New here. Would love some input.

[voltaire_e30]

My 91 325 iX is the one cool BMW I would like to have back. I loved that car until it overheated on the Bay Bridge and warped the head. Very easy car to work on.
View attachment 116683

Definitely easy to work on. The only pita thing I have done is the pass side control arm with ie long tube headers. Definitely get it machined and toss back on there. It'll be back to new. I would suggest I really would love an ix. Father in law just got rubber on the wheels I had laying around.

 

[CrabGuy]

Try finding front axles/CV's for an early iX...it's like unicorn tears. That and never crash that iX oilpan with it's pass through hole for the PS axle. Mine was a great daily driver. Oh well, back to Rangers

 

[voltaire_e30]

Try finding front axles/CV's for an early iX...it's like unicorn tears. That and never crash that iX oilpan with it's pass through hole for the PS axle. Mine was a great daily driver. Oh well, back to Rangers

Early and late ix have different front cv's? I know of this one I wanna pick up. Or there's a house with 2 e24s.

 

[CrabGuy]

Early and late ix have different front cv's? I know of this one I wanna pick up. Or there's a house with 2 e24s.

Two completely different animals. The early iX was discontinued in 1991. The newer iX uses a different engine, transfer case, axles, transmission, etc. There's plenty of parts available for them. I've heard some people with early iX's have used 80's VW Vanagon Synchro front axles which can still be purchased but are even rarer than the iX

 

[voltaire_e30]

Two completely different animals. The early iX was discontinued in 1991. The newer iX uses a different engine, transfer case, axles, transmission, etc. There's plenty of parts available for them. I've heard some people with early iX's have used 80's VW Vanagon Synchro front axles which can still be purchased but are even rarer than the iX

Yikes good to know. I just know the ix is a beast in the snow. A bunch of old ice racers loved them.

 

[voltaire_e30]

So I ended up picking up a lvl kit was easy but also crusty bolts are always a fun one. Took it in for alignment and they gave me a bs list of crap wrong. The only thing they got right was the driver side wheel bearing. My buddy is a long time les schwab employee and former alignment tech. Came and looked at it to confirm my thoughts of only a bad wheel bearing. Said they probably didn't want to do the alignment since it's more work with the bushing style camber.

I measured the nut with a adjustable wrench came out to 1 ⅛. But the nut was probably 1". Needed a 1⅛ wrench for suppressor mounts so win win.

 

[MT_PLS]

So I ended up picking up a lvl kit was easy but also crusty bolts are always a fun one. Took it in for alignment and they gave me a bs list of crap wrong. The only thing they got right was the driver side wheel bearing. My buddy is a long time les schwab employee and former alignment tech. Came and looked at it to confirm my thoughts of only a bad wheel bearing. Said they probably didn't want to do the alignment since it's more work with the bushing style camber.

I measured the nut with a adjustable wrench came out to 1 ⅛. But the nut was probably 1". Needed a 1⅛ wrench for suppressor mounts so win win.

30 mm socket is what you need to get that nut off. I just installed my leveling springs today.

 

[voltaire_e30]

30 mm socket is what you need to get that nut off. I just installed my leveling springs today.

So some picks mate. I'm going to toss on some kyb gas-a-just on all corners since I'm getting an alignment. They're kinda needed. I'll see what the driver side is like when I do my wheel bearings this week.

 

[MT_PLS]

So some picks mate. I'm going to toss on some kyb gas-a-just on all corners since I'm getting an alignment. They're kinda needed. I'll see what the driver side is like when I do my wheel bearings this week.

I did not take any pictures during the install. I bought a 1/2" drive impact set from Harbor Freight, used a couple of extensions and went in through the top of the coil. Took all of an hour per side and that was with me taking my time.
Hardest part was making sure the coil was seated in the top of the coil bucket correctly before reinstalling the washer and bolt on the axle side.