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Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

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    Originally posted by 2mAn View Post
    Very cool that your daughter was willing to get involved!

    I need to change my brakes soon too, nothing really wrong with them, but I dont know the history, and I also need to adjust my e-brake. It engages pretty high up. I havent really dealt with the rear brakes much on the E30s Ive owned so it will be a "fun" afternoon of cursing ... at least thats what Im expecting right now. Curious what a good balanced street pad is that doesnt dust like crazy, mine right now are covered. I really need to go wash my car.
    I was happy she stuck with it! If she continues to show interest I'll have her help more often.

    Regarding pads, I was ready to pull the trigger on a set of Hawk HPS as I was happy with those for street duty on my Subarus and Volvo 240. I happened to come across one of your posts reviewing them for the E30 and decided to go with the Pagids, an OEM equivalent. If you find something with good bite and less dust, please share! ;)

    Also, thanks for considering and selecting my car for August 2018 COTM! You have no idea how excited I am about that! ;D
    Last edited by mike.bmw; 08-11-2018, 01:34 PM.

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      Updates!

      I've signed up for a BMW CCA HPDE (2 days!) in October. I'll be flushing the brake fluid in the next couple weeks to prepare for that.

      This evening I swapped coil packs...

      Swapping M42 Coil Packs

      The coil packs in my car were the original 1991 BMW coil packs. I came across a good deal on new Bremis so I bought 4.

      All replacement coil packs, including ones from BMW, have the retainer clips on upside down compared to the E30. Thankfully this is a super easy fix. You need to bend the retainer tabs straights, slide the retainer clip out, trim a piece of the retainer clip, and then reinsert in the proper E30 orientation. You can use them as-is, but it makes reinstalling the harness a pain.

      Step 1 - Bend retainer clip tabs straight to remove retainer clip.





      Step 2 - Trim tab (before and after)





      Step 3 - Reinsert retainer clip in E30 orientation (the one on the left is correct)



      Step 4 - All done!



      Modifying the retainer clips is very easy and takes about a minute per clip. In fact it's so easy my 4.5 year old did 3 of them. She rocks.



      Removing the coil pack assembly is easy. Unclip the wiring harness and remove 4 8mm nuts. The whole assembly comes out.



      Take pictures for the next couple steps. There are a series of thin and thick washers, nuts, various length spaces and bolts. It seemed like a bit of a puzzle at first, but disassembly and reassembly only takes a few minutes. I had my daughter tighten all the bolts after I had the majority of it together.



      Drop it back in the car. Clip in the harness. Tighten down the 4 8mm nuts.



      Reinstall the plastic cover. Plug in the spark plug wires.



      All done! I didn't get a chance to take it out for a spin, but the idle and throttle response seem improved!

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        Just curious, why did you stick with this setup rather than going COP?

        OBDI M62B44/6 swap
        Transaction feedback
        - jpod999

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          Originally posted by jpod999 View Post
          Just curious, why did you stick with this setup rather than going COP?
          I've read mixed reviews for COP. Also my plug wires are fairly new. Just decided to go the easy route and use direct replacements.

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            I just read this entire thread. Great looking car man. Like a few others I have a twin. I shipped mine across the country to get it because I wanted a clean one too. got a 1 owner car :)

            I've been battling the same thoughts you seem to be... keep it OEM or do some "improving". I'm so torn. Part of me wants it to be a pure OEM example (which is currently is) and part of me wants blutooth, a little bit of a suspension set up, and man do I like your aftermarket headliner!! The stock tan color is just not that appealing.

            Either way, this thread has talked me into new sway bushings and spark system (coils, wires, plugs, etc). Keep it up!!

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              Originally posted by Chrisw View Post
              I just read this entire thread. Great looking car man. Like a few others I have a twin. I shipped mine across the country to get it because I wanted a clean one too. got a 1 owner car :)

              I've been battling the same thoughts you seem to be... keep it OEM or do some "improving". I'm so torn. Part of me wants it to be a pure OEM example (which is currently is) and part of me wants blutooth, a little bit of a suspension set up, and man do I like your aftermarket headliner!! The stock tan color is just not that appealing.

              Either way, this thread has talked me into new sway bushings and spark system (coils, wires, plugs, etc). Keep it up!!
              Thanks!

              I may have spoken too soon regarding the coils. I went out for a drive tonight and it was running great... until suddenly the engine lost power and felt like it was misfiring. I assumed that it was a coil issue and tried to determine which coil was the culprit. I narrowed it down to either 1 or 4. I swapped the original coils back in and the car was fine after that. Tomorrow I'm going to take my multimeter and see if I can find the faulty coil and return it for a new one.

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                Found the problem coil pack! I'll reach out to the retailer today to exchange/return for a replacement. Hopefully this was just a rare occurrence and all Bremi coil packs aren't garbage.

                Good:



                Bad:



                UPDATE
                Replacement coil pack being shipped today (free of charge)!
                Last edited by mike.bmw; 09-13-2018, 05:48 AM.

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                  I got a few things knocked out today.

                  Bled Brake Fluid
                  Not much to say here. I bled the brakes with 1L of Motul 5.1. I worked the bleeders while someone else worked the brake pedal. The pedal feels fantastic and I'm ready for the track days next month. Also, my garage is a mess.



