Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

Thanks for the reply! Please share the vendor if you don’t mind. PM if necessary. Thanks again and keep posting great updates.

Hilarious wheel choice, but also great. We need more info.

Thanks, guys!

These are installed on my BBS RS001s and are replicas of the turbofans BBS made specific to BBS RS001s/RS003s. They are utterly ridiculous, totally retro, and I absolutely love them.

Here's a high-level read about the history of the turbofan: https://petrolicious.com/articles/th...-to-the-street

To quote the article:

Dubbed, in totally consistent ’70s lingo, “turbofans,” these wheel attachments were the ultimate embodiment of form following function. Often painted up in garish but gorgeous contrasting colors, made of exotic magnesiums and kevlars, and sporting downright evil-looking knife-like air ducting, you knew that any car donning a set of ’fans meant business.

...

Turbofans are arguably just plain old awesome as material objects, but the real value comes from using their origins and current popularity to understand the relationship between race engineering and street car customization. BBS, the undisputed king of the turbofan, even went so far as to offer non-racing customers bolt-on covers for their RSes (as seen in the red-white colorway in the included advertisement).

...

I think we should look back on this trend with the most rose-tinted glasses we can find; through turbofans we can see the endless pursuit of gaining an edge on competition (they represent an idea taken to the edge) as well as the dynamic relationship between function and form, between physics and style. Anyone who thinks they look like hubcaps just doesn’t get it.

Here's the backside of the replica. The only place it comes in contact with the wheel is the center hub where the locking nut secures it.

DSC_0814 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

So to install them, you remove the center hex nut (which unscrews from the wheel), remove the center "waffle" and put the turbofan in its place, then reinstall the center hex nut. Here's an example that I took from the article linked above:

this-is-how-turbofan-wheels-evolved-from-racing-to-the-street-1476934313699 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And one more photo for good measure:

DSC_0825 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[roguetoaster]

Hilarious wheel choice, but also great. We need more info.

[getouth]

Thanks for the reply! Please share the vendor if you don’t mind. PM if necessary. Thanks again and keep posting great updates.

[getouth]

Thanks for the reply! Please share the vendor if you don’t mind. PM if necessary. Thanks again and keep posting great updates. 👍🏽

[mike.bmw]

Fans look great ! Are these Oem? If so what are they going for these days??

Thanks! Not OEM, but they were produced from a scanned OEM turbofan. Fitment is perfect, quality is great, and they cost a fraction of the $1.5-$2K an original set goes for these days. I went back and forth with the manufacturer for a couple months and I'm very pleased with the result.

DSC_0813 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[getouth]

Fans look great ! Are these Oem? If so what are they going for these days??

[mike.bmw]

I did a thing... TURBOFANS.

DSC_0862 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0842 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0892 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0822 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Here's a quick update on the fuel pump replacement. Over the past few days I've put about ~200 miles on the car, which included a mix of highway and backroads to some cool hiking spots with the family. Here are some things I've observed:
- 3rd gear pulls don't fall flat above 5500 rpm. It just keeps pulling. Within the last year with the old fuel pump, there wasn't any power left above 5500 rpm.
- There's a healthy amount of black soot on the tailpipe. Within the last year with the old fuel pump, the inside of the tail pipe was oddly clean all the time.
- When I coast to a light the rpms don't dip down like they did before.
- The car doesn't seem to jerk forward as much when I take my foot off the throttle.
- The car seems to have more "pep" when getting on the throttle.

So, based on a few of these things I'm thinking the old fuel pump was pretty tired.

[mike.bmw]

Man, you take some b-e-a-u-tiful pictures!

What a build thread!

Thanks! I have a lot to learn about photography, but learning is an enjoyable part of the process. Up until recently, I've only occasionally used the basic editing capabiltiies of "Preview" on the Mac. Usually I just post what comes off the camera without any edits. I've started to learn a bit more about editing and I've been able to improve some older photos that I didn't think could be saved / made presentable. Here are a couple of those:

DSC_0529 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0544 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[MR E30 325is]

Man, you take some b-e-a-u-tiful pictures!

What a build thread!

[roguetoaster]

Top tip on spark plugs to close off the lines. If you don't already have some, those thread in plastic brake line/fitting plugs, similar to what you might see with new calipers, also work well, as do non-cut dispenser tips for RTV tubes.

[mike.bmw]

Today I replaced my fuel pump. I ordered a VDO unit (228220004002Z, BMW #16141180233). I believe these are the same as the Genuine BMW fuel pumps as they look identical. It took about 45 minutes to install, some of which was removing and reinstalling the kids' car seats, some of which was trying to figure out how to rotate the new pump to install it.

The old pump's o-ring was toast. It barely took any effort to twist/remove it. Even though I had a new o-ring on hand, the new pump came with one so I used it. Also, the sender's o-ring was not great so I replaced that as well.

After I installed it I let it run for a bit, I checked for leaks, then took I it out for a test drive. It felt good.

Old pump out:

20200825_141008 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Spark plugs work great for plugging the rubber lines:

20200825_143048 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

The old one was Bosch, as evident by the branding on the pump itself:

20200825_141120 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20200825_141150 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

New pump in place:

20200825_142739 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

New sender o-ring:

20200825_141737 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Back together:

20200825_143415 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

The kids were occupied just outside. :). Usually I have them help, but when dealing with gas I'd rather they keep their distance.

20200825_145052 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Speaking of kids, they sure do grow up fast. My 3 year old is actually being helpful these days.

20200812_175843 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20200812_180155 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Some new photos I've taken the past few weeks:

IMG_20200822_074220_197 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0714 by mike.bevels, on Flickr


DSC_0831 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0814 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Your car is simply an aspiration...so clean!

That is a clean e30!!

Thanks!

[Mazi!]

That is a clean e30!!

[dmanb2b]

Your car is simply an aspiration...so clean!