'90 325i Project Log

[jd_e30]

Obviously Ethan did an awesome job on this e30. I only hope I can do it justice. Thank you, Ethan!

Not to hijack this thread, but I plan to continue Ethan's project log here, if anyone feels so inclined as to follow along http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=320240

I want to say thank you to both Ethan and Levent - they have been a huge help to me, a total e30 n00b. I appreciated Ethan not getting too irritated with all of my questions, although I'm sure I was trying and overbearing at times.

Best of luck to you Ethan and thanks for a sweet ride :p

[thatphysicsguy]

end of an era

[8380 Labs]

I sure hope to see out in Colorado!

it'll be in erie, not sure how close that is to you.

[lambo]

I sure hope to see out in Colorado!

[8380 Labs]

some of you who frequent the classifieds may have seen the final chapter of this thread already.

this was the car's final evolution under my ownership:











with a business that requires more and more of my time and a baby on the way in may, it became obvious that i didn't have time to devote to a project second car anymore. i decided it was time to let someone else have a chance to enjoy the car, so i sent it up to levent at guten and had him go over it to get it ready for sale.

after a few weeks a deal was struck, and the new owner in colorado decided to have levent add some more goodies before the car was shipped out.



au revoir.



while all this was taking place, i was on the hunt for something with 4 doors that would hold a baby seat and would also be fun to drive year round.

and so on the same day that the e30 was loaded onto the trailer for its journey west, i ended up catching a flight to cleveland to drive this back to baltimore.



it's no e30, but it fits my needs to a tee at the moment - and it's still a pretty fun car. 2004 6-speed with 86k miles. came with a stack of records dating back to delivery and is extremely clean - very happy with the purchase.

the black car's new owner will be active on r3v, and i'll still be lurking around.

'til next time! :D

[dillon7]

love the wheels, looks great!

[8380 Labs]

here's a quick and dirty shot, still needs a little fine tuning and a good wash.



new tires are VERY sticky, and car drives great on such a lightweight wheel/tire setup - total blast to drive.

gonna try and get some better pics this weekend. ;D

[Mfever]

Moar!!!!!

[8380 Labs]

mmmm those tires look perfect

will be installing wheels/tires tomorrow and dialing the suspension in for this setup, i'll try to get some good pics up.

really stoked to drive the car with this wheel/tire setup, it feels awesome after all the recent work. :D

[lambo]

mmmm those tires look perfect

[8380 Labs]

minor update.

[8380 Labs]

thanks, matt. :)

here's a quick one that shows some of the rear end goodies.

[MR 325]

Looking good! Don't know how I never saw this thread until today. That interior came out great!

[8380 Labs]

so a few things to get us pretty much up to date.



the final pile of parts that had to be loaded into the car for the trip to the shop.

discovered a little issue, this would explain the hesitation and recent coolant loss.





head came off, got everything sorted out there, good to go again.



all buttoned up.

everything else went smoothly for the most part - the front rotors i was shipped were the wrong fitment, so i have to send them back and hopefully the right ones will get here soon. it also took the guys 3 hours to free the ebrake cables and get the new ones sorted out.

here's a list of everything that was done:

- valve cover/valve cover gasket
- intake manifold/gaskets
- bitch tube o-ring
- timing belt/water pump
- OEM head gasket and head bolts, head checked, valves/pistons cleaned
- rebuilt M50 17lb injectors
- new spark plugs
- freshly powdercoated rear subframe, all new bushings and hardware
- freshly powdercoated trailing arms, all new bushings and hardware
- new rear wheel bearings, parking brake shoes and hardware
- new brake rotors and pads
- new ebrake cables
- rear brake soft and hard lines w/ATE super blue
- rebuilt 3.73S rear dif with new bushing
- new guibo/CSB
- trans mounts

at this point, all suspension related soft and hard components F and R have been replaced in the last 8k miles, feels very solid and connected.

car drives great, only a few things left to do for now. still need tires and front spacers so i can run my new wheels. mark D chip for the new injectors, and i'm gonna call that good for the meantime. ;D

aiming to make it to my first track day at summit point the first weekend in october. :p

will try to get some good pictures of the new rear end stuff once it stops raining.

[8380 Labs]

hehe I just ordered a bunch of parts tonight... can't wait to start tearing into boxes like this haha

it's almost as good as getting it on the car. :p