We had a mini video thread a month ago, showing that this project finally completed, so I figured I would post a thread that shows a basic progression of the car, and what it currently looks like.
The original car was a 1983 323i, which had...an incident with a tree.
Needless to say, a few phonecalls later, and a bunch of dedicated r3v members, we decided to rebuild Mot's car, and provide him with a daily driver once again.
Mot purchased a 1984 318i, only to have the engine explode 20 miles after he bought it, it was towed back to his home in Portland, where it sat for a few weeks.
Then I took a look at it.
The 1984 was stripped before I got to it, EVERYTHING was removed, except for the gastank, glass, and doors, it had no suspension, engine, electrical, interior, hell it even had rusty holes in the floor.
The 6 days were pretty much 3 weekends, from start to first drive. Obviously the car is not DONE per say, but it does drive fine.
The First weekend was stripping down the 323i, everything was removed carefully to ensure we could use it on the new car, the entire electrical harness was removed and repaired (the 323i was federalized, so the wiring was hacked to hell), it also had an AFTERMARKET A/C system installed, that was tapped into tons of different electrical terminals, so all of that was removed.
All rear suspension was dropped, engine pulled, and interior stripped.
With the euro.."out of the way" we installed the new engine, electrical and front suspension.
One week went by, as new parts arrived and used parts were ripped out of wrecked cars at a few local yards.
The next weekend was the installation of the driveshaft, rear subframe, diff, brakelines, finalize electrical, and a few cosmetic items. We also replaced the damaged driver side trailing arm with a used one from an 84 325e that was in good shape.
We also realized that rain sucks.
Another week or two went by, and we had the final weekend to get the car driveable.
All final items were installed, fixed a ground issue with the spark generator on the 323i engine, and bled all the fluids that were in the car. This took about 2 days as we had tons of LITTLE things that had to get accomplished.
We FINALLy went for the first drive, only to run into steering linkage issues, however the car DID drive, and the only issue was the linkage binding on occasion, which was finally fixed (not 100% yet though)
They drove up to my garage this weekend, to do some more fine tuning of the car, including a rebleed of the clutch and brakes to get a little trapped air out of them, install the rear (albeit bent) bumper, install some front trim, and repair some minor electrical gremlins (OBC Backlight) etc. We also installed the rear IS Spoiler and welded a bracket to teh strut tower for the coolant overflow tank (318i's never had the braket)
And here, finally, are more up close pictures of the car. I admit, its not much to look at, but its really a blast to drive. Combined with the weight of the car (ZERO Sound deadning, No Spare Tire, etc) its a VERY fun car to drive. Gobs of lowend torque, and a decent topend provide alot of fun. Once we work a few bugs out of it, driving it will be a complete blast.
We OBVIOUSLY have cosmetic issues to work out on it, both front and rear bumpers do have damage, so a few pieces need to be replaced in order to ensure a nice tight fit, the interior is FAR from complete, and the car could use a good respray/wash. But from a mechanical/electrical point of view, every feature works (minus the power mirrors, thats next), and its a fun car.
So there you have it, I present to you the car, that r3vlimited built.
I KNOW I am forgetting people, but thank you to
Mot, Mooch, All of toms friends, who did wrench on occasion), Mots Dad, Kencopperweat, Eurospeed (I know you wrenched on it a few times), Nathan, h0lmes, Darkwing6, miso beno, and benDASHDASH. Those are the key guys that i REMEMBER, and I know I forgot somebody :(
The original car was a 1983 323i, which had...an incident with a tree.
Needless to say, a few phonecalls later, and a bunch of dedicated r3v members, we decided to rebuild Mot's car, and provide him with a daily driver once again.
Mot purchased a 1984 318i, only to have the engine explode 20 miles after he bought it, it was towed back to his home in Portland, where it sat for a few weeks.
Then I took a look at it.
The 1984 was stripped before I got to it, EVERYTHING was removed, except for the gastank, glass, and doors, it had no suspension, engine, electrical, interior, hell it even had rusty holes in the floor.
The 6 days were pretty much 3 weekends, from start to first drive. Obviously the car is not DONE per say, but it does drive fine.
The First weekend was stripping down the 323i, everything was removed carefully to ensure we could use it on the new car, the entire electrical harness was removed and repaired (the 323i was federalized, so the wiring was hacked to hell), it also had an AFTERMARKET A/C system installed, that was tapped into tons of different electrical terminals, so all of that was removed.
All rear suspension was dropped, engine pulled, and interior stripped.
With the euro.."out of the way" we installed the new engine, electrical and front suspension.
One week went by, as new parts arrived and used parts were ripped out of wrecked cars at a few local yards.
The next weekend was the installation of the driveshaft, rear subframe, diff, brakelines, finalize electrical, and a few cosmetic items. We also replaced the damaged driver side trailing arm with a used one from an 84 325e that was in good shape.
We also realized that rain sucks.
Another week or two went by, and we had the final weekend to get the car driveable.
All final items were installed, fixed a ground issue with the spark generator on the 323i engine, and bled all the fluids that were in the car. This took about 2 days as we had tons of LITTLE things that had to get accomplished.
We FINALLy went for the first drive, only to run into steering linkage issues, however the car DID drive, and the only issue was the linkage binding on occasion, which was finally fixed (not 100% yet though)
They drove up to my garage this weekend, to do some more fine tuning of the car, including a rebleed of the clutch and brakes to get a little trapped air out of them, install the rear (albeit bent) bumper, install some front trim, and repair some minor electrical gremlins (OBC Backlight) etc. We also installed the rear IS Spoiler and welded a bracket to teh strut tower for the coolant overflow tank (318i's never had the braket)
And here, finally, are more up close pictures of the car. I admit, its not much to look at, but its really a blast to drive. Combined with the weight of the car (ZERO Sound deadning, No Spare Tire, etc) its a VERY fun car to drive. Gobs of lowend torque, and a decent topend provide alot of fun. Once we work a few bugs out of it, driving it will be a complete blast.
We OBVIOUSLY have cosmetic issues to work out on it, both front and rear bumpers do have damage, so a few pieces need to be replaced in order to ensure a nice tight fit, the interior is FAR from complete, and the car could use a good respray/wash. But from a mechanical/electrical point of view, every feature works (minus the power mirrors, thats next), and its a fun car.
So there you have it, I present to you the car, that r3vlimited built.
I KNOW I am forgetting people, but thank you to
Mot, Mooch, All of toms friends, who did wrench on occasion), Mots Dad, Kencopperweat, Eurospeed (I know you wrenched on it a few times), Nathan, h0lmes, Darkwing6, miso beno, and benDASHDASH. Those are the key guys that i REMEMBER, and I know I forgot somebody :(
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