Mazter's '91 Alpine White 318is - I knew I'd be back!

[Link]

Looks like you know how to build a nice car. Sub'd

[MazterDizazter]

Thanks guys! I just like a clean car, what can I say? I just hope I can get all this crap sorted by the end of January. The whole reason I bought this car was so it could be my fun daily until I bought a Subaru BRZ in the spring. At this point I'll probably keep it for daily duty and reserve the BRZ for weekends and nice weather. I don't really want to put 20k miles a year on my first brand new car purchase. Old German cars don't seem to mind racking up high mileage anyway, and I specifically chose the E30 because it's one of the less-complicated German cars out there.

[DrtyE30]

Wow it's coming out amazing, good job man!!

[JimAlameda]

Car is looking good! Great job on the detailing of the paint

[KrayJoeArmstrong]

still waiting for new photoshoot :D

[MazterDizazter]

Ordered up a reman. steering rack from Rackdoctor.com, brake rotors/pads from BavAuto and intake manifold/plenum gaskets to start tackling the mess under the intake. I was tempted to do the E36 or Z3 rack conversion or upgrade the brakes, but I know once I start down the path of modding, I won't be able to turn back. There's wayyyy too much aftermarket support for this car and I can't afford to get into the "while I'm at it, modify this" mentality with this car. So it shall remain 90% stock with the exception of lowering springs/struts, wheels/tires, an exhaust, chip, electric fan, and steering wheel and shift knob. Mayybe a single mass flywheel in the far away future.



Found the rotor hold-down bolts were stripped out, so I had to drill them out:

[MazterDizazter]

Car is registered and insured (finally) and the new title came in the mail today, w00t!

Got the front brakes off and noticed the RF bearing is a wee bit noisy. I'm gonna try taking the hub off and re-greasing it. The RF caliper also has a torn slide boot so I need a rebuild kit. My steering rack is leaking pretty seriously so I guess I'll hafta replace that before I can drive it. Might replace the lines too while I'm there. Oh fun fun fun, I really wanted to be driving this by now!

[RoyaLife]

HOLY FUCK IM JEALOUS!! ive always wanted a white e30. good work sir!

[RoyaLife]

BTW do you happen to know the part numbers to the magnaflow parts? or where you picked them up?

[MazterDizazter]

Thank you!

You can get them on Advance Auto Parts' website; I used a coupon code to save a little cash and picked them up locally. I don't recommend 2.5" diameter if you can avoid it. The resonator is kinda crappy; I'd at least recommend finding a different one and going with 2.25" diameter piping. My exhaust is too loud, especially with the 4cyl engine. The part number for the muffler is 14815 and the resonator is 10436.

Might be picking up some BavAuto lowering springs for $40 this weekend; bye bye, monster truck status!
I'm ballin' on a budget!

[MazterDizazter]

BavAuto, RockAuto, and the BMW Gallery of Norwell are getting more and more of my money this week...

Took the front and rear brakes off to find the front wheel bearings were pretty much shot, and I'm assuming the rears will follow suit. The P.O. must have had an issue with the parking brake, because the components for the RH parking brake were straight up gone:


Ordered up rear parking brake components and front wheel bearings. Also started to tackle the infamous "Mess Under the Intake". Found most of the PCV/vacuum hoses were cracked and broken.


Cleaned the carbon deposits out of the intake, hopefully free up a little lost power:

Yikes!


Got a new BMW key cut to replace the cheap copied key I was provided. Only problem: it doesn't work in the driver's door! Works in every other lock (the copied key didn't work either). But I found out my central locking works, which is good. If anyone knows of a way I can get a lock cylinder to match the others without replacing all the locks, I'm all ears! Might get an AutoLoc keyless entry system.

[NC318e30]

I had a new key cut when I lost mine and the new one works in both the doors and ignition but not in the trunk. I don't get it either.

[rturbo 930]

Pelican parts sells a drivers side lock rebuild kit. I think it costs around $30.

[dudecati]

I just rebuilt my drivers door lock - got the kit from eBay, was a BMW part and now all works like it should.

[MazterDizazter]

Really?! Awesome!! I'll hafta check that out for sure; thanks guys!

On another note, I'm trying to decide what to do with my valve cover. Ideally I'd replace it with a new-looking cosmoline-covered one, but in the event that doesn't work I can't decide between painting it silver or something a little more flashy, like a blue to match the roundel emblems. I know I need to clean the engine bay significantly, otherwise it'll just look like one nice piece atop a bunch of dirty engine crap.