Slowly but Surely- 325iX, 325iS, and E30M3 resurrection

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Shipman

I don’t know if I’m more impressed by the work you put into these cars or the work you put into this forum lol.

Originally Posted by DocWalt

lmao. True story. I love the detailed updates!

Originally Posted by PAdutch

Hey 5 of us really enjoy his work

I have taken a liking to my TST build thread over the years. I use it as a general log, of sorts, of all of the cars that come through the stable, repairs I do on the daily drivers, as well as the bigger projects, etc. It's nice to have it all in one place, and while it hasn't benefitted me yet, perhaps it will at some point? Doubtful, lol.

I'm really just stringing you guys along for the long haul, with the expectation that someday I'll actually get to building the M3

[PAdutch]

Originally Posted by blue91lx

I have taken a liking to my TST build thread over the years. I use it as a general log, of sorts, of all of the cars that come through the stable, repairs I do on the daily drivers, as well as the bigger projects, etc. It's nice to have it all in one place, and while it hasn't benefitted me yet, perhaps it will at some point? Doubtful, lol.

I'm really just stringing you guys along for the long haul, with the expectation that someday I'll actually get to building the M3

Still Waiting!!!

I like to keep my logs to, helps you remember what you've done and when it happened haha. Even though I hardly do car work lately.

[Shipman]

Lol the classic e30 m3 bait and switch.

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by PAdutch

Still Waiting!!!

I like to keep my logs to, helps you remember what you've done and when it happened haha. Even though I hardly do car work lately.

I envy your lack of car work

I wrapped up a few looming projects last night and it wasn’t but an hour later that I got a FaceTime from the lady showing me her car up in coolant smoke. It never ends!

Originally Posted by Shipman

Lol the classic e30 m3 bait and switch.

It’s the only card I have left to play



Update, her fiesta is super broke and the engine for her outback is 8wks out, so she is now the HOOPTE QUEEN

First comment "ooh this thing is fun to drive!"

Second "can we, like, paint it or something?"

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[blue91lx]

The best part about repairing a car that runs/drives is that it can still be enjoyed while you slowly fix it up. As my buddy Matt put it today, "it sounds like there are more things that don't work than work".

-Horn inop (unsafe, I reaaaaly don't like driving cars without a horn)
-Speedo inop
-Blower motor inop (fuse blew, lost all function)
-Seat belts completely inop (also really unsafe)
-Lock cylinders all seized and thus inop
-Incredibly bent wheels
-Turn Signal Fast Blinkly (I suspect front turn signal grounds)
-No Radio
-Carpets still gross, need to deep clean




I had some time today so I tackled the speedo, blower motor and wheels.

I decided to throw the dforces on, since they are wrapped in new DZ102s, until the new wheels get here. The difference was INSANE. The car feels like a million bucks now with the H&R OE Sports, KYBs, centered solid rubber CABs, and E36 rack. Such a perfect setup for a daily.

Speedo I diagnosed down to the diff sensor pigtail, so I spliced a spare in, we have speedo!

I've also been getting random windshield wiper action, so I swapped the relay with a good one.

I jumped pins 30 and 87 at the relay, no horn. Checked for 12v at the horns w relay jumped, and it was present. Turned out I had one bad pigtail and two bad horns! Got lucky and had a spare 1378416 plug on the shelf thanks to a gift baggie a nice chap gave me the last time he came up to get parts.

Blower motor I was a bit leery on since it worked previously, and then failed, so I pulled the firewall cover off and found my (hopefully) last mouse nest. When I turned the blower fan on initially, I can only assume that it sucked up some nesting and blew the fuse. I pulled the motor to make sure it spun freely, lubricated one side that was hanging up, and fitted a new resistor. I then pulled all of the dash vents and de-bio-hazard-ed them.

Need to throw the seat belts in tomorrow, and then over the weekend I will install the Continental/VDO TR7412UB-OR radio that I ordered.

She's coming together!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[DocWalt]

I both love and hate fixing all of that crap. So rewarding, but so frustrating haha

[coalsnbowls]

This one is awesome

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

I both love and hate fixing all of that crap. So rewarding, but so frustrating haha

When I get in the right headspace I adore these fixes!! When I get to enjoy the car as I check these small, sometimes trivial things off the list it is satisfying. The wrong headspace, however, and these things are just a total headache (see: subaru build).

Speaking of which.......

Made some solid hoopte progress.

I pulled the car apart this week to replace the seatbelts and found some not great things, but managed to reel it in and ended up with a solid result without the project spiraling.

I removed various interior components to replace the seatbelts and found another mouse nest under the parcel shelf, rust in the rear floor plugs, and the bare backside of various welds from where someone pulled dents out at some point.

I then got bothered to the carpets I previously ignored, and started to get stressed out about the whole equation.

