For the BMW fans. E30 318is.

[skyracer]

Sup,

Picked up this baby last week from work.

It's a 89 E30 318is coupe m42.



Rare as hell cars. The last 318is that came into work was 2 years ago. And I work at the largest BMW wrecker in the country. o.O

So when it came in. I jumped on it right away. Everybody else in the work shop was fighting over it. I walked into the office and told the boss. "I want to pay for it right now" Having only looked at the car for 2 minutes, if that. He asks me. "Don't you want to take it for a test drive or something first?". So I did. I had never driven one before so I didn't know what to expect. But it was just awesome. So I took it home that night on the trade plates as it needs a few things for roadworthy and rego. Went for a little drive to see what it can do.

1st gear = wheel spin city, slam it into 2nd gear and you still have to have both hands on the steering wheel while the ass end kicks out. 3rd gear gives a nice chirp and just keeps pulling.

So happy with it. But it needs a lot of work. Sucks not being able to drive it until i get a roady and rego. But it's mostly all the little things that need fixing. So shouldn't be too long till it's on the road.

The work begins!











Thanks Geoff!! :P


And the tools to get the job done.



Fun times ahead. Will keep this thread updated on my progress.

[hakhawk]

thread approved and subscribed, awesome score, especially being the m42!!

got any plans yet, or still just stoked over getting it?

edit: get her on the road for the sept gippy cruise!! if jesterarts still has his e30then, we can take over the cruise with our bimmers!!!!

[skyracer]

Still stoked over getting it really. My housemates heaps jealous. haha. Took him for a spin the other night, then he spent all night trying to find one for sale online. Didn't find any. lol.

Cruise sounds awesome. Trying to get it on the road asap. Can't wait to get to work tomorrow so I can order in some parts.

[kniever]

nice pick up, just a question, whats an M42?

[skyracer]

"The BMW M42 is a DOHC 16-valve I4 piston engine first built for the E30 318is and 318i 1991 year model. The engine block is based on the BMW M40, used on the 318i, but had distinctive features such as double overhead cams driven by a timing chain, hydraulic valve lifters, and an increased 10:1 compression ratio."

Hope that helps.

[kniever]

yeh it does :P, never heard of the m42 b4, cheers for the info

[skyracer]

Haha no probs!

Sorry the following pics are a bit dark. It started pissing down rain here in little ol rosebud so I worked on the car in the garage.

Got a bit done today. Cleaned out the dual stage throttle body. I should have taken a before pic. It was nothing but black on the inside.



Took out the spark plugs to find that the rocker cover gasket has a major oil leak. the spark plugs were swimming in engine oil.



So I took the rocker cover off and took the old gasket off. Decided to paint the cover while I had it off.



Then got stuck into the sun roof. It now opens and closes haha. Hell yeah!!

[Jesterarts]

So wish I'd known more about bimmers when I bought mine... there was a 318is a selling for a grand more than my 318i but I didn't see what all the fuss was about.

Yeah... I know what the fuss is about now lol.

Nice pickup mate, should be a ncie little project.

Thanks,

[skyracer]

No, thank you Jesterarts. lol

Got my headlights working today. Not Hids though. I would have taken a pic but I ran the battery flat starring at the front of the car. lol

Also went into Repco today for a high flow air filter. Wanted to charge me $185 for one. :O I kinda just stood there like... you serious. It's a fricken air filter.

[hakhawk]

cmon man, that 3 letter word makes everything twice as dear, you should know this

what headlights has it got? the projectors?

[Jesterarts]

cmon man, that 3 letter word makes everything twice as dear, you should know this

what headlights has it got? the projectors?

Since when is 'Repco' a 3 letter word....

You should go projector headlights but not the same as mine... mine are f'ing shit! I think generally... looks at what I've done to my bimmer... and try to avoid making those mistakes...

[skyracer]

Yeah just the standard projecter ones Ive got. The rh high beam lens is cracked though. But all good. I got a new one from work for $75. will put it on tomorrow night.

Haha ok. Ive been through your thread. Most of it's pretty much just stuff breaking. LOL I'll try to avoid that. Head lights are going on my 'To Mod' list. Your ones can't be that bad? I reckon they look pretty cool. :P

[Jesterarts]

Yeah, the look alright but they are made dodgey. Basically, the low beams are projector's which works awesome, but the highbeams are just standard reflectors. Fair enough, but to get the highbeam looking all nice and black they've basically just painted over the refelctor bit. Making highbeam completely useless.

