My 84 318i "project on a budget" budget blown

[ZomBAR15]

The day she came home


This is my project 318i. Picked up the car for $1100 back in the fall of 2014. Wasn't very well taken care of but it had a super straight body, with a tiny bit of rust and the interior was super nice after a lot of cleaning. Leaked a little bit of oil but it ran great. Started as a little project on a budget to be used as a dd that's good on gas. Gave the car a tune up and fresh fluids right away. Quickly started falling in love with the way the car drove and handled and wanted more. After about a year of daily driving, and beating the snot out of the old worn out m10 I decided it was time to rebuild. Luckily enough, just as I started looking for a core to rebuild an 84 318i popped up at the local pick and pull so I decided to go check it out. Car was low mileage but had cought Fire. The engine was all still pretty complete when I got to the yard minus the intake manifold, so I started pulling it right away. Got it home, on the stand and started tearing it down to check it out. Everything looked great besides a bit of carbon build up on the Piston tops and valves. The original plan was to keep the car an na build, but I've never owned a boosted car and decided against an expensive na build and to go turbo instead. Was going to piece toghether a budget kit to just slap on and go but ended up getting more into it than anticipated..

After a couple coats of gunmetal plastidip. Couldn't stand to look at the 5 tone worn out faded paint so went the budget route until I can afford to paint the old e30

[ZomBAR15]

Wrinkle coated the valve cover and pulled all the ac components and busted aux fan out since none of it worked

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Slapped toghether a cheap exhaust system from a muffler and glass pack I found at the pick and pull.

Ditched the old cat




Sounded good for a while until I started getting some exhaust leaks from the flex joint and on the exhaust manifold due to some broken studs.

Ended up picking up a racetep long tube header and a magnaflow. Welded up a 2 1/4" system all the way back off a 2" v-band collector that I decided to use because I had it laying around. Loud as all hell but I liked it and so did the little m10.

[ZomBAR15]

Swapped in some vw injectors, a cheap open element filter, msd coil and did some tuning to the ignition timing and the flapper door tension adjustment on the afm and boy did the m10 respond well to that






Cap had been popped off before so I didn't mess with it too much in the beginning.

[ZomBAR15]

Was daily driven like that for about a year until I picked up a new/used long block to freshen up and drop in. And now onto how she sits as of now.


Super clean inside and out besides a little carbon buildup







Everything cleaned up real easy and really well
Did a little bit of port work to the head, lapped the valves, got all new hardware, as well as added some crower springs and chromoly retainers.







Short block all cleaned up and painted




Arp head studs added and also added a windage tray/crank scraper to the bottom end


Parts! I love getting new parts.

[ZomBAR15]

The beast I decided to go with. Got an awesome deal on this holset h1c so I snatched it up. Much bigger turbo than I expected to go with but it leaves much room for improvement. ��


Manifold is an eBay piece, but I have not ran into any issues what so ever with fitment. All that needs done still is to have a waste gate flange welded on.

Turbosmart vee-port pro bov and precision turbo wastegate

[ZomBAR15]

Into the garage she went.


Fit the Intercooler. And it is perfect in this position. Tucked in high and tight to the core support.

Fitted some led headlights and a velocity stack, shit load of cutting to the buckets but they look amazing.






New all aluminum radiator




And FINALLY got my mls headgasket so I can marry the head to the block for good





Turbo oil feed and return fittings

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Blow off valve plumbed



Test fit the holset. And it fits amazingly

It's tight but it fits very well

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As of two weeks ago got the old worn out m10 pulled and set off to the side.


Got her all power washed up and stuff. Added some revshift poly motor mounts and trans mounts, power steering delete block and tossed on the new throw out bearing for the spec stage 3 clutch

[ZomBAR15]

Which pretty much leaves me where I am at today. Trans I still sitting on the floor. Waiting on my understeer.com ssk to show up so I can slap it all back toghether while its all out still. Going to be sloid mounting the shifter and going to eventually fab up a dssr when I get the chance.





The inspiration.


And the result so far

[ZomBAR15]

The new shifter showed up today. Z3 1.9 kit from understeer.com. Got home from work just a little while ago and put it all back toghether. Just need to pick up some grease and grease up the ball and some hardware to bolt down the shifter. Already feels so much better and the linkage isn't even hooked up yet.







Next opportunity I get I will be getting the trans back up and mounted, and start dropping in the long block.

[cypriotgeeza]

Amazing work man! That engine looks FRESH!!

Looking forward to the end result with this one! 8)

Subscribed!

[ZomBAR15]

Thanks man. Appreciate it

[ZomBAR15]

Video link


Got the shifter finished, bolted down and linkage hooked up. The end result is 100x better

[SecludedPlayer2]

Awesome stuff man, she's looking good.