My Hoopte30 Project Attempt #6 - the painless way to earn cash back every day

[AWDBOB]

Always liked the E36 compacts. That diff mount is a mess...boggles the mind how 2 diff bolts would end up missing but when one has a selection of spare subframes it becomes a non-issue.

I'm thinking this could become a really fun daily...M52 swaps are so much easier on this platform...

Yes, when I pulled that subframe I was shocked! Thankfully that was the extent of the damage, and with a quick run to das warehouse, a replacement subframe was found.

how dare you wish that evil on me! When I got this thing, my brain went into overhaul/project mode, and I immediately realized that I don't have room for such an endeavor, although it would be rad to rip this thing with an alloy m52 on the daily. I'd love to get all of my stuff gone as planned, and then revisit the 318Ti in a different stage of life when I have less going on. Things immediately unfold if gone beyond the current scope of the project (subframe refresh). I've gotta keep Ti endeavors short and sweet.

There is a same color, auto Ti with super nice interior for a grand in southern IN, that I'm sure is rusty.....the ultimate parts car to this one. In an ambitious weekend, the two cars could be combined to make one, really rad Ti. I just don't have the capacity for it. In fact, if you buy both and combine them, I'll buy it back from you in July

[mjweimer]

Always liked the E36 compacts. That diff mount is a mess...boggles the mind how 2 diff bolts would end up missing but when one has a selection of spare subframes it becomes a non-issue.

I'm thinking this could become a really fun daily...M52 swaps are so much easier on this platform...

[AWDBOB]

It's hard to believe it, but the black car finally left for good, after 2 years of sadness. I got the car to a good enough point that KI4UJO and I felt comfortable making the trade off, both very aware that the projects we were trading each other were very likely going to have further needs before being entered into daily duty.

I called it a catalyst deal, to where we both moved on from something we didn't want to look at anymore, into something we were excited to wrench on!

The car I received (plus some monies) was a 318 compact. It's a rust free, manual, slick top car, and I'd say that's about where the positives end. Jonathan fixed the car up in the past and sold it to a buddy, who daily drove it for a few months, and then it ended back up with Jonathan, right around the time when we were chatting about what it'd look like for him to own the 318 e30 sedan.

When it left, the 318 sedan needed some suspension sorting, some engine oil leak sorting, the transmission pulled to investigate what we both think is a bad dual mass flywheel, and more small stuff that will likely pop up once it's in daily driver duty.

The 318Ti needed what was assumed to be rear subframe bushings (bad clunk under accel/hard shifting), an interior, paint work (hood), a battery, an a/c line, and just a general buttoning up. I took the car for its first drive and noticed a frightening grinding noise at 45+mph. Turned around right away and limped it home, assuming the differential was the culprit.

So as to not have another lingering project, I got right to work.

Dropped the subframe in 30mins, love me a rust free car, and the design change in Ti rear subframe bushings (vs e30) that don't sit up in the chassis, and the ebrake cables that neatly pull out of their tubes.

That is where the fun began.

Immediately upon dropping the subframe, I realized the diff was missing the upper 2 bolts, and the diff bushing was shot (obviously) from trying to hold the diff in place. The diff was ripping itself out of the subframe. Scary stuff.

I then opened up the diff and saw what I figured I would find, which was lots o' metal. I sent Jonathan a pic, and his dad described it as having "self adjusting bearing clearances" based on the 1/1 metal/fluid ratio in the drained fluid.

Thankfully, I have spare e30 subframes for days, and a small case open 4.10 on the shelf that had a good bushing, to boot. Swapped the Ti axle stubs over to the e30 diff, resealed the cover, pressed the new Corteco subframe bushings into the new used subframe, and we're almost in business. Will button it up tomorrow and go for a rip. I really should sell this thing, but it is oddly fun to drive. If I can find an interior without too much trouble, I will keep it. If not, I'll get rid of it.

Only the best oil for my BMW......

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

I've been chipping away at the 318i sedan to get it moved along to its next owner. Once I got it running/driving, the power steering rack decided to blow out its seals, so I swapped in a good used rack with new inner/outer tie rods. The cluster I put in also yeeted itself, so I had to put together another one, this time with working odometer gears!

I have done 100s of small things that are hard to remember at this point. Every time I drive the car, there is a new list, so I've just been making lists and checking off boxes.

Today I went on a 45min drive, and outside of feeling a bit floaty, seemed to drive well, held temp, good power, etc. M42 cars are pretty cool and unique- I was surprised.

If all goes according to plan, KI4UJO will be taking over responsibilities from this point, in partial exchange for a slicktop 318Ti Compact that I most definitely don't need.

He's going to button up the transmission issue, fix an oil leak, align the car, and ultimately turn it into his daily driver!

My goal is to have the 318i slicktop sedan, turbo 318iS, s50 early sedan, black 318i sedan (this car below), and an '89 coupe all gone before vintage, and have hooptie's head gasket repaired for the trip.

I can only drive one car at a time- the older I get, the more I crave simplicity.

I'll have more progress to report soon on OG hooptie, but will save that for another day.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

What did you cover the rust with? Is that POR-15?

Temporarily, farm and implement on the quarter panel, while I waited on my silver "Mastercoat" to arrive.

On rust prone areas lower on the car I use AutoGuard. Much better than Por15 in my experience, as is Mastercoat.

I've been looking for better shells that are all one color and free of poorly repaired body damage, but so far, no luck.

I sold a nice red bare shell, non roller a few months ago that would've been the perfect reshell candidate, but timing was not on my side.

[twright]

What did you cover the rust with? Is that POR-15?

