Project Izzy: The AWD Money Pit

[audiquattrot]

correct. shouldve specified that.

[stonea]

I haven't dug to deep into it yet. I just had the AFM and ICV laying around from the ix. Also I went over to my friend Adams today (the one with the purple ix) and he gave me some of his extra parts before he sells it.

OEM Radio


Mtech 1 Wheel


And from what I can tell 325i H&R Sport Springs

Looks like I'll be lowering the 325i.

[iXguido]

those look exactly like my ix HR springs when I had them

[stonea]

Fronts: H&R Springs 50404.55
Rears: H&R Springs 19.03 BMW

From my research the fronts are 325i and the rears are for a convertible. I also found this from another thread.

I went with six cylinder front springs and cab rear springs in order to avoid the reverse-rake I've seen with H&R sets.

[rzerob]

those look exactly like my ix HR springs when I had them

[stonea]

I have a half update, I wasn't going to post anything until it was finished, but I don't know when I'll be home to finish up the job.

I didn't get anything really done on my personal cars while I was home for break and was feeling pretty shitty about that so I decided to at least do the timing belt on the 325i. It had unknown milage and years on it so it was a liability. The whole thing was really uneventful until I saw the plastic wire cover the runs across the timing cover was broken off and a wire that ran under to the oil filter was cut. I cleaned it up and soldered it back together, but didn't want to put it back together without that cover. I finished the job, put a new timing belt and water pump on it and put the timing cover back on and stopped there. I ordered a new cover piece, but it didn't arrive in time. So I packed Izzy up and took her back to school with me.



Also to keep me preoccupied and to prevent me from staring out the window hoping for the UPS guy to show with my plastic cover, I decided to cleaned out a corner of the basement to put some of my future projects down there. I'm going to clean the whole thing out when it gets warmer and hopefully I'll be able to set up a nice shop just in time for me to go back to school, then graduate, then move away, ect... haha



I would like to make some real progress on Izzy this year. I'm looking into coilovers and bbk for the summer. I would like to get to the interior or paint done, but we'll see.

I'm still deciding on what direction to take the blue car. I really want to keep my primary focus on the ix so I don't want to go to crazy on the 325i for now, but still want to do something fun with it. Maybe H&R sport springs, koni non adjustables, OEM bushings and maybe a cheap budget 2.8 stroker with a 2.7 chip? I'm probably going to keep the auto for a while. At least until I'm no longer living in the city.

[stonea]

I've been doing some research on my coilovers and BBK and want to write everything down in one place so I can access it later and also there can never be to much information about the ix added. Also I would love some feedback on my plans.

Coilovers:

-Ground Control
-6" Spring 400F/600R
-Weld the perches 3.5" from the top of the tube
-Custom Swaybar Mount located 2" Lower
-Stock Upper Shock Mount
-Stock 17mm F and 14.5 mm R Swaybars

All of this information was basically from Nando in his build thread, or in other threads he participated in.

BBK:

First off reasons I want to go BBK, less unsprung weight, better brake feeling, and better stopping distance. The fronts are of course easy, just choose any existing front BBK out there for the e30s, but the rears are where it gets complicated. I was talking to Lee about his 280x22mm Street Kit for the fronts. This was the most appealing because it was the cheapest, and with the Corrado Rotors $750 wasn't going to brake the bank. I asked about a compliment rear kit and he said it could be done using Z1 rear rotors which were 280x10mm. Although this is good news for you RWD guys, the ix has a much higher rotor hat height. The 325i's hat height is 60.1mm while the 325ix comes in at 74.5mm (according to Brembo). I tried looking for a 280x10 (or 280x22) mm rotor with a hat height of 74.5mm but I couldn't find anything on Brembos website. My only option it seems is to do a two piece rotor in the rear with custom rotor hats, but one 2 piece rotors are expensive and two, I don't even want to think how much that custom hat would cost me. I could just do a 280x22mm front kit and leave the rears alone, but thats my last resort.

