Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[dhlerner]

After a long winter of small tweaks and maintenance, it was great to finally get out and drive. And what a drive that was - incredible roads that exceeded my expectations. Carter is a trooper and a real car guy!

[mike.bmw]

Great photos, great events! Thanks for capturing and sharing. Anyone your way still trekking to The Original Vintage in May?

Thanks! Of course, I'll keep posting in this thread forever (or until the forum goes away, which would be very sad).

I don't know of anyone still going in May, though I do know some folks that are going to hit Tail of the Dragon around that time.

[moatilliatta]

Great photos, great events! Thanks for capturing and sharing. Anyone your way still trekking to The Original Vintage in May?

[mike.bmw]

The NCC Dashing Through the Mountains Tour

I took my soon-to-be-four-year-old son, Carter, on the latest NCC BMW CCA tour this past weekend. It was a full day of driving and nearly 300 miles of fantastic mountain roads in Virginia and West Virginia. The E30 got quite a workout. Carter didn't complain once - he was a happy camper the whole time. I packed a cooler for late lunch and we headed home after that. I've really enjoyed the one-on-one time with Avery and Carter on these tours (they've now been on two each). Here are some photos that I took:

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My first attempt at rollers. I'm quite pleased! Douglas Lerner's excellent 325i and a wagon...

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Wanting to be just like his dad and his big sister:

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Some of the route:

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Random photos from the morning after the tour...

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[mike.bmw]

Hey Mike, beautiful pics with all those e30s. I just googled and found a video on the "dry" bleeding. Going to view and see if I try it. I have new SS lines and same RBF, with flush ready to happen, trying to see if I can do it before the Vintage. My SS lines are 13 years old so doing some preventive replacement.

Thanks! It was quite a memorable morning.

Good luck with the line swap and bleed! The Vintage and some potential HPDEs this year are reasons I swapped out my original lines. Unfortunately The Vintage has been postponed to September...

[monty23psk]

Hey Mike, beautiful pics with all those e30s. I just googled and found a video on the "dry" bleeding. Going to view and see if I try it. I have new SS lines and same RBF, with flush ready to happen, trying to see if I can do it before the Vintage. My SS lines are 13 years old so doing some preventive replacement.

[mike.bmw]

Epic Weekend of Car Photography

Saturday at sunrise I found some cherry blossom trees in an empty office complex. The road's name is Sunrise Valley Drive - aptly named. I didn't think I'd top these for a while, but then Sunday happened (keep reading).

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Sunday (today) I was invited to come along with some friends (a great group of BMW enthusiasts) to go to Washington DC and take photos of the cars. Eight E30s and one E38. We met at 6AM and caravaned into the city. It was empty when we got there. Such a great bunch of people and it was a ton of fun. As we drove through the city, pedestrians and police officers were giving us the thumbs-up, waving, and pulling out cell phones to take photos of our caravan of nine.

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[mike.bmw]

Slave Cylinder and Clutch Line Replacement

Back at it in the garage this evening. I replaced the slave cylinder as the old one wouldn't actually bleed (even tried removing the bleeder screw and still nothing would come out). I also replaced the clutch line because like the brake lines, it was probably original. I opted to go with FTE brand for both the slave and clutch line. I had to remove the new slave cylinder and reinstall it after botching the bleed and introducing more air into the system. Simply unbolt it, point the bleeder toward the sky, and pump the piston by hand using a normal open, compress, close, depress bleeding procedure. The pedal feels about the same as before.

Ready for take off:

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How's it hanging?

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New:

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Old:

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[jgerock]

Good to see you got those new lines on. As you found, most of these cars don’t get proper maintenance, especially the clutch hydraulics.

[mike.bmw]

I do more than just take photos of cars these days (though my thread might make you think otherwise)...

Stainless Steel Brake Lines

This has been on my "To Do" list for 5 years. The old lines looked fine from the outside, but they were likely original and thus needed to be changed. After some research, I decided to go with BimmerWorld's kit for the E30. It's DOT approved (vs DOT compliant). This may be meaningless, but it gives me a warm and fuzzy. Plus they sponsor NCC BMW CCA track days and are somewhat local. For fluid I went with Motul RBF 600.

