'94 530iT Project
 

'eyyo TST,

I think this car will be worthy of a separate journal, but this is more for me to document the car's progress.

Story

Traded my ****ty $500 Saturn for this thing last Friday, as the kid was in dire need for a reliable daily. After seeing some potential in the car despite how the kid didn't take care of it (at all), I decided I could definitely bring the car back to life, and here we are. The car will end up being a simple, aesthetically pleasing daily.


Plans

The exterior of the car needs some work, but the grime that was all over this car essentially preserved most everything under it, so my first phase has been to bring the OEM paint back up. The fender flares, the front and rear bumpers, the side skirts, and part of the driver's fender all need to be repainted, and the car needs a hood as well (someone stepped on it).

The last two days I spent buffing the car by hand with compound, and I was shocked to see how it looked underneath, minus the parts spray painted by the previous owner. I have slowly been working overspray off the car as well.

The Auto trans only has reverse gear, however, a low milage trans was given to me with the car, so that will be thrown in within the next few days.

After tearing into it thus far it is obvious that the car was garage kept before the last owner had it, and the last owner only had it for two months, in which time he almost destroyed it. All weatherstripping, foam pieces, etc are all in fantastic shape without any dry rotted plastic. The dash has but one 2" crack in it as well :wiggle:.


Parts needed:

-Exhaust (2' of pipe missing, no cat, and fart can currently on there)
-Fog lights and corner bumper lights (cracked)
-Hood (dented severely)
-IS Lip (blunttech)

Modification Plans:

-HD Bilsteins and IX specific H&R Springs


Pictures


Before (door) and after (quarter):

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5442/9...6c389ce0_c.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2808/9...f60d49ee_c.jpg


Drivers Side Buffed and Waxed. The original paint on the car is very rich.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3704/9...0f448889_c.jpg



The back quarter and trunk came out great as well.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3685/9...119f2b2f_c.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7309/9...ff092ba8_c.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7378/9...d419b4d8_c.jpg



Areas of concern. First, the rear bumper and rusty battery tray/valance (and rice exhaust). Then, the jacked up front bumper and hood. Then, the drivers fender.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7419/9...7904f754_c.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7362/9...f116a047_c.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3775/9...cc9ae43a_c.jpg




Passenger side came out great:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2818/9...2e576f6e_c.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5488/9...7fcb0eff_c.jpg



And this is how clean the underside of the trunk lid was without me touching anything.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3707/9...5a5710c1_c.jpg

Subd.

Looking good so far!

If you're looking for parts and don't feel like searching junkyards, hit up Bimmer Buddies in Middletown PA (should be like 100 mile drive for you). They're quite reasonable with the prices overall and they just stripped a red 318i earlier this week. E30s get stripped quick on parts and resold on forums, it's kinda annoying cause my brother has an 88 325 SuperEta.


As for the Bilsteins, look into if the M3 rears will work on the iX. I've read they work on the 'normal' e30s and are a heavier duty. I have seen a few topics about the 'standard' e30 rears blowing out and Bilstein replacing them by warranty and people getting M3 rears instead.


PM sent.

Like previously stated....LOVE IT

PM Returned! That's actually really helpful. I'm going to contact them tomorrow and see if they have any Red hoods lying around. That's my main area of concern, as most everything else I can snag off of the CList or eBay. I'll look into the shock idea as well. Last I looked the IX struts are specific, but that would be nice to get away with the M3 rears.


Thanks man!! I'm really excited for what is to come with this thing.

Bahhhh miss mine. Enjoy it!

I surely will!

--

I pulled the pan off of the new (used) trans, and the fluid looked very clean, didn't smell burnt, etc. There's also a magnet under the pan there and there was but the tiniest bit of metal in there, so it's looking like the new trans is good to go. She's going in tomorrow night!

Update.

I got the trans out, and would like to speak with whoever decided the placement on the top bellhousing bolt.

The HP22 trans that came with the car is for a 325i despite it being the 'same' model number. The linkage is on the wrong side of the trans, and I don't think it can be switched inside the guts of the trans.

If anyone knows of a 5sp swap for an IX I'm definitely interested.

Update #2.

Sourced good auto trans/tcase with a good viscous coupling, along with a pair of front axles and a new converter. The main issue with these transmissions are two seals on the input shaft before the first set of clutch discs. They wear out, leak, and eventually take out the discs. You're then left with nothing but reverse. So, I opted to get those seals and replace them while the trans is out to ensure some longevity out of this thing.

New fogs and blinker lights were purchased, as well as an IS lip, and a catback since the car didn't have one on it.

Any recommendations for cheap-ish but still good paint work?

