Yes I know, such a horrible name for a build, but it's true. I haven't decided yet if I want to go the Alpina or M-Tech route. As of right now, I'm trying to focus on the mechanical side of the car as I lack it...
Here's the said car, a 91' 318i vert. The PO had the car for about 2 years. In the time he had dropped a supercharged S52 with fully functioning OBD2 into it out of his Z3M parts car. (That build was here) E36 steering rack and switches, retrofitted the 13 button, brought it up to 325i specs for the most part, dual exhaust cutouts, rear battery relocation, Z3M seats, 750li cooling fan retrofit, and some more I'm not remembering. A big help that he also did was labeling almost every wire in the car that he could.
This is the car the weekend I went to go see it for the first time.
When I went to go look at the car I was just entertaining the idea of it. I really wanted a plastic 5 speed 4 door, something that's a little hard to come by in Texas for some reason. I was mainly looking at it because it was local.
So me and my Dad made a trip to go look at it that Sunday. When I first saw it, it was in a different condition than in the pics of the for sale thread. Something I was expecting so I moved on. The car had been in a small fender bender which is why you see the black fenders. The right side was the only one that need to really be replaced. The door was also replaced because of a nice shallow dent. That at first didn't sit too well with me, but I saw the work that was done and didn't see anything really wrong with it.
That brought me to my little list I had going. It covered everything from interior bulbs, to tires. A lot of my list wasn't compatible with this car due to parts not being installed or it being a cabrio and not applying to what I was looking for. In the end, the list really wasn't even used on this car.
I ended the looksee with I'll let you know sometime this week. I was really impressed with the anal-ness of the things done to the car. He had done it at the level I was going to do things. I wasn't too big on it being a vert, but it was growing on me. The other E30s I was planning on checking out were beaters to say the least. I was looking at them as rollers, not running cars. So the fact they ran poorly or not at all didn't bother me. Only one returned my phone call. It was a 89 2 door that had been on CL a few weeks before in a non running condition. It's new owner got it running and was trying to sell it for a profit. I ended up passing on it because of the story the owner was telling me. At this point it was the vert and nothing else.
I got home looked on various forums, including this one, CL, etc trying to find a 4 door that was somewhat local. Nothing popped up that sat well with me. So I sent Brian aka flyboyx a PM saying I'll take it.
We met up that weekend and I gave him a deposit and picked up almost all of the parts I needed to put the car back together and pulled his stuff off of the car.
Jeep-full of parts:
I picked up the cabby the following weekend. (iPhone pics warning)
Home safe and sound. :)
That Sunday I put back on the rear bumpers, tail lights, mirrors, trunk lining, and wired in the euro side markers.
Fast forward to now, this is how the car currently stands.
The interior has been reassembled for the most part. The A pillars and over head panel have been covered in suede, I installed my suede cluster (thread here: >><<), made euro trim out of my US trim, painted my trim, vents, grills, etc in a fresh coat of black, made my sun visors and hardware black to match the suede, and wired up connections for a map light. I've done more but that's all I can think of.
Here's the plan:
Exterior:
Fresh Alpinweiß II paint
M-tech or Alpina body bits
Style 10s for now with 17in Alpina's or BBS reps later
Either euro ellipsoids or smilies (smoked and HIDs of course)
Plate filler
Euro grills
New rear window as I lack one...
Drivetrain:
M50B25tu with eventual S50 cams
Getrag 260 to be replaced with a ZF later down the road
E36 M3 exhaust system with cutout valve for funzzies
3.73LSD till I can find something lower
Interior:
Black door panels with Alpina livery cloth seats
Rear headrest
Eventual suede covered dash
M-sport shifter like the one out of my E90
Early sports steering wheel
Map light
Handling:
AST Coilovers with camber plates
Slightly larger sways
Race skids skidplate and under car cross brace
Sparco front strut brace and I dunno about the rear yet
Nitto Invo's cause I have them on my E90 and LOVE EM'!
Right now the goal is to get the car back together and running. I go back to college in late August and rather have it running then having to tow it back. It's going to be my eventual DD because I don't like putting the mileage on my E90 with the amount of miles I rack up.
I'm currently looking for a M50 preferably out of an e34 and a Getrag 260 in Texas or Louisiana.
