Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

The Vintage 2021

I finally made it to The Vintage! After years of hearing such great things about the people, the cars, and the event, I finally made it. It exceeded my expectations. The people are great. The cars and fantastic. The event is must-do for any classic BMW enthusiast. Additionally, it was awesome meeting a few R3V'ers in person (@mo

I caravanned from the Washington D.C. area to Asheville, NC with Joshua Reger. It was about a 500 mile trip. We managed it in 8 hours with a few stops for stretching and bathroom breaks. Joshua recently completed his '72 2002 project and it didn't miss a beat. Roller when we approached Asheville.

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I stayed at the Clarion Inn. The parking lot at the Clarion was jam packed with classic BMWs. Here are a couple:

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The owner of the patina'd 2002, Mark of Classic BMW Garage, invited me to go on a Blue Ridge Parkway on Friday with a small group. We stopped at the Arboretum to plan the route:

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As we went up in elevation, we hit lots of fog and rain, but it was a blast. Lots of opportunities for cool shots on BRP. And a waterfall!

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The BRP crew went to lunch and I drove 90 minutes to Greer, SC to check out the BMW CCA Foundation's exhibit on Z cars:

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While I was there, I ran into Zach (@moatilliatta) and another R3V'er (I forgot Johnathan's username).

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We all headed over to the BMW Zentrum and of course grabbed some shots in front of the museum.

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After the Zentrum, we headed back to the Clarion Inn for registration and the parking lot party. Hundreds of classic BMWs wrapping all the way around the 1/3rd mile hotel parking lot. We ran into Albie325 and his awesome M Tech 1 build. So great!

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The next morning was the show. It was an hour drive to Hot Springs, NC on some truly fantastic roads. The show itself was on a grassy field completely surrounded by mountains. So many BMWs, such surreal scenery. Here's a small taste of the show:

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On Sunday, my wife flew in and I picked her up from the airport. The kiddos stayed with Grandma for a few days and my wife and I had a short vacation - the first time in over 7 years we've been away for more than a night. So we saw the Biltmore and went on some great hikes (which meant a lot more driving on the Blue Ridge Parkway).

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On Wednesday we headed home. In less than a week I had put over 1500 fun-filled miles on my 318is. I had wiped my car down a number of times on the trip, but with a few days of rain my car was the filthiest it has EVER been under my ownership. Dirt caked all over the sides. Stains on the Alpine White paint. So the first thing I did when I got home (after catching up and spending time with my kids) was clean the car - they even helped. It still needs a full wax, but it's back to a reasonably clean state and my inner clean-car OCD has been appeased. :-)

I can't wait to go back next year. It was great meeting so many welcoming BMW enthusiasts and connecting with people I've chatted with online for years, yet never met in person. HUGE thanks to the organizer, Scott Sturdy, for putting on such a great event!

[econti]

DSC_0349 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And just like that I've got a new desktop background.
Great pics, great write up. I'd love to make it to one.

[mike.bmw]

History Repeats Itself

A little over 5 years ago I replaced my M42's "Mess Under the Intake" with all new OEM parts. New vacuum lines, new coolant lines, new fuel lines, new hose clamps, new sensors, new gaskets. Even a set of refurbed, upgraded Bosch injectors. Well, the weekend before last I was driving home from a local Cars & Coffee event and smelled gasoline. At first I thought it was the truck in front of me, but when I got home it was worse. I took a quick look in the engine bay and saw one of the short fuel lines under the intake manifold was wet, so I started taking things apart.

There wasn't anything obviously leaking fuel and none of the lines were split. All hose clamps were tight. However, when I went to remove the fuel injectors from the lower intake manifold, they basically fell out. It appears the o-rings had shrunk quite a bit. And the bodies of these new/refurb'd injectors, which once looked perfect, were now badly rusted. They should've been coated (or I should've painted them). Lesson learned.

I reached out to SSSQuid and purchased new plastic-bodied, 4 pintle, Bosch injectors (part #0-280-155-746). I ordered new gaskets, clamps, and various other parts from FCP Euro. Since I had everything apart, I also ordered a replacement coolant hose that leads from the M42's expansion tank (built into the radiator) and travels up under the lower intake manifold. The old one, probably original, was one of the few I didn't replace 5 years ago. For this, I clamped both ends of the old hose and quickly swapped over the new hose, which I routed alongside the old one. Very much an "Indiana Jones" move - see the scene from Raider's of the Lost Ark with the golden statue and the bag of sand.

I got everything back together last night. I let it idle for 20 minutes and didn't see any leaks. I drove it today and all is well. It may even be running better now - especially in higher RPMs, where I used to hear a louder ticking noise that is now gone (probably injector related).

Onto the pics!

Old coolant hose routed next to new one, ends clamps to prevent coolant spilling:

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Coolant line replaced!

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The old one had seen better days...

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New injectors installed in the rail, the old ones were quite rusted:

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Rail installed onto the lower intake manifold, new short fuel hoses and clamps (again):

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Upper intake manifold reinstalled, with new gasket:

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Throttle body heater plate, new gaskets - I will bypass this next time I'm in there:

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Throttle body reinstalled, ICV hooked up:

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All wrapped up!

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[moatilliatta]

Great vintage photos Mike! Really cool we had some misty weather for some great blue ridge photos!

Those gen 3 injectors or well worth it!

[s-thetikz]

beautiful car and love the turbofans. great taste! what % tint do you have (not sure if this was answered already), looks right on the car.

