The build thread in which I learn what an E30 is... '91 318is

[Nate37]

Hi all,

This is my first post here, but I've wasted more than a few nights reading some of the amazing build threads on R3V, so I figured I would start my own to share this project I've taken on. Also to contain the endless stupid questions that I will undoubtedly have to (more or less) one location.

Last month I picked up this 1991 318is from a coworker with a minimum of rational thought. He was selling, I had always had the idea of E30 ownership in the back of my head, and that was pretty much it. This is only the second BMW I've owned (the first was a 2013 135i, which was unfortunately totalled recently), so I really don't have any experience working on them. Should be interesting.



The 318is seems to be in pretty good shape… 149k miles when I bought it, lived its life mostly in Utah and Arizona, so I haven't found much rust. Paint is in OK shape, with several pretty deep scratches that I'm hoping won't require repainting the whole car to correct. Except for a cracked dash, the interior is in good condition - the cloth sport seats were reupholstered by the PO and look good. The car runs pretty well, shifts smooth, and has functional AC that has already been converted to R134. That said, it still needs quite a bit of work, particularly in the worn-out suspension and maintenance items for the engine.

So I think my goal is to leave it mostly stock, while cleaning up the body and interior as much as I can, and addressing all the deferred maintenance that has accumulated over 28 years. I already have a truck that I can DD and a race car, so I really just want to have this as a fun commuter and weekend car. I'll do a few mods and updates, but want to maintain the original character of the car as much as I can.

Looking forward to learning more about this car and having some fun with it!

Couple more photos to show the starting point:

[Mouse]

Clean car.....in for updates.

[mike.bmw]

Great starting point. Thanks for sharing!

[Nate37]

Thanks! Love your car as well, and your build thread has already been hugely helpful.

[Codym42]

Welcome to r3v. Clean car!

Hit those rockers with some black spray paint!

[Nate37]

Thank you! That's definitely on the list of to-dos!

[mjweimer]

Looks like a nice purchase! Sounds like you have a good plan of attack on the maintenance items which will also help you learn about the car. Seems like a little elbow grease and some cleaning products will get that thing looking fresh.


MJ

[cheffy30]

great find! when was the timing belt last changed? get to it... sent from hell using tapatalk

[mike.bmw]

great find! when was the timing belt last changed? get to it... sent from hell using tapatalk

M42 has a timing chain. Though dropping the lower oil pan to check the upper bolts and for pieces of timing chain guides wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Nate37]

M42 has a timing chain. Though dropping the lower oil pan to check the upper bolts and for pieces of timing chain guides wouldn't be a bad idea.

I have a pile of service records from the PO. It looks like the chain guides and tensioner were replaced about 5 years and 40k miles ago. What's the service interval for the guides and tensioner? It sounds like I don't need to worry about replacing the chain as long as the guides and tensioner are serviced regularly, correct?

The lower pan is leaking like a sieve, so I will be pulling that fairly soon. Debating whether I should just do the upper pan gasket at the same time.

[Garemie]

I would suggest doing both upper and lower pan if you're in there. You'll have to unbolt the motor mounts and lift the engine up about an inch to get the upper pan out, in my experience.

EDIT: Can you post more pics of the cloth interior? I like the way they were reupholstered. Were the door cards also done?

[Nate37]

Yeah, seems like both pan gaskets would make sense. Do I need to buy some sort of support to raise the motor up? I don't have an engine puller.

See my update below for more pics of the seats. The door cards are apparently original, as are the vinyl side panels on the seats. Only the cloth was reupholstered according to the PO. He said this is the shop that did the upholstery work:

https://www.local.com/business/details/chino-valley-az/the-upholstery-guy-66783516

[Nate37]

Alright, a couple of updates with stuff I've been working on for the last few weeks:

When I bought the car, the rear tires were corded all the way through the first set of steel belts (yikes), so the first order of business was new tires. There don't seem to be a lot of options for 14" tires these days, so I decided to upgrade to 15s. As much as I would have liked a nice set of BBS wheels, I'm trying not to blow the whole budget for this build in the first week, haha. These 15x7 TRMotorsports C1's with 205/55R-15 Yokohama S.Drives will do the trick for now. All for $850, mounted, balanced, and shipped to my door:



My next plans were just to wipe down the incredibly dusty interior, which resulted in this about two hours later:



The interior is clearly pretty filthy. The back seat isn't much better, with a big stain that clearly leaked under the lower seat cushion:



Fortunately that big stain came out just by throwing the insulation in the wash. A few hours of scrubbing with carpet shampoo and Purple Power resulted in this progress on the carpet. Way better, but not as clean as I'd like. I'm thinking about renting a steam cleaner. Has anyone had good results with using one on their carpet?



