My Euro Swapped 325es (13+ year project)

[2mAn]

Awesome pics and wonderful update. Excited for this new phase...

Time to grow a stache and get some aviators to really sell the Cop look behind the wheel of the Interceptor

[WestCoastEta]

Hey errrbody, been a while.

Thought it would be an appropriate time to start updating this again since I've been doing some fun things with the car.

Long story short, I bought a 500c Abarth not long after my last update to this thread. The Abarth essentially turned into my money pit while the dirty 30 sat in my dad's garage. It didn't help that I moved into a small Santa Monica apartment with my girlfriend and no parking for old shitboxes.



I really didn't drive the BMW much for about a year and a half, with the exception of a few meets here and there. I also managed to get it out of the garage for Radwood in December and was motivated enough to paint the wheels gold and slap on the old side skirts.



The wheels are Subaru gold, and I think the color really makes the wheels pop. The black was cool and all, but you couldn't see the awesome design. I also mounted wheel caps - not original OZ caps - but generic reproductions from German eBay. They look just fine, though.



Recently some life changes have happened: I left my shitty entertainment-news job for a much more enjoyable position at Donut Media, I sold the Abarth and replaced it with a 2013 Ford Police Interceptor, and I moved to a rad spot in Silver Lake with a garage (!!!).

The garage means I can keep the e30 at my place (and actually have a private workspace - imagine that), and the Police Interceptor isn't getting modded (much... yet). In other words, I've been able to throw some resources at the BMW and it's finally getting some of the love it deserves.

So to start, here are some of the parts I've been accumulating for the past few months:

Euro grilles & smileys:



Rear window louvers:



Super duper rare Hella air dam:



But wait - that air dam only works with Euro bumpers!

Oh yeah, I got those too! (got the trim as well - this was just for mockup)



I'm waiting for the upper bumper support to arrive in the mail before I can mount all the new Euro stuff, but I've already painted the air dam and it looks sick. I really did like the ES cow catcher - personally I think it's the single best looking front trim option available for all USDM E30s - but it's in good hands now and you'll all be seeing it on another LA based E30 soon. ;)

So besides these cosmetic changes, I have several other short-term and long-term goals lined up as well. Firstly, a full brake job. I bought pads, rotors, and steel lines. I hate doing anything brake related, so I just need to motivate myself to get it done.

I’m also putting together a real suspension setup. If you recall, I’m still running JOMs which have held up surprisingly well considering I bought them for $300 nearly 4 years ago. I don’t regret that purchase one bit, but I’m ready for a real setup now. So I bought GC coils from a member here and I’ll be pairing them with Koni yellows and welding them to the spring perches.

And here’s what I’m especially excited for: 885 head swap:



I preemptively acquired the head around a year ago, and I’m still in the process of researching and gathering the rest of the parts for the swap, but that will be a fun project once I get around to it.

“But Maaaax, an 885 head swap onto a stock eta bottom end will yield lower compression than a 325i!”

Yes, but it will still be a huge performance upgrade over the tired eta. And lower compression sets me up for my ultimate long term goal of boosting this bad boi. Yep, once I get everything else done I’m planning on running KAMotors’ Budget Brawler kit. I’ve been indoctrinated into the turbo lifestyle and I’m never going back; I lust for that tasty boost. And what’s perfect is that I can swap the head over now, and whenever I’m ready for the turbo kit the car will be ready.

Other than all that, another goal is to swap the ratty seats out for Corbeau GTS II’s. I also think I broke a transmission mount cruising around Silver Lake a few weeks ago, so I’ll need diagnose and hopefully repair that whenever I get the car in the air for the brake job. The nice thing is that the car isn’t my daily driver anymore and I have plenty of time to get these projects done. Oh, and tires, too.

The plan is to make this into a fun weekend toy that I can still drive to work every once in a while. I really want to get it on the track once I get some of the mechanical stuff sorted. Besides that, I just want to drive it and enjoy it. I’ve had thecar for almost 10 years now, so there’s no rush to get everything done at once, but it sure is nice to give it some love again.

[WestCoastEta]

Ye, that's what I'm figuring. Hopefully it's obvious when I pull everything out.

[MrBurgundy]

Maybe a ground came loose.

[WestCoastEta]

• Hit pothole
• Tach goes limp and oil service lights pop on

Anything specific I should check when I change my ODO gears next week?

[WestCoastEta]

Okay I caved

After checking all four corners and not finding anything I took the car to a local shop where I've seen e30's parked before. The shop owner found that my center support had actually "popped out," so it was the driveshaft making that smacking noise under heavy deceleration.

I got the car back and haven't gotten under the car to check it out yet for myself, but it seems back to normal so far.

Now let's hope my interior survives the monsoon :nice:

[WestCoastEta]

Wow, I'll be damned. I'll double check the tightness.

[stonea]

Are you sure the caliper bolts are tight? One of my bolts was loose and started to back out. It eventually bent the bolt from the shaking.

[WestCoastEta]

Well I pulled the wheels and both front calipers have the bolts intact and I couldn't find anything else suspicious. I had my dad listen from outside the car and he thinks the noise could be coming from the back. Again, I didn't see anything suspicious on the rear brake assemblies either.

Any other thoughts before I begrudgingly take it in?

[stonea]

Definitely take the wheel off and see find it ASAP. Sounds like the caliper is banging against the wheel because one of the two bolts is not attached anymore

I think thats exactly what it is. Had this happen to my car the other week and it sound identical.

[WestCoastEta]

Definitely take the wheel off and see find it ASAP. Sounds like the caliper is banging against the wheel because one of the two bolts is not attached anymore

Word thanks, I'll be doing that asap for sure. I pulled over this morning thinking my damn wheel had fallen off. Glad I got home without issue.

You may want to check your trunk seal if you have water in the rear passenger footwell.

I will also give that a try! I used to have pretty bad trunk leakage until I changed the tail light gaskets. It wouldn't surprise me if the main seal wasn't doing its job.

[2mAn]

Definitely take the wheel off and see find it ASAP. Sounds like the caliper is banging against the wheel because one of the two bolts is not attached anymore

[c0rbin9]

You may want to check your trunk seal if you have water in the rear passenger footwell.

Yes, your trunk seal. I had that too and it was from water coming in through the trunk and flowing through the trunk floor, down the back seats, and into the footwell. Crazy, right?

[WestCoastEta]

Started hearing an intermittent high-pitched whine coming from I think the front right wheel yesterday. I removed the wheel and didn't see anything alarming so I drove to work today and heard this shit when I hit the brakes.

Gotta be suspension right? I can't seem to find any loose bolts or anything. Haven't had any rubbing issues with this wheel.

[2mAn]

I got you homey, make sure you hit me up tomorrow