Good morning/afternoon/evening, depending on when you are reading this. I finally decided to start a build thread on my current project, and first BMW build. The star of this series is a 1987 BMW 325i silver on black that I bought on an impulse after my friend found it on Craigslist in his area. The car was mostly all original with 500k miles on the clock, though you wouldn't know it by looking at nor by wrenching on it. They really don't build cars like they used to.
A little about myself, I am a Superintendent for a construction management firm by day, but have always been a gear head since I was a kid. My dad used to restore C3 Corvettes and other misc cars and I have followed in his footsteps. I always like a good project and try to build interesting fun cars. This will be my first real BMW, I had a 04 MCS at one point, but I have always been fond of the older BMWs especially the old E9s and 2002s.
At the time of this impulse buy I was on the hunt for a cheap project car that I could turn into a fun all around performance car. I wanted something I could drive around town, take on short weekend trips with the girlfriend and dogs, but also that I could take to the occasional track day or autocross or carve up some mountains. With a $500 price tag, this BMW sedan was a car had the potential to check all of these boxes.
When I bought the car, I knew it was high mileage, 500k as mentioned before, and the engine ran but had a bad knock. I wasn't too concerned about these flaws and only expected as much with a $500 price tag. What drew me to the car was that it was a two owner car and the first owner had it most of its life and kept it garaged and well maintained. The body and bones of the car were in very good condition and not rusted out as you will usually find on the mid-atlantic area.
Since the car didn't really run I had it towed to my place. It arrived at my front door like this.
My plans for the car was to really cut my teeth on a full top to bottom build. I have have never done a full gut and rebuild on a car before but had always wanted to. I wanted to make a light, fun, well handling car that I could mainly street drive and use for occasional track days. I battled with the idea of doing a crazy off the wall build. For the engine I tossed around the idea of several common motor swaps; S50, S52, M60, LS, M50 or a M20B27 stroker. Aside from the engine my plan was to upgrade all of the suspension, bushings, possible 5 lug swap, add some rigidity, upgrade the brakes a little, add a LSD and put some decent rubber on it. I also looked into stripping the interior, adding a cage and going full race style. However, in the end most of the crazy ideas didn't fit my original goal of the build. The car was also almost too nice to turn into a pure race car that was going to be beat on. Therefore, I decided to do a restomod. I would restore and upgrade along the way trying to keep it relatively period correct but also improve it where possible. Sorry for the long intro, I hope you enjoy following the build.
A little about myself, I am a Superintendent for a construction management firm by day, but have always been a gear head since I was a kid. My dad used to restore C3 Corvettes and other misc cars and I have followed in his footsteps. I always like a good project and try to build interesting fun cars. This will be my first real BMW, I had a 04 MCS at one point, but I have always been fond of the older BMWs especially the old E9s and 2002s.
At the time of this impulse buy I was on the hunt for a cheap project car that I could turn into a fun all around performance car. I wanted something I could drive around town, take on short weekend trips with the girlfriend and dogs, but also that I could take to the occasional track day or autocross or carve up some mountains. With a $500 price tag, this BMW sedan was a car had the potential to check all of these boxes.
When I bought the car, I knew it was high mileage, 500k as mentioned before, and the engine ran but had a bad knock. I wasn't too concerned about these flaws and only expected as much with a $500 price tag. What drew me to the car was that it was a two owner car and the first owner had it most of its life and kept it garaged and well maintained. The body and bones of the car were in very good condition and not rusted out as you will usually find on the mid-atlantic area.
Since the car didn't really run I had it towed to my place. It arrived at my front door like this.
My plans for the car was to really cut my teeth on a full top to bottom build. I have have never done a full gut and rebuild on a car before but had always wanted to. I wanted to make a light, fun, well handling car that I could mainly street drive and use for occasional track days. I battled with the idea of doing a crazy off the wall build. For the engine I tossed around the idea of several common motor swaps; S50, S52, M60, LS, M50 or a M20B27 stroker. Aside from the engine my plan was to upgrade all of the suspension, bushings, possible 5 lug swap, add some rigidity, upgrade the brakes a little, add a LSD and put some decent rubber on it. I also looked into stripping the interior, adding a cage and going full race style. However, in the end most of the crazy ideas didn't fit my original goal of the build. The car was also almost too nice to turn into a pure race car that was going to be beat on. Therefore, I decided to do a restomod. I would restore and upgrade along the way trying to keep it relatively period correct but also improve it where possible. Sorry for the long intro, I hope you enjoy following the build.