Mike's Alpine White 1991 318is

[roguetoaster]

All of the strut mounts changed to the larger upper ID (at least RWD ones), not sure exactly why, maybe to change to another bearing, or make tool access easier. IIRC, it's the same size cap as E36s.

Glad you got the booster line sorted! Threads like this motivate me to get to car/garage related projects, so keep it going for you and for us!

[mike.bmw]

Happy Father's Day -- Skyline Drive

Despite living in Virginia my whole life, I've never been to Skyline Drive. Skyline Drive is a 105 mile road that runs along the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. The road is well paved and has lots of twists and turns. The speed limit is 35 mph so it's a great road for cruising and seeing sights.

My wife and kids asked what I wanted to do for Father's Day so I suggested we take the E30 out to Skyline Drive for the morning. We left around 8:30AM and got back home around 1PM. It was about 180 miles round trip and the E30 performed wonderfully. We encountered some rain on the way there and the first half of our ~32 mile drive on Skyline Drive was extremely cloudy, but the second half was fairly clear and we had fun stopping at overlooks regardless of the weather and visibility.

We plan to go back again on a clearer today to enjoy more views at the overlooks.

An approximation of the route:

FathersDaySkylineDrive by mike.bevels, on Flickr

An overlook in the clouds:

DSC_0818 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Visibility starting to get a bit better (another overlook): DSC_0889 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

~3400 ft elevation. We're finally able to see some breaks in the clouds:

DSC_0914 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Towards the end we had great visibility:

DSC_0915 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

E30 + F31 Detailing

I spent a couple of nights detailing the cars recently. I polished the lips on the BBS RS001s and hand waxed the E30's body. Normally I'd use my orbital, but the paint was still feeling smooth from last year so I figured a couple coats of wax by hand would be sufficient until the fall. I also took the opportunity to show some love to the F31 and gave it a thorough cleaning and coat of wax.

20200615_190500 by mike.bevels, on Flickr


More Photos at the CIT Building

I took more photos at the CIT Building, but this time I took the F31. It's such a cool location for photos, I just wish I had better photography skills to take advantage of it. It's a fun hobby and I'll continue to learn.

DSC_0864 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

National Capital Chapter BMW CCA Magazine - der Bayerische

I've been having fun as the co-editor of my BMW CCA chapter's magazine, der Bayerische. It has afforded me the opportunity to interview a number of NCC sponsor shops which includes meeting and interviewing the owners, touring their facilities, photographing their facilities, and writing articles. The magazine takes a lot more time than I anticipated, but it has been a great experience so far and I look forward to new challenges. Check out the archive of der Bayerische issues here: https://www.nccbmwcca.org/db/

[roguetoaster]

Surprising that you hadn't been, but go back during a season when the foliage is light for optimal auto touring. Also, off seasons will let you see more of the interesting fauna, and avoid the distractions of the two legged variety.

[mike.bmw]

It has been a month. Update time!

M42 Intake Boot

Nothing groundbreaking here. The original one was nearly brittle. The new one is nice and pliable.

20200630_143819 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20200630_145424 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Fairly clean since I replaced the mess under the intake 4 years ago:

20200630_144404 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Had some help:

20200630_144447 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Fog Light Replacement

My fog lights aren't in great shape. They are missing the rubber trim, the previous owner had zip tied them into place, the glass is very pitted, and the adjustment hardware is a hodge-podge of junk from someone's toolbox. A few weeks ago I was chatting with fresh_TD about it and he said, "I've got a set of alpine fog deletes you can have." I've always liked the fog deletes for the late model E30s. We met up earlier in the week to exchange some parts. The deletes are in great shape and the weathered paint matches my brake ducts almost perfectly. I installed them with new clips and hardware (good bye zip ties).

Old fogs:

20200627_110604 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

New clips pressed into place:

20200701_125429 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

I had some help:

20200701_130750 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20200716_124422 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

And, of course, some photos:

DSC_0811 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0826 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0928 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Articles, articles, articles...

A few from the latest der Bayersiche. Up until now I've been writing articles covering NCC events, but for this issue I included something more personal.

July_Aug_20_dB_week_2 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

July_Aug_20_dB_week_3 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

July_Aug_20_dB_week_7 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

[2mAn]

Always nice to have some help. Love the periscope shot haha

[evandael]

Hey Mike! It's Eric from last weekend.. small world. Your car looks great and you are exceptionally detail-oriented both in formatting this thread (a format I may try to emulate if I have the discipline) and in the work you've done on your e30.


I've got the Ronals on the vert and they look great. Thanks again for a painless transaction!

