some friends and picked up a working driver side brake caliper



Then I hit up another car show with some buds.






Then things got interesting. The award ceremony began. I was all packed up & ready to roll out since it was an hour drive back to my house and there was no chance in hell I could've won an award. As I begin reversing one of the camera guys tells me to wait for a few more minutes. I think to myself that this guy is pulling my leg, but I stay. My car is right in front of the stage and we're all sitting on it. Awards are given out. Then they come to the best 3 series award. The announcer says "...and it goes to the ragged e36 up front." We look around trying to find out who he's talking about when he corrects himself and says "I meant to say the e30 with the rough paint job."






So that was that, I packed up, brought the award home.

Next I began ordering some more parts. I picked up a set of 90mm bullet nose studs and got them on with some help from the locals, mainly Rockne!



Now on the way I have a bunch of parts coming from blunt & autohausAZ to try to keep this heap on the road:giggle:

[AbsorbantNut]

Adjustable camber/caster subframe kit, 75D poly trailing arm bushings, solid UHMV differential bushings, 12mm raised solid subframe prototype UHMV bushings, stainless steel brake lines, rebuilt brakes, new ebrake shoes, resealed differential casing & filled with fresh fluid. And it's all my the car!!



Then I threw on some type C's with brand spanking new falken azenies and called it a day:D

[efficient]

damn nice work but why did you rust it?

[Massimo]

rust car
get award
Profit?

[AbsorbantNut]

Decided to rust it to have some fun with it.

But a few weeks back I went to a friends house and his dad asked me to pull the car up into the driveway so he could clean it up. I figured he meant wash it or something. But after finishing lunch we look outside and my car has had the majority of the rust sanded off and is now being covered in PAINT:hitler:




Oh well. Time for some more paint stripper.


Then since I was moving up to college on Saturday I figured that some type of slats were needed for the roof rack to carry some stuff. Carlos volunteered the left over wood he had in his garage from the house. So we began by cutting some slats.....


And then drilled them out and put them on the car. I found that skate deck nuts and bolts were perfect. They were conical flat faced black bolts with locking nuts and they were cheaper than home depot stuff! I also oiled the rack as per Carlos's recommendation with teak oil which really brought out some rich colors in the wood.


Then I packed up everything that weekend and headed up here.


And 300+ miles later I arrived without a single incident.

[silence]

Trendsetting...

[havand]

Do your Type C's rub the front struts? Lowered and what size tire. I have Yokohama S-Drives...and the thin edge of the tire (you will understand if you have them) rubs the struts a little. Nice a shiny.

[AbsorbantNut]

Do your Type C's rub the front struts? Lowered and what size tire. I have Yokohama S-Drives...and the thin edge of the tire (you will understand if you have them) rubs the struts a little. Nice a shiny.

I have small spacers on the front wheels, probably around 8mm, and with those they don't rub. I have 205/50/25 falken azenis tires.


Yes Carlos, I am aware that Christy and I, not Jay, are the true trend setters;)

[AbsorbantNut]

Okay, now that I'm settled down it's time for a real update.

Well, a month or two back I bought a Sparco bar for pretty cheap


I bought it new but I guess there's some turmoil at the factory, it came ripped & covered in scratches. But why would I care? It's a strut bar, and it doesn't need to look good to work.




Then I did some more maintenance like the distributor and rotor. They have always been bad but the car still ran so they weren't a priority. Now though as I am coming to the end of the long list of maintenance parts I decided to replace them.



It has been cracked like that since I bought the car, how does that happen









Then, after doing the timing belt once, timing belt & tensioner together once, I then decided it was time to take it all apart a third time to replace the water pump.



Looks like everything is holding together so far!


A side by shot of the old versus the new.


A close up of the grimy old one. It still was working when I took it out though, so no complaints here:D




Then the new pump is examined




And it's in there!




Some zip ties are used to hold a few wires out of the way of moving parts



All wrapped up :o


Then I later that day switched out the coolant sensors


Then a bunch of happened. The rear spring unseated itself while and essentially killed the CV axel.





This ended up crimping the adjuster, bending the shock, and ripping open the new CV boots:hitler: Well, lessons are learned.

Then since I had the car jacked up and such I decided to replace the rear sway bar drop links.






Then I went to the local U-Pull-It for some bonding time with my father. And also to use some of his bigger tools. Thus this monster was created...


Well, it's tough to remove an axle nut at a junkyard with no air tools. Especially when the axles aren't connected to a diff because somebody else took it. So we put some vice grips on the rotor and then the 32 or 30mm socket, I forget the size, on the nut. We then put on a 3/4 drive and a 3/4 to 3/8 reducer to a breaker bar to a Jag's exhaust;)




A few minutes later we left with two good axles:D

Then the subframe project began!! It started by tacking the plates onto a borrowed subframe(Thanks John!!)