                  Exhaust rubber mounts
                  There's an interesting M42 exhaust clamp/mount. It has two rubber isolators. One of mine was torn. I replaced both. This also fixed my clunk that I assumed was my recently replaced sway bar bushings and/or engine mounts.

                  Torn:


                  Not just torn, but completely separated:


                  Fixed (and I need to clean up that mess as well):


                  Coil Packs, Part 2
                  The replacement coil pack came today. I swapped them out again (originals for Bremis). I even cleaned the hardware this time, which was more time consuming than it should have been!

                  Comment


                    Great little updates.
                    I love doing small jobs like these to my car, makes you instant happier :)

                    Nice work as always!
                    1990 325iX Touring - November 2018 R3V Car Of The Month

                    1980 Volkswagen Golf mk1 1.1
                    1974 BMW 2002 Touring

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                      DO you have a part number for the exhaust rubber mounts? Tried searching for them on RealOEM but couldn't find them anywhere for the 318is.
                      Steve • Toronto
                      1991 318is • Brillantrot
                      Build Thread

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                        Originally posted by D.Martijn View Post
                        Great little updates.
                        I love doing small jobs like these to my car, makes you instant happier :)

                        Nice work as always!
                        Thanks! It's nice to cross a few things off the list!

                        Originally posted by Powling View Post
                        DO you have a part number for the exhaust rubber mounts? Tried searching for them on RealOEM but couldn't find them anywhere for the 318is.
                        I do! The diagram in RealOEM doesn't seem to match what the mount/bracket assembly looks like in real life: https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...61#17111113699

                        The part itself looks the same when searching online by part number (the part number being 17111113699). It has built-in studs opposed to having a bolt go through it like in the RealOEM diagram. The orientation in the diagram also appears to be different than my car. I bought the Lemforder as I've had good luck with their parts.

                        Hope this helps!

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                          NJ BMW CCA Shenandoah Driver's School

                          This past weekend I attended a 2 day HPDE hosted by BMW CCA (NJ Chapter) at Summit Point Raceway on the Shenandoah Circuit. Shenandoah is one of my favorite tracks. It's only 50 miles away and I've probably done ~10 events on it over the years.

                          From Summit Point's website:

                          The Shenandoah Circuit is a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) road course that first opened in 2005. It is a no holds barred technical challenge that will take years for drivers to master. The track contains a dimensional replica of the Nürburgring-Nordschleife’s famous banked Karussell turn complete with 20 degrees of banking.

                          Prep

                          I tech'd my car per a checklist provided by NJ BMW CCA. The brakes and fluids were fresh. I removed the kids' seats, cleaned everything up, and packed the trunk with a jack, jack stands, wheel chocks, a chest of tools, some spare parts, oil, a chair, and some snacks.





                          Fun With Friends

                          Also in attendance: Zeemz and another friend that drives a 2016 Chevy SS (manual).





                          Track Time

                          The weekend was a great success. The E30 performed beautifully, I was signed-off for solo for NJ BMW CCA events, I learned a lot and had a ton of fun.
                          Over the two days I logged 7 ~24 minute sessions on track for a total of ~150 miles. Thanks for taking these photos, Zeemz!





                          Skid Pad

                          This was my first time on a skid pad in the e30. I got two 5 minute sessions on the skid pad. I spun a few times in the beginning, but got the hang of it eventually.











                          Video and Data

                          I bought a mount for my phone so I could use TrackAddict to record video and overlay GPS data (speed, track map). NJ BMW CCA is serious about safety (a good thing) and wanted everything tethered securely. Here's what I came up with for the mount/tether. I had previously made this to secure my first gen GoPro to my STI, but it works for the E30 as well:



                          Here's one of the many laps from this weekend:



                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcKE...ature=youtu.be

                          Coil Packs

                          Given that one of my new Bremi coil packs broke shortly after installation last month, I brought a few original spares and a multimeter with me to the track. I'm glad I did because after the first track session and skid pad session, another coil pack blew. I replaced it with one of the original spares and didn't have any issues the rest of the weekend.



                          Clean-up and Evaluation

                          Once I got home I unpacked and washed the car. It was filthy from the track and skid pad time. The first order of business was to clean everything! Later this week I'll find time to more thoroughly look over brakes/tires/etc to assess their condition.

                          Last edited by mike.bmw; 08-09-2019, 09:15 AM.

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                            The skidpan grin says it all
                            sigpic

                            (clicky on piccy to get to thread)

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                              * sorry wrong thread
                              Last edited by Austell; 10-22-2018, 03:45 AM.

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                                Originally posted by mike.bmw View Post


                                Track Time

                                The weekend was a great success. The E30 performed beautifully, I was signed-off for solo for NJ BMW CCA events, I learned a lot and had a ton of fun.
                                Over the two days I logged 7 ~24 minute sessions on track for a total of ~150 miles. Thanks for taking these photos, Zeemz!

                                Had a blast Mike! Looking forward to next season and more fun times already.
                                1989 325is Lachssilber - Sold
                                1990 325is Sterlingsilber - Current Project
                                September 2018 Car of the Month: Zeemz
                                Youtube Track & Autocross Videos


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