318ic restore

[oekundar]

Jason,

Is your 5 lug swap non-m3 or did I read that wrong? I would assume that you went with the ti rear trailing arms.

The car is coming out swell

[decay]

that's correct- non-M front and Z3 rear. so it's kinda/sorta a 4-seat, older-body, non-ugly Z3 i suppose. :)

i ran into the same problem a couple other people did with front wheel being slightly aft of center.

with the THR eyeball arms and '96+ M3 control arms it rubbed when it had e30m3 wheels (low offset) and oversize tires on, but once we put z3-fitment wheels and correct-diameter tires on, this went away.

i am told by someone who started out with my setup and later went to M3 knuckles and brakes got rid of the problem entirely, if that is a consideration for you.

thanks man. can't wait to get home and cruise the PCH up to nor-cal in it ("holy shit, trees. i forgot about those").

[oekundar]

that's correct- non-M front and Z3 rear. so it's kinda/sorta a 4-seat, older-body, non-ugly Z3 i suppose. :)

i ran into the same problem a couple other people did with front wheel being slightly aft of center.

with the THR eyeball arms and '96+ M3 control arms it rubbed when it had e30m3 wheels (low offset) and oversize tires on, but once we put z3-fitment wheels and correct-diameter tires on, this went away.

i am told by someone who started out with my setup and later went to M3 knuckles and brakes got rid of the problem entirely, if that is a consideration for you.

thanks man. can't wait to get home and cruise the PCH up to nor-cal in it ("holy shit, trees. i forgot about those").

Ah...nonetheless...the car is coming along nicely...not completely sure I want to go 5 lug yet...but it keeps calling me...gotta get the 5 speed swap done first...maybe do the 5 lug next year...keep inspiring me. :)

[Mossman]

awesome man, I hope your GF isnt' jealous of all attention the car will be taking away from her when you get back. Hope you can make time for both of em :)

Looks a lot like mine only with a proper budget so some stuff I half assed is much better on yours.

I've got e36 m3 front stuff, oem m3 springs all around on konis and I love the ride quality and height. I guess yours would sit a little higher with less weight though.

Also, here's where my wheel sits in the wheel well with s52 control arms and e30 m3 bushings.

[decay]

Mossman:

while i was out in nukhayb (most of the way to the saudi arabian border) she went to Weatherford BMW in berkeley to trade her civic in on a 2002 330xi they had there. i negotiated the deal with the fleet guy there over an iridium satphone from the other side of the planet. gotta love technology- anyway she got upsold on a couple things after i got off the phone but i threw in $2k for the down and we got her monthly $100 lower than it was before. it was all she talked about for the better part of a week.

so even given the sizable amount of cash i have and will put into this car before it's "done", she doesn't have cause to be jealous. :)

our front wheel placement looks pretty much the same to me. which suits me fine, even with an m42 turbo i don't think i'm going to overwhelm the e36 brakes in a lighter car, and i am not building a convertible for the track, obviously... so it'd just be extra unsprung weight.

[decay]

coming down to the last mile on this thing... robert is working on replacing the steering column at the moment, both to ditch the airbag wheel (which i detest) and replace the fuxored cylinder.

the vorshlag camber plates are in... he took some nice closeups in case anyone wants to get a look at what you get for your money there.





these are the version for stock-format springs, in case that wasn't already obvious. installed:




i keep getting more and more feature-creep on this thing- i wound up with a little bit of rubbing at full lock, so i ordered the TMS steering rack stop kit (thankfully only $30) and robert commented that chassis flex was pretty notable with the new suspension in (didn't think tokico/H&R would be *that* stiff), so on the advice of CorvallisBMW's thread i ordered the mason X-brace and strut tower bar. hopefully i have pics of that stuff by this time next week.

[eu teo]

where did u get the vorshlag camber plates? and how much did u pay for them?

[decay]

straight from vorshlag-

http://www.vorshlag.com/product_info.php?cPath=0_1_17_159&products_id=29

[vtman05]

When you get the x brace and tower in let us know how the car handles! Awesome vert.

[decay]

*points at location* i have no idea how it drives yet, but the x-brace is in. lemme catch this thread up.




steering column replaced with non-airbag version. i may go with some steering wheel with alu accents to match the shifter/pedals/ebrake at some point. the real mission here was to get rid of the mangled cylinder and the airbag wheel (i hate those with a passion).




mason x-brace installed. robert (peerless) said he felt he needed to repaint these as the powdercoating on them wasn't thorough, but so far as i know i'm the first person to report that. hopefully a blip on the radar as far as mason goes. (i went with the steel versions of this and the strut tower brace.)




battery tray needed to be sanded and painted, thankfully it was just surface rust. those of you from other states, don't assume a CA car is going to be rust-free, we get plenty of salt off the ocean...

note for other m42 drivers, vorshlag apparently has m42 poly engine/tranny mounts... previously you could only get them from IE, so i just went with stock, but i may upgrade if i do a clutch before the turbo setup.

[oekundar]

Nice work...I'm interested in your thoughts on the X-brace...been thinking about it for the vert.

[decay]

well, i've actually never driven the car stock- and i'm not going to be able to drive it until i'm home on my next block of leave in late august- but after the suspension was in the builder said chassis flex was very noticeable and i'd probably want to do something about it. i got the mason hardware on CorvallisBMW's recommend; he's got a thread with his impressions of it somewhere around here.

[decay]

soo this thing was one of two "featured works in progress" at the swap meet at e30motorwerks in HB last weekend. it was tucked behind Colin's M3.

robert did a great job detailing it in preparation; replaced the roundels and some of the side trim and painted the grills and i'm not sure what else off the top of my head. it's looking almost ready though, and has come quite a long way since i picked it up last year.

various ppl's pics of it:






















liked these 2 shots, it was a lucky thing both cars were Alpine, made for a clean display




interior in the car still needs attention, but robert has put a moratorium on buying anything more for the car, i think he kinda wants it gone after over half a year ;)



the straight-pipe exhaust got noise complaints from the gf so i picked up a resonator and a muffler for it. that has to be done, there is a new MC ready to go in, and a new stereo setup, and it should be pretty much ready to deliver after that.

i'm 95% there on the turbo setup, but that's going to wait until after i get home, and my orders have been extended, and i've also been slotted for yet another MOS school after deployment, so that might not be till next year.

oh yeah, our new (to us) E46Xi was there as well. the gf loves it. we're planning on moving to somewhere in the Reno area, i am looking forward to flogging it a little when the snow starts falling :D



btw, everyone who commented on the tokicos... they're apparently stiff enough in transient response to cause noticeable chassis flex in a 'vert, which necessitated the purchase of the Mason chassis reinforcements. just sayin'. i may look for a hardtop too, as people whose opinions i trust say that also helps that issue.

[vlad]

looks like a fun project, keep it up :up:

[decay]

thanks man. can't wait to get home and drive it.