JackBenny's 1991 318is Project

[M42Technik]

Hells yeah!!

[jackbenny]

bump

[MR 325]

Those door panels look amazing. Nice work.

[jackbenny]

very nice build...im subscribed.i just want to know two things 1-where did you buy your revolution gauges and how much did the carbon pieces (on cost doors dash),where can i buy some from? thanks

I got the gauges from http://www.speedhut.com. You can customize the face color, the font add a logo and the needle.

The carbon panels were acquired in a group but organized by flipper325es. You can find the thread here:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=147143

Those panels come from performance trim

http://www.performance-trim.com/

There was another group buy being organized at one time but I don't know what came about from it.

[e30allday]

very nice build...im subscribed.i just want to know two things 1-where did you buy your revolution gauges and how much did the carbon pieces (on cost doors dash),where can i buy some from? thanks

[Iain]

[jackbenny]

Great work Josh. This has to be one of the best builds currently going down. Your attention to detail is really making it a top car. The result will be worth it I'm sure.

Goodluck with everything

the panels came out great

Wow its looking great josh!

Thanks for the votes of confidence. One thing is for sure though, I'm going to get this bad boy fired up before junior arrives! That way I can just fire it up for motivation in the future.

[Spaz]

Wow its looking great josh!

[iwantspeed]

the panels came out great

[e30guydownunder]

Great work Josh. This has to be one of the best builds currently going down. Your attention to detail is really making it a top car. The result will be worth it I'm sure.

Goodluck with everything

[jackbenny]

So my update that I was typing just got creamed with a blue screen of death. Sadly, all the wit and creative juices have been replaced with annoyance. Let's try this again.
It's crazy hot and humid tonight but I managed to get some work done on the car. So while I sit under the fan and enjoy a shiner hefeweizen, I thought I would upload some pictures taken since the last update...

When we last left off, I was reworking the wiring so that it would fit better with the intake manifold in place.



Many of you suggested different ways to adjust the wiring and I thank you all. I will be utilizing those suggestions to improve the harness and make it remain clean.

At the same time, td325ic was kind enough to point me to a for sale thread on bimmerforums. Thanks to him, I was able to pick up a pair of new zkw foglights for a hundred bucks. These things are pretty nice and are just the thing to fill in my front valance. Thank you sir!



I also reworked the OBD1 engine harness bracket so it would work with the OBD2 hard coolant line. A simple cut and some re-bending of brackets yielded a relatively nice fit.



After a little paint, I was good to go.

Here you can see my spiffy coolant overflow tank and the reworking of the fuel injection harness.



I also fixed my master cylinder reservoir grommets and re-bled the system. Here are the old grommets. Quite....spongy.



Start laying out the harness to their appropriate locations....





Checking the MAF and elbow fitment...



and I acquired an OBD1 throttle body. I thought it cleaned up pretty nice.



At this point I placed another order with BluntTech for some various parts and hoses. Since I couldn't work on the engine until the parts got here, I elected to work on the interior.

The door cards were pretty fragile with so much material removed and them being...well cardboard really. I took some fiberglass resin and coated the whole card. In addition, I reinforced some trouble areas with some fiberglass.



While the card dried and I was high on resin, I finished up the remaining rear seat door card.



With resin and glue eliminating some of my most prized brain functions, I started to look at which plate filler I want to use.



I'm still undecided so I'll try them both and see what I think.

A plate idea i was throwing around in my head...



It's esoteric enough that only touring car guys will get it. But I don't think my car is a "wannabe" dtm, it's more of an homage or tribute. I need to come up with a plate that reflects that.

Started fitting the carbon fiber to the rear cards.





Not bad but I'll probably need more fasteners to hold it in place due to the rear seat no longer being there.



You can see I had to notch the carbon to clear those panel clips so it would fit correctly. Luckily you'll never be able to see it.





And then I dropped this bad boy in...





So it was asked what the combination is. Recaro Speed seats with the 5th hole for a harness mounted to recaro sliders and wedge engineering brackets. I freakin' LOVE these seats. They remind me of the ones I sat in that were on a 2000 Cobra R. I think they will look great with the rest of the interior.

Front door cards final fit check...



I elected to use the grab handles instead of the red pull straps. These fit just right and are in the best position to close the door when seated. I might call Kevin from Creative Options and see if he could wrap them with some of my left over alcantara and do some red stitching to match the steering wheel.





And now for the sad part. I didn't take many pictures of the upholstery process. Too distracted I guess but I'll try and document it better for my rear cards.

Here is a partial wrapping...



This is the closed cell foam. I used the foam from RAAM Audio. It was nice to work with and I was shocked how fast I got it. I had to use two layers though to cover the humps the attachment fasteners were making. That made the panel a little thicker than I wanted but that was better than seeing those fastener humps.

All wrapped up...



and on the car....













Overall I'm pretty pleased. There are a couple of spots that bother me but this was my first upholstery project ever and I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't. In hind sight I should have done the rear cards first but I have some new belts coming in and I didn't want to have to remove the cards to install the belts. Regardless, I am pleased with the look and I think it's pretty unique.

and the view from the seat...



I also bought some gauges for oil and water monitoring. I elected to go with Revolution gauges, mainly because I thought they looked nice and more importantly, they had programmable low and high value warning lights. Came with sensors and weatherpack connectors.



That panel is still undergoing some design iterations. I'll post something soon. Feel free to make fun of JetFire standing guard over the office.

I've come to the realization that I probably won't finish the car before lil' JackBenny comes. Time is a big factor but so is money. So my goal is to have the car completely finished in time to go to Vintage at the Vineyards next year. I should have no problem meeting that goal. My father's '02 on the other hand....

G'Night all.

[Dj Buttchug]

nice build man. Props!

[Jean]

Very nice progress dude!

[jackbenny]

Just one obnoxiously sized cell phone picture before I go to bed



Damn that is blurry. It almost qualifies as a teaser. I'll try take a better pic and get more pictures uploaded tomorrow.

G' night.

[brokEe30]

Yeah, I know, I've been slacking. I have some pictures taken but not much has happened since the last update. On the plus side I just emptied my bank account with another blunttech order. I'm hoping I can provide some good updates this weekend as well.

Awesome brother. Keep forging ahead.