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

[burkey001]

OK, so a few more things been happening

Installed the rear glass, and also the side glass before I realised that I have to press the metal trim into the side glass before I install it… I learnt that and promptly uninstalled it and haven’t put it back in yet. I am waiting on a few rubber seals/ strips that sit between the rear quarter trim and the body.

Rear glass.




That lock strip tool is SO satisfying to use…. Hah



Reassembled the rear quarter trim after chrome plating with some fresh pop rivets.



Back side of the trim shows the various stages of plating it went through, kind of interesting







Started piecing together the front wheel wells. I think I have this in the right order. All the clips slide onto that piece that holds the air duct and everything screws into it… that made sense to me… and it works OK





Finished up wiring and plumbing the fuel tank. All new wire harness, new plugs, new clips, new hose… standard by now




I bought left hand drive wiper arms because im a dick head :)



New strut tops arrived from Vorshlag and couple bits arrived a bit mail damaged. Vorshlag were super good to deal with, new bits out the same day. Thank you!



I have been considering all things tie rods…. E36 outer and E46 inner I think is my jam.



Had an AHA moment with the rear quarters. Was having ‘trouble’ getting the trim into the installed window… Jordan told me install trim before you install window…. Make so much sense now I think about it

Hard to see the shine. But they are shiny


Bit of a polish needed still on some bits



Had some Goodridge brake lines made up in ‘vintage black’ with stainless ends. So good.






Got my parking brakes installed







Got the rear hubs shined up and ready to go.



I did not leave the face raw steel… I just cant… hopefully its OK



Hubs in, driveshafts in. need to tighten them up once it eventually lands on its feet. Need to pinch the boot clamps too.







Test fit an old brake rotor








And I started up my old friend for the first time in about six months :) missed this guy





Waiting on a bunch of stuff stuck in the mail. Should be off the hoist soon!


Engine choice is bugging me now. M42. S54. K24. Electric…. Pros and cons for all

[burkey001]

I haven't checked on this in a while, so much progress.

I'm interested on what you come up with regarding a limiter for the steering rack. I have tire rub issues I need to address.

I plan to just machine up a little spacer out of engineering plastic and push it on over the rack end before i thread the tie rods on. I have done that with my other E30 that has a Z3 rack and runs a 235 front tire. has worked fine for years, though the turning circle is a little weak. I will measure this one more closely so its all close to scrubbing as possible without scrubbing, so i get as much lock as possible

[Melon]

I haven't checked on this in a while, so much progress.

I'm interested on what you come up with regarding a limiter for the steering rack. I have tire rub issues I need to address.

[burkey001]

Awesome car! Love following your thread.

Do you have a link for that locking strip tool? I remember trying to do it without back in the days and it was a total failure

Sure, it's just a random no-name tool that I am sure everyone has copied from some smart original person who designed the first one 100 years ago :)

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/WINDSCREEN-LOCKING-STRIP-TOOL-6mm-11mm-13mm-16mm-T-E-TOOLS-DALLAS/254334890080?hash=item3b378a7060:g:lskAAOSwD0lUfvEh&frcectupt=true

"lock strip tool" search on ebay reveals lots and lots of options that all look pretty much identical


good luck :)

[gnmzl]

Hey, thanks for the kind words, appreciate it. The seal is a genuine item from BMW, I guess the gap looks small because it hasn’t had a lock strip and 30 years of sunlight to set it into position.

Lock strip tool arrived and….

OMG LOCK STRIP TOOL MAKE IT SO EASY!!!!!

I guess so too, haha! The tool makes it really easy, yes!
Those close-up shots are sooo satisfying to look at.
Hope to see a video of you rolling around in this greatness soon rather than late.

[Glaede]

Awesome car! Love following your thread.

Do you have a link for that locking strip tool? I remember trying to do it without back in the days and it was a total failure

[burkey001]

the seal you put in appears to be a reproduction one from the pictures. If so, my advice is to throw it away and order an OEM one or find an original one in better shape.

Hey, thanks for the kind words, appreciate it. The seal is a genuine item from BMW, I guess the gap looks small because it hasn’t had a lock strip and 30 years of sunlight to set it into position.

Lock strip tool arrived and….

OMG LOCK STRIP TOOL MAKE IT SO EASY!!!!!

Wow. 10 minutes and done.







So, all good 😊

Sah-weet!

Few comments from us 'mere mortals' in the peanut gallery:

Underbody masking
Black looks great.
When everything is all together and the car is on the ground the wheel wells will blend in and not distract the eye.
The perfectionists would avoid the hard masking as cars would have that fathering/blending/overspray from the factory.
Hard to tell when it's on the ground.

Wheels
Also, been having a think about the wheel options.
Agree the BBS with the black caps are MUCH better.
Traditional style paying homage to the era.

But seeing as you're going with the gloss back trim...
- have you thought about something with a modern twist?

Something with a a machined face aka diamond cut?
- e.g. BBS Design line or some of the M3 series options?

