Project: 2002 325i Drift Car

[noah_salvato]

I picked this car up early May of this year after getting back from school and driving the e46 that I'd sold to a friend before coming down to school. To say the least, I missed the hell out of the car but didn't have the money to meet his asking price. So I found the next best thing: a 2002 325i with a rebuilt title from a rear end collision 4 years ago. After some digging, I found out the car was totaled out in New York from a "low speed parking lot collision". The trunk doesn't line up perfect, there's some Bondo that was obviously done in a hurry, and the quarters don't exactly follow the original body lines, but who cares. 

The previous owner had listed the car on Facebook as a "BMW 1 series", with the details filled out as "4 cylinder" "automatic transmission", and the only description was "Service light for misfire and vacuum leak". He was asking $2500 for the car which was way more than I was willing to spend, but at 10:30PM just 5 minutes from my friends garage we figured we'd go take a look. It started right up... On 5 cylinders. Previous owner had "installed" what looks like an m50 coilpack he'd had laying around which wasn't delivering any spark. He let us know that the front right caliper was seizing at random times, test driving it for a minute it became obvious that the diff bushing was toast, and we found countless other things that I'd replace either way that could help drive the price down. 

I came back the next day with a scanner to verify everything and found the car was running pretty lean, 7% LTFT (I still need to swap the maf to OEM and replace a rear o2 sensor), found a little rust around the rear drain holes, noticed the kidney grilles beat up, windshield cowel rotted, and the rear right window motor broken, all things that were cheap enough to fix, or irrelevant enough to ignore for a while (like the rear window). The sunroof also didn't like to close once you opened it (I'll probably try to fix this eventually). In the end, I got the car for $800 because he was tired of it sitting in his driveway.  

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The fun started pretty much immediately after I got the car home when I pulled the spark plugs and found the tubes filled with oil. Valve cover gasket, plugs, coil packs and my spark issues and misfire were gone.




Next came brakes; pads, rotors, and calipers (turns out 3 of the 4 needed rebuilt). 

Then the fun part, the rear subframe project. The whole reinforcement project was supposed to take me memorial day weekend to get done, it ended up taking about 2 weeks because the number of bolts that stripped, got lost, or broke during the process of removing them. While my friends had a good time during the holiday weekend, I cut my knuckles open time and time again on German metal. When the subframe finally lowered out from under the car, there was luckily only one small crack in the body, and one of the body studs had bent either from the crash earlier in the cars life, or from getting caught as I lowered the subframe out. 

Getting the parking brake cables out of the body tunnels on the car was by far the hardest part of the job, as the passenger side cable had frayed apart a bit and gotten stuck in the tunnel. After burning out the old diff and subframe bushings, I installed flo-flex polyurethane bushings while a buddy of mine welded up the crack in the body, welded in reinforcement plates for the subframe, and welded up the factory 3.15 differential. I reinstalled everything with maxspeedingrods adjustable camber arms knowing that I still have all the smaller bushings to do (LCA, UCA, sway bar links, and RTAB)





Aside from breaking heat shield bolts, bending a subframe stud, losing $25 in BMW-specific bolts, and leaving a scar on my knuckle, the subframe wasn't that bad.

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More recently, I installed V-Maxx coilovers on the front and a set of eibach (I believe) lowering springs on the rear which I got in exchange for driving a friend to Baltimore to buy a water pump (for his e46). The 17's that came on the car didn't clear the coils in the front so, for the time being, I am stuck running 2 of the ugly 16's (drift spares) I picked up a couple weeks ago. 



I've still got a decent list of stuff to do, but I'm making progress. I'll post a full list of done/need to do when I finish working on my "money in the furnace" spreadsheet and have all the parts I've bought listed out. Next changes are going to be front control arms, tie rods, RTABS and then an alignment. 