Then came the monotonous task of slotting the holes for the essentric bolts:hitler:







Then when I came home later I rebuilt the brakes with some friends. This time I put in new seals, greased it up, but decided not to paint them simply due to time constraints





And Wa-La! Rebuilt rear brake calipers!


Then I picked up some wheels from a local R3v member and mocked them up on the car...

[AbsorbantNut]

I tossed some skate board grip tape on the pedals to get a little more grip, and they came out pink




Then, hours later, I finally finished grinding the subframe slots. So it was time to burn out the old bushings






And that's one side done!




And here's some proof that I actually did finish slotting those holes because "pics or it didn't happen", right?:p



Then I got these bad boys Shout out to CONDOR SPEED SHOP!!!!!!!!!!


Subframe riser bushings! They raise the subframe and reduce the amount of negative camber produced when a car is lowered.




The car was then jacked up and ready to go under the knife


These old ebrake shoes were taken out........and replaced with new ones;)






Then after some things were taken out and unbolted like the rear shocks, calipers, sway bar, ebrake cables(Which I would have never been able to do if it weren't for my dad and Carlos), the subframe was ready to be dropped




And eventually, it did come out




Some pics of the old stock subframe mounts




Vacant:puppy:


And in comes a ton of new parts!!
Stainless Steel brake lines


Some more Condor Speed Shop as usual like their UHMV Differential Mount!





Then we used some big boy toys to change out the trailing arm bushings.





Much quicker than out earlier attempt at using a blow drier and flat head



Then once those old bushings came out it was time to install some 75D poly:)







Then we found out after some inspection before installing the subframe that these little guys broke off the old subframe bushings and were lodged in


They came out with a little loving from a drill, punch and hammer:razz:

Some pictures of the old bushings coming out...


A side by side comparison


Then I cleaned some of the grease and dirt off the diff. Only some though, there was a ton of that stuff!


And I decided it was a good time to flush, refill, and reseal the diff...













And I found out that it most likely wouldve been wiser to put the sealant on the cover rather than the housing, but it's much too late to do anything about it;)

It was then filled up with some gooey slimy stuff


And then, since the subframe riser bushings "rise" or raise the subframe, the differential has to be spaced lower so that the driveshaft does not sit cockeyed. So differential spacers were used that I picked up from Condor Speed Shop.






And the finished product!


Then everything just started falling into place








And late Sunday night it was ready to go it. But I had work at 7 Monday morning, so there was no time to waste!


A few leaky jacks & well placed blocks of wood later it was almost in


Then with the help of my father, Carlos, and his awesome wife Christy, it was done:D

And might I say that this whole rear end, solid subframe bushings and all, feel awesome! It doesn't make the ride nearly as harsh as most people would tell you. They really just make the car more....one. Between the motor mounts, subframe, trans, diff, and control arm bushings (All from Condor Speed Shop of course :D) the car feels and acts more like one piece. It is very predictable and a much smoother ride in my opinion. I showed Rockne, a South Florida local, that they aren't a harsh ride at all! I let him rip my car around and basically gave him an incentive to go out and buy what I have because I'm such a trendsetter ;) If you are looking for anything street/performance/track-bushing wise I would highly recommend switching to solid such as UHMV because I think it doesn't vibrate and squeal like poly. But most of you already know that, dont you :p I will contribute the knowledge though that solid mounts =/= a harsh ride. That will be all.

So then since I was nearing the end of my general maintenance part of this project I decided it was time to look cool So I ordered some tires, got them mounted, and got them on the car ASAP!






And the color scheme was beginning to pan out






Brake lights were finally fixed, after months of troubles and close calls with the police I finally figured out what was wrong with some guidance from a few friends. The brake light relay was only......


Stickers were made and they all disappeared pretty quickly!


And that leads me to my next adventure, the "almost-re-paint-job"

I drove my car over to a friends house a few hours after mounting the tires and wheels on the car. When I arrived it looked like this.


Then, after eating some food and talking the usual smack that teenagers talk we talk outside to discover this sight before our eyes......







WTF happened!?!?

Well, in Adrian Monk fashion, "Here's what happened": A year ago I did a lot of work on the kids car that included stuff like strut top bushings and such for free. His father, a house painter, felt that he owed me something and was waiting for the prefect chance to help me out. Well, fast forward about a year and the moment strikes. I pull up in my car, which apparently is looked upon as a death trap and a police magnet by him. He thus creates the idea that if he enlists his neighbor to help him, they can power sand 90% of the rust off the car and paint it with some oil based rust proofing paint.

Oh yea, it really happened.

So one day later, I immediately try to reverse what had just happened.



But my deadline for moving up to college was that coming up and I didn't have time to mess around with such trifles. I did have time however to make some slats for the roof rack! With the help of Carlos of course:o


And I began drilling....




Then it was time to oil the rack with some teak oil as per Carlos's reccomendation


And here's the final product!!