Absorbantnut's '87 325is

[TimKninja]

Uhhhh wheres the paint

[irish44j]

Then the day after I packed up all my stuff and headed up to Gainesville to go to college.

So very hipster of you to put the skateboard on the roof, even though there is clearly enough room for it inside the car ;-)

[AbsorbantNut]

Okay, so not too much has been done to the car over the past week besides the installation of a 2timer. Pics to follow;)

A two timer allows two maps to be read off of one chip, so essentially I guess you could say it's like a WAR CHIP, but cheaper:D

So it begins with this


And here's what came in the mail


So then starts the dissection Prying the pins up to take off the outer casing!


Overview of the stock ECU


And the chip on the right is "the chip"


So you must take that out...


Close up of the two timer


Two timer in sans chip




Comparison of different chip brands


After looking around for where to ground the wire to switch the tunes on the chip I found the perfect spot


Oh yea!


After that, put in your chip, mine was a custom tune from WOT TECH aka forced firebird on here, thanks John!



Wire fed through the ECU casing


Bolted back in place with the wire grounded running to a switch in the dash that leads to a ground on the car.






Then I just picked up this too, along with some blown out Bilsteins I'll get relaved to match my spring rates;) Man, this car is almost done!!


And here's my baby!

[AbsorbantNut]

Decided to mix things up

[AbsorbantNut]

Decided it was time to get to work today! Changed out the front sway bar drop links at the apartament today, and boy did they need it. Boots were trashed and there joints are basically so worn that another few months and they would've separated. Theres over half an inch of play in each:)

So, out with the old....


And in with the new!! Some oem lemforder repalcements were ordered, from blunttech of course!




A comparison shot of the two


Destroyed


And, as a bonus note...I'm fairly sure that I've found the source of my oil leak:D

[AbsorbantNut]

So i drove back to So FLo for labor day weekend! Ended up hanging out with some friends, got some car parts, and wrenched on the e30:o

With the help of a few friends the rear fenders were rolled in order to make some room for the 20mm spacers [courtesy of Kingston;)] Also threw on some euro plate


Then a day after I got back in Gainesville, there is this horrible dragging sound coming from the rear of the car. It was the emergency brake! So I limped the poor thing back to the apartament and diagnosed it. I took off the driver side rotor and found this


A stripped out dust shield, but where's all the hardware!?!



Oh, there it is

[AbsorbantNut]

I'm looking to buy a pair of 2.5" coilover springs, let me know what you've got! Also feel free to make recommendations on spring rates, right now it has 650 in the rear and mystery rates up front!!

[AbsorbantNut]

Then the day after I packed up all my stuff and headed up to Gainesville to go to college.



Things started to look a lot different from South Florida on the way up:p






Then my first day of class I found a little surprise when I walked back to my car


At least they got the color right

Then I went out to a spot I used to drive my go-kart when my dad would be deliver envelopes and decided it would be cool to take some pictures

[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!!

[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]

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;)

[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.

[silence]

Trendsetting...

[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.

[Massimo]

rust car
get award
Profit?