Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[e30austin]

They look fantastic. Congrats.

[mike.bmw]

Great score Mike...love them!

Thanks! I'm looking forward to doing some driving tomorrow!

yeeeeeees!

wow 8 lbs thats wild!

I went ahead and weighed the stock 14" weaves. Turns out the BBS RS001s weigh about 2 pounds LESS per corner than the stock 14s! Stock 14" weaves with 195/65R14s are ~36 pounds and BBS RS001s with 205/55R15s are ~34 pounds. The Ronals with 205/55R15s were ~42 pounds! Updated the original post with photos.

20191016_184654 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Nice Score Mike! Now we'll be twinning at The Vintage! Yours appear to be in awesome condition! Just can't bear the white on gold look!

NICE! Really looking forward to The Vintage next year (my first)! To be honest I would've taken any color RS001, but I'm glad these are gold. I plan to replace the BBS logos and possibly order a set of billet 1/4 height hex caps within the next couple months. I may also see if I can source some touch up paint for the gold as there are a few chips. The condition of the lips, bolts, and barrels is great. The paint (or powder coat) on the faces is a little tired, but looks good unless you're up super close.

They look fantastic. Congrats.

Thanks! Certainly not perfect like something out of EWW, but I'm happy with them!

[e30austin]

Perfectly refinished wheels, on a car you actually want to go out and drive, are very overrated - ask me how I know :/

enjoy them!

[ATL_E30]

NICE! Really looking forward to The Vintage next year (my first)! To be honest I would've taken any color RS001, but I'm glad these are gold. I plan to replace the BBS logos and possibly order a set of billet 1/4 height hex caps within the next couple months. I may also see if I can source some touch up paint for the gold as there are a few chips. The condition of the lips, bolts, and barrels is great. The paint (or powder coat) on the faces is a little tired, but looks good unless you're up super close.

With as hard as they're to find nowadays i'd probably take a set in any color as well. I do love the gold however!

I think I had a typo in my previous post saying "Just can't BEAR the white on gold look" when I meant "Just cant BEAT the white on gold look" Oops! haha regardless enjoy them, they look great! Your car has always been an inspiration for me!

[mike.bmw]

der Bayerische Article (National Capital Chapter BMW CCA Magazine)

In September I posted about attending the National Capital Chapter (NCC) BMW CCA HPDE at Summit Point. 2 years prior I met Anna, one of the editors/writers/awesome people that publish NCC BMW CCA Magazine: der Bayerische. After chatting with Anna for a bit she said they are always looking for writers and submissions. After the recent HPDE I decided to write something and submit it. Well, it was published!

20191026_085657 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20191026_085705 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20191026_085738 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20191026_085749 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20191026_085803 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

RS001s

I went out for a drive this morning and took a couple photos in one of my usual spots. I have a set of 1/3 height hex caps and new BBS logo caps on order from Ehrlich Wheel Works. When those arrive I'll get out to a new location for some better photos.

DSC_0444 copy 1 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0461 copy 1 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I re-polished the lips earlier this week. I did it by hand and it didn't take very long to do. If this is something that needs to happen on a fairly regular basis I'll probably order a drill attachment for polishing.

20191023_153105 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Yesterday I went to my BMW CCA Chapter's (National Capital Chapter) Cars & Coffee and New Member Reception hosted at BMW of Catonsville. This was about an hour from my house. I planned a nice route to get there comprised of twisty roads and highways. The weather was clear and crisp. It was a great way to spend a morning.

fresh_TD was there in his fantastic E21:

DSC_0763 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I parked next to some other 3 series:

DSC_0756 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I didn't get any other photos of my car, but NCC BMW CCA posted this one on Facebook:

FB_IMG_1573425542674 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[dmanb2b]

Looking great Mike!

[mike.bmw]

This evening I came across a flickr photo album of the BMW CCA NCC HPDE I attended in September. The photographer, Jaclyn Heck, frequently writes for the BMW CCA NCC magazine and takes excellent photographs. Here are some of the E30:

48738828983_ebaf759527_o by mike.bevels, on Flickr

48739177836_9de1f232e1_o by mike.bevels, on Flickr

48739015383_e19bb4e287_o by mike.bevels, on Flickr

48739363332_68ab61c498_o by mike.bevels, on Flickr

48739198071_28d0d3eba6_o by mike.bevels, on Flickr

48738821688_bf75fa789d_o by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

I found some time for some photos a few weeks ago. I liked these:

DSC_0742 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0775 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0786 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0755 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0799 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I went to a local Cars and Coffee with my daughter. There weren't many other cars there, but there was a fanastic E30 turnout. Good group of guys and I enjoyed catching up with them. My car looks like a crossover compared to the rest (and I'm about 1" lower than stock on H&R OE Sport Springs).

DSC_0465 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0447 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Let there be light!

