M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
FAQ / REFERENCE => Member Profiles => Topic started by: YetiX on July 15, 2010, 05:53:45 PM
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YetiX here, aka Scott from San Diego. This is my first e30 but is the latest in a long line of BMW's, both bikes and cars. I currently have this car, an X5 (wife's) and an F800GS which is my daily driver.
The F800GS:
(http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/7599/img2653y.jpg)
First, why "YetiX" you ask? I was nicknamed "Yeti" when I was in the Marines during mountain warfare school and it's stuck ever since. When I joined my first BMW forum, some dickweed had already taken Yeti so added the "X" since I was into AutoX at the time.
So onto the e30. It's a 1991 318i, 5 speed, Alpine White II with tan vinyl interior. I bought it from a friend, who was the second owner, when it had 283,714 miles. He bought it from the original owner. The original owner was a pilot so he maintained it meticulously and kept incredible records. I have records of just about every service it has ever had, including the original window sticker. He bought it for just over $20k. :D
The good: For over 284,000 miles, the car is in awesome shape. It's 100% rust free and the paint is in pretty good shape. The interior is great except for one small crack in the dash. My buddy installed US elipsoids and Bilstein front struts and gave it to me with a bunch of spares. Finally, another friend had a set of bottlecaps with R comp tires on them that he gave me for race wheels!! :D :D
The bad: Right before he brought it over, my "friend" topped off the oil and forgot to replace the oil filler cap. When he got to my house oil was pouring off the engine. Yeah that was a mess. The stereo didn't work. It had tint on the side windows but it was old, purpled and bubbling so badly it made my kid car sick to look out the window when we were driving. :( Finally, even after cleaning out the engine, it still leaked oil. :mad:
So here it is the day I got it with the Steelies, orignal stereo and all:
(http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5467/img0119uu.jpg)
(http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/8854/img0121c.jpg)
(http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/9628/img0122bl.jpg)
And the interior:
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5936/img0123nl.jpg)
After I cleaned most of the oil out of the engine bay:
(http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/194/img0126hu.jpg)
Of course I had to autocross it before I did anything else :D :p:
(http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4484/leaning318i.jpg)
Since then, I have:
- Put in a good stereo with nice speakers
- Put in an Mtech 1 steering wheel
- Put in non-airbag turn signal and windshield wiper stalks
- Replaced the ignition switch which was broken and left me stranded
- Cleaned the interior and replaced the floor mats
- Removed the tint and had really nice 3M tint put on all the windows
- Got the 14" weaves refinished and put some Bridgestones on 'em
- Replaced the SI board
- Replaced the cracked oil pan and checked the torque on the upper pan bolts (all were fine)
- Replaced the worn out shift knob.
Here it is now:
(http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1623/img0223jj.jpg)
Next Monday, I'm doing a TON of work including new CSB bearing and guibo for the driveshaft, SSK installed, 4.1 LSD, new differential bearing, synthetic fluid in the tranny, new engine mounts, new tranny mounts, new rear wheel bearings, install the foglights and an iS front lip.
I'll take some pictures when that's all done.
I also have IE Stage III springs to install and just need to get Bilstein rear shocks and I'll have everything to fix the suspension and ride height. :D Supposedly a friend has a set of tan vinyl sport seats that I may be getting this weekend too so that should help.
Overall, my goal is to make it a really cleanly restored 318i daily driver, something that looks INCREDIBLE but still almost entirely stock.
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800s are for pansies who are too small to handle the awesomeness of the pig, baby! :) When we get back, we gotta get Pasta and a few others and do a "welcome home" ride in the desert for me.
You did a lot more than I thought already, kudos to you! When will your seats be done? You also gotta put in the 13 button OBC and OEM cruise as they both come in very handy. I'll get you a coding plug and the next time I hit a yard will try to pick up a set of smileys for you. I also have some ideas to get the AC cooler that I think will make a huge difference for small $$$, but you have to crack the system open. You need to let me know who did the wheels for you too as mine are worked over and will be relegated to winter duty here, but track duty when we get home.
Yeti is a smart dude who keeps his junk clean (I can't believe he actually let dust settle on the GS, and is that pic before or after you broke the windscreen?), so it will be cool to see this thing progress and of course abuse him at the track/autocross when I get home- yes we are getting more and more serious about SD as the "easy" way back.
He didn't really mention that his car was purchased from a well known E30 nut and I was offered it as well, but just HAD to have the "is". :D
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That reminds me of a car I think Ben Carufel had at one point and was selling. I remember the great interior and I thought it had been owned by a pilot too.
