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

[dsm2002]

Need to do something, it's actually from about 2500-2700rpm. In the scheme of things pretty minor but it's an NVH thing a modern car has tuned out.
Considering having some custom headers made, so they would be made with that dimpled aluminum heat / sound insulation stuff.

Hi Burkey, I've got a set of extractors for an E30 M42 getting ceramic coated. I had talked to a fabricator about getting them replicated in stainless steel but will probably just use them as they come coated. They are out of the car and the moment so there's a brief window if you want to use them to copy. BTW I'm is the same city as you.

[burkey001]

hello team

checking in with a random update. Car has now done 2500km and is doing really nicely.


Couple of things along the way.

I replaced the AFM with a new, genuine unit. I reused the original AFM because it worked OK on the old motor, looked OK. yada yada. It started workimg fine in this orange car too but I guess it is a 30+ year old part and I began to have some really unusual engine behaviour - ranging from hard to restart after a ~5min drive to the shops, to stumbling idle, to hanging onto RPM like an inadvertent cruise control. All really annoying stuff.
I troubleshot everything. All the sensors, vacuum system, ICV, TPS, etc... Was going nuts. I thought it HAD to be the AFM, but I didn't want to shell out the $1200 a new AFM was worth, so I check plugging away on troubleshooting... I eventually relented and bought a $130 new AFM off eBay China JUST TO TEST the theory... if it worked I was going to go get a genuine one and... it was hot garbage. The barn door bound from brand new. The car hardly even started with this high quality "OEM Equivalent" part. Emailed seller, the responded in literally 8 minutes and said "keep it, here's a refund'... very odd..

Anwyay I ordered a genuine part and it arrived and I installed it and the car runs magically. It's the kind of improvement my old 325is had when I did a MAF conversion. Better throttle response and tip in, better idle, smoother running under load... just fabulous.

Kudos to BMW for selling new parts for 30 year old cars







worth the money. engine runs like a champ!

Have been fiddling around with transmission mounts too. I ever so slightly did not create enough clearance round the purple tag rack. So under heavy braking and right hand turnin the steering couple would juuuuuust touch the header and make a noise. This was with the genuine 318is mounts, which are very very soft.
I recalled that in my old 325 I used to have the AKG cupped rubber mounts, and in the context of a stripped, dry sumped S54 swapped E30 I found that those mounts made NO CHANGE at all to NVH... In this car however, OMG, they do add to NVH! Wasn't actually that bad, it did transmit a lot of exhaust rumble into the cabin and actually made the car feel a little bit more sporty / fun. But I didn't like it because it was a bit to rumbly at low speed and I am old and dull. So i search for alterntives.
I landed upon E46 M3 transmission mounts and OMG they are perfect. in the hand, they are good 2-3x harder rubber than the 318is ones yet transmit basically zero NVH into cabin. Only a very, very small amount of exhaust rumble. Cabin has quietened down, engine doesnt move. perfect!

other than that I have just been driving it. The closest analogy is of a daily driver, because it's my only car in this state at the moment. I simply dont drive much

i learnt the color almost matches phone booths



and fox forks





has just been nice to get out and around in :)



take it mountain biking


take it trail running


went to a local cars and coffee. had a chat





i literally have zero workshop in this new state. So i had to go buy a floor jack and some jack stands... felt SO GOOD to take the wheels off and clean them and the bits behind :)

When i had the wheels off I did a once over all bolts. I had one slightly loose upper shock mount on the back, so buying the floorjack was a solid investment. Luckily that's been the only loose bolt so far.

and thats all I have.

[wazzu70]

Love the fact its not a garage queen! Used and enjoyed as its meant to be!

[2mAn]

Awesome... cant wait til the embargo is lifted and we can feature it

[Tzantushka]

+1 on enjoying it.
doing the work is a big part of it - but the part I really like is the fact you can jump in, turn the key and enjoy the heck out of it.

[burkey001]

Thanks for the comments, you're both right. Driving it is the whole point!


Well, I guess this becomes a maintenance thread now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯??

I did a 1500km road trip this weekend just past and everything went pretty OK except I had a rubber manifold split in the ‘mess under the intake’ at the end of a 850km leg. Really odd, as it was a new part. The molding split right around the mold line where the barbed joiner presses in… maybe it was a faulty part. Kind of hard to install it wrong, maybe I had some slight pressure on it somehow. Just a thing that happened.




This thing failed. So, luckily that’s pretty easy to bypass and quick visit to autoparts store to get 50cm of 5/16^th heater hose and vacuum leak was fixed.




Have a new bit ordered, maybe it doesn’t happen again.
i think temp my fix actually looks pretty tidy anyway


A solid 1500km without any radio gives you a pretty good opportunity to identify noises and rattles …
Another thing like the “oh those UUC cupped mounts don’t add any NVH” issue is the Vorshlag top mounts. Never thought they made noise. Quieter than the equivalent Ground Control.

