Lazurblau 325i project thread

[TheWipprSnappr]

Well, I was content to leave my shifter as previously shown for the foreseeable future but I came across a cheap ebay shifter (pic attached at bottom) that I bought a long time ago that I completely forgot about. I figured I would disassemble it to see if I could use anything with it and turns out the plastic cup is the exact same size as oem BMW shifters!









I did have to cut a bit a bit off of the bottom of the blue cup mount but this could be a perfect way for those with a super short shifter (e.g. this lever and Z4 and others) to raise there pivot point even to the rod joint to be able to use a straight dssr.

The cup fitment was a little loose so I drilled a couple holes with some set screws and that seemed to hold it in place really well.


Rod is now applies the force straight into the joint.

[TheWipprSnappr]

Got the 330i shifter installed and it is seriously the best shifter I've tried to date. Bending the lever i think definitely improved the way the selector engages. Its even smoother than the x5 was with an unbent selector rod. My only gripe is that 1st gear is a bit far forward for my preference. I think with an i selector rod it would be just right and mounting the lever to the chassis (akg style) would make it absolutely perfect. Still extremely impressed with it.

1st, N, 2nd

[TheWipprSnappr]

Its been a very busy summer so far, but was able to accomplish a couple things this weekend.

Replaced rear rotors and pads




Replaced what was left of my fuel vent line cover lol. It looks super rough but the line hasn't corroded through. The wet spots are just wd-40.






Also I'm trying out another shift lever. I think I have an addiction.
Lever from an e90 330i


This lever is even longer than the x5 below the pivot point. So some modification will probably required for it to engage the selector rod joint squarely.

I bought a DSSR for my iX 5 speed swap, so I modified my iX single shear selector rod so hopfully it will transfer the force squarely onto the joint. It was made for the wide style rod joint so I had to cut it down and regroove it. Also prepped and painted it red because why not.


"Modified" aka beat the shit out of it with a hollow steel pipe.


Pretty damn effective




Hard to tell but I did mask off the pins so the bushings wont be rubbing on paint.


If I don't like the feel I might look at finding a way to mount to the chassis. Possibly similar to Jean's method here: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...0&postcount=31
I want to be able to use a bmw lever so I can keep the m3 boot and knob on.

[TheWipprSnappr]

Got bored last night so I decided to deal with my sunburnt speaker deck. My rear speakers are old and one is blown so I needed to pull those as well.
Also when I bought the car it came with a non-ski pass seat back to replace the very worn ski-pass one.







I found an indigo speaker deck for a good deal last summer. When I finally pulled it all the way out of the box, something didn't look quite right...


I can't believe I didn't check if it was for early or late model! I felt so dumb. But I figured its here and its in good shape, it's going in!


It kind of looks goofy with the late model taillights (sorry for dark pics it was late), but to be honest I don't hate it. When I look at it, it actually kinda makes me chuckle. So I'm gonna leave it in.




Here is the new rear seat back installed. You can see the wear in the other one in an earlier pic.


Also freshened up the speaker covers for the new deck


Last, I reinstalled my momo wheel and e30 m3 shift boot. I seriously can't get enough of thing.




Dogleg wannabe

[TheWipprSnappr]

Its so great fixing little things... Im so jealous of your color. I need to repaint mine back to Cirrusblau so I can appreciate the color

Now that your car has the appropriate amount of pedals, its only appropriate you celebrate by giving it a fresh PJ ;D

Hats off to you for getting the fuel rail off without completely removing the intake manifold. I had a hell of a time getting the fuel rail and injectors to unseat from the intake and I had the head off and intake separated from the head. My injectors looked just like your, 30 years of grime. Probably why mine were so hard to remove.

I had to change angles like 10 different times pulling it out of there, pulling intake was definitely a last resort.

[MB07]

Next, to remove the fuel rail I removed the 4 bolts mounting it to the intake mani and remove the fuel lines from the FPR. I actually ended up removing the FPR all together to maneuver it better. Made sure to drain the fuel from the rail. For this I just tilted the rail and poured it down and old radiator hose into my catch pan.

Took quite a bit of maneuvering and was a bit of a pita but finally got it out.

Hats off to you for getting the fuel rail off without completely removing the intake manifold. I had a hell of a time getting the fuel rail and injectors to unseat from the intake and I had the head off and intake separated from the head. My injectors looked just like your, 30 years of grime. Probably why mine were so hard to remove.

[2mAn]

Its so great fixing little things... Im so jealous of your color. I need to repaint mine back to Cirrusblau so I can appreciate the color

[TheWipprSnappr]

Long time no update. Its been a long winter here in Missouri and I have gotten kinda lazy and have been procrastinating a lot of things. The car has had a small vacuum leak for awhile now but recently its been getting worse.

