butters 318i project, S54door...

[LuckyHenriksen]

I love your car Stephen, and I am so glad we had the chance to get to know each other when you were in PDX. I still miss those late nights, working on the S50 in the cold of winter haha. Nice to see you putting together a build thread, the car is looking even better after all the detail work and the new wheels

[butters]

Made a trip home last weekend and arranged to have tires mounted. I went for Kumho's softest summer tire in 215/40. They were/are on special at tirerack and come with pretty decent reviews.

Compared to the spare tire, same size as those that were on the factory steelies:



I need to get someone with a real camera to take photos, here are the few I snapped with my phone:



Best shot of the height^ (ST springs, stock shocks - planning a refresh) my driveway isn't perfectly flat.
Bought a new battery as mine was not holding a charge, the people at my local tires plus were kind enough to put it in for me.





One day I hope to have iS skirts and paint the lip. I don't want to do drop hats, but I am thinking I could use the 15mm up front..

[butters]

I made some progress on the car on a trip home last weekend.

The anthracite carpet came in, and was in great shape. Faded a bit as expected but other than that, no real defects and vinyl in good shape at the pedals.



I brushed, vacuumed, and wiped down the whole thing, and hit a couple spots that came out pretty well.

After roadside came to give me a jump (ordered a battery tender for the future), I took the car on a warmup drive as one last carpet-less journey. I will not miss the noisiness. Out came the seats, consoles, kick panels, and bolsters. I vacuumed and cleaned the floor, very satisfying to have it clean.



The carpet went in with its share of struggles. Passenger side wasn't bad, but the driver footwell was a pain. I opted to disconnect the gas pedal and tilt it toward the rear of the car flat, then slide the carpet over it through the slot. Bentley insists that removed pedals from the base can not be re-used.

I will have to get a couple door sills, actually both driver's had issues with 1 clip and both passenger's went back in perfectly.



Then it was a matter of reassembly, topping off with new black floor mats:







Later will be the hat shelf as the last item, maybe in warmer weather I'll paint it and move the seat belt clip.

Here's a teaser of the wheels that are in my basement awaiting rubber:



Kopi Alpinas. Contemplating tire choice, will probably be April before they go on the car.

Having the car in Oregon and Mass with PA tags, I never worried about inspection. Nowadays I want to be legal so my dad can exercise the car occasionally without worrying about a traffic stop, and just for the sake of being done right.

PA does require emissions and OBD1 means a "dyno" rolling road test the old fashioned way with a tailpipe sniffer. I found a local garage and crossed my fingers. $55 later and I passed! Those vibrant metallic race cats (x2) work!

I got my sticker and went on down to a friend at the local BMW dealership who did the safety inspection and an oil change, I was planning on doing it myself so I had the oil and filter in the car anyway. The car is now fully PA legal and that feels great.

[butters]

I was offered a change of location for my last 6-month stretch in the program, and moved out to Cleveland last month.

I assembled the car fully, minus the carpet, to haul it down the east coast. I've chosen not to bring it to Ohio, and I miss it terribly but I'm very glad it doesn't have to go through this weather.



Together for a brief moment before heading out from home:

[butters]

I was back and forth on what to do with the carpet - dye the tan or try to get used in the right color. I was all ready to use Rit but someone happened to have anthracite carpet out of a '91 four door so I was saved the hassle. I'm planning on installing it this Friday while I'm home for the weekend. Here's a teaser pic of the seats installed.

[butters]

The black door cards I had been storing for nearly a year were mint, but the adhesive holding the vinyl around the edges was failing in some spots.

I had some Zap glue left from the tweeter pods and it worked perfectly.

[butters]

I used a short-bristle upholstery brush and some Meguiar's vinyl cleaner to spruce everything up. The dirt that gets stuck in the feaux-stitch indentations is a royal PITA. It improved but once dry is still visible. If anyone has a great solution, let me know.

[butters]

I found a mint set of black vinyl sport seats and drove through Brooklyn to pick them up during one trip home. Finally got around to assembling the rear bench while I was swapping the seat rails and seatbelt clickers over.

