'91 318is, non-sunroof.

[91 318is]

Good base, I miss my slicktop

+1, see sig

[naplesE30]

only a week and +2

[SpyHunter]

To be honest id much rather have the sunroof. Unless it was a race car of course.

Me too. However, for the price, and condition, couldn't turn it down. Could always resell it. ;) I, honestly, wanted a 325is. But I like this so far. Only two things it doesn't have, that I wanted. Sunroof, and cruise control! LOL.

So, drove it last night to go to the Electric 6 concert. Stopped to get something to eat, and when we came back to the car, smelled fuel. Backed out, and there was a nice puddle under the drivers side by where the rear wheel would have been. So, just picked up a an fuel filter and some fuel line. Will be replacing those in a minute.

I should move this to the project forum. Or just start a new thread there. LOL.

[SpyHunter]

Well, wasn't the filter or the hoses. Although, they were/are cracked pretty good. Was thinking I wanted to pull the rear and do all the bushings. Guess I have a reason to now. Looks like I am going to need a new gas tank. LOL. Winter is going to be busy.

[TexasTerp]

nice start! sucks about the sanding crap, can't wait to see how it turns out!

[SpyHunter]

Update! Fixed the leaking fuel line awhile ago. Enjoyed driving it a bit, when it was nice out. I think I am really going to like this car.

Now on to current status:

Once driving again, it didn't take long to get rid of the air bag wheel. Installed the Mtech and some tan sport seats that were "laying around".



Well, driving it a bit revealed several things that needed to be done. Had a stutter under acceleration at around 5k. So, replaced plugs and added COP kit. Runs, and pulls much nicer now. Please disregard the dirty cam box. Did a quick wipe down, and that is the best it gets for now.



Also noticed the rear basically needed all new bushings, and the front arms were NOT done, as was once thought. Car has a ball joint that is definitely going out. So, have new subframe, TA, and diff bushings on the way. Also ordered some new control arms, CABs, tierods, and end links. Waiting on it all to get here, to start on it. Will be checking the status of the center support bearing and flex disk at that time, as well.

The other thing that needed done is the interior swap. Dash is cracked, and interior is tan. Do not want. Luckily enough, the track rat we have had a perfect, non-cracked dash in it. Hmmm. I also have black leather sport seats in the winter beater, as well as a grey/black carpet. So, I ran by the U-pull it, and was lucky enough to grab some black door cards, and rear panels, out a coupe. Oh, and the track rat had some nice, black front speaker cover panels, too. Perfect.

So, today, I started that project. With a successful pull of the good dash out of the track rat, I started repeating the process. Here are some pics:

Had some pics of the interior all together, but it didn't upload, and I deleted them before I noticed! Doh.





Surprise! (No, not buttsecks) Car didn't come with tan carpet. :( Kinda funny and sad at the same time. I, apparently, had the exact color I want in it in the first place: Grey. :-? You can just make it out, under the heater core.



Dash is out! Woot.



Have the rest out now. All carpet, panels... everything. Has a couple spots of rust up in the foot wells, along the tranny tunnel. Not real bad. But will probably want to do something with it. Will have pics up tonight. Tomorrow will be pulling the alarm, or whatever is tied into the ignition harness, and generally cleaning up the wiring. Also, will start adding the cruise control I am taking from the track rat. Sat. will be pulling the stuff needed from the black car, and replacing it with the stuff I pulled today. Fun, fun! LOL.

[SpyHunter]

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd, we're back. Moar pics!

Just a few RCA's laying around. Seriously, there were, like, 6 sets!



Who does this? These are Monster cable RCA's. The best ones in the car, IMHO, and they CUT them?!



Everything tied up, out of the way.



It is now a shell of its former self.



Rust issues:





Like I mentioned in the previous post. Tomorrow I will transfer the cruise control setup, clean up the wiring by removing a ton of the added on crap, and probably sand down, primer, and paint the rusted spots.

[Simon S]

egg salad.