Also, this was neat:



Fortunately the PO provided the unmolested original center console with the car.

Once I got all of the seats out of the car, I realized that the fronts are a completely different color than the rears! It looks to be the result of sun fade, since you can see the headrests and some of the unexposed parts have retained the original silver color. I guess a new upholstery job is now on the to-do list:




Since the interior is already halfway apart, I sourced a crack-free dash and will be installing that in the next couple of weeks here. Looking forward to getting the interior cleaned up and back together so I can drive the car a bit while the weather is nice here!

[Garemie]

You can use a come-along to a rafter in the garage, tree, etc. Not pretty but it works in lieu of an engine hoist. Thanks for the update! I really like this car and it's great to see the transformation already happening.

Remember to unbolt both motor mounts and only raise it 1-2" at most as needed, you will figure out the best way to get the pan in and out of there, it's not fun but it can be done.

[Nate37]

It's been a few weeks, but that's mainly because it took quite a while to replace this dashboard, and I've only had an hour here and there to work on it. Here's the latest progress:
-Crack-free Euro dash courtesy of 70ccrossi
-Replaced front speakers with new Focal RCX-130
-New shift knob
-New window circuit breaker switch
-Gearshift center console cupholder
-New floormats, rescued from my 135i before it went to the scrap yard
-Fixed a bunch of minor issues in the dash with loose bolts, etc.

A couple pics of the newly cleaned up interior are below. The dash looks fantastic! It has a lot more insulation around the HVAC ducts than the old dash. I read somewhere that this might mean it came out of an M3? Is that true?

Note the missing kick panel - the new dash seems to have a different attachment method than my old one. Whereas the factory dash had sheet metal screws attached to little threaded clip/tab things, the new dash just has slots for what I assume is a quarter-turn fastener, similar to the forward center console. I did a little research and ordered these guys to re-attach the kick panel. Hopefully they work.







Now for the bad news:
-Something is seriously messed up in the steering wheel after I re-installed it, as described here
-Horn contact broke when I removed the steering wheel, so I will also be pulling the wheel again to replace that
-The car puked about a half quart of oil onto the floor in the two months it sat in the garage. I knew it had some kind of leak, but after driving it to work today, I could see a trail of oil drips across the parking lot to where I parked. There was also a good sized puddle by the time I was ready to head home. It definitely wasn't leaking that bad when I bought it, so I guess fixing the leak is now priority #1. Sigh.

More to come... my race car needs a new motor so that may be a distraction for a bit, but I'm hoping to get this oil leak fixed ASAP (along with a bunch of other maintenance under the hood) so that I can drive it while the weather is nice here.

[Nate37]

You can use a come-along to a rafter in the garage, tree, etc. Not pretty but it works in lieu of an engine hoist. Thanks for the update! I really like this car and it's great to see the transformation already happening.

Remember to unbolt both motor mounts and only raise it 1-2" at most as needed, you will figure out the best way to get the pan in and out of there, it's not fun but it can be done.

Thanks for the tips and the kind words, and sorry for the delayed reply. Have you or anyone else used something like this to support the engine? https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwaben.../010049sch01a/

I don't have a good spot in the garage to lift the engine from, so something like that seems like a pretty good solution.

[mike.bmw]

I replied to your thread regarding the steering issue with a number of possibilities.

Nice work on the dash swap! Total pain in the butt, but definitely worth it. I did mine a couple years ago and it took me 6+ hours. And then I had to do most of it again the next day because I realized the middle clip wasn't seated correctly. Fun times.

[Conrad311]

Thanks for the tips and the kind words, and sorry for the delayed reply. Have you or anyone else used something like this to support the engine? https://www.ecstuning.com/b-schwaben.../010049sch01a/ I don't have a good spot in the garage to lift the engine from, so something like that seems like a pretty good solution.

I’ve got one of those engine support bars, and it’s fantastic. I use it all the time fixing cars. It makes a lot of jobs easier than rolling on the floor trying to avoid a jack or crane legs. You can find them cheaper on amazon or eBay. Side note, make sure to brace the hood open on an e30 or you will have a couple dents popping out of your hood when your done. I trusted my hood shock once, poor choice. Better yet just take the hood off. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk