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What's up everyone. I just joined Stance Works yesterday (I had an account previously but couldn't remember what my username/email was) and I've been working on my 2000 528i for about 6 years. It's gone through a lot of phases and I've made a lot of mistakes along the way, and when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. 
Basically, I got this car when I was 17 (I'm 25 now). I made an agreement with my parents that I would pay for half of whatever car I wanted plus any maintenance. I left the car alone for a long time until I was in college. I'm not going to go all the way back to the beginning but here is quick picture of what it used to look like back in the day.
I think this photo was taken in the fall of 2006 so it's pretty old.
I ended up doing some of the basics over the next couple of years. New wheels, M-Tech body kit, suspension, M5 steering wheel, sound system, etc etc. I spent a lot of money redoing things several times because I went cheap the first time around.
When I started doing all of this work I wasn't on forums really, didn't have friends in the scene who could guide me through it, and I was young + stupid. I guess you can say it was an uphill battle.
This is what my car looked like back in 2009 more or less:
Not exactly Stance Works material but there is always room for improvement
This is where it gets interesting. Last year was a rough one for me between work and car stuff. My car got backed into by some knucklehead at the mall (of course it was a hit and run) which wrecked the front bumper, my cooling system failed catastrophically, and things started falling apart. In December right before Christmas is when things really went south. On my way home from work someone was tailgating me and I decided to leave them in the dust through the twisties. I hit a dip in the road and subsequently broke a motor mount and motor support. With that it was time to make a decision. Get rid of my first car which I had grown attached to over the years or give this car what it deserves and spend the time to bring it back. I chose the latter.
Below are links to the work I did on my car (I did videos instead of photos)
Here's what I did over the winter:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vq-iqiKDgc"]BC Racing BR coilovers[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8iBbgzhI0M"]Varrstoen 1.1.2's in 19x9.5"/19X11[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SZiqROEq7k"]New motor mounts[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI8NAcwDKMY"]New motor support[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FUf_6zmvvM"]New power steering lines and reservoir[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eJEjn-xil8"]New rear guidelinks[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV6rj4v0ccM"]New rear wishbones[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0hLVFOjvl4"]New O2 sensors[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh-j3EexyOE"]New wheel bearings[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Eg28G4GeE"]New camshaft position sensors[/ame]
Here is what I'm working with now since the last 4 months of work
I'll keep posting in this thread as I get stuff done but the list is a mile long at this point. Time to start saving some $$$ to get it done.
Any input you guys might have would be appreciated and I'll post more photos later.
Basically, I got this car when I was 17 (I'm 25 now). I made an agreement with my parents that I would pay for half of whatever car I wanted plus any maintenance. I left the car alone for a long time until I was in college. I'm not going to go all the way back to the beginning but here is quick picture of what it used to look like back in the day.
I think this photo was taken in the fall of 2006 so it's pretty old.
I ended up doing some of the basics over the next couple of years. New wheels, M-Tech body kit, suspension, M5 steering wheel, sound system, etc etc. I spent a lot of money redoing things several times because I went cheap the first time around.
When I started doing all of this work I wasn't on forums really, didn't have friends in the scene who could guide me through it, and I was young + stupid. I guess you can say it was an uphill battle.
This is what my car looked like back in 2009 more or less:
Not exactly Stance Works material but there is always room for improvement
This is where it gets interesting. Last year was a rough one for me between work and car stuff. My car got backed into by some knucklehead at the mall (of course it was a hit and run) which wrecked the front bumper, my cooling system failed catastrophically, and things started falling apart. In December right before Christmas is when things really went south. On my way home from work someone was tailgating me and I decided to leave them in the dust through the twisties. I hit a dip in the road and subsequently broke a motor mount and motor support. With that it was time to make a decision. Get rid of my first car which I had grown attached to over the years or give this car what it deserves and spend the time to bring it back. I chose the latter.
Below are links to the work I did on my car (I did videos instead of photos)
Here's what I did over the winter:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vq-iqiKDgc"]BC Racing BR coilovers[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8iBbgzhI0M"]Varrstoen 1.1.2's in 19x9.5"/19X11[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SZiqROEq7k"]New motor mounts[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI8NAcwDKMY"]New motor support[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FUf_6zmvvM"]New power steering lines and reservoir[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eJEjn-xil8"]New rear guidelinks[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV6rj4v0ccM"]New rear wishbones[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0hLVFOjvl4"]New O2 sensors[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh-j3EexyOE"]New wheel bearings[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Eg28G4GeE"]New camshaft position sensors[/ame]
Here is what I'm working with now since the last 4 months of work
I'll keep posting in this thread as I get stuff done but the list is a mile long at this point. Time to start saving some $$$ to get it done.
Any input you guys might have would be appreciated and I'll post more photos later.
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