[mike.bmw]

Always nice to have some help. Love the periscope shot haha

Haha, I was trying to get a photo of the new clips, but it just happened to focus on her. Kind of cool so I included it. :)

Hey Mike! It's Eric from last weekend.. small world. Your car looks great and you are exceptionally detail-oriented both in formatting this thread (a format I may try to emulate if I have the discipline) and in the work you've done on your e30.


I've got the Ronals on the vert and they look great. Thanks again for a painless transaction!

Hey, Eric! Very nice meeting you last weekend and thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you are happy with the Ronals. They are such great wheels for the E30. Thanks for making the long trip to pick them up!

[mike.bmw]

Here are some early morning photos before taking my family for a secluded hike. Once I got home I realized there's a better spot to capture the colorful buildings in the background, so perhaps I'll head back at some point for more photos.

DSC_0858 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0824 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0875 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr

In other news, I came across some photos of the "Honda Accord Aerodeck" yesterday. I didn't know this car existed. My wife's input: "Ugh. That car is hideous." I'm a little biased because my first car was an '87 Accord (sedan), which is essentially the same car from the front doors forward. The back half is a wagon/hatch thing, which in my opinion, is amazing. I've been casually searching for another Volvo 240 wagon as a project, but if I can find one the Aerodeck may be in my future (alongside the E30 of course).

Here's one that's the same color as my old '87 sedan:

[ATL_E30]

Man these shots really having me miss my E30... Awesome job as always!

[hamann318is]

This has been a great series and a very helpful reminder of "to-dos" on my 318. Mike, had a couple of questions - did you go with the Vaico brake booster check valve? That's the only one I can seem to find in stock anywhere. For the heater valve, have you seen any leaks since? I saw some reviews that questioned the OEM part quality, just curious if you ran into anything similar?

[mike.bmw]

Man these shots really having me miss my E30... Awesome job as always!

Thanks! I was very surprised when I came across your FS thread and saw that it had already sold.

This has been a great series and a very helpful reminder of "to-dos" on my 318. Mike, had a couple of questions - did you go with the Vaico brake booster check valve? That's the only one I can seem to find in stock anywhere. For the heater valve, have you seen any leaks since? I saw some reviews that questioned the OEM part quality, just curious if you ran into anything similar?

Thanks! I did go with the Vaico brake booster check valve. Twice actually. I returned the first because it was making a horrible racket. While it was functioning correctly, I assumed it must be faulty due to the noises coming from it. I could hear them inside the cabin, "tap tap TAP TAP TAP TAP tap tap TAP TAP TAP". I swapped in the stock check valve and it was totally silent. When the new Vaico brake booster check valve arrived it made the same horrible noises. I'm not sure what's up with that. It functions, it's just annoyingly loud.

For the heater valve, I haven't noticed any leaks. I really hope I don't see any leaks. It's an expensive part and certainly not the most fun job to do. I guess the true test will be over the winter when I'm actually using the heater on a regular basis.

[dmanb2b]

Your car is simply an aspiration...so clean!

[Mazi!]

That is a clean e30!!

[mike.bmw]

Your car is simply an aspiration...so clean!

That is a clean e30!!

Thanks!

[mike.bmw]

Today I replaced my fuel pump. I ordered a VDO unit (228220004002Z, BMW #16141180233). I believe these are the same as the Genuine BMW fuel pumps as they look identical. It took about 45 minutes to install, some of which was removing and reinstalling the kids' car seats, some of which was trying to figure out how to rotate the new pump to install it.

The old pump's o-ring was toast. It barely took any effort to twist/remove it. Even though I had a new o-ring on hand, the new pump came with one so I used it. Also, the sender's o-ring was not great so I replaced that as well.

After I installed it I let it run for a bit, I checked for leaks, then took I it out for a test drive. It felt good.

Old pump out:

20200825_141008 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Spark plugs work great for plugging the rubber lines:

20200825_143048 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

The old one was Bosch, as evident by the branding on the pump itself:

20200825_141120 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20200825_141150 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

New pump in place:

20200825_142739 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

New sender o-ring:

20200825_141737 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Back together:

20200825_143415 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

The kids were occupied just outside. :). Usually I have them help, but when dealing with gas I'd rather they keep their distance.

20200825_145052 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Speaking of kids, they sure do grow up fast. My 3 year old is actually being helpful these days.

20200812_175843 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

20200812_180155 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

Some new photos I've taken the past few weeks:

IMG_20200822_074220_197 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0714 by mike.bevels, on Flickr


DSC_0831 by mike.bevels, on Flickr

DSC_0814 copy by mike.bevels, on Flickr