JackBenny's 1991 318is Project

[jackbenny]

Wow crazy how life works out. I'm glad that you at least finished most of the project.

There's been a lot of elbow grease put into that car, I hope that whoever does buy it appreciates the work you put into it. :up:

Good to know you're alive and kickin' and still own your E30. Even if it may be for a short time now...
I recall intently following your build and admired your style and skills. Don"t say you're actually selling...

Thanks guys. This was a pretty painful decision to make. But I would rather someone else get to enjoy it instead of seeing it languish in the garage.

Some people think cars have no personality. They've never met mine. She never fails to let me know that she didn't appreciate being scorned.

I don't think I'll get out of the hobby. I learned too much on this car not to apply it to the next. I'm just going to wait for things to stabilize.

Besides, that S85 powered E46 M3 Touring isn't going to build itself...

[TrentW]

Good to know you're alive and kickin' and still own your E30. Even if it may be for a short time now...
I recall intently following your build and admired your style and skills. Don"t say you're actually selling...

[dude8383]

Wow crazy how life works out. I'm glad that you at least finished most of the project.

There's been a lot of elbow grease put into that car, I hope that whoever does buy it appreciates the work you put into it. :up:

[jackbenny]

Hi R3v, it's been a while.

So a lot's happened since my last post. Still married to the same wonderful woman who tolerates this hobby but I have 3 kids now. They do an excellent job of sucking what available time I have. Moved back to Texas. Been working at University of Texas at Dallas. Fun stuff I know.

We've had some challenges. Wife was diagnosed with breast cancer a year ago. Thankfully all of her treatment was successful and she's doing great but it added some grey to my hair. But I'm sure what you really want to know about is the car.



It's still around but has been very neglected. I don't get to drive it as much as I should. I have made a few changes. Namely, in the interior.

The rear seat delete was completed. I'm happy with how it came out. I decided to add a stereo but because I'm stubborn, I didn't do it the conventional way.



Yeah, the center stack was modified yet again. I went with a headless unit. The clarion equalizer controls the volume.



MB Quart components in the front to an MB Quart amplifier. Tweeters are in the door near the mirrors.





and a Lukebox in the back with a 10" sub.

It's loud enough for me. For media, I went a little unconventional. I used a Kenwood media system that you typically add to your existing system. USB based so I have a 40GB stick plugged into the back. It resides in the glovebox. Control is via a knob similar in shape to an idrive arrangement.

You can see it by the emergency brake.



Since the check panel was really of no use, I dumped it and put the kenwood display in its place.



The car still needs the interior to be finished but I just never seem to have the time. As a result, I think I'm going to put the car for sale. I'll give R3v dibs for a week or so before I list it elsewhere. That thread should be coming soon.

I also saw that some of the pictures in the thread are missing. We have imageshack to thank for that. In the interest of preserving the thread, I thought I would share some galleries that have most of the pictures I took building the car.

Volume 1: https://photos.app.goo.gl/KthVF5kUqfv3b2ap8
Volume 2: https://photos.app.goo.gl/y9ojLiiA2iPfw4XZ9
Volume 3: https://photos.app.goo.gl/4YYxo3ckHE1VqDnM2
Volume 4: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z1QSQABA499svelb2
Volume 5: https://photos.app.goo.gl/noGQ7i6qMY0Y1XNZ2

There's around 2000 pictures there in the original resolution so hopefully you can find a missing image if you need.

In the end, I wish to express my thanks to the community. It's hard to believe its been more than 10 years ago that I started this project. Who knows, maybe my time will free up and I can start another project.

[Massimo]

Not Sure if Jack is still around but if you are how are things going? I am assuming no where but always good to hear about updates to the car.

[rikaro]

still waiting for update!!

[FredK]

Thanks for updating the thread!

I'm sorry to hear that times have been so trying! I hope you smoother waters ahead.

[badnerd]

you sir do good work, its amazing to see wt dedication and hard work will do. impeccable attention to detail, the epitome of diy!!



We sir, await your updates!!

[LittleEcker]

Can't stop reading!! I await your next addition

[mcmahonbj]

This build thread is insane!!! such amazing work, those door panels I want to match the seat backs which will be carbon on mine....

[Massimo]

As always amazing work and your attention to detail is impeccable.

Sorry for you loss, not that this will make much of a difference now but in my darkest times it always helps to look at what you have, memories and great times. That is what is important.

As for getting sued well that is just terrible, when my grandfather died I was supposed to receive his Mercedes 250ce, it had only 15,000km on the clock and was stored in a shed not driven for like 20 years, my non related cousin bought it instead, and for the last 9 years has paid many a people to fix it. Only to sell it off because he could not afford to keep it. Breaks my heart thinking about it, but it is what it is and at the end of the day their are more important things in life I suppose.

