Restoring a neglected E30 318is

[kenshin86]

Hello, in this thread I will be documenting the progress of restoring my 318is.

I am a Mechanical Engineer that live and work in Dubai, UAE, and I drive a Toyota GT86.
In my home country, Lebanon, I wanted to have a car that have similar driving characteristics, and a project car I can work on and bring back to stock condition during my vacation days (around one month each year).

So I began searching online for one, and it seems in Lebanon nobody knows what a real 318is is. All kinds of 318i were claiming to be one, some with 4 doors, some with automatics, some with the wrong engine, ect... until I managed to get in contact with someone who sent me the car registration form showing the chassis number which I verified online, it was:





Looking at the photos of the car, it was looking a beater neglected car:









Since I was living abroad, I sent my father with a mechanic to inspect the car.
It had no maintenance history, and the odometer has stopped working at 160,000 km.
The seats were leather sports seats from an E36.

So I got the car for 3400$, and took it to a body shop to do some repairs on the damaged front fenders:





On to the maintenance issues, addressing the known problem areas:

1- Changed the chain tensioner with the upgraded one:




2- Replaced the fuel pump as it suddenly stopped working one day while driving.

3- Replaced the water pump.

4- The car was reaching normal operating temperature (at the half way mark) after 30 min of driving, so I knew the thermostat was broken, and it was:



I replaced it with a new one that opens at 88 deg. C.
The radiator with flushed with chemical couple of times, and new organic coolant was added instead of tap water:

1st flush result:



5- Changed the spark plugs, fuel filter, air filter and radiator hoses.

6- When changing the transmission oil, this was the quantity found inside:



Now it is properly filled with 1.2 liters of 75W-90 GL4 gear oil.

7- I changed the engine oil to a synthetic 0W-40 grade oil.

9- Around 50% of the fuses in the box were above the required rating, so I replaced all of them.
The previous owner was so cheap, he used metal wire to fix a melted fuse:



9- Replaced the airbag steering wheel with an M-Tech 1, got the missing kick panel underneath it, and replaced the plastic shift knob with an original leather one:





11- The car was idling roughly, so I cleaned the Idle Control Valve.
Problem remains, further inspection for vacuum leaks will be required.

12- When you press the gas pedal all the way down, the car was not revving properly and felt choked.
I added fuel cleaner to the tank, but it showed no improvement.
I decided to inspect the injectors and clean them if necessary, and I found the 4 injectors like this:



I installed new o-rings and cleaned the injectors in a special shop.
The problem was not completely solved, will still have to check for vacuum leaks.



13- looking at the radiator, there was no temp. gauge switch: the installed radiator is not the proper one to use in conjunction with an AC.
Also notice how the fan shroud is not covering the fan completely.
I will have to replace both of them later on.



14- Rear shock mounts were completely damaged, replaced the with E46 ones with reinforcement plates.



15- The shift linkage is so loose you can move the arm carrier with your hand.
I am planning to replace the bushings in the future and install a shorter Z3 shifter.
No idea how that green foam piece got in there.



16- When I lifted the car, I noticed the tag on the differential (photo below) is showing 3.45 instead of 4.10
So sometime during the life of the car, the diff. was changed to one with significantly longer gear ratios.
I will look for a 4.10 diff and replace it when I find one.



17- The tachometer and fuel econ. gauge were not working.
I replaced the SI battery but no success...

18- Data for the journey ahead:



Thanks for reading.

[MR E30 325is]

Nice start!

That was certainly a beat platform that you started with. Looks much better already.

Keep us posted.

[wworm]

so much satisfaction in just the first post! Keep up the good work man this is great.

[She loved E]

Nicely done! I can't believe how beat those old RSMs are!!

For some reason I thought 318is was a US-only model.

[kenshin86]

Update: I returned to my home country for a 2 weeks visit on April 2018, and I did some work on the car that I will share with you below.
The car is kept in the shade with a battery tender installed.
My father runs it once every month to keeps the fluids circulating.

1- Since filling up the AC system with new gas and fixing the leak points, it worked fine for some time, then it stopped blowing cool air.
It turned out the compressor needed replacement so I removed all the system for some good weight reduction.
The weather is moderate in Lebanon and you don't need an AC except for couple of months in the summer.





I can't believe that a condenser this big was sitting in front of the radiator blocking air.

2- Also, I removed the Airbag unit under the dashboard since the steering wheel was replaced with a normal one:





3- Replaced the failing hood strut with an original one:




4- A failed attempt to restore the white color of the washer fluid reservoir using retrobright solution (hydrogen peroxide), no improvement was observed.




5 - Now moving to the differential, since the original 4.1 diff was replaced by a 3.45 one in the past, I was not pleased with how the car drove.
It lurched and jerked at low rpms in 2nd gear, so I knew a shorter gear ratio was a must.
I managed to find one for 70$ 100 km away from my city so I bought it directly:



The 4.1 diff transformed the car completely.
No more jerking at low rpms, and the car is eager to accelerate and feels alive.

