Project Izzy: The AWD Money Pit

[stonea]

Put in my black seats today, the passenger side needs to be taken apart, the recline function doesn't work so no one can sit back there, but the driver seat is perfect. I also need to keep an eye out for coupe rear bottoms, I don't like how the sedan ones fit.




Edit: I think I finally solved my alternator/charging problem!!!!

[stonea]

I hit over 230,000 miles on the way back to school! Also wanted to share two of my favorite pics I took from yesterday.


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[stonea]

Got a few updates finally!!!!! Well I was driving around one day and I heard a whine when I pressed my clutch pedal. Figured it was my throw out/pilot bearing and after double checking with my dad he agreed. I really wanted to take on this job and was pretty excited about it, but my dad didn't want me to make the 3-4 hour trip home and for something to happen along the way. Plus his ix touring was on the lift for some repairs and he wouldn't have it done in sometime. He suggested to take it to a shop, and after some arguing back and forth he said he'd pay for the labor if I paid for the parts. I wasn't spending anymore money than I already was so it was a pretty fair deal, but my end game with this car is to do by learning.

If you've kept up with the my thread from the beginning I never turned a wrench on a car before I got Izzy and the first job that I ever did was replacing the rear brakes. I'm very proud of the progress that I've made with both my knowledge and the progress on Izzy. I really want to continue with that progress so I wasn't happy about taking it to a shop, but my dad said it would make him feel better if we just got it [done quick as possibly] so reluctantly I took it to a shop.

[done quick as possibly]..... This was the funny part. I took it to a shop and they told me it would be done in 3 days.... 7 days later I called them and asked what was going on and they said "Oh we got your car done in the 3 days we said we would but we need a new master and slave" I was pissed that I had to call them to get that information and was kind of annoyed with my self I didn't buy those things along with the clutch and everything else. Luckily Turner Motorsports saved the day, when I called to ask when is the soonest I could get my order they said that the truck just pulled up and was being loaded up so if I ordered it now I could get it tomorrow morning. The sales associate (Shaun?) personally ran down to shipping to stop the truck leaving so they could quickly get my order out. Now I don't know if he actually did it, but it sounded like he actually cared about my problem so that got them brownie points.

Pics of my newly arrived order (also figured what the hell and got a z3 shifter with new bushings)



Anyways woke up the next morning with a Turner package sitting on the front door steps. Took it to the shop, they said it was a 3 hour job. 2 days later I called them to ask what was going on and they told me my pedal assembly was broken now.....WTF?!?!!?!?!? I went in to look at it and yes there was a crack but it didn't allow enough movement for it to effect anything. Regardless I said screw it and searched high and low for one, Facebook pages, eBay, Turner, ECS, the Forums, and Craigslist. I actually happened to find a guy who had a spare one for his 5 speed swap (He goes by "totheredline" on here). Since I was trying to get my car fixed as soon as possible and he's seen a couple of my threads he said I could have it for free if I got one off eBay or the forums or something and gave him that one when I got my car fixed.

Well the shop installed that and that didn't work either, they then blamed Turner for faulty parts and thats when I got really pissed (as if I wasn't already) I told them to stop making excuses and I wanted them to take everything back apart in front of me so I could double check their work. They agreed to that, but told me if nothing was wrong I would have to pay for the labor for that to. I told them to f*ck off and called a tow truck took it to Aamco and 3 days later my car was ready for pick up and drove like a dream.

Here she is on the tow truck :(



Aamco saved the old parts for me and had the tech stay over time to explain to me what was wrong. Well the guys at the other shop put in the clutch disc in the wrong way and wasn't making contact with the fly wheel. I loved the guys at Aamco though, they called me everyday with an update and offered for my to come in and walk underneath the car to check on the car anytime I wanted to. I definitely felt like a VIP dealing with them. This whole experience took 3 weeks, easily enough time for me to help fix my dads touring and to get my car on the lift and back down here. Lessoned learned though, only my hands touch the car from now on.

You can see where the fly wheel bolts were hitting the springs on the clutch, also the old shifter carrier had seen some better days, lol.




Now onto some things that I personally got done to the car. Picked up some sweet door handles from phenryiv1. Kind of wished I got the valve cover too, but all well. I've also had a e46 center console (with out the arm rest) sitting in my trunk for about a year and decided it was about time to do some work on it. I've gotten it to where I like it, just need to get some more bondo and need to figure out a way to mount it to the car (just a trip to the hardware store). When my roommates moved out they left a butt ton of sub box fabric and covered my trunk liner in it. I really like it but I'm not very optimistic that its going to hold up.






On a side note moved into my new apartment and I was walking outside when I saw a light blue e30 that the sun hasn't been to kind to. I had a spare set of grilles I wanted to get rid of so I ran up to get a piece of paper and leave my number but when I came down I ran into the owner. She said she'd got the car in Cali 4 years ago for $800, but from the picture that she showed me it looked like a $8,000 car, definitely the find of the century. Unfortunately the car spent some time with her uncle while she was overseas with her parents and the car got baked in the sun, and I mean BAKED. The resprayed the roof, but the rest of the car is still in bad shape. The girl was also pretty cool, I've never seen someone love their car so much. I snapped some pics of Izzy and "Stitch" together in the parking garage.

[CorvallisBMW]

You can see where the fly wheel bolts where hitting the springs on the clutch, also the old shifter carrier had seen some better days, lol.

WOW.... just fucking wow. I hope you didn't give them a goddamn cent for their time or labor, that's bullshit.

