Originally posted by dmanb2b
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Today was chock full of progress. First task of the morning was to replace the broken throttle cable, being this car is going together with a new driver in mind the potential for a hanging throttle can't be overlooked. Also went ahead and replaced all of the linkage pivot bushings and rubber grommets in the foot well so the throttle linkage feels buttery smooth.
Moving on the front suspension and steering rack were the big ones on todays list. The front control arms and tie rods all had play in each ball joint, the tie rods had been replaced before with some off brand (no markings) but the control arms were originals.
Balljoints just wasted.
With the engine bridge in place I lowered the subframe down as a unit, phew looks at those gaping holes where the engine mounts are supposed to fasten down!
While this is technically repairable I picked up a replacement subframe from a 325i that isn't torn or cracked to work with instead.
While the front suspension is down and out of the way I dropped the lower oil pan to inspect for loose bolts from the upper oil pan, and found two rolling around in the pan, with the remaining bolts loose. I removed them all, thoroughly cleaned with brake clean and reinstalled with loctite before cleaning and replacing the oil pan with a new gasket.
Here is my brand-used steering rack I picked up to replace the leaker that was on the car. This unit was clearly reman not too long before the parts car it was removed from met its maker. New Lemforder tierods installed.
Rack hanging, ready for the subframe to be installed.
New engine mounts as the old ones were quite sagged.
The 325i subframe got a quick blasting in the cabinet to prepare it for reinforcements. I went with Ireland Engineering's plate kit this time around (I've always used Garagistic before and man do I regret it. The IE kit fits like hammered dog shit, and it needed to be trimmed and modified considerably to make work. The Garagistic kit just fits and welds in no fuss and no wasted 30 minutes of my life. Highly recommend against the IE reinforcement kit.
Subframe back up in the car with new Lemforder control arms, bushings and sway bar links hung in place.
The bottlecaps on this car were chromed at one point, technically they still are, but the chrome has metal aids and is failing reaallllly reallllllyyyy bad.
I got to looking around for something to replace them with and a friend offering up some XXR 501's for free if I came and got them, well that's an easy decision!
Will order tires next week for the wheels and get them on the car.
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