BMW e30 325i

[dylan8]

nice work Ben!

[Ben J]

cheers boys. have done much more today, but way to intoxicated to update right now ahaha. Happy new years all!

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[Ben J]

Seems I got a bit carried away and skipped photos of a lot, theres a very large chunk of work missing (probably the most time consuming part of the standalone converision) but I made a complete new wiring harness, all covered in Raychem dr-25 and tucked away neatly.

Then wired up some relays and mounted the ecu and some fuses.



Bonnet back on, going for a few quick laps around the block to see if everything works. Fired up first try and even on the base tune for a different motor I got from a mate, pulled so nice


Put more of the front on and some interior and took it for its first proper drive last night to the euro meet. Didn't miss a beat. Had it plugged into the laptop, datalogging, and played with the tune a bit on the way there and back. Is driving very nicely! Still a few things to tweak, like cold idle and such, and no doubt can get more power out of it, but I'm still a very happy boy.

So after taking it out for the first time in months, I put it straight back in the shed and decided to get stuck into the suspension. Really hoping to make halfway hangs, which is quickly approaching, so am getting stuck in.

Now, I have a lot more stuff to do in the rear, you'll see in time, but I don't have time to get it done before halfway hangs, so I'm just throwing the coilovers in for now.

Out with the old (already had koni adjustable sport shocks which was a surprise, would be happy to sell them if anyone wants them )


In with the new. This ground control stuff is great stuff. They basically put a kit togethor with eibach springs in whatever spring rate you like, with koni adjustable shocks valved to match the springs. Then some nice adjusters and such, and some beautiful billet shock mounts.




Also got this out to start work on the front suspension

[team_v]

Awesome work Ben.
Good to see the ECU worked first time and the mods are being done in house.

[Ben J]

Cheers Clay. Yeah it is so much more rewarding to do things yourself, hard to describe the feeling of seeing it all come togethor and work.

So, hungover as **** I got stuck back into it today.

The car was leaking oil pretty bad (or had a lot of horsepower sweat), so while the subframe was off I decided to drop the sump and replace the gasket. Was quite a **** to get off, a few very hard to reach bolts happened to have nicely rounded heads and had to be carefully cut off with the dremel... Once it did finally come off though it was all good news, was pretty clean in there which is a good sign that the engine is healthy, and the old gasket was ****ed (and most bolts were literally only finger tight) so hopefully the oil leak was just from this gasket, and not the rear main seal, which would not be as much fun to change.

Cleaned the sump up


Stuck it back on with some sealant, put in a new magnetic drain plug, BMW oil filter and fresh oil (which was well and truly overdue)


Then got back to the suspension. Stripped the subframe and everything attached to it down and pulled off the front hubs/wheel bearings. The old bearings were fubar.


Then I pulled the springs/shocks out, and cut off the old spring perches (plus while I was at it gave myself a nice cut through the thumbnail, deep into the thumb. Fun stuff.)


Old engine mounts are pretty shagged


Brakes were pretty filthy. Cleaned them up and gave them some paint.



Couldn't do much more as far as putting things back togethor yet, as I still need to reinforce the subframe, and am waiting on more welding gas and want to sandblast the subframe before I weld it up anyway


Also cut out the old rubber steering guibo, and cut out the rivets for it. Need some bolts before I can finish this.


Gave the steering rack a quick clean, but still wasn't happy with it, so gave it a quick lick of paint aswell


New full tie rods, locking plates, boots and clamps fitted

[Jarred]

good work Ben.

this will be well sorted by the time you're done with it!

[Ben J]

More suspension work

Cut/ground off the brackets for brake related wiring (removed the wires long ago)


Replaced the rubber steering guibo with aluminium


Removed 1.5" from the strut housings


Tack welded up with magnets and old shock in to ensure its perfectly straight


Tig welding


Welds ground down


New spring perches welded on


Etch primered and painted red (let the lady friend pick the colour)


Subframe reinforced around the engine mount area, as they are known to break with hard driving, especially with stiffer engine mounts. Sand blasted and painted.


Steering rack and linkage fitted, along with new turner motorsports engine mounts/buckets


Ground control stickers stuck


Brake dust shield things painted and put back on, new wheelbearing/hub assemblys fitted, and the shock, coilover adjuster sleeve, spring, camber/caster plates fitted.


Brakes back on


New control arms, with UUC swaybar hardware


Offset solid M3 control arm bushings in new lollipops

[Jarred]

Do ALL the work!

Well done.

(makes me look like a slackass!)

[Ben J]

Haha cheers Jarred. Got it all back in the car yesterday, more photos when I get time. Going to have to put some late nights in this week to get this ready for the road trip to halfway hangs on Thursday!

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[Ben J]

Well been a while since an update, have been insanely busy, havent had a spare second in ages (too much hanging halfway, whitsundays holidays and a few days of work inbetween )

Got a bit slack with photos, as was in a mad rush to get everything ready for halfway hangs. Basically put all the suspension back in. Everything in the front bar the subframe and steering rack (which still got cleaned up, reinforced and painted), down to the bolts and washers, is brand new.

The camber/caster plates from the top


UUC Swaybarvarian front sway bar and hardware. Overall this was a very nice kit, the sway bar, endlinks, bushings, and reinforcements are all top notch. The only complaint I have is probably a pretty petty one, but it uses imperial hardware and the instructions give unrealistic torque figures, which is a real pain when you snap a bolt trying to tourqe it to "spec" and only have metric spares...



Everything back in


Didn't go overly low (4wd height compared to my past cars even), but certainly sits a lot nicer than it did before


Got it aligned (with some pretty aggressive specs, considering I don't have to daily this anymore I got it set up for more serious driving ) and it feels great to drive. Can't wait until I give the rear the same treatment.

Gave the car a quick wash and tidy up, tidied up some wiring, put the front end back on properly etc, all the little things to get the car somewhat driveable/presentable and drove it down to halfway hangs (which was quite possibly the greatest long weekend ever)


Played with the tune a bit on the highway on the way down, made it worse haha. Stu gave me a hand down there though and it's now on a beast tune. Feels great to drive, pulls so nice now!