1991 318i Mermaid

[cutsham]

Just picked this up. Never thought I would own a 4 door or an m42 car after owning two m20 powered e30's, but my opinions quickly changed as I fell in love on the ride home. Was not expecting much from a 318i and was planning on an immediate engine swap but i'm impressed with how peppy it is!







Brake pedal is a little spongey and has a fuel leak around the filter somewhere... but runs and drives great. Suspension all feels tight as well. PO recently had a local BMW dealer give the car a once over and only issue they found was the fuel leak.

240,000 and change on the broken odometer, but engine was replaced at some point. Two owner unmolested car with lots of documentation, og window sticker and complete tool kit :). Plus a couple boxes of goodies. Seller was super nice and wanted to be sure it was going to a good home. Was his daughter's car who moved out west. Car has been driven across the country multiple times. (He cleaned everything out of the car minus the mermaid air freshener which i oddly enjoy for some reason)







Immediate plans are to fix the brake / fuel issue. Next is to give the front valance some love along with the rest of the exterior. Need a set of ellipsoids as well. Threw my euro grills on. Trying to decide between an IS lip or repairing and installing the mtech 2 front valance I've had laying around from my first car.

Thoughts?

[mike.bmw]

Very nice! The M42 becomes even more peppy with 19# injectors and a chip/tune that utilizes those 19# injectors! If you happen to be replacing/gutting the "mess under the intake", it's definitely a good time for an upgrade. :D

[cutsham]

Very nice! The M42 becomes even more peppy with 19# injectors and a chip/tune that utilizes those 19# injectors! If you happen to be replacing/gutting the "mess under the intake", it's definitely a good time for an upgrade. :D

A quick search of 'mess under the intake' brought me to the write up on m42club.com. Thank you sir!

Injectors and a chip will likely be coming soon as well! ;)

[cutsham]

Was planning to put my german check panel in but didn't realize 318's don't have them. :-?



Will probably just pop it in anyway to replace the 'dummy check panel.'

Doesn't seem worth the hassle it to wire it up.

[cutsham]

Missing the chrome window trim piece on the driver's side that goes here if anyone has one they are willing to sell!



Will check for one in the classifieds as well.

[mike.bmw]

A quick search of 'mess under the intake' brought me to the write up on m42club.com. Thank you sir!

Injectors and a chip will likely be coming soon as well! ;)

Cool. I have some photos and part #s of the the "mess under the intake" job in my thread (starting on page 2) here: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...=394272&page=2

[cutsham]

Cool. I have some photos and part #s of the the "mess under the intake" job in my thread (starting on page 2) here: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...=394272&page=2

Awesome, thanks! Clean 318is, will definitely be following your thread for some inspiration.

[cutsham]

Working full time as a mechanic and going back to school at night starting Wednesday so progress will be slower than I would like on this. But picked up a propane heater which warmed the garage up enough to be able to check a couple things out.

The 330ci got kicked out into the cold and in came the 318i.



This is no bueno and is surely the cause of my lumpy idle

Appears as if someone attempted to clean up the 'mess under the intake'... There are some disconnected hoses and a plugged port on the other side of the intake boot. Everything looks pretty crappy so will be replacing most of it.



These hoses under the intake weren't connected to anything.

Went underneath and pinpointed the fuel leak to the rubber hose from the tank to the fuel filter. Will be replacing both rubber hoses along with the filter. Leaks badly enough to leave a puddle and starts rough after sitting for a while. Didn't take pics of this because I was more concerned with keeping the dripping fuel out of my eyes lol.

Also confirmed the facotry 4.10 LSD while I was under there ;)

Obligatory full tool kit pic



Anyway here's the M-tech II valance I mentioned in a previous post that needs to be repaired. Pretty banged up but fixable, and all the mounting points are intact.







As much as I like the look of the valance I almost want to keep to the square lines of the e30 and just repaint the metal valance and install an IS lip.





decisions, decisions...

[mrmckie]

lucky devil..i saw this a little while ago and was praying it doesn't get picked up by anyone yet. Nice score!!

[cutsham]

lucky devil..i saw this a little while ago and was praying it doesn't get picked up by anyone yet. Nice score!!

Thanks! Last thing I needed was another project but couldn't pass it up. Seller was great guy, had lots of maintenance history and was selling it for his daughter who moved out west. Had me get on the phone with her, they wanted to be sure it was sold to someone who had plans to restore it. They've owned it since 1996. Has some rust spots underneath that will be repaired soon, but it was very well maintained.

[mrmckie]

Thanks! Last thing I needed was another project but couldn't pass it up. Seller was great guy, had lots of maintenance history and was selling it for his daughter who moved out west. Had me get on the phone with her, they wanted to be sure it was sold to someone who had plans to restore it. They've owned it since 1996. Has some rust spots underneath that will be repaired soon, but it was very well maintained.

that's awesome, i had a feeling just from the ad that it was a good buy from a great seller

[cutsham]

Update!

Replaced the fuel filter, and the leaking oem fuel hoses leaving a flammable puddle on the driveway every time I shut the car off. Also fixed the rough start issue cause by loss of fuel pressure after turning the car off for an extended period of time.



Replaced with 50 psi rated fuel pressure hose. Had to loop one of the hoses to avoid kinking due to the sharp angle of the oem hose.



New fuel injection hose clamps of course. These are a little nicer on the hose as the insides are round all the way around.



The hose coming off the tank is a bit of a bitch to get to but is doable without dropping the tank down. Was able to rotate the clamp and get on it with a quarter inch ratchet and an extension.



This ratchet is a lifesaver in tight spaces. Pricey but worth every penny in situations like these.



In more exciting news I picked up a set of Hella ellipsoids to replace the sealed beams that have been making me queasy.



Bought them from John in Oxford, Connecticut if any of you are familiar with him. He has a driveway full of e30s and enough parts laying around to probably build a few more. He has ads up on craigslist in my area. Has just about anything you could think of and was a great seller. If anyone is interested PM me for his info.

He also had a nice Mtech 1 wheel that I couldn't turn down.



Already have a new M stripe on order, and the required spacer for airbag cars.

Also picked up the chrome trim piece I was missing on the driver's side from him.

This morning I started disassembling the front end to por-15 the driver side inner fender and engine bay due to some surface rust. Holy cosmoline!



After a quick trip to harbor crap to pick up a T55 I was missing, I pulled the bumper as well.



Still need to bash the front valance back into place, but not going to go too crazy as I'll be putting on the Mtech 2 front valance so nothing will be visible. Just need it straight enough for mounting purposes.



Next step is to remove the ABS pump to clean and paint underneath, repair the Mtech valance, and remove all this damn cosmoline. :hitler:

Any tips? Brake clean takes it right off but I don't want to harm the paint. :roll:

[mjweimer]

I have been using laquer thinner in my engine bay to get rid of the cosmoline. It will take a bit of the paint with it but not much if your careful. Everything else I have tried either took more paint off or did nothing.


MJ

[cutsham]

I have been using laquer thinner in my engine bay to get rid of the cosmoline. It will take a bit of the paint with it but not much if your careful. Everything else I have tried either took more paint off or did nothing.


MJ

Any paint loss scares me but seems inevitable! Thanks for the tip

[cutsham]

Posted in the body & paint section, but does anyone know off hand what gauge metal the body panels are? Have heard 18g or 20g searching through resto threads but want to be sure and don't have a caliper handy.

Shouldn't matter too much for the floor, but any upper body panels would need to match.