I bought an iS today, hooray!

[nedtheviking]

Hey guys, I've newly joined this forum, but I've been scoping around for a while, and I'm a member of e30tech.com also. So i bought a 91 318iS today. it's pretty beat, but I'm pretty excited about it. it's roughly infinitely cooler than my current car, an automatic 96 cavalier that i inherited from my grandma, which is teal.
  The car is black with a tan vinyl interior, which is in pretty good shape, although there is water under the drivers seat, so something is leaking. The worst part about this car is that it was involved in a bad enough accident to get a rebuilt title. The car got hit pretty hard in the back (and not as hard in the front), and was fixed pretty ghetto-ly.
   because of the ghetto fix its pretty rusty back there, and if you look at the body you can tell there's a fair amount of filler involved.
    It hasnt been maintained very well, the guy just didnt care about it too much.
   The best part about it is that it only has 125k on it. I got it fairly cheaply, it wasnt exactly a steal cause the car is in such dicey shape (oh and the steering rack is shot. and it needs 4 new tires. and the diff is disgusting, and therefore may need to be rebuilt soon.)
  I drove it around though, and revving it to redline was pretty tremendous. I felt bad for this car, and want to make it better. its like a cool dog at the animal shelter. its almost certainly going to be more trouble than its worth, and your heart wants it even though your brain is like "dont do this!!!!".
   basically no sane person would have bought this car, but cavalier-ing around was killing me. im excited about this car, and really glad to have this forum as a resource. cheers guys. Ned.

i dont know if my attachments worked. here's my photobucket site. dont mind the name.....

http://s187.photobucket.com/albums/x275/poopypants1233/

P.S. what do you guys think i should do with the car? DD beater? resto project? is the body too shot to make normal again?

[lcgtrplr]

Wow....from a cavalier to an "is" like turning a light switch on.  i had a 535is 1988 back in the 90's and the a 735is in the early 2000's then i drove a 92 lincoln towncar on the road and put over 350,000 miles on it. I bought my first 318is 1991 in july. it needs some things done and is a work in progress but is the most thrilling car i have ever owned. i have owned mopars in the 70's 71 roadrunner 383 71 duster 340 70 roadrunner 383 and an assorted lot of muscle cars but this car redefines the fun factor. Have fun fixing it up. there are a lot of bargain parts to be found here and on ebay and a lot of great support here and a wealth of knowledge. Welcome and enjoy the ride!!

[Febi Guibo]

welcome ned.... maybe stop by a good frame/body shop and get a professional opinion on the overall condition / straightness of the body... ?

[Wise Old Dog]

I like the DD beater idea. That's what I have. Get the mechanical and electrical systems right. Kill the rust and paint the affected areas. Make the interior nice (that's what you see when you're driving). And if you still have money left, fix the exterior. Then you have to worry about all kinds of crap that you didn't used to. Scratches, dirt, parking lots, tree sap, waxing, theft, etc. I love not worrying about those things, knowing that my car is mechanically perfect underneath. I've probably got 4-5k invested in mine, but it would cost another 2k to get the outside perfect. I kinda like the beater disguise. Keep in mind the reason we like these cars, is for the way that they drive. Have fun with it.

[gearheadE30]

Yea, now that I have a nice one I almost want to get a beater one as a daily so I don't have to worry about it as much...

[FL318is]

WELCOME!  They are fun cars and addicting.  Enjoy!

[ChItalian1027]

i don't have an e30 is but i do have e36 ti but i have to say they are very fun and welcolm!!

i agree wit febi bring it to a chassis shop and get it looked at

also bring it to an alignement shop and get it aligned just incase!!

good luck

[nedtheviking]

Hey guys, let me just say thank you for being positive about this! i was pretty sure people were going to be like "ahahahhaha your an idiot for buying that car its in terrible shape" etc. etc. so it was wonderful to hear people be excited for me.
   Im picking the car up tommorow, I succesfully got it registered which was nice. I was wondering if you guys have any advice on stuff to bring or to do before i leave.

