My 325e Build Thread

[Butler]

New diving board! Fresh trim and new turn signals.





Then when we go inside we have the antenna rebuilding station. Great success. I ended up making a hybrid of an old unit with my internals and motor. Works perfectly.







Not much, but it feels good to work on the car. Its always a project.

[Vivek]

Is it bad to put WD40 on the antenna? Mine's just sticky, not bent or anything. I know I should use graphite lube but if wd40 will clean it up, i have that stuff sitting around...

[Butler]

Once I got the antenna out I sprayed the hell out of it with WD40. I hope its ok! It worked like a charm. It was all gunked up inside but its really smooth now. I let the antenna dry for a while before I re-installed it.

[audiquattrot]

Nice progress...when u painted the valve cover...did u mask the letters and paint....or did u paint and then sand down the raised areas?

[Butler]

Nice progress...when u painted the valve cover...did u mask the letters and paint....or did u paint and then sand down the raised areas?

I just sanded down the raised up parts!

[LuckyHenriksen]

Nice work man. The valve cover looks really good, so do the weaves

[Butler]

I buffed the hood today. Its nice and clean.

[Butler]

Todays work started out nice and simple... but I was defeated in the end.


I started by removing the seats to give the carpets a good scrub down.









After!












All buttoned up again. So much cleaner omg it actually smells good in there now! haha











Then shit got interesting...
I decided to replace my broken door lock with a new unit. Sounds easy enough.



Well I got it out of the car.


Here you can see that the one on the right is clearly missing a piece...




Here are all the tumblers from the old lock! That was fun messing with all those greasy itty bitty little springs.




And the revenged old OE lock. So from here is where it went down hill.

I got the new lock together and it seemed to be working fine. I reinstalled it in the door and of course it wasn't working. I went back and forth with this motherfucker for like 2 hours. Installing it, removing it, reinstalling it, remove it again, adjust, remove, inspect, install, remove. I could not figure out how the lock mechanism actually worked.. Eventually I removed the mount and I could get a better look at it and indeed, I figured it out. Unfortunately all I figured out was how it worked -- NOT why mine didn't.

I tried to bend the mounting bracket. That was a bad call. It snapped instantly in my hands. Fuuuuuuuuuuu



So here I am at midnight with out a working lock and my door is still in pieces. I'm not sure what Im going to do because even after I get a new mount I know that damn lock wont be able to reach the central locking sensor to engage the locks. As is, it only unlocks. I read somewhere that the locks are just "like that" and over time they figure themselves out... wtf is that? arrrggg.


I broke part # 23

[acolella76]

Great progress! Nothing beats a clean interior.

[Butler]

Old news now but I found an E30 at a junkyard and took its lock cylinder and made it work. A job well done in the end.


I just went crazy and ordered a Z3 SSK, rebuild kit, ZHP knob, and a front and rear brake set up. New pads, rotors and sensors.

Updated pics to come!

[Butler]

I skipped out on work at 1 yesterday to install my Z3 1.9 SSK while it was warm out.

It was pretty easy actually. I wasn't aware how different the early model shifter assembly was compared to late model E30s. It didnt turn out to be too complicated but it was a little bit of a surprise.

For anyone with an early model, youre going to need the following tools:

8mm allen head socket (1/4 drive)
13mm wrench and socket
bitch clip remover
Flat head screw driver
Dremel or razor blade


Here are pics of the new shifter with the old spring and plastic buffer.
So the part that no one told me was that you have to cut the old plastic bushing off of the stock shift lever and install it on the new lever. I used a dremel but a hot razor would work too.*You can see where I had to cut it off the stock shifter, which also allowed me to install it on the new lever.




Here is the shifter bracket and support bushings, which are all new.




My rebuild kit from Blunttech included bushings #1 and #7.





I love the improvement over stock! Its the perfect combo of notchy and shortened throw. I wish I had done it sooner. :)

[Butler]

Finished product with a new shift boot. :D

[efficient]

i like your car alot looks clean and simple makes me like my diving boards more.

[Butler]

Thanks man! I actually don't mind the diving boards too much.... But heres a little spoiler alert at whats to come - It starts with euro and ends with bumpers.

Soon. :)

[85e325]

Thanks man! I actually don't mind the diving boards too much.... But heres a little spoiler alert at whats to come - It starts with euro and ends with bumpers.

Soon. :)

Cant wait to see that!! Planning the same thing for my Eta, just saving up the dough so I can swap front and rear all at once. Great progress so far. Wish I had the time and the ability to take mine off the road and go to down...