I am not sure why I never really got around to posting this, but I'm going to pretty much copy and paste the progress until now from some local boards I frequent. This is not going to be some incredible 500+hp build, but a lot of work has gone into this car and I'm very proud of it. The overall goal is to have a comfortable oem+ style daily driver that will see some spirited backroads, autocross, and track time. This is my moneypit.
12/89, 325i
Interior:
Black on black sport
Rear headrest install
JVC KD-x50BT w/full factory premium audio
Momo Monte Carlo
///M shift knob
New dash switches
All new dash/cluster bulbs
New obc lightbar
Keyless entry (with no stupid dazzly features or horns)
Replaced faulty gas gauge
Replaced faulty SI board
New OEM turn signal/wiper stalks
Map light mirror install
Floormats from Cocomats.com
Motor:
Top end gasket set
Bottom end gasket set
Goetze HG
Powder coated intake/vc
New water pump
Timing belt
Thermostat
Coolant temp sensor
Coolant temp sender
M50 injectors flow matched and rebuilt
Cleaned intake/head
Newish radiator
ALL new vacuum, intake, and coolant hoses
All new fuel hoses
New fuel filter
New FPR
New Behr fan clutch
New oem Eberspacher exhaust
Trans:
Getrag 260 5speed swap
13lb flywheel + minor shave
New clutch master
New clutch slave
Shifter linkage rebuild
Modified x5 "shortshift" lever
New driveshaft, guibo, and CSB
Rebuilt medium case 3.91V LSD
Steering/suspension:
H&R sport springs
Bilstein sport shocks and struts
All new subframe bushings
New control arms and tie rods
Ireland Engineering front strut brace
E36 steering rack conversion
15x7 ET 24 RacingDynamics RG-P
205/55-15 Yokohama S-Drives
22mm/19mm Bimmerworld swaybars
Brakes:
Zimmerman Z-coated cross-drilled rotors
Rebuilt calipers
SS brake lines
750iL brake master
New oem booster
Exterior:
Euro bumper trim
Hella H1/H1 euro 5.75 buckets
Euro grills
IS lip
Debadged trunk (previous owner)
Smoked turn signals
Backstory:
Picked up this hardly cared for black on grey cloth comfort automatic 325i sedan a little over a year ago with a grenaded top end.
Tossed it on a friends car trailer and drove it home, spent a couple months tearing in and swapping everything worth keeping from the eta. We pulled the motor from the new project in advance to save time on the install day.
The eta was then driven to a friend's house where it was ruthlessly gutted, taking a few important bits to bring new life to my sedan, most importantly the 5 speed conversion parts (save for the early model trans)
I sent the intake manifold and valve cover out for powder coating, the head was cleaned up and the motor went back together with all new seals top to bottom.
With the old car gone, I again turned my attention to the re assembly of my 1990. The interior was buttoned up, the motor and trans were installed, and on its first attempt the car fired up
Had some buddies at a local shop install my H&R sports/bilsteins, mounted some S-drives on my racing dynamics, and started to daily the car.
I basically spent the next year doing whatever upgrades floated my boat along with a fantastic SCC course
Reinforced mount tabs for the rear swaybar
New wheel bearing kits for both sides, installed as far as I can without swapping over the brake parts during install.
Bimmerworld 22mm/19mm swaybars
E36 rack swap and all new front steering/bushing parts
Cocomats
Drove the car hard on a local track for a weekend during a 3 day training course
Grabbed race take-offs for my extra set of 15" RD's
Removed dust shields to help with brake cooling on track
IE strut brace and KAmotors intake. I had lots of front tower sag when installing the bar, this drastically changed the turn in response.
Relocated window lock switch to dash and installed heated seat switches. Car has cupholders in factory seat heater button locations
Had a set of vert leather seats reupholstered in iS pattern, replaced seat shocks and heater elements with new units during install.
That brings us up to date. I woke up one morning with an urge to do another engine replacement, so I decided to follow the dream I've had since day one with my old 318is and install a 24v powerplant. Snagged an S52 for a reasonable price and started.
Engine was torn down and cleaned up with a host of new parts. CCVV, plugs, coil boots, top/bottom gasket sets, waterpump, thermostat, idler, e34 oil pan, e39 M52 fuel rail w/fpr, vanos rebuild and other stuff. I've decided to keep the original OBD2 intake manifold as the engine is powerful enough to have fun with as is and I can always do the swap later down the road if I change my mind. DME has been sent to Markert for re-tuning and should be returning later this week. Install set to begin next weekend unless something big pops up.
Re-assembly
Assembled!
If you look closely you'll notice I started painting things as I was taking them apart, realized I was going to have difficulty getting the timing covers and head to match without some potential sealing issues on various things and decided to leave it.
(Yes I know the motor mount arm is upside down in this picture! Thanks to Dave for pointing that out)
Wiring!
OBD2 wiring harness modified to put required wires from e36 x20 and x6031 connectors into an e30 C101 for plug and play install. Not pictured is the A/C run/pressure switch wires re-routed to follow the x6000 into the glovebox
Parts!
