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

[King Mufasa]

Where was the headers touching at? Motor mount?

[Jordan]

Pm me if you want to sell the old console?

Its already spoken for.

Where was the headers touching at? Motor mount?

They touch the firewall mainly, where you foot would go as a passenger. That and the secondaries are just bent like shit, pointing down and into one another rather then level with the body and straight back.

[shingles]

Jordan, good to meet you yesterday. Happy the console is being out to good use. I wanted to hang on to it, but since the e30 is gone, decided I should not hoard it.

[Panici]

Just read the whole thread.
Amazing work, and an inspiration for my build.

Your attention to detail is admirable, I can only hope to someday be at your level. :)

Keep up the good work!


P.S. - I wish I had a TX car to work on, everything up here is corroded/deteriorated in some way or another.

[mcm185]

P.S. - I wish I had a TX car to work on, everything up here is corroded/deteriorated in some way or another.

I can help you with that. I have a rust free tx car going up for sale, 90 325is, 103k miles. Accident/rust free but needs some TLC, good project.

[Jordan]

Here are those eBay headers again, this time lopped off at the collectors. I'll be welding some nice v-bands to them and fabricating the downpipes from there.



I spent most of yesterday evening, and much of tonight trying to cram 10 pounds of shit into a 5 pound hole. IE the MS43 DME and the associated wiring that needs to be out of the engine bay. The E46/E39 have a nice plastic ebox with a sealed lid that all of this mess is haphazardly tossed into. I played with a number of configurations until I settled on the way it is now. The challenge wasn't just getting it all to look decent but also to fit in such a way that the wires would not be chaffing on metal brackets and the plastic covers etc that conceal all of this still fit properly.

Its largely untangled, and everything flows sensibly. The DME bracket is the stock M42 318iS one original to the car that pretty much fits the MS43 Siemens DME, enough to hold it in place anyway.



I also decided to place the OBDII connector on the left so it is accessible when you open the glove box. The defacto standard in the automotive world seems to be the drivers foot well but that has always annoyed me when you want to drive the car while watching real time data or data logging.... as you end up with a cable running around the drivers legs.

[86gt635]

This is one of my favorite builds of all time. Thank you for sharing with us, and I can't believe that you consider it sold after all this hard work. I think you mentioned earlier $25k, that's too low. This is a $40k car- your experience of working through the build doesn't come cheap. Lot's of luck and persistence in this build as well, good luck man. I hope whatever happens makes you and possibly the next owner happy but I can not understand why you'd sell it. This car is almost new.

[Rouvld]

Hey Jordan what's the PN for the moisture barrier that goes on the doors?

[Overlord475]

Good call on the OBDII plug location.

[UNHCLL]

This thread is boring.
When are we going to see cool stuff.... like how to properly apply Hello Kitty stickers, or what is the correct texture of bedliner to use to cover your janky engine bay paint, or a stick welded exhaust out of crush bent Napa tubing???

You know, the real mods that make a difference? So far it's just pretty pictures of pretty things.... ;) Nice work Jordan. Looking forward to seeing completion.

[Kevinl]

I'm speechless this has to be the most meticulous build I have ever seen

[Jordan]

I haven't much to report over the last few days I've just been taking it easy and waiting for some things to show up.

The stepped 2.25" vbands for the headers showed up:



The awesome molded fit cold air cleaner box from Castro Motorsports showed up. The fit on the car is really impressive! You can tell a lot of effort and thought went into the molding of the product specifically for the chassis. I had a couple special requests like leaving the MAF uncut so I could size it for my specific application and it was delivered just as asked.



The Evo3 SSK from UUC Motorwerks showed up. I've had one iteration or another of these shifters in every BMW I've owned over the last 10 years, and installed a dozen or more in customers cars. Nothing else out there matches its quality.



New boot for the shifter, with the harness I'll crimp the end connector onto for the reverse lamps:



Pseudo mockup of the exhaust system to be. eBay headers chopped at the collectors, stepped vbands, catted mid section, Y resonator, and Remus muffler.



The vbands out of the headers are 2.25" and the 2 mandrel bend sections I bought for fabrication are 2.25"

The catted mid section is from a newer BMW. N54 twin turbo car. OEM Boysen catalysts are far higher quality than anything you're going to buy in the aftermarket. The pipes in and out of them are 2.25"

The Y resonator is OEM Eberspächer from a E83 LCI. It is dual 2.25" in, and single 2.75" out.

Both OE midsection donor parts are 100% stainless steel construction, and specifically selected for quality and overall fit to the car. I hope they will fit within the confines of the aluminum heat shield without handing too low. I think many of us have used the E36 mid section, OBDI or OBDII, and they both hang awfully low because they are too wide to tuck up and in.

I'll do 2.75" or 3" from the resonator back to the Remus muffler.

[Guido.ar]

I've just finished reading the build from the beginning. Amazing work man, incredible attention to detail.

[flyboyx]

are there any oem cats like you have pictured above with 2.5" openings?

[Jordan]

are there any oem cats like you have pictured above with 2.5" openings?

2.25" is as large as it gets on modern 6 cyl BMW's with dual exhaust. Truth told its slightly larger as the new 2.25" mandrel pipe tightly fits inside it.

To get something 2.5" or larger you have to go to V8/ Turbo V8.