OMG Motorworks 2.1l 318i Sedan Build

[dude8383]

Looking good! That paint turned out very very nicely

It did indeed!!

Cool!

Thanks guys.

[dude8383]

Pushing to get this car fired up by the end of the month... fingers crossed :)

[dude8383]

I wanted to post a quick update here because I realize that I rarely come back here to add progress. Unfortunately my customer... my FRIEND passed late September and as a result we put the project on pause while his folks sorted out his affairs.

With that said we eventually came to an agreement that I would take ownership of the car and zero out their balance because I couldn't bare to let the car be sold for parts or even as is.

Sam wanted a black sedan for the longest time and it took forever for us to find a clean shell. This project has been going on for like 4 years now and I feel like I owe it to him to see it through. I've known Sam since the early mid 2000's... I bought a set of clean euro ellipsoids off of him and thats pretty much where our friendship started. He later offered me a job in web design (a field I knew nothing about) and I learned a hell of a lot from him while I worked for him. It was a great college gig, work whenever, get your shit done and get paid. I would later go to work with him at Universal Music Group and learn about management than graphic design. He taught me so much (and countless others you guys have no idea how far his reach was) and I will miss the shit out of him.

This car will be built in his honor because he deserved the perfect E30.

We don't have much left but progress will be slow. This is going to be coming out of my pocket now and I'm nowhere nearly as well of as Sam was haha.

So whats left?

- Wire up megasquirt
- Fire the damn thing up
- Make sure it runs properly
- Order tires for the RS's
- Finish installing the glass
- Source an interior - this was purchased long ago but the vendor stopped replying to Sam many years ago after trying to buy time etc etc etc
- Get the rest of the mtech2 bits installed
- Clean the thing!

That's all I can think of right now but I'm certain there's more to it as we scratch things off.

It's been tough looking at the car but this is all I have left to keep his memories/visions alive. I'll try and chime back in here next time with some progress!

[M-technik-3]

That sucks! That is crappy update, I am sorry to hear that news. I hope family and his friends are doing better now that a minor amount of time has passed.

[MR E30 325is]

That is a terrible update.

Good on you for stepping up for your friend.

[Echo30V]

Damn Dennis, that is sad. Sorry to hear about your friend, he sounds like one of us. Such a cool car. I’d love to stop by and see that beast. Please keep updating the thread. What ever happened to the orange e30 build referenced above.

[dude8383]

That sucks! That is crappy update, I am sorry to hear that news. I hope family and his friends are doing better now that a minor amount of time has passed.

Indeed. It was a shock to all of us :(

That is a terrible update.

Good on you for stepping up for your friend.

Thank you sir!!

Damn Dennis, that is sad. Sorry to hear about your friend, he sounds like one of us. Such a cool car. I’d love to stop by and see that beast. Please keep updating the thread. What ever happened to the orange e30 build referenced above.

Indeed. He was a car guy through and through.

We actually started on that E30 M3 last week... we ran the main chassis harness only to find many connectors snipped off. Not surprised because whoever removed it was a bit ham-fisted.

I'll start up another thread for that as soon as I have any real progress on it.

[Echo30V]

That color is so unique. That has so much potential.

[robrez]

Sorry to hear of your friend’s passing. Seems he a great vision of what an m42’d sedan could be capable of. Looking forward to you seeing it through.

[dude8383]

That color is so unique. That has so much potential.

Sorry to hear of your friend’s passing. Seems he a great vision of what an m42’d sedan could be capable of. Looking forward to you seeing it through.

Thank you guys.

[Eurospec]

Hey Denis. My deepest condolences go out to you and Sam's family. Really saddened by the news... brought back good memories from the M42club days.

I'll never forget Sam's wisdom and enthusiasm for the 318iS. He was a class act and will always be remembered. It's really great to see the project he envisioned come to light-- kudos and I really look forward to seeing the result.

[dude8383]

Wow! Hey man... its been a while buddy :)

It is unfortunate for sure... I think he was truly happiest when it came to talking cars. Everything else was work haha and boy oh boy did he work! On the other hand he did help many many people either figure out career paths or even help them get jobs in fields that helped them grow. He had so many connections, it sucks to lose good people so early on.

We hope to finish this car within the next few months and maybe make a debut at some cool show.

Thanks again for your kind words!

[e30s50dan]

What that mm2.1 engine

[dude8383]

Wow, it has been nearly 2 years since my last update here. A lot has happened since then and I'm happy to report that the car is up and running but we still have a ways to go.

Since the last update I talked about wiring up megasquirt and getting the rest of the glass in etc. Let me say that I've never wired up a megasquirt ECU and it was even more difficult because there's only a handful of guys out there that have converted their M42's to run on megasquirt. Documentation was slim to none but I figured it out (with help from the community and friends that are smarter than me). I wasn't out of the woods that quickly though because once we did get the car running I noticed that the head wasn't getting any oil pressure, the gauge cluster wasn't working right and there was a voltage charge issue.

The first thing I thought was either the oil pump wasn't installed correctly or the oil pressure relief valve was broken. Stupidly when building the motor we failed to install the oil pressure relief valve. All that progress only to have to take several steps backwards.

Luckily the other two issues weren't as severe. The gauge cluster temp and oil pressure light weren't working right... After troubleshooting for who knows how long I realized I had flipped the connectors. Silly and definitely an amateur mistake but thats what happens when you work on a car once or twice in two years. The voltage charging problem was the lack of a solid engine ground. With those items tackled I've been able to piece the car back together and even take it on a few rides while my close friend helped me with the tuning side of things.

Without further ado, here's some pictures of the progress thus far:






















And a short video of me driving it around the neighborhood:

https://youtu.be/OP4o990Fc04

[dude8383]

What that mm2.1 engine

Just noticed this.

It's this: