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

[NicE30]

Phenominal rebuild! Can hardly keep my eyes open as the sun's coming out and i haven't hit the sack yet because i stumbled on this thread and just had to finish it. I say it's right up there with the best e30 rebuild i've ever seen! Your attension to detail is all inspiring.. Great stuff

The only negative thing i could possibly mention is lack of rustproving. I would've emptied lost of canisters full of waxoil in every cavity i could find right after paint. Will serve the car well on the long run, wherever the car will end up!

Ohh the other is.. your nuts to sell it!

[TrentW]

Like that new condenser!

Surprised you didn't go with an M3 roof mount antenna.

[Bimmer_man]

This car is coming along beautifully. I cannot wait to see the finished product.

[Jordan]

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen, the encouragement has helped a ton in getting be back out there when I still feel less than my best.

Rust proofing is simply a non-concern down here in Texas. We rarely see freezing conditions, let alone snow, and if so sand only is put on the road, no salt. If the car happens to find a new owner up north I would hope they would not drive it in the salted winter snow, but if they choose to so supplemental rust proofing is on them.

I can honestly say I have never cared for the M3's centrally located roof mounted antenna. It looks like such an afterthought. It would have looked better at the trailing edge of the roof in my opinion, but regardless this car is staying more true to its nature. A tall mast antenna is easily threaded on in place of the stubby one if a future owner so pleased.

I've been sitting on an update for Ehrlich Wheel Works for a bit, but I wanted to go ahead and post it up now. As I'd mentioned earlier Paul is building me some custom RS wheels. To make them the sizes I wanted it meant a fill and drill of some RS211 faces. Paul is an expert in bolt pattern conversions, one of few outfits that do the process with such precision.

First Paul machines pressure fit billet aluminum plugs, which are then hydraulically pressed into the existing lug pattern effectively filling the center of the wheel and making it solid. Some vendors would stop at this point, redrill the new bolt pattern and call it a day.



Once the wheel is filled he goes one step further, expertly tig welding the plugs to the wheel permanently fusing them to the forged centers. This is done with finite control of the TIG arc to minimize the heat propagation into the wheel faces. On wheel temperature readings fluctuate around 200F while welding, much cooler than you can expect under hard driving from vented brake heat.



The finish welded face can be picked up on the edges by hand immediately after welding.



The finish welded hubs are now ready to be mounted on a lathe and milled down flat.



Paul was kind enough to assemble my 2" slant lips, his custom made 1/3 height hex caps, and a black/gold 3D BBS logo onto an identical painted face to mine to give a preview of the wheel to be.




Much anticipated progress has been made on the interior as well. I'm excited to say I'm working with Jordan @ StitchedWheels to recover the interior. By the VIN code this vehicle was originally "SCHWARZ KUNSTLEDER (0166)" AKA Black Leatherette. While black vinyl seats appropriate to a 318iS aren't hard to find in good condition I really felt this car and the quality being put into the build deserved more.

I decided on keeping the interior black, but stepping up to leather. I worked with Jordan to source and purchase 3 hides of OE BMW Schwarz leather to recover the interior with. The hides came in a few days ago and he has been hard at working cutting out the complex array of pieces to make up the front seats. It takes one hide per front seat, and one for the rear seat with enough extra material for some small parts like a matching shifter boot, ebrake boot, and retrimmed M-Technic II steering wheel.





If Jordan keeps on schedule he is planning on making the drive down from Mississippi to Houston to help recover the seats in person!

[fresh_TD]

Jordan does great work..he did a pair of sport seats for my ix touring:-)

Sent from my Samsung Note 4

[warshark]

i had to read all 19 pages and can say the best e30 built i have seen since i joined r3v keep up the good work and dont let no one get you down:coolphoto:

[Aikmanson]

I will second Jordan's work. He made me a set of half cloth/leather skins for my is seats which I installed. Look forward to seeing the progress, keep it up.

[Jordan]

I got my seatbelts back from stitching today. Installed the rears, along with the parcel shelf and the premium system speakers.

[monty23psk]

Did you swap out the speakers and use the housing?

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[E30 Wagen]

Is that a new rear shelf or was it recovered?

[Luke_M]

I'm so jealous of your build Jordan. Great work. It inspires me to keep building on mine.

Why an oem windshield instead of a typical replacement like safelite etc? Curious because I'm needing to replace mine soon.

[Jordan]

Did you swap out the speakers and use the housing?

Nope, the car still has all of the original premium sound system speakers. This car was non-premium by birth so its been upgraded. They sound pretty good when provided a clean source and ample power.

Is that a new rear shelf or was it recovered?

It was dyed black.

Why an oem windshield instead of a typical replacement like safelite etc? Curious because I'm needing to replace mine soon.

Well Safelite is shit so..... I stay away from cheap Chinese glass at all costs, I don't like looking through a distorted fun house mirror. My cost on the OE BMW glass was only about $50 more than a PPG/Pilkinton from one of my normal suppliers. The choice was simple. Now all of the glass has a BMW bug in the corner.

[Luke_M]

Well Safelite is shit so..... I stay away from cheap Chinese glass at all costs, I don't like looking through a distorted fun house mirror. My cost on the OE BMW glass was only about $50 more than a PPG/Pilkinton from one of my normal suppliers. The choice was simple. Now all of the glass has a BMW bug in the corner.

I was afraid of that, hence my hesitation. Thanks for the info! Wrench on...

[wark]

What did you use to dye the rear shelf? I was planning on doing mine this spring when I upgrade to premium speakers as well.

[wilholl]

What did you use to dye the rear shelf? I was planning on doing mine this spring when I upgrade to premium speakers as well.

same here. What dye works the best?