84 325e m50 plastic bumper swap: Now on Catuned coilovers

[Tdurr]

you should learn to save build thread pics not on snapchat first noob.

[Rdreas]

Nice to see there's progress

It took a while, got the coils on and the wheels were scrubbing them. I had to decide what to do and some style 5s came along. I also moved mid January and work was super busy so I didn't have time to move the car for a month or so but I'm finally settled in and for the first time the car is actually where I live and I have all my tools which makes it way easier to get shit done. I bought some 5 lug trailing arms but haven't been able to meet the dude and pick them up. Also replaced my crank position and cam position sensors and repinned my harness so work has been happening just haven't been keeping up with this post as well.

[2mAn]

Nice to see there's progress

[Rdreas]

So first update in quite a while but there have been updates. First and foremost bought some style 5s in January and debated having them filled and redrilled because I didn't want to run adapters or e36 m3 parts. Ended up the full and drill was not going to be cost effective and ended up going with a hub adapter kit for the fronts. 20160530_151038 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Oh yeah and e38 brembos!
20160530_152152 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Had to run spacers to get the wheels to fit as well as more camber then I'd like and 195 tires which are a baby stretch. Before
IMG_20160530_153023 by Rdreas, on Flickr
After
20160601_211700 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Little size comparison of rotors
20160606_175505 by Rdreas, on Flickr
So then it was time to change the exhaust because it always hung lower than I liked, the welds were shit for the most part.
Snapchat-3306544970711243870 by Rdreas, on Flickr
So I got more V bands and cut the headers near the collectors.
Snapchat-3892432580229751541 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Before my headers ran right into a 2-1 collector which then had a vband on it. It was a cheap ebay stainless 2.5" flange but it ended up being the same size as a 3" quality flange so it had to move. I also decided I wanted the duals to run further back before merging. Tacked the flanges onto the header side while holding the short midsection pieces in place to make sure they were aimed in the right direction. Then sat the flex pipes on to begin mock up.
Snapchat-7923817113928793968 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Added some 45 bends
20160811_204750 by Rdreas, on Flickr
then another to send the exhaust straight down the trans tunnel
20160812_173857 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Tacked it all together under the car, which was really fun because it was all tig and I only have a foot pedal
Snapchat-6680172918427727976 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Did it one section at a time, all back purged, the collector is only on here for mock up. Welded the other side up and then put them back on the car and tacked on the collector. then purged it and burnt it in.
20160813_155622 by Rdreas, on Flickr
The rear was much more fun and involved a ton of swearing and not many in progress pictures, but here is how it came out all said and done.
Snapchat-1707467994047693762 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Where it passes under the subframe there is maybe a half inch, and the resonator is pretty damn close to the heat/debris shield for the driveshaft.
Then I had to go back to my favorite job of pulling the headers off.
Snapchat-3931938604551487171 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Snapchat-3064138793947447620 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Snapchat-5468158145080262342 by Rdreas, on Flickr
ended up having to drill the holes out on the rear header to be 1/16 bigger because before I took them off I had never been able to get all the studs to line up due to the epic ebay quality, but after drilling them they fit perfect and I was able to get all the studs in.
Last minute notes, I have been considering front mounting my style 5 faces in order to take camber out of the front. I would still have to run spacers but I want this thing as functional as possible. I haven't ever seen anyone do it with style 5s and I may have to weld up the valve stem hole and drill a new one on the back in order to do it but I am for sure going to try it out.

[Tdurr]

Cuz someone doesn't like to post updates of their own car.

[Rdreas]

Nice. Not currently. How much to grind down the nut on an E90 top hat for me?

http://www.catuned.com/content/images/thumbs/0000487_e90-drop-hats-get-your-e30-even-lower.jpeg

It's Fernando from Zen.

I thought e90 top hats were a bolt on? He didn't know but I'm sure if you brought it by we could take care if it. I'm not sure if we've met but I stopped by the zen tent at nopi and hung out with tae for a little bit.

[FreedomM3]

Nice. Not currently. How much to grind down the nut on an E90 top hat for me?

http://www.catuned.com/content/images/thumbs/0000487_e90-drop-hats-get-your-e30-even-lower.jpeg

It's Fernando from Zen.

[Rdreas]

You work with Bucky?!

Yup! Just me and bucky at the moment lol. Know any body guys who need work?

[FreedomM3]

You work with Bucky?!

