Thread: Vette's 1997 328i Updated 12/31/11 Nearly finished

So are the head gaskets bad?

Any plans to fix the rear fender? Pretty nice looking car otherwise.

I might get some quotes on that damage but i expect it to be expensive. I do have the correct wheel to go with it, just not on.

Yup, head gasket was toast, my friend said it was in an unexpected place (between cylinders 3 and 4 rather than at the back of the block). On a positive note, everything came off easily, taking the head to the shop tomorrow so we'll see how long that'll take. I've spent 200 in parts so far, ordered 75 tonight, and have probably no more than 200 to go, plus about 300 to get the headwork done. that'll bring me in just under $1k to do this.

I ordered the Vanos rattle repair kit and will get new ping sensors, so a good chunk of that money is just preventative maintenance.

P.S. for those who aren't familiar with these, I HAVE VTEC!!!!! VROOOOOOOOOOOM

YAY! Headwork!

Mucho ported

Lol, no porting! Just reconditioning.

Although I see some coilovers in this vehicles future...
TRM Tuning - TRM E36 Coilovers

vanos is nice.

is a manual swap in the future possible? or are u gonna be a lazy shwag?

Originally Posted by Odi

vanos is nice.

is a manual swap in the future possible? or are u gonna be a lazy shwag?

Nope. My friends who has been helping me has a 95 m3 with the 5 speed. He mentioned tonight that the e46 6 speeds bolt right up (mine with some additional work since it's an auto)

Port the head! Your already there... I'd still look at repairing that fender. I mean the rest of the car is pretty nice! All body work is expensive.

Lol not worth the headwork. They are doing a valve job for me while it's out, so there's about 300 in headwork there. I'll consider getting the panel repaired, depends on the cost

Machine shop found cracks in the head, so up went the price and time for the work. Won't be finished until I have left for school so I'm kinda bummed on that now.

I'm honestly not surprise. Failing head gasket causes things to crack. I think you'll still be ahead on this car though.

Hopefully so, 600 for the car, i'm about 1150 in on parts and labor for the headwork, still need a windshield, last owner says he thinks the driveshaft bearing is going out so that'll be another 40+. I'm really thinking about burning the tires off and throwing on some decent performance ones to autocross next year

Still under 2k for a bimmer is not bad.

That looks non ported and slow.

It looks like it's being done on a tight budget.

Originally Posted by ZR1Vette09

Lol, no porting! Just reconditioning.

Although I see some coilovers in this vehicles future...
TRM Tuning - TRM E36 Coilovers

lol if you pay for those coilovers i will laugh my ass off. you can get stance coilovers for like $400 less and they will do the same thing if not more because they are double adjustable unlike the ones you linked.

hint: DO NOT BUY THOSE.

Those TRM's are supposed to be a great set of coilovers. And are you talking about them being monotube? Because I've heard that's nothing to be upset over either. This comes from a few threads I've seen on bimmerforums and talking to my friend helping me with the install.

no, im talking about them being single height adjustable so you lose travel the lower you go. since this is your project/play car, you want to go low. those coilovers may be nice, but you will never be able to get nice and low with them because of their design. double height adjustable coilovers have a threaded shock body so you shorten the entire shock assembly without reducing strut travel. stance, BC, and a few other brands are double height adjustable which is what you want for a coilover meant to go low. the stance GR+ (which is the set you should be looking at) are also inverted struts so the strut shaft is giant and it really helps to stiffen up the suspension in harsh turns. it should look like this:



also notice how the rear is an actual true coilover and not like the ones you mentioned? you want that too. so in other words, get stance. trust me. im buying a set of stance next, regardless of what car i am putting them on.

it may seem like you're 'cheaping out' with these, but you are not. they are owned my the touge factory out of the chicago area, so they are a US company and their customer service is straight up top notch.

If I went coilovers (which is incredibly unlikely, only in the even the suspension is shot) it would be for a performance aspect. Assuming everything goes together well and runs well, I'll be autocrossing this car as well as DDing it.