A while back, fresh_TD informed me about upgrading the sealed beam lights to H4s. I wish I had listened to him a couple years ago because WOW. What a great upgrade. I ended up going with the H4/H1 kit from here: http://classicgarage.com/53hehekit.html . That kit includes the housings, the bulbs, and the wiring needed to make this a plug-and-play affair. Also, thanks @jgerock for the photos of the back of your lights. It helped with the cap and wiring placement.

My daughter, Avery, expressed interest in helping. This was my son's first time using "real" tools on the car. I'm socked I let him near the car with a sharp screwdriver, but we all had fun and they learned a thing or two.

20191125_161332 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20191125_164600 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Sealed beams:

20191125_151049 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

H4s and H1s:

20191125_162137 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Additional wiring for the H1s:

20191125_153701 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Swapped out the 7.5 fuses for 10s. (Slots 1 and 2 in the fuse panel, which is in the manual).

20191125_154423 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Driver's side H4/H1. Passenger side sealed beams:

20191125_154546 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Upgrade complete. H4 lows:

20191125_192322 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

H4 lows and H1 highs:

20191125_192346 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

After a quick test drive in the dark, Avery wanted a photo:

20191125_191703 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[Albie325]

My car looks like a crossover compared to the rest (and I'm about 1" lower than stock on H&R OE Sport Springs).

Seriously. At least your IS lip isn't sweating every time you pull into a driveway. I really think your ride height suits the new rims well, the gold really looks awesome. The new sig pic is looking minty.

I looked into the H4/H1 upgrade awhile ago, definitely seems like a nice clean upgrade. Funny, I was out in the garage today getting my smiley's wired up, looks like we're on the same page

Love that you always get the kiddos involved, will be a nice memory for them. Keep it up bud!

[mike.bmw]

Thanks, Albie! While I do think a lowered E30 looks great, I prefer my current setup for what I use it for and how I drive. Another benefit is that my low profile jack can reach the front cross member without having to drive on ramps first. :)

It's always a bonus when they want to come help work on something in the garage (and have the attention span for it)!

[mike.bmw]

Hi all, it's been about a month and I have some updates. I do something with the car daily, but I've tried to show some restraint from posting all the time. Anyway....

Second Article Published in NCC's BMW CCA magazine, der Bayerische

I had my second article published in NCC's BMW CCA magazine, der Bayerische. I really enjoy attending the events and writing, so I may make this a habit. This happens to be the last print edition of der Bayerische, but the online issues will continue to be published. You can see the online issue of my latest article here, which features some rides of other R3Vlimited members: https://db.nccbmwcca.org/2020/2020_0102.pdf

2020_0102_db_1 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

2020_0102_db_2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Ehrlich Wheel Works 1/3 Height BBS RS Hex Caps

While I like the standard BBS RS hex caps, I think the lower profile hex caps look far better. Plus a couple of my stock hex caps had seen better days so I wanted to replace them. I reached out to Paul at Ehrlich Wheel Works for a set of his 1/3 height hex caps. It's the perfect height. He suggested I pair them with a set of gold BBS logo caps. The polished EWW hexes pair well with my RS001s polished lips. The gold BBS logos go nicely with the gold RS001 faces. Paul is a pleasure to work with and does fantastic work. I'll get out this weekend for a proper photo shoot, but I couldn't resist installing these today and taking some photos in the garage.

Stock vs 1/3 height EWW hexes:

DSC_0497 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0499 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Stock hex cap:

DSC_0503 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

EWW 1/3 height hex cap:

DSC_0510 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Stock:

DSC_0505 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

EWW 1/3 height:

DSC_0507 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

SIde shot with EWW 1/3 height hex caps:

DSC_0514 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Katie's Cars and Coffee

I ran into a few of the local E30 guys at Katie's Cars and Coffee. While I got a bunch of photos that day, I liked this one best. The light reflecting off the cars was coming from a new Porsche 911 GT3 backing into a parking spot opposite the E30s.

DSC_0446 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

E30 Slicktop Build Thread

In other news, one of the other R3V members (you know who you are) has been sending me photos of his epic '91 318is slicktop build. The car has gone through a significant transformation in only a few weeks and I've enjoyed a constant stream of updates and photos. I hoping this prompts him to start up a thread at some point because I'm sure everyone would enjoy seeing it. Do it. :-)

[Albie325]

As mike.bmw stated to *anonymous*, do it! We need more quality build threads!

The lower profile BBS caps look great, it always amazes me how such small details like this make such a huge difference aesthetically. The unknowing eye would never notice the difference unless you point it out but now that the before and after are shown, the after looks significantly better (not that the before was anything to sneeze at)

[jeenyus]

God is in the details.

[mjweimer]

Those low profile center caps are very nice. Such a small detail but a real impact on the look of the wheels - well done.


MJ