7 - Replaced the transmission output shaft seal.
You can see the oil leakage splashed all around the transmission tunnel:







8 - Replaced the throttle cable. Since it was specific to M42s, I could not find one in local parts store, so I order it online:




Washing under the car:




9 - Replaced the oxygen sensor with a new Bosh one:




10 - Moving to the shift linkage: shifting gears felt like rowing a stick in a pudding bowl, so I knew I had to replace all the bushings.
In addition, a Z3 1.9 shifter was installed to shorten the travel distance.

Rear arm carrier was held in place using a steel wire:



Shift assembly removed:



New parts:



Burned the old rubber bushing out and replaced it with a new derlin one:



After installing everything back, the difference is like night and day, it feels like a new car to me.

11- Replaced all belts:



Until next time.

[kenshin86]

August 2018, had 2 weeks to work on the car. I was able to source the original 15" BBS wheels for 200 $, car looks much better in my opinion:



Old wheel lugs vs new ones:



The throttle pedal linkage had little bit of play, so I replaced all the bushings and the return spring:



Here's a shot of the airbox after cleaning it with a mix of boiled linseed oil and thinner:



It was about time now to do the mess under the intake and clear all the vacuum leaks since the car was not revving at wide open throttle.

My set of tools in the trunk, I still don't a dedicated place to work:



An electrical tape was previously used to repair a broken hose:



Upper and lower intake manifold removed and all old hoses taken out to be replaced by new ones:



Broken coolant hoses at the end held together by cable tie for the throttle heater plate:



Cracked fuel hose:




The sum of all the deleted / replaced hoses:



Below are some pictures before and after the cleaning of 30 years of crud and grime.
Spraying fuel and using a wire brush gave the best results.

Lower intake manifold ports:



Throttle body: notice the excess of gasket maker at the bottom



upper intake manifold:



Previous owner cut an oval shaped opening in the gasket having a size smaller than of the opening of throttle body, choking the air intake in return:

[kenshin86]

Below are the things done to the car in April 2019:

The existing radiator and fan shroud were not the ones that came with the car.
No wonder why when sitting in traffic the temp gauge needle starts to climb.
I replaced them with the correct ones for M42 engine.

Old radiator and fan shroud on top:



The intake boot was also from an E36, it was stretched and cracked. The new and correct one can be seen on the right:



Popped out the AC vents to install some plastic washers to prevent them from sagging down:



30 years of dust is cleaned:



Old vs new shifter boot:



Old fuel rubber boot near the filling cap was also replaced:



Below are some pics of the parts bought:

[vasilis m3]

Subscribed!

Keep up the good work!

[mike.bmw]

Awesome work! We've done a lot of the same things to our cars. I bet it's driving really well now!

[Tzantushka]

How did I miss this...?

A thorough approach to getting everything back to a good baseline.

[Glaede]

Great thread and nice work you have done! I have a 318iS my self.

It's an interesting VIN number you've got. AD00001 and a very early production date for an 318iS. Could this be one of the first produced?

[kenshin86]

Thank you all for your replies !

Yes, the car drives very well now, still many things to be sorted like suspension.
The car still have its original shocks and springs.
I have all the parts ready, ball joints (going with OEM rubber) and B4 OE Bilstein gas shocks, as the roads in Lebanon are rough for B6s.

The vacuum lines on this thing are a real nightmare, the Mess Under the Intake thread helped me a lot.

The things that are bothering me are:

The oil pan clearance: as you know the M42 is pretty close to the ground, and I don't intend to lower the car at all.
I hope it will get better when I replace the engine mounts with new ones (with some extra washers) and install new strut tower mounts.

Also when I installed the derlin bushing in the rear shifter assembly arm carrier, after doing hard acceleration or cornering, it becomes difficult or not possible to change gears because there is no play or buffer to absorb the relative motion between engine/transmission and chassis.
I will either remove the derlin bushing completely or drill it to make it wider or go back to old rubber.

And I need to sort out why the RPM gauge is still not working after replacing the SI board batteries.

[kenshin86]

Great thread and nice work you have done! I have a 318iS my self.

It's an interesting VIN number you've got. AD00001 and a very early production date for an 318iS. Could this be one of the first produced?

That's interesting ! never thought of it, so the last numbers should indicate the number of production ?

[mike.bmw]

I have all the parts ready, ball joints (going with OEM rubber) and B4 OE Bilstein gas shocks, as the roads in Lebanon are rough for B6s.

I went with B4s and H&R OE Sport Springs. To get the 318is to sit level on H&R OE Sport Springs, you can swap out the stock rear lower spring pads with E46 14.5mm rear spring pads. Check out my thread for more info (see signature).

[Glaede]

That's interesting ! never thought of it, so the last numbers should indicate the number of production ?

I'm not sure what it indicates. My own is build in January 1990 and it has VIN number AD10xxx something.