[AWDBOB]

A sorry sight for sure, but just think of it as one of those sick, senior cats at the shelter. They were never long for this world, but at least you gave it love and let it frolick some more for the last couple years of it’s life.

yes indeed, one of those cats that has a few years left that you spend 6k on vet bills to keep alive, and then it shits on your keyboard and barfs on your phone when its life comes to an end

[Matt@EDC]

A sorry sight for sure, but just think of it as one of those sick, senior cats at the shelter. They were never long for this world, but at least you gave it love and let it frolick some more for the last couple years of it’s life.

[AWDBOB]

YESSS...moves under its own power is quite the achievement and the Tunes work...so half your problems can be solved with some volume adjustment...ha ha.

bahaha yes, if only I could tell a potential buyer that.

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Had a bit of a rough realization with the official hoopty. The car originally came from North Carolina and really didn't have much rust, which was why I was okay dumping so much time into the chassis. I only made one winter drive with it, which was when i went up to Jake's to manual swap it. I drive it a lot, but never in winter and barely in rain.

I've been over capacity for a little while by 3-4 cars, so while i finish up backlog so I can bring it in to do the head gasket, the car has been sitting outside, for 6mo or so.

I went out today to install the sound system and button the interior back up, and upon pulling the drivers side footwell speaker, realized that rust was spreading at a rapid rate on this thing. I got to grinding, and discovered the inner rocker letting go, the floor corner behind the fender was letting go, along with all of the terribly quarter panel and rocker repairs on the drivers side. It was really disheartening to see your car more or less evaporating, and was a hard realization that these cars aren't long for this world, and once the shells start to go, it's really tough to stop them.

The rockers were rotting through in multiple spots, as well as the quarter underneath the 1"+ of bondo, so it all had to come off. Now the rust is stopped, but the car looks so bad. I don't have the energy or time to put into another shell. I recently found and stopped rust starting in the passenger rear wheel well that wasn't there when i got the car, along with various spots all over the car. Such a shame that, while these cars are meant to be driven, they're more or less becoming one with the earth, at some rate.

The transmission that I resealed is leaking like crazy already, the power steering system that I totally redid already is puking fluid from various locations..... it's genuinely difficult to keep a shit box on the road, let alone a nice car.

Idk what this means for the future of the hoopties, but I am burnt out, and it's hard to enjoy stuff that, for every hour of driving, you have to put in that same time or more back in, in labor.

Inside the speaker cavity:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Behind the fender:

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This whole vertical seam isn't looking very healthy:

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The rocker holes that appeared recently:


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Back of rocker:


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Back of rocker pulling away from floor:

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Alarming amount of bondo:

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Multiple rust holes all behind the bondo, where it was cracking, causing water ingress:

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Stopping the rust, but looks absolutely terrible:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




To top off the minty premium sound stuff I found for my audio repair/upgrade, I'll be installing it all with a lukbox, and saw that these went discontinued on Crutchfield again, so found some left over stock and made a forever head unit purchase:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[mjweimer]

YESSS...moves under its own power is quite the achievement and the Tunes work...so half your problems can be solved with some volume adjustment...ha ha.

[AWDBOB]

One of the OG hoopties has been the bane of my existence. A source of deep misery. The '91 318 sedan featured previously in the thread has fought me every step of the way. As the issues piled up, as did my time invested into the car, so I couldn't jump ship.

But today, I drove it. Likely the first time the car has been driven in at least 10 years. But it knew that its job wasnt done. The test drive, as most do, only revealed a host of other issues.

But it moves under it's own power!

Newly discovered issues:
-Bad dual mass flywheel, so I have to pull the trans again.
-HVAC blower motor is hitting something
-Power assist braking doesn't power assist
-Car won't idle
-Exhaust rubbing all the things

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

Things are happening......two new cars appeared in the stable.

Rust free 318iS that needs some sorting

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




S50 swapped early sedan that is a ripper. I haven't had this much fun in an e30 in quite some time. Was never a 24v guy but this car has changed my mind....

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




And I did a rear end overhaul on hoopty, replaced all of the poly with rubber, swapped out S3.73 to my leakiest S2.93 for future things, and added a 14.5mm rear sway.

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Gonna put the car back on my beloved e38 style 5s from Linda, but the other two are in Michigan still.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




Jake's photo, but I bought an e28 goodies twin scroll manifold with t3 TS to t4 TS and a pulsar g30-660 turbo with a TS t4 exhaust housing. Have megasquirt, deka 60lb injectors, wideband, and am going to be running Jake's new M20 turbo kit for testing purposes.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[AWDBOB]

I see nothing wrong with bringing cosmetics back to a 10 and just enjoy the wear and tear... Mechanicals > Cosmetics

Is that MS2 or 1 in the box?

I agree in regards to mechanicals > cosmetics. Unfortunately with the price of bringing cosmetics to a 10, there isn’t a chance that my brain would enjoy driving the car as such, so the progression will likely be: mechanicals——> enjoy——>cosmetics——>Sunday driver.

It’s whatever he uses- I opened it up and it’s a micro squirt board atop another board. V1.4 of his stuff. It has wasted spark, which will be good for the fate of hoopty.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[moatilliatta]

I see nothing wrong with bringing cosmetics back to a 10 and just enjoy the wear and tear... Mechanicals > Cosmetics

Is that MS2 or 1 in the box?

[AWDBOB]

I think the real question here is whether you actually want to drive the M3. If yes, take the hooptie approach and enjoy! Then again, I always advocate for getting the car on the road end enjoying it over making it shiny.

I want to drive it! I've joked about spending all of my time and energy restoring the mechanicals and leaving the exterior as-is for a few years to really enjoy the car.


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I found a WhodWho Megasquirt unit set up for wasted spark and an LC2 wideband in a box at the warehouse and ordered head studs for hoopty..... it's a sign

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr