1991 white 325i coupe - dd build

[ebox86]

Hi all, i'd thought i'd share my build I'm working on. Since i just recently sold my '87 325is, i have since been working on it more and more, trying to get it done. Robert at World Motorsports in Seattle has been helping me with this and even sourced the car. The engine we're going to be putting in it comes from a MM 2900 rally sport kit that Robert and a friend of his built a couple years ago. Im not going too far down as I'm constricted by funds, workspace, and weather. No garage or covered work area makes things considerably more difficult :-/

This is my first build and first time exposing myself to tearing a car down this far so its a learning experience. I'm not aiming for perfection but i'm planning to learn alot, have some fun, and at the end of the day, end up with a really fun to drive, spirited daily driver :D

Anywho, here is the car as we found her, $1000 craigslist beater, found on a farm no less lol

Some info about the car:

• mfg date 2/91
• 170,xxx miles
• Auto trans
• bottlecaps
• premium sound
• Beige on Alpine white
• Airbag
• Clean title
• No rust
• Oregon car all its life

Some things on their way that are planned for the car:

• Black interior
• Sport seats
• GC coilovers
• Tokico blue's
• IE SS brake lines
• IE poly RTAB
• IE poly RSM
• 4.10 diff
• "IS" front valance
• OEM sideskirts
• glass moonroof
• euroweaves
• e36 m3 steering rack
• Treehouse eyeball arm CAB

Door and fender damage due to PO claming that wind had caught the door and couldn't catch it, overextending the door









LOL auto and air bag, both soon to be gone





Now began the fun stuff :-)

Engine removed and sold, thanks robert!









Let the cleanup begin! So trying to clean up the engine bay on the relative cheap, i decided to clean it up really well, sand, prime and rattle can some new alpine white II ( 218 ) to make it look a little better in there. I got my paint in aerosol form from TouchUpDirect.com and so far, pretty good results, im pleased with it for what it is.

[ebox86]

Here is the priming and initial coats of paint in the engine bay, but again my progress at this point is limited to the temperature :(













Finally some white!



And i contacted Atul Vadgama over at pukar_designs (http://www.pukardesigns.com/) to make some new engine decals for the engine bay. The old ones needed to come off due to being 20 years old, coated with cosmoline and wrinkled due to heat. I noticed my emissions sticker was slightly different than the ones i saw on his website but he was able to digitize it and it looks great!



Can't wait to get them, ordered 4 stickers in all

[ebox86]

More shots of the bay, again its a slow going process doing all this myself, i really respect automotive painters after having done this



TONS of miscellaneous crap from the engine bay, so much 80's (err early 90's)pastic lol







More to come!

[ebox86]

Parts waiting to be installed! a/c condenser and "IS" front valance lip from Abrahams Motorsport


..fraa-geee-lay.. that must be italian...



Probably going to paint it body color, alpine white (not by me lol)

and then tomorrow a bunch of goodies arrives!



Also got some pics of the reupholstered seats, putting in black sport seats and a ski bag rear bennch

[ebox86]

Its been a while since i have updated this.

Engine is still not in, but progress has been made on the suspension:



Original strut assemblies as i inherited them



IE Camber plate, are these any good?



Everything taken apart!



Busted strut, time for new koni's



Old original dirty strut housing



Took them down to Seattle Powder coat and blasted them a frest coat of koni yellow, much cleaner



But i forgot to tell them to mask the ABS sensor holes, oh well, i took a hand file to the holes and the sensors fit nice and snug



Switching gears to rubber, i wrapped my euroweaves in yoko s.drives, can't wait to drive them! 205/55R15

Thats all for now, calipers are at the powder coater getting sprayed and should be back this week, then we should have the subframe/front suspension done and in order.

Will update soon

[ebox86]

Oh yea and i got a free spoiler for the back! pretty rough shape but i plan on reconditioning it, sanding it down, fresh paint, anyone have any experience with these?

[ebox86]

update 4/16

Thought i'd update this with my backlog of work i've done on the car

got the calipers back from seattle powder coat



finished them up



and the finished product



they turned out pretty good. Next i pulled a grey carpet out of an old 87 325is parts car. The carpet itself was in decent shape, but it has a hole near the accelerator, not sure if i am going to go with it or not...



next, i sealed up the engine bay with some clear, the finish coat looks pretty good all things considered

[ebox86]

Next i focused my attention on the interior. Dash got pulled and started working on pulling the heater core.



gotta remember the way these fit back together



And i found the original build sheet! needless to say its seen better days lol. I don't think its coming off this foam backer and i have no idea what that green stuff is lol



started work on the rear suspension



got back to the interior where i pulled the original beige carpet. wasn't that hard, but i found out it was covering a surprise ...





Oh and i sourced and installed some GC camber plates

[serdar255]

Excellent work so far!

[ebox86]

I am determined to get a functioning and easy to maintain a/c system installed into the car, so i am going thru and retrofitting every component for 134a. First thing was the parallel flow condenser to go in since everything in the engine bay is still out.





The flanges on the new condenser are a bit wonky and require a small bit of metal to be removed in order to use the stock mounting hardware





then i spent some time with the heater box and replaced the evap core and heater core







more cleaning and work done to the interior



And i started work on the sunroof install

[ebox86]

Did a bit of work on the rear again as well



new SS lines in and the calipers installed

I also may have swapped these two trunks lol



Also put the new door on and removed the old damaged fender



and relaxed and went skiing at stevens before they closed

[ebox86]

Finished the front wheel bearings also,



these puppies apparently go on at 200-210 ft-lbs!! its higher than my torque wrench goes so ill have to breaker bar the rest.

[ebox86]

Engine install

Got the engine in today





Had to fabricate this new gasket, bmw seattle gave us one for an m50





New fuel lines











The hey I'm standing in my engine bay pic, lol





And ta-da, reverse really IS as simple as removal



god that was hard, how the hell do people fit v8's into these things??

[dewme5]

Looks really good so far!

[dirtbag30]

diggin it.