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800s are for pansies who are too small to handle the awesomeness of the pig, baby! :) When we get back, we gotta get Pasta and a few others and do a "welcome home" ride in the desert for me.
You did a lot more than I thought already, kudos to you! When will your seats be done? You also gotta put in the 13 button OBC and OEM cruise as they both come in very handy. I'll get you a coding plug and the next time I hit a yard will try to pick up a set of smileys for you. I also have some ideas to get the AC cooler that I think will make a huge difference for small $$$, but you have to crack the system open. You need to let me know who did the wheels for you too as mine are worked over and will be relegated to winter duty here, but track duty when we get home.
Yeti is a smart dude who keeps his junk clean (I can't believe he actually let dust settle on the GS, and is that pic before or after you broke the windscreen?), so it will be cool to see this thing progress and of course abuse him at the track/autocross when I get home- yes we are getting more and more serious about SD as the "easy" way back.
He didn't really mention that his car was purchased from a well known E30 nut and I was offered it as well, but just HAD to have the "is". :D
800's are for people who like to RIDE in the dirt, not waddle along... :p We'll definitely do that ride when y'all get back. (Never broke the screen, or any other bits, just scratched 'em up a bit going through a manzanita bush. But that's another story . . . :D)
Look forward to the coding plug and the smileys, those wil rock. Seats? Dunno. The guys keeps saying he'll drop 'em off at the shop but so far . . . Hopefully this weekend since the shop is having an Open House.
Shoot me an email with your thoughts on the AC, I could use them, especially if they work. It's getting hot and humid around here.
That reminds me of a car I think Ben Carufel had at one point and was selling. I remember the great interior and I thought it had been owned by a pilot too.
Yup, same car. ;) I have managed to remove all the "Ben" from the car. :D :D
I wanted an is too, but I needed a car ASAP and had driven this car many times before (I think between myself and two others we put twice the miles on the car that Ben did during the time he owned it :D) and knew it was a solid car. My goal now is to make it into a four door 318is. ;)
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I didn't want to out Ben unless someone else did. :) Another good guy who knows how to take care of his machines.
On the AC; http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92614
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Work has started. Getting the crank bearing seal replaced and M3 control arm bushings in addition to the other stuff listed above. It's gonna be like a whole new car.
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Did Neil check out the balljoints for you? Are they OK?
How were the front shocks?
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Did Neil check out the balljoints for you? Are they OK?
How were the front shocks?
And to think you tried to pawn that heap off on me... :D
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We are replacing the tie rods, both. We did not get to the suspension, we'll do it Friday. The LSD, new driveshaft and diff bearings made a huge difference. No more clunks when shifting or over bumps.
I cannot wait to do the steering and suspension on Friday.
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Did you actually put a new driveshaft in? I thought you were just putting a new center support bearing on the existing driveshaft?
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Did you actually put a new driveshaft in? I thought you were just putting a new center support bearing on the existing driveshaft?
The u-joint was shot so I got a re-built one.
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The u-joint was shot so I got a re-built one.
Very cool. Sounds like you're taking good care of her man. I will try to drop off that e-brake boot and handle soon.
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The u-joint was shot so I got a re-built one.
Did you get it from Peerless?
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Did you get it from Peerless?
Nope, Oceanside Driveline. Or something like that. They're really well know in San Diego.
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Last week was a busy week. Fixed the oil leaks by replacing the front crankseal and the gasket and o-ring for the oil filter housing. I installed IE Stage 3 springs, Bilstein sport shocks, MarkD chip, 4.10 LSD, an Understeer SSK, new driveshaft, new bushings and mounts for everything, fog lights and an "is" front lip.
Big thanks to Neil, Tim and Jake at Oceanside Motorsports!! :D
The changes are simply amazing. The car handles so well now I can't wait to autocross it. The LSD made the biggest difference but the MarkD chip is pretty amazing. The car is like a go kart now!! :D
Sorry for the poor quality pics, I'll shoot some good ones soon.
(http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/402/img0231nd.jpg)
(http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4123/img0232kk.jpg)
Here's the interior with the new stero and Mtech I wheel:
(http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/3834/img0226u.jpg)
(http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/3402/img0228i.jpg)
So far so good! ;)
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Wow, those are some nice foglights... :D
It really looks great! Hopefully, we'll get home soon and I can see/feel in person the difference you described in the chip. You're gonna have me for a while on aesthetics, though, as I'm not wasting money on paint with how crappy the winters are here.
