1990 325is restomod project aka "Klaus"

[Staszek]

Since i am waiting on parts, I started working on the S54. It had been sitting for quite some time, and was pretty dirty. For a bit it was in my inlaws shed, some fun mouse droppings and grease.

I took off the intake manifold to get some clearance, removed all the old hoses and the starter that I will be replacing. Also removed the alternator and the old wiring harness. You can see where they cut some of the wires on the old harness, good thing I have the new one.





Got this neat little cap for the clutch fan delete.


I have a little surface paint flaking on the block, not horrible but figured after I clean the engine I am going to hit the block with a bit of paint.

Dont mind the garage, I cleaned it up after I put the engine away lol.



Once I clean it all up, the new water pump, alternator, starter, PS pump, and AC compressor will go on. Then the gasket and vanos work starts.

[parkerbink]

Nice progress!

[Staszek]

Nice to see that engine bay cleaned up. Easy peasy engine pull thanks to all the prep work you did!! You've got my number if you need any more help

ok back to my top conversion project lol

Good luck with that!

[bradnic]

Nice to see that engine bay cleaned up. Easy peasy engine pull thanks to all the prep work you did!! You've got my number if you need any more help

ok back to my top conversion project lol

[Staszek]

Right on! Congrats!! Always nice to have some extra hands helping out with the big stuff.

Its all downhill from here :rofl:

Getting there, got a few more things done today.

Old subframe and steering rack is out.


Had a few slight issues during the way. I have a feeling that the PO never touched the suspension during the entire 200k miles on the original car. First problem, as I started to remove the drivers side swaybar link from the control arm, it had so much play it actually twisted almost all the way, then the bolt actually just snapped off. Doesnt matter its all getting replaced anyway.


Next was the driver's side control arm bolt on the strut housing. I have never seen anything like this before. I have changed several control arms, some have been a pain but nothing like this. My fork which is actually thick as hell bend trying to break this thing free. There was no more rubber left the metal fused to the strut housing. I had to cut it off with my sawzall. I hope I can press this thing out.




I need a few more parts, I forgot to order new strut mount bushings, that and a bunch of new bolts for the subframe and lollipops. I could reuse the old ones but figured why since everything else is new. Also forgot to get the new sway bar mounts to top mount the bar.

I did use the old ones to check fit of the new subframe and the new E46 ZHP steering rack (really excited about that one, I loved driving the ZHP), and a new 21mm convertible swaybar, just laying there for effect.




Tomorrow I will continue to work on the S54 while the parts come in.

[2mAn]

Tomorrow is another day but I feel good about today.

Right on! Congrats!! Always nice to have some extra hands helping out with the big stuff.

Its all downhill from here :rofl:

[Staszek]

Thanks to Brandnic we got a lot done today. Not out of the woods but feel pretty good about progress. Tomorrow I will work on the replacing the subframe, steering rack, control arms and the front suspension.

We had a beautiful day today to work outside. Here is the car before I dropped it down and rolled it out.


After a lot of reconfiguring and moving around, disconnecting the mounting arms, adjusting the jack a bit and the engine finally came out. If it wasnt for Brad (Bradnic) and his skills it would have taken me all day!







The bay was pretty disgusting, years of neglect and no real cleaning. I started removing parts, engine harness, A/C lines and a bunch of other random things I wont need with the S54. I wrapped up the electrical and went to town with degreaser and a power washer. Still have some more detailing in the bay to do, but its 100 times better than it was.

I also was able to take out the master cylinder and brake booster, need to get the fork switched over to the 2002 booster.


Tomorrow is another day but I feel good about today.

[Staszek]

wow, this has come a long way since i've seen it last. straight money-pit; which is so enjoyable to see put together. Good work on the rear subframe.

Money Pit is an understatement!! lol :)

Partially my own fault, I keep getting in deeper and Im like, I should fix that too!

[jeenyus]

wow, this has come a long way since i've seen it last. straight money-pit; which is so enjoyable to see put together. Good work on the rear subframe.

[2mAn]

Even at $600 maybe it’s worth it for the piece of mind knowing there’s no funny business in the harness.

Have a fun 4th make sure you have some fireworks to fire out of that empty engine bay haha

[Staszek]

I dont even want to know how much that cost! ... thats so badass though. Im happy for you, this is going to rock

Not cheap, but I got lucky they raised the prices on them recently to over $600, but I got mine for lets just say less then that :). Still not cheap but the harness that came with the engine got a but messed up when they took it out and would have needed a bit of repair. I figured why not go for the longer one so I could mount the ECU in the glove box.

[2mAn]

Pulling the engine over the fourth weekend, but until then a goodie came in today!

Fresh new S54 Z3 engine harness!

I dont even want to know how much that cost! ... thats so badass though. Im happy for you, this is going to rock

[Staszek]

Pulling the engine over the fourth weekend, but until then a goodie came in today!

Fresh new S54 Z3 engine harness!

[Staszek]

Where did you have the center consoles and door cards wrapped? Cool thread!

https://www.ebay.com/sch/design-part/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

This guy, he made them all. I think he still does it you need to reach off him.

[Thunderzol]

Where did you have the center consoles and door cards wrapped? Cool thread!