HST's Project: Black Widow

[RobertK]

For the past month HST has had this beast in my driveway feverishly working each weekend and sometimes after work to prep his beast for the Southeast Fall Rally this year. We have nicknames this beast the Black Widow because we actually found a Black Widow spider nest in the right rear brake caliper. You will notice a black and red theme throughout the car as we build it up.

His car is a 1989 325i Schwarz Coupe w/ 221k on the chasis. The engine has been completely refreshed and the auto drivetrain completely swap for a 5 speed as well TONS of extra mods and aftermarket parts.

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Josh



Josh.. again



My brother Preston.. installing the 5spd pedal..mmm



Stuff



Extra wires and stuff..



Refreshed M20B25 goodness..



Refreshed Getrag 260 goodness (w/ custom ssk)



The Black Widow (minus guts)



Some of those guts.. in a Firehouse pickle bucket



Replacement 3.73 LSD



Plush interior



The M20 wants to go back to its home..



Josh says... "Not till I fix danger to teh manifold"



Nice happy diff..



Preston say "WTF, this engine is hangin' from iz headerz n' shit"



Josh installs the clutch master cylinder..



Tranny mounted.. almost ready for install.

[e30nub]

werd

[RobertK]

Modified steering knuckle ready to go for E36 steering rack swap..



Mmmm.. Beer and cheap oil



Josh does not agree with the current interior seat situation..



Nor does he give a shit about my yard..



Subframe and AKG urethane motor mounts good to go..



Getting late..



Engine install waits another day..



Next day.. Subframe drop.. YAY!



Old diff was busted at the driveshaft u-joint due to a transmission lock up..



So empty..



Engine installed!



More installation goodness..



"Look Robert.. the subframe is my cock.. get it"



Subframe bushing removal via fire wrench..



Once they are hot they pop right out..



and so do the trailing arm bushings.

[VAPORBLADE]

Nice!

[RobertK]

Preping the trailing arm bushing for removal



Preston cleaning out the trailing arm bushing holes..



TAB holes clean..



My beautiful head



LOL.. get it.. Black Widow..



Not an actual Black Widow but a real life simulation.



Transmission mounted..



Interior trashed.. (check)



Garage trashed.. (check)



Tires trashed.. (check)



Wire harness trashed.. (check) This is what happens when you hook the ground wires to the hot wire accidentally.



Damn raccoons..



Had to dig a little deeper to repair the harness..



My cats r gay



SO... It turns out the heater hose connect to the rear of the head is bad.. fun fun



And the water pump is trashed..



Not now M50.. your day of reckoning will come soon.. :evil:



Water pump redemption (thanks to Advance Auto)

[RobertK]

My E30 brings all the tards to the yard..



Harness fixt!



Water pump and heater hose.. water tight!



Engine started... idles GREAT and watch those new headers change color.



Serious business..



Time to install the refreshed subframe.



Trailing arms and half shafts reinstalled



Preping subframe for reinstall.



Subframe ready to go..



Onto the glorious jack..



Up she goes..



So far no problems..



Subframe job complete.



Onto the front struts..



Which apparently have dead shock inserts..



Josh installing his new SS brake lines..



Dead shock insert problem has been rectified. (with Bilstein Sports & IE Stage 3s)



Pressing in the new offest urethane bushing into the eyeball arms.



CAB bushing install.. easy as pie.



Rear Bilstein Sports, IE Stage 3 Springs, and ATE Premium One Rotors installed!



More to come in the next few days!

[kid325e]

subscribed. dope build.

[Zyth01]

Definitely excited to see this one done :)

[Mtriple]

I love these kind of threads where the pictures do the talking.

[deathtomine]

nice work doin it right. That's going to be glorious when complete.

[alpinaclone]

Going right through it. Nice work, and the red accents look sharp.

[evil_twin]

Great work! I plan on doing the subframe and rtab bushings soon :)

[dude8383]

looks like fun! its nice to have 3 people working on the car... i had to install my subframe on my own on saturday, what a massive bitch that was!

[slo325i]

Subscribed!!!! Good stuff

[Dragowl]

also subscribing...nice to have help with a project though.