Author Topic: Voluted (Read 4835 times)

Voluted · « **on:** February 22, 2008, 02:39:46 AM »

Well i figured since i have been trolling this forum for over a year now for fun/advise/tips it's time i contribute a bit of my car.

It's a 1991 318iS painted Imola red (the red from the e46 m3s). It had 150,000 KMs on it when i got it with a full BMW service record. The car was my aunts previously and she had not driven it for 5-6 years so she decided to give it to me for my first car.

To get it started i only had to replace the fuel pump (which had been immersed in a 1/4 tank of gas for 5 years at least). I flushed the tank and lines with several liters of gas and had the injectors reconditioned. The spark plugs and all the fluids and filters were also changed before i was happy running the motor for more than 30 seconds. All of the rotors and pads were changed and one brake line, which had come in contact with the firewall somehow, needed replacing and the system was bled. The car was then brought to a friend's collision repair center in a trailer for prep work and new paint.

Heres some of the journey over to my house and a shot of it being worked on in my driveway

(taken with my crappy cell phone camera)

These were taken with my sisters digital cam (little bit better than the cell phone cam

). The car was in the shop and most of the prep work was done at this point.

Below is where a 1/2 ft hole lined with rust used to be. The family's guess is my aunt drove backed the car into a curb/snow bank one day but we don't know for sure. Either way after the paint you would never have known it existed.

And below are some of the car right before it was taken to the shop to get paint. I took these pictures so i have something to compare my project to when i take pictures after it's done.

Unfortunately i was so excited to have my car after it was painted that i forgot to take pictures of most of the work i did so far. I will take some full body pics this coming spring with a Nikon DSLR after a nice wash and wax

.

The pictures you see with some snow at the beginning of the post were taken about a year ago. I have had the car on the road since last June and have loved it since. It has been killing me to drive it in the winter like this but i am left with no choice as it gets me to and from school.

Voluted · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2008, 02:40:29 AM »

This is a preview of the car after the paint. (again with the crappy cell phone cam)

Voluted · « **Reply #2 on:** March 11, 2008, 08:38:30 PM »

My friend sent me the pics i took with his camera that i forgot about. These were taken after the paint. I didn't have most of the trim bits put on at this point but you get to see what the paint looks like at least.

Voluted · « **Reply #3 on:** August 24, 2008, 03:31:45 PM »

Got around to taking these pictures today with my canon elf. I will take some more with the DSLR later tonight, and again on a nicer day.

318kid · « **Reply #4 on:** August 24, 2008, 07:39:16 PM »

Well Car looks clean, but I'm not a fan of those rims.... they may look a little better with a drop. Oh and also I dont like the dipped look. I love contrast but maybe its me. Good Job though... If you like it thats all that counts.

Angus1211 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 24, 2008, 11:51:44 PM »

wow nice transformation.

may ask how much the whole paint job cost?

Voluted · « **Reply #6 on:** August 25, 2008, 08:34:39 PM »

Paint cost $2000. Included in the cost was a new hood (250) and some body rust repair. The sunroof was removed by them, as well as much of the interior trim so that the door jams could be painted. I removed all of the exterior trim and bumpers prior to paint to cut the cost a bit too.

Danny707 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 25, 2008, 09:03:00 PM »

Yikes.

Paint those mouldings black, trust me.

Voluted · « **Reply #8 on:** October 01, 2008, 09:37:43 AM »

I went to bimmercruise 2008 this weekend but forgot my camera at home so here are some pictures taken by other people! BTW i'm only showing pictures of e30s here, but there are plenty others available on the maxbimmer forums.

There were quite a few really nice cars at the show, but i was hoping for many more e30s than there were. If you guys live in the Toronto area you should come next year. I have also been on a few e46toronto.ca cruises with a buddy for shits, no one minds.

If you want more pics from the show of the other cars:
http://maxbimmer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111064

JuniorM42 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 01, 2008, 04:27:47 PM »

nice paint job, your car had the exact same rust spot thats on my car lol

Voluted · « **Reply #10 on:** October 20, 2008, 11:16:46 PM »

Since i have some time off from school i have decided to finally change most of the steering/suspension bits under the car starting with the front and rear sway bar bushings.

Take a look at what they used to look like :eek:

The front end feels a lot stiffer with the new bushings as i expected, and vibration from bumps on the road as been significantly decreased. I can't wait to replace everything else.

Voluted · « **Reply #11 on:** October 26, 2008, 09:54:09 PM »

I replaced my control arms (with ball joints), tie rod ends, sway bar links, and control arm bushings today. The job took about 6 hours total, with the majority of the work being in taking off the upper ball joint nuts off of the sub frame. I'll post a few pictures of the old parts and the new installed parts some time tomorrow.

For anyone thinking about doing this work, DOOO EEEET!!! The car feels fantastic with a complete set of fresh front end pieces and i am wishing i did the work sooner.

In the next couple weeks i'll be replacing the differential mount, rear cross member bushings, stabilizer bar bushings, and whatever else looks/feels broken back there. I'll try to take a bunch of pictures and make a writeup for this job since i haven't seen one on this forum yet.