Rontgen's 1990 325iS Build Thread

[Rontgen]

Lots of progress this weekend!

We started by mating the transmission to the engine Fri night, which didn't go particularly well at first. I had purchased a used 325i single mass flywheel and forgot to run a tap through the pressure plate bolt holes to clean them up. As it turns out, the threads on one hole were evidently mangled about halfway down. That bolt started to get tight and I should have known better and backed it off. But, like an idiot I decided to try and give it another 1/4-turn in hopes it would clean up and SNAP, the bolt sheared. [emoji35]

On the bright side, my son has now experienced an EZ-out as well as a Heli-coil to repair the damaged threads. Haha I happened to have a M8x1.25 Heli-Coil kit left over from some catastrophe long ago. I found a replacement M8x16 12.9 cap screw at Ace hardware and we were back on track by about noon on Saturday. We'd lost about a half day, which wasn't too bad I suppose

[Staszek]

The dash situation had me concerned since there didn't appear to be a lot of good options. Plastic dash caps look like crap, a dash mat wouldn't cover many of the damaged sections of this dash, and a new OE dash at $1000+ is just out of the budget for this build. The used BMW part market near me is pretty dry (think sahara desert), so I didn't have much confidence that a used dash would magically appear on Craigslist one day.

I had found a couple used dashes for sale here and on eBay, but the price and location made them much less attractive. Plus, most sellers don't want to fool with shipping a dash (and I can't blame them). I did a search on car-part.com and found a junkyard about 2 hours away that showed to have a complete dash with no damage in the comments. Could I be so lucky as to have found a dash this quickly?

I'm pretty excited about this. I scored a crack-free dash out of a 88 325i this morning. We're gonna douse it in 303 Aerospace over the next few weeks and try to get the vinyl as supple as we can before installation. Hopefully we can go a few years before any cracks start to appear.

The best part? $125 + tax ($134 total) + no shipping expense or hassle = :) :)

Nice job on the dash, I was in the same situation. I finally broke down and bought a new OEM one. Crazy expensive and I don't even know if you can get them anymore!

Great find!

[MR E30 325is]

Good find on that dash!

Excellent build as well. Making some serious progress.

Will stay tuned.

[Rontgen]

The dash situation had me concerned since there didn't appear to be a lot of good options. Plastic dash caps look like crap, a dash mat wouldn't cover many of the damaged sections of this dash, and a new OE dash at $1000+ is just out of the budget for this build. The used BMW part market near me is pretty dry (think sahara desert), so I didn't have much confidence that a used dash would magically appear on Craigslist one day.

I had found a couple used dashes for sale here and on eBay, but the price and location made them much less attractive. Plus, most sellers don't want to fool with shipping a dash (and I can't blame them). I did a search on car-part.com and found a junkyard about 2 hours away that showed to have a complete dash with no damage in the comments. Could I be so lucky as to have found a dash this quickly?

I'm pretty excited about this. I scored a crack-free dash out of a 88 325i this morning. We're gonna douse it in 303 Aerospace over the next few weeks and try to get the vinyl as supple as we can before installation. Hopefully we can go a few years before any cracks start to appear.

The best part? $125 + tax ($134 total) + no shipping expense or hassle = :) :)

[Rontgen]

Thanks guys!

Did a white trash wheel repaint in preparation for new tires. Used 2 cans of Dupli-Color wheel paint silver and 1 can of gloss clear. It's not powdercoat, but for $18 total investment, they look much better.

As I'm sure you guys are aware, a 195/65R14 is not easy to find these days. Going with some Falken 828 all-seasons for $63/ea at Discount Tire. Eventually we'll do better wheels and tires, but for now we need something that's safer than the 10-y/o dry-rotted tires we have now. I suspect in the next couple years, the 14" tire supply will dry up completely, making these wheels virtually worthless...

[Poorhouse]

Great project.

I've got a 6 year old and hope to be doing something like this in 10 years.

[325isman]

Car

Great looking car. It's a fun car to drive.

[Rontgen]

Thanks! Brushes came from eBay: http://m.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Heater-Blo...-/110454908358

[FredK]

Whoa. Where did you get those carbon brushes for the blower motor? Great progress!

[BECKSTER]

Great progress.

[Rontgen]

If all goes well, we should be dropping the motor and trans in this weekend! More pics to follow!

Thanks for reading!

[Rontgen]

At home with it's younger brother...

[Rontgen]

Picked up an original IS wing to replace the aftermarket wing that had been stuck on years ago. Needs paint and some straightening, but it was cheap...

[Rontgen]

The HVAC blower motor didn't work well at all and after disassembly, I could see why. Carbon dust everywhere, worn brushes, and worn bushings at the end. After pricing out a new motor assembly, I decided to try and repair this one. I found a ball bearing available on eBay as well as a set of brushes. I enlarged the hole at either end of the motor and reassembled everything with good ol' JB Weld clear. Will it work out in the end? That remains to be seen, but if it doesn't I'm only out $25.

[Rontgen]

Interior

Not much to report here yet, aside from the dash. :( Someone in the past had one of those plastic dash toppers installed, presumably to cover a cracked dash. In the years that followed, the dash topped began to warp and crack. After looking at it in passing for months, we decided one day to dive in and find out what was lurking under the topper.

Let this be your warning - if you are considering one of these toppers, they are essentialy permanent. There's effectively no way to remove it without destroying the dash underneath. We tried everything from a heat gun to soften the silicone and gently prying to just ripping the topper off with force. In the end, it didn't matter. The bond between the dash vinyl and the topper was WAY stronger than the bond between the dash and the foam structure below. The real kick in the nuts is the original dash wasn't really all that terrible. Anyway, we'll be looking for a replacememt dash eventually. For now it looks awful, but it won't stop the car from running.

Had a pre-paod VISA gift card from work, so I picked up a stereo to replace the broken original