1984 318i- constantly in progress

[cm0180]

Hi all

about a year ago, I picked up this



I was pretty excited to get it for $500

After doing all of the basic maintenance stuff (plugs, wires, distributor cap, fuel filter, lines, vacuum hoses, etc.) I drove it around for a while, until it was time to swap in rear disc brakes. So i did that, lowered it with Racing Dynamics springs, and did some more cleanup/maintenance work.



I eventually picked up a second m10 engine/ trans combo for cheap, and decided somewhere down the road I would rebuild and get this thing some actual power. They fit nicely in my Honda fit...


I finally had it to a spot where it was somewhat enjoyable to drive, but also more reliable.

I then moved, which meant I had to drive the car every day for work. Thats when the real fun started.

I decided an e36 rack swap was in order, so I picked up an m3 rack for the princely sum of $40. I spent a weekend throwing that in, since apparently the 84 doesn't have the same steering linkage as every other e30, making my AKG spacer kit worthless. Instead I had to cut down the splined piece on the rack itself to fit, which was... interesting. After getting that in, I drove it home, only to step on the brakes at an intersection by my house and blow out a brake line. Great. Fortunately my father in law is a nice guy, and came and grabbed the car with his trailer. I spent the next week driving his wife's car, going to his house every day after work to replace the brake line to the rear, as well as the supply and return fuel lines. I also managed to get gas in my ear, which is perhaps the least pleasant thing ever to happen to me while working on a car.

[cm0180]

Fast forward to this weekend. My drivers side CV joint had been making some noise, and since I just picked up a rear subframe with the trailing arms/axles still in it, I thought I would just swap it out with a good one. When I took off the wheel, I started poking around the wheel well, and noticed this though....

hmmmmm


other side doesn't look too great either

Turns out there was a pretty bad repair job in there.



which quickly led me here


Turns out the patch panel they had used was actually pretty nice, just installed really, really poorly


Grind out everything that's crusty/cobbled together. Note that this random 5+panel repair was cut out


Found another hole

No wonder so much water was getting in my trunk

New metal tacked in

Turns out I'm not much of a welder, so this is where it sits until my brother in law can come back tomorrow and work on it. Not that he's terribly good either, but we'll get it solid again. Thinking about boxing the towers also

[cm0180]

Hoping to get it back together before my wife gets back from New Orleans on Friday and takes back the Fit.

[irish44j]

:) early M10 318

what are your plans for it?

[cm0180]

Yeah I've gotten a lot of ideas/ help from your build thread!

I originally bought it thinking I would rallycross it, but haven't been able to get it fixed up enough where I feel comfortable beating on it that hard. Hopefully this summer I'll be able to get it to a level where I can run some autocrosses, but since I have to daily drive it, I can't break it for longer than a weekend haha.

[cm0180]

Few more pieces in last night



I've been out of work for a week, thanks to having an appendectomy last Saturday. Which was lots of fun. So i got my father in law to come help me out today, since he's a much, much better welder than I.



All in all, not the best looking repair ever but it's certainly solid. I'm going to spend some time this week grinding everything down a bit, throw some seam sealer on there and undercoat. Then down the road I'll box the tower to make sure it really isn't going anywhere. Considering the welder he was working with, I think it came out pretty decent.

Also managed to get new motor mounts in today, which was surprisingly easy thanks to my lack of power steering/AC

[cm0180]

Finished up the strut tower repair a while back




I may have gone a little overboard with the seam sealer.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. This thing isn't going to see anything more strenuous than some autocross, so I don't foresee any problems.

I also threw in a new axle, which i got from rockauto for the princely sum of $45(+$75 core)

It was a cardone axle, but they seem to have cleaned up their act. Threads and splines were all clean, and it came with a nut on it to protect it.


Got that in no problem

[cm0180]

Then for some fun stuff

Got my header from the group buy


Made by tubular using the same jigs as the bavauto headers. They did a really nice job on it.

I also made a nice 4 hour (round trip) journey to Maine, and picked up another rear subframe complete with axles, brakes, and a 3.64 LSD

Also bought this guy


So that I can actually have the e30 out of commission for longer than a weekend and still be able to get to work. Its a 97 Saturn, not the most exciting DD ever but they're surprisingly fun little cars. Super light and a 124HP DOHC 4 cylinder. Makes more power than my e30 does for sure.

[M-technik-3]

Twin Cammer? There are about a half a dozen of these running in the lemons series with pretty good results.

[cm0180]

yeah it's a twin cam. They're light, have decent suspension and make OK power for an econobox. Not a super rev-happy motor though. I had one for my first car and replaced just about every nut and bolt on the thing as I broke them, so I was a lot more comfortable picking up a cheap one than a cheap ass civic that someone hacked together


oh and plastic body panels ftw

[petrolhead]

That's a very nice manifold. Who makes that?
M10 w/injection is a very nice engine to drive, figures (105 hp) don't tell the whole story.
Have those hideous bumpers crushed, replace them with proper chrome ones and you'll have a very nice early model E30 :). Euro bumpers or what do you call them..

I won't say anything about those rust repairs.

[cm0180]

The manifold is made by a fabrication shop called tubular automotive, I guess they used to make them for Bavauto before they stopped selling them.

The rust repair isn't great. I have no illusions about that. But, like I said, it'll work for now. In all honesty this car is probably too far gone to put the amount of time and money into that I have, but until I'm in a better financial situation (IE wife is out of grad school) it's what I have. Hopefully I'll be able to do some upgrades to make the car more fun, then find a clean shell from down south and bring it up here in a few years so I can swap all the parts over.