Did some carpet cleaning with Mr. Clean APC and a drill attachment... not perfect but so much less biohazard. Hard to see, but there were just nasty, deep stains everywhere.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr






Repeat on both sides, and she good. Cleaned the back piece and put some sound deadening on resonating panels.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr






Sadness

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr







BUT WE PREVAILED. I had some perfect rear floor drains in a parts car that got carefully removed. With some jacking/adjusting/massaging of the rear pans, we got the rear floors straight and the new drains were a perfect fit. Sloppy POR15 over anything that looked rusty + seam sealer on the drains and we're back in business.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr







I then noticed the drivers side door brake was pulled through the door, and also snapped in half inside the door. This was remedied by some work on the metal, a new door brake, and an appropriate sized washer to keep things fro pulling through the door again.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





The entire central locking system on hoopte was destroyed/removed/hacked, but I need the car to lock properly, so I pulled two door tumblers and a trunk tumbler off of a nicer parts car (hoopte #2 IIRC, the iX), as well as the three associated actuators, and we have fully functioning central locking! I tried every trick in the book but could not get the ignition tumbler removed, so I have two keys for now, but having fully working central locking is worth it. Along the way I noticed my drivers side mirror plug was jacked, so I repinned it in a new plug.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





It was finally time to reassemble the interior, and with the gray interior needing help, and with my convenient access to a warehouse of E30 parts........ you can see where this is going.

I had a pretty nice black leather sport interior on the shelf that I put in the car. I bought a drivers side upper bolster replacement that I had to put on, was my first time doing so. Didn't turn out incredible, but also wasn't terrible. The door panels and rear seats I used were "b" stock that had issues so I didn't feel too bad pulling them from stock to use on the car.

I also had a black premium sound shelf/speakers I threw on to complete the look. This car is coming along!

​​​​​​​Once I throw the Italvolanti in here, it's going to feel like home.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[blue91lx]

Finally had some time to get moving on the Fozz! Got the longblock assembled, clutch/flywheel on, etc etc. Going to see if we have life tomorrow! So many small things that made this process take much longer than anticipated, but I didn't want to cut any corners, so it was all worthwhile.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[blue91lx]

We have liftoff!



Very exciting- after priming the oil pump until the oil light went off, she fired on the third revolution.


The engine feels very happy. I am going to install the STI alloy control arms and stock front swaybar tomorrow (Whiteline front bar has a bad binding issue), drain the break in oil, and go for a drive!



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(click photo for video)



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[DocWalt]

Bar binding issue fixable with washers/spacers under the swaybar brackets? or is it hitting hard parts?

engine sounds healthy!

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Bar binding issue fixable with washers/spacers under the swaybar brackets? or is it hitting hard parts?

engine sounds healthy!

Thanks!! Engine feels healthy, other than the added NVH from the group n engine/trans mounts. Hope the next owner likes things rigid.

The bar is too long, it seems- the endlinks are under a tremendous amount of tension even unloaded, no matter how they are adjusted. It is a shame because this is the über overpriced Whiteline kit made specifically for the SG Forester. The over tensioned endlinks end up frequently popping under normal driving conditions.

Edit: I did some digging tonight and found a NIB pair of stock Moog Endlinks I bought in the past, thought to mount them up to the Whiteline front bar.... it seemed to have solved all of my binding issues! The KLC139 Whiteline generic adjustable endlinks that I got with the kit were a terrible fit.Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Will be sad to see her go (not really). I revisited my old build thread for the car and it was great from 110k-160k. After that it was just miserable to own, but I have done so much that it should be good for another 100k for the next owner.


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[DocWalt]

Damn, you went pimpy with the arms, haha.

Whiteline *always* ****s up the endlinks. BRZ had the same issues, the Whiteline endlinks on my RX-8 fit like ass, etc etc.

[PAdutch]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Damn, you went pimpy with the arms, haha.

Whiteline *always* ****s up the endlinks. BRZ had the same issues, the Whiteline endlinks on my RX-8 fit like ass, etc etc.

I was about to say the same thing. The end links on my genesis were garbage.

I do like their swaybars though.

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Damn, you went pimpy with the arms, haha.

Whiteline *always* ****s up the endlinks. BRZ had the same issues, the Whiteline endlinks on my RX-8 fit like ass, etc etc.

Originally Posted by PAdutch

I was about to say the same thing. The end links on my genesis were garbage.

I do like their swaybars though.

Sounds like I should've figured that out sooner than I did

Doc- I bought nice LCAs back when I was battling suspension stuff, assuming I'd end up keeping this thing forever. As always, things change, but I figured I'd go ahead and throw this stuff on anyway, despite the inevitable sale.


Also, I got the wheels/tires mounted on the hoopty!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[DocWalt]

Hoopty is looking proper (let's pretend it has paint)

For making such good swaybars, the endlinks are always too long. I don't get it. They don't clunk though, which is great for a daily driver if you can cut them shorter lol

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Hoopty is looking proper (let's pretend it has paint)

For making such good swaybars, the endlinks are always too long. I don't get it. They don't clunk though, which is great for a daily driver if you can cut them shorter lol

The smiles per gallon are so high you forget you're driving such a beautiful specimen

I considered cutting them shorter until I found those stockers! These clunked so loud it was frightening when turning. Hoping that goes away- if not, I'll just throw the stock bar on.

[blue91lx]

Hoopte #4 getting saved! Ordering all of the small vacuum/coolant hoses that are destroyed, plus new clutch, and then dropping her back in this weekend, hopefully!

​​​​​​​Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[rocknrace03]

dang dude, i admire your endurance!

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by rocknrace03

dang dude, i admire your endurance!

Thanks man! Probably goes without saying, but I am READY to see the light at the end of this tunnel..... as long as I don't keep making the tunnel longer, lol.