325ix Touring Clubrally racer project

[Zdrenka]

First post!

So I bought this magnificent peace of only 'slightly' rusty wagon.



Its gone 385.000 km (239k miles) so its well used and seemingly has no major mechanical issues except from brakes (which are borderline deadly). Passed the jack test before I bought it and all CV boots are intact. It came with skinny wheels (but equal size) and fresh belts in the engine.

Its my very first project car. I haven't wrenched in cars before so it'll be a steep learning curve. I've done lots of practical stuff and since I'm a mechanical engineer I have decent sense of how stuff works. That doesn't make up for the art of car wrenching so I'm preparing myself to get into trouble somehow.





Car ran all 150km home from the seller without any issues and got insta-jacked when it got back to my shop. Looks decent. Although everythings is so bloody hard to get apart. Thats just old cars I guess.

In Denmark where I live, we don't have Autocross or Rallycross but we do have Klubrally (Danish spelling). Its a sort of mix between Autocross, Rallycross and Gymkhana.
This being a bigger event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYCwYQWarA4
This being a smaller event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk5B975YbbE

Courses changes throughout the day but usually all have something in common. They are based on industrial areas so runoffs are often plenty. Perfect for beginners like me. Handbrake turns are often a vital part of these event, so that will need extra focus.

First things first: I will need to give the whole suspension and brakes a major overhall. New bushings, dampers, springs, discs and probably calipers (old ones are quite pitted, and probably contaminated anyway). Generally I will try to make it run as reliably as possible. That means lots of reading of forums in an attempt to foresee problems. I've been reading up on Irish44j's 318 Rallycross project. Love the attention to detail/overengineering ;-).

Feel free to chime in. I've got until end of March/start of April to get the rubber side down again.

[Kershaw]

Good luck!

[CorvallisBMW]

Looks like fun, good luck!

[jeenyus]

looks great. What do you do as a Mechanical Engineer anyway (if you don't mind me asking since I'm planning on going into it)?

[Spiff325iS]

Oh yeah!!

[unloadedak]

those klubrally look awesome.. i wish we had those here.

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[Zdrenka]

looks great. What do you do as a Mechanical Engineer anyway (if you don't mind me asking since I'm planning on going into it)?

Well I'm relatively new on the jobmarket, so I dont have that much experience. In the real world I've done prototype machinery, windturbine nacelle main frames, various lifting equipment and ice-cream machines.
But I can't show you none of that because of legal reasons ;)

One of the best projects I was involved in was this though. A Shell Eco Marathon 'car' when I was still in school. It raced in the prototype electric category. Ran an average of 25 km/hr on 35W=0.047hp (Solar panels were capped to deliver a maximum of 20% of the consumtion). Light bulb territory.


The major hurdle of engineering is always calculation. If you like to figure stuff out that way, do it! (I can't imagine doing anything else).

[elcoy]

Man, this is going to be super cool! Always thought an IX touring is one of the coolest variants. Plus I always wanted to go racing in an old soccer mom car.

Mech Engineers represent!

[jeenyus]

Well I'm relatively new on the jobmarket, so I dont have that much experience. In the real world I've done prototype machinery, windturbine nacelle main frames, various lifting equipment and ice-cream machines.

But I can't show you none of that because of legal reasons ;)



One of the best projects I was involved in was this though. A Shell Eco Marathon 'car' when I was still in school. It raced in the prototype electric category. Ran an average of 25 km/hr on 35W=0.047hp (Solar panels were capped to deliver a maximum of 20% of the consumtion). Light bulb territory.





The major hurdle of engineering is always calculation. If you like to figure stuff out that way, do it! (I can't imagine doing anything else).

Sounds awesome. My wife always asks me, so what does a Mechanical Engineer do? I always respond no with, "anything they want." And I think that sums it up for me.

Was the advanced calculus pretty tough? Or pretty straight forward?

[Nisse Järnet]

Nice :) Turbo it and go to DHB :D

[Zdrenka]

Sounds awesome. My wife always asks me, so what does a Mechanical Engineer do? I always respond no with, "anything they want." And I think that sums it up for me.

Was the advanced calculus pretty tough? Or pretty straight forward?

Tell her that behind every product is a mechanical engineer somewhere in the equation.
Calculation will be hard if you don't have a nose for it. i.e if college math was hard, engineering will be worse. You'll have to find joy in calculating stuff otherwise it will feel meaningless.

