Late one night I spun up Craigslist like I usually do, searched for BMWs older than 1991 like I usually do, and found an ad for an Italian import 318is. It had a full Mtech 2 kit, two sets of wheels, a blown-up engine and a dogleg transmission.
This set off my internal weird BMW alarm - M42s don't get doglegs! I immediately became hopefully suspicious that the seller didn't know anything and was actually the owner of a 320is, an Italy and Portugal-only 2L S14-powered e30. I scooted over to Travis Air Force Base to get the full scoop.
It turns out the car was indeed a 318is, not a 320is, and indeed had a very blown M42, and indeed had a dogleg. After several months of playing email tag, a deal was struck, and a few days ago I found myself in possession of this:
It was filthy from sitting under a tree and I wanted to know what I was working with, so I washed it.
Holy crap! It was actually really clean. Unfortunately, I have to take it apart, for three separate reasons.
1 - it has an Italian title, all the importation paperwork for getting into the states (this was a airman's car), and theoretically has been registered in Connecticut. California is ambiguous with respect to this rule, and I am not too keen to find out the hard way.
2 - being a European import, it has rust. Not a ton, but the battery box is holey, various parts of the underside are crunchy and there's a few bubbly spots under the kit.
3 - it was taken into a ditch at some point and the passenger side rear wheel went up into the quarterpanel *hard* and bent it out. This kind of sucks to fix, and warrants a full-on quarterpanel replacement.
So, instead, I decided to reshell it, and bought this:
which came with this:
It's a California-titled Diamantschwarz 318is, with a low-mile M50tu, a brand new M3 steering rack, AKG motor mounts, and a Imola-painted engine bay. The clearcoat was shot, so the PO's father did a lot of the bodywork, straightening, blocking and filling, and coated it with a temporary flat black until the rest of the car could go Imola. This project of course stalled for a number of years, like they do, and eventually they decided to get rid of it.
So, now, I'm going to merge these two cars into one totally awesome diamantschwarz mtech 2 m50tu r3v special.. and one unregisterable-in-CA roller shell. (if you know anyone looking for a dedicated track shell to build, get in touch)
Stay tuned.
This set off my internal weird BMW alarm - M42s don't get doglegs! I immediately became hopefully suspicious that the seller didn't know anything and was actually the owner of a 320is, an Italy and Portugal-only 2L S14-powered e30. I scooted over to Travis Air Force Base to get the full scoop.
It turns out the car was indeed a 318is, not a 320is, and indeed had a very blown M42, and indeed had a dogleg. After several months of playing email tag, a deal was struck, and a few days ago I found myself in possession of this:
It was filthy from sitting under a tree and I wanted to know what I was working with, so I washed it.
Holy crap! It was actually really clean. Unfortunately, I have to take it apart, for three separate reasons.
1 - it has an Italian title, all the importation paperwork for getting into the states (this was a airman's car), and theoretically has been registered in Connecticut. California is ambiguous with respect to this rule, and I am not too keen to find out the hard way.
2 - being a European import, it has rust. Not a ton, but the battery box is holey, various parts of the underside are crunchy and there's a few bubbly spots under the kit.
3 - it was taken into a ditch at some point and the passenger side rear wheel went up into the quarterpanel *hard* and bent it out. This kind of sucks to fix, and warrants a full-on quarterpanel replacement.
So, instead, I decided to reshell it, and bought this:
which came with this:
It's a California-titled Diamantschwarz 318is, with a low-mile M50tu, a brand new M3 steering rack, AKG motor mounts, and a Imola-painted engine bay. The clearcoat was shot, so the PO's father did a lot of the bodywork, straightening, blocking and filling, and coated it with a temporary flat black until the rest of the car could go Imola. This project of course stalled for a number of years, like they do, and eventually they decided to get rid of it.
So, now, I'm going to merge these two cars into one totally awesome diamantschwarz mtech 2 m50tu r3v special.. and one unregisterable-in-CA roller shell. (if you know anyone looking for a dedicated track shell to build, get in touch)
Stay tuned.
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