'94 530iT Project

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Shipman

Damn dude that sucks

Yeah, man. My old valance wasn't perfect and I was planning on grabbing 'i' fenders anyway, so I'm not out too much besides a new pair of foglights . However, I have freshly painted bumpers waiting to go on, and I'm incredibly thankful this happened before I threw them on.

Originally Posted by Got Insulin?

Needs more 4G63....


Cool project though, and decent resto candidate, too. Don't see many of the AWDs running around.


Bronze wheels on the Red/ thread.

There is never enough 4g63....or 4g64 for that matter

I'm glad I have another vote on the bronze. They'll make the Zinnoberrot pop, whilst still looking classy AF.

It's definitely a neat experience for me at the very least, as I've never got into body work/rust repair before, and this is providing me the chance, as time consuming as it is.

[blue91lx]

Listen to that straight six scream!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nTpgV6BZ70

[blue91lx]

They're so pretty!

[Jacob]

I'm looking forward to see where this build goes, I'm a real sucker for the E30. I'd love to get into one someday.

[justinlansdale]

Sell me this! ;)

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Jacob

I'm looking forward to see where this build goes, I'm a real sucker for the E30. I'd love to get into one someday.

They're an awesome platform for pretty much any type of build, so I'd say go for it, man.

Originally Posted by justinlansdale

Sell me this! ;)

Hey, you can't have all the cool Bimmers!



Oh, and here's some shortened housings! Done by JMFab, and like always, the work is great.

[blue91lx]

I suppose I should reveal my secret.

[Shipman]

Yay woo!

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Shipman

Yay woo!

I'm stoked for warmth and progress.

Some fitment angles. It's gonna get a hefty roll/pull so I can still fit a phat tire.

[blue91lx]

Alright, gents, going to be ordering some tires here soon for the new wheels. I'm going with a 205/50 to sit nice and square on the 15x7. The car is my DD, so I'm going for a perf. tire that does well in the rain as well.

If you have any input (or have ran any of these tires) feel free to let me know what you liked/disliked. They're both around the same price range, and have pretty similar specs (speed rating, etc).

1) Dunlop Direzza ZII (the new Star Specs) - Great dry traction, with surprisingly high rated wet traction as well.
2) Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 R - Great dry and wet traction (possibly a tad better than the Dunlop), but slightly shorter tread life.

[blue91lx]

Picked up another iX tonight! This one is a manual sedan.

The car is pretty dang solid mechanically. Just had a new trans put in, VC passed the jack test, all axles have newer boots, strut housings were recently replaced, newer starter, newer alternator, rear Bilsteins, some sweet little Borbets, and heated seats!

[Shipman]

Dude, let me get that one.

[jesse096]

KEep the auto as the daily and the manual as the weekend beater/track day car? Or swapping the manual into your chassis now and using the other as a parts car?

Always a sucker for E30's, looking good man!

-Jesse

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Shipman

Dude, let me get that one.

I will most likely be fixing it up a bit and selling it, when the time comes I'll let you know, man.

Originally Posted by jesse096

KEep the auto as the daily and the manual as the weekend beater/track day car? Or swapping the manual into your chassis now and using the other as a parts car?

Always a sucker for E30's, looking good man!

-Jesse

Taking the manual from the sedan, and putting it in my coupe! Then putting my fresh auto in the sedan and fixing it up.

If I didn't have the Evo as a track car, I'd be all about keeping one for track days and autox. These platforms handle great with very few upgrades.

Thanks, mang! Hoping to get my body parts back from the body shop and my front coil overs on so the coupe can start looking the way it should.

I'm still chasing a random wiring issue (caused by retard prev owner), in that the radio and tachometer only work when the lights are on, and they didn't even tap into the light switch. It's a mess.

[blue91lx]

Started digging into the new iX tonight. Got the trans setup out, and did a better test on the VC, and it's very tight. I also confirmed that the differentials were 3.91s, which was very relieving. Going to order subframe bushings, trailing arm bushings, and a bushing for the rear diff to tighten up the rear of the car.



Got a bit of a game plan as well. Going to pull the parts car motor, and build a 2.8L using I pistons, e rods, and an m52 crank. Once that's finished, I will drop the motor in the same time as the manual swap. Coilovers and wheels should be on shortly.

I'm getting excited about getting going on this stuff. I foresee a s300sx in the future.

[blue91lx]

Front of the car disassembled and getting ready for the part out. Strut housings and front axles are mint, which was a nice plus.

Sending my intake manifold out to Curt Brown so he can work his magic on it.

Hopefully picking up the M52B28 crank and E rods this week. Once some parts are sold I'll send the block and head to the machine shop. Going to deck the block 0.5mm, use a BMW HG, and hopefully that will put me around 9.8:1, which should work nice with the Bimmerheads 274 cam.

It was pleasant to see a brand new clutch in there. One less thing I'll have to buy.

Is it imperative that I get HD rockers, or can I just use my stockers?

[jesse096]

Honestly, if your semi building the engine, I'd get the HD ones, just incase you want to add forced induction later on down the road...

-Jesse

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by jesse096

Honestly, if your semi building the engine, I'd get the HD ones, just incase you want to add forced induction later on down the road...

-Jesse

It's a good thought. I also read that on the M20 you don't want to reuse rockers when changing the cam. I think that's a little excessive, but these rockers are apparently quite weak, which is pushing me towards replacing them.

[jesse096]

I mean your already in there and have to take them apart anyway, why not replace them with some stronger units. Buy nice or buy twice is what I always say. Rather buy quality parts now and have them last, than get cheap stuff now and replace it with the better ones later after they fail.

Man I'm good at spending other peoples money :D

-Jesse

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by jesse096

I mean your already in there and have to take them apart anyway, why not replace them with some stronger units. Buy nice or buy twice is what I always say. Rather buy quality parts now and have them last, than get cheap stuff now and replace it with the better ones later after they fail.

Man I'm good at spending other peoples money :D

-Jesse

True that.

With the Bimmer stuff though, I need to watch how I go about this build, as it could very easily turn into the Evo, where I spend 25gs and have a car I don't want to drive. With rockers alone being as much as my rotating assembly, it's one of those things where it comes down to "if I need to do rockers and valve springs when I do a cam, then I won't do a cam", as to where the Evo it was more like "buy everything possible because racecar".

It's definitely not a fun habit to break, but it's surprisingly rewarding skimming down a mod list to simple things like porting your stock stuff for 10hp here and there and using stock parts from other Bimmers to make a little extra power.

I 'spose this is a different type of build, after all.