I am looking to buy some half-decent 17's or 18's that I can drive the car on, preferably Millie Miglia MM-II's or another "budget friendly" wheel for the time being. I've come to realize that 5x120 is basically BMW OEM wheels, a few good brands that I can't afford, a few older brands like Millie that aren't made anymore that are budget friendly, a bunch of cheap garbage, and old Corvette wheels. 

In hopes of saving a little money, I am also searching for a sest and steering wheel + hub adapter (worst case I wait a little and buy new).

[Jake]

Well it's very low and I don't love that, but I don't know what you're going for as a driftiboi car either. That's a heck of a car for $800 plus sweat equity and some bushings.

E36 M3 wheels will fit and are all 17x7.5 or 17x8.5. They can go for fairly cheap, especially the heavier variants that people don't want as much.

Seat/wheel/hub can be found if you pester enough NASA people.

[Senor_Taylor]

A lot of work for a 325! Great progress so far. I'll keep an eye out for what you need.

Go pay OGracing a visit for the saftey gear.

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[noah_salvato]

Well it's very low and I don't love that, but I don't know what you're going for as a driftiboi car either. That's a heck of a car for $800 plus sweat equity and some bushings.

E36 M3 wheels will fit and are all 17x7.5 or 17x8.5. They can go for fairly cheap, especially the heavier variants that people don't want as much.

Seat/wheel/hub can be found if you pester enough NASA people.

The rear is probably half an inch or so higher than in the picture since it's got a bunch of fluids, scrap metal, 4 drift spares, and tools in it. I needed something to eliminate a bit of body roll and these were free so I'll run them for now. Looking at eventually converting the rear to true coil and going with BC's or Fortunes. 

And there's way too much camber right now since I didn't adjust much since it needs an alignment anyway. 

A lot of the basic setup for drifting in these cars is similar to road course from what I've heard from guys that do both, I'll be down to AutoX at the very least once I've got the car dialed in; just take a little more camber out and drop tire pressure and I'll send it. 

I'll be on the lookout for those wheels on FB/Forums!

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A lot of work for a 325! Great progress so far. I'll keep an eye out for what you need.

Go pay OGracing a visit for the saftey gear.

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Thank you Taylor and will do!

[.RJ]

I hope they paid YOU to take that thing away

[JPolen01]

I hope they paid YOU to take that thing away

You BMW folks love the pain

[Senor_Taylor]

Why convert to coilovers? Just about everyone that races these does not do that. Please don't get caught up in the drift attitude to mod the car until your teeth fall out. Get out there and drive it.

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Also check your CV angles being that low. I'd be concerned they may bind under more compression.

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[noah_salvato]

Why convert to coilovers? Just about everyone that races these does not do that. Please don't get caught up in the drift attitude to mod the car until your teeth fall out. Get out there and drive it.

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Also check your CV angles being that low. I'd be concerned they may bind under more compression.

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Oh that's way down the road. For now, I just need to sort out the front suspension (control arms and bushings are shot) and tie rods to sort out my steering shake, new brake shoes so that I've got a handbrake, helmet/seat, and a fire extinguisher. Everything else can wait because seat time comes first (after safety things are taken care of)

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I hope they paid YOU to take that thing away

You BMW folks love the pain

What's the point if it doesn't hurt a little?

[.RJ]

I hope they paid YOU to take that thing away

You BMW folks love the pain

I am washing my hands of anything with a roundel on it for the foreseeable future.

[noah_salvato]

Well it looks like the old vacuum leak/o2 sensor gremlin the PO mentioned has returned.

P0174 arrived tonight along with 10% fuel trims.

I've got an OEM MAF I'm gonna swap in since it's got a duralast whatever right now. There doesn't seem to be a vacuum leak but CCV definitely needs replacing either way due to build up inside of it.

I wouldn't think there's a vacuum leak since it's only throwing the bank 2 code and not both. If MAF doesn't solve the FT's I'm going to try swapping the o2 sensors to see if the code follows the potentially bad sensor, replace that sensor if bad.