[KI4UJO]

+1 for excellent Vintage photos! Great to meet you there (I'm Jonathan for reference).

[mike.bmw]

Great vintage photos Mike! Really cool we had some misty weather for some great blue ridge photos!

Those gen 3 injectors or well worth it!

Thanks - I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. The weather did make for some interesting shots. Looking forward to another Vintage in 2022!

And thanks for the injector recommendation! (Saw it on one of my IG posts).

beautiful car and love the turbofans. great taste! what % tint do you have (not sure if this was answered already), looks right on the car.

Thanks! The rears are 35% and the fronts are 50%.

+1 for excellent Vintage photos! Great to meet you there (I'm Jonathan for reference).

Thanks! Great meeting you there and your YouTube videos have certainly come in handy over the years :-)

[mike.bmw]

Photo dump from the last couple of months. I'll have a quick DIY post coming soon (once I determine the fix and have the whole story). And I have a ton of shots of other cars and collections - hopefully showing up in print sometime soon!

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[2mAn]

as usual, great pics!

[AWDBOB]

Man, this car is all the hotness! Love the consistent content, and that you're always using the car.

[getouth]

Man, this car is all the hotness! Love the consistent content, and that you're always using the car.

My thoughts exactly, I don’t come here much anymore but when I do it’s always to this thread.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[D.Martijn]

Great pictures, Mike! I like the one between the trees!

[mike.bmw]

as usual, great pics!

Man, this car is all the hotness! Love the consistent content, and that you're always using the car.

My thoughts exactly, I don’t come here much anymore but when I do it’s always to this thread.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great pictures, Mike! I like the one between the trees!

Thanks, all!

I don't post as much as I used to. I could fix that, but it would be a LOT of photos. :-). Always writing and taking photos for articles.

I will have an upcoming post on voltage regulators, alternators, ground wires, and batteries once I receive one last item in the mail next week. :-)

The shot between the trees was (re)posted by BMW Group Classic on FaceBook, so I was pretty proud of that.

Here are some shots from last weekend - Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

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Shots of other cars from the last few months...

Round headlight gang:

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Mmmm, panning shots:

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When you catch the person you're interviewing on the way to the interview:

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Some Porsches:

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Lothar Shuettler's red cars:

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This could go on for a while, but I don't post a lot of this stuff here since it's not E30 related.

Yesterday I tested out a spot for an upcoming shoot, so I used a tripod and took some of myself. I would've taken the E30, but I had just cleaned it and it was raining a bit, so I took my dirty wagon. Here's one:

DSC_0299 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Cheers!

[mike.bmw]

Scotty, I need more power

In mid December I attended "NCC Gears and Cheers", a two-part event that started at Hunt Valley Horsepower and ended up at a secretive car storage location. The weather wasn't bad, the premise piqued my interest, and I was covering the event for NCC BMW CCA's magazine, so I took my E30. The first stop was about 80 miles from my house. I left before dawn and the drive was going well. The engine has felt so responsive and peppy since recently installing the new injectors. As I neared my destination I noticed that the instrument cluster was having issues. Then the headlights weren't working. Then the radio turned off. Then the blower motor stopped working. Then the turn signals weren't firing. I was only a few minutes away, so I continued on, limping the car to Hunt Valley Horsepower. If I was going to have an issue, a car meet full of enthusiasts was probably not a bad place for it.

When I arrived my E30 wasn't running well. I suspected that I threw an alternator belt and the battery was flat based on the fact so many electrical systems cut out. I turned the car off, popped the hood, and saw the alternator belt was still in place (and properly tensioned). The battery was just over 10 years old, so it was due for replacement. Despite driving the car 3+ days a week, I always put it on a tender, so the battery life has been prolonged significantly. Another CCA member, Devin Moreno, was kind enough to find an open Autozone nearby and give me a ride to pick up a new battery. We were there and back in less than 15 minutes. I installed the new battery using the trunk-lid mounted toolkit (possibly the first time it has been used) and the car started right up. It got me through the rest of the day and another 120+ miles of driving.

When I got home, I used my multimeter to measure voltage at the battery while the car off, idling, and at 2K rpm. All measurements were the same - in the low 11s. Not enough to charge the battery. Someone at the event earlier in the day suggested the voltage regulator (VR) might be the culprit, so I started looking into that. I pulled the VR and found that the contact points were completely worn down. They weren't making contact, thus not completing the circuit causing the battery to not be charged.

So I ordered a new VR and replaced it. Back in business! Voltage numbers were acceptable after the replacement. I was hitting high 13s at idle. Low 13s with the high beams, radio, and blower on full.

I also cleaned all of the grounds and noticed the alternator ground was in poor shape. I ordered a new one from Bavarian Restoration and replaced it today. Project complete.

Here are some crappy cell phone photos:

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A peak inside:

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Cleaned up battery ground:

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Old vs new alternator ground:

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And some shots from the event:

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[AlpinStar]

Car's looking great, Mike! When you did your flywheel and clutch recently did you look into lightweight flywheel options? I'm having basically the same job done right now (clutch, flywheel, RMS, etc), on a car with the same mileage as yours, and have been tempted by lightweight flywheel options, but I also feel like a lot of the forum posts on single-mass flywheels for the M42 are by people who don't much care about the downsides (like gear chatter and idle issues when A/C kicks in). Looks like you stuck with the stock dual-mass and decided to trust the BMW engineers, which is the route I'll probably end up going as well :).