I'd like to start off this post by saying that at the start of this journey I had no real intentions of documenting it. I had plans with the car that were nothing too extravagant, however as we all know... things change.
Welcome to the build of my 1989 BMW E30 318i 2dr.
Part 1:
Well where do I begin? Interestingly this was not the car I originally wanted. When I was much younger (young enough to only vaguely remember) my father had a Schwarz 323 4 door. As I grew older there were various other BMW's in the family, E36 328, E36 M3 in Dakar Yellow (I remember this one very well!), E39, E60 etc. Nothing has really changed apart from my father getting wiser with age, he's gone the route of newer BMW's (and as we speak something very special is on it's way to us from the Dingolfing plant. Maybe more on this when it arrives!) however, I have done the opposite. As I've gotten older I've gone from newer BMW's such as the '13 335i couple I owned previously, to now the E30. The 335 was a great car but it lacked character, I built the car to do race events however something was just missing. I've always had a soft spot for the E30. It's a timeless design that drags in your attention anytime you see one. It also has character, that raw feeling where you feel everything through the car unlike today's selection.
I knew my father had the Schwarz 323 when I was younger, I wanted to try find it. The first thing I did was go back into our family photos and see if there were any photos of the car I could use to gather a registration number. If I could get this number, I could put it in the registration check and see if it was still active. I began sifting through years and years of physical photos, plenty photos of my brother and I as kids but no car... a little more looking and BINGO! A few photos of it parked next to our house as it was being renovated. Of course the photo was taken for the house, and not the car!
With the registration now known, I went online and did a quick search. The registration was still applied to the car however was unregistered and had been for quite some time... My chances of finding the car were very slim. I reached out to our State based E30 group, if it still existed they'd know about it.. Unfortunately there was no evidence of it being around. It had either been sold interstate or ended up at a wreckers at some point to which I'd prefer the former. With this knew knowledge, I gave up finding the old family car and set my sights on finding the next car to be in my stable.
I didn't mind if it wasn't a 323, but it had to be black and a 2 dr. After searching a few months I came across a 1989 318i in Diamantschwarz. Winder Sunroof (slick top would have been a bonus but beggars can't be choosers) and winder windows. Electric mirrors though, I thought that was quite interesting! It was a very clean car, fairly stock apart from some very rare ACT 15x7.5+25 wheels, lowered springs, Recaro LX seats, IS front lip etc. It was all original driveline with nothing chopped or changed. Although I had no major plans for the car, I knew this was the perfect base for what would eventuate. It was a matter of when, not if.
Pick-up day could not come quick enough. Interestingly I had never driven an E30 prior to looking at this car, I knew it was going to be a completely different experience to the E92 335. Good and bad.
The car had been sitting in storage for about a year, with very little usage before that. The first thing I did which is a must for any new car purchase is a full fluid flush. Oils all round, coolant, brake fluid, along with new spark plugs & fuel filter. Everything else seemed fine on the car, so for now this would do.
Continued below...
Welcome to the build of my 1989 BMW E30 318i 2dr.
Part 1:
Well where do I begin? Interestingly this was not the car I originally wanted. When I was much younger (young enough to only vaguely remember) my father had a Schwarz 323 4 door. As I grew older there were various other BMW's in the family, E36 328, E36 M3 in Dakar Yellow (I remember this one very well!), E39, E60 etc. Nothing has really changed apart from my father getting wiser with age, he's gone the route of newer BMW's (and as we speak something very special is on it's way to us from the Dingolfing plant. Maybe more on this when it arrives!) however, I have done the opposite. As I've gotten older I've gone from newer BMW's such as the '13 335i couple I owned previously, to now the E30. The 335 was a great car but it lacked character, I built the car to do race events however something was just missing. I've always had a soft spot for the E30. It's a timeless design that drags in your attention anytime you see one. It also has character, that raw feeling where you feel everything through the car unlike today's selection.
I knew my father had the Schwarz 323 when I was younger, I wanted to try find it. The first thing I did was go back into our family photos and see if there were any photos of the car I could use to gather a registration number. If I could get this number, I could put it in the registration check and see if it was still active. I began sifting through years and years of physical photos, plenty photos of my brother and I as kids but no car... a little more looking and BINGO! A few photos of it parked next to our house as it was being renovated. Of course the photo was taken for the house, and not the car!
With the registration now known, I went online and did a quick search. The registration was still applied to the car however was unregistered and had been for quite some time... My chances of finding the car were very slim. I reached out to our State based E30 group, if it still existed they'd know about it.. Unfortunately there was no evidence of it being around. It had either been sold interstate or ended up at a wreckers at some point to which I'd prefer the former. With this knew knowledge, I gave up finding the old family car and set my sights on finding the next car to be in my stable.
I didn't mind if it wasn't a 323, but it had to be black and a 2 dr. After searching a few months I came across a 1989 318i in Diamantschwarz. Winder Sunroof (slick top would have been a bonus but beggars can't be choosers) and winder windows. Electric mirrors though, I thought that was quite interesting! It was a very clean car, fairly stock apart from some very rare ACT 15x7.5+25 wheels, lowered springs, Recaro LX seats, IS front lip etc. It was all original driveline with nothing chopped or changed. Although I had no major plans for the car, I knew this was the perfect base for what would eventuate. It was a matter of when, not if.
Pick-up day could not come quick enough. Interestingly I had never driven an E30 prior to looking at this car, I knew it was going to be a completely different experience to the E92 335. Good and bad.
The car had been sitting in storage for about a year, with very little usage before that. The first thing I did which is a must for any new car purchase is a full fluid flush. Oils all round, coolant, brake fluid, along with new spark plugs & fuel filter. Everything else seemed fine on the car, so for now this would do.
Continued below...
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