Tay1392's 1991 318i daily driver journal

[tay1392]

Hey everybody. I always like dreading through everybody's projects so I decided to start one for myself and document what happens to my ride.

History:

I picked up this 1991 318i with 180k miles for $1200 about a week ago. It is going to be used as my daily driver and possibly my winter beater if I can find a good pair of studded/snow tires.

This is my second E30 and it is actually pretty clean besides the body. The engine is solid, and the interior is pretty good besides the driver's seat and some dashboard cracks.

Big problems:

-Both front fenders are dented pretty bad. As well as various small dents, chips, and scratches all over the rest of the car.

-back bumper has seen better days (maybe rear-ended at one point?)

-2 of the tires are basically bald

-small oil leak coming from somewhere (haven't dug into it yet)

Other than that this is a solid E30 that will make an awesome daily driver.

My goal is to get the car in the best condition possible while spending the least amount of money in the process!

some eye candy (or eye sore at this point ):

[tay1392]

first update

First thing was to do a little tune-up and clean the thing inside and out

Brake pads, plugs, and an oil change:



Took the seats out to find what most 23 year old cars are like!



shampoo'd the carpet + cleaned up and plasti-dipped the center console. Tunred out pretty nice actually! The vinyl was peeling anyway so I just ripped it off and did this instead.



and because I go a little crazy OCD when I clean my cars here are my floor mats :)



Only bad news was when I was trying to get the seats out I discovered they are not functioning properly and required quite a bit of persuading to get out. They will definitely need to be replaced or repaired!

[tay1392]

PLasti-Dip fun

Just a couple cosmetic repairs here:

Grabbed a couple cans of Plasti-Dip and re-did the rubber undercoating and my air vents were looking a bit dull so I did those as well.

not too bad for some spray rubber!

[slammin.e28]

Why does your 1991 318i have metal bumpers?

[Matt341]

Why does your 1991 318i have metal bumpers?

This

[freeride53]

The world's only 91 318i w/ diving boards.


Haha WTF.




Cool.

[tay1392]

Why does your 1991 318i have metal bumpers?

Haha I was wondering the same thing. Not sure! The title says 1991..

Anyways more updates to come soon. Might try and do some paint correction on it soon.

[freeride53]

Yeah, I think it's kinda cool actually. They only produced the M42 cars with plastic bumpers.

Your car is unique.

[tay1392]

Yeah, I think it's kinda cool actually. They only produced the M42 cars with plastic bumpers.

Your car is unique.

Honestly I had no idea about his until you fellas just let me know.

At some point a previous owner must have decided to swap it out I guess?

I wish I lived in a bigger city so I could find a junkyard that has an M42 style bumper.

How much would a replacement be?

[slammin.e28]

Honestly I had no idea about his until you fellas just let me know.

At some point a previous owner must have decided to swap it out I guess?

I wish I lived in a bigger city so I could find a junkyard that has an M42 style bumper.

How much would a replacement be?

It's just a normal plastic bumper, same as any late model e30. Kinda odd someone swapped from plastics to metal bumpers.

[freeride53]

It's just a normal plastic bumper, same as any late model e30. Kinda odd someone swapped from plastics to metal bumpers.

This - likely it was taken from an 88 325.

[tay1392]

well - regardless, if I come across a clean plastic bumper - I'd rather have that!

I like how they look more now that I actually notice the difference haha

[ThatOneEuroE30]

not bad looking car keep up the work. you need plastic bumpers in your life haha

[tak7]

Judging by the rest of the car the PO needed big bumpers.
Nice work so far and good luck!

[sam_]

Judging by the rest of the car the PO needed big bumpers.
Nice work so far and good luck!

^^^^^^^