[jackbenny]

Updates?

Per Massimo's request...

Hi R3V, it's been awhile.

2013 thus far has turned into quite a shitty year. It began with getting a phone call that my father-in-law had been struck by a vehicle while training for a cycle race. DFW folks may remember the news reporting it back in late January up by Denton (Corinth actually). It was late when we got the news and drove halfway through the night before stopping, grabbing a few hours and then driving on. During the trip, he was declared clinically brain dead but was kept alive on machines until our arrival. I was in the room when they unplugged the machines. I do not wish that experience on my worst enemy (who will be revealed later in this story). Needless to say, my wife lost her father and I lost a great friend.

Shortly after, we returned to Alabama where I had a job interview for a management position on the senior leadership team. I had missed the interview due to the stuff going on in Texas but they reserved the spot for me upon my return. In the end, it was down to me and another person and I didn't get it. While disappointed, i was kinda glad I didn't get it. It enables me to continue building my team (from scratch) into the well oiled machine it is today.

Unfortunately, my fil was engaged to be married and his fiance decided to sue my wife, who was named executor of the estate on the grounds of texas common law marriage. The details are not important but my wife was crushed and prevented her from grieving. The case was settled in early July but it's been a rough 6 months emotionally and financially.

As a result, progress has been limited. You'll remember that I drove the car to work and had a CEL so the car was placed on jack stands for diagnosis. Sadly, it's still on jack stands but some improvements have been made.

I decided to clean up the engine bay a bit and the first place to start was the ballasts for the HIDs. I didn't receive any brackets when I purchased them and I wanted to put them out of the way but protected. The best place I thought was to place them between the inner and outer fenders. Laziness on my part (as well as fear of damaging more paint) forced to come up with some creative ideas for mounting the ballasts.

In aerospace, we use a lot of glue. THere is a fastener called a Clik-bond that can be glued to a surface instead of riveted. They make a stud which I thought would be perfect for the situation.



I got mine at Aircraft Spruce. As you can see, it comes with a fixture. The plastic fixture has double stick tape that holds it in place. You press down on the stud and it holds it the exact position it needs to be in while the glue dries. So long as the surface is prepped correctly, it's stout as hell.



I used the brackets themselves to position the studs on the inner fender.



First one mounted. The bracket has some small rubber grommets for isolation.



and the second. The staggering was necessary to clear the splash guard of the inner fender.





I'm hoping that the ballasts will be relatively protected in this position.

Because of the limited time (and funds) I jumped around from project to project. I decided to finish the alcantara wrapping of the interior starting with the B-pillar trim on the door as well as the mirror corners.





They came out pretty decent.





The big job was the forward panel at the ceiling. I'll spare you the first iteration but it went poorly. I pulled everything off and started over. The material can stretch with some heat but this is not a job I want to do ever again.







The sunroof panel required the same treatment but thankfully, kevin chinn used some more flexible vinyl to help me wrap it around the support braces.







Binder clips are your friends...





and installed. The whole thing is not perfect but I am learning new techniques for future projects.



It should come as no surprise that all the adjusters on my headlights were rusted solid. I needed to aim the headlights as they are shooting light every which way so I called Blunt and asked for new adjusters. I first disassembled and LABELED each assembly.





nasty





New parts...



Remember to label so things make sense when you work on it 3 months later...







and reinstalled...







and cleaned up a bit...



While messing with the ballasts and the lights, I loosened the bumper which eventually fell off and tore the connectors of the driver's side turn signal. Annoyed, I decided to fix it with new parts and replace all of my crumbling plugs.





With the bumper back on and a quick check to make sure the lights worked, I moved on to the interior. Since I am not running a center console I needed to come up with an idea to marry the dash to the transmission hump.







The idea will be to make this a modular gauge mount for future expansion.

Finally decided to clearance the front subframe so I can remove the engine mount spacers and have some breathing room under the headers. In order to do that, I needed a new toy.





Hasn't been used in anger yet but I got subframe reinforcements and plan to make it look pretty again.

Most of my time has been working on finishing the interior. The remainder of the heat protection/sound deadening has been installed.



And since I need carpet, I started laying out some patterns. Here you can see it with the in work rear seat delete.



So progress has been made in my absence. The carpet situation has me a tad overwhelmed but I've done everything else, gotta try it too. I'm hoping to have the car back on the road this fall...with air conditioning. That will be detailed in another update.

Thanks

[Massimo]

Updates?

[mtlbloodshot]

Anyone know what engine harness he used?

[BenM]

Your attention to detail is amazing man. Keep up the good work, car looks fantastic as always!