Grabbed a 318is for $1500

[illest318i]

Wow some guys have the biggest luck. Awesome car man, good luck.

[graveshaker]

Completed the rear suspension overhaul. I changed everything minus sub-frame and trailing arm bushings. The bushings appear to be in good condition without any cracks or brittleness. The medium case diff swap was a direct bolt on without any differential lengthening or shortening. Lining up the four bolt holes was a major PITA!!



Ahh, there is the hole in the exhaust.



Goodbye small case open diff.....


IX sway with new bushings and links


ready for the medium case swap


In, after a long battle lining holes.



Before drop.....


Right off jack stands, I'm sure it'll settle more given time.


Next on the list is a complete front overhaul and finally paint. Wow so much front fender gap.

[graveshaker]

Going off to get sprayed........










And back. Front suspension is next, saved this for last for fear of bottoming out on tow dolly.








After 30 days or so I'll buff it out. Paint turned out pretty good.

[BamaE30]

Good progress.

[randomtask37]

Looks like you have put a good bit of work into it so far. The paint looks smooth. Keep it up.

[MR E30 325is]

Excellent work!

Side question, Uhaul rented you a front end dolly to tow your E30 with a 4.0HO cherokee? Did you ask for a whole car trailer originally? I only ask because I want to tow my car from Flagstaff to Phoenix (roughly 120 miles, mostly freeway) in a few months and I also have a Cherokee that I would be using. How did the tow go? Did it feel comfortable?

Thanks!

[Anthony B]

your thread makes me happy I picked up a 318is for $1000 but I have to repaint it & rebuild/replace the motor.

Your thread is inspiration for me to do work

[graveshaker]

Excellent work!

Side question, Uhaul rented you a front end dolly to tow your E30 with a 4.0HO cherokee? Did you ask for a whole car trailer originally? I only ask because I want to tow my car from Flagstaff to Phoenix (roughly 120 miles, mostly freeway) in a few months and I also have a Cherokee that I would be using. How did the tow go? Did it feel comfortable?

Thanks!

I used a uhaul tow dolly when I originally purchased the car and drove it back 2 1/2 hours all freeway. I told uhaul I was hauling a FRONT wheel drive GEO METRO. If you tell them you're hauling a rear wheel drive car they more than likely would not rent it to you. The Cherokee pulls the the e30 and dolly flawlessly at highway speeds. Just be sure to put the gear selector in "3" since we can't disable over drive. Keep the e30 in neutral with e-brake off and you should be fine.
Oh say hi to my Mom in Phoenix ;)

[graveshaker]

your thread makes me happy I picked up a 318is for $1000 but I have to repaint it & rebuild/replace the motor.

Your thread is inspiration for me to do work

I chose the $899 Maaco paint job just one level under their highest job. So long as you do the prep including scuffing, molding removal and blocking, the paint should lay smooth. The most important part is blocking and it's really easy to do. I'm sure there is a diy somewhere on the net for the technique but it's very simple. The Maaco owner was impressed with my prep work and pushed my car in ahead of others. I dropped my car off on Monday evening and picked it up on Friday evening.
The paint job comes with a 5 year written warranty too.

[Nick_S]

Wow very cool build! Can't wait to see where this is headed!

[BimmerJeff]

Looking good! I hope to get mine resprayed this spring.

Side question, Uhaul rented you a front end dolly to tow your E30 with a 4.0HO cherokee? Did you ask for a whole car trailer originally? I only ask because I want to tow my car from Flagstaff to Phoenix (roughly 120 miles, mostly freeway) in a few months and I also have a Cherokee that I would be using. How did the tow go? Did it feel comfortable?

Thanks!

The Uhaul here didn't want to let me tow my E30 on a full trailer with my V8 Grand Cherokee at first. Even though my tow rating was 7500lbs.

[graveshaker]

Did a little more over the past few days. Completed the front suspension and experimented painting the wheels.










Prepped and masked the wheels.......







The Z was feeling left out so I scored a set of e46 m3 wheels size 18x8 and 18x9.5.....



The LSD works good, can't wait to really try it out!

[graveshaker]

Please don't be too alarmed about the gold wheel experiment, Kosie K1 is in it's future.

[canakami]

The paint came out lookin pretty good! Tail light shine up next?

[Lof8]

Nice work so far!