Also need to take care of the coolant situation since I blew an upper radiator hose and had to fill it with water to limp home, temps pegged at 215 F even after bleeding it the best I could on the side of the road. Need to flush/fill and properly bleed before driving again.

This months BMW bill is gonna be bigger than I'd hoped.

[Senor_Taylor]

If there's no history of cooling system maintenance, you should do the water pump, hoses, and expansion tank.

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[noah_salvato]

Haven't updated this thread in a while, figured it's about time.

Gotten a bit of time in the car dailying it as I tossed the Jeep keys to my dad for a bit. Definitely need to sort a few more things out before getting back to the track but it's been a fun couple weeks of sorting out small issues, and a few big ones.

It seems that when I pulled the subframe and everything, the e-brake cables/connector in the hubs got messed up and both sides exploded quite violently, I'll update with pictures when I find them.

Currently need to: replace rear dust shields, replace shoes + hardware, replace CCV/catch can bypass (yet to decide), possibly delete secondary air pump, pull intake and replace seals/gaskets and a few vacuum lines that are rotting under there, replace intake boot/MAF, diagnose O2 sensors, delete clutch delay valve, hope that the clutch isn't gone yet.

[Senor_Taylor]

My parking brake also "exploded" on my E46. The CCV is a pain so go ahead and do it when you do the other intake stuff.

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[noah_salvato]

My parking brake also "exploded" on my E46. The CCV is a pain so go ahead and do it when you do the other intake stuff.

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Yeah, the plan is to pull the intake, replace any of the questionable vacuum lines, gaskets/seals, and the CCV. I'm not sure how bad the CCV is since there's still good suction under the oil cap. Being that it's the cold weather package it apparently has a "better" CCV, but at 18 years old it's about time for all the plastic/rubber to give out. 

[noah_salvato]

Well... I haven't updated this thread in a long time and have a lot to share. Since 2019 this thing has been both a massive headache and a really fun project. I didn't take nearly as many pictures of the progress over the last year as I should have, but this is going to be a bit of a long brick of text and some photos I've dug up today. 

Dust shields/backing plates for the e-brake were completely destroyed, so that was the first task when I started working on this thing at the start of the COVID lockdowns. Old backing plates were cut out, rusty bolts snapped, drilled out, and retapped to install the pretty new ones. After a few hours of work, and I had a parking brake again. Just a few more things to get the car "ready" for my first track day.

Picked up a helmet from OG, figured I could make the factory "sport seat" work. Boy, was I wrong (we'll get to that later). Got a 1lb extinguisher mounted on a metal bracket right behind the center console, works for me. The steering wheel was torn to shreds and I'm sure it would cut my hands up, but I didn't have time to take care of that. Angle wasn't too much of a concern, but I went ahead and picked up some eBay adapters that change the tie rod pickup point to allow for a little quicker steering; although they ruin the geometry because you are just changing the tie rod pickup point by cutting the tie rods and moving them back on the knuckle. Didn't matter, angle achieved. Measured from the stock to the cut/relocated tie rods, it picked up maybe 5deg, not much but for $25, not bad. 

Next came tackling the biggest issue the car had which continued to rear its ugly head in my limited ownership to this point, the cooling system. Having had to replace an upper rad hose and expansion tank already; I pulled the trigger and ordered new everything for the cooling system. New radiator, temp sensors, OE expansion tank, radiator hoses, thermostat and housing, and water pump. With the wrong (green) coolant in the car, I drained, flushed, and filled with the blue stuff from the dealer. FCP Euro was my savior here. Went ahead at this point and replaced the belts as well as they were already off (while I'm here tends to be how this car goes)

With o2 sensor codes still presenting issues, I took the car for a drive only for it to get pissed and throw a few codes leading me to realize the cats were clogged. I had seen people have issues getting the manifolds off due to rust, but luckily I got all the nuts off without pulling studs out of the motor; only to realize that I had to lift the motor up a bit to fish the old manifolds out, meaning I had to disconnect the motor mounts. Mounts turned out to be original to the car, which meant the 20 year old fluid mounts fell apart while loosening them. So... Condor Speed Shop solid motor and trans mounts were on the way. Headers had to be heated/the bungs bent and rewelded a bit, learned a little about metalworking here. O2 sensors replaced, DISA valve replaced, and the rear o2 sensors bypassed and fuel trims were back to a decent number. Good to go for the track. 

