Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

Bye bye old and crumbling hood insulation! FCP Euro to the rescue with fresh OEM goodness!

Removing the old stuff, and all the baked on adhesive underneath was a messy and time consuming process, but well worth it.

Short video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOWpF...UyNTI1aDNmOA==

20250824-DSC_4242 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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[mike.bmw]

After an embarrassing amount of time passing, I have finally fixed my parking brake issue. The right rear side would stick when I parked on a hill, requiring me to rock the car back and forth to hear it "pop" and unstick. I thought I had fixed this a few months ago by adjusting the parking brake cables, but after a week or so the issue came back.

This time I took everything apart to inspect the parking brake mechanism. It was gummed up with tons of old brake dust, so I used brake cleaner and a brush to give everything a thorough cleaning. Problem solved, and the car rolls without any resistance when the parking brake is disengaged!

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[mike.bmw]

It has been a minute! Not much new, aside from an oil change and discovering a leaking power steering rack.

The rack leak isn't bad. It's not even dripping on the ground. There's just some signs of seepage on the driver's side bellows. Stock reman units are out of stock everywhere, which leaves me with the alternative of installing a Z3 rack (the same one I have in my E36 M3). However, there are some complications with airbag-equipped E30s, so it's not a direct swap.

In the short term, I've flushed the power steering system, installed a new reservoir, and added some Liqui Moly Stop Leak to see if that clears things up.

I plan to take this car to the Vintage this year, so I'll be driving it more once the snow clears and making sure everything is good for the 1,500-mile round trip.

Here's a video of the power steering flush: https://youtube.com/shorts/JSFZ5Z_Uu...JIn8GUyFseFlwd

And some random driveway photos during winter:

20260202-DSC_3246 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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[mike.bmw]

Vintage Prep! In April I'll be driving 500 miles to Maggie Valley, NC for The Vintage. I finished up the remaining maintenance that I wanted to have done before the trip.

New tires:

Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/VmkNeZqxS...-oKJ_YZrLamRm3

PXL_20260303_174703941 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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Coolant flush:

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In January I changed the oil, I flushed the power steering in February, and I did the gear box, rear diff, and brake fluid last year, so I should be good to go!

[econti]

Still looks as good as ever. How many miles on it now? It'd have to be getting up there, and I love it for that

[mike.bmw]

Still looks as good as ever. How many miles on it now? It'd have to be getting up there, and I love it for that

Thanks! It has nearly 168,000 miles on it now. Once I get back from The Vintage it'll probably have 170K.

I haven't been driving it as much the past few years because my 261,000-mile E36 M3 has been more of a project than I anticipated, putting me in a seemingly endless fix, test, and drive cycle. But now that I've replaced almost everything on the E36, it's time to give the 318is more attention.

This month actually marks 10 years since I bought the 318is in Altanta, GA and drove it 650 miles home to Virginia. It feels like a lifetime ago and just yesterday at the same time.

[mmoyer11]

I cant believe I’ve never seen this thread. So rad. Hope you’re well!!

[udubfl]

Didn’t realize the 10 year thread either! Awesome for you to keep up with updates. Appreciate the pics and vids.

[mike.bmw]

I didn't end up going to The Vintage this year. I had a few "life" things come up and it just wasn't in the cards. A few days before I was scheduled to drive to NC, I did have to address a few E30 issues.

First, the power steering return line was leaking at the reservoir. I noticed the line wasn't in great shape when I replaced the reservoir as the aftermarket worm clamp had destroyed it, but I thought this was something that could wait until after the trip. It wasn't. I drained the reservoir again, cut an inch off the line so there was a clean end, got a proper BMW hose clamp, reattached it, and refilled the reservoir.

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I had recently changed my E36 M3's fuel filter and was shocked that the date stamped on it was from 2000. I knew I had changed my E30's' fuel filter ~3 years ago, but I had another on the shelf and figured it was a quick and easy job, so why not? It took about 10 minutes. Now both cars are on the same interval. While I was doing this, I also noticed the "new" gas cap was leaking vapor, so I reinstalled the old one and no more leaks.

