...heh, like that term! This is my daily driver, grocery-getter, track car, date-night car, stress-reliever econobox.
Here's my story of "Junior":
VIN WBAAF9313MEE65134. I found it in December 2002 at a corner garage. Here's a photo of it on the garage lot, before I bought it:
It sat there for several weeks before I finally stopped one night and put my business card on the window, with a note saying "call me if you ever want to sell this car". I had been looking for a nice, alpine white E30 for about 2 years. This one had a straight body, leatherette interior, and looked like it only needed a little TLC to bring back to life. About three weeks later, I got a call from the shop, saying the car was actually at the shop for a prepurchase inspection, but that the inspection suggested it needed about $2000 in repairs. They decided not to do that. The repairs required were: all new A/C system due to a leak, a new instrument cluster due to nonfunctioning speedometer, and a new speed sensor in the diff. Actually, the cluster repair was a 10-minute fix with a soldering iron.
I inquired as to the price, and was directed to the owners, with whom I reached a deal. I paid $2900 for it in 2003. I have owned it since March 2003. The car is from Florida originally, so it's dash has split in a few places. A previous owner had the windows tinted, and the most recent owner had the tint removed, also damaging the defroster grid beyond repair.
Profile gasket done by previous owner (no receipts, but visual confirmation)Factory options: sunroof delete, central locking delete. No limited slip.
What have I done to the car? * items are when I was chasing a rough running condition. The new coils solved it. As usual, the last and most expensive thing to replace. I have done everything below except charge the A/C, mount the tires, and have it aligned.
Underhood/Performance- All new coolant hoses (all of them)
- intake manifold gaskets *
- throttle position sensor *
- coolant temp sensor *
- fuel pressure regulator *
- all vacuum hoses *
- all four ignition coils, spark plugs *
- new timing cover gaskets, front main seal, valve cover gasket
- all new filters,
- new belts, water pump, thermostat
- new correct Bosch O2 sensor
- new power steering fluid reservoir
- new timing chain, sprockets, tensioner, and guiderail
- installed a good used A/C compressor and new drier, and converted to R134a
- new Eberspacher muffler and hangers
- replaced gaskets on oil filter canister
- EAT performance chip
- new washer pump and jets in hood
- new foam underhood insulation
- Mobil1 0W40 or 15W50, weather-dependent, 5k change intervals
- new radiator as of 9/10/06
Here's under the hood, pretty clean:
Suspension/Steering/Braking- new Bilstein Heavy Duty shocks all around, with new shock mounts front and rear
- 3mm spring pads in front
- new control arm bushings (non-M3) and lower control arms, tie rods (inner and outer), all suspension bushings except subframe and differential
- new rear Brembo brake rotors with Autozone pads, with AutoZone pads and Carbotech-recommended import rotors on the front (worked GREAT at the only driver's school the car has ever seen, last summer at Virginia International Raceway, have Panther Plus pads for track duty)
- Dunlop SP Sport A2 205/60R14 tires
- ATE super blue brake fluid, flushed annually
Transmission/Driveline- new center support bearing and guibo
- new shifter bushings
- new transmission mounts
- new shift knob (leather)
- Redline D4 ATF in tranny, 80W90 in diff
- Ireland Engineering short shifter (installed 9/26/06, love it!!)
Exterior- added ellipsoid driving lights (318is came with the holes blanked out, unlike the 325is that had the fogs from the factory)
- new Roundels on hood and trunk
- new antenna mast
- rear license plate filler/surround (US plate filler)...see photo:
- "i" lip spoiler on the front..."is" spoiler lost by previous owner, and hard to find used!!
- 325is automatic lower valence air inlet (for transmission cooler); adds a little "flair" to the front end!
Interior- recovered driver's seatback bolsters
- added VDO oil pressure gauge, runs 60-70 cold, 15-20 hot (AT IDLE)
- OP gauge mounted in leather-covered 2-gauge panel (w/lighter socket) to replace ashtray
- replaced all three odometer drive gears
- Euro 55L gas gauge
- complete toolkit
- installed used (good) tweeter pods
- installed good used fog light switch
- installed foglight bulb in dash (since it didn't have fogs from the factory, it didn't have a bulb to start with...)
- new hood release cable
Here I am on track at VIR last July at the HPDE.
Glad to be here! I've been looking for a great forum to share this fun little car with, and looks like I've found a home!
