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

[paynemw]

That's the best way to save money. Buy parts cars. That one looks like it could be saved. Sell the shell to the SPECE30 guys!

[vtechnik]

Yep once I'm done pulling the parts I want / after getting some of my money back, I'll offer the shell and the remaining parts for free as long as whoever takes it tows.

Alrighty, so I started off the day heading down to my sisters house to work on her ford... again (smh new fords).

Got some good lighting for pics while I was there:





Before I went down there I took the mat off the eta. Once I got to my sisters place I cleaned all the dog hair off it.

Idk how a dash gets to be this bad lol. $50 obo ;D






Looks pretty good cleaned up and sure gives me a sense of security on hot days now.

Annnnd I'm already missing my parking space lol

[vtechnik]

Disappointment...

Alright I'm gonna keep it brief cause I'm still butthurt about what I found tonight :/

I knew when i bought the car that the tranny was knocked off the crossmember, I figured it was a combo of bad mounts and the crashes impact. What I didn't know is how bad it actually is.

Jacked up


Unbolted manifolds




Pulled exhaust and heat shield. exhaust is actually decent looking, if anyone's looking for an aftermarket eta exhaust


Fought off a few spiders and got the driveline out


Found this




And this



So looks like the driveshaft is f'd and the tranny backed into the end of the trans tunnel. the shifter rod bent the part that goes into the tranny and the brackets that hold the shifter plate on cracked off.

This is where I gave up for the night, I'm gonna do more research tomorrow to see what I can salvage from the driveline, and if the tranny's completely f'd. ughhh smh, back to part hunting I'm guessing.

[kid8]

Damn, sorry man that's definitely a low blow.

I'd check the shifter on the transmission to make sure it didn't get bent internally from the hit. Hopefully the weaker shift linkage gave way first.

Stay positive though, you can find more parts to do the swap still. Hopefully the transmission itself checks out and you'll just need to find a new driveshaft and linkage.

[vtechnik]

Damn, sorry man that's definitely a low blow.

I'd check the shifter on the transmission to make sure it didn't get bent internally from the hit. Hopefully the weaker shift linkage gave way first.

Stay positive though, you can find more parts to do the swap still. Hopefully the transmission itself checks out and you'll just need to find a new driveshaft and linkage.

Thanks for the supportive words, it's not the end of the world but it does really suck.

At this point I'm weighing my 3 options:

1. Pull the tranny and driveline from my 87 iS, and pull the 87 eta pedals. Then swap all the 5spd gear into Lacey, then m50 swap the 87 iS.

2. Separate the eta driveline and use the front piece with the rear of an automatic driveline, then balance the set. Then search for a cheap 325i/S tranny and then 5spd. Lacey.

3. Or forget 5spd. swaps for now and focus on getting the exterior and small things restored. Things I could do right now with my money would be: plastic bumpers, dent removed / painted, maybe new tires, fog lights, iS lip, sunroof seal, odo gears, resto plates, wheel center caps, emblems, undercoat rockers, and por15 trunk.

So it comes down to would I rather have a "restored" auto 325iS or would I rather have a manual 325iS that I can track this summer. I think I prefer the latter. I really want to get that list of stuff done soon but I can't afford to do both a 5spd. swap and paint right now. Decisions decisions...

Since I don't like posting anything without pics...

Today Bruner came down in his new $740 525i daily. We spent the day cleaning our extreme budget bimmers lol. Pretty mint for $740 imo.



EDIT: Anyone know if 87 325iS flywheels are single mass or dual?

[vtechnik]

Alright the plan is fully developed:

2/15 - Pull all the parts I want to keep or sell off the 87 eta. There's not much there worth keeping so it shouldn't take more than a day.

2/16 - Scrap eta. Front end looks severely bent, unless someone wants to come by and save a free e30, she's going early this weekend if not Friday.

2/17 - Roll 87 325iS into carport, this is guaranteed to take all day. Hasn't moved in at least a year or two :/

2/18 - Sunday's are for procrastinated homework lol

2/19 - Order everything I need for the swap. Waiting on Paypal to release my ebay funds Here's the build list:





Anything missing?

2/20-21 - pull 87 325iS tranny and driveline.

2/22 - install pedal box into Lacey

2/23 - clean tranny, driveline and other associated parts, pull auto tranny from the 88 325iS

2/24-25 - 5spd. swap!

It's definitely a challenge don't get me wrong but I'm going to give it a valiant effort. I am soooo tired of laggy and indecisively sporadic auto shifts.

If anyone has any tricks to get the exhaust out of the way, I'm all ears.

[bruner]

Sounds like a solid plan bro. I think its do-able if you get your ass in gear. Ayyyyy that's a good lookin Schwarz II e34 ;D

[TFJR]

Nice meeting you on Tuesday, Ben! Good luck with the 5 speed swap.

[vtechnik]

Sounds like a solid plan bro. I think its do-able if you get your ass in gear. Ayyyyy that's a good lookin Schwarz II e34 ;D

Nice meeting you on Tuesday, Ben! Good luck with the 5 speed swap.

Thanks Toby! I definitely have quite a bit of work ahead of me, one step at a time though.

[B0RN318]

Love the progress!

[TFJR]

Any updates?

[vtechnik]

Any updates?

I wish I had exciting news. Basically its a little bit of everything thats holding me back right now. I'm stuck in a rut and I dont really have the means right now to get going again. The combo of snow and bad tranny discouraged me from working on the 5 spd. swap badly. I convinced myself that i dont want to tear apart my 87iS just for the 5 spd. swap. I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on the $500 5 spd. swap set thats selling locally but even if I did buy the set I still have a lot of school work going on with finals coming up. I'm not sure what I'm going to do as of now. I'm kind of just weighing my options again but something will be decided soon.

[vtechnik]

minor update, aka the slow moving build is now moving even slower

Alright so this is more of a personal update for time logging purposes. It's also more or less a spew of what my car plans are for the next couple months.

In terms of the 5spd. swap everything kind of hit me at once, snow, dumb parts car, lack of funds, jobless and school finals.

snow pic:


So I took a step back regathered my thoughts and started working out all the problems

The snow melted, I'm making money back on my parts car, I got a job, and I'm finishing my finals this week.

I got a job at my local Infiniti, (because BMW didn't want me apparently ) it's pretty cool job so far. Every once and a while I get to drive the BMW's in stock. The real bonus of the job is washing your car after work in the wash bay.









I make sure they know where my loyalty stands when... ;D



Btw if someone has the matching driver floor mat i have cash in hand.

Now it's time for me to attack the 5spd. swap from a different angle. Like most my other car projects, this is where I'd give up and sell the car for something else but not this time. I'm sticking with my New Years plan. After thinking it over, my best option is to buy another daily. My friend and I tracked down the new owner of my old honda. After I get paid this week I'm planning on making an offer to get the car back. Then the plan from there is to buy a full 5spd. swap locally for most likely a premium so i don't have to deal with anymore parts cars for a while.

Thennn I'll take my sweet time doing the 5 spd. swap right instead of rushing it and cutting corners. That's it for the update, not much I know. Posting here gets me motivated to make more progress on my projects though.

[vtechnik]

New Stance Incoming

Alright so I made a trip down to Portland yesterday that was well worth it.

I scooped these up...





A pretty baller set if I do say so myself

They're called "Ultra Lights"? They're made in Japan. That's all I know. If anyone knows more info enlighten me. They're 15x6 et35 and wrapped in some pretty decent 205/50's.

These will be mounted on Lacey, but due to their high offset they're going to need spacers. Tomorrow I'm going to figure out how much of a spacer they'll need by measuring my basketweaves then doing the math to convert it to the new wheels.

I'm pretty excited though, here's some teaser pics










The fronts are definitely going to need e90 drop hats soon, and I could really use a rep iS lip

The plan is to get a motorsport hardware stud kit, XXmm spacers, and e90 drop hats. I think the stance will be perfect for what I want.

[vtechnik]

Oh and for documentation purposes, new brake light switch, wipers and basketweave caps. Still need a 4th!! :hitler: