Long read, but I’ve been waiting forever to do this. So, for those that are familiar with my car history, I figure you may enjoy this little story about an E30.
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The 330 has been a fun car, but I’ve been DYING to get myself back into an E30. There hasn’t been one day since I sold my last E30, and my M Coupe, that I haven’t heard “Dude, why did you sell your Coupe?” or “Dude, your E30 was so sick, why did you sell it”. And the worst: “Dude, the M Coupe is so much sicker than the 330, how do you deal with yourself?”.
Well, since I didn’t have an Xbox360(sold it for a track 2 years ago), I couldn’t build cars in Forza, so I resorted to building every and anything, online.. However, I got one for Xmas, and have been extraordinarily busying myself with building cars, racing, etc..
But, not anymore! Fast forward to around 11:00PM Monday night, my GF was telling me to get off the forums for a while, and I said “after I finish looking at this classifieds page”.
“1991 318iS, Central Coast, CA” **CLICK**
I found a goldmine. Something exactly in my budget (for a fun project), and emailed the owner. The car had the same wheels as my two previous E30’s, same exterior, and same interior; there is no way I was letting this one get out of my hands.
After being shut down twice with trading in my 330 for a ZCP E46 M3 (every time I finished talking with a sales person, and would come back a few hours later, the car was sold. LAME.) there was NO WAY I would let this car escape. I had to have it.
I kept looking at the flicker page, constantly, for a good hour or two, just hoping that I would get this, and someone wouldn’t have already snagged it.
Asleep I went, barely, and tried to not get my hopes up. I got an email at 5:59AM on my phone, from the owner… WOO!
After a few emails, and some exchange of info, I made my way up from Ventura, after a quick stop by one of the offices I work at, and landed in Arroyo Grande. The 100 mile drive felt like the longest 100 miles, ever. I had a good friend accompany me to drive the 330 back down, after buying the car.
When I exited, I was giddy, and the second I saw the classic E30 nose parked in a driveway: a HUGE smile grew.
After a few handshakes, the shortest test-drive ever, the car was mine! I was scared for a moment when I was talking with him, because some women walked by and said “Oh you’re selling it already? I wanted to buy it! How much are you selling it for?” . My jaw dropped, as I thought, “no way is this happening right now”.
1991 BMW 318iS, Brilliantrot on Beige
220,000 Miles
IE Stage 3 Springs
Intake
B&B TriFlow Exhaust
Z3 Short Shifter
Ronal LS Wheels
Front + Rear Shock Tower Braces.
This car was superbly reminiscent of my past. And I couldn’t have been any happier; getting 35+ MPG on the freeway put the icing on the cake.
All of the maintenance that I’d want to do: done. And all of the starter modifications that I’d do instantly: done. I was amped!
And so it began... At around 9:00PM the GF and friends showed up to begin tearing it apart for a killer cleaning and diagnostic. They all felt as though it was an addition to ‘the family’ and couldn’t believe how quickly I jumped on this car.
So amped!
Taking the seats out. Beer helps.
So effin’ dirty. This thing doesn’t seem like its been cleaned in YEARS.
Scrubbing away the pain of dirty carpets.
When I went outside to throw some junk away; sneaky E30.
Before we started the night, we had to pick up some beers to celebrate the new member of the family. Straight from Munich:
wat.
The best. She was as amped as I was on the car, and stoked to see this car get put through the paces.
Cookies were made as secondary fuel next to the beer and pizza.
Making this beast as clean as possible.
End Day 1 @ 3:00 AM. 6 Hours total, thus far.
Day 2 began at around 12:00PM.
A hefty engine-bay cleaning and wash was planned. Purple Power and some other De-Greaser that my buddy brought were used, with mild pressure washing. I’m dumb and forgot to take clean engine-bay pictures.
So dirty.
Heavily oxidize paint. At this point I figured it wouldn’t be repairable beyond just basic car washes. I figured, “whatever, when this gal gets a new motor, perhaps I’ll paint it, or perhaps I’ll just stop washing it”.
It shows promise.. but we’ll see. It looks like the paint wants to get wet, but it doesn’t.. the water goes away instantly.
This driveway is prime for detailing/cleaning/whatever.
Cleanin’ Cleanin’ Cleanin’.
Took a break and headed to Subway. Had to treat everyone to lunch, they’ve been helping out so much. I love driving this car, it puts a smile on my face every time.
The car came with a Korean chip, ProFormance. It made the car start-up and run worse... so we swapped back the stock one. The Intake-Boot had usual cracking and was ripped in a section, so we had to tape it up, very very annoying.
Ordered new parts for it already, should be in soon from Pelican. Intake Boot + Roundels.
