Lacey, the Lachssilber 325iS - oem+ 5spd. swap daily driver build

[vtechnik]

Sneak peek of what's to come too :D

[325isman]

Car

Great find. I will check later to see progress.

[vtechnik]

Just pulled out the driver trunk interior panel to show pics of the inside as promised, looks pretty bad from the inside :/





couldn't really get a good angle with the antenna motor in the way.

anyone know what this hose is, where's it going, and where it's coming from?

[kid8]

That hose should go to the little black flap there in the jack well near your wrist in the last picture. Its for the sunroof drains if I'm not mistaken. You have one on both sides.

[vtechnik]

Ahh gotcha, yep that's where it goes. Thanks

[alistairolsen]

Looking good so far!

[vtechnik]

After I had Lacey for 2 weeks and felt comfortable reliably driving her I spent a little time on the weekend to road trip to some fellow e30 enthusiasts in Bellingham.

First I met up with Bruner and the killer project he's been working on recently...





Then we headed over to a local friend to meet up and finish some work Bruner was doing. Got a solid opportunity to compare prefacelift and postfacelift aswell. Not hating or anything but.. :late:







Almost identical down to the plate frame, just one year apart. Oh and his has an M30b35 swap, yeah i'm jealous. What a fun car to ride in though. I'm not sure what his r3v name is, but I'll post here when I find out. Sorry for not taking pics of the engine bay but look for the car at the picnic, it'll more than likely be next to mine.



And on the way home I picked up a set of these and mounted rubber...



Shortly after that I found that stock height just isn't going to cut it anymore, yikes.



Cringeworthy amount of wheel gap lol



Didn't stop me from practicing my stance photography though

[vtechnik]

After being fed up with wheel gap and feeling like a fitment noob I got to work crossing things off the build list. Sticking to the original plan, H&R's and billy's is the way for me. Lacey already had a set of Bilstein's on the car and I had a set of race H&R's sitting around from one of my last e30s; so this combo was the cheapest option and the best combo for my goals. I didn't take nearly enough pictures as I would've liked to but it's just so hard to stop and document when you're having so much fun

Note: If I were to do it again I would've definitely done the timing belt first because I'm not sure of the history of the motor and the waterpump is leaking pretty bad now. Ik ik, cardinal rule of m20s is "Do that timing belt!" but the lowered lyfe was more important to me in the moment. Timing belt, waterpump and an engine tune up is on the immediate horizon though so fret not.

Without further ado

What I was working with:


Parts List
- Control Arms
- Tie rods
- CA bushings
- Sway bar links
- Rear strut mount bushings (not in pic)
- Newish front strut mount bushings (not in pic)
- Rotors
- Pads
- Sensors
- Rear strut bar (not in pic)
- Race H&R's (fronts not in pic)
- Braided brake lines

Out with the old.







Overall some stuff was still in good condition and some stuff was whooped. New is always nice in my book

Ooooo glossy! :p





Probably what was causing pads to wear unevenly
polished all them up really well and added lube, I don't think Bentley advises lube but it felt so right so I did it lol



After that I took the strut assemblies and ca bushings w/ mounts down to the shop I used to work at. I swapped the springs over, pressed in the new bushings with the help of my old coworker (s/o to Rob) and from there it was reassembly. 2 tubes of locktite and 2 packets of grease later,

Offfiiiiciallly....

[vtechnik]

Modified. :devil:





AND.. touchdown



Dirty after operation


Much better





Better stance pics and alignment specs to come

Final thoughts: Love the grippy feel to it, comfortable enough to daily, perfect for my goals :up:

Things I wish I would've done while I was here.. (on a college student budget but these would've been nice to do while i was there)
- Subframe bushings, really not looking forward to dropping the subframe to get rid of the drivers side clunk
- E46 rack, duh.
- wheel bearings, mine are fine but preventative maintenance would've been nice

Anyway hope you guys are enjoying the updates, next major maintenance is onto the engine.

[bruner]

Ayyyy thanks for the s/o! Way to get her done! She's coming along nicely. Also you should slap some paint on that rear strut tower bar.

[vtechnik]

Ayyyy thanks for the s/o! Way to get her done! She's coming along nicely. Also you should slap some paint on that rear strut tower bar.

Thanks man. Aztec green pearl? lolol, still not 100% sure I'm gonna keep it. I'll put some silver paint on it once I get to cleaning out the trunk / fixing the seals next week

[vtechnik]

The hype is real..

[ScottSneed]

Looks good so far! Ahh, and I dig your Civic man! Miss my ej coupe, don't miss peeking out the window all the time to watch for thieves

[vtechnik]

Looks good so far! Ahh, and I dig your Civic man! Miss my ej coupe, don't miss peeking out the window all the time to watch for thieves

Thanks Scott! Yeah I know that feeling too well. I told the guy I sold it to that if he ever wants to sell it let me know. He just contacted me a week ago saying someone broke into it and now it won't run. He offered to sell it to me for half of what I sold it to him for. I couldn't find the funds in time but I'm preoccupied with Lacey anyway.

Also now that I'm on the subject. On Friday, for the first time ever I pulled over on the freeway and not because my car was broken :D I was driving to school when a yellow blob appeared on the shoulder. I was running late as is so I had to pass it up but once I got out of class I got on the freeway and headed back for it. What is it? A Carnival Yellow EG hatch aka: my second place dream car, under my E30 ;) (Ik a civic as my dream car, don't hate. I will own a carnival SiR someday). Anyway I had to pull over to take pics of my two favorite cars next to each other. Later on I ran the vin and it turns out it was a white cx at some point but it still made my day

[vtechnik]

Pretty much the last quick update till I'm fully caught up to date. I went down to the local BMW dealership to finally reset the radio code. music makes dailying Lacey so much more pleasant. The premium BMW sound system is still in perfect condition luckily.



I have a small problem which I don't think is easily fixable but I'm going to ask anyway. When I first start my car and the radio deck is cold, the volume knob is super sensitive. If I touch it to turn the music down or up I get a static that is blisteringly loud. Once the deck is warmed up the knob is normal and all static disappears. I assume its just the volume contacts breaking connection due to the connections being cold. Then when the deck warms up the connections expand and reach full contact? I guess my question is, has anyone had a similar problem and a simple fix? If I have to disassemble the radio and resolder the volume connections I'll put it on the bottom of the to do list but if something as simple as a washer can fix it then I'd like to know. Thanks

(Oh and aftermarket deck is not a "fix"... OEM or DIE! :hitler:)

Then my birthday came around and I got the ultimate 80's styled BMW cruising starter kit:

(sorry for low quality pics)

80's watch? *check*



Assortment of 70's and 80's cassettes? *check*



Cop wannabe shades? *check*



BMW dad hat? *check*



Baller ///M jacket? *check*



And for kicks and giggles my parents got me a coloring book because I like to draw cars



and cause you guys might ask...



Waiiiit..... bottle caps?? :rippedoff: