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1984 318i, start to finish (2 years and some change)

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    1984 318i, start to finish (2 years and some change)

    Alright guys...I've been vacant on here for quite awhile...mainly due to the fact that I've moved, been working on the car, had a lot of crap going on, but I finally decided to sit down and write up the build thread on my 84' e30. I posted over in the M50 swap threads, but figured I'd post up here too. For maximum hating of course ;) haha. Sooo hold onto your panties, because there's a lot of pics...and it's going to be from the day I bought the car...

    Lets back up to winter 2010, November I believe. Cash in hand...$2,000. I felt like a baller and had to strongly resist the urge to visit my local strip club, however instead of contracting herpes, I bought an e30...I had been searching craigslist and other venues for roughly a year, looking for the perfect car. The idea behind getting into an e30, was to find something relatively inexpensive, good on gas, something that my fiance could learn to drive a manual on, and a good car to tinker with. Well I found this little guy in Atlanta, being sold by a gentleman who ran a Land Rover/ Cruiser off road performance shop. They were using the car as a parts runner, but had decided to sell it.


    Here he his, we dubbed him, "Walter". A grumpy old man, fitting :) This is at the gas station filling up shortly after we signed off on the bill of sale.





    The drive home was great! The other vehicle I had at the time was a 538rwhp Saleen Mustang...and you know what? I enjoyed driving this car more, it was over flowing with character, and that little 1.8L was slow as piss, but I got to use ALL THE POWER it had haha. Here are some more shots after getting home safely.



    Funny thing though, as I was pulling into the driveway, the car starting making an awful noise...I was panicking, no idea what was wrong, but it was coming from under the hood. The "Boss" was giving me the evil eye, thinking we had just thrown away $2000. It turned out to be a loose alternator bracket, it looked as though the PO had made a makeshift one...I was able to fix it on the spot. Thank my lucky stars.

    The PO had thrown in a set of euro bumpers and a rear disc swap for an extra $200...yeah I took that deal in a heartbeat. They needed some cleaning up...and were a bit rough, but I'd get to those sooner or later. (*cough* a few years *cough*)


    1984 318i (w/ delicious M50 powa)
    Produktionsdatum: 03.10.1983
    Außenfarbe: Achatgruen Metallic (177)

    #2
    Now that we had our own E30, it was time to start tinkering...I mean teaching her how to drive a manual ;) I couldn't leave the car alone, and soon enough I started adding all of your "a-typical" scene accessories.


    Roof rack, frenched high beams, europlate, etc...I know...I know...but hey, I loved it.



    And then came a bit of a face-lift. Resprayed all of the plastic trim on the car, and replaced the shift boot and rear package tray upholstery with some sweet plaid :P








    So I've had the car about 6 months now...and had finally saved another chunk of cash to acquire a set of Ground Control c/o's (550 all around) and some street camber plates...these guys were awesome to deal with, and I spent the better part of two hours, on and off, with one of their tech guys. He was a huge help, and I'd recommend them to anyone. I also decided I needed a new set of wheels for the car, which ironically, the wheels I wanted, I had previously owned (I used to be a VW guy; I was running a set of 16x7 Konig Remembers on my 1990 VW Corrado G60)...so I bought them back from my buddy and threw them on with the c/o's. This certainly started transforming the appearance of the car.

    Oh snap...

    While I had all of these separate projects going on, I decided to build myself a nice wooden roof rack for the car while I was waiting on some parts for the suspension. I figured that while I had him all torn apart, I'd might as well replace the control arms, and all of the bushings up front with some nice poly models from FCP groton.





    So wow! I was pretty impressed by the results, and I was still loving the car, so was she. Now we're around early spring 2011...the pictures above were taken in St. Simons Island, GA. I had gone down for the weekend to meet up with the fiance, as she had just returned from a stint overseas. It was a great weekend, and she had loved what I'd done with the car while she was gone. Well...unfortunately...on the way home (about 250mi. back to Augusta, GA) Walter developed a small ticking...which turned from a ticking to a knocking...I had pulled over checked my oil, attempted to do what I could from the side of the road...well basically nothing with an internal failure, as I was suspecting I was having. Well it being 200mi away from my destination, about 105 degress outside, and in the middle of bum f*** egypt, I made the decision to keep on truckin' until I could truck no further. Well this tap, went to a knock, from a knock to a bang, and I threw a rod bearing, losing cylinder 2 I believe it was...well the damn little car got me all the way home. All 200mi sounding like a coffee can full of ball bearings. I pulled into my driveway barely pushing 10mph and black/blue smoke blowing everywhere. The M10 was toast. :(

    Well the car sat for a couple of months, while I researched my options, and figured out what I wanted to do. Being brand new to the BMW world, I wasn't aware of all the options out there. At the same time (late summer now) I had started a new job that would allow me to be co-located with the lady friend. So it looks like the swap would have to wait...a little...
    Yes...we put him in the back of a semi trailer...with the rest of my house hahaha.




    After settling into the new house, we finally made the plunge, and decided on what swap we were going to go with. An M50TUB w/ zf tranny. I wasn't sure where to get something that would be both clean, reliable, tested, and at a good price. I eventually settled on Bavarian Auto Recycling. Initially, I thought they were great. Good responsive customer service, and they even assured me they would set me up with everything I would need for an M50 swapped e30. For the low low price of $3,000. Well I was stoked. At the time, I thought I was getting a great deal. Well...it turns out after I had paid them the $$$, they no longer cared. After getting my "pallet-o-engine"...I soon began to discover there were a lot of things I was going to need, and I also overpaid just a tad...and I suppose that's an understatement. Included with the swap was M50TUB (around 80k on it with all the accessories), zf450 transmission, new clutch pack, the brain, the harness, radiator, e21 booster, a transmission crossmember, motor mounts...and tranny mounts...now...on my invoice I was charged $200 for "drivetrain driveline reconditioned"? Don't know what that means, but I never got a driveline. I also could never get them back on the phone once I received my order...funny how that works yeah? There were some other issues as well, but those wouldn't come up until a bit later down the road. Well...after attempting to contact them several times both via email, and by phone, with no luck, I decided to cut my losses, and push forward.


    Over the course of 4 months, I pulled the old M10, began to clean the bay, and got the M50 dropped in. I had to work slowly due to my demanding schedule, and well the biggest reason, I had no idea what the hell I was doing. This was my first time doing anything more advanced than changing brake pads or throwing on suspension.

    Yes...that's a rope lol

    Easy does it...


    And BOOP...there it is, went pretty smoothly if I don't say so myself. I was pretty proud at the time. Pulling an engine was F****** cool! Haha.


    The bay all cleaned up
    Fitting and playing, no I didn't try to drop the new engine in with the rad in place...


    And she's in!



    Now...here's where I met a guy named Dave Markert (Markert Motor Works). I found him via the forums, advertising wiring harness conversions. Again, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. So I hit him up, we began conversing, and I decided I would have him take my M50 harness, and combine it with the m10 one for a nice stock look.
    And here's what I got back!!!

    "This looks amazing I thought to myself"
    "I can't even tell it's not factory"
    Well..that's great and all, but again I hardly knew what went where. Well Dave helped me out, explained all the acronyms (even after he was cool enough to label every connection for me) and I was able to get the harness in place...sorta..

    1984 318i (w/ delicious M50 powa)
    Produktionsdatum: 03.10.1983
    Außenfarbe: Achatgruen Metallic (177)

    Comment


      #3
      Well the car sat for a couple more months while I was in and out of the house, traveling, etc...I would tinker now and then, but really just getting frustrated. I was missing so many things and I hardly had the time. I did manage to get the input shaft on the e21 booster shortened here at a local machine shop, and made a few attempts to acquire the correct shift linkage I would need (not included from Bav), the driveline I think I paid for but never got (lots of trips to the junk yard). But in the end, I needed a hand. And I will admit, I had gone in over my head. Well I contacted Dave again a few months later, asking if his shop did anything like a full swap. Well he sure did, and a few phone calls later, I had the car loaded onto a flatbed driving out to GA to drop it off at Dave's shop. I really have to give some major props to Dave and Evan (hope I spelled your name right dude), they were quick, professional, and did an amazing job at getting me in a place where I could basically daily the car. Dave sent me picture updates almost every day, and ensured to stay in touch via phone every day as well. A lot was wrong with the swap at this point...and here is where Bav gets some more flak. The motor mounts they had sent me? Wrong. Transmission crossmember? Wrong. The slave cylinder and clutch? Well that was all kinds of jacked up. Needless to say, Dave and Evan had a lot more work cut out for them than originally thought.








      Rear disc swap installed









      Well...after 3 weeks...Walter was ready, and Dave was the man.

      <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SKwm8cH6WAw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
      <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-CBG0RlKnuU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

      Well I went to pick Walter up, it was great to meet Dave and Evan, had a great time at their shop bullshitting and letting Dave take my money...it was time to drive home. Well...about 40 miles outside of town, the car starts having a very erratic idle, throttle surges, something was not right. The engine eventually went into limp mode, and I wasn't able to take it above 45mph. Great. What now. I called Dave, and he wanted me back at the shop immediately, and he did not care how late it was. So I eventually got there...and after reading the codes that the car was throwing (ALL OF THEM)...we figured out what it was...long story short anyways, but the engine had the wrong crank position sensor installed. What?! :confused Thanks again Bav. Dave put a new one on the car, along with a couple coil packs (as that was part of the trouble shooting) all free of charge. So, needless to say, i finally made it home without ending up at truck stop bait.

      Upon getting home, I ordered an M3 harness cover from MarkertMotorWorks, and spent some time detailing the bay up...



      A couple of weeks later...I finally got off my ass and ordered all the necessary hardware for the euro bumpers, and spent a couple of days cleaning them up...remember what they looked like before????



      1984 318i (w/ delicious M50 powa)
      Produktionsdatum: 03.10.1983
      Außenfarbe: Achatgruen Metallic (177)

      Comment


        #4
        Well, now it's about one month ago, and after the bumper installation, I spent an entire weekend cleaning up the paint on the car, but I still wasn't happy with it. So...you guessed it...time for paint.


















        And here he sits today


        A couple of small things I had added while the car was in paint...a wood shift knob from a 2002, and yellow Mercedes high beams ($10 bucks at the junk yard...amazing)

        I really hope you guys enjoy the write up, feel free to ask questions as I sure as hell forgot to cover a lot I'm sure. And hopefully I'll see some people at SoWo. I'll be there with Walter!

        And again...a huge shout-out to Dave Markert and Evan @MarkertMotorWorks, this never would have happened without you guys. And to Tom and Diane @ ShowGun paint and body (if you live in the Fayetteville, NC area...these are the people to paint your car. Trust me.)

        1984 318i (w/ delicious M50 powa)
        Produktionsdatum: 03.10.1983
        Außenfarbe: Achatgruen Metallic (177)

        Comment


          #5
          More pictures are to come this weekend as the car is sitting a little lower, I changed the door/fender bump trim back to the orig black and chrome, and I'll get some recent shots of the interior.

          I still have a few small touches (not really small...headliner, carpet, seats, engine bay, headlights, etc)

          1984 318i (w/ delicious M50 powa)
          Produktionsdatum: 03.10.1983
          Außenfarbe: Achatgruen Metallic (177)

          Comment


            #6
            wooow that loooks sooo goood!!!! very nice
            sigpic

            Comment


              #7
              Love this car.

              Comment


                #8
                Holy shit... That green is beyond beautiful!

                Originally posted by SpasticDwarf;n6449866
                Honestly I built it just to have a place to sit and listen to Hotline Bling on repeat.

                Comment


                  #9
                  walt is looking fly as fuck, love the color choice, and i'm typically anti-green

                  92 White Mtech Vert

                  Comment


                    #10
                    how'd you do the pinstripe afterwards?
                    sigpic
                    @joshua.j.rizo

                    Originally posted by SpasticDwarf
                    Just remember next time you hear "late night when you need my love" I'm gonna be sitting somewhere way more bitchin' than you, driving or not.

                    BUY MY BUGATTI WHEELS:
                    http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=377693

                    WRITEUP TO MY RHD SWAP:

                    http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=371904

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by J.Rizo View Post
                      how'd you do the pinstripe afterwards?
                      I was about to ask the same thing! I always get a little disappointed when an E30 is repainted but loses its pinstripes.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by J.Rizo View Post
                        how'd you do the pinstripe afterwards?
                        Just your standard vinyl pinstripe laid on.

                        And I agree...you've gotta have the pinstripe ;) it's OG haha

                        1984 318i (w/ delicious M50 powa)
                        Produktionsdatum: 03.10.1983
                        Außenfarbe: Achatgruen Metallic (177)

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by PootieTang View Post
                          walt is looking fly as fuck, love the color choice, and i'm typically anti-green
                          Who are youuuuuu... You know the car's name haha

                          1984 318i (w/ delicious M50 powa)
                          Produktionsdatum: 03.10.1983
                          Außenfarbe: Achatgruen Metallic (177)

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Holy shit. This was a joy to read, and see the transformation.


                            Go here be happy!

                            Ratchet Garage e30 V8 build.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              oh my lord i love this thread!!!!
                              what was the factory color and then the repainted color?
                              this car is amazing.

                              Comment

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