A couple of days ahead of the install I sprayed all the connections with PB Blaster. This morning at 5AM I got to work. Everything went fairly smoothly. After realizing there wasn't much access to the rear inner lines, I punted on those. Limited access = chances of something going wrong. I'll get to those when I do the rear subframe refresh.

I used the "dry" bleeding method with my Motive Power bleeder. Thanks to Zeemz for alerting me to this. Essentially you just fill up the brake fluid reservoir and leave the power bleeder dry. Pump it up and let the pressure push the fluid through the system. No cleanup!

I did hit a snag bleeding the slave cylinder. It wouldn't bleed. I had my wife pumping the pedal. I even had the bleeder out completely. I had the system pressurized with the Motive power bleeder. So I have a new FTE slave cylinder and FTE clutch line on order. Should be here by the end of the week. The car is still drivable in the meantime as no air got into the slave cylinder or clutch line.

Big thanks to jgerock for helping with the slave cylinder trouble shooting!

The kids helped reinstall the wheels once they got up.

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[mike.bmw]

Looks like a great time, I can't wait to dust off!

How many people are super gear heads at that event?

Id love to retire and just tinker with cars like that. What a dream, I love old people and their stories. Looks like a blast.

Nice section in BimmerLife, Don't forget to check out page 58 :)

Gearheads - a variety of people and cars, which makes it fun.

Retiring - that would be a dream for sure. His stories were just as cool as the cars.

BimmerLife - thanks! Just saw page 58, very cool! :-)

Wow, epic! what a nice way to get old :D

#LifeGoals for sure! I could tell he absolutely loves what he does and it's awesome that he also enjoys sharing it with others.

[D.Martijn]

Wow, epic! what a nice way to get old :D

[moatilliatta]

Looks like a great time, I can't wait to dust off!

How many people are super gear heads at that event?

Id love to retire and just tinker with cars like that. What a dream, I love old people and their stories. Looks like a blast.

Nice section in BimmerLife, Don't forget to check out page 58 :)

[mike.bmw]

The EPIC weekend of E30ing continues...

A Visit to Lothar's BMW Collection - Part 2

I think Wayne and Garth said it best when they met rockstar Alice Cooper: “We’re not worthy.” That’s how I felt about meeting BMW rockstar Lothar Schuettler, and being given the opportunity to see his collection of award-winning, vintage BMW cars and motorcycles. My co-editor and I headed over to Lothar's house on Saturday afternoon and got the full tour. Lothar does the vast majority of the restoration work on these award-winning cars himself, which includes the 1937 BMW 328 that won Best in Class at Pebble Beach in 2016. I loved hearing Lothar tell the stories behind these cars and his restoration work, and of course taking some photos.

With three large glass garage doors, you can see a row of BMWs looking out onto the circular gravel driveway, as if they were welcoming you to the property. It’s almost as if they are asking, “can we come out to play?” And, yes, they can come out to play. All of Lothar’s cars are plated and registered to drive. This is impressive considering what’s inside.

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E30 content ;-) :

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[mike.bmw]

An EPIC weekend of E30ing to kick off spring...

NCC BMW CCA Dust Off Tour - Part 1

I took Avery on the first NCC BMW CCA tour of the year, the Dust Off Tour. We racked up about 200 miles over the course of five hours on Saturday afternoon (March 20th). The weather couldn't have been better - temps in the mid 50s and not a cloud in the sky. The route chosen was a LOT of fun with posted speed limit signs of 50+ mph on some very curvy and lightly trafficked roads. I believe there were 50 cars in attendance, which was mostly comprised of BMWs, but also included a few Porsches. Avery and I had some great father/daughter bonding time between driving and taking photos. We ended up at Orr's Farm Market and picked up a fresh apple pie and half a dozen apple cider donuts. After eating some snacks and chatting with fellow tour-goers, we headed home in time for dinner.

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