So. I did have a previous fairly lengthy thread but tinypic went broke so all my pics got deleted and I couldn't be bothered doing like 20 pages again.
So here's the rundown:
Found a '91 318is for sale from someone on an image board. Lazurblau in colour, and cheap. He lived 1000km away. I was a near broke 19 year old. This was in 2014.
These cars are quite rare down here in Aus, so couldn't risk the chance. Threw down deposit, booked plane tickets. Picked up car. It was a nugget.
Somehow made it home despite doing 180kmh rips in an unmaintained shitbox. Over the next few years, went through basically all the necessary bits. Did E46 purple tag rack conversion, medium case LSD, Ksport coil overs, brakes, steering wheel, and all necessary maintenance etc etc etc I'm trying to compress many many hours and dollars into a few sentences you all know how it goes.
This is how it looked for most of its life; Klutch SL1s in 16x8 +15. I did run it a lot lower than in the pics, but hot damn did it handle well. With all the work I had done it was quite a formidable force on the local windy road. Obviously not much power compared to the Japanese cars that all my mates had, but man was it excellent as a driver's learning tool.
I absolutely loved and cherished that car, I spent so much time and it was truly a friend to me. I don't think it ever actually broke down to the point where I couldn't drive it. I flogged the piss out of it every single time I drove it and it just kept on rewarding me, and pushing me to drive better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DISASTER
One morning I was woken up by my dad, who said a tree had hit the car. I went outside to find this:
Won't lie, I cried when I saw it. I never cry, but that day I did. I was gutted.
What happened is a removalist truck with a container on the back hit the branch that hung out over the road and it was tossed about 5m forward onto the car.
They drove off and denied fault, to the point of signing a statutory declaration saying they didn't do it. I did get money back from insurance, but it was a hard fight.
The car sat for a few years while I figured out what to do. In the mean time I had a R32 GTST which cost a lot of money and was still a shitbox. I hated that car yet poured cash into it. Massive regret.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE REBIRTH
(no not that kind of rebirth)
In this country despite the car being an insurance write off, it's too old to go on the written off vehicle register, so can be freely repaired and registered, with a completely clean record.
I eventually found a shop that I trusted, and so this happened:
Outer C pillar skin from a donor car, original inner skin, roof perfectly aligned. The day it came home was one of the happiest of my life. Quite cheap to get done, too.
I then pulled the motor, as the real fun was about to begin. I had always dreamed of doing a proper turbo build, so here we go!
I then bought a rotisserie off the internet:
And stripped off everything.
After that, I set about removing the under body seal. DO NOT DO THIS EVER IT SUCKS. Took me like 140h of wire wheeling to get to this point.
I also spot welded the strut towers and pulled all the seam sealer off it but I don't have any pics.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PLAN - CURRENT SITUATION
All the previous stuff happened quite a few years ago. I was delayed by a year due to my dad having terminal brain cancer, which sucked a lot of money out of me and all my time. However one of his final wishes was for me to finish the car, so every since he lost his fight I've been throwing myself into doing it. He was the reason for my love of cars, and my knowledge of working on them. He always saw how much I loved this E30, and he himself was a big fan of it, so it's as much a project for his memory as it is for my enjoyment.
The car as it sits isn't pretty. I had the car media blasted, which didn't work too well due to not being able to throw primer on it quickly enough, so it looks like doodoo at the moment.
My father in law is doing some little rust repairs on it, nothing super drastic. I do have a brand new OEM radiator support though, which he will hopefully fit. Mine isn't bad, but it's not good.
ENGINE - FUN BITS
It's a M42, bored out a lil, with JE pistons, SP conrods, stock 1.8 crank. ARP hardware throughout.
Oversized head studs, CAT cams, forward facing intake plenum, and a spaghetti manifold for a Garret GTX2860 Gen 2. It should have quite a bit of sauce.
I aim to create a nice and responsive street car (hence the relatively small turbo) that will still have really good power but most importantly be dead nuts reliable. Thing's built for 30-40psi, so it'll be fun to see where I end up.
I also have some engine mounts made that stand it a little more upright so I can run a G260 at the factory angle. Nice bit of kit.
So, the next few months will bring:
1. Completed rust repair, front rad support swap
2. Media blast the body and prime
3. Throw some colour down on the body. Will be staying Lazurblau metallic. All other colours go home you are not welcome here
4. Finish putting the engine together - getting some bits vapour blasted soon, need a head gasket and all other gaskets and seals
5. Put engine in engine bay, make sure I don't need to cut or weld anything else, remove engine and do final paint
6. Put everything else together and do some big fucking burnouts
Might be soon, might not be soon, who knows. At some point I'll finish the damn thing. Please come with me on this adventure.
I also have a youtube channel, so if you like watching people do things go have a peep. We do lots of other fun BMW stuff too.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Thank you for following my ramblings.