However, when car is quiet and the road is JUST SO… coarse chip and slightly undulating you hear this bit of “strut noise” through the firewall… Some kind of combination of pillowball tolerance and spring/alloy cup retainers “jiggle”.
Easily drowned out by winding the window a crack. But once you hear it you cant unhear it..

So, I am trying out some 4mm of nitrile rubber sheet between the top mount and the body.
Did this when I got home. Have had it in for a day, does make an appreciable difference. Now just monitoring the crush of the rubber, making sure the bolts hold a torque etc… If it works, great, if not I might change out to some strut tops with a little bit of rubber in them…



Have also been trying out some HID retrofits from a local guy, Bavarian Tuning Solutions. Pretty tidy solution, needs no cutting of factory harness, which I appreciate.

I got s pair of new low beam buckets to do the retrofit with so I keep he halogens as they are.






Going to need to update the halogen parker light now…




That’s all for now :)

[OSAH racing]

stunning vehicle. Well done.

[AusScare]

Regular gasket

Would you be able to share the part number for the gasket? Better yet, what's your go-to for finding random parts like this? I've got a ton of small bits on my 318is that I need to 'fill the gaps' so to speak.

Edit: Is It this? Looks like yours might be multi-piece https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/bmw-E...1-11-2-233-051

In terms of top mounts, have you seen that Garagistic do a 'street' mount - looks like it might potentially have more use of rubber than the traditional top mounts. I'm going to get some, but I wouldn't be able to tell you how much noise they make, since my car is rattling all over the place!

[burkey001]

Would you be able to share the part number for the gasket? Better yet, what's your go-to for finding random parts like this? I've got a ton of small bits on my 318is that I need to 'fill the gaps' so to speak.

Edit: Is It this? Looks like yours might be multi-piece https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/bmw-E...1-11-2-233-051

In terms of top mounts, have you seen that Garagistic do a 'street' mount - looks like it might potentially have more use of rubber than the traditional top mounts. I'm going to get some, but I wouldn't be able to tell you how much noise they make, since my car is rattling all over the place!

Heya,
i do lots of realoem.com scouring.
The parts you want are 51711945950, 51711945951 and 51711945952
13 and 14

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1003-USA-07-1989-E30-BMW-M3&diagId=51_0604

Thanks for the tip. Looked at Garagistic, cant see them on their site.
this cross brace looks interesting, however

https://www.garagistic.com/collections/e30-performance-parts/products/bmw-performance-e30-e36-chassis-x-cross-brace-v2

👍👍

[AusScare]

Heya,
i do lots of realoem.com scouring.
The parts you want are 51711945950, 51711945951 and 51711945952
13 and 14

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1003-USA-07-1989-E30-BMW-M3&diagId=51_0604

Thanks for the tip. Looked at Garagistic, cant see them on their site.
this cross brace looks interesting, however

https://www.garagistic.com/collections/e30-performance-parts/products/bmw-performance-e30-e36-chassis-x-cross-brace-v2

👍👍

Thanks for the info, that's great.

Sorry I meant Ground Control - they say "a smooth silent ride" which you could certainly test for them!

https://groundcontrolstore.com/collections/e30/products/copy-of-bmw-e24-e28-e30-touring-camber-plates

[jsta1109]

Sorry I meant Ground Control - they say "a smooth silent ride" which you could certainly test for them!

https://groundcontrolstore.com/colle...-camber-plates

I run these plates and they are silent.

[moatilliatta]

Heya,
i do lots of realoem.com scouring.
The parts you want are 51711945950, 51711945951 and 51711945952
13 and 14

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1003-USA-07-1989-E30-BMW-M3&diagId=51_0604

Thanks for the tip. Looked at Garagistic, cant see them on their site.
this cross brace looks interesting, however

https://www.garagistic.com/collections/e30-performance-parts/products/bmw-performance-e30-e36-chassis-x-cross-brace-v2

👍👍

I bet all the bolts fall out.

What about race SKids?

[Northern]

To hell with that bolt-together POS, I'd run any other style one.

[burkey001]

To hell with that bolt-together POS, I'd run any other style one.

Well, reports from a few that have them installed is theyre actually OK.
But, i do agree, it;s something you'd probably bolt together on the car and then weld up and remove the bolts...

Looking for a strut bar replacement, basically, as most good strut bars dont seem to clear the M42 wiring harness cover. I have a great Mason bar that I can't use for that reason.

[burkey001]

I run these plates and they are silent.

thanks, I think they are on the list. Will also remove the rear pillowball mounts and go to a poly.
Would be GREAT if i could find an OEM mount to suit a 14mm shock shaft.