Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

You could upgrade to 15" Euro weaves.

True!

I have a set for sale!

PM'd.

[fresh_TD]

True!



PM'd.

Pmed replied

[quanaman]

Another alternative is getting antique plates! No state inspection or emissions needed.

[mike.bmw]

Another alternative is getting antique plates! No state inspection or emissions needed.

I considered getting antique plates when I registered the car earlier this year. With antique plates there are stipulations where you can only drive the car in certain instances. I like to drive the car to work a couple days each week as well as other places that aren't "allowed" if you have antique plates in VA.

After hours of more research, I ordered 195/65R14 (89H) Nexen CP672 tires from simpletire.com. It's simply a decent all season tire and will suit my needs on the 318is in the short term.

I considered 205/60R14 Federal 595s and 195/60R14 Falken 615Ks, but at the end of the day I needed something that would work well in all temperatures. The Falken 615Ks wouldn't work well when driving in the cold winter months. I feared the 205 width Federals, which I've read run "wide", would've been too wide for my taste on the stock basketweaves.

As for the 15" Euroweaves, I'd rather focus spending money elsewhere on the car at the moment. I'll revisit "new" wheels once I get some other things sorted out.

I'll take some photos of the new tires once they arrive and they've been mounted.

[mike.bmw]

My new tires arrived. I chanced a local shop down the street to mount and balance the tires on the stock wheels. The shop has good reviews on Yelp. It worked out well and they didn't scratch the wheels.

Side note: 4 195/65R14 tires fit easily into the e30 trunk! I forgot to take a photo of this!

How are the tires? Well, they're good in the sense that they balanced easily on the wheels and I haven't detected any vibrations up to 70mph. They're quiet (for now). They're not so great in the 'grip' department. The contact patch is slightly smaller than the 195/65R14s on the car previously (same size). For just over $300 including mounting and balancing, I'm not going to complain. Similar to the so-so tires that come on Subaru BRZs (Scion FRS), they'll make the car a bit more 'exciting' to drive.

Oh, and in other news, I ordered a SSSquid Stage 1, 93 octane, 19# injector chip. It'll be here next week. I'm looking forward to installing the chip!

Here are some photos of the new tires mounted.

[getouth]

nice work!!

[squidmaster]

Car looks great! I have only used feddies once and did not enjoy their grip. Almost as bad as the tires they replaced at 20% tread. It was for my old '11 legacy so it's not like I was flinging it around the track hah.

Good tread life and road noise however

[mike.bmw]

nice work!!

Thanks!

Car looks great! I have only used feddies once and did not enjoy their grip. Almost as bad as the tires they replaced at 20% tread. It was for my old '11 legacy so it's not like I was flinging it around the track hah.

Good tread life and road noise however

Yeah, the tires I replaced had less than 2/32nds left. The new ones aren't terrible. Certainly not anything I'd autocross or track with, but fine for spirited driving and taking the car out on nice days.

I received your chip in the mail today. That was fast! I wasn't expecting it until next week. Install was a breeze. Less than 25 minutes, which included 3 trips to the garage to get tools I forgot to bring inside. I only needed 3 tools :D , so it was a trip for each tool. One of those days.

The packaging was great. It also contained some stickers, which will go onto the toolbox.

This video was extremely helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6QJCPeWGGY

The car turned on and idled really nicely. I haven't taken it out for a drive yet because there's snow on the ground. I'll likely take it out for some road time tomorrow.

Installation photos:

[getouth]

Get some reviews up on this if you could I'm sure other m42ers would appreciate it.[emoji1474]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[phreshkid]

+1

[mike.bmw]

SSSquid chip review!

Due to salt on the roads and rain, I haven't driven the e30 much. I did manage to put about 75 miles on it this past weekend though. Enough for me to get a good feel for the chip. I'm very pleased with the chip. I opted for the 93 octane, 19# injector, stage 1 version. Here is what I've noticed so far:
- Noticeable bump in torque under 3K rpm.
- Pulls harder past 4K rpm.
- Feels "smoother" overall.
- I'll need to drive a few hundred more miles to see what, if any, difference is made in fuel economy.