[stonea]

WOW.... just fucking wow. I hope you didn't give them a goddamn cent for their time or labor, that's bullshit.

I ended up for paying for only some of it. I wanted to fight them and try and get it all back and maybe even get them to pay for the replacement parts, but my dad didn't want me to worry about it and to just focus on my classes. I felt really bad since it was his money that really went down the drain and I only paid for the first round of parts, but he said my grades were more important to him than his money. I'm really fortunate that he was able to help me out in this ordeal or I would have been completely screwed. Now that I have my car back I think I'm gonna try and sneak home when he's on a business trip and get his 325is running for him.

[stonea]

Got my new gauge cluster back an installed. Bavarian Restoration did the cluster while Innovative Goods did the shift lights.



Click this to watch the video


In other news I've been thinking a lot about my engine swap and I've been talking about subframes and stuff with Will over in the 325ix section and I think I might actually make some progress this summer on it. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna stick with the little 2.5 liter M52tu, the engine just has waaaaay to much sentimental value to it and this car does too. I had some of my first driving lessons with that engine, I learned how to drive stick with it, and I learned the fun art of "spirited driving" I'd rather have it go into the car I learned how to work on and rebuild than dropping in a S50 or M54b30.

I did however find a VERY cheap S54 that I toyed with throwing into the e30. but honestly I'll probably throw it into the Z3. I'm already looking to put the M Roadster suspension on it. And just on some side notes I found a v12 in a junkyard that I really wanted to pick up but couldn't think of anything to do with it and also meet up with a couple of local BMW guys. Hope to get together once a month.



^Izzy being the ugly duckling, lol

[6A LDY]

that cluster looks awesome!

[Blake B]

i can think of a few things to put that V12 in.

[rzerob]

I really like the cluster. It turned out great.

[stonea]

Thanks guys! I REALLY wanted to pick up that v12 but that yard started charging by the cylinder. They wanted $400 for a M50 so I'm guessing they want $800 for the v12? Also I don't really need a serious project right now. I've been thinking about picking up a second toy though, e38 7 series seems the most likely, but the BMW k75's have recently caught my eye. If I do bite the bullet and get something else it wont be until winter when prices drop and Izzy is out of "Project Phase"

[stonea]

So no real updates, just a tiny bit here and there. Hopefully I can get some shit done next week, but just wanted to update this thread with my thoughts and ideas.

Engine:
So I'm abandoning my 24v interests for now. The M20 is feeling pretty tired and I have a small leak in my head gasket so I think I'm going to do a M20b28 stroker. I already have eta rods, I'm trying to find a decent deal on a M52b28 crank. I want to do a fresh rubuilt head with a 276 cam and IE stage 2 exhaust headers, with a custom mid section, and then bolted to my remus exhaust. I'm also keeping an eye out for a 3.64 front diff over in Europe but language barriers are making it kind of hard.

I've been looking into steering rack solutions and talked to Quaife about making some custom ratios, but they only do manual racks and not power steering racks. Still looking for other solutions. If anyone knows where to find a cheap 325ix rack or a e36 rack let me know!

I'm also thinking about picking up some H&R race springs, but I don't know yet I don't wanna really loose ground clearance.

Progress:

Me and my buddy Patrick had some left over tan door cards and I decided to give a shot at trying to dye them. They turned out great, but the texture is a bit dry. Unfortunately no installed pics, I've been SUPER lazy and they're still sitting in my closet.




And I scored some sweet BMW hubcaps in the junkyard!



There was a sweet group buy for some rally light bars and I was lucky enough to grab one. As I said before I've been super lazy and their not wired in yet. I've been having some charging issues and want to solve that first.



Installed (Just not wired):


But I picked something up to solve my charging issues!
(Spoilers)


I've also been working my ass off to try and get my AC in working order for next summer. I've looked at every thread and asked everyone I could. I finally went out to my car to look at what compressor I had and we..... look at the green label.



My car has been converted all a long, the stupid F@#%#king compressor was just broken. I ordered one and will hopefully be here by the end of the week.


Also in much more depressing news my buddy is thinking about selling his purple 325ix that everyone loved when I first started my thread.



I'm not sure how much he's asking but its a 1990(91?) 5 speed, orginional was a light gray, but the PO painted it Daytona Violet. Fully working AC, fantastic gray interior, and I think it has just under 200,000 miles.

[litu]

Also in much more depressing news my buddy is thinking about selling his purple 325ix that everyone loved when I first started my thread.



I'm not sure how much he's asking but its a 1990(91?) 5 speed, orginional was a light gray, but the PO painted it Daytona Violet. Fully working AC, fantastic gray interior, and I think it has just under 200,000 miles.

OMG this soo cool, i have seen few pics, now you reveal you know that dude, soo if possible to see more, i lost of :coolphoto:Of that beatyful IX :)
I would keep that purple ix

[stonea]

OMG this soo cool, i have seen few pics, now you reveal you know that dude, soo if possible to see more, i lost of :coolphoto:Of that beatyful IX :)
I would keep that purple ix

This is the only pic I personally have of it. Unfortunately we are both in college and don't get to hang out anymore. Its a beautiful car and if I had the spare change I'd pick it up, but hopefully I have some big plans in the making and my wallet is pretty tight.



Here is the the original for sale ad from the previous owner with some pictures.

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=984745

[litu]

I would immediately if would possible buy

[bradnic]

Finally SUB'D.. love keeping up with the IX crowd. On my 4th IX coupe now - hopefully my last.