Frank.JD.Perez
Legend
Hey there those of you who still remain active on this forum!
i've got somewhat of a new project/build im working on next to the Mare as she is getting a bit more finished up and less street-able.
About 6 months ago i picked up a new car because i just couldn't stand dailying the Mustang anymore on the crappy bay area roads with the horrible traffic i have on my commute. I know 60 miles round trip a day is nothing to most of you, but when it can take up to 2 hours just to go 30 miles... yea it sucks.
So i bought a BMW!
In mid march this year i purchased this 2000 BMW 323iT from the somewhat original owner with just over 172k miles. i say somewhat because the guy i bought the car off of had been using it for the last maybe 8 years or so, but it was originally purchased by his mom, so it was a single family car with the ENTIRE service history like my Mustang had. The 323i, unlike the 325i, doesn't have as much power which means it doesn't suffer from the head gasket issues like almost all the 3 series and 5 series BMWs had from this era, so i'm good there. Of course coming into the car i already had ideas of how i wanted it to look aesthetically, but over the time i've had it i decided what other mods she will see.
Mods such a suspension (full spec E46 parts), "new" rims, brakes, tires, sound system, upgraded seats and steering wheel, ZHP front and rear bumpers, M3 hood and eventually if i ever get there i want to do a full E46 M3 drivetrain swap with the SMG.
A little bit more about the car: it's has the legendary inline 6 motor that almost all BMWs have, the color is Steel Grey Metallic, its an auto with the steptronic shifter or whatever the politically correct term is, the car is a 2000 so it is the pre face lift model, has the factory Xenon headlights and sports some awesome 16x7 rims wrapped in 225/50 tires of some random manufacturer that i dont know or really care for, and she's a wagon! When i bought the car one of the very first things i did was take it to my local BMW dealer to get an inspection and figure out what other little gremlins the car had so i could fix them. I knew that the car needed an alignment and probably needed a cooling system overhaul among interior repairs, but when i got the inspection papers back it let me know i needed to replace my front control arm bushings, replace the lower power steering hose, get some new brake fluid in there and i think a couple other little bits that are escaping me at the moment. The dealer cost to fix all of that was about 5k which i LOL'd at very hard. To be honest though... the VERY first thing i did with the car was i had taken it to Sonoma Raceway lol. That was only for support car duties though i swear. Since i've owned the car though i have taken it out to an autocross event and have put almost 10,000 miles on it. I have taken about 2 or 3 trips to So Cal in her though, so that's about a thousand miles a trip in itself.
i've got somewhat of a new project/build im working on next to the Mare as she is getting a bit more finished up and less street-able.
About 6 months ago i picked up a new car because i just couldn't stand dailying the Mustang anymore on the crappy bay area roads with the horrible traffic i have on my commute. I know 60 miles round trip a day is nothing to most of you, but when it can take up to 2 hours just to go 30 miles... yea it sucks.
So i bought a BMW!
In mid march this year i purchased this 2000 BMW 323iT from the somewhat original owner with just over 172k miles. i say somewhat because the guy i bought the car off of had been using it for the last maybe 8 years or so, but it was originally purchased by his mom, so it was a single family car with the ENTIRE service history like my Mustang had. The 323i, unlike the 325i, doesn't have as much power which means it doesn't suffer from the head gasket issues like almost all the 3 series and 5 series BMWs had from this era, so i'm good there. Of course coming into the car i already had ideas of how i wanted it to look aesthetically, but over the time i've had it i decided what other mods she will see.
Mods such a suspension (full spec E46 parts), "new" rims, brakes, tires, sound system, upgraded seats and steering wheel, ZHP front and rear bumpers, M3 hood and eventually if i ever get there i want to do a full E46 M3 drivetrain swap with the SMG.
A little bit more about the car: it's has the legendary inline 6 motor that almost all BMWs have, the color is Steel Grey Metallic, its an auto with the steptronic shifter or whatever the politically correct term is, the car is a 2000 so it is the pre face lift model, has the factory Xenon headlights and sports some awesome 16x7 rims wrapped in 225/50 tires of some random manufacturer that i dont know or really care for, and she's a wagon! When i bought the car one of the very first things i did was take it to my local BMW dealer to get an inspection and figure out what other little gremlins the car had so i could fix them. I knew that the car needed an alignment and probably needed a cooling system overhaul among interior repairs, but when i got the inspection papers back it let me know i needed to replace my front control arm bushings, replace the lower power steering hose, get some new brake fluid in there and i think a couple other little bits that are escaping me at the moment. The dealer cost to fix all of that was about 5k which i LOL'd at very hard. To be honest though... the VERY first thing i did with the car was i had taken it to Sonoma Raceway lol. That was only for support car duties though i swear. Since i've owned the car though i have taken it out to an autocross event and have put almost 10,000 miles on it. I have taken about 2 or 3 trips to So Cal in her though, so that's about a thousand miles a trip in itself.
