Canadian 318is

[nando]

Interesting that yours has an airbag. I had a friend with an original Canadian 318is, owned since new - it came with an Mtech-1 wheel.

She got older and I'm not sure if she still has it, since she was having knee problems and the clutch was getting hard for her to work. I always fantasized she'd call me up one day and give it to me for a song..

[Powling]

Long overdue update here, but I was waiting until my COTM was released before doing a full update.

Back in March a friend of mine knew I was looking for turbo style wheels, and he let me know the shop he works at had a Maserati Bi-Turbo with Zender kit that they were parting out.

Here they are still on the Bi-Turbo...



They were in pretty good shape all things considering! I knew they needed be refinished and a couple small rash marks repaired, so I wasnt too worried about the condition at the moment.





Even had the original caps and brand new cap screws as well. Score! They were also VERY dirty, after being on the Bi-Turbo for a long (and never coming off I am assuming), i had to give them a really good scrub with Simple Green and tooth brushes. This was more or less to asses the damage, but I knew they would be sandblasted before being repaired and powder coated.



Back from powder and all repaired. They were actually powder coated twice due to an issue with the clear coat instantly yellowing on the first round. So they were stripped and redone again. I went with a classic OEM style silver as I knew I wanted to run turbo decals on the wheels.





Time to test fit them. Here is where the problems came in. The wheels were 4x98, et20, 15x7, so I knew I had to run adapters or wobbles to make them work. Once I went down the wobble bolt rabbit hole, it was determined that wobbles wouldn't work because the wheel lug seats were radius cut, not conical. And going the adapter route wasnt going to work because of the amount of poke in the front.





This is test fit with no spacer or adapter. Adding a minimum 15mm adapter to this would have just been dumb, so I opted to sell the wheels and continue my search...



Luckily though, I found a local buy within a day of listing them...and they will now live on a lime green Lada. I fully support the new owners plans with all of this.



Met up for coffee with the boys.



Met up for beers with the boys too...



Also had a co-pilot one day while running around town.



A few small maintenance and cosmetic updates as well.

Developed a rattle around 3k rpm a while ago and couldn't track down the cause of it. Finally figured out it was due to the rear heat shield not being secured properly. Turns out the PO just screwed the heat shield in place for some reason. Dumbass. So I ordered the proper washer nuts and not my pesky rattle is long gone.





And here is the part number for anyone looking for these specific nuts. Note that the old style on the right is much smaller, they have been replaced by the larger ones on the left.



New hood and trunk roundels as well.









Finally bit the bullet and ordered rear Euro trim from the dealer. Got it for a great price and quick shipping so not too bad! Very happy to have the side markers gone now.









Came across this great little piece of literature at the local swap meet in the spring too. Its a promo pamphlet / take away from the Canadian auto show back in 1989. Its specific to the Canadian market and highlights the features of the "soon to be released" 318is. Very rare and very cool!





And finally, wheels. A good friend of mine had a great set of BBS RM's he was looking to unload for a great price so I snatched them up. They were recently rebuilt (although I will rebuild them again this winter) and had larger aftermarket lips used in the rebuild. Originally 15x6.5, they are now 15x7. The faces were repowdered as well.

Test fitting - I am running a 15mm spacer in the rear and no spacers up front. Tires are Dunlop Direzza DZ102's in 195/55/15 sizing.







I knew that one of the RM's had a slow leak. After removing the tire it was obvious why it wouldn't hold air...the valve seal was pooched.



But then I had a though to double check the rest of the wheels. I inflated them to normal PSI and sprayed them all with soapy water. This was the result of ALL the wheels. Leaks leaks and more leaks.



Turns out the PO (not my friend) that rebuilt the wheels didn't torque the wheel bolts correctly. No problem, I torqued them all down and resealed the wheel with the bum valve seal to be sure and everything held air with no problems.

Time for another cruise with friends!











Lastly, my friend Paul and I spent a few hours pulling some small dents I had around the car. We got roughly 15 pulled with no issues...



...then this happened. Doh!





I knew the passenger fender had been repainted, but I didn't know this one was repainted too. First pull of the dent and pop, off came the paint. Oh well, now I just need to order colour matched paint and do a bit of a blend to cover this up again.

Thats it for now! Hopefully have some more updates coming soon...

[Panici]

Looks great Steve!
That red really came up nice after you guys did that paint correction.

Nice to see a local car on here. I was at Tedfest 2018 as well!

[Stanley Rockafella]

Looking good Steve :)
Sorry to see the Zender setup didn't work for ya.
Regardless, the BBS setup looks pretty awesome!

[Powling]

Looks great Steve!
That red really came up nice after you guys did that paint correction.

Nice to see a local car on here. I was at Tedfest 2018 as well!

Thanks! I am sure I saw you and your car there at some point in the day then. Its a shame its cancelled for this year though...

Looking good Steve :)
Sorry to see the Zender setup didn't work for ya.
Regardless, the BBS setup looks pretty awesome!

