1991 318i sedan project - Saving a sedan!

[Cabriolet]

wow so much attention to detail!!! amazing job

[s_ribs]

Mmmm rusty coil bolts! Swap those bitches with some stainless!

Yeah it was pretty lame how quickly they rusted. Curt, you shoulda reminded me to pick some up yesterday!

[SiGmA_X]

Mmmm rusty coil bolts! Swap those bitches with some stainless!

[Van Westervelt]

More of this POS? Wow Seth, you should have thrown in the towel on this one already. ;)

[s_ribs]

A bunch of miscellaneous bits done.

Did a temp mount of the electric fan so I could test it out. Decided a/c is going back in so I will be wiring in a separate circuit for it. Factory auxillary fan will be run through the stock fan circuit.

This switch will control the fan. LED indicator will be wired in to the circuit telling me that it's working. LED doesn't light up, I know I have an issue with the fuse or something else.



That's also a new Alpine 9887 deck. The Kenwood sucked and had a failure with the face plate connection so I swapped it out. The Alpine cost more but was well worth it. It's intimidating with how much it can do, but it sounds incredible. Sound on the Kenwood was crap compared to this unit. I like that the colors are adjustable and the red/orange combo fits perfectly.

One more picture of it-




The start of a new project... 12V outlet in the trunk. Should be cool!



New O2 sensor. Picked up the Ford E350 sensor for $36 on amazon and spliced it in to the factory wiring.




Finally addressed the wiring for the ignition coils-



This is when you realize you aren't going anywhere for a while...


Halfway-


Done. Rerouted the other wiring to make it extra nice and tidy. Heat shrink on everything etc.



There's more wiring clean up to be done...



Neat trick I figured out. When you get a new water pump it comes with a rubber cap to protect the threads. A little dab of silicon and it makes a great cover for the fan clutch threads.



2 trunk lights now-

[sohc12vm20]

looks great Bro.

[SiGmA_X]

I'm using an 80 grit glass bead. I was using it to strip an M50 valve cover this weekend, that had 3 layers of paint on it. Slooow going. The peeling single coat on the M42 stuff should be a -lot- easier!! Yeah, you're welcome to come out and use it, I doubt my friend will want anything for it, maybe bring a case of beer or something lol ;) Call me, I'll be there 9-6 (or 9, or 12..lol) on Saturday!

[s_ribs]

Depending on media used, yep. Any chance I could come out and use it when you're there? This one is gonna take some tweeking on the feed to make it work (doesn't feed media into air passage well).

Btw, it shouldn't take that long to just clean/prep the surface! Ask me how long it takes to strip off factory wheel paint with epoxy paint on top of it though...

[SiGmA_X]

Just one comment Seth.. If you use a non-enclosed blaster like that, you NEED a full body suit and a respirator. And someplace you can make a HUGE mess. The *other* shop I work at has a blast cabinet filled with glass media. Its slow going, but works perfectly. I'm doing Becca's timing covers/valve cover/intake manifolds this week. I expect it will take 2-3hr in all, but its worth it.

[s_ribs]

Pretty unproductive weekend. A bit brain dead as this term comes to an end...


Did a little more sound deadening in the trunk and stopped since I realized I am almost out. Need to make sure the last bit goes exactly where needed rather in a unnecessary place.




While looking under the rear deck lid, I found a lot of places for air/noise to come in. These big openings are hidden by the c-pillar covers. Trunks are big resonating boxes for road noise and exhaust noise - so I want noise to stay there, especially when I add a sub back in.




I mentioned a new color scheme on the way and I kinda started on it-
On sale for $15 at harbor freight:


Should make surface prep a breeze! If it works ok I'll be pulling the headers back off to redo them. The paint flaked off in a week, guessing from poor prep since I didn't sand them. This blaster will make it easy.

Cleaned up the spare valve cover and intake manifolds of excess grease (no clean pics). Ready for blasting!





I made up a few cardboard mockups of different sub box ideas. I only need .6cF for the 2-6.5" subs, got creative and will only lose 5.5" of depth. The box shape is gonna make most guys laugh, but it allows for room to mount amps and an expanded tool box idea while looking like nothing is there.

Also, expect a good deal of wiring/electrical pictorials in a few weeks. Lots of research into relays etc. so I have some pretty cool ideas.

[s_ribs]

Exhaust in. Needs a bit more break in before I can decide what I think. So far it's plenty quiet, almost too quiet. On the other hand, I think it may be louder outside than I realize. Seems that all the sound deadening I did really keeps resonance out.

Has some drone, small but enough that I'll be addressing it, at 2500-3000 rpm's. I've calculated the frequency and wave length to find the quarter wave length for a side branch resonator. Should kill the drone! It's really not bad but I find it annoying that it's louder during that 500 rpm range than anywhere else.

Pictures-

[s_ribs]

Car goes in for exhaust work tomorrow! Pretty excited. A little nervous too... I love a good exhaust and the last few cars I've built have turned out well. But I hate droning with a passion. Opting for a 18" long muffler rather than the 14" length that most do, hopefully that will keep it mellow.

Hoping the shop will let me take pictures. If they do I'll post them up this week.

[s_ribs]

Probably the most rewarding unproductive weekend to date. FINALLY got the trim back on the car! Amazing how much different it looks now.






A wash seemed justified even though I knew it would rain again today.



Tossed the 3000k bulbs in the low beams Friday for fun. I dig it.



I failed at sealing the passenger side low beam and there's a bit of water inside causing it to fog up. Will address it soon.

[SiGmA_X]

Composite work is great. I've never done any besides some basic fiberglass, never any vacuum molded work. A couple of the guys @ FD3S do it, and well. Splitters, etc. Pretty sick.

The FP gauge is at my storage unit in SE. Let me see if I can borrow my parents truck, I need to haul some stuff to FD3S this weekend. If so, I'll grab the gauge tonight, if not, I'll grab it Saturday morning.

[s_ribs]

Will definitely take you up on the fp gauge offer, thanks! Could I pick it up tomorrow and use it this weekend? Shoot me a text if that works. Gonna shoot you a pm re: AFM in a sec...

I have a buddy up in Vancouver that's a welder (and doing my exhaust for free), so I'll run the idea by him. Otherwise I'll give you a shout re: welding. Have been wanting to try out composite work for a while so I may use this as an excuse to do it.