Nice :) Turbo it and go to DHB :D

I wish! Searching for 325ix videos didn't get me far before I bumped into your car ;) Car registration rules in Denmark are very strict regarding tuning and modding, and adding forced induction will make it insta-illegal. You can get the car through the system by bribe but the hassle and risk of fines will probably keep me from doing serious engine modding. Schrick cams and nicer exhaust is probably as far as things are gonna get.

I hope to spend more time doing lightweight stuff in the long term since the rules are more flexible in this area. Sunroof delete, Fiber doors/hood/boot/bumpers/fenders, polycarbonate windows etc. 1100kg IX Touring would be cool :P

[Zdrenka]

Little bit of progress lately.
Me and a freind are trying to drop the rear subframe and diff. Also most suspension components are being removed for inspection/replacement.
Everything is so stuck and without an impact gun its really slow progress. I'll probably have to invest.

So far we've removed:
Brakes
Swaybars
Driveshaft
Exhaust
Rear dampers
Air intake
Halfshaft nuts on the front. (needed a 2,5m cheaterpipe!)

I need a proper balljoint seperator cause they are stuck!

We tried to seperate the brakelines in the back but they were too stuck so we ended up cutting them after several attempts either side. Will need replacing.

Hand brake cables were equally a bitch to remove from the hub. Ended up using a bicycle chain seperator to drive the pin out of the cable end link. Worked like a charm.

[Zdrenka]

So just an update on the disassembly process.

In short:
Stuck nuts and bolts
Frustration
Angle grinder
Frustration
Big Fucking Hammer
Frustration
Little bit of success.

Checked for rust behind the licens plate holder. Yup rust, bcuz Touring. Is repairable though.



Fenders and doors has some of the usual spots aswell. Very manageable.



So I bought a set of balljoint seperators which worked fine on the tierods, but didn't fit on the outer balljoint. Hmm. Tried a pickle fork. Crashed and burned! Just ruined the rubber boot.
Tried hitting the "knuckle" with a giant hammer to vibrate the taper loose. Nope.
Tried again with a crowbar for seperating leverage. I think I saw it laugh at me. Tried hitting the joint, same result.
Anyway, appararently there is a low-profile seperator that should fit, so I'll have to get hold of one of those. Or at least try another design.

This should do it:http://www.amazon.com/OTC-6297-Ball-.../dp/B0015PN010

The inner balljoint is a story of its own to. The bolt and nuts are just spinning in the joint. The taper must've been nocked loose when I tried to hammer outer joint or something. Has anyone any idea to what I should do next? Cut it between the joint and taper? I tried putting pressure on the joint with a jack - does nothing.

Anyway, on to the rear subframe.
Removed exhaust, heatshield, driveshaft cover, driveshaft, cut the brakelines (fittings were siezed), disassembled brakes and handbrake cable, disconnected the plug in the diff - which left me with the subframe bushings.... Sound easy, but was actually alot of work since everything take 10x the time. The four bolts holding the two support brackets for the subframebushings were properly fucked. Had to very carefully precision anglegrind them off.



So I read somewhere that you could either tap an M16 threads in there and screw an M16 bolt in there to hit on - or you could get an M16 or 5/8" lag bolt and just screw it in (no thread cutting needed). They are not easy to get a hold of but I went with the latter option.

Again, with the big fucking hammer. Passenger side came out easy but the driver side was a major PITA. I had to hit so hard I was afraid of fucking up something else. Luckily it finally came out, without breaking.



Yay, subframe.


Diffbushing have seen better days.


Trailling arm bushings look like they came out of lake bottom.


So next up is removal of the bushings, but one can only handle so much fun so that'll be another time.

I considering to get the major parts sandblasted and painted since I have them out, but that would require pulling the hubs. And I have heard that tools could be expensive.

[CorvallisBMW]

Wow, lots of hard work getting that stuff apart. Having the right tools makes all the difference. I have the same balljoint tool, it works well. You'll like it :up:

[Zdrenka]

Another pair of rusty half shaft nut retainer rings bites the dust


Just for other noobs out there like me. This is definitely the prefered way of removing the axle nuts. Don't put it in gear, handbrake and all that stuff. A screwdriver in the brakerotor does the job, and don't worry it will survive. Plus you can do it while jacked up.


Just for show.


Notin' like the smell of bushing in the morning.


Second one came out too.


Trailing arm bushings is for another day. I ran out of propane...