Project finished - 'MY22' 318is - bare metal, nut and bolt restoration

[TeXJ]

In my opinion* the m42 is still the ideal choice:

- keeps the car light and balanced
- proven to last nearly forever
- I don't need a particularly fast car to enjoy driving it.

I considered an engine swap as well and I might do electric one day when the technology has advanced more. But for now, I decided against it.

What are you planning for a diff? My 318is has an open 4.10, I was looking for a small case LSD 4.10 or 3.91 but wasn't ever able to find either of them.

true, really depends what you want out of the car.

[econti]

RE K swap, a friend of mine who runs a shop called Fast Farm up here new Newcastle is finishing a K swap kit. Would be worth having an ask to see how much his is. His work is amazing, he did my turbo manifold and it's so nice I almost don't want to fit it.

[Pootis]

Love this car and I agree with you on running the M42 for a while or it just is the never ending project (much like mine is). My car is on the road for maybe a couple thousand miles and then I get bored and do something which disables it for months at a time. Not worth it

[wazzu70]

Love this car and I agree with you on running the M42 for a while or it just is the never ending project (much like mine is). My car is on the road for maybe a couple hundred miles and then I get bored and do something which disables it for years at a time. Not worth it

Fixed this to be more accurate :) At least for my M42 never ending project!

Honestly I wanted to go M42 turbo or RHD ITBs but the appeal of an N52 or M54 swap is appealing. Still lightweight and I6 smooth tourquey power if you want to stay BMW. If not S2000 engine, K swap, or even SR20 (easier for RHD) are good options.

[onesecond]

I'm definitely in the m42 boat. Was actually hoping to see if you would try and increase it's displacement a little, something like the Metric Mechanic's engines.

[burkey001]

Hey thanks all for the motor opinions. I probably am going to keep it M42 just because I like the OEM vibe and I could not care less how fast it is
Starting to get more pressing as car got off the hoist this week

[burkey001]

Some more progress this week. I had a day off work finally and was able to get into it a bit more


Summary - Got the suspension in, the car on the ground and began power up testing the wiring harness I made from scratch.


Rear suspension tucked in, with some old brake rotors just so i can get the wheels on




I think the orange springs turned out well. The Eibach red wasn’t doing it for me.

I do want to switch dampers between E30’s – but I will do this later because the other one is on a trailer and too much stuff in the way. I want to run MCS 2 ways on this car because they’re a better damper and this car will get driven more so I want the better dampers on it. Will then put these 2 way AST’s on black car.

Got all the fuel tank gubbins back in. I sandblasted the metal trim piece that covers the vent tube because I wasn’t happy with the paint finish, so went and got it zinc and black powdercoated. Should last now


Was digging through some old stuff and I lucked out and found some ARP studs which helped getting the wheels on. Not all the same length, but they will be fine for rolling around purposes.




Suspension in the front. All rather low key and black.




I run a Torrington bearing underneath the coil, actually an OEM BMW piece, and when exposed to life they tend to get pretty gritty. I saw these ‘coilover covers’ and I am dubious about thm, but I will try them about.
Suspect the will get torn off by the tire 😊 May revert to sleeving the damper with a bike inner tube to keep the slidey bits clean.



Now begins the “how many spacers do we need to get the desired offset and look’ game



Am doing this because I plan to order some BBS E50 tributes from NTM and I want the offset to be just right (for me)
Not hella flush, not poke, “full lock” usable. Suspect it’s somewhere ~ET15 on a 7.5in wheel


Full droop ET15


Should pull in more and sits ok



Ignore the lug nuts, just what I had around.


And on wheels! Been a long time coming



ET15 seems OK


Probably wants to come down another 15mm front and rear, which it might after the rest of the car goes in and adds weight.




Power up begins now.



I was pretty happy with this because recall I made the harness from scratch and I am pretty pleased that my meticulous planning turned out OK.









Happy days 😊

[mike.bmw]

Such an inspiration. Thanks for keeping this updated and sharing your progress.

[monty23psk]

Just wow. Props to you. What brakes you running in the front and rear?

[Melon]

B E A utiful.

[Glaede]

Incredible work!

[burkey001]

Hey thank all 🙌🙏🙌 Appreciate you following the build.
it is looking more like a car now it's off the hoist and on wheels.
Spent some time on weekend putting the HVAC controls into the dashboard and putting PAG-coated orings into all the AC lines and getting that stuff tucked in.

Brakes wise, very likely not what is on the car at the moment. I was speaking to an automotive engineer about aftermarket brakes and the requirements to get the car registered. Basically the Stoptech and Wilwood calipers I have are a no-go because they dont have secondary dust boots on the pistons.

So, that means I am kinda forced into using the 300mm.de kits that use Porsche Boxster calipers. So, that's 99% what I am going to do.

[Glaede]

Hey thank all 🙌🙏🙌 Appreciate you following the build.
it is looking more like a car now it's off the hoist and on wheels.
Spent some time on weekend putting the HVAC controls into the dashboard and putting PAG-coated orings into all the AC lines and getting that stuff tucked in.

Brakes wise, very likely not what is on the car at the moment. I was speaking to an automotive engineer about aftermarket brakes and the requirements to get the car registered. Basically the Stoptech and Wilwood calipers I have are a no-go because they dont have secondary dust boots on the pistons.

So, that means I am kinda forced into using the 300mm.de kits that use Porsche Boxster calipers. So, that's 99% what I am going to do.

I don't know if you can use this information or not, but people in the UK are running Ford Focus ST225 2005-2012 front brake calipers and re-drilled 312 mm VW front discs.
I got these pictures from a guy in UK running this setup on his race car. The calipers should be a direct fit with no adapters etc.


Yellow caliper is stock 325i stuff. Compared to the ST225 caliper on the right.


ST225 caliper vs. stock E30 brake disc.


ST225 caliper and 312 mm brake disc.


16" wheel.

I have absolutely no experience with this setup my self, but it seems like a cheap/easy way to get bigger front brakes.

[burkey001]

I don't know if you can use this information or not, but people in the UK are running Ford Focus ST225 2005-2012 front brake calipers and re-drilled 312 mm VW front discs.
I got these pictures from a guy in UK running this setup on his race car. The calipers should be a direct fit with no adapters etc.

I have absolutely no experience with this setup my self, but it seems like a cheap/easy way to get bigger front brakes.

that is VERY interesting, thanks for the info. i know of two friends who will be very interested in this 🙌🙌🙌

[Glaede]

that is VERY interesting, thanks for the info. i know of two friends who will be very interested in this 🙌🙌🙌

Cool! The calipers should be the same on following cars:
- Ford Focus ST225
- Volvo C70, V50, S40
- Mazda 3 MPS

But, it all depends on engine size etc. so make sure they look like the above pictures. From my "research" (...Google) they are often stamped FoMoCo 975 and FoMoCo 976.
The rotors can be found pre-drilled on eBay btw.