I narrowed it down to a cracked crankcase breather hose. So I ordered a new one and spent some time today installing it.

The culprit:


No wonder...


Ordered a new genuine bmw one


Cleaned out the ICV and TB while I had the parts removed.

All back together


I added some hose clamps to the ICV to TB hose. Probably not necessary but I feel like this thing has had vacuum leaks since the day I bought it due to one part or another so just didnt wanna take any chances.

Also before I installed the new breather hose, I did something I've been meaning to do for a while and check/replace the injectors.
Started by disconnecting the battery.

Then I unplugged the harness.


This plug is kinda tricky. Once you twist the plug off there is a plastic retainer on the bottom side of the bracket that needs to be twisted off as well.



With that unplugged, next I unplugged the brown and blue sensors. After that its a matter of popping the harness off the injectors. You have to be a bit firm, and it might feel like youre going to break something but they will eventually pop out.



Next, to remove the fuel rail I removed the 4 bolts mounting it to the intake mani and remove the fuel lines from the FPR. I actually ended up removing the FPR all together to maneuver it better. Made sure to drain the fuel from the rail. For this I just tilted the rail and poured it down and old radiator hose into my catch pan.

Took quite a bit of maneuvering and was a bit of a pita but finally got it out.


Old injectors were pretty bad.


Replaced them with m52 green tops (17 lb).


Everything back in including breather hose.


Took a couple seconds for fuel to get pumped back but once it fired up, dropped down to 700 rpm. It was idling at about 1100 rpm with surges up to 1400 rpm with the leak. I took it around the block a few times to let the ecu dial back in and let it sat in the garage running for about 5 minutes and the idle didnt budge from ~750 rpm. Very satisfying to hear it purr like this!


After fixing this I can already feel some motivation to get back to wrenching on it some more.

[TheWipprSnappr]

My wife came through clutch this Christmas! Got me this Genuine E30 M3 one-piece shift boot.

[TheWipprSnappr]

Not terrible. Just make sure to get all the bolts removed and then you'll need to pull the rear output flange off and then pry it apart evenly. Takes a little time since there are guide sleeves and the gears will be pressed into the bearings. This will be the second one I've done. I didn't get into a lot of detail here either: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=397418, but this one was an automatic and I'll be using the chain, gears and vc from it. There is a good write up somewhere, ill have to find it.
EDIT: found it https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=277134

[ThatM20Guy]

How difficult was it to pull apart the case? I will be doing that this summer...

[TheWipprSnappr]

Not much to update on the 325i, but I was able to tackle a project on the daily that its been needing for awhile.

The radiator has been leaking a bit for some time so I swapped it out with my spare that I had left over from swapping the z3m rad in. It actually looks uglier than the leaky one but function>form in this case.


Hard to tell where the leak is because the whole thing is wet but it was leaking out of the seam on the side.


I also pulled the overflow tank and gave it a much needing cleaning. This thing was full of sludge, it was disgusting. I read a trick online to use CLR, warm water, and ball bearings to shake around and pull the sludge off the inner walls. However, I didn't have any bb's so I just used hot water and some dish soap and it got most of it. Not perfect but 10x better than it was as you can tell by the pics.




Yes that is electrical tape holding my coolant level sensor together. New one in route.

Also started pulling apart my spare manual transfer case to get started on the rebuild to swap the iX to manual soon.

[TheWipprSnappr]

This week I swapped out my x5 shifter for the Ireland Engineering ssk. Wanted to try out something with a bit shorter throw to see how I like it. Pretty nice quality kit, and it is a bit shorter than the x5 as far as throw.


Only thing I didnt like about it was that it didnt have as much of an angle as i liked, so I ended up bending it back using the same technique I had with the x5 lever. Here is neutral out of the box:

Here is neutral after about 10 degrees of bend:

Here is a comparison of the ie ssk(after adding the bend), z3 1.9, and x5. Also posted in FAQ shifter thread.


Also I had been noticing a small leak coming from my exhaust and I remembered when installing the stromung that the flange gaskets were in bad shape.


Fired the car up after replacing and sure enough, exhaust leak was gone.

Lastly I removed the washer fluid reservoir since I don't ever use them and it was kind of an eye sore in the engine bay. Now all the bay needs is a thorough cleaning.

[alistairolsen]

It's amazing how much difference a decent solid bench and some storage makes!

[TheWipprSnappr]

My parents visited me in KC today so my dad could help me build my workbench. This should make working on things 10x more enjoyable now. Not to mention free up a bunch of space my parts were taking up.





Still need to put the finishing touches on it and a few other things but its finally in there!