Thanks! I know it was going to be tight trying to make them work but what can you do. I'm more than happy with the RM's and dont miss the Zender's that much to be honest. Haha

[Powling]

So with the help of good friends Paul and Lindsay, I set to fixing it big paint chip on the fender. It was driving me crazy.

First we sanded down the entire fender to prep it for primer.





Sprayed down the 'colour matched' paint I ordered from the local parts store. Then quickly wet sanded and polished the final paint.







...and the final result. Not really impressed, the colour isn't even close to matching. But that being said, the actual final quality of the paint is good. If I took more time to wet sand and polish the final paint it would be even better too.







Now I'm facing the dilemma of trying again with a new can of colour matched paint from a different supplier OR potential stripping the exterior of the car and getting it prepped for a full exterior respray. Lots of areas of the original paint bothers me (even though I know it shouldn't). Likely I'll try the fender again and if it still isn't a close match, I'll likely take the winter to strip the exterior, prep and get a respray in the spring.

[Powling]

I'll be honest here - with the new website design a few months back, its really put me off coming here as frequently as I used to. But thats my problem, not the great guys running R3V.

No updates to post for a while here as I've been busy with work and saving up for my next toy. Finally pulled the trigger on a 2019 Tacoma TRD Off-Road last week.

[mike.bmw]

Nice truck!

[2mAn]

Seems Toyota trucks and E30s are a common pairing of vehicles for many owners here... Makes sense living in the Maple North lol

What did you end up doing with the fender?

[Powling]

Well, other than updating this thread in the late fall last year showing my new daily driver, I haven't kept this thread as up to date as I've wanted. Anyways, time for an extended update to where we are today.

Starting with the fact that last September I got married.


Quickly followed by spending two weeks in Europe for our honeymoon. First week was spent touring the Scottish highlands in a rented Defender with a rooftop tent and all the stuff we needed to be self sufficient. Needless to say, Scotland quickly became our favourite place we've ever visited and we will be back many more times in the future.








Came across a group of Porsche gentlemen on a tour of Scotland, one of which had a genuine 964 RS.


Next up was Munich for Oktoberfest, with a quick stop in at the BMW museum of course.






From there we went to Paris for a few days...


...and finally ended up in London before heading back home to Toronto, where I was delighted to find the following waiting for me post honeymoon.


The coming days I set about tearing out the entire cooling system for a much needed refresh. This is when I found out the previous owner tried to solve a coolant leak with LOTS of stop leak.












I tried to see if I could dissolve some of it with harsh chemicals (I forget which ones, it was months ago) which promptly did absolutely nothing.




So everything got replaced with new or like new parts. Radiator, thermostat and thermo housing, water pump, BMW blue coolant, etc. I also flushed the block at least 5-6 different times to ensure I got as much out as I could. I'm happy to say that now the M42 runs much cooler and seems to be happier. Not a drop of coolant leaking anywhere as well.

Parked away for the winter months while I collected parts for a complete rear subframe rebuild.


A few more parts that needed replacing over the winter, including the firewall exhaust heat shield, manifold studs, nuts and gaskets, sway bar bushings, and some odds and ends.


Starting before Covid-19 came, I pulled the subframe out for a much needed full rebuild. I replaced all the bushings, parking brakes and cables, rotors and pads, por-15 on the subframe and trailing arms, new driveshafts, new diff fluid, etc. It was a lot of work and most of it were things I had never done before. But it all worked out and now the car feels really tight!




Did some drives and hangouts with some friends, including taking my dad for a drive on Fathers Day.












Coffee with my friend Randy and his beautiful 964 Carrera 4.




Bought my own RTT to enjoy, and absolutely love it.


For where I am in life right now, I have my perfect 2 car solution. Later in life this will change, but for now this is perfect for me.


Came across a guilty pleasure of mine and contemplated becoming a glutton for punishment, but decided the price tag wasn't worth the kick in the balls.




Purchase an extremely rare piece of literature specific to the Canadian market E30's from 90/91, with a strong focus on the promotion of the 318is. Its in 10/10 pristine condition and is a great piece to go along with the car, given its originally a Canadian ordered 318is from day one.










...and thats all I have for updates up until now. Hopefully more coming (and more frequently) in the coming weeks/months!

[2mAn]

Dodged a bullet not buying that Land Rover!

[mike.bmw]

Congrats on getting married! That looks like a great honeymoon.

Awesome work on the cooling system and rear subframe refresh. Glad to see you are out and enjoying the car!

[Powling]

Dodged a bullet not buying that Land Rover!

I want one so bad but I know it will be both financially and mentally damaging.

Congrats on getting married! That looks like a great honeymoon.

Awesome work on the cooling system and rear subframe refresh. Glad to see you are out and enjoying the car!

Thanks Mike! Honeymoon was by far the best experience of my life so far.

[Powling]

Finally tracked down one of my bucket list wheels this week, in a rare fitment as well. OZ Rally's in 17x7 ET40 size, but 4x114.3 pattern. I will be running adapters for these of course, but worth it for the rarity of them. Will also be getting them refinished in classic white with red decals.

[mike.bmw]

Those are going to look so good on your car.