1991 318is, Brilliantrot, Major project car...

[uofom3]

car looks awesome - great job detailing that thing! One question - why did you remove the rear spoiler?

[Avus E30]

Immaculate. I wish I had the time to do such a good job.

[1990m3]

Simple Green and a toothbrush.

damn, your a patient man. I would have thought you used something stronger. Mine are getting beat up too. After the winter I'm blasting them and respraying them, the cheaters way to make wheels look clean!

Nice job cleaning the car, it's looking really nice.

[BUDNUNTA]

Only 6 cylinder cars had trunk tar.



Hunter

[SoCal Life]

WTF?? No Trunk tar? Did not all cars come with it? It looks to clean to just be removed.

[E30_fiend]

Also cleaned the wheels inside and out.

how did you get that wheel so damn clean??? bleach or what??

[96 Cosmos]

dammmmmmmmmmmmm you clean it ver very very goood

Yeah. Solid, man!

[MIZTERIO]

dammmmmmmmmmmmm you clean it ver very very goood

[wycoco]

looks clean

[Nimble]

UPDATED PICS ON PAGES 3 AND 4!

ANOTHER UPDATE, EXHAUST PICS ON PAGE 6

UPDATE 10/17 INSTALLED VALVE COVER GASKET, PLUGS, FUEL FILTER, OIL CHANGE AND FILTER PAGE 7.

So, yeah the car was purchased not even a week ago, and I've already tallied up 20+ hours working on it. Started off as a good deal on a solid Brilliantrot 91 318is with 168K. Solid motor, only slight rust under driver's door, and a small damaged driver's rear fender. No big deal since I got it for a good deal.

The car also has the rare no sunroof option and gray cloth. I cannot tell if it has a LSD, but I doubt it since it has no options to speak of. I checked the diff tag for the "s" but it was too rusted to see....I'll have to try a burnout sometime. ;)

So far the A/C is removed, and a custom painted compressor bracket was reinstalled to keep the lower oil pan gasket areas and front of timing case free from slight oil leaks. I also sanded and painted the grills black, stripped the rear interior, pulled the is spoiler because it was faded and capped the holes for now, pulled out the non working stereo, antenna, stripped the trunk, and even pulled the front seats out to vacuum under them. The car is basically spotless now, save for the paint polishing that will be done next week. The Roundels are removed and I cleaned underneath them to hold me until my new ones come next week.

The major issues on the exterior is the removal of the rest of the factory black that's sprayed on the side skirts and rear lower bumper. It is half gone and looks like crap, so I'll just Simple Green the rest of it off. The car also came with not one, but two heinous pin striped down both sides of the car. The black one seemed fairly recent because it basically peeled right off with no hassles in about 10-15 min per side. Now the gray one, that little f'er...hehe. I HATE that one! It took me (and my aching fingernails) 2 hours just to do the passenger side alone. Once you pick off a 1-2 mm piece, then you have to use some goo gone to remove the sticky residue....what a pain in the arse! Anyways, I started on the drive's side, but switched to the passenger's side because it seemed easier...haha not so much. Well, the sun is crazy bright, so you can definitely see the swirls and scratches in the paint, but at least you can see the pin stripe free passenger side, which I also clay barred, so it's very smooth. Just need to remove the rest of the driver's side, goo gone it, clay bar it and the rest of the car, then I can start on the 4-5 hour exterior detail (this whole past week, I've been wondering what I got myself into).

Feel free to butcher me for stripping a street car (I'm a member of the windycity cca, so I might try autocross next season), having a ghetto interior, and being on stock ride height, but hey, it is my pride and joy, and working on it and seeing the progress makes me happy. :D

BTW, I don't know if this is placebo, but the car seems to run much cooler now that the A/C is removed. It must be that the radiator is now free in front to get all the cool air while driving.