Over the past year+, I've had my stroker convertible project on hold, and I've been more focusing on making this car a reliable daily driver. So, here goes:
Bought the car in August 2009, along with a '86 325es (for parts) for $1400 for the pair. Lachsilber 1988 325iX 5speed, VIN: WBAAB9308J2550046, build date 08/87 (the second month they built iX's), 206k on the odometer and 15" euroweaves. I've driven through many a New England winter in my rwd convertible so I was looking for an iX to have long term.
The PO only had a few papers, including a receipt from earlier that year for a new fuel filter, seafoam treatment, new brake lines, new radiator, control arm bushings, and some other stuff. As she sat that day, the most prevalent problems that needed to be addressed before she was road-worthy were new tires (old ones were VERY bald and VERY cracked), and a new steering rack. Lots of other little problems, but I'll get to those later.
Fast forward a few months, winter is coming, so I start to get serious about putting this thing on the road: so, I got to looking for a rack, and ended up getting one from rede30 for $70 shipped and pulled from his 89iX parts car in October of 2009. Due to financial issues, I had to wait until January to actually get it put in ($250). That same week, I bought four brand new 205/55 R15 Continental ContiExtremeContacts (rated super high performance all seasons on tirerack) on recommendation from a friend. $600 for the tires plus balancing and an alignment, and she was finally roadworthy. That same week I replaced the cracked passenger side taillight with one from rede30 ($35), along with the bulb carrier, and I bought all new bulbs for both sides.
Here's a crappy cellphone pic I took of it next to a local eta from around that time:
Christmas break ended a week or two later, so I brought the car up to school with me as my DD (I lived off campus so I needed a car every day). Everything was great until one day in March the clutch slave cylinder failed. $250 parts and labor for that.
One day over the summer, visiting a buddy of mine in New Haven, I made the mistake of leaving my GPS out in the open, resulting in a broken window and no more GPS for me. No big deal, an hour of vacuuming and a window from my parts car fixed that right up.
The car still had a few little quirks, but nothing too bad, so I happily DD'ed her until October 2010, when the timing belt broke when I was about a half a mile from home. Had her towed to my house, where she sat until this past March (2011). The reason she sat for so long was that I got a killer deal on an '88 Seta earlier in the year that only needed an oil change and a coolant flush to be an awesome car. But, due to more financial struggles, I had to sell the Seta, and decided to put that money into felIX, since I knew I wanted this car long term.
The old cylinder head turned out to be cracked (surprise surprise), and I've been plagued with timing belt failures in the past, so this time I decided to go for a new head with a warranty. $2100 for the head & labor and we were back in business. Since the warranty on the head doesn't cover failure due to overheating, in the interest of safety I replaced all the coolant hoses, and the water pump. There was also a pretty bad shake in the steering so I replaced the control arm bushings and rocker arms.
Here's a pic I took of her next to my mom's e46 325xiT after I got her back home:
Three weeks ago I replaced the brake pads and sensors with Pagid Reds ($100 from BavAuto) with a buddy of mine, and I replaced the SI board with one from Steven_Anderson which fixed my coolant temperature gauge, but the tachometer still doesn't work.
I took the car on a roadtrip to Miami for Ultra Music Festival, so a lot of this work was preventative maintenance. Here's a pic I took at 4:30 in the morning after driving through a snowstorm for 3 hours:
Somewhere in south Virginia, the water pump / alternator v-belt snapped, so I had to get towed to an advance auto parts store, and ended up just doing the belt in the parking lot.
Here's a pic I took literally minutes before that happened and mere hours after the above pic:
I had to cut my power steering belt to do it, but I put that belt back on the other day, along with a new fuel filter to replace my leaky one.
She still has some little issues that I am getting to one by one, for example, blown shocks, she still needs a new parking brake shoe, the windows/sunroof/mirrors only work for a few minutes after startup (probably a bad ground somewhere), the blower motor is broken, fuse #6 (brake lights) blows about once every 2 weeks, the clutch fan is weak, but I have a new one, just need to find time to put that in, the head unit wiring is atrocious, etc etc
After I get all those little issues fixed I'm gonna lower the car on the vogtland springs I got in my SEta deal with Bilstein sports, put my iS lip back on, mud flaps, plastic bumper swap, respray, refinish the euroweaves, euro smilies w/ HIDs, etc.
