I bought/traded for this sad 318is from a friend who was moving his shop to a new location. I was/am still out of work and he needed a hand moving, but the timing just didn't work out. He was busy and I had some obligations come up. But I really want the car and remembered I had a front clip he needed and a few bucks.
At first my plan was to respray the car all silver and put it back together and fulfill the need to have a silver 318is in my roster with a nice interior and some other tasty things I will not presently discuss. ;)
But that all changed as I got to thinking more about it. I could learn how to do a few things I'd never done before with this car and have fun learning and doing and getting it back in tip top shape! So I opted to stay red, especially since this was built a day before my fourth birthday. I tend to keep cars built in February.
Anyways, I quickly got to looking for body panels and figured I'd find the other parts from my parts car, etc.
I found doors, fenders, a hood, I didn't need (but it has the late formed under-hood insulation that I will use), an iS Valence with fog lights and iS lip and then some. So off to PA, I went. I live in VA by the way but my motto is that I will travel for things I need if the seller is honest with me. Too many people these days expect everything to be right in their neighborhood which I think is silly.
My old parts car, which has kept at least five other E30s on the road, now six including the 318is:
Just the two of us.
In progress:
I found and removed the remnants of the fan belt:
I'm really hoping to make a complete set of bumpers from these shards. I need more shards to complete the puzzle. Does anyone have anything?
I ran out of factory sheet metal/body panel screws but got this far including test fitting the front valence.
Don't leave connections exposed. This was from the previous, previous owners attempt to power the fuel pump. Unfortunately he or she forgot that uninsulated leads blow fuses at best and cause fires at worst. Luckily the fuse gave up the ghost here.
There is more to come. I found my fender screws thereafter in the parts car and in this car. I got it running by properly terminating the fuel pump wires, draining the slightly less shitty gas from the parts car and putting it into this car, using the fuel pump from the parts car, and using my E28 as a battery. As you can see the battery tray is long removed from the 318is.
After getting it to start briefly, it quit running. A friend mentioned that I may simply not be getting spark and boy was he right. The valve cover gasket is so far gone that cylinder 1, 3, and 4 all had a good amount of oil causing them to lose continuity with their leads. I pulled all four plugs, cleaned the plug wire ends, wiped the plugs clean of oil and put them back in. With a little bit of persuasion, we got the car running again.
Then and only then did I bother with doing the belts, other miscellaneous items.
Today after doing the power steering belt and the A/C belt I was able to drive the car for the first time under my ownership and possibly for the first time since 2015.
I still need to swap the steering column from my parts car into this car because the splines are fubar and the steering wheel nut will absolutely NOT thread on.
For the future. I plan to source a black/gray carpet, install my black rear seats, recondition some sport seats, and redo the headliner since someone in the past shreaded it while trying to remove the sunroof mechanism. I know I didn't post any pictures of the interior but rest assured that they are coming. I'm just glad to have a running driving E30 318is! I'm still looking for a Sterling Silver one to add to the family.
Oh and the name? Well as we know E30s are known as God's Chariot however this one was buzzy and stumbled alot when first started as such I aptly named it God's Vibrator. Take it as you will, or don't. Fuck if I care.
At first my plan was to respray the car all silver and put it back together and fulfill the need to have a silver 318is in my roster with a nice interior and some other tasty things I will not presently discuss. ;)
But that all changed as I got to thinking more about it. I could learn how to do a few things I'd never done before with this car and have fun learning and doing and getting it back in tip top shape! So I opted to stay red, especially since this was built a day before my fourth birthday. I tend to keep cars built in February.
Anyways, I quickly got to looking for body panels and figured I'd find the other parts from my parts car, etc.
I found doors, fenders, a hood, I didn't need (but it has the late formed under-hood insulation that I will use), an iS Valence with fog lights and iS lip and then some. So off to PA, I went. I live in VA by the way but my motto is that I will travel for things I need if the seller is honest with me. Too many people these days expect everything to be right in their neighborhood which I think is silly.
My old parts car, which has kept at least five other E30s on the road, now six including the 318is:
Just the two of us.
In progress:
I found and removed the remnants of the fan belt:
I'm really hoping to make a complete set of bumpers from these shards. I need more shards to complete the puzzle. Does anyone have anything?
I ran out of factory sheet metal/body panel screws but got this far including test fitting the front valence.
Don't leave connections exposed. This was from the previous, previous owners attempt to power the fuel pump. Unfortunately he or she forgot that uninsulated leads blow fuses at best and cause fires at worst. Luckily the fuse gave up the ghost here.
There is more to come. I found my fender screws thereafter in the parts car and in this car. I got it running by properly terminating the fuel pump wires, draining the slightly less shitty gas from the parts car and putting it into this car, using the fuel pump from the parts car, and using my E28 as a battery. As you can see the battery tray is long removed from the 318is.
After getting it to start briefly, it quit running. A friend mentioned that I may simply not be getting spark and boy was he right. The valve cover gasket is so far gone that cylinder 1, 3, and 4 all had a good amount of oil causing them to lose continuity with their leads. I pulled all four plugs, cleaned the plug wire ends, wiped the plugs clean of oil and put them back in. With a little bit of persuasion, we got the car running again.
Then and only then did I bother with doing the belts, other miscellaneous items.
Today after doing the power steering belt and the A/C belt I was able to drive the car for the first time under my ownership and possibly for the first time since 2015.
I still need to swap the steering column from my parts car into this car because the splines are fubar and the steering wheel nut will absolutely NOT thread on.
For the future. I plan to source a black/gray carpet, install my black rear seats, recondition some sport seats, and redo the headliner since someone in the past shreaded it while trying to remove the sunroof mechanism. I know I didn't post any pictures of the interior but rest assured that they are coming. I'm just glad to have a running driving E30 318is! I'm still looking for a Sterling Silver one to add to the family.
Oh and the name? Well as we know E30s are known as God's Chariot however this one was buzzy and stumbled alot when first started as such I aptly named it God's Vibrator. Take it as you will, or don't. Fuck if I care.
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