Project Lessmeister: 91 318iS Restomod w/ MTech2 and modern drivetrain

[318aye]

Incredibly satisfying watching builds like this. Can't wait to see the finished product.

[Jordan]

What's your asking price going to be when this is ready to sell?

It really depends on what I end up having into it man hour wise at the end of the build, but I'm anticipating at or above $25k when the time comes to list her for sale. I definitely want to enjoy the car for awhile though.

[fresh_TD]

M3 money for a swapped car?

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[FreedomM3]

Lol everyone wants everything new and shiny for free. ^

[fresh_TD]

Lol everyone wants everything new and shiny for free. ^

Absolutely not...this is a great project no doubt, and the car will be practically new...for example..with a$25k budget, would you buy a mint swapped 318is over a e30M3 that needs some tlc? The value on the M3 will only go up..as soon as this car is sold, value is going to depreciate..that's reality

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[Jordan]

I've seen the prices of nice examples of e30's go up over the last several years, as they become harder and harder to find. This trend will continue, behind the M3's of course, but none the less.

Especially fitted with the parts and options that people want. To call this just "a swapped car" is pretty damn insulting.

[fresh_TD]

Not insulting anyone here..it is a swapped 318is, no? I'm not saying is not mint or anything of the sorts.

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[Jordan]

I understand what you're saying, but when finished condition and desirability wise it will be in the top 1% of non-M examples.

M cars are great and all, and yes I think they will be a great as an investment car, but is it a car you can and will actually go drive without concern? Not so much.

Regardless it isn't a conversation that is worth having at this time. Everyone can debate the cars value when its done.

[E30 Wagen]

What did you do about the factory vin stickers and such in the driver's side door jam?

[Jordan]

Those were removed, and destroyed in the process. The primary vehicle information tag is still available new, its ordered like a key. Mine came in last week.



Most of the other decals on the car I will be ordering reproductions of as they are not available anymore.

[BUDNUNTA]

http://www.autodatalabels.com/

For anyone interested we use these people all the time with good results

Car looks great, nice to see someone on here with proper Collision Repair knowledge, I just keep seeing all the products I use everyday at my shop in this thread

[Jordan]

This morning when I awoke the first thing I did was check the humidity level. It was 70% at 8am, and quickly settled around 58% for the day, with a temperature of 70F which is fantastic spraying!

I had to use this window to get some of the trim painted. For this I used SEM Trim Black #39143. Yes its about $20 a can, no there is no better product on the market for satin black trim refinishing.

The 3 pieces on the passenger side door were each prepped and painted one at a time and installed on the door with all new clips.



Passenger side hofmeister kink trim, with its piece of shadowline trim painted, with new clips installed ready to go.



Flipped over, neoprene foam gasket to reproduce the factory trimming. I think this primarily prevents the trim from chafing against the body.




Installed on the car:



Oh and I put the headlights on the car late last night but forgot to snap a picture:



Yes they are DEPO. I weighed the pros and cons of going with Hella vs. DEPO but when I realized I could no longer buy the smoked Hella's new the decision was made. I would rather have virgin glass than the genuine Hella assemblies. All things told these are pretty nice for the money.

Rain gutter trim is painted and ready to install, but not before replacing the barbed clips that hold it to the a-pillar. Many E30's have lost this trim on the freeway and these clips corroding away is why....




Passenger mirror assembling:



and back on the car, the contrast of the red and black is really coming together well now. New cowl grills installed.



OE Euro grills that came with the car refinished and installed, along with a new kidney grill:



I was not done painting trim at this point, but I had run out of paint... so that sort of forced my hand for now.

I decided to move back inside the car and continue with the dash reassembly. When I dropped the IHKS in I intentionally left the controller assembly off thinking it would make the dash easy to drop in. It probably did, but getting the bowden cables in the lever arms on the IHKS as installed was a pain in my back. I managed though, then snapped the actual panel trim in:



Radio cage installed and all radio related wiring puled through. Note the wrapped harness for the aftermarket Alpine headunit. That goes seamlessly all the way to the fusebox breakout block and plugs in directly. No chopped up wire type install here...



All connections made, note there are only six wires coming off the headunits connector. Constant power, switched power, ground, illumination, antenna remote and amplifier remote. The power IC output wires were removed as this will be used as a dead head with an Alpine PDX-5 in the trunk doing the amplification.



Snapped in to place:





One last thing for today, and that is the cowl/fender union. If everyone recalls I was rather fickle about trying to reproduce the factory sealant in this union when I fit the new fender to give it the appearance it had not been replaced....

Reposting an old picture:



and how it is now:

[Wschnitz]

God this car is beautiful.

[mbonder]

Absolutely not...this is a great project no doubt, and the car will be practically new...for example..with a$25k budget, would you buy a mint swapped 318is over a e30M3 that needs some tlc? The value on the M3 will only go up..as soon as this car is sold, value is going to depreciate..that's reality

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I'm not sure why the value of this car is going to depreciate. Can you explain? If prices for all e30s continue to rise, I only see the value of this car increasing as long as the new owner keeps good care of it. Having a documented restoration such as this one with practically new everything will keep the value high.

Plus it's turn key, built by one of the most knowledgeable e30 guys in the country. People are willing to pay for the peace of mind of knowing that they can get in the car and go and it will win show after show if someone wishes to go that route.

If I had $25k I'd consider it a steal at that price considering what it would cost to do the restoration yourself, and worth every penny as I personally think that the m54 is one of BMW's greatest engines and it will be residing in one of BMW's greatest chassis.

[Rouvld]

I remember you saying that that neoprene foam was better than the oem stuff and will most likely out last the car. Now I feel like a dumb ass because I just ordered the oem stuff two weeks ago for that c pillar fin. Is there a certain thickness that you ordered the neoprene foam in?