This is my fourth running E30, and my favorite. I've owned 24V E30's that were pretty quick, and with stiff coilover suspension. Unfortunately, these cars weren't the most reliable, or the most comfortable, and what's the point of owning a car if you have to worry about where you're going to be towed next or if you have to sit in a steamy hot car with no AC and stiff suspension with virtually no dampening (GC coilovers threaded all the way down on bilstein sports w/o cut bumpstops= you don't have any suspension buddy).
This car is where I learn from all my previous mistakes in an effort to make a fun, respectable car that can take me anywhere in comfort. On top of that, its a M42, so it's also the slowest of all my cars, and I love it :p
It is indisputable that a bone stock perfect E30 on new rubber all around in the suspension, working AC, perfect shifting trans, perfect idle is way more a blast to drive than that $1000 M50 swap you managed to get done in a weekend into a shell with shitty ghetto suspension.
I bought this car from TimKninja in August of last year with 71,000 miles, the car has 84,000 even as of yesterday and has never failed me, and the first time I actually turned a wrench on it (besides oil change) was today when I changed the radiator out. I have put less than $300 into this car from when I first bought it (besides gas of course).
Now this is less than a "build," more of me keeping track of what I've done with the car.
1991 318is Diamond Schwartz Slicktop
Modifications as of 4/3/2013:
MarkD Chip
Eibach Adjustable Swaybars front and rear
Racing Dynamics strut bars front and rear
JOM Coilovers front and rear
Z3 Short shifter
Dynomax catback
Some photos from Tim's ownership.
He left me with a good base, actually a great start. If you ever buy a car from Tim buy with confidence, honest and knows how to do something proper. Haven't found anything that looks remotely half-assed.
Under my ownership..
^lolsnowtires
Now since I bought the car in August and now, I haven't had any time (or money) to upgrade or buy parts for my car. I'm a full time college student with no access to a garage on campus, so I'm lucky my car has worked so well.
With my tax return I decided to get a couple of goodies.
As of last week I put OEM kidney grills and Euro Grills. I also put some time in cleaning the ugly engine bay. I changed out the radiator as an act of preventative maintenance, put in a new Behr (OEM replacement) one.
While I was in there, the valve cover got painted and decided to check the life of my motor. Compression test yielded 210 208 210 209psi, healthy :)
^MUCH better looking.
Gross. This is the result of driving through dirt muddy roads, and a lot of salt from snow.
In there. Check out this gorgeous cylinder head. Perfectly gold, and sprockets are nice and dull to the touch. In other words, lots of life left!
Much better. New OEM washer tank too, I don't even use my windshield wiper fluid.
Let's replace that radiator. Really simple task on any E30.
Girlfriend lent a hand, she's holding the bottom spider hose so I don't lose all my antifreeze!
Pretty.
Also cleaned out the interior.
The car is everything I want, totally comfortable and easy to drive for anyone (my floormates drive my car if they need to get somewhere), yet I know it can still hold its own at track events.
The body is a 7/10, but there's only one big problem with the car...the rear valance/tail panel. Seems like it was rear ended in its previous life, which is why it had the M3 bumper in Tim's photos. On top of that, it has built up quite a lot of rust from the damage. Luckily it can all be cut out and welded, but I just don't know how much that will all cost. I have a rear valance but I have no idea what a shop will charge.
PLANS (which will all be done by the end of the summer):
Pull motor and paint/unrust engine bay> Perhaps change clutch and lightweight flywheel while im in there??
Pull rear subframe, soda blast, powdercoat, new rubber
New rear valance
BC Racing Coilovers. I'd like something with adjustable dampening.
That's it. I'll update this thread everytime I do something new, but this is mostly to keep a journal of shit I've done.
I'm going to attend my first autocross event April 14th with South Jersey Region SCCA, should be fun.
This car is where I learn from all my previous mistakes in an effort to make a fun, respectable car that can take me anywhere in comfort. On top of that, its a M42, so it's also the slowest of all my cars, and I love it :p
It is indisputable that a bone stock perfect E30 on new rubber all around in the suspension, working AC, perfect shifting trans, perfect idle is way more a blast to drive than that $1000 M50 swap you managed to get done in a weekend into a shell with shitty ghetto suspension.
I bought this car from TimKninja in August of last year with 71,000 miles, the car has 84,000 even as of yesterday and has never failed me, and the first time I actually turned a wrench on it (besides oil change) was today when I changed the radiator out. I have put less than $300 into this car from when I first bought it (besides gas of course).
Now this is less than a "build," more of me keeping track of what I've done with the car.
1991 318is Diamond Schwartz Slicktop
Modifications as of 4/3/2013:
MarkD Chip
Eibach Adjustable Swaybars front and rear
Racing Dynamics strut bars front and rear
JOM Coilovers front and rear
Z3 Short shifter
Dynomax catback
Some photos from Tim's ownership.
He left me with a good base, actually a great start. If you ever buy a car from Tim buy with confidence, honest and knows how to do something proper. Haven't found anything that looks remotely half-assed.
Under my ownership..
^lolsnowtires
Now since I bought the car in August and now, I haven't had any time (or money) to upgrade or buy parts for my car. I'm a full time college student with no access to a garage on campus, so I'm lucky my car has worked so well.
With my tax return I decided to get a couple of goodies.
As of last week I put OEM kidney grills and Euro Grills. I also put some time in cleaning the ugly engine bay. I changed out the radiator as an act of preventative maintenance, put in a new Behr (OEM replacement) one.
While I was in there, the valve cover got painted and decided to check the life of my motor. Compression test yielded 210 208 210 209psi, healthy :)
^MUCH better looking.
Gross. This is the result of driving through dirt muddy roads, and a lot of salt from snow.
In there. Check out this gorgeous cylinder head. Perfectly gold, and sprockets are nice and dull to the touch. In other words, lots of life left!
Much better. New OEM washer tank too, I don't even use my windshield wiper fluid.
Let's replace that radiator. Really simple task on any E30.
Girlfriend lent a hand, she's holding the bottom spider hose so I don't lose all my antifreeze!
Pretty.
Also cleaned out the interior.
The car is everything I want, totally comfortable and easy to drive for anyone (my floormates drive my car if they need to get somewhere), yet I know it can still hold its own at track events.
The body is a 7/10, but there's only one big problem with the car...the rear valance/tail panel. Seems like it was rear ended in its previous life, which is why it had the M3 bumper in Tim's photos. On top of that, it has built up quite a lot of rust from the damage. Luckily it can all be cut out and welded, but I just don't know how much that will all cost. I have a rear valance but I have no idea what a shop will charge.
PLANS (which will all be done by the end of the summer):
Pull motor and paint/unrust engine bay> Perhaps change clutch and lightweight flywheel while im in there??
Pull rear subframe, soda blast, powdercoat, new rubber
New rear valance
BC Racing Coilovers. I'd like something with adjustable dampening.
That's it. I'll update this thread everytime I do something new, but this is mostly to keep a journal of shit I've done.
I'm going to attend my first autocross event April 14th with South Jersey Region SCCA, should be fun.
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