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

[CorvallisBMW]

Those tips look perfect, nice choice.

[flyboyx]

What do you have left to go?

[Jordan]

Only a handful of small things.

I want to change whatever fuel pump out that came with the car to a E36 M3 unit I already have on hand. The one in there now works fine but it's loud. Probably a cheap Airtex or something.

I have to run a hose from the evap line by the FPR to the evap valve.

Finish wiring the amplifier, and install the trim panel.

Then drop the car back off at Imperial Collision for them to do the final color sanding and such.

[UNHCLL]

[Javier h]

Speaking of fuel pumps

what's the deal with factory E36 M3 OEM fuel pump?

You might encounter some issues when installing that new pump.

I read somewhere that the design changed (later e36s were a bit different) and that new design wont work well.

Specifically, people report that the gas gauge reads only half way when the tank is full. Something about the floater arm sticking?

I am sure you've done your share of fuel pumps on E36s for clients. Have you ever encounter such an issue?

[Jordan]

I'm only swapping the physical pump into the E30 hanger, and I've done it plenty of times without issue. Its a cheap, readily available and very reliable pump that is up to the task of 450-500hp no problem.

E30's don't have a float arm. The level sensors are fully encased, nothing to stick.

[nando]

what's funny is I was going to swap out my FP with one from an E46 M3. I had recently bought a new pump for my E30 - when I pulled them out, I realized they were identical. Decided to just leave the new replacement pump in there.

but yeah, the E46 and E36 pumps fit right into the (late) E30 carrier. Even the sock fits right on. I have an '88 carrier that needs some modifications but you could make that work too.

[E30 Wagen]

Then drop the car back off at Imperial Collision for them to do the final color sanding and such.

Do you mean the final clear coat sanding/buffing/polishing? The paint work looks very good and I wonder if they sanded/leveled the base coat before applying the clear. Do you know how many clear coats they applied? I have a feeling this was answered already but meh. I have a lot of respect for a highly detailed paint job, in my opinion the most important part of a build like this.

Has anybody seen the orange peel on new BMWs? It's disgusting.

[Jordan]

Yes, color sanding is a term used to describe final paint finishing.

No matter how good your painter and equipment is paint just doesn't lay out flat like glass, that comes from color sanding.

The entire car needs to be sanded with 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, and 5000 paper then polished to a brilliant shine. This will anihilate all traces or orange peel and completely level the clear coat for a show car finish.

2.5 gallons of clear (PPG Deltron DCU2021) was used to paint the car inside and out. That is 3.75 gallons sprayable with consideration for the hardener and reducer added at 4:1:1. Just the clearcoat related material was over $800.

I don't know what that equates to on coats, but rest assured its a lot more than normal.

[kronus]

are you going to take anything off the car for color sanding? I had my white e30 color sanded, and the guy that did it seemed insistent that working on a bare shell is significantly preferable to him than working on a fully assembled car.

[bradnic]

same q. gonna deal with this with our car as well

[Jordan]

Every painter, shop is going to have their own preference. Imperial all but insisted I bring the car back when it was done and the paint was fully cured to do the best possible color sanding job. Just the same the bumpers and side cladding will be popped off if needed, everything else can be carefully masked.

As an example, the sunroof panel was fully color sanded before it was turned over to me.



and the roof adjacent, which is pretty smooth by all accounts for straight out of the gun, has not has any post spray attention.



The difference is plain to see and very appreciable.

[mmmb00st]

For an off the gun finish, it looks great. They probably flow-coated the last coat of clear. You have a great painter, my friend.

Also, are you going to adjust the rear tips up closer to the valence at all? They look a tad low from the angle provided and I know you mentioned several pages back that you wanted them to sit pretty close to the valence.

[Jordan]

Looking at the pictures again I can see where you might think it hangs a little low, but its evenly spaced side to side and top to bottom. The angle definitely makes it look to be hanging below the bumper, when in fact it is not. There is just under 1/2" to all sides.

Ideally I want it to have room to move under engine load and cornering etc without impacting the bumper.

[Jordan]

Had some free time this evening and managed to finish up the amplifier wiring, wire the LED light bar relay, and install the finish trim panel, also supplied by German Audio Specialties.

Everything looks and fits great. I only briefly fired up the stereo as a system test but everything sounds to be working well. Will fine tune gains etc at a later date. The amplifier is set to high pass the interior speakers at 60hz, and low pass the subwoofer at 80hz. Gains set middle across all channels. Gets plenty loud and bumps nicely.