1991 318is S52

[sublimation]

Car sold

[E30NJ]

Clean build! nice job!

[roznic]

Looking clean, like the wheels! needs some side skirts tho, just my 2cents ;-)

[sublimation]

I've been picking at this slowly...

GC Koni's and Meyle HD rear strut mounts with German Engineering Rear Coils are installed. Talk about a hell of a difference over the Cut Springs the PO put in...

Also, i've been considering getting rid of my OBDI set-up in favor of an OBDII set-up. Currently, my car uses no 02 sensors, only throws a code for MAF (which is good), and the tune that is on it is garbage (VANOS advances/ retards at terrible load/RPM breakpoints). Do you all think the additional diagnostics and benefits are worth the ~800$ I will spend on going OBD2?

Also here is a picture my buddy took of my car in upstate NY

[e30austin]

Neat car.

As for what to do, I would clean up your OBD1 set up, get a proper tune (TRM, etc) and install the appropriate sensors. I really don't think it would be worth your time, IMHO. OBD1 is a pretty basic system. Nothing there to really go wrong.

[squidmaster]

Normally I really don't like those wheels but you pulled them off quite well indeed!

[sam_]

any updates on this?

[sublimation]

any updates on this?

Yes, although they are slow. Car is stored away right now while I try and sell my other car.

Here are the cut springs that were in the rear and would fall out while jacking the vehicle.



I always knew the wiring behind the dash in this car was a mess, so a couple months ago I said screw it and pulled the whole dash. What was waiting for me wasn't very pretty.



PO wired the radio with the household wire caps, wired the AC to run off of a switch which pulled power from the radio, and several wires (mainly dash illumination) were melted together.

I replaced all bad wires and OHM'd them with a multimeter then rewrapped the whole dash harness with electrical tape and conduit.

This is what was left of the lighting circuit for the dash lights.



Soon after that I noticed some heavy driveline vibration. Pulled the driveshaft to find the trans output and shift selector seal leaking and the guibo in this condition:



I replaced the guibo with a new lemforder unit (105$ ouch) and will probably replace the center bearing next time i'm in there for good measure.

I also finally traced down the PO's shitty wiring for the electrical fan and did the correct electric fan conversion using the OEM temp switch. Fan kicks on halfway between 1/2 and 3/4 on the gauge now which is around 100 C.

So far i've been mostly fixing the PO's shortcuts. I did add a Ryan G? splitter and new iS lip after my original one was stolen off of the car. Looks pretty mean:



I trashed the carpet in the car as it was nasty and moldy. I am currently looking for black leather door cards, and a good condition carpet (preferably black) that I can dye to be presentable.

Other than that the next two things I will accomplish are:

-fixing the steering shaft firewall grommet with the e36 rack

-hooking up the heater core (anyone know how to do this with a m50 manifold? The pipes interfere with the manifold)

[sam_]

Awesome. Love to see updates on this! One of my favorite builds!

[Dj Buttchug]

looks real clean. the lower rocker panels where the rock guard coat is needs to be black. then itll be perfect

nice start op

[sublimation]

Can anyone confirm that this is the correct hose for connecting the heater core to the back of the cylinder head? http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E30-325..._All/ES177901/

[ST1G]

Fantastic looking car.

[sublimation]

Little update:

Currently preparing to drive this car 4,000 miles across the country for a new job in California.

To prepare, I have changed/ added:

- Oil filter housing gasket (only two bolts were holding it to the block, no wonder why it was leaking)
- Vanos oil line and crush washers
- Power steering pump and lines
- Rewired all ABS sensors
- M50 Manifold.com kit - previously the VC was venting to the atmosphere causing a nasty smell inside of the vehicle. While doing this I also discovered a ton of vacuum leaks and fixed them
- Oil changed with rotella T6
- Filled the leaking diff with mobil 1 75w-90 LSD
- Rewired all the turn signals, headlights, and brake lights as there were sketchy crimps and electrical tape scattered throughout.

And a question for anyone knowledgable:

My HVAC temperature control doesn't work. It receives no power at the dial/ potentiometer - I looked for a wiring diagram and couldn't find one. Can anyone help with this? It would be nice to have the heater valve work instead of being stuck completely open.

[3MPowered]

Love what you're doing to this car. Please keep the updates coming! Sub'd

[berlow94]

My experience is that these motor's DO NOT like Rotella oil. It's better suited for M10/M20/M30's.

There's three resistors in a box by the blower motor. The dial should be getting power through those. They are often melted...

Really shouldn't be a problem to hook up the heater core (Hopefully it's not leaking and that's why the PO disconnected it) Manifold is not in the way. Just makes it a pain to get your hands in their.

O and also, if you plan on running a standalone ECU anytime in the future (if you want REAL diagnostics and tuning), you're better off leaving the OBD 1 harness. For example: http://www.performancebyie.com/vi-pe...d1-bmw-e36-24v