Cliffnotes: This 1988 BMW 325is will be a part of my college Senior Project at Trine University and entered in the $2012 and/or $2013 Challenge.
Ever since reading about the $20xx challenge in Grassroots Motorsports I’ve dreamed about entering the competition myself. And as a mechanical engineering student I am required to do a capstone project my senior year. I decided that I might be able to combine the two; but I needed to do some research/checking first. First, I determined that I wanted to see the Challenge first hand and see how well it was run and if it would be worth competing in. So my Dad and I drove a little more than 1000 miles from northeast Indiana to Gainesville for the $2011 Challenge. I did little more planning than booking a hotel room nearby, printing off the schedule, and mixing up some trail mix. My Dad and I showed up early to the track on Friday and offered to work corners at the autocross (best seats in the house). We ended up working the course for almost the entire day. (You might remember me as the tall, blond guy working corner 2 at the end of the first slalom.) We came back on Saturday for the drags that were unfortunately rained out. But I had a great time talking with everyone and looking over the cars. And I learned a lot about what it takes to have a competitive car. Oh, and I got this cool little crocheted cone from someone on the team that brought the blue Camaro. Sorry, I forget your name, but I love it.
Now that I’d determined that the Challenge was worthwhile, I needed to get the senior project portion approved. After going back and forth with the head of the Mechanical Engineering Department we came up with something that works. The two or three other guys on my team and I would design and build a suspension for a car to compete in the challenge. This will include everything from benchmarking the stock suspension to computer modeling and FEA on prototypes. But there were a few conditions: the car must be rear-wheel drive to begin with, an independent rear suspension is preferred, and no crazy engine swaps because senior year and job hunting is difficult and time consuming enough. Naturally, I didn’t want to build a suspension for someone else’s race car, so I needed to get my own. I immediately started browsing CraigsList, ebay, and anywhere else I could think of for a car. I wanted something small, lightweight, rear-wheel drive, independent rear suspension, and preferably a manual transmission. And one of my teammates wanted an I-6 engine if possible. Eventually I came across this BMW. The seller listed it as a 1989 325i that needed work, a water pump, and a noise in the suspension fixed. I show up and look the car over and it turns out to be a 1988 325is automatic that is in pretty good shape, already has lowering springs installed, and comes with a bunch of spare parts. I knew that the car had been overheated some so my Dad helped me check the compression to ensure that major damage hadn’t been done; 120-130psi in all cylinders, yes! Good news. I ended up buying the car for $500, which fits well into the Challenge budget. We had a little difficulty loading the car on the trailer. It almost stalled a couple of times, and we scraped part of the exhaust off the center of the car. Exhaust had leaks anyways, so no worries.
We got the car home and off the trailer and I started to really look the car over to see what I’d gotten. The body only has a couple of dents; one in each rear quarter panel, one in the trunk, and a repaired keying on the driver’s door. And the only rust on the body is on one of the quarter panel dents and on some rock chips on the hood. The clear coat on the roof, trunk, and hood had burned off like all 3-series from the era. And the passenger side of the front bumper was bent up like it had been in a minor collision. But other than that the body is straight and the trim is in good shape.
All four wheels and tires matched and had like-new tread depth. Car needs a new battery or charging system, but the electric windows and sunroof worked. Gauge cluster and odometer seem to be broken (reads 189,000 miles), so I need to fix those. The car has an aftermarket head unit and speakers that aren’t working at the moment. I’ve discovered a number of non-OEM looking wiring throughout the car, so I’m going to have to dig through that at some point. The hood release handle in the interior is broken and needs fixed. And there is some cheap window tinting on the rear windows that needs to be taken out too. As far as the driveline goes; the engine needs a water pump and timing belt, there is an oil leak to be discovered, the valves adjusted, and really just a general tune up is needed. The automatic transmission has worked the little that I’ve driven it, but I need to look at the release button on the shifter; it seems to be broken. And I need to find out if I got a limited-slip differential or not. That will come when I get a chance to look under the car (hopefully this weekend).
The suspension still needs to be looked over. But I do know that at least one ball joint in the right front of the car is shot; I hear a nasty CLUNK on hard braking. As for those spare parts, there are a lot. I think I’ve got a good chance of recouping almost all of the $500 back into the budget
- 14” euro-weave wheel with new tire
- 14” bottlecap wheel with new tire (sticker still on it)
- a car cover designed to fit the car
- spare center console (the part that goes around the shifter)
- gasket kit for the bottom end of the engine
- air intake/filter box
- Mass airflow sensor assembly
Plans for the car:
- get it running
- get a starting weight and then start it on a weight-loss program
- find some way to add power (shooting for 300+ hp)
- fix dents and rust, then repaint car
- sell spare parts
- get some good tires for current wheels or buy some other wheels and get tires for them
- Compete in $2012 Challenge
- design, test, and build suspension as senior project
- maybe modify paint/livery/theme
- Compete in $2013 Challenge
As I’m at school and the car is at home an hour away I’ll really only work on the car on weekends and breaks. But I’ll do my best to keep this updated as things progress.