Plus the halo rings are dodge. In mine there is like 4 parker globes that light up the ring, but you can get better ones with a much nicer halo. Having said that... I think the halo's cheapen the e30's abit. They look much niced with say projectors for lowbeam and the yellow tinted euro-spec highbeams...

[skyracer]

Ah true. I'll look into them when I have the money for a new pair of lights. :P Are you going on the south gippy cruise next month? We can all compare our head lights hahaha.

Going to take my gear knob into work tomorrow to get a quote. Mines too far worn for my liking.



Hope it's not like $300 for a new one just because it's got the m sport badge. >.<

[skyracer]

Done a little bit this weekend. Cleaned the inside of the car without going nuts with carpet cleaner stuff lol. Took out the seats. Found like $10 in change under the back seat. Score! haha Put my new m sport genuine bmw gear knob on . Got a m sport leather boot for the hand break too. Took out the old school mobile phone holder funky thing that was attached to the center console. Fixed my RH head light.

Coming together nicely.


Some before and after pics.

When I first got it.



After.



Before.



After.

[Jesterarts]

Fark, nice work mate!

Looks awesome! I'm also impressed to see a E30 dash that's not weather cracked...

Came up a treat...

[BLKVESV6]

looks good mate, should be awesome when its finished

[skyracer]

The dash is cracked. But no where near what most of them are. Pretty good considering. Getting new front slotted rotors this week and Caster bushes. Then the Week after is new windscreen and tires all round. Then roady and rego. YEPOO



Can't wait for the sept gippy cruise.

[VjamesY]

Nice car, you gave her a good scrub mate, looks heaps cleaner now.

Ill be watching over this thread, I love old beamers just as much as commodores. My next cars going to be an e30 or a vz calais hopefully...

Cant wait to see the progress,

also just wondering what cosmetic mods your considering? Wheels and some stance hopefully haha

[hakhawk]

check ebay for a shifter knob, i bought a new weighted m3 factory job for ~$90. check realoem.com for the part number, and search it on ebay

[skyracer]

Way ahead of ya :P It's already installed. hehe.

[hakhawk]

haha nice, exactly the same as mine(looks it anyway), except i bought a non m logo for it

[skyracer]

Well, got my cross drilled vented race rotors. Put them on today. All was well. UNTILL!!!

lol

Took the wheels off, took the calipers off, took the old stock rotors off. Put the new rotors on then compressed the brake calipers and put new pads in. Put the calipers back on. Put the front left wheel back on. Everything was fine. Go to put the front right wheel back on. Put the bolt in the hole. Then as soon as it starts going in with my impact gun. Starts to struggle. so I'm like hmmmm? Put the gun in reverse and get the bolt out. And I am left with this.



So I'm like. wtf it came out fine why the hell did it decide to strip itself when it went back in? So I tried another bolt in another hole. did the same thing WTF??? so I tried ANOTHER bolt in ANOTHER HOLE.....DOES IT AGAIN WTFTFTFWTFTF!?!?!? 3 different bolts in 3 different holes. >.< So I try the last bolt in the last hole and it goes in just fine like it should. Like all the other ones have done before.

I don't understand. It's not the first time I have taken the front right wheel off on this car and tried to put it back on. For what ever reason is beyond me. The bolts this time just decided to strip themselves. and the condition of the thread in the hub is now compromised. ffs. So pissed off. Was so pissed off I still took the car for a drive around the block to test the new discs and pads out. with only 1 bolt all the way in. lol. god damn stupid.

Anyway. pics.

[hakhawk]

rip the hubs off, drill the holes out and convert to press in studs, easier for swapping wheels too

[ari666]

cut a groove in the thread of the bolt with a 1mm angle grinding disc, thighten her back up and never take it off again

lol, sexy bimmer mate saw the "sunroof not working" part and had a lol. i took a trade-in bimmer ages back, the owner didnt know why the sunroof wouldnt close, had a quick look in it, saw the problem, said to the owner "yeah, its pretty bad the mechanism needs to be replaced" he left happy he got good money for his trade in, and i took the pen someone had put in the sunroof mechanism out and was happy with my new working bimmer sunroof