Hello all,
Been lurking here for a while reading up on a ton of how-to's and member's fixes for various issues with the E30 and found time to decide and join the forum and be a part of the community. So, without further ado here's my introductory post!
Back in 2004 my dad helped me buy my first car: an '85 BMW 318i, with an automatic. Ran like a top, super clean, and got me to and from college.
About 2 years after owning the car and making many, many trips up to Flagstaff and back the transmission went out. No reverse, and 1st gear barely engaged. Had the transmission rebuild quoted around $3k but since I was a poor, starving college student at the time I couldn't afford the rebuild nor had any expertise on how to rebuild anything. So, the car went up for sale. Had 136K miles on the odo.
Fast forward 10 years: I'm a manufacturing engineer for a top firearms company and have been longing for a project car. I missed my old E30 so much that I went shopping for an 80s BMW. Ended up finding an '87 535is down in Phoenix. Car was sharp, drove well and had a couple electrical issues with the tail lights, but it helped fill the E30 void, but not entirely. I still longed for my 318i, so I posted an ad on Craigslist with the photo above.
About 2 months later some local guy told me he had the exact car in the photo. Right then my heart skipped a beat, so I met up with him to out the car. Sure enough, it was the same car and had all the quirks I remember it had, and only had 146k miles on it. This time it had a rebuild transmission. Paint is really bad unfortunately, but the color matched.
So, here's the car in all it's glory.
Car ran like crap though. Surging idle, low fuel pressure, bad sensors... basically everything was wrong. It sat for 4 years before I rescued it.
So far, all the fuel and vacuum hoses have been replaced, new spark plugs and wires, new fuel injectors, fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter, replace in-tank fuel pump, in-line fuel pump, idle stabilization relay, coolant sensors and switch, replaced the cluster, window weatherstripping, and all interior lights with white LED. Has a new oil pan and valve cover gasket. Runs a ton better but something may be wrong with the idle control module. AFM was tampered with since there was no spring tension on the vane :down:
Anyway, that's where I'm at with the car at the moment. It drives super smooth and gets me where I need to be. Sure ain't fast but corners awesome!
Been lurking here for a while reading up on a ton of how-to's and member's fixes for various issues with the E30 and found time to decide and join the forum and be a part of the community. So, without further ado here's my introductory post!
Back in 2004 my dad helped me buy my first car: an '85 BMW 318i, with an automatic. Ran like a top, super clean, and got me to and from college.
About 2 years after owning the car and making many, many trips up to Flagstaff and back the transmission went out. No reverse, and 1st gear barely engaged. Had the transmission rebuild quoted around $3k but since I was a poor, starving college student at the time I couldn't afford the rebuild nor had any expertise on how to rebuild anything. So, the car went up for sale. Had 136K miles on the odo.
Fast forward 10 years: I'm a manufacturing engineer for a top firearms company and have been longing for a project car. I missed my old E30 so much that I went shopping for an 80s BMW. Ended up finding an '87 535is down in Phoenix. Car was sharp, drove well and had a couple electrical issues with the tail lights, but it helped fill the E30 void, but not entirely. I still longed for my 318i, so I posted an ad on Craigslist with the photo above.
About 2 months later some local guy told me he had the exact car in the photo. Right then my heart skipped a beat, so I met up with him to out the car. Sure enough, it was the same car and had all the quirks I remember it had, and only had 146k miles on it. This time it had a rebuild transmission. Paint is really bad unfortunately, but the color matched.
So, here's the car in all it's glory.
Car ran like crap though. Surging idle, low fuel pressure, bad sensors... basically everything was wrong. It sat for 4 years before I rescued it.
So far, all the fuel and vacuum hoses have been replaced, new spark plugs and wires, new fuel injectors, fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter, replace in-tank fuel pump, in-line fuel pump, idle stabilization relay, coolant sensors and switch, replaced the cluster, window weatherstripping, and all interior lights with white LED. Has a new oil pan and valve cover gasket. Runs a ton better but something may be wrong with the idle control module. AFM was tampered with since there was no spring tension on the vane :down:
Anyway, that's where I'm at with the car at the moment. It drives super smooth and gets me where I need to be. Sure ain't fast but corners awesome!
Comment