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

[Lietuvis]

I'm not shitting, I'm just saying, that it's sad to see, these seats.
I'm checking/reading your topic very often, to see new photos, and maybe get new ideas.

[noahsense]

I'm curious if you took the dimensions for the steering rack joint. Cutting into the firewall is something i would like to avoid the next time around.

[Jordan]

I'm curious if you took the dimensions for the steering rack joint. Cutting into the firewall is something i would like to avoid the next time around.

I did not, but if you get yourself 2 of the E46 knuckle assemblies and look at my pictures you should be able to approximate.

That said this is one of those items that should likely be made to suit. Depending on which rack you're actually using the nominal length is going to vary.

[Jordan]

OK so today has been a busy day with a few sidework customers coming and going and me pounding out odd jobs on the E30 as I could.

First job today was to install the fabricated steering linkage, along grommets on the firewall that go around the clutch master, clutch master, and steering column shaft. These were all purchase new, they are relatively cheap! I also installed the clutch slave hard line down to the UUC stainless clutch line.



Overall view. As I snapped this picture I looked at the space and pondered how the brake booster would fit into position. Hmmm... cross fingers on that one.



I installed the front premium sound system 5.25" woofers, and made the wiring changes needed to connect the premium tweeter pods to their crossovers. I also installed the kickpanel trim covers. No pictures of this....

Brand new hood insulation, this came straight from Germany. Very soft yet dense/strong foam as new, peel and stick self adhesive application.



Maplight rearview mirror, visor tray and visors install. Running the mirror harness down the pillar was a bit of a pain in the ass at this point, I wish I had installed it before I did the headliners but it wasn't too bad. It physically runs inside the roof and pillar cavity so it takes some flicking and luck to get it in between access holes.

I'm bummed this panel is less than perfect, but it is NLA so I can't have it new. I have 3 of these panels in various conditions and this was the one with the very least amount of looseness of the material. Very minor lifting where the visors anchor in each corner and it is essentially invisible with the visors bolted down.



Now for a much dreaded job, and that is reinstalling the sunroof guides, rails etc. All of this was taken from a donor car at work as much of it was missing when I got the car and what was included with the car was broken. I guess it was too frusterating and the PO just broken the pieces off.



Each piece was carefully cleaned of all the old crusty grease and installed. The parts that were satin black were refinished with SEM 39143, the same paint I used on the shadowline. It took about 2 hours to get everything installed, and by the end I was ready to rage smash the sunroof rails.... Getting the cables synced left and right was one thing, but you also have to make sure the takeup point is correct so the handle stop/detent for the fully closed position happens at the right point in the rails travel.

Through trial and error I found that the drivers cable needs to be fed into the mechanism about 1.75 turns of the handle before you start the feed of the passenger side cable. If that wasn't enough trouble you have to back the crank handle 3 full turns past a detent before you start feeding the cables for the rails to wind up in the correct place when the second detent catches. There are 18 full turns of the handle detent to detent.

This was easily the most tedious task I've dealt with on the reassembly of the car thus far. Its simple enough to remove everything so you can properly change the color of the car, but nothing short of torture to put it back together. If you're considering removal to facilitate a paint job I would leave everything be if you're staying the same color....

I topped it off with the newly upholstered trim panel, snapped into its guides. I'll install the actual sunroof body panel tomorrow, I'd had enough sunroof for today.



Moving on I needed to get the brake booster installed so I can button up the knee panel in the interior. The booster is taken from an E32 735i. It is smaller diameter but a double stack design. It works well for 24v swaps, although with M50-S52 swaps you end up needing to run a remote reservoir as it would interfere with the throttle body boot.



Because of the design of the M54 intake manifold this should not be an issue, and I can run the E32 reservoir or perhaps a newer one that shares the same fitting spacing. I haven't looked into that yet.

The length of the input shaft is a bit longer on the E32 obviously. I measured from the E30 booster flange seat to the center of the fork and found it to be exactly 5". Simply swapping the E30 fork onto the E32 input shaft allowed for easy adjustment to 5" and I locked it in place.

After that I cleaned it up really well, sanded some loose paint from brake fluid damage, cleaned/degreased it again and painted it. Again I used SEM 39143, it perfectly reproduces the original satin finish. It is currently drying.

[0-60 freak]

Looks great......why why why didnt you keep the original color!!

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[kronus]

Ugh, sunroof cables.

What are you using for the sunroof panel gasket? There are several different gasket styles; one clamps over the folded-down sunroof edge and comes in 1- or 2-piece versions, and the other just sticks to the outside of the edge. I was only able to get the latter style new, and it ended up being too thick and prevented the sunroof from coming up through the opening in the roof, resulting in stripping either the cables or the gear.

[Jordan]

Looks great......why why why didnt you keep the original color!!

Because not everyone has a white fetish like you

I think I've seriously answered that question before but the real reason why is that I've already built an Alpine White MTechnic II car. One was enough.

Ugh, sunroof cables.

What are you using for the sunroof panel gasket? There are several different gasket styles; one clamps over the folded-down sunroof edge and comes in 1- or 2-piece versions, and the other just sticks to the outside of the edge. I was only able to get the latter style new, and it ended up being too thick and prevented the sunroof from coming up through the opening in the roof, resulting in stripping either the cables or the gear.

Hmm the seal I bought new is a 1 piece, in the original style. It is U shaped and snaps onto the sunroof panel AFAIK.

[0-60 freak]

Damn....would of loved that baby.....

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[kronus]

Hmm the seal I bought new is a 1 piece, in the original style. It is U shaped and snaps onto the sunroof panel AFAIK.

got a PN?

[mcm185]

Where did you purchase that hood insulation material? Link?

Also I am in Houston and in need of a decent sunroof/visor trim panel if the other two you have are decent please send me a pm.

[Jordan]

got a PN?

The sunroof seal I've got is 54 12 1 903 725.

Where did you purchase that hood insulation material? Link?

Also I am in Houston and in need of a decent sunroof/visor trim panel if the other two you have are decent please send me a pm.

Hood insulation was ordered from the dealer, BMW of Houston North. PN 51 48 1 925 437. There is no US stock it will have to come from Germany. It lists around $50 for the set.

Sorry but the other 2 panels were not really in good shape with cracks in the press board and various missing mounting points. I combined the mounts from all panels to make one good one. What was left over was broken and has already been binned.

[mcm185]

Thanks.

Are you redoing your seats? Using someone local or covers?

Doing a similar project and will do my front seats eventually.

[Jordan]

Go back 2 pages (23) and there are pictures of the seats, although everyone seems to think they can do better.

They were completely redone with 3 OE BMW hydes of leather by Jordan @ StitchedWheels. He drove down from Mississippi to install them last weekend.

There is no one worth a shit in Houston where as upholstery is concerned. Not that I have found.

[0-60 freak]

I think your seats look great

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[mcm185]

Maybe I'll find a way to keep it long term, maybe I won't. We shall see. I grow increasingly more fond of it as I work on it, so who knows. Regardless its not like I'm going to finish it and immediately sell it. I will keep it for several months before its sold on.

Last night I installed the body harness in the car. I got it all laid out into its final position(s) as well but neglected to take a picture of that.



I also got the under dash firewall insulation installed. I would have liked to have this new, but it is NLA. Since its concealed under the dash anyway I settled for a good used one from a donor car.

Just getting a chance to read this whole thread.. I just purchased this part (underdash insulation) new from ECS.

https://www.ecstuning.com/ES125456/

You mentioned you charge your rates at $40/hr.. want to come work on my car??