Need help on deciding what mods to do

[CalE30]

Hey Guys,

Just looking for a little advice/convincing about what mods I should do sooner rather than later.

Bit of background on this 1990 325i. I have replaced all the bushings, the car came with I think Koni spings/struts, it has some old BBS RV205's on it (Paint is peeling off pretty badly :( ) and everything else is pretty much stock. Almost everything works and the interior is in great shape still (No cracks in the dash 8-)).

So I guess my question is what mods should I be shooting for next. One of these days I would love to do an S5X swap in it but that is going to be a bit down the road. My ideas for the nearish future are subframe reinforcements, BBK, strut bars, Smileys for better lighting/looks, a z3 steering rack (may do that with the swap since engine will already be out), and a decent set of coil overs. Anything else I should consider a worthwhile upgrade? Trying to decide on what to buy next.


Any input would be helpful. I'm in the mood to buy haha.
Thanks guys

[Mwishlist]

It really depends on what you want out of the car; looks, performance, a bit of both? Daily driver, summer cruiser, autox car?

When I bought my 1990 I pretty much knew I was going to do a swap of some sort, most likely S50/52. It was very stock and the paint was in pretty good shape, so here is what I did in this order:
1. Brakes - went through the whole system for safety sake
2. Wheels - My wife hated the bottle caps even more than I did, so they had to go.
3. Suspension - total OEM refresh of bushings, tie rods, control arms etc. front and back and Ground Control coilovers

At this point the car looked good and handled and stopped great and I felt confident that whatever I swapped into the car, it would be able to handle it without me ending up in a ditch.

I too did the steering rack with the engine swap. It makes it sooooo easy. But the steering rack is a great great upgrade.

My advice is to map out everything you want to do long term (as much as you can) so as you start making mods and upgrades, you aren't wasting money or doubling your efforts on certain things. I bought a Miller Maf for my M20 and like a month later found an S52 to swap, so that was just a waste of money.

[Reichart12]

Ground control normally does a decent sale for coilovers around Black Friday. I would save up/wait for that to be my first big thing. Also personally, for handling I think upgrading my front sway bar made a huge difference and really increased the enjoyment from driving I got.

And my vote is for new wheels too but e30s with aftermarket wheels without being lowered look funny.

[CalE30]

Thanks for the input. It is actually on lowering springs right now but new wheels would be nice. Honestly im just trying to make it into a well built fun street car that I can daily drive most of the time. I have my truck also so if it needs to go in the garage for work no big deal. I think my next mods are going to be more suspension refreshing and a big brake kit would be really nice to have. Do you think it's better to just keep the OEM control arms and do new joints/bushing or replace those with something newer? Also what do you guys think of the BBK from UUC?

Thanks again for the advice, this is my first car I will be somewhat moderately modifying. I would love to do an s52 or s54 sometime soon but I don't think they are in the budget right now haha. S54 seems quite a bit more effort also but man do they sound good. Plus the extra HP

[ELVA164]

You should take care of things like the timing belt/water pump, brake fluid flush, and oil changes if you haven't done those yet.

Honestly, spend some time north of 4krpm and see if you still think you need to swap the engine. I personally think it's plenty fast to have fun with on the road, and I have a little background in going fast.

[CalE30]

Yea I have done all the maintenance items that need addressing, including a leaking head gasket unfortunately. I agree that the car is fast enough to have fun which is why I'm not planning on swapping until I do everything else lol. I do want to swap someday in the future though especially since the s52 swap has been so well documented seems easy enough for me to do.

[superj]

Suspension and wheels are always numero uno for me.

[Mwishlist]

Since it's a vert and I am not tracking it, I went all OEM on the bushings and for a daily, it's great. I am wishing I had put some sort of poly in the rear subframe to tame the rear end a bit, but other than that I am fine with the OEM rubber.

[Mpolito3355]

Are you looking for more power or control or what ???

and the brakes are much capable of stopping the car with how the car is sitting now. once you get into the bigger HP ranges or plan to thats when i would look into big brakes. Honestly if it was my car i would make sure the things i touch the most i was comfortable with EX: Shifter, steering wheel, interior.

also any pics ???