The budget mini-resto: 1991 318is

[smbstyle]

So I just picked up this 1991 318is, two owner car, last owner had it for 14 years, using it as a daily driver. The car was in fair condition at the time I picked it up, with a few things done to it.

Here's how it sits before I start my "budget resto", just cleaning things up that really need attention.









For the most part, interior is in fair condition, rear seats look like they were never used, dash has some cracking, but the gauges all work, electric switches all still working. Exterior definitely shows some paint fading, a few chips here and there, and the black trim and grille area is a bit faded. Luckily I've got a strong background in detailing!















As far as mechanical condition goes, all is well except for a minor oil leak (think I pinned it down to the oil filter housing gasket), ABS light randomly comes on and the brake lining light is on. Radio has been deleted, which I'll probably install a new head unit.

(oil filter housing gasket leak:)









The previous owner had an issue with the ignition system so he actually rigged up a Longacre start switch on the dash, which is pretty convenient.

[vitiokas95]

Needs some love and you will have great E30! Love red e30s

[Codym42]

Another 318is in GA!

Nice car, should clean up nicely. Looks like a slicktop? Also, its really strange that someone swapped out the airbag wheel for the older one.

[smbstyle]

Another 318is in GA!

Nice car, should clean up nicely. Looks like a slicktop? Also, its really strange that someone swapped out the airbag wheel for the older one.

Where abouts in GA are you? Any good recommendations for a cheap but knowledgeable repair shop for the E30, just in case I can't do some things myself? First thing I'll be taking it in for is an R12 recharge... most of the other stuff I'll do myself.

Yeah, although I'm kind of glad because I want to replace the steering wheel at some point and possibly the instrument cluster lens, which should be easier with a non-airbag wheel.

[smbstyle]

Needs some love and you will have great E30! Love red e30s

Thanks! Yeah these cars look great in Red, and I'm a sucker for anything with black wheels too...

Here's my last Red project car that turned into a race car lol, promised the wife this would be a street car only!

[Codym42]

Where abouts in GA are you? Any good recommendations for a cheap but knowledgeable repair shop for the E30, just in case I can't do some things myself? First thing I'll be taking it in for is an R12 recharge... most of the other stuff I'll do myself.

Yeah, although I'm kind of glad because I want to replace the steering wheel at some point and possibly the instrument cluster lens, which should be easier with a non-airbag wheel.

I know of a few shops in the Atlanta area but that's about it. I go to school in Statesboro but I'm from Monroe.

[smbstyle]

Lots of updates!

So I addressed the following issues:

Wheel speed sensor for the ABS wiring on the driver's side front - the connector was crumbling apart, so I went ahead and re-soldered the connections. Looks like the ABS light still comes on occasionally, so I've got a little more troubleshooting to do. Next stop is switching out the relay.




Next up was the cracks in the dash. First, I tried filling them and then coloring them, which made an improvement, but still didn't look 100%. So, I ended up buying a new dashskin, which looks great.








New Dashskin:






Next up was the instrument cluster. The lens was hazing pretty bad and had some cracks in it, just did not look good. I came across a new instrument cluster on ebay, with the idea that I would just swap instrument clusters. However, when I got it, I noticed the lens was loose, so I just decided to swap lenses. Much better!

Old lens:








Installing new lens:




Ta-daa...







Then onto the engine bay.

First thing to fix was the oil leak at the oil filter housing with a new gasket and o-ring. When taking off the oil filter housing it was clear that the o-ring wasn't sealing at all anymore, and was the source of my leak.





In the above picture, you can also see that plastic coolant junction seeping a bit where it meets the block - more on that later!

Filter housing was cleaned, filter replaced, and gasket / o-ring replaced. No more leaks.



Then I replaced and rerouted vacuum and coolant hoses, following the procedure for cleaning up the "mess under the intake". 90% of the vacuum lines were leaking, and found the coolant junction coming out of the block was cracked as well, allowing a slight leak. Replaced with new OEM parts, fresh hoses, and LESS hoses running around the engine bay. I did keep the OEM heater core pressure bypass setup, as I didn't feel comfortable eliminating that.