[butters]

With two cars, the freedom is great to work at a comfortable pace on the E30.

I upgraded to the redesigned S50 primary timing chain tensioner, having done the secondary at the time of the lifters, just to be sure of proper lubrication.

I finally got around to cutting/polishing the paint as well. People remarked on it before, though it was just looking good from the care of the PO. I wasn't expecting such a dramatic change.

Here's a before shot from Portland showing off the shine:



and the transformation after just 1 pass, just like on Steven's vert:

[butters]

I enjoy the relative smoothness of the jetta (never thought I'd say that, it really does ride great), the cruise control and other features, moonroof, and the air conditioning was a blessing in August and September. gas mileage helps too though the E30 will do 22/29.

Here it is after clay and wax:





and I still love the instrument lighting at night.

Here's an odometer you don't see often, taken in late November. I must have done 10-12 trips to philly and back in the past 6 months. Hit 237k last month.

[butters]

Within a couple weeks I had found a couple CL contenders for beater car status. I spotted an '02 Jetta listed near $3k but with 230k miles on it. 5-speed, APR K04 kit, R1 dv, hi-flow downpipe, intake, silicone hoses etc. with very recent timing belt, water pump, replaced radiator, rta bushings, 1-year-old a/c compressor, longbeaches, silver on gray leather with heated seats and the works, and paint I could work with. Rear rubstrip was "at the body shop" but I loved the car. Figured it was worth the risk of high miles, stack of receipts, and I deserved a more normal looking car vs. uber beater status (which doesn't bother me). I got him damn near 2k for it and sealed the deal, taking delivery 1 day before I planned on putting it to the 5-hour test to Philly.

[butters]

Happily the car ran great for me when I got to Mass. I would occasionally still detect lifter tick but nothing as bad as it was before. I arrived just in time for the dog days of summer, but the M42 radiator was holding steadily for me, even as I sweated my ass off in there a few times.

I was looking forward to bringing the car home and showing friends and family as soon as I could, so I really sweated my ass off one hot Friday afternoon with the temps in the upper 80s... for nearly 6 hours. Traffic at the GW prompted me to pull off and let the car cool down before attempting. Frustrating, but I made it without really pushing the needle past 52%. In a few months I plan on ditching the M42 radiator so that I can have peace of mind and not worry about overheating.

Back in Portland I was able to sell the cardinal red rear bench I had picked up, because I bought a mint set of black door cards, speaker panels, rear black vinyl sedan bench with armrest, and minty black vinyl headrests with bracketry. I figured it would be alot easier to find a mint set of vinyl front sports in black, and even at a few hundred dollars there would be significant savings over reupholstering. I actually wound up bringing the cardinal red vert seats to Mass, after putting the factory seats back in, but was able to find a buyer who was willing to come to Worcester to pick them up.

[e30austin]

Holy shit, that is loud as balls. Love it!!!

[butters]

Sadly I had to leave Portland. I moved out of my apartment and into a hotel for the last week, got lucky with a balcony and a view to remember:



The E30 was picked up to be taken to the DAS hub, and I insisted on an enclosed carrier this time:



I was then on my way back to the east coast, for what I thought would be a year in central Massachusetts. I started trolling craigslist for a winter beater early on, there was no way I wanted to put my baby through a mass winter.

[butters]

But it's far from over! My time in Portland was coming to a close within a few weeks (mid-July move-out date) and I couldn't leave without hitting up the E30 stereo guru, the PNW's own Luke Fisher for the german audio specialties touch. I convinced him to do my installation as long as I drive to his shop.

My setup was ordered as follows:

E3010 10" box with amp rack / pretty panel
Infinity Reference dual-coil subwoofer
Planet Audio 5-channel amplifier
MB Quart component speakers to go in the front along with premium tweeter pods
OE rear premium speakers in black
Sirius antenna relocated to underneath parcel shelf

I made it up to Luke's place and he invited me to take pictures as it came together.























It's been said, but the sound is incredible. Money well spent.