JackBenny's 1991 318is Project

[stonea]

WOW, I just read this whole thing. All I can say is WOW!!!

[mtlbloodshot]

I believe you need to use the output flanges from a Medium case diff.

Well I too have a 318is 91 and those came with a small case 4.10 if I'm not mistaken and in this thread, he states that he simply swapped the flanges

[silence]

Do you know if the E30 half shafts are shorter than the Z3M half shafts? I removed my output flanges from my 4.10 and put them into the Z3M diff but they stick out more than the stock Z3M diff flanges. Did you have the same situation?

I believe you need to use the output flanges from a Medium case diff.

[dude8383]

But time is something I don't seem to have much of and there is still more that I want to do to the car. I am giving serious thought now to selling the e21, the M42 and its goodies (including the ITBs) and just focus on the e30. what say you?

More details on those ITB's. Willing to sell separately?

[mtlbloodshot]

Do you know if the E30 half shafts are shorter than the Z3M half shafts? I removed my output flanges from my 4.10 and put them into the Z3M diff but they stick out more than the stock Z3M diff flanges. Did you have the same situation?

[MR E30 325is]

Your work ethic and attention to detail is incredible.

Excellent work with the E30. If you are contemplating letting the E21 go, it might be time for it to go. I don't think you will ever be 'done' with the E30, so it is going to take lots of your time in the future. It might be better to slim it down to just one project car in the long run.

[325ix]

Hmm, it looks awesome but, the e21 would be pretty cool all finished up. I say if you are considering do it, then just go for it.

[jackbenny]

hai gais. It's been a while. I haven't had much time to post but I have been "doing work" as the kids say. Was out in Irvine for a couple of weeks for work (cars and coffee was pretty cool) and upon my return, the flu took me out for another week. I did however work on the car since the last post.

So Blunt sent me some door replacement pins. To date, I have only done the passenger door (the one that sheared). Brute force was required to remove the remains of the broken pin and swinging a hammer so close to the car just doesn't bring much comfort with it.



Here you can see where the pin sheared. No wonder the door slipped off.



Installation was pretty straightforward. Lots of paint needs touching up but the door is hung again and closes like it use to. The driver's door is on the to-do list but in the meantime, I concentrated on the rear wing.



My displeasure with this wing I'm sure is well known. However, if I am going to be forced to rework it, I might as well add a few touches to make it slightly custom, at least to my eye. I'm using the insert so that I can have a nice consistent gap with the wing while using the filler.



The results were pretty good. From there, I decided to put a sharp edge on the trailing edge of the wing instead of a radius.

After that, prime/sand/prime/sand....







Still have work to do.







Starting to look better. Still working on sharpening that trailing edge.









The underside of the spoiler was radiused. I fashioned a sanding block with the radius I wanted and used it to get a consistent fillet along the back.



On the whole, the wing was fitting much better. Not at all perfect but at this point, I really just wanted it finished.



The body colored insert was fitted next.





The inserts managed to pull right out when I tightened them down. I foresee some 3M trim tape in the future.

Wet sanding with 400 grit...









Got it pretty flat.











Now it's time to cover this bish in some SEM black.













Took about 3 to 4 coats to get the coverage I was satisfied with. THere are still some flaws and maybe one day, I'll fix them but for now, I called this good. And yes the car did move outside under its own power.

As it was covered in dust, I decided to give it a quick wash before I started sanding on the trunk prior to polishing it.





Note that the ride height has settled a bit. I can no longer fit the jack under the rails in the front. I have to jack the back until I can fit a piece of wood under the frame rails so I have room to fit jack. Insert quip about low being a lifestyle or something else containing illest.



I know I've complained about the paint still not being what I want but there really are some indications of how flat we got the body panels on this car. Yeah boxy shapes!!!



And so begins the tedious procedure of sanding and polishing the repainted trunk lid.



I taped up as much as I could to minimize the damage.



and I started with a test spot that would be covered by the wing.



I've actually knocked down the orange peel quite a bit in this picture but I would later this paint was effin' hard. Lots of sanding and polishing discs gave their lives so that this panel could reflect a sharp image.





At this point I was thoroughly annoyed and decided to get a bit more aggressive with the sanding.







Not perfect but I could live with it. Let's get rid of the scratches...



and rebadge it...





not bad. There is still a ridiculous gap between the wing insert and the trunk lid. I sealed it up with the same stuff I used on the skirts. It needs to be cleaned up but it appears to have worked.



I also wanted to plug the antenna hole. After scrounging around at Lowes, I found this.







Perfect fit. I sealed it from inside the trunk and it works like a champ.

I decided to take the car on a shakedown run to see if there were any problems. ABS still doesn't work. The back tires rub pretty good on hard compression. It still sounds like I have an exhaust leak but I can't find it. The headers are touching the subframe so that may be the noise I hear. I may reconsider using the OBD2 pipes for more clearance. I have an air meter code thrown as well so I'm going to check for vacuum leaks. But 100+ miles and it moves quite nicely.



But time is something I don't seem to have much of and there is still more that I want to do to the car. I am giving serious thought now to selling the e21, the M42 and its goodies (including the ITBs) and just focus on the e30. what say you?

[millsamus]

"Throw it on the Ground" lol

Nice build. Keep it up! Why the window switches on the HVAC panel?

[bejbis]

wow, the door pin sucks.

On a side note, I do know where an original e30 mtech wing is still new in the BMW box about a half hour drive from your house is. :)

Hint: He is at every bmw club meeting. But getting him to sell it will take an act of god. :P

[silence]

Looks great, but be careful with the red marker, it could bleed through on your final coat...

[Mtriple]

Keep it up! I feel somewhat ashamed to see you put all this work into that spoiler and I'm contemplating taking mine off my car.

[///M42 sport]

god damn thats alot of work on that spoiler

[Massimo]

You are a patience man.

[TrentW]

That's a whole lotta work on the spoiler--but as already stated, it will look great in the end. I stumbled upon my OE one on craigslist one day from someone who really had no idea what it was worth, and I considered selling it for a profit, but then came to my senses.

You've got persistence and patience Josh.