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

[Shipman]

And we’re back

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Shipman

And we’re back

Shipman has entered the chat!!!!

[blue91lx]

It appears TST is still hanging on by a thread, and it's Christmas which means I was home to work on the M3.

I had the interior redone by a great upholstery guy back in 2017 or so who dropped off the face of the earth shortly after. The interior has since been sitting in boxes, so I deemed it time to reassemble it now that the car is coming out to me in the midwest soon. I hoped to transport the car back on thanksgiving, but that didn't end up happening, so here we are.

My dad is a highly detailed individual, so when I first bought the car and had it shipped back to PA for safe keeping I gave him the go ahead to do whatever he pleased to the interior. He was bored at the time and thought it'd be fun to spend my money on a car he doesn't have to own.

Many, many things have been done but the highlights are:

-Jordan Greer german leather seat reupholstery
-Rebuilt all seat mechanics (refurb'd sliders, trim, etc. My brother was even kind enough to reinforce the hinge tabs that commonly fail)
-Custom Color matched carpet parcel shelf recovering
-Custom Color matched vinyl paint for the map pockets and door pulls
-Nice pop out window latches
-Crack free dash
-Refurbished Cluster
-New (old style) heater valve and heater core
-Dash vent refurbishment, new foam, etc
-Refurbished 5908 with Aux added
-57k mile F&R center console and ash trays with the original M3 foam transferred over
-New sunroof motor cover
-New one piece genuine M3 shifter boot/knob/emblem
-New genuine under dash panel from when BMW still made them
-Refurb'd stock steering wheel
-My brother's map light mirror windshield bumper
-Various seals, bolts, trim etc

This is the first car I have fully refurb'd seats on, and while expensive, it was worth every penny. The lighting in his garage is weird, the color looks great in person.

The only interior item left on the docket is to have the sunroof headliner recovered, which will be done in PA before the car gets shipped.

Despite the magnitude of the project, I am very excited to finally get the car out here and begin the process of getting it running and driving!

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

[DocWalt]

Man, that is looking absolutely stunning! Nice work by the fam!

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Man, that is looking absolutely stunning! Nice work by the fam!

Thank you!! Felt good to finally turn a wrench on it after all this time. They were a huge help. Not having to worry about the interior and just getting to focus on mechanicals will be a real treat when the car comes out to me.

[blue91lx]

I spent '24 mostly ignoring Hooptie after having the header built. I am hoping to start '25 off on the right foot, so I tried to tie up some loose ends tonight.

I bought new quarter window seals but the headliner started to disintegrate upon removal of the old seals, so they stayed in.

I bought that mini sub that goes behind the drivers rear door card and ran an RCA for it, but realized that the class d inside of my new head unit won't run the sub and thus I'll need an additional monoblock to run it in addition to it's own speaker lead. Ordered an NVC VADM1 compact amp that I can hopefully fit where the airbag module sits on 90+ cars to avoid pulling the interior apart again.


While visiting family over Christmas I retrieved the rear E30 M3 seat I bought for hooptie. It has a "kustom" upper seat half that was "modified" for an armrest. It is the perfect M3 seat for this car. I need to figure out a center belt receptacle solution since the buckle clips are centered vs offset like the old seat, but until then I can flex on internet people with my rear center arm rest.

I had seat assembly on my mind, so I finally pulled apart hoopties driver seat to replace the side hinges for a set with good tabs. So glad this is fixed.

The pop out latches exploded recently so I bought the billet latch repair kit. I exploded all of my 1/8" allen sockets trying to flare the pins, got some freshies today and added some grease on the pins and got them flared without casualty.

It's hilarious that hoopty has a billet door handle and billet pop out latches.

Things I still need to do for optimal hooptying:

-Convert to Jake's standalone
-A/B dyno with the header vs stock exhaust
-Redo the exhaust so it sits under the factory heat shields for more ground clearance
-Figure out why the fancy r134 A/C system stopped working last year
-Install updated curved blade aux fan and wire on high speed

I honestly wish I just had a stock motor and exhaust in the car at this point as I just want to drive it without the extra complications of the current setup, but alas.

Happy new year tst!

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

[DocWalt]

Love the billet upgrades for ****ty old German plastic that always breaks, haha. Armrest rear seat is dope too!