I also took the time to clean the lower intake manifold, which had years of gunk built up in the runners:

BEFORE:




AFTER:




Cleaned out the ICV:




When I was taking off intake components, I noticed oil residue on the tubes, from the intake tube and into the throttle body. I went ahead and replaced the intake tube since it was brittle and cracked, along with the other vacuum lines, and added a air/oil separator, using an off-the-shelf in line air compressor filter from Lowes and some miscellaneous fittings. Also the trouble was trying to find a place to mount it, at it isn't very light, and didn't want it hanging on the vacuum lines. I created a little mounting bracket attached to the air filter box.




















Exterior:


I then replaced the front grille which was faded really bad, as I was able to come across a replacement grille for cheap on ebay, and then while I was in there, replaced the headlights.







Then, onto detailing! I've got a long background with professional detailing, and knew I could bring this paint back into decent shape. I didn't want to cut too much, as the paint was old, but just enough to make it pop. I used my orbital rather than the rotary just due to the age of the paint and not wanting to cut that much. Products used were as follows for correction:

Griots Garage DA Polisher
Lake Country 6.5" CCS Orange Polishing Pad
Optimum Polish





You can still see some random imperfections, but the oxidation was cut, and it's back to red! I topped it off with Pinnacle Liquid Souveran wax. I also polished the glass which had some hard water marks and light scratches, and then treated the plastics which were dulled with Poorboy's World Trim Restorer. I also used touch-up paint on some of the chips on the car.

I then went into the interior and cleaned that up a bit, shampooing carpets, cleaning the leather and black plastics.

The final result:



























Interior shots:

















Final thing to do was repaint the spoiler, which was cracked. I sanded and primed, and then decided to go with plasti-dip *gasp* as I wanted to see what the spoiler looked like black, rather than red, and be able to remove it if I didn't like it. Actually looks good with the other black trim!











And then to top it off, had to replace the Roundel emblem on the trunk!

[Ocell]

Great work! The car looks fantastic. I went through the oil filter housing gasket issue and cleaning all that gunk out of the intake when I first got my 318is, too. Reading through your posts was like deja vu with a different color engine bay.

[BurakB]

Love the work you've done! nice to see you took the time and work on the car and make it pop!

[Codym42]

Wow, great job!

That paint really came to life. How long do you expect it to shine? I've tried wet sanding and polishing, using a 3 step process with a DA polisher and waxed afterwards. 6 months later it always faded again. Any tips on making it last longer? My car is currently plastidipped matte red and I'm sick of it. I'd really like to bring back the original paint.

Anyway, can't wait to see what else you do.:up:

[smbstyle]

Wow, great job!

That paint really came to life. How long do you expect it to shine? I've tried wet sanding and polishing, using a 3 step process with a DA polisher and waxed afterwards. 6 months later it always faded again. Any tips on making it last longer? My car is currently plastidipped matte red and I'm sick of it. I'd really like to bring back the original paint.

Anyway, can't wait to see what else you do.:up:

They key is not taking TOO much off; a lot of people will cut too deep and remove too much clearcoat, especially on an older car. My goal was just to get the heavy oxidation off using the lightest process possible. From there on, it's just maintenance.

Also, some polishes will hide the true condition of the paint if they are full of fillers. Best is to do an IPA wipedown after the polishing step to see what is truly left behind. Sometimes a compound or polish after wetsanding will look good because of the fillers, but in reality you didn't get all of the sanding marks out.

[Codym42]

Here's a link to what mine looked like before I plastidipped:

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy175/cdygrubbs/e30%20Plastidip/e30Plastidip005.jpg

It's probably too far gone.

That is good to know about the IPA wipedown. I wasn't aware of the fillers you mentioned. But, can you really take too much off since these cars have single stage paint?

[FL318is]

Looking good! I too took out the air bag wheel. No regrets. The red with black rims look good. Mine is alpine. I think the contrast is too much. Are those TR rims?

BTW, Lax stick. Big fan. Middie and attack.

[smbstyle]

Here's a link to what mine looked like before I plastidipped:

http://i789.photobucket.com/albums/yy175/cdygrubbs/e30%20Plastidip/e30Plastidip005.jpg

It's probably too far gone.

That is good to know about the IPA wipedown. I wasn't aware of the fillers you mentioned. But, can you really take too much off since these cars have single stage paint?

Wow that was pretty far gone! Not an expert on single stage, but I'd think there's a limit to how much you can take off before it gets dull.

[e30onBBSs]

So clean! The wing looks amazing! Flicking the ignition switch must be pretty sweet.