PXL_20260325_172946456 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

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The last item was to readdress the tire balance. The front end was shaking above 55mph, and if I was going to drive 500 miles later that week, I wanted properly balanced tires. I took the wheels and tires to a local trusted shop and they determined one of the front wheels was out of balance and corrected it.

PXL_20260406_190836000 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

After a few days of E30 prep for the road trip, I had to bail. Bummer. Hopefully next year!

[mike.bmw]

Yesterday I attended the 42nd Deutsche Marque Concours event with my E30. This will be the fifth time I've taken my E30 in 10 years of ownership. I keep the car pretty clean all the time, but I did address some things in the engine bay and in the trunk. After a quick wipe down it was ready! I am pleased to report we took second place in the 1980s class. With beautiful weather, catching up with friends, and seeing so many amazing cars, it was a great day.

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[mike.bmw]

There's not much new with my 318is. It has been running well, even in 100+ degree temps!

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[mike.bmw]

After taking my 1991 318is out for some "exercise" last Tuesday, I arrived home to the smell of coolant and a growing puddle of liquid under the car. Not good.

I quickly found the culprit, a plastic coolant crossover pipe buried under the intake manifold had cracked. Come to find out later during disassembly, it had actually cracked in three places, but was only leaking from the most recent crack as the hose clamps on the others were performing miracles. I was seriously on borrowed time and this would have left me stranded if it had let go anywhere other than my street.

After few hours of disassembly, I raided my E30 parts stash to find that I had everything I needed, including a new coolant crossover pipe, new o-ring, new intake manifold gasket, and new coolant hoses to replace the ~10 year old ones at the back of the head and block. Sometimes I order spares to push me over the $ amount for free shipping when ordering other things, sometimes I'm concerned these parts will stop being produced.

Wednesday morning I was up around 4:30AM reassembling everything. Despite having performed similar tasks on this engine numerous times, mistakes were made and it took longer than expected. One step forward, two steps back. I should have gotten more sleep.

By 10AM I had the system bled, engine bay rinsed and cleaned, and I was out on a quick 10-mile test drive. I'm thankful to report that the E30 is back in action and ready for an BMW Oktoberfest event this weekend, and an E30-specific event at Dominion Raceway the weekend after that! And I'm doubly thankful that the plastic coolant pipe failed when it did, and not on any of our recent E30 road trips, or the upcoming Oktoberfest events!

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And here's a quick video on IG:

View this post on Instagram

[mike.bmw]

AM I CRAZY FOR CONSIDERING THIS?

This coming March, I'll have owned my 1991 318is for 11 years. For those who don't know the story, it has a dealer-installed Webasto Startlite IV moonroof. It was once a slick top, but in order to sell it when new, they installed the Webasto unit. While the Webasto unit still works well, and I have collected some spare parts for it over the years like extra glass and seals, it can be a little "creaky" and "rattly", I never use it in fear of it breaking, and I've always wanted a slick top.

Am I crazy for considering removing the Webasto unit entirely and having a restoration fabricate a clean, motorsport-inspired riveted panel rather than a factory-invisible repair? A center roof bow (between the B pilars) would also need to be fabricated as I'm pretty sure the factory one was cut out to fit the Webasto unit (which has it's own center roof bow between the B pillars). I'd have to figure out a headliner at some point as well.

I've seen a riveted panel on moatilliatta 's car and liked it. Maybe it doesn't go well with my mostly stock car, but a roof skin replacement would be significantly more in cost.

I'm guessing this is going to be a $2500-$5000 job for a fabrication/restoration shop to do, with a full roof skin replacement in the $7K+ range.

R3v, talk me into it or talk me out of it.

[2mAn]

R3v, talk me into it or talk me out of it.

Leave it alone!

[LateFan]

I believe you can get parts for an MGB GT Webasto top. The Frontline company in the UK installs them in their retro hotrod MGBs. That makes me think the bits might be available.