Nexen CP672 (195/65R14) tire review!
Meh. :neutral:

Other stuff!
I watched a couple of old episodes of Wheeler Dealers last night. I love that show. The only downside is that it makes me want to spend lots of money on my projects. So here's an updated list of things I want to accomplish in the next 2 months:
- LSD with fresh bushing (and possibly fresh seals)
- fresh IS front valence + paint
- fresh IS rear spoiler + paint
- obtain and install working/refurb'd SI board
- Replace seat shocks. Clean/lube seat-back tilt mechanisms. Possibly install new driver seat padding.

Long term goals:
- New springs/struts.
- Figure out why my throw-out bearing is making noise?

[mike.bmw]

Yesterday I got a couple things accomplished.

It's a Cluster F**K!

My inspection light would stay on, even after clearing it. I suspected the batteries were toast. A local e30 guy was parting a wrecked '91 e30 that he picked up as a manual transmission donor, so I bought the cluster from him with a working SI board. Last night I performed the swap.

The clusters:


The SI Boards. Notice my old SI Board has a warranty sticker on it (as does the cluster itself). That's the number for Programa Inc. My SI Board and entire cluster was reconditioned in 2011. The reconditioned SI Board uses the rechargable batteries. The donor board uses Lithium batteries. The donor cluster only has 73K miles on it. I believe it's a newer cluster (replaced about 10 years ago) so hopefully these lithium batteries will last a while.


While it was out, I polished the plastic using plastic polish:




I have an understanding wife. I've used the same dinner table to assemble suspension shocks/springs/top-hats and other automotive things that should not be done at the dinner table. :devil:


It took me about an hour to get the cluster out the first time. I couldn't get it to rotate downward to remove the plugs in the back. I was afraid of breaking the tabs so I was extremely cautious. The top of the cluster was getting hung up underneath the dash. Eventually I used two screw drivers in the top corner to slide the cluster out. Even though I've removed the steering wheel and airbag before, I opted not to do it this time and it wasn't in the way.

After swapping the SI Boards I reinstalled the cluster, reconnected the battery, and started the car. The light behind the tach and fuel gauge wasn't working. F**K! F****************K! It only took me 5 minutes to get the cluster out this time. I took it all apart again and swapped a bulb from the donor cluster. I plugged it back in, checked the lights and functions, and THEN put all the trim back. I reset the inspection and oil lights using my Peake Research tool. SUCCESS.

A/C Switch

The A/C button wouldn't stay pressed in. I was going to order a new one for $87, but figured why not try to fix the current one. I found this post online:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=244901

The images were not working. It was an old thread. I posted and r3v came through. The OP fixed the broken images. Amazing. And I'm glad the images were there because when I took the switch apart, half of it shot across the room (springs inside) and I wouldn't have been able to figure out where the gray plastic tab went.

I cleaned up the switch and reassembled it. Success!



Paint Quotes for "is" rear spoiler and front lip

I contacted 5 local shops. I sent them links to the pre-primed OEM BMW parts I wanted painted. I received quotes ranging from $161 to $705. Quite the spread. The $161 shop actually does body work for the BMW Sterling dealership and has rave reviews online. I'll likely go with them as they do work for my local BMW dealership.

[fresh_TD]

$705 to paint a front lip and trunk spoiler? LOL

[mike.bmw]

$705 to paint a front lip and trunk spoiler? LOL

Yeah. $705. No kidding. I did confirm the scope of work because that seemed extremely high. And I'm just dropping the new pieces off. No removal or installation necessary.

The other quotes were $260, $438, and $500. I was a little weary of the $161 quote since it was the cheapest, but based on the reviews of the shop I'm going to give them a shot.

[fresh_TD]

Yeah. $705. No kidding. I did confirm the scope of work because that seemed extremely high. And I'm just dropping the new pieces off. No removal or installation necessary.

The other quotes were $260, $438, and $500. I was a little weary of the $161 quote since it was the cheapest, but based on the reviews of the shop I'm going to give them a shot.

$160 is about right..I wouldn't pay more then that.