I should add that I was looking for an e30 for a year and a half and now that I actually have one, I can't wait to have it done!
So yeah here goes nothing.
Here's the said car, a 91' 318i vert. The PO had the car for about 2 years. In the time he had dropped a supercharged S52 with fully functioning OBD2 into it out of his Z3M parts car. (That build was here) E36 steering rack and switches, retrofitted the 13 button, brought it up to 325i specs for the most part, dual exhaust cutouts, rear battery relocation, Z3M seats, 750li cooling fan retrofit, and some more I'm not remembering. A big help that he also did was labeling almost every wire in the car that he could.
This is the car the weekend I went to go see it for the first time.
When I went to go look at the car I was just entertaining the idea of it. I really wanted a plastic 5 speed 4 door, something that's a little hard to come by in Texas for some reason. I was mainly looking at it because it was local.
So me and my Dad made a trip to go look at it that Sunday. When I first saw it, it was in a different condition than in the pics of the for sale thread. Something I was expecting so I moved on. The car had been in a small fender bender which is why you see the black fenders. The right side was the only one that need to really be replaced. The door was also replaced because of a nice shallow dent. That at first didn't sit too well with me, but I saw the work that was done and didn't see anything really wrong with it.
That brought me to my little list I had going. It covered everything from interior bulbs, to tires. A lot of my list wasn't compatible with this car due to parts not being installed or it being a cabrio and not applying to what I was looking for. In the end, the list really wasn't even used on this car.
I ended the looksee with I'll let you know sometime this week. I was really impressed with the anal-ness of the things done to the car. He had done it at the level I was going to do things. I wasn't too big on it being a vert, but it was growing on me. The other E30s I was planning on checking out were beaters to say the least. I was looking at them as rollers, not running cars. So the fact they ran poorly or not at all didn't bother me. Only one returned my phone call. It was a 89 2 door that had been on CL a few weeks before in a non running condition. It's new owner got it running and was trying to sell it for a profit. I ended up passing on it because of the story the owner was telling me. At this point it was the vert and nothing else.
I got home looked on various forums, including this one, CL, etc trying to find a 4 door that was somewhat local. Nothing popped up that sat well with me. So I sent Brian aka flyboyx a PM saying I'll take it.
We met up that weekend and I gave him a deposit and picked up almost all of the parts I needed to put the car back together and pulled his stuff off of the car.
Jeep-full of parts:
I picked up the cabby the following weekend. (iPhone pics warning)
Home safe and sound. :)
That Sunday I put back on the rear bumpers, tail lights, mirrors, trunk lining, and wired in the euro side markers.
Fast forward to now, this is how the car currently stands.
The interior has been reassembled for the most part. The A pillars and over head panel have been covered in suede, I installed my suede cluster (thread here: >><<), made euro trim out of my US trim, painted my trim, vents, grills, etc in a fresh coat of black, made my sun visors and hardware black to match the suede, and wired up connections for a map light. I've done more but that's all I can think of.
Here's the plan:
Exterior:
Fresh Alpinweiß II paint
M-tech or Alpina body bits
Style 10s for now with 17in Alpina's or BBS reps later
Either euro ellipsoids or smilies (smoked and HIDs of course)
Plate filler
Euro grills
New rear window as I lack one...
Drivetrain:
M50B25tu with eventual S50 cams
Getrag 260 to be replaced with a ZF later down the road
E36 M3 exhaust system with cutout valve for funzzies
3.73LSD till I can find something lower
Interior:
Black door panels with Alpina livery cloth seats
Rear headrest
Eventual suede covered dash
M-sport shifter like the one out of my E90
Early sports steering wheel
Map light
Handling:
AST Coilovers with camber plates
Slightly larger sways
Race skids skidplate and under car cross brace
Sparco front strut brace and I dunno about the rear yet
Nitto Invo's cause I have them on my E90 and LOVE EM'!
Right now the goal is to get the car back together and running. I go back to college in late August and rather have it running then having to tow it back. It's going to be my eventual DD because I don't like putting the mileage on my E90 with the amount of miles I rack up.
I'm currently looking for a M50 preferably out of an e34 and a Getrag 260 in Texas or Louisiana.
I should add that I was looking for an e30 for a year and a half and now that I actually have one, I can't wait to have it done!
So yeah here goes nothing.
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