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Wow, those are some nice foglights... :D
It really looks great! Hopefully, we'll get home soon and I can see/feel in person the difference you described in the chip. You're gonna have me for a while on aesthetics, though, as I'm not wasting money on paint with how crappy the winters are here.
The paint looks better in pictures than in person. 285,xxx miles have not been kind to the front edge of the hood. :( I may try the BavAuto fix kit just for the heck of it, nothing really to loose.
Now if I could just get that guy with the sport seats to return my damn phone calls . . . :mad:
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I didn't want to out Ben unless someone else did. :) Another good guy who knows how to take care of his machines.
On the AC; http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92614
Dude, hands down one of the best a/c threads I've seen.
Thanks for linking this!!!
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Dude, hands down one of the best a/c threads I've seen.
Thanks for linking this!!!
Did you see mine as well? http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82528
I personally think they should link them together as the info is excellent in both.
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Damn Scott, car looks great. I want to take her for a spin when I get back in town. Sorry I didn't have a chance to get you the E36 M3 e-brake handle and boot before I took off. I'll be back from Europe on 8/8...
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Damn Scott, car looks great. I want to take her for a spin when I get back in town. Sorry I didn't have a chance to get you the E36 M3 e-brake handle and boot before I took off. I'll be back from Europe on 8/8...
Thanks! Yeah I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out so far. I'm really looking forward to the autox on Sunday.
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The autocross last Sunday went great, I took first in 4cyl!!
(I was the only car.)
Today I got the skid plate installed and added a spring perch to the rear to raise it a little and bring it in line with the front since it looked like I had 5 dead hookers in the trunk. :D
Someone asked why I raised the rear instead of dropping the front. Two reasons: 1. The front is low enough. If I need a skid plate to drive over speed bumps, it's low enough. 2. It's a BMW not a ricer. :p Seriously, it's my daily driver and I drive long miles, I don't need a slammed car.
On to the pictures of the installed skid plate. Peerless makes one hell of a heavy duty skidplate, this thing is gonna rock. Sorry for the crappy quality but I forgot my camera and only had my cell. (And maybe I took the pictures with the camera on macro. :rolleyes: )
(http://a.imageshack.us/img530/3295/skid3.jpg)
(http://a.imageshack.us/img824/9951/skid1m.jpg)
(http://a.imageshack.us/img717/5539/skid2.jpg)
If anyone wants specific pictures of the installed skid plate let me know and I'll do it.
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Did you see mine as well? http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82528
I personally think they should link them together as the info is excellent in both.
Absolutely man. Great info in both threads :)
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Absolutely man. Great info in both threads :)
No worries. I really try to add productive info to the collective- sometimes. Except when I hijack Yeti's thread. Which is fine. I'm bigger than he is. My bike is too... Oh wait, he's got more doors than I do. Oh well, one day I will aspire to be as cool as him... :D
The skid plate looks the bidness!!!!!! Did you snap any shots of where you had to weld it? I've got access to a very nice MIG here, and have one at home, but with how bad the winters are here (and some roads) I might just bug peerless sooner than later.
And we need pics with the butt sticking up in the air to see the new stance...
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No worries. I really try to add productive info to the collective- sometimes. Except when I hijack Yeti's thread. Which is fine. I'm bigger than he is. My bike is too... Oh wait, he's got more doors than I do. Oh well, one day I will aspire to be as cool as him... :D
The skid plate looks the bidness!!!!!! Did you snap any shots of where you had to weld it? I've got access to a very nice MIG here, and have one at home, but with how bad the winters are here (and some roads) I might just bug peerless sooner than later.
And we need pics with the butt sticking up in the air to see the new stance...
I'll try and snap a couple of weld shots but it's gonna be tough without jacking the car. Stance I can definitely do.
I've got almost everything I need to finish the stereo, just need the set of clean tweeter pods (ie they still have the mounting tabs) to show up. When I hook those up I'll replace the kick panel speakers, hook up the keyless entry and install George Graves dimmer relay all at once. Should make for a fun morning of play.
Oh, and solder the relays per your thread. Then I can have all six lights on at once FTMFW!!
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Today installed the COP kit, real fog lights, arm rest, George Graves dimming relay and started working on the tweeters. Tomorrow it gets a bath and I'll snap some pictures. :D
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I found out last night that when I turn on the fog lights the light on the switch does not turn on. Is it supposed to? What am I missing? :confused:
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I found out last night that when I turn on the fog lights the light on the switch does not turn on. Is it supposed to? What am I missing? :confused:
There's no light in/on the foglight switch. The light is in the cluster!