I'm trying not do anything beneficial to the engine swap right now because I think there is going to be clearance problems with the turbo. I was looking at Corvallis' pics in his thread and although I should have more clearance with the strut tower, theres a lot going on under the exhaust manifolds like engine arms, half shafts, tie rods, and a big thick subframe. I would settle for a NA M30, but unless I can swap the gears from a front e46 diff into a x5 front diff I'm going to be stuck with a 3.07 or 3.64. Both I think are wrong for a NA M30.

[stonea]

So it turns out that I'm not all talk, who would have known?

[stonea]

So not a lot of progress, just some disappointment. First off my M106 turbo system came in with some shipping damage. I filed a report with the USPS and it was insured, but you can definitely tell they work for the government. Its coming up on two months and its still "Under review". Its really the shippers fault. Absolute piss poor packaging, I told him he needs to to a lot better job next time and he told me "You didn't pay for me to pack it" or something like that. Total douche bag. Anyways, I'm trying to get pass that. You can see the damage on the waste gate.



Back to the cars, my turn signal relay or hazard relay on the ix somehow caught on fire and melted. No other real damage, just a really bad smell and a melted relay. Shortly after that my Izzy started pissing out power steering fluid like it was nobodies business. Also I tried fixing my vacuum leak and broke the stupid brittle check valve then I got some wrong parts and basically it was about a week or two just getting parts. I eventually said screw it and limped her back home for the 3 hour drive. You can see the power steering trail Izzy left when it was time to go home. I will say I used that Lucas Oil blue stuff before I got on the highway and that helped a lot.



I then turned my attention to the 325i which I have named Stitch. Well I guess I kept the name Stitch. As you know I was friends with the girl who previously owned Stitch well before I bought it from her and thats what I knew the car as before hand.

Anyways back to the progress or lack there of it. So I got the timing belt buttoned up and went to fill her up with coolant and it started pissing everywhere. Well I didn't tighten the water pump housing before I left for school so that had to come apart again. During this un-install I dropped the fan clutch and the blades shattered, no big deal I just grabbed the one of the ix real quick. (Its not like it was going anywhere). Buttoned it back up a second time and filled her up and bled the system. Let the car cool back down again, took her for a test drive and the car started to overheat...bad. I turned her off and let her cool down and drove back home keeping a close eye on the water temp. It never touched the red but it got close. I'm just happy I caught it when I did.

It was 11:30 at night, I had to drive 3 hours to Norfolk to leave for Myrtle Beach at 7:00 and was down two cars. I don't like having the Z3 down here, but I really had no choice. I'm tempted to just say screw it and pull the M20 out of Stitch and throw in a M30. Almost every sensor on the engine is bad, and theres more vacuum leaks than actual hoses. I did pick up some Koni NA shocks for sale yesterday, that paired with my H&R OE Sports I think will make a nice daily set up.

[bobaflesh]

Sorry about that turbo deal! Keep the updates coming.

Sub'd.

[stonea]

Sorry about that turbo deal! Keep the updates coming.

Sub'd.

Thanks!

Also got in my front driveshaft upgrade from Nando!

[totheredline]

Thanks!

Also got in my front driveshaft upgrade from Nando!

Didn't even know you had a build thread. Lol. Sub'd!!

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[rzerob]

I need one of these. Too bad Jute stopped making them.

[nando]

Thanks!

Also got in my front driveshaft upgrade from Nando!

sweet!

I still haven't had my other one welded up, but I need to soon!

[stonea]

Didn't even know you had a build thread. Lol. Sub'd!!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

There hasn't been much "building" going on lately, but hopefully that will change soon!

I need one of these. Too bad Jute stopped making them.

I was pretty screwed until Nando offered up his spare. Hopefully Jute will put them back up for sale soon.

sweet!

I still haven't had my other one welded up, but I need to soon!

I'll probably be saying the same thing in several months, lol.