[Bey]

Very nice platform to start with! Makes me miss my slicktop also.. *sits in the corner crying next to Kilawin and 91 318is*

BTW Huck Gee fan?

[SpyHunter]

BTW Huck Gee fan?

I am kinda sorta. The wife, however, is a huge fan. You should see her "kraft" room. I will try and take a pic. Sooo many dunnies and the like. LOL.


So, I brought the black rat over to pull its carpet. For those that don't know the car, here it is:




Well, pulled it in and went to work. Funny that I now have 3 E30s in the shop, and all have different motors. One '87 325is, one '91 318is, and the '85 318i. Here is a quick pic:



So, like I said, I got to work pulling the black/grey carpet out of the black rat. The plan was to turn around and install the tan carpet and seats back into it, once everything was out. Well..... I am now thinking it is time for a part out. LOL. Here are some pics of the floor of the black rat:

Passenger side:



Behind seat on the drivers side (Not really thaaaaat big of a deal, though):



But here is the issue, lol:



As I was getting ready to pull drivers side of the carpet, I removed the c-clip on the accelerator, and went to pull it backward. As I did so, it slipped downward. And downward, and downward, and out. LOL!

So, what should I do? Do I bother putting the tan carpet back in this? Do I throw some floor mats, or fab something to hold the bottom of the pedal and keep driving it? Or just part it out? I have a nice Cup Kit suspension on it, with brand new front control arms and the like. That would be worth some decent money. I haven't really used the car a lot this winter. Hmmmm. It is nice having it, though. Hmm.

[Bey]

I am kinda sorta. The wife, however, is a huge fan. You should see her "kraft" room. I will try and take a pic. Sooo many dunnies and the like. LOL.

Haha same here. Those dunnys can get very addicting and is almost as expensive as our car hobb! Heres a picture of HG's decal on the rear of my totalled E30..

[SpyHunter]

A little more work today.

Here are most of the wires pulled out of the car. This does not include the air bag wiring. Multiple RCAs, mucho speaker wire, craptastic alarm thingy, and some factory stereo wiring. BTW, none of this went anywhere, or was hooked up to anything. Except the alarm. Which was tied into the central locking system, 12V and ign. But even it didn't work. LOL.



Probably can't tell much, but here I have trimmed back the wiring of things known to not be needed, and re-wrapped the main loom and stereo loom. No more crappy, falling apart, cloth tape. Yay!



Have all the new stereo stuff (RCAs, remote wire, rear speaker wire, antenna, and a wire to run from the amp to the door speaker) run along the drivers side. I also ran speaker wire from the headunit to both front speaker locations, so if I ever sell the car, I can easily swap in some cheaper speakers in the stock location.



Followed the factory wiring, and its tied in with the factory ties.



Lastly I took some time and cleaned up the carpet that is going in. It was in terrible shape. Crusty and rust colored around the throttle area. Not completely done, but it is much better now!



Oh, and to give you a further idea of what I was working with....



That folks, is a speaker wire DUCT TAPED together. Yes, you read that right. The previous owner used DUCT TAPE to wire all four speaker wires together. And then used it to wire the power, ground, and accessory. Kids, don't use duct tape on your electrical system. Its for body panels, bumpers, seats.... not wires.



I know a lot of this is probably pretty boring. And, in all actuality, this should probably be in the projects forum. I am just trying to keep a diary of sorts, to look back on later. So, if I can move it, or a mod could, that would be cool with me. :D

[z31maniac]

tan and sterling?
thats an interesting stock combo

Same combo for my slicktop 318is.

Mine now has black leather sports with anthracite houndstooth door panels.

OP, keep up the momentum. If we could get a decent day of weather around here, I'd post up some pics of mine as well.

[mbulsa]

i wish i could find a slick top like that, have fun with the replacements and mods =]

[formula driver]

I'd love a slick top. Looks like a nice platform to start with.

This...

I would LOVE to have that car, its such a good car to start with with! I'd go buck wild with it!

edit: i read through the tread a bit. Not a Gem like I thought, but definatly not far off.