New auction project: ‘87 325iS

[Conrad311]

Thanks, I’ll probably get the 3d printed ones anyway when they’re available. The originals are plastic and designed to snap on impact to save the valence from being destroyed. I did not rivet in a cross brace so these will collapse if I hit something.

these are the 3d printed versions:

[mike.bmw]

Nice work on those brackets. What are the originals made form? Plastic? (I've never seen a set of originals)

[Conrad311]

I also got sick of waiting for a reply from either of the guys 3d printing cow catcher brackets and decided to make my own again. I couldnt stand not having it on the car, and since I'm on break from college, why not. $20 in aluminum barstock at Home Depot and were off to the races. Made a template after glueing all the pieces i had into an almost whole and traced it.


Heated the bar with MAPP gas and bent in the vice with a hammer until it matched the drawing.

full set. They're not the prettiest but they'll do. I'll still propably buy a 3d printed PETG set. May need to make another one tomorrow, the first one was not nearly as good as the next 2, then i riveted, drilled and test fit.


Tomorrow I will powerwash the oil and dirt out of the cow catcher and epoxy the side bracket that pulled off and mount it up.

[Conrad311]

Not a ton of progress lately. I’ve been waiting for paperwork from the state before I can get it registered.
The main problem is that the vin tag is missing from the dash. It came with a swapped dash and I took the incorrect tag off, but I need to have a new one made. I’ve seen that BMW used to sell a kit with a new one but I couldn’t find it on realoem. Anybody have a part number or info on this? Hopefully I can get one made once I get my new title.

Anyhowfor some actual progress, I found a ton of water in the trunk and found the lid out of adjustment. I also parked uphill from then on but still got lots of water again. Turns out some former half-assed body work reared it’s ugly head and the drivers side trunk hinge spot weld had broken through and was funneling water into my trunk.

So I ground it out and filled the spot weld, and then welded the end of the hinge bracket to the sheet metal. Did the other side too as it had a rust blister on top of the spotweld too.

I ground it out and sprayed it with gloss black rustoleum. Looks fine for now. There will be a bunch of body and paint work in this cars future. I also found a big kink by the battery tray from an old rear end. Some ass hat decided not to fix that.

I also fixed my map light mirror. Someone ripped it out at some point and broke the wires off in the stem. Can’t get them out. Seems to be sealed in with something. So I rigged it with new wires out the back and heat shrinked them. Looks ok I guess.




Also got around to painting the needles in a spare cluster I had while I refurbish the original. I’ll be replacing batteries and capacitors on the SI board, adding black rings and red needles to that as well. Thinking of adding a voltmeter and oil pressure gauge.

(EDIT) I now see two issues, my gas gauge is not centered and I forgot to paint the econometer. Scheiße!

[benwalsh91]

not sure if you noticed or the route that you took, but i recently just came back from Austin/Houston and when i was driving between the two there is an early model black e30 coupe sitting in a field near the highway next to another white bmw may be an e36 but i was focusing on a)not crashing and b)staring at the e30.

[paynemw]

You need to tighten your rear shocks unless the rubber mounts are messed up. If you read through my thread, I dealt with the same thing. You can get E46 RSMs or you can get solid or poly mounts. The key is keeping them tight. If you buy a rear shock tower brace and the reinforcement plate you'll be fine.

[Conrad311]

Got some stuff done this week, I've been sick with the plauge i think.

Tuesday I went to Killeen and bought an 89 parts car, needed some wheels and tires while I repaint these Bayerns and get new tires on them. I made a parts thread in the for sale section.
I got some decent weaves with tires and swapped them on


meanwhile my wife started buffing on the trunk to see how well this paint will clean up. Might not look too bad. Really needs to be block sanded to 2000 then buffed out but not knowing anything about the paint, im hesitant to do that.



Also skid steers are sweet! Sold the sheet metal to another forum member from Dallas area.

[paynemw]

I'm in because I have the same car. Yours is MUCH cleaner than mine.

[Nowayman]

Rock that cowcatcher! you can get repro brackets for it, hopefully the long bar is there...

also some of your pics arent working

I just bought new side brackets for mine and the book it came with showed that they make a replacement bar as well. I’ll snap a pic of the book when I get home maybe it’ll help someone out.

[Conrad311]

Slow progress this week, went to the renaissance fair last weekend down near Houston with my wife and our friends, and must have caught the bubonic f-ing plague because I’ve been wrecked all week.

I did manage to get the stereo working, needs new speakers in the premium boxes though.

Got my new OEM oil cooler and installed it, I’ve been ripping it around giving it a few shake-down runs, and maybe a few donuts before I slap some new rubbers on

Tomorrow I will start welding up some new aluminum brackets for the cowcatcher. I’d love to get some of the 3D printed ones around here and be done but I have the stuff to make it and I like a challenge.

The only notable concerns are the RSMs. They’’re clunking like a bastard. I’’m really torn on what to get. I’’m weighing the ride comfort/ low cost of OE style against the maybe harsher ride/higher cost of something like the AKG poly mounts. What do you guys think on that? Does the added chassis stress of the rigid poly become a concern for the tower if a slip over reinforcement is used?

What do you guys use with bilsteins/ sport springs and are you happy?

This is a daily driver so I want it to be quiet and not getting a ton of road noise coming through the body. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[spiDmang]

Looks like you scored! Nice pick up

[Conrad311]

Well I drove to San Antonio to pull a few parts off a car down there, got an oil cooler, pulled the long hoses with it and when I took the lines off to flush it, the threads pulled right off the drivers side fitting, so it’s useless. Lol that’s what I get for being cheap. Ordered a new one, and some aluminum brazing rods to fix this one so I can resell it. Just got the title today so I can get the process started to get this thing on the road. Trying to decide on tires in 205/55r15, may go with some Nankang junk to get it rolling. $350 installed. I’ll probably be selling these Bayern’s and try to find some gold euro weaves like I had on my first car. Nostalgia and all. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[2mAn]

PM your phone number and I can text you dimensions. Mines sitting in the garage waiting for the cowcatcher to get painted

[Conrad311]

For sure keeping it stock! I love it! Euros are sweet and I’d swap if it wasn’t an is. But call me crazy, I dig the diving boards most days. The parts are all there, just no screws bolts or clips. Need to spend some time figuring out what I need. Also some of the brackets are busted so I’ll have to epoxy then together or fab up some new ones from aluminum bar stock I have kicking around. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[2mAn]

Rock that cowcatcher! you can get repro brackets for it, hopefully the long bar is there...

also some of your pics arent working