Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[phreshkid]

Excellent dude.

As soon as I did all of this, I went on a road trip and averaged 420 miles/tank at 80-95mph average. It was unreal.

[mike.bmw]

I've put about 75 miles on the car in the last few days. 2 trips to local Cars and Coffee events and a trip with the family to the "Air and Scare" at the Dulles Air and Space Museum.

It has been running beautifully so far. The idle is rock steady. The engine is very responsive and smooth. The engine is operating much better overall. I'm very happy with the way this little "mess under the intake" refresh turned out.

I'm not sure what's next. I have a list of things to do such as the rear diff bushing, front "is" lip brackets, trunk seal, and other various small jobs. Nothing pressing at the moment and I hope it stays that way.

Here's one pre-sunrise shot from Katie's Cars and Coffee on Saturday morning. There were a couple other e30s there, but it's so crowded that parking next to each other isn't an option.



Another from Katie's:



And another from Katie's:



Here are some shots from the Dulles Cars and Coffee this morning. I found a few e30 friends and parked next to them.

[mike.bmw]

Excellent dude.

As soon as I did all of this, I went on a road trip and averaged 420 miles/tank at 80-95mph average. It was unreal.

Thanks! I'm excited to see if the gas mileage improves. Prior to this refresh, I've been averaging 24 mpg with mixed driving and 30+ mpg on the highway.

[mike.bmw]

A few updates. I attended a BMWCCA Cars and Coffee this morning at the Sterling (VA) BMW dealership. I got to park in the "vintage" section. ;D

I parked next to some folks I've seen at other cars and coffee events (probably have some photos next to the same cars in other posts in this thread). It was a fun event. I sat in on the "new member reception". I'm actually a not member, but I'll likely sign up now. Great bunch of folks and a very nice event!







I bought a new OEM BMW trunk seal. I took the old seal off this afternoon and cleaned everything thoroughly. Only a couple VERY minor areas with some corrosion. About the size of a pencil head eraser on the lip that the trunk seal mates to. I could have just let them be without issue, but I decided to spot sand those areas to bare metal and treat them. Everything else was super clean as you can see in the photo:



I ran out of time to put the new trunk seal in place. I'll try to find some time to do that tomorrow.

[mike.bmw]

Most mundane update EVER.

Trunk seal installed! It gave me an excuse to clean everything up.

[mike.bmw]

A few updates from today...

First, my rear bumper has been misaligned since I bought the car. The right side was about 1/2" lower than the left side. I took the bumper off and adjusted the mounting plates as well as the right plastic guides. It's now almost perfect. I cleaned thoroughly underneath and there was NO rust! I had to take the bumper on/off about 5 times to get it the way I wanted. This site was very helpful: http://e30.bmwdiy.info/bumper-adjust/

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Second, I installed new rear speakers. I actually bought 4 Pioneer TSG1345R 5.25-Inch speakers, but only had time to install the rears today. The original rear speakers sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispes. I had to fade the sound all the way to the front just to listen to anything (I rarely listen to music when I drive). For $29 a pair from Amazon, these perform well enough. I'm certainly no audiophile. I'll get around to installing the fronts over the weekend. These fit under the stock speaker grill for that factory look.

[NYCDelphin]

Is the cover pressing on the tweeter?
I had the same issue when I replaced my rears with Infinity Reference.

I currently have no cover on it.
Need to research if there is a different cover which will not touch the tweeter.

[mike.bmw]

Is the cover pressing on the tweeter?
I had the same issue when I replaced my rears with Infinity Reference.

I currently have no cover on it.
Need to research if there is a different cover which will not touch the tweeter.

The cover is not touching the tweeter on the rears. When I install the fronts this weekend I'll report back on those. I was told that these speakers would fit without issue under the stock covers.

[mike.bmw]

I installed the front speakers today. The tweeter does not appear to contact the factory speaker cover/grill. The sound is much improved over the base, stock, broken, 25 year old speakers. Of course, anything would be better than broken speakers, right? ;D

With all four Pioneer TSG1345Rs installed, I played around with the base and treble settings on the JVC head unit. These provide more base than the stock speakers, but that's not saying much. Overall I've extremely pleased for $60 spent and less than 30 minutes to install all 4. (The driver's side took slightly longer due to having to remove the hood release lever and bracket).

Stock rear vs new Pioneer TSG1345R:



Stock front vs new Pioneer TSG1345Rs:

[mike.bmw]

I also stopped by Katie's Cars and Coffee for a bit this morning. Lots of cool cars to see including a Lancia Delta Integrale, a few R32 Skylines, and of course a bunch of really expensive exotics.

Snapped a photo of the 318is before I left:

[Eurospec]

Looks great! Really reminds me of the e30 I just picked up except mine has a black interior. It essentially had the same mileage -- 163mi less... crazy :shock:

[MouseRat]

How did I miss this thread!

This is very similar to my E30. Same colour, close mileage. (although the weather in England has not been so kind to mine - I have a bit more random corrosion and road muck!). I've gone/going the OEM+ route with mine too (some better suspension and a stainless exhaust eventually). As mentioned earlier in this thread I think it's a real good way to enjoy these cars!

Also your interior is super nice. I love the colour!

[maayna777]

info

hello,
your car is looking very nice and comfortable.

[mike.bmw]

Looks great! Really reminds me of the e30 I just picked up except mine has a black interior. It essentially had the same mileage -- 163mi less... crazy :shock:

Thanks! That is crazy regarding the mileage. I just rolled over 136K. It's not my daily driver, but I do commute with it a few days a week when the weather is nice.

How did I miss this thread!

This is very similar to my E30. Same colour, close mileage. (although the weather in England has not been so kind to mine - I have a bit more random corrosion and road muck!). I've gone/going the OEM+ route with mine too (some better suspension and a stainless exhaust eventually). As mentioned earlier in this thread I think it's a real good way to enjoy these cars!

Also your interior is super nice. I love the colour!

How did you miss this thread?!? ;)

I've seen your car and some of your posts on the M42 subforum. Very nice and you are doing a great job with it!

Thanks for the kind words.

hello,
your car is looking very nice and comfortable.

Thanks!

[mike.bmw]

I've been playing around with the idea of picking up an LSD. The car came with a 4.10 open diff. Yes, it was possible to buy a 318is without an LSD contrary to some posts I've read. The diff bushing on the stock diff needs to be replaced, so now is as good a time as any to start searching for an LSD.

I believe my options at this point are a small/medium case 4.10 LSD/3.73 LSD. I've read through some E30 diff installation threads and it looks fairly straight forward. Though I'm not sure what to expect to pay as I've seen a wide range of prices. I'm also not sure if I should rebuild the diff I purchase or what is involved with that.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks!