Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

Hopefully in two days I'll be posting about what a huge success the 2022 Cherry Blossom Run was. In the meantime - shots from today's dry run.

DSC_0351-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0307 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0390 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0295-Edit by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0399 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0281 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Since I'll be driving 8 hours and 500 miles to The Vintage with my daughter this year, I figured it was time to give her more leg room. My previous fire extinguisher bracket wouldn't let the seat slide forward very much, so I ordered the garagistic mount. I had to drill an extra hole for my current extinguisher mount to work.

Old mount:
PXL_20220315_220715858 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Old vs new (see how much longer the new mount is (and I can also mount it under the sliders):
PXL_20220315_221100865 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

PXL_20220315_221356793 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Bracket bolted to mount:
PXL_20220316_011637702 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Seat moved all the way forward with old mount:
PXL_20220315_220700067 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Seat moved all the way forward with the new mount:
PXL_20220316_021240246 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I also picked up some nylock nuts and grade 8.8 hardware:
PXL_20220316_011646419 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[mike.bmw]

Do you use a tripod on a timer for SelfE30's?

Yep, exactly!

looking spiffy af with that ride. brilliant execution and shots

Thank you!

[s-thetikz]

looking spiffy af with that ride. brilliant execution and shots

[moatilliatta]

Do you use a tripod on a timer for SelfE30's?

[BuiltforSin]

Please let me know when you go to sell your BBS RS001's!!! Beautiful E30.

[Reichart12]

Those are some great photos. I especially like the first one with the twisty road sign.

[mike.bmw]

Just some recent photos... Reichart12 started a trend with E30 selfies.

DSC_0368-3 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0342-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0296-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0265-3 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0303-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0286-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0357 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0274 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[AlpinStar]

Thanks so much for the replies, Mike and Alex. Appreciate the thoughts! Glad to hear even a refreshed dual-mass setup makes a noticeable improvement over a worn one.

[monty23psk]

AlpinStar I have an m42 and did go with the m20 single mass flywheel. I also lighten it to something like 13-15lbs, so didnt go sub-10. Car revs more freely and goes with the MarkD chip great. If you stand out of the car and really pay attention at idle, you can sometimes hear chatter but it is nothing noticeable. I have heard enough light weight version where it is very loud. I still have factory AC and no issues with revs or idling. Purrs nice at idle. I did upgrade from stock clutch to Clutch Masters stage 1 for my car.

Refreshing anything that is 30 years old will seem nice for sure as Mike stated.

[mike.bmw]

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 :).

Thanks! I did look into lightweight flywheel options and was ready to go that route. After speaking with the folks at RRT, I was convinced to go with an OE setup. They even use dual-mass flywheels on their racecars. From what I recall, the lightweight options have more cons than pros. And the dual-mass setup was only a couple hundred more dollars than the single-mass setup, so it wasn't outrageous.

At the end of the day I just wanted something that was easy to live with for another 150K miles - hopefully I make it that far. The new dual-mass setup feels MUCH better than the worn and tired original components.

[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 :).

[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:

20211223_104949 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20211223_111800 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20211223_112912 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

A peak inside:

20211219_151803 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Cleaned up battery ground:

20211224_050256 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Old vs new alternator ground:

20220103_150358 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And some shots from the event:

DSC_0283 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0280 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0253 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0321 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0422 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0308-Edit by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0285 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[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!

DSC_0279-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0310 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0353-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0409 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0446 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0469-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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

Round headlight gang:

DSC_0311 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Mmmm, panning shots:

DSC_0094 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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

DSC_0331-Edit-2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0377 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Some Porsches:

DSC_0660 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0487 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0754 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Lothar Shuettler's red cars:

DSC_0489 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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!

[D.Martijn]

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