The Blunderwagon - 89 325iX touring 3.1L stroker

[wworm]

I like this a lot

[jeenyus]

That's really close to how I have mine. I did retain the mounting point on the transfer case though and then a single 3" all the way back. This turned out great!

[kronus]

I had the exhaust back off to fix a couple leaks from my previous welding job. Decided to tackle the floor hole at the same time.

Floor hole:



Made a template and cut a patch:



It goes there.



Welded up (low voltage, low wire feed.. nice and slow)



Etched/primed:



Black painted:




I then sealed it with 3M rubberized undercoating and tossed the exhaust back on. It'll do for a season or two.

[kronus]

good news! it's a driver!

I got it registered and have been driving it back and forth to a race in sonoma the last few days.




bad news, I found a bunch more issues that were previously hard to find since it hadn't been over 15mph since I'd bought it.

- wind noise from driver's door
- bad driver's door hinge pin (part ordered)
- driver's door lock doesn't work from outside (rebuild kit ordered)
- trunk lock not connected to central locking system
- IOW I can't lock the car so I can't drive it anywhere and leave it
- motor mounts are shot (parts ordered)
- clunk from front left suspension on compression (needs to be looked at)
- oil leak, which is annoying since it was previously the least leaky car I owned
- some steering wheel vibration
- half the cluster doesn't light up half the time
- exhaust resonance at 2k
- headlights were not reaimed when the PO cut the front springs, are basically pointed at the ground
- rod knock above 4500, probably :(

time to write bimmerheads an email..

[D.Martijn]

Looks great so see it out in the wild instead of the shop. Although seeing that list it looks like it will see the shop some more..

[wworm]

good news! it's a driver!


- rod knock above 4500, probably :(

time to write bimmerheads an email..

:devil: :devil: :devil:

[AWDBOB]

I see you're using CAD to prepare your patch panels.

Man....a thought popped in my head today that went something like, "well, I can't daily a regular iX because of space, maybe an iX touring would be an acceptable replacement for my Subaru!"

And then I read this thread and immediately changed my mind. As always, great work. I'm glad to see this thing saved, and am excited to see where you go with it.

What are you thinking for the engine build? I very badly want to see a 2.9L with the 85mm IE 'ultimate' Mahles/135mm rods/M52b28 crank.

[kronus]

I haven't really figured out the build details yet. since it's a street car I don't really want a super crazy build I can't smog and struggle to keep gas in (and running), but some extra added power would be nice.

[kronus]

it was supposed to be a couple short hours in the shop this weekend doing brakes, but, the blunderwagon makes its own work.

done:
- installed rebuilt front calipers, new centric rotors, SS lines
- new clutch slave, soft line and hard line
- new fuel filter
- new motor mounts

short list, huh? of course, since this was the blunderwagon, this ended up being a 12 hour day and then 4 hours the following morning. all the brake hardware is rusted to hell. I twisted the front passenger hard line in half trying to loosen the fitting, and had to replace the entire hard line from the ABS unit to the wheel well. absolutely everything was rusted or botched in some horrible way.

being covered in brake fluid for hours at a time while up to the shoulders in an AWD engine bay with the motor lifted with a sketchy trans jack above my face is my idea of hell.

anyway. it works better now.

[jeenyus]

BUT, when it runs right and everything works you seem to forget how frustrating all the extraneous work was.

[2002tiiguy]

That suspension issue kinda sounds like how my car was when i got it, idk if youve already done it but check the upper spring perches, mine were collapsed and hitting the strut mount, didnt look bad when i picked up the car. They should look like a bowl, not flat

[kronus]

That suspension issue kinda sounds like how my car was when i got it, idk if youve already done it but check the upper spring perches, mine were collapsed and hitting the strut mount, didnt look bad when i picked up the car. They should look like a bowl, not flat

I had a go at tightening all the stuff involved in the driver's strut, and found nothing loose. Might be the balljoint


update:

drove it. parked it on streets.



got rod knock above 3500, part throttle, ratatatat. brought this home today:



..which is a bimmerheads 3.1 stroker, from a RWD car.

[wworm]

oooooohhhhh shit

are you also dailying a 318ti?

[2mAn]

got rod knock above 3500, part throttle, ratatatat. brought this home today:



..which is a bimmerheads 3.1 stroker, from a RWD car.

Did Eric already sell the motor in his car? :p JK

[jeenyus]

that block looks a little different than an IX block. The dipstick placement seems off... I'm sure that's less important, but will everything match up with the front diff?