Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

Whoa, please tell me you've tried that Peruvian restaurant. If not, do yourself a favor and go immediately- order the Lomo Saltado. Although, the sign makes me think it's a pollo a la brasa place- still super good though!

Oh, and awesome 318is!

I haven't! They don't open until 11AM and C&C ends around 9AM. I am a huge fan of Peruvian food though and have eaten at many other local Peruvian restaurants. :)

The real question is, do they serve Cusquena?

You mean cusqueña

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

I just looked at their menu. They serve neither the incorrect nor correct spelling of that dish. ;D

[Bimmerguy91]

Car looks amazing! Great job. Why not just use a medium case 4.10 LSD?

[mike.bmw]

Car looks amazing! Great job. Why not just use a medium case 4.10 LSD?

Thanks!

I may end up going that route. It would certainly work and the weight difference is negligible.

The only reason I'd like the small case 4.10 LSD is because that's the way it would've come from the factory. I realize keeping it 'factory original' at this point is a lost cause because:
- The car has a dealer installed aftermarket moon roof (not factory)
- I've tried to use all OEM BMW parts, but there have been instances where I haven't (reproduction door seal, seat shocks, etc).

I'm not in a rush for the LSD, so I'll keep an eye out for a small case. If I can't find one for a reasonable price, I may end up with a medium case 4.10 or 3.73.

[fresh_TD]

Thanks!

I may end up going that route. It would certainly work and the weight difference is negligible.

The only reason I'd like the small case 4.10 LSD is because that's the way it would've come from the factory. I realize keeping it 'factory original' at this point is a lost cause. The car has a dealer installed aftermarket moon roof. I've tried to use all OEM BMW parts, but there have been instances where I haven't (reproduction door seal, seat shocks, etc). I'm not in a rush for the LSD, so I'll keep an eye out for a small case.

Mike, when I pull the small case out of my 318i, I'll sell it to you. I'm going 3.73 or 3.91

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

[Bimmerguy91]

Ah ok I was just making sure you realized a medium case would swap right in. I know a small case is original but a medium case is gonna be cheaper and more durable.

[stonea]

I just looked at their menu. They serve neither the incorrect nor correct spelling of that dish. ;D

Its actually a beer. Thats basically all I drank when I was in Peru.

[mike.bmw]

Its actually a beer. Thats basically all I drank when I was in Peru.

You don't drink your beer out of a dish?

Shows you how much I know.

[jpod999]

Cusqueña is definitely the best Peruvian beer- it's hard for me to say no to Pisco sours though ;)

Sorry to hijack your thread, continue regular service!

[mike.bmw]

Cusqueña is definitely the best Peruvian beer- it's hard for me to say no to Pisco sours though ;)

Sorry to hijack your thread, continue regular service!

Now I have to try it. It's my mission this weekend.

In car news, I've ordered a spare DME in an effort to track down the phantom 1271 code. $40 shipped. Seller had decent reviews. We'll see what shows up at my door or if it actually solves my issue. The car is running well (and leak free) otherwise!

[mike.bmw]

Replacement DME 4ME

As previously stated, I bought a replacement DME on ebay in an effort to track down phantom CELs (1271, ignition coil 1). After testing various sensors, swapping plugs, plug wires, and coil packs I started to suspect the DME was the culprit.

The last two days I've noticed the engine has been slightly hunting for idle. RPMs would also dip to 500 when coasting to a light. I suspected the IAC was the cause of this.

The replacement DME came in the mail today. I installed it in less than 5 minutes. I realized today that I don't even need to take out the glove box straps. It's accessible to swap just by opening the glove box. Anyway, the idle is spot on and there's not more idle hunting. So I'm guessing the original DME was faulty? I plan to put a few hundred miles on the car this week so we'll see how it goes.

REPLACEMENT on the left, ORIGINAL on the right (see photo). I'm tempted to swap covers as the ORIGINAL cover is much cleaner. ;D

[jeenyus]

i'd for sure swap the cover. I mean, if you can you should.

[mike.bmw]

Cars and Coffee with fellow R3V member, Zeemz!

Yesterday a few of us were planning to meet at Katie's Cars and Coffee in Great Falls, VA (before 6AM!). Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it rained, so we all bailed. Fortunately this morning there was good weather so Zeemz and I met up at a different local Cars and Coffee, albeit not as large as the Katie's event. We'll all shoot for a Katie's event sometime later this summer and hopefully have a good e30 turnout.

Zeemz has a truly great 325is. Super clean. The attention to detail is amazing. It was a pleasure to check it out in person. It definitely surpassed my expectations.

I'm certainly no photographer, but I did take a few photos of the cars parked together:











Next week I'll have an update with various mechanical work I've been doing. More new parts are en route. I'll do some more wrenching this coming week and take some photos. Stay tuned!

[Zeemz]

Cars and Coffee with fellow R3V member, Zeemz!

Yesterday a few of us were planning to meet at Katie's Cars and Coffee in Great Falls, VA (before 6AM!). Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it rained, so we all bailed. Fortunately this morning there was good weather so Zeemz and I met up at a different local Cars and Coffee, albeit not as large as the Katie's event. We'll all shoot for a Katie's event sometime later this summer and hopefully have a good e30 turnout.

Zeemz has a truly great 325is. Super clean. The attention to detail is amazing. It was a pleasure to check it out in person. It definitely surpassed my expectations.

Thanks Mike! Your car is really impressive as well. Look forward to hanging out again some time.

[mike.bmw]

Minor Update...

I bought new spark plugs, wires, a ground cable, and a new A/C belt. Today I installed everything except the new belt.

Plugs
I went with the standard NGK BKR6EK plugs to replace the BKR6EKs I installed 5K miles ago. The old plugs looked fine, but since I had the new ones I went ahead and installed them. Nickel anti-seize used on the threads of the plugs.

Wires
From my parts searches, it looks like BMW offered two types of wires for the M42: regular and "high performance" (12120407871). The prices were the same, so I opted for the "high performance" set, though I doubt it makes any difference. We'll see. I cleaned up the bracket before swapping it to the set. I lubed the inner walls of the plug wires with dielectric grease to ease in installation and removal.

Ground Wire
I went with an OEM ground cable, passenger side frame to engine mount.

I took a couple photos of the parts and installation:

[c0rbin9]

Did you notice a difference with the tune up? I don't think my plug wires have ever been changed...