91 318iS My First Build Thread Ever

[Silver Wagon]

well i finnaly have enough pics to make a build thread. in the past i always forgot to take pics as i was working on things. when i got this 318iS i told myself to take pics this time and i have.

a little back story on me. i have been a huge VW guy for a long time. however, front wheel drive was getting very old and i wanted a front engine rear wheel drive car. i have had a few Volvo 740 wagons in the past but wanted something newer. i sold my 87 Jetta GLI 16V for my current DD. a 99 540iT sport wagon.



then it was time to sell my 83 MK1 Rabbit GTI. it is highly modified including a 20v 1.8T motor swap. finaly got is sold and was able to approach the lady that lived around the corner that had this E30 sitting in the driveway. it hadn't moved in the better part of a year. well i ended up buying it for $900. interior was good, it drove but it looked like she used it as a bumper car. not the best thing but i have 2 close friends that do body work and painted both of my fore mentioned VW's. so bosy work didn't turn me off too bad. anyway this is how it looked the day i brought it home (2 corners and 1/16 of a mile away).











after driving it to work a few times it was clear it was in need of some parts. so i ordered a few things.















my initial plans was to make it a great second car and track day toy. but the more i thought about it, i would just break down and cry if i was to stuff this car into a wall and destroy all my hard work. so now its going to be an amazing second car and i will pick up an E36 for track days as they are much easier to find along with parts for them.

i will update soon with some progress.

[audiquattrot]

you will be surprised to see how well that paint will shine up w/ a buffer. Looking forward to updates.....

[CorvallisBMW]

Nice pickup, bring her back to life!

[jeenyus]

Nice. You'll have to let us know how you like that Pioneer. I've read good reviews and it's cool to see a ICR without a CD player.

[MT325is]

looks exciting! Waiting for updates!
Get a buffer and the red will come back to life, be careful because that clear coat is thin and you dont want to burn it.

[DER E30]

Can't wait to see it all happy looking again!

[FunfGan]

looks exciting! Waiting for updates!
Get a buffer and the red will come back to life, be careful because that clear coat is thin and you dont want to burn it.

Uh, what clear coat?

Though yes, it's single stage so it's a bit easy to burn, but you'd really have to go at it and let it sit to burn it.

[KIRIEIW]

Both e30's I've bought happened to have sat in the sun for years with mold growing on the paint. I'm not done waxing the second one, but you wouldn't believe how the coupe turned out after many wash's and a wax day. That being said, it looks like you need a new door, if you bought another red door it might not match. If I where you, I'd still try to salvage the paint regardless though to save you $$$

Looking forward to updates.

[animal]

sweet man - looks like you're doing it right!

i bought the same hid kit a while back off amazon - still works great.

[Silver Wagon]

thanks for all the replies guys.
the paint is too far gone to save. there is some surface rust on the roof coupled with the door, rocker and valance damage, and many small dings, scratches and dents, it will be getting a respray.

more pics for clicks

glorious M42 shot, sort of.



ok so i wanted to paint my kidneys black, cause i have no other bits of chrome on the car, but didn't want to scuff it up because it was in very good shape. so i plasti dipped it. since its reversible i thought this would be the best route.



i liked it so much i continued



add in the smilies



antenna delete



now time to see what i can do with this



gathered my Macuyver kit



got to work



and wrapped up. (get it?)



well, not perfect, far from it, but at least it doesn't drone anymore. still rather loud though. i can live with it for now. i have other issues to attend to.

got the rear brakes rebuilt and the suspension on.





time for front end work.



and brakes



time for a tune up and valve cover gasket.
a look inside, all looks good, no excessive wear on the lobes.





prep work on the cover



and installed. you can see the color scheme i will going with here and on the calipers. and no its not cause its October. after this the, what i thought was valve tick, was gone. it was actually the spark arcing to the cover due to the oil build up in the plug tubes. that was a relief.



didn't take any pics of some of the steps in between. but the air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs and some fuel line were replaced. did an oil change as well.

this is how she's sitting now. next updates will be interior stuff.

[Kurt V]

Looking good! Always a good idea to take care of the mechanicals before you work on the body/interior.

[Silver Wagon]

ya, i wanted to drive it. so making it look pretty didn't help me get it on the road any sooner. and yes i really love driving it. can't wait to do some more suspension work to improve handling. actually, my wallet tells me i can wait. so i'll enjoy as is for now.

[Codym42]

Another neglected 318is being saved! Great work so far. Sub'd

[Zreberlcoe]

Wow what you have done took my broke ass like 8 months to figure out how to do... Good work, definitely in for more updates.

[Silver Wagon]

Wow what you have done took my broke ass like 8 months to figure out how to do... Good work, definitely in for more updates.

i sold my VW Rabbit for $6,000. however i needed to split that up between an E30 and closing costs on a house. in a perfect world i wanted to use all of it for an E30 but $2k was a good starting point.

here are a few pics of my Rabbit for those interested.








now for some updates....

a couple before shots of the interior.







now for the progress. in all honesty, didn't need to do much, fixed the glove box, added Mtech 1 wheel, M shift knob and install aftermarket stereo and front speakers. oh, and clean the crap out of it, so much dog hair.



decided to remove factory radio plugs and install aftermarket version of newer BMW radio plug.





glove box repair. seems to hold up just fine.



final interior.



back seats.



scored this at a local pick and pull for $35.





i will be putting that in later on. probably after its painted and i pull the interior to paint the car anyway.

well that pretty much all my updates for now. i am enjoying dirving it for now. future plans are E36 window switches, which i have just haven't put them in yet. sourcing body panels that i need. 5 lug swap in the farther future, after body work but before paint. i will be going to Georgia in a few weeks to pick up a spare M42 to rebuild for a turbo so that will be some more updates when they happen.

thanks for a ll the kind words. i will update as they happen but it will slow down from here as i am in the middle of buying a house so that will take up much of my time and money for a little while.