Long term plans are to turbo/sc/24v swap
Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll keep the thread updated with progress, although this project is now on hold so I can concentrate on getting my convertible back on the road for summer :D
Bought the car in August 2009, along with a '86 325es (for parts) for $1400 for the pair. Lachsilber 1988 325iX 5speed, VIN: WBAAB9308J2550046, build date 08/87 (the second month they built iX's), 206k on the odometer and 15" euroweaves. I've driven through many a New England winter in my rwd convertible so I was looking for an iX to have long term.
The PO only had a few papers, including a receipt from earlier that year for a new fuel filter, seafoam treatment, new brake lines, new radiator, control arm bushings, and some other stuff. As she sat that day, the most prevalent problems that needed to be addressed before she was road-worthy were new tires (old ones were VERY bald and VERY cracked), and a new steering rack. Lots of other little problems, but I'll get to those later.
Fast forward a few months, winter is coming, so I start to get serious about putting this thing on the road: so, I got to looking for a rack, and ended up getting one from rede30 for $70 shipped and pulled from his 89iX parts car in October of 2009. Due to financial issues, I had to wait until January to actually get it put in ($250). That same week, I bought four brand new 205/55 R15 Continental ContiExtremeContacts (rated super high performance all seasons on tirerack) on recommendation from a friend. $600 for the tires plus balancing and an alignment, and she was finally roadworthy. That same week I replaced the cracked passenger side taillight with one from rede30 ($35), along with the bulb carrier, and I bought all new bulbs for both sides.
Here's a crappy cellphone pic I took of it next to a local eta from around that time:
Christmas break ended a week or two later, so I brought the car up to school with me as my DD (I lived off campus so I needed a car every day). Everything was great until one day in March the clutch slave cylinder failed. $250 parts and labor for that.
One day over the summer, visiting a buddy of mine in New Haven, I made the mistake of leaving my GPS out in the open, resulting in a broken window and no more GPS for me. No big deal, an hour of vacuuming and a window from my parts car fixed that right up.
The car still had a few little quirks, but nothing too bad, so I happily DD'ed her until October 2010, when the timing belt broke when I was about a half a mile from home. Had her towed to my house, where she sat until this past March (2011). The reason she sat for so long was that I got a killer deal on an '88 Seta earlier in the year that only needed an oil change and a coolant flush to be an awesome car. But, due to more financial struggles, I had to sell the Seta, and decided to put that money into felIX, since I knew I wanted this car long term.
The old cylinder head turned out to be cracked (surprise surprise), and I've been plagued with timing belt failures in the past, so this time I decided to go for a new head with a warranty. $2100 for the head & labor and we were back in business. Since the warranty on the head doesn't cover failure due to overheating, in the interest of safety I replaced all the coolant hoses, and the water pump. There was also a pretty bad shake in the steering so I replaced the control arm bushings and rocker arms.
Here's a pic I took of her next to my mom's e46 325xiT after I got her back home:
Three weeks ago I replaced the brake pads and sensors with Pagid Reds ($100 from BavAuto) with a buddy of mine, and I replaced the SI board with one from Steven_Anderson which fixed my coolant temperature gauge, but the tachometer still doesn't work.
I took the car on a roadtrip to Miami for Ultra Music Festival, so a lot of this work was preventative maintenance. Here's a pic I took at 4:30 in the morning after driving through a snowstorm for 3 hours:
Somewhere in south Virginia, the water pump / alternator v-belt snapped, so I had to get towed to an advance auto parts store, and ended up just doing the belt in the parking lot.
Here's a pic I took literally minutes before that happened and mere hours after the above pic:
I had to cut my power steering belt to do it, but I put that belt back on the other day, along with a new fuel filter to replace my leaky one.
She still has some little issues that I am getting to one by one, for example, blown shocks, she still needs a new parking brake shoe, the windows/sunroof/mirrors only work for a few minutes after startup (probably a bad ground somewhere), the blower motor is broken, fuse #6 (brake lights) blows about once every 2 weeks, the clutch fan is weak, but I have a new one, just need to find time to put that in, the head unit wiring is atrocious, etc etc
After I get all those little issues fixed I'm gonna lower the car on the vogtland springs I got in my SEta deal with Bilstein sports, put my iS lip back on, mud flaps, plastic bumper swap, respray, refinish the euroweaves, euro smilies w/ HIDs, etc.
Long term plans are to turbo/sc/24v swap
Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll keep the thread updated with progress, although this project is now on hold so I can concentrate on getting my convertible back on the road for summer :D
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