With that done, it was time to hit the track for the first time. Having such little experience (and faith) in the car, nerves were insane; but at least it was a private day with a lot of seat time. Buddy of mine had some wheels he bought and never ran, worked out a deal with him, and had something that looks a little better than the stock wheels. Rotiform RSE's look pretty good on the car for now. 

Track day went pretty well, learned a whole lot about myself, improved as a driver, and got much more comfortable in the car. Trying to stay on a tight budget by keeping the stock steering wheel and seat proved to be a mistake, as I braced my knees against the door and center console while cutting my hands on the ratty steering wheel. Those would get replaced in the next few weeks. Plus the car wasn't loud enough for me, so the rear muffler had to go. 

With some shaking still present in the steering wheel, I decided it was time to replace the FCAB's which didn't turn out as easy as I expected. One of the bolts into the frame snapped... then I broke a drill bit in it... then I broke an ez-out in the bolt after drilling the bit out. Picked up a tungsten carbide burr for a dremel and spent a few hours cutting through the bolt well enough to run a bigger drill bit, re-center the hole, and tap it to a larger size. What a headache. 

Friend of mine had a seat I could borrow, threw that in; got a cheap wheel to get me by, and hit the track again. Much much better day. I didn't have to fight to stay planted in the car anymore, could let the wheel slide through my hands; something I got better with throughout the day. I keep forgetting to take in-car footage even though I have the gopro mounts, but a friend took a video at the start of the day. *hopefully it posts properly*

Progression throughout the day was wild to me to experience and I wish I had more video to look back to. Got a few photos from this event and the next one which took place in the rain; a whole new level of difficulty with car control and setup. 

Body roll became an issue that I felt was holding me back, and I had bent a few tie rods from the car loading all the weight to one side and binding. Also killed a power steering pump which meant replacing that at the track. Ended up ordering some Fortune Auto 500 coilovers which I've dialed in street driving the car but am yet to get to feel out on the track. Upgraded tie rods to the HD ones, and picked up and welded a 3.46 diff out of the automatic cars as the little 2.5 is tough to keep up in the power band in 3rd on the banks. 

The car started consuming a fair amount of oil and smoking a bit once the weather cooled down, leading me to finally pull the manifold and replace the CCV system, all the vacuum lines, and seals. Also dropped the oil pan, safety wire tied the oil pump nut (common problem on these at high rpm is it backing off and dropping oil pressure) and cleaned up a few of my leaks in the process. Followed Taylor's approach to reinstalling the dipstick tube with a block of wood and a hammer (thank you for that!), and it's back together and running well enough to pull out of the garage. 


Still chasing some abnormally high fuel trims, likely from a vacuum leak somewhere that I'm going to have to chase/smoke test when I'm back in town, but overall happy with the job.

Dual mass flywheel sounds like it is starting to separate and the clutch is finally giving out after 120k miles and a year of drifting. Will be converting to a single-mass flywheel with a sprung 6-puck here once the weather is nicer and I'm back from school. Just gotta get through this semester and get back to wrenching, hitting the track, and breaking things! 

I'm going to try and stay on top of this a little better once I get back to wrenching on it, and will throw up some more pictures/video once I find them.

[Senor_Taylor]

I don't know how this car has given you so much trouble, but you've taken it in stride. Keep up the good work!

[noah_salvato]

I don't know how this car has given you so much trouble, but you've taken it in stride. Keep up the good work!

It's mostly been a game of chasing after neglected maintenance, par for the course when I got the car for so cheap. I've realized how much money I would have saved if I'd just bought a decent example, to begin with.