End Day 2 @ 5:00 PM. 11 Hours total, thus far.
---
The 330 has been a fun car, but I’ve been DYING to get myself back into an E30. There hasn’t been one day since I sold my last E30, and my M Coupe, that I haven’t heard “Dude, why did you sell your Coupe?” or “Dude, your E30 was so sick, why did you sell it”. And the worst: “Dude, the M Coupe is so much sicker than the 330, how do you deal with yourself?”.
Well, since I didn’t have an Xbox360(sold it for a track 2 years ago), I couldn’t build cars in Forza, so I resorted to building every and anything, online.. However, I got one for Xmas, and have been extraordinarily busying myself with building cars, racing, etc..
But, not anymore! Fast forward to around 11:00PM Monday night, my GF was telling me to get off the forums for a while, and I said “after I finish looking at this classifieds page”.
“1991 318iS, Central Coast, CA” **CLICK**
I found a goldmine. Something exactly in my budget (for a fun project), and emailed the owner. The car had the same wheels as my two previous E30’s, same exterior, and same interior; there is no way I was letting this one get out of my hands.
After being shut down twice with trading in my 330 for a ZCP E46 M3 (every time I finished talking with a sales person, and would come back a few hours later, the car was sold. LAME.) there was NO WAY I would let this car escape. I had to have it.
I kept looking at the flicker page, constantly, for a good hour or two, just hoping that I would get this, and someone wouldn’t have already snagged it.
Asleep I went, barely, and tried to not get my hopes up. I got an email at 5:59AM on my phone, from the owner… WOO!
After a few emails, and some exchange of info, I made my way up from Ventura, after a quick stop by one of the offices I work at, and landed in Arroyo Grande. The 100 mile drive felt like the longest 100 miles, ever. I had a good friend accompany me to drive the 330 back down, after buying the car.
When I exited, I was giddy, and the second I saw the classic E30 nose parked in a driveway: a HUGE smile grew.
After a few handshakes, the shortest test-drive ever, the car was mine! I was scared for a moment when I was talking with him, because some women walked by and said “Oh you’re selling it already? I wanted to buy it! How much are you selling it for?” . My jaw dropped, as I thought, “no way is this happening right now”.
1991 BMW 318iS, Brilliantrot on Beige
220,000 Miles
IE Stage 3 Springs
Intake
B&B TriFlow Exhaust
Z3 Short Shifter
Ronal LS Wheels
Front + Rear Shock Tower Braces.
This car was superbly reminiscent of my past. And I couldn’t have been any happier; getting 35+ MPG on the freeway put the icing on the cake.
All of the maintenance that I’d want to do: done. And all of the starter modifications that I’d do instantly: done. I was amped!
And so it began... At around 9:00PM the GF and friends showed up to begin tearing it apart for a killer cleaning and diagnostic. They all felt as though it was an addition to ‘the family’ and couldn’t believe how quickly I jumped on this car.
So amped!
Taking the seats out. Beer helps.
So effin’ dirty. This thing doesn’t seem like its been cleaned in YEARS.
Scrubbing away the pain of dirty carpets.
When I went outside to throw some junk away; sneaky E30.
Before we started the night, we had to pick up some beers to celebrate the new member of the family. Straight from Munich:
wat.
The best. She was as amped as I was on the car, and stoked to see this car get put through the paces.
Cookies were made as secondary fuel next to the beer and pizza.
Making this beast as clean as possible.
End Day 1 @ 3:00 AM. 6 Hours total, thus far.
Day 2 began at around 12:00PM.
A hefty engine-bay cleaning and wash was planned. Purple Power and some other De-Greaser that my buddy brought were used, with mild pressure washing. I’m dumb and forgot to take clean engine-bay pictures.
So dirty.
Heavily oxidize paint. At this point I figured it wouldn’t be repairable beyond just basic car washes. I figured, “whatever, when this gal gets a new motor, perhaps I’ll paint it, or perhaps I’ll just stop washing it”.
It shows promise.. but we’ll see. It looks like the paint wants to get wet, but it doesn’t.. the water goes away instantly.
This driveway is prime for detailing/cleaning/whatever.
Cleanin’ Cleanin’ Cleanin’.
Took a break and headed to Subway. Had to treat everyone to lunch, they’ve been helping out so much. I love driving this car, it puts a smile on my face every time.
The car came with a Korean chip, ProFormance. It made the car start-up and run worse... so we swapped back the stock one. The Intake-Boot had usual cracking and was ripped in a section, so we had to tape it up, very very annoying.
Ordered new parts for it already, should be in soon from Pelican. Intake Boot + Roundels.
End Day 2 @ 5:00 PM. 11 Hours total, thus far.
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