Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the forum. The first thing I'd address would be the cooling system. There's a great writeup in the knowledge base section called "Cooling System Rebuild". This involves replacing almost every component in the cooling system. It's not very difficult or expensive to do and it will give you peace of mind for another hundred thousand miles. Overheating due to failed cooling system components is the number one killer of these engines. While you're replacing the cooling system, you may want to consider removing the oil filter housing and replacing the o-rings and paper gasket. The oil filter housing is known to leak once the o-rings become hard and flat. I'm not speaking of the o-rings under the cap, but instead the o-rings on the check valve aka "bush" which is located between the filter housing and engine block. Doing this repair at the same time as your cooling system rebuild will eliminate the need to remove the intake manifold which is a pain in the ass.
Next I would replace all of the fluids. Note, the power steering system DOES NOT USE power steering fluid. Instead it uses ATF (automatic transmission fluid).
Next, I would replace all of the drivetrain bushings. Engine mounts, Transmission mounts, center support bearing(supports the driveshaft), and the differential bushing.
Next, I'd replace all of the suspension and steering bushings, ball joints, bearings and tie rods. This includes the front control arm bushings, front and rear sway bar links, inner and outer ball joints, tie rods, front strut bearings, rear upper shock mounts, rear trailing arm bushings, and rear subframe bushings.
Since the car will need an alignment after the bushings are replaced, it would be a good idea to replace the worn shocks and struts prior to taking it in for alignment.
And finally, I'd address the brakes. You can upgrade to vented rotors in the front. There's a few different routes people take. 325i/s are a cheap and direct swap. All you need is calipers, carriers pads and rotors. I think 330 brakes are just as simple, maybe a little more expensive. M3 front brakes require spindles as well as the other parts mentioned. Not many options available for rear brakes that doesn't invole some sort of custom fabrication.
Hope that helps, and again welcome to the forum! |