So here's the rundown:
Found a '91 318is for sale from someone on an image board. Lazurblau in colour, and cheap. He lived 1000km away. I was a near broke 19 year old. This was in 2014.
These cars are quite rare down here in Aus, so couldn't risk the chance. Threw down deposit, booked plane tickets. Picked up car. It was a nugget.
Somehow made it home despite doing 180kmh rips in an unmaintained shitbox. Over the next few years, went through basically all the necessary bits. Did E46 purple tag rack conversion, medium case LSD, Ksport coil overs, brakes, steering wheel, and all necessary maintenance etc etc etc I'm trying to compress many many hours and dollars into a few sentences you all know how it goes.
This is how it looked for most of its life; Klutch SL1s in 16x8 +15. I did run it a lot lower than in the pics, but hot damn did it handle well. With all the work I had done it was quite a formidable force on the local windy road. Obviously not much power compared to the Japanese cars that all my mates had, but man was it excellent as a driver's learning tool.
I absolutely loved and cherished that car, I spent so much time and it was truly a friend to me. I don't think it ever actually broke down to the point where I couldn't drive it. I flogged the piss out of it every single time I drove it and it just kept on rewarding me, and pushing me to drive better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE DISASTER
One morning I was woken up by my dad, who said a tree had hit the car. I went outside to find this:
Won't lie, I cried when I saw it. I never cry, but that day I did. I was gutted.
What happened is a removalist truck with a container on the back hit the branch that hung out over the road and it was tossed about 5m forward onto the car.
They drove off and denied fault, to the point of signing a statutory declaration saying they didn't do it. I did get money back from insurance, but it was a hard fight.
The car sat for a few years while I figured out what to do. In the mean time I had a R32 GTST which cost a lot of money and was still a shitbox. I hated that car yet poured cash into it. Massive regret.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE REBIRTH
(no not that kind of rebirth)
In this country despite the car being an insurance write off, it's too old to go on the written off vehicle register, so can be freely repaired and registered, with a completely clean record.
I eventually found a shop that I trusted, and so this happened:
Outer C pillar skin from a donor car, original inner skin, roof perfectly aligned. The day it came home was one of the happiest of my life. Quite cheap to get done, too.
I then pulled the motor, as the real fun was about to begin. I had always dreamed of doing a proper turbo build, so here we go!
I then bought a rotisserie off the internet:
And stripped off everything.
After that, I set about removing the under body seal. DO NOT DO THIS EVER IT SUCKS. Took me like 140h of wire wheeling to get to this point.
I also spot welded the strut towers and pulled all the seam sealer off it but I don't have any pics.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PLAN - CURRENT SITUATION
All the previous stuff happened quite a few years ago. I was delayed by a year due to my dad having terminal brain cancer, which sucked a lot of money out of me and all my time. However one of his final wishes was for me to finish the car, so every since he lost his fight I've been throwing myself into doing it. He was the reason for my love of cars, and my knowledge of working on them. He always saw how much I loved this E30, and he himself was a big fan of it, so it's as much a project for his memory as it is for my enjoyment.
The car as it sits isn't pretty. I had the car media blasted, which didn't work too well due to not being able to throw primer on it quickly enough, so it looks like doodoo at the moment.
My father in law is doing some little rust repairs on it, nothing super drastic. I do have a brand new OEM radiator support though, which he will hopefully fit. Mine isn't bad, but it's not good.
ENGINE - FUN BITS
It's a M42, bored out a lil, with JE pistons, SP conrods, stock 1.8 crank. ARP hardware throughout.
Oversized head studs, CAT cams, forward facing intake plenum, and a spaghetti manifold for a Garret GTX2860 Gen 2. It should have quite a bit of sauce.
I aim to create a nice and responsive street car (hence the relatively small turbo) that will still have really good power but most importantly be dead nuts reliable. Thing's built for 30-40psi, so it'll be fun to see where I end up.
I also have some engine mounts made that stand it a little more upright so I can run a G260 at the factory angle. Nice bit of kit.
So, the next few months will bring:
1. Completed rust repair, front rad support swap
2. Media blast the body and prime
3. Throw some colour down on the body. Will be staying Lazurblau metallic. All other colours go home you are not welcome here
4. Finish putting the engine together - getting some bits vapour blasted soon, need a head gasket and all other gaskets and seals
5. Put engine in engine bay, make sure I don't need to cut or weld anything else, remove engine and do final paint
6. Put everything else together and do some big fucking burnouts
Might be soon, might not be soon, who knows. At some point I'll finish the damn thing. Please come with me on this adventure.
I also have a youtube channel, so if you like watching people do things go have a peep. We do lots of other fun BMW stuff too.
Part 1:
Part 2:
Thank you for following my ramblings.
but sub'd to the new thread. Also that's a wild exhaust manifold, sorta looks like a pain to put on though. A GTX2860 will be nice and responsive! What compression are you going for?
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