    Im bringing some oil, antifreeze/distilled water, duct tape and bungee cords to keep the battery from falling out of the rusted out battery tray, and some brake fluid. i was thinking about getting some ATF for the power steering, but after reading a bunch of threads about that scene, it sounds like running the power steering dry isnt that awful for it. My really big question is should i check the transmission fluid and differential fluid before setting off?
 
    Im worried all the diff fluid has leaked out. how terrible would it be to drive 200 miles with little or no fluid in there? ive never checked diff fluid and dont have any tools yet, so i dont know if that would work out.
   anyway, im really excited, i just hope i make it back!

P.S. i have to get tires for it, i was thinking about sumitomo HTR T4's, has anyone used these?

[gearheadE30]

I can't think of anything else to bring off the top of my head, except for a good set of tools. As for the steering, it is not good for it to run dry. It is ok, however, to drive it without the belt hooked up. If you run it dry, it will probably damage the pump. Not sure about the diff, but it probably wouldn't be good to run it without fluids. It is a pain to fill and check, though, so I'd probably take the chance. Check it when you get home, though.

[nedtheviking]

Hey guys, so the car ran like a (slightly out of balance) top all 200 miles of the trip! I washed and waxed it, although i did a pretty bad job and used too much wax, so it doesn't look that good. the wheels are also filthy, after i clean it up i'll post some pictures. can i use armor all wheel cleaner on them or will that mess them up?
  I need to go buy some tools and jack stands so i can check and fill the diff fluid, but im having serious trouble locating redline fluids at any stores near me. do you guys buy everything online? Also, i think i have a limited slip, and i was wondering what tools i need to check the diff fluid, and where the drain and fill plugs on the diff are. oh, and the same for the tranny, i would like to drain and re-fill that as well. i would just check my Bentley, but its not getting here until Thursday, and i want to drive my car before then.
  I decided that the car is going to be a DD beater, because it would take so much work to make the body nice again. it wobbles a bit on the highway because of the accident, but its not too bad.
   oh and i put some ATF in the power steering reservoir and it immediately worked, and hasn't left and toxic puddles when its been parked, so that was good news.
   sorry my posts are so essay like, i'll try and make them shorter in the future.
cheers.

[nedtheviking]

sorry i forgot in my previous post to mention that the abs and brake lining check light don't come on when the key is just turned to ignition, im assuming someone did this because they were on all the time. the brakes work fine, i should check the pads though. my question is how can i turn these back on? also, the drivers side door lock doesn't work , i saw that pelican had a door lock repair kit, has anyone used this? thanks guys.

[rr97guy]

Hey congratulations on your acquisition, I just traded for an 91 318is w/ 196k miles on her. car also has a salvage title although seller did not know history of car. I can not tell what was damaged. I don't want to sour the milk by doing a carfax report on it.  I too am not to worried about my investment being lost as it is a labor of love for this car. It runs great shifts very smoothly, drives perfectly straight when you take hands of steering wheel. It does not pull 2 one side when braking with hands off wheel either. It has a black leather interior w/ sport seats, they are dried out but I have been weekly treating them w/ Lexol. this has only helped a little but I dont have the funds to replace seat covers so I hope 2 make them last a while. It needs a new paintjob as clearcoat is peeling off,but again I can make due for a while.  Good luck with the car and your restoration.

[Wise Old Dog]

You need a 17mm allen socket to check the fluids. I use Royal Purple gear lube and tranny fluid. It's usually available locally. Is it as good or better than Redline product? Heck, I don't know, but I don't have any complaints either. Good luck.

[Febi Guibo]

sorry i forgot in my previous post to mention that the abs and brake lining check light don't come on when the key is just turned to ignition... my question is how can i turn these back on?

the PO prolly removed the bulbs from the cluster... at some point when you replace the SI board batteries you can put a new set of cluster bulbs in.