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I found out last night that when I turn on the fog lights the light on the switch does not turn on. Is it supposed to? What am I missing? :confused:
As a fraternity brother used to say, "yer sa duuuuuuumb..." :)
As Ben mentioned it is in the cluster and here is mine. It is the one on the left. You may need to pull the cluster and put a bulb in there.
(http://longtallsallygs.smugmug.com/Cars/318is/IMG7252/988491861_cmhS5-L.jpg)
This is the wiring diagram showing you how it works. Notice that the dash bulb works off the left fog light after the relay. All this wiring should be in place and you may just need a bulb in the cluster.
(http://longtallsallygs.smugmug.com/Cars/318is/Foglights/984153527_sQRs7-XL.jpg)
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Oh, duh. Guess I'll be getting a bulb from the stealership.
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I've got a few of the bulbs, I think. Let me look. Not that they're expensive, but they're just taking up space in a drawer over here for me...
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I've got a few of the bulbs, I think. Let me look. Not that they're expensive, but they're just taking up space in a drawer over here for me...
That would be awesome Amigo.
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Today I installed my "custom" tweeters and then took a few pictures up on Mt. Soledad since I hadn't done any to show how it's sitting now with the additional hats in the rear. I also finally picked up my sport seats and put those in buit no pictures of those. So first the car shots:
(http://a.imageshack.us/img824/703/oner.jpg)
(http://a.imageshack.us/img830/2243/twoad.jpg)
(http://a.imageshack.us/img839/2009/foure.jpg)
(http://a.imageshack.us/img818/3849/threet.jpg)
And these are my custom tweeters. I bought new speakers for the fronts and got the kind that have separate tweeters. Components, right? Anyways, The tweeters are hard-wired so I spliced them into the car's wiring in the door. I then expoxied and screwed the tweeter pods to the existing blanks. I wanted to use stock BMW tweeters but I couldn't find tweeter pods with either a) working tweeters or b) the tabs to hold them in place. I think these turned out pretty well and they sound AWESOME.
(http://a.imageshack.us/img835/4151/img0514kq.jpg)
So that's where it stands today. Next up is to install my Euro Smileys and put HID's in the low beams. :D
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Wow the tweeters look great. And I like how you were able to even out the stance in the rear.
And dammit I need to get an ADV sticker on mine! We've been saying for years that we need one on the other half's car when at home so at least some of the guys would know for certain they are safe around at least one cage.
I wanna see the seats too! Oh yeah, what HID kit are you using for the lights? You know the cheapo Chinese kit is still working perfect on the pig now a couple years later.
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You need an ADV sticker? I'll send you one with the ADV magazines.
Not sure which.HID kit I'm going with, Neil gets them through his shop for a good price.
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Wow man, great looking car, I have yet to do all those things to my car :)
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Today the high pressure power steering line decided to crap out. While the car was up on the rack I took a picture of the skid plate: :D :D
(http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/489/skidplate.jpg)
The big impact to the rail on the left side of the picture came from a chunk concrete that was lurking in the courthouse parking lot which I didn't see due to the SUV in front of me. :mad: But the skid plate did it's job with no damage to the car. :D
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Ouch. Nice plate ya got there. Could you get a picture of the attach points at the side? It looks like you added a crossbar to support it.
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Ouch. Nice plate ya got there. Could you get a picture of the attach points at the side? It looks like you added a crossbar to support it.
It's going up on the rack tomorrow so I'll shoot a picture or two of the mounting points then.
I got the skidplate from Peerless in Huntington Beach. Check out THIS (http://ww.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95327) thread.
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Since a few people have asked for pictures of how the skidplate is mounted, here are a few pictures. Sorry for the sort of poor quality, I left my camera at home. Got the power steering hose done, so nice to have power steering again. Also got a couple of goodies at the dealership ;) and have a line on a new set of sneakers for the car . . . :D
(http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/3295/skid3.jpg)
(http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9194/skid1.jpg)
(http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/5539/skid2.jpg)
To the rear, it's mounted to the power steering rack. In the front, you weld the two feet of the "hoop" to the frame rails. The plate & hoop can be easily removed for service that way, but it is SOLID. You can also do oil changes without removing the skid plate. Bonus!!
Btw, all that stuff you see dripping off the bottom of the engine in the last picture is all power steering fluid. When the high-pressure line goes it makes quite a mess.
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I have a whole bunch of new stuff sitting in the garage and some VERY tasty bits on their way to me. In a couple of weeks I'll post up a big update. The interior willl be getting a complete makeover.
The car will be much different than it is right now.... ;)
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Looking at the pics again, do the spoiler. Definitely.