That is a nice starting point for a project.

Finally had a decent chunk of time to work on the car this weekend.

Scrubbed the interior like crazy, and was quite happy with how it came up.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3732/9...0cae6cc0_c.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3822/9...691db6ae_c.jpg
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5344/9...9382c17c_c.jpg


Pulled the bumper off and started repair on that. It had a crack and the fiberglass support piece behind it was cracked pretty bad.

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3775/9...61ffd5e8_c.jpg
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7414/9...8186ac28_c.jpg


After a good wash, the trim panels were restored the best we could get 'em.

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5472/9...716c5025_c.jpg


Took the stock lip off of my brother's IX, as I decided I wasn't fond of the IS lip for the look I'm going for.

However, I'm by far the most excited about restoring my stock BBS wheels and doing a polished lip with a flat to semi-gloss center. It took some serious time, but I got all lips down to bare aluminum today, and will be slowly doing the fine-tooth work as time allows.

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2835/9...8eff94c2_c.jpg
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2847/9...75a224a2_c.jpg
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3710/9...d35abaea_c.jpg


Car is running great, and I've been driving it every day.

Things to troubleshoot still:

My radio stopped working completely (due to horrendous wiring), and my RPM and Fuel Milage only works when my lights are on. That one sort of blew my mind, so if anyone has any ideas in regards to that issue I'd love to hear them.

That interior looks amazing, you did a damn good job. For those black plastic peices try using this stuff called "ReNu Finish" on them. I used it on the bottom half of my forester and it looks great, brought back the finish like brand new. Ive also been meaning to say that the pictures youve been doing look great lol, just for progress pics of normal driveway work are looking super focused and clean as hell. Usually these are cell phone style but youre going hard lol.

The speedometer and fuel gauge stopped working when my brother removed his 6 button clock.

He said check fuses, otherwise you'll have to tear the entire center out of the dash and check everything... which sucks.

Thanks man. Other than the pen drawings behind the drivers seat (:eek:) I was happy with how it came up. The thing was disgusting. Cat hair, cigarette ash, grease, etc. I don't think he ever even tried to clean it. I'll try and find some ReNu, I've heard that it works really well, but totally forgot about until you just said something. I just used rubbing compound and wax for now and it shined up pretty alright. Thanks for the heads up!

My photog skillz suck azz, so these little projects give me an excuse to whip out the camera and try to make these updates look mediocre :lol:.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check the fuses. The weird thing about it is that the tach and mpg gauge work when my lights are on, but then stop working as soon as I turn off the lights. The speedo, however, works the entire time.

If it comes down to ripping apart the dash I think I'm just going to drive with my lights on all of the time :lol:.

Also, I found out my frame is rusted out where the rear upper strut housings sit, so I sourced a pair from the parts car, unfortunately, so the shell won't make much of a trailer for your brother. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you sooner, man.

Nah it's cool, he's not financially able to take another project on right now anyhow.

Thanks to my brother's parts car, I now have the majority of what I need to do some rust fixin'.

Rear battery tray and a small patch in the floor boards need some attention, too.

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps28c26dfa.jpg

Ah I love it... keep up the great work

Thanks man!

I'm making more progress on the wheels. Taking awhile as I'm just doing it here and there when I have time. However, we've definitely hit a major fork in the road here, and I'm not quite sure what to do..

It's bad... like, really bad.

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...psfda94b09.jpg

Shipman, you spoke too soon about the nice pictures.

--

Got some work done, though, folks.

First

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2d16bc43.jpg

Then
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa3b60255.jpg

Thennnnnnnn

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...psd33b6243.jpg

THEN

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps0e62b670.jpg

THENNNNNN

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7b40a233.jpg

Finished the other side, hit with seam sealer, put on new-used e-brake pads and rotors, and got her back on the ground.

Once seam sealer dries I'll re-undercoat. In the rear passenger wheel well (worse than drivers side by far) anywhere there was once a bracket there is now a rust hole, so I surely have my work cut out for me (pun intended). I'm just shocked to see the car sit like stock again.

Am going to order some bracing for the car from IrelandEngineering, and if Turner would put their H&R/Bilstein combo on sale I'd pick them up too. I was originally planning on going with the GC setup, but don't want to bother with shortening the housings and struts so I have enough travel when I already have a car that the 325ix will never get close to on the street/track.


Some pics from today:

Passenger side:

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...psbec9b99d.jpg


Seam sealed:

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...psdaebf7a6.jpg
http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...psa9bfb928.jpg

One of the many rust holes I need to take care of:

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/a...psaa432c4a.jpg

Damn.