Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[mike.bmw]

I knocked out a few e30 related things today.

1. Let it be known that Albie325 is an awesome individual. I've really enjoyed following his thread here. He hooked me up with some OEM grill foam, which I received earlier this week in the mail. Today I removed the old stuff, cleaned the adhesion surface, and cut/installed the new foam.

Old foam coming off:



New happy foam installed:



Thanks Albie! You rock!

2. HPDE Tech Inspection and Alignment performed by RRT!



As I've said a number of times, RRT is great. They perform free tech inspections for BMW CCA NCC HPDEs, of which I'm attending in a few weeks. My car passed.

While I was there I had them perform an alignment. Results:



While I was there I saw my first M1 in person. I was floored. Never thought I'd see one of these in real life. I chatted with the owner for a minute and watched it drive away. Apparently it's 1 of only 4 in that color. Super cool.

[ATL_E30]

Vintage is going to be May 15th-17th I believe. I went to my first one this past year and I’m already excited for next years! Vintage prep starts now! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Albie325]

What are the dates for the Vintage? Can't seem to find it online and want to request off of work now so I don't miss another one.

Also, very jealous of your C&C's, I wish we had something like that around the Raleigh area. I haven't been able to come across much on the local interwebs.

[fresh_TD]

Where is vintage again? Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Asheville, NC Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[jeenyus]

Where is vintage again? Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[columbo_01]

Nice pics Mike. As always, very clean e30.

[mike.bmw]

The Vintage 2020

I booked my room at the Clarion! I'll be bringing my wife. My kids will have 3 spoiled/pampered days at Grandma's house. Very excited to attend my first Vintage!

HPDE Prep

I'm registered for the 2 day BMW CCA NCC HPDE next month. I'll be taking my car to RRT for the required tech inspection (RRT does this for free) and an alignment (because I still haven't done this).

What's that smell?

I've been tracking down an intermittent fuel smell. I tightened down all the hose clamps in the engine bay. I inspected under the rear seat. Everything looks good and the smell hasn't come back. Very clean under the rear seat!



Dash Protection

After swapping in a crack free dash nearly 2 years ago, I've become very dash-crack conscious. I apply 303 on a regular basis. I always use a sunshade when parked. I picked up a Dashmat (limited version from Covercraft). The fitment is so-so. It does a good job of keeping the dash cool while driving on long trips in direct sun. It rolls up and stored easily when not in use. For $35 shipped from Advance Auto Parts, it's not a bad deal.



Garage Organization

I've found some time to thoroughly go through my garage and organize it. Things are binned by type (paints, lubricants, new car parts, old car parts, and so on). I moved a few things around based on frequency of access. It's always nice to work in a clean, organized garage.



Fresh_TD snapped this when I was leaving C&C the other day.



And I got this one parked near his super clean E21.

[dmanb2b]

Looks great Mike!

[mike.bmw]

Haha nice! Better safe than sorry. Jealous of your “correct” 318is Natur perforated sport seats and beautiful shape. My sport seats (though saved my life in my old car’s wreck) are ugly Pearl beige.

Thanks! The seats are in pretty good condition, except the driver's side bolster next to the door. The vinyl is cracking and needs to be replaced. I may just replace that section if I can find something that matches. I think the Pearl Beige looks good too!

Nice work with the extinguisher, been thinking about installing one and this is one of the nicer, cleaner setups I've seen

Thanks! The mount has been solid and rattle free. The only change I've made is I've rotated the extinguisher so the handle would face the floor. It's pretty much out of sight, but still easy to access. The only modification I had to make to the bracket was cutting off the ends of the U shaped brackets. Ideally I'd make new brackets that would fit/reach UNDER the sliders so that the bracket wouldn't prevent full forward movement. Either mounting option, the extinguisher would be in the way so the seat can never go fully forward.

[Albie325]

Nice work with the extinguisher, been thinking about installing one and this is one of the nicer, cleaner setups I've seen

[freeride53]

Haha nice! Better safe than sorry. Jealous of your “correct” 318is Natur perforated sport seats and beautiful shape. My sport seats (though saved my life in my old car’s wreck) are ugly Pearl beige.

[jeenyus]

Thanks, all!







Respectfully disagree. ;D



This is exactly how I want my car to sit. I spent a significant amount of time researching springs, shocks, mounts, etc and refurbished most of the suspension. If I did go the coilover route, I'd raise the car to it's current height, pick dampening settings similar to the Bilsteins on the car, and choose a spring rate similar to the H&R OE Sport Springs. :)



I don't disagree that a lowered E30 looks great, but it's just not something I want to do with this car.

I can respect that.

I have a super low car and I don't like it, but I do like the performance it yeilds in certain driving conditions. To find the sweet spot between those two is what I'm referring to I guess. For example my e91 is on stock suspension and the height is perfect, but definitely needs some stiffer springs and that's hard to get without dropping the car a little. Coilovers I feel could encompass both ideas in one without much compromise between the two.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[getouth]

Mike you have a pm

[mike.bmw]

Safety First!

freeride53 recently inspired me to get a fire extinguisher based on a post in his thread. It's something I've been meaning to do since I bought the car (after recognizing and replacing all the leaking fuel lines). I just never spent the time researching brackets and extinguishers until last week.

I ended up with The Bracketeer and a Buckeye 13315. The Bracketeer is a universal fire extinguisher mount and the Buckeye extinguisher had good ratings and came with a vehicle mount.



Initially I mounted it driver's side, but then decided to move it to the passenger side. I modified the bracket so that it could be bolted to the seat rails. The way I've mounted this it does prevent the seat from moving all the way forward, but the does still have a good amount of forward movement. It also allows the seat to be tilted forward to so I can get the kids in their car seats.









Moved to passenger side:





So for less than $100 I have a fire extinguisher mounted in the car. Hopefully I never have to use it.

[mike.bmw]

Thanks, all!

This should be on a nice set of coilovers. It totally deserves it.

Respectfully disagree. ;D

This is exactly how I want my car to sit. I spent a significant amount of time researching springs, shocks, mounts, etc and refurbished most of the suspension. If I did go the coilover route, I'd raise the car to it's current height, pick dampening settings similar to the Bilsteins on the car, and choose a spring rate similar to the H&R OE Sport Springs. :)

I don't disagree that a lowered E30 looks great, but it's just not something I want to do with this car.