91 318is build.

[dude8383]

how come its idling so high? cold start?

lookin good!!

[WeOnlyHaveLime]

Awesome work!

Your car is a lot like mine (except I have black interior). You're also doing a lot of what I plan to do, just in a much smaller time frame, lol. Very motivating thread. Keep us posted! Car is looking great!

[autox320]

Finally get to drive it, nice! Looks great with those wheels.

Pivot pin was about gone in ours too. One of those less than a buck parts that gets forgotten on clutch jobs lol.

Just curious why didn't paint the block?

[dakon]

how come its idling so high? cold start?

don't know, that was one of the first times the motor was started, the motor was ran for a little bit yesterday, and it did drop we didn't replace the idle control valve, we might do that?? but i would think the idle control valve would cause an erratic and not a dead solid value...

if anyone has any ideas, i would like to hear them.

Just curious why didn't paint the block?

we didn't have a media blaster, and cleaning the block would have taken to long.. the law of diminishing returns sets in pretty quick....

[dakon]

each rear spring got 2 15mm spring pad's in addition to the stock pads.

Claire, Dans wife took the car out on a shake down run today. She said the car is set up really good, suspension is just right... However she said i HAD to put a clutch stop in the car.. At which point i kindly told her that I put a clutch stop in the mail yesterday . She also said the car turned out much better than she though that it would.


oh and the tail lights are 50$ fleebay specials, though i would try them out, i will most likely be going with OEM ones, or something of that sort.

[dakon]

Here is the 318, next to the 2 race cars, S52 swapped 318ti's... the 318 was pretty Damn close to getting an S52, but in the end i think the M42 will be just fine...

[VegasKyle]

Looks great.  Hopefully mine will turn out as well.  Though at a much slower pace.  Only thing I would change is the tail lights but I like a stock look.

[bigalrut]

Nice find dude...the car is going to be incredible!  I just bought one, not as good a deal though, and need some pointers.  It has 158K on it with an oil leak from the upper oil pan gasket.  Not sure if the timing chain was changed out.  The suspension is worn out and the steering wheel tends to rattle/jump when I hit a bump.  There is a minor rattle in the front end.  

I have experience working on cars but limited to small projects...never a complete rebuild.  I want to replace the front end and maybe an engine rebuild to gain more HP.  Do you or anyone reading this have any recommendations?  Manuals I could use?  Anything to get me started?  Thanks

[mr.vang]

i just finish reading the thread. awesome job. i'm just carious, how much the build not including the car?

[dakon]

around 10k$... the car only cost 460$..... so the cost of the car was inconsequential...

[dakon]

I have experience working on cars but limited to small projects...never a complete rebuild.  I want to replace the front end and maybe an engine rebuild to gain more HP.  Do you or anyone reading this have any recommendations?  Manuals I could use?  Anything to get me started?  Thanks

get

http://www.amazon.com/BMW-E30-Service-Manual-1984-1990/dp/0837603250

and
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Service-Repair-Manual-Haynes-Manuals/dp/1859602363


i'll ask dan what other manuals he used for the motor rebuilt, to get the torque spec's..

suspension stuff isn't hard. you just need the right tools, spring compressor, and other random tools...


biggest thing is to have the correct tools for the job.. buying tools is never a bad investment. I gave Dan extra money to cover any tools he needed that he didn't have we both knew that there would be a few tools that he would need that he didn't have on hand.

i wound up buying the wheel bearing tool, 195$ i think.. but we did both wheel bearings, and Dan will be doing the wheel bearings in both of his Ti's. If you were to go to a shop to have a wheel bearing replaced it would easily be 200$ each...

i hope this helps some.

 if you do the timing chain (pelican has the best price), you might want to do the guides, and the cam gears, and the crank gear also.. cam gears are about 50$ each, and i think the crank gear was 70$
(getbmwparts.com for the gears)..

[VegasKyle]

 if you do the timing chain (pelican has the best price), you might want to do the guides, and the cam gears, and the crank gear also.. cam gears are about 50$ each, and i think the crank gear was 70$
(getbmwparts.com for the gears)..

Don't forget the idler gear.  getbmwparts.com also has the best price on the guides.

[dakon]

I skipped that gear, because mine was in good condition, and it was 126$ for that gear alone...... but if it isn't in good condition then yes, that would be something to look at as well. however this gear doesn't see any real load, so it is possible that it would be in decent condition, that was my reason for excluding that specific gear.

[VegasKyle]

I skipped that gear, because mine was in good condition, and it was 126$ for that gear alone...... but if it isn't in good condition then yes, that would be something to look at as well. however this gear doesn't see any real load, so it is possible that it would be in decent condition, that was my reason for excluding that specific gear.

I know it doesn't see any real load but I don't like the idea of trusting my engine to a gear with a couple pieces of plastic holding ball bearings.  BMW didn't omit it from later engines for no reason.  I also saw a video someone posted on r3v where the idler failed and his engine jumped time.  Also you can find some good deals on parts if you spend some time looking.  By googling the part number I was able to get one new for $42 of someone on ebay.

Great job on your car.  I hope mine looks as good when Im done.  The wheels look great, they have an Alpina feel to them.

[bigalrut]

Thanks for the info and the advice.