1991 318i sedan project - Saving a sedan!

[e30maniac]

use that plate, looks sexy on it..leave it bent too! adds style

[SiGmA_X]

I like that COP plate Seth. If Becca's coil/wires ever need replacing I'll be contacting Rob to get her one!

[s_ribs]

You should. It's so much nicer than the factory set up. Spark plug wires FTL!

[s_ribs]

Nothing major to report today so far.

These came in Friday:
Stock mounts were toast and with factory engine mounts running $120 a piece... I'll deal with a little vibration and noise (if I can even notice it with the stereo LOL).


Got these yesterday:
Coated stainless steel brake lines, thanks Ken!


When running a power wire I noticed that the carpet was wet. So, I decided to pull it out and let it dry. Upside to an extra hour of work is that running wires was MUCH easier (probably saved an hour in wiring actually), and this gives me the opportunity to apply sound deadening material under the carpet. The floor is going to get both standard deadening mat as well as a closed cell foam (to actually reduce road noise). I haven't ordered it yet because I really don't want to drop ~$200-250 on materials. :???:

Carpet removal:






Stereo is all wired up and runnin!


It doesn't matter too much since it's all under the carpet, but I will be making sure the wiring is clean and tidy before it goes back together.

Initial thoughts on the stereo:
1) WOW
2) WOW
3) I knew it prior to listening, but this low end deck really sucks for upper end speakers. It can't seperate the sub and mid woofer signal very well which really hurts sound quality (not to mention hard on the mid woofers).
4) I had this Exile sub in my LS400 - I wasn't impressed. Hearing it in this car, all I have to say is I freaking love it. Apparently there is far too much material for the bass to get through on the LS, not the case here.
5) You really don't need a rear stage besides the sub. I was skeptical at first, but not anymore.
6) The PG RSD's really are amazing speakers. Especially when price is factored in. I picked up my set from woofersetc for $50 on sale.

Now, time to get some homework done!

[s_ribs]

I forgot that I have some pictures of the sub and a few of the box build.

Again, sub is the Exile XPe12D.





The box was built to 1.25 sq ft (per Exile specs) and has a slight L shape. 2 reasons for the shape - 1) Kept it as shallow as possible; 2) Allowed for a recessed portion where the amplifier could be mounted. I'm not a fan of amp racks and other stereo/electronics "bling", so this allowed an easy and protected place to mount it but more importantly easy access to it for adjustments.




Rather than carpet it (like every other box out there) I opted for truck bedliner. Something different and it brings a new dimension of durability to it. I dig it. :)



All credit on building this pimp daddy box (and overall stereo set up choice) goes to my buddy Brian (bfowler on the forums). The dude is amazing when it comes to stereo builds and set up!

[SiGmA_X]

Lookin' good Seth. I need a garage so I can have fun projects again.. Driveway working is so FTL!

[Jand3rson]

Curt, this wasn't Lisa's old car, was it?

[Van Westervelt]

Yup, this was Lisa's whip. She spanked a new vette with it in November.

[solxe]

I'm thinking about building a box too and I like what I see. I'll keep an eye on this thread.

[s_ribs]

I have some pictures from yesterday but I'll wait until I get more work done to post.


Made a few decisions yesterday:

1) After looking at some pics of a diamond schwarz car on here, I'm going to shave the door locks, windshield washer squirters, and the antenna. Maybe one more thing as well... you'll have to wait and see on that one. ;)

2) I removed the brackets for the stock coils and windshield washer fluid reservoir. While I'm at it the stock air box brackets will go as well! Yes, this means I build an intake set up for it and never go back to stock. Not sure why I would want the airbox back on anyway.

3) Because of seeing how much removing brackets clean up the engine bay, I am going to try tucking the wires in the engine bay. The GRM E30 dude did it without cutting any wires so shouldn't be too bad.

A couple of other ideas I'm working on as well. Stay tuned to see if they develop further.

I did decide that I will pass on sound deadening for now. I just can't justify $250 on something I don't really need for the car right now. My guess is I will do it later on after the car is on the road. I may pick up enough to help out the front speakers for now.

Biggest thing I'm thinking through right now is if I should go all the way with this and pull the engine out. It would be much easier to paint the entire engine bay if I did, plus I could clean and paint the engine while it's out. But, more time more money..... decisions, decisions.

[Van Westervelt]

You dont get to keep my hoist forever. ;)

[s_ribs]

Not many pictures today. You will notice that the driver side frame rail is on now. My crappy 90 amp wire feed welder has only been used to get things in position for now. This weekend my neighbor will pick up his gas welder and do the final welding.

Shaving brackets off:

COP and windshield washer fluid bracket-



Air box bracket before-


After-


Here's the big pile of wires I'm about to hide-


Here's what it will more or less look like-



I really like how it looks without the brackets and wiring in the engine bay. I've been thinking about boxing the frame rails but I'm not sure it's worth the time. Plus, I'm concerned about loosing the built in crash protection. Things being smooth just isn't worth risking my (or someone else's) safety.

When the radiator support goes in next week we will be replacing the bottom cross piece with square tubing. The thought here is to stiffen the front end up a bit and reduce some chassis twist during transitions.

Brian stopped by to check out my progress and see how the stereo sounded. For once I did a system that he didn't have anything to dislike!! I suppose that's cause I bought everything he told me to for it. ;) After a close look and listen with him, I decided to order sound deadening anyway. He strongly recommended it, not for noise dampening so much but for improved stereo quality (mid bass in particular). Also on his advice I skipped the closed cell foam (which is what pushed the cost high enough I wanted to skip it). So, 62.5 sq ft of RAAMmat should be on it's way tomorrow! I wanted to get the slightly thicker eDead 80 (80 mil thick vs. 60 mil thick), but there shipping was $40 instead of $15 for RAAMmat pushing the cost up too much.

[s_ribs]

For anyone wanting to ditch brackets like that use an angle grinder with a soft pad. Work at the spot welds until enough metal is removed to pull the piece off. Then carefully smooth out the rest of the spot weld until things are flush. Pretty easy!

Big decision I have to make right now, what color to paint the engine? If I can figure out how to get Diamond Schwarz in a high temp paint then I'll likely do the valve cover, intake manifold, and timing covers in it. Engine block would probably be gold. If I can't get it in DS, then I have no clue right now. Something clean, not too loud... maybe.

[e30s50dan]

since we are both working on the same model and color,here is a shot of my engine bay after painted

[s_ribs]

I'll have a handful of updates later today or this weekend on the project.