[Rdreas]

This thread is full of awesome! Great progress on the car! Hopefully I can get the funds to start my suspension rebuild. Super jealous on the machinist tools! What shop do you work at in Atlanta?

Thanks man! I work at Superstar customs in lilburn, we do a lot of widebodies and air ride. We have a huge lathe at the ship too that the landlord keeps trying to sell me but I'm kinda broke at the moment.

[FreedomM3]

This thread is full of awesome! Great progress on the car! Hopefully I can get the funds to start my suspension rebuild. Super jealous on the machinist tools! What shop do you work at in Atlanta?

[Rdreas]

So not a ton of work done to the e30 as of recent. Ive been blowing my money on other things but they do kind of relate. I wasn't happy with the height the fronts gave me when they were all the way down sooooo I cut them up and went super low.
IMG_20151018_144604 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Much happier with my new all the way down height!
Snapchat-785655008499399442 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Probably not going to be this low or on these wheels but I like to know I could if I wanted to!
On to the other things Ive been using e30 funds on
IMG_20151001_131329 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Bridgeport with autofeed and an indexing table.
And then a friend was selling these on the super cheap so I had to jump on them, Ssr koenigs
IMG_20151012_185558 by Rdreas, on Flickr
18x9.5 squared setup et 29. 2 have bent lips which is why they were so cheap.I wanted to see what they looked like on the e30 but would need some big fat adapters to get any sort of idea, but I do have some smaller lips for the front to make them 8.5" and bigger if I wanted to go to a 10.5" rear.

[stonea]

Great build, I hope to do the same suspension set up.

[Rdreas]

Well the coilover install is getting close. Took a little longer then I would have hoped but only getting a couple hours to work on it every weekend has made it a little hard.
Started out getting all the goodies
IMG_20150801_203040 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Then tore everything apart
IMG952015081695195140 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Cut and welded up the fronts, then welded on the garagistic trailing arm reinforcements.
20150830_223601 by Rdreas, on Flickr
20150906_171706 by Rdreas, on Flickr
gave things a lick of paint while they were out
20150906_200149 by Rdreas, on Flickr
pressed in some new wheel bearings
20150907_142635 by Rdreas, on Flickr
And then started throwing things back together.
20150907_152410 by Rdreas, on Flickr
20150907_163205 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Fronts all assembled
IMG_20150907_214634 by Rdreas, on Flickr
IMG_20150907_213905 by Rdreas, on Flickr
So I ran into 2 problems with the fronts, the offset on the shit motegi's the car came with scrubs the coils so I'll have to get spacers for the time being, or suck it up and get new wheels. Other issue is we cut the strut tube right at the top of the ear, approximately 3.5" up the tube, and now they are as low as they go and still would like it to be lower. The rear is still on stands as the driveshaft and rear end are still out, but hopefully I'll get that all back together next weekend and put it on the ground. Then if I need to I can go back and cut and weld the fronts shorter if I'm not happy with the height still.

[Rdreas]

It's been a while since my last update, but not a whole lot has changed. I have driven the car multiple times but it still decides to die on me somewhat randomly. I thought it was dying because I was getting hard on it but found out yesterday when it tried cutting off twice going down the road in 3rd gear and lower rpm that was not the case. So back to checking maf, tps, cps, icv, adapter harness, and fuel pressure to find out if any of them are the problem.
But in other news, I did put my front bumper on a while ago and my rear on this past weekend.
IMG_20150315_162843 by Rdreas, on Flickr
And tigged on a few loose bolts to hold the rear bumper clips on
20150516_201308 by Rdreas, on Flickr
swag primed em because this car is hopefully gonna get painted eventually.
20150516_201358 by Rdreas, on Flickr
I still need to trim and make the rear bumper ends but i have to get a hold of some plastic and some 3m rigid repair first. IMG_20150516_203347 by Rdreas, on Flickr

In other news: I got a new job working at a custom shop where I got to get up close and personal with some pretty awesome cars the past couple weeks
super wide e46 m3 that ended up getting wrapped a cream gold color:
IMG_20150420_221337 by Rdreas, on Flickr
And a super sick m6 on bags with ag wheels, euro headers, exhaust work, euro bumper conversion with a mtech kit, full dis assembly and respray
Screenshot_2015-05-18-20-50-50~2 by Rdreas, on Flickr
Now even though I know first hand how much goes into a custom piece of any kind, my new job has me seriously considering making a rear valence/diffuser instead of just welding on the 88+ rear valence that i was previously going to do.