Deal breaker could be a lack 4 lug options without looking to cheap & ricey'

Thanks for the input, You are right about the hard lines. I am going to do ‘something’ about it… will have a look on the weekend.

Looked at those wheels, I don’t know if they are for me. I know I like about 4 wheels styles and that’s it 😊, even if they are all a bit old fashioned. When you’re dealing with a car shaped after a besser block and a tissue box you cant get too contemporary

[gnmzl]

First, I want to say the car looks amazing and watching it getting complete is like the best Netflix series imaginable, but better.

Some minor progress happening. Starting putting in the glass. Got the windscreen in, and really struggled getting the lockstrip in without the lockstrip tool. The new rubber is super right, the gap is only about 5mm and the strip is about 12mm… so… I have ordered the lock strip tool and I am waiting for it to arrive.

I suffered through about an hour and I got about 15cm installed…. I am sure the tool will make life easier. 😂

Regarding the above, the seal you put in appears to be a reproduction one from the pictures. If so, my advice is to throw it away and order an OEM one or find an original one in better shape. I've had so much trouble with reproduction seals on two cars, it's just not worth the effort. Once you start putting in the lock strip in, you'll realize about half way that you need to cut it in order to be able to put the rest of it in, the channel is just too narrow. We cracked one windshield during installation because it was just too tight! Also, they tend to shrink way faster and let water in - that happened on a buddy's car after about two years of having it on.
If you really don't want to redo your work, you can use a lock strip from a Lada, which is narrower than the e30 one and has the same finish as the early e30 models, which can obviously be painted black.
As reference.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LADA-2106-2101-Niva-retro-Zhiguli-Jiguli-VAZ-New-CHROME-LOCK-STRIP-/174118569534

But putting Lada stuff on this car seems a bit weird.

[Tzantushka]

Sah-weet!

Few comments from us 'mere mortals' in the peanut gallery:

Underbody masking
Black looks great.
When everything is all together and the car is on the ground the wheel wells will blend in and not distract the eye.
The perfectionists would avoid the hard masking as cars would have that fathering/blending/overspray from the factory.
Hard to tell when it's on the ground.

Wheels
Also, been having a think about the wheel options.
Agree the BBS with the black caps are MUCH better.
Traditional style paying homage to the era.

But seeing as you're going with the gloss back trim...
- have you thought about something with a modern twist?

Something with a a machined face aka diamond cut?
- e.g. BBS Design line or some of the M3 series options?

Deal breaker could be a lack 4 lug options without looking to cheap & ricey'

[econti]

Brand new glass always looks so damn good

[burkey001]

Some minor progress happening. Starting putting in the glass. Got the windscreen in, and really struggled getting the lockstrip in without the lockstrip tool. The new rubber is super right, the gap is only about 5mm and the strip is about 12mm… so… I have ordered the lock strip tool and I am waiting for it to arrive.

I suffered through about an hour and I got about 15cm installed…. I am sure the tool will make life easier. 😂







And in other news…. After a lot of consideration over wheel well colours… I gave in and elected to paint them black. The light wheel well colour just didn’t work well with the bright orange.

So, after the test fit of all the subframe bits, it had to come out again and I masked everything up to start doing the wells.

I chose to use some Teroson RBR2000. Not exclusively because it’s what I could get my hands on, but because it LOOKED like it was going to have the finish I was after. That being, ripply and smooth and kind of glossy. I think it succeeded.



I chose to hard mask the area, as a starting point, and hand painted a few seams and such first…

I not quite sure about the hard mask lines, it’s a bit severe. I might blow in some black from a small gun to fade it a little bit.

I didn’t want to spray this stuff with no masking, because well it would just be messy.












So much easier with a transmission jack!




Lastly, new heat shield arrived



The right hand drive 318is heat shield is NLA, but you can still get the M3 one.
So I got the M3 one.

And I tried it fit it… and I realised it hasn’t got a cutout for the steering column…. Of course… so I ran out of time today but I will go mark the cutout from the original and stamp it out with a die.


Will let this paint dry during the week, hope to get it back together on weekend. Vorshlag camber plates might be here too..

[burkey001]

Is it the same color?

They say that BMW will offer new carpets and M3 panels.

That’s interesting, I really hope they do make carpet again. Such a huge oversight, surely they can see the market potential

The glossy black caps match the glossy black window trim. It's subtle, but as you said it makes a big difference. LM198s are "hawt". All. Day. Long. :)

Thanks Mike, it’s quite surprising. I think they could look even better with silver centres.

God this car is awesome

🙏🙏 thank you, long way until it’s a car. It is a nice chassis though 😁

[Vincenze]

Is it the same color?

They say that BMW will offer new carpets and M3 panels.

[Pootis]

God this car is awesome

[mike.bmw]

The glossy black caps match the glossy black window trim. It's subtle, but as you said it makes a big difference. LM198s are "hawt". All. Day. Long. :)