Not pictured here are the new brakes, ix booster/master, 318is firewall cover, more clutch parts, alternator, starter, trans mounts and a bunch of other stuff. Too many small shipments for me to care about posting them all honestly.
12/89, 325i
Interior:
Black on black sport
Rear headrest install
JVC KD-x50BT w/full factory premium audio
Momo Monte Carlo
///M shift knob
New dash switches
All new dash/cluster bulbs
New obc lightbar
Keyless entry (with no stupid dazzly features or horns)
Replaced faulty gas gauge
Replaced faulty SI board
New OEM turn signal/wiper stalks
Map light mirror install
Floormats from Cocomats.com
Motor:
Top end gasket set
Bottom end gasket set
Goetze HG
Powder coated intake/vc
New water pump
Timing belt
Thermostat
Coolant temp sensor
Coolant temp sender
M50 injectors flow matched and rebuilt
Cleaned intake/head
Newish radiator
ALL new vacuum, intake, and coolant hoses
All new fuel hoses
New fuel filter
New FPR
New Behr fan clutch
New oem Eberspacher exhaust
Trans:
Getrag 260 5speed swap
13lb flywheel + minor shave
New clutch master
New clutch slave
Shifter linkage rebuild
Modified x5 "shortshift" lever
New driveshaft, guibo, and CSB
Rebuilt medium case 3.91V LSD
Steering/suspension:
H&R sport springs
Bilstein sport shocks and struts
All new subframe bushings
New control arms and tie rods
Ireland Engineering front strut brace
E36 steering rack conversion
15x7 ET 24 RacingDynamics RG-P
205/55-15 Yokohama S-Drives
22mm/19mm Bimmerworld swaybars
Brakes:
Zimmerman Z-coated cross-drilled rotors
Rebuilt calipers
SS brake lines
750iL brake master
New oem booster
Exterior:
Euro bumper trim
Hella H1/H1 euro 5.75 buckets
Euro grills
IS lip
Debadged trunk (previous owner)
Smoked turn signals
Backstory:
Picked up this hardly cared for black on grey cloth comfort automatic 325i sedan a little over a year ago with a grenaded top end.
Tossed it on a friends car trailer and drove it home, spent a couple months tearing in and swapping everything worth keeping from the eta. We pulled the motor from the new project in advance to save time on the install day.
The eta was then driven to a friend's house where it was ruthlessly gutted, taking a few important bits to bring new life to my sedan, most importantly the 5 speed conversion parts (save for the early model trans)
I sent the intake manifold and valve cover out for powder coating, the head was cleaned up and the motor went back together with all new seals top to bottom.
With the old car gone, I again turned my attention to the re assembly of my 1990. The interior was buttoned up, the motor and trans were installed, and on its first attempt the car fired up
Had some buddies at a local shop install my H&R sports/bilsteins, mounted some S-drives on my racing dynamics, and started to daily the car.
I basically spent the next year doing whatever upgrades floated my boat along with a fantastic SCC course
Reinforced mount tabs for the rear swaybar
New wheel bearing kits for both sides, installed as far as I can without swapping over the brake parts during install.
Bimmerworld 22mm/19mm swaybars
E36 rack swap and all new front steering/bushing parts
Cocomats
Drove the car hard on a local track for a weekend during a 3 day training course
Grabbed race take-offs for my extra set of 15" RD's
Removed dust shields to help with brake cooling on track
IE strut brace and KAmotors intake. I had lots of front tower sag when installing the bar, this drastically changed the turn in response.
Relocated window lock switch to dash and installed heated seat switches. Car has cupholders in factory seat heater button locations
Had a set of vert leather seats reupholstered in iS pattern, replaced seat shocks and heater elements with new units during install.
That brings us up to date. I woke up one morning with an urge to do another engine replacement, so I decided to follow the dream I've had since day one with my old 318is and install a 24v powerplant. Snagged an S52 for a reasonable price and started.
Engine was torn down and cleaned up with a host of new parts. CCVV, plugs, coil boots, top/bottom gasket sets, waterpump, thermostat, idler, e34 oil pan, e39 M52 fuel rail w/fpr, vanos rebuild and other stuff. I've decided to keep the original OBD2 intake manifold as the engine is powerful enough to have fun with as is and I can always do the swap later down the road if I change my mind. DME has been sent to Markert for re-tuning and should be returning later this week. Install set to begin next weekend unless something big pops up.
Re-assembly
Assembled!
If you look closely you'll notice I started painting things as I was taking them apart, realized I was going to have difficulty getting the timing covers and head to match without some potential sealing issues on various things and decided to leave it.
(Yes I know the motor mount arm is upside down in this picture! Thanks to Dave for pointing that out)
Wiring!
OBD2 wiring harness modified to put required wires from e36 x20 and x6031 connectors into an e30 C101 for plug and play install. Not pictured is the A/C run/pressure switch wires re-routed to follow the x6000 into the glovebox
Parts!
Not pictured here are the new brakes, ix booster/master, 318is firewall cover, more clutch parts, alternator, starter, trans mounts and a bunch of other stuff. Too many small shipments for me to care about posting them all honestly.
Comment