'project' college beater 318i

Well, seeing as I am keeping this car until it explodes, I figured I may as well entertain you all with my low buck project to keep this thing going during my time at school.

At the end of this post is an updated list of things to do, and things that are done.

I don't think there is a soul out there who doesn't like an e30, appliance-ized or not, so I don't feel bad sharing it with you all.

Plus, it has come to my attention that irish44j has picked up an identical model, but with an exact opposite goal. His: rally slut. Mine: grocery getter.

First comes first, one day I wanted to do an insane project. Like a 302 swapped e30. So I went looking for an e30, and lo and behold, I ran across one 5 minutes from my house. Some old twichy guy who had about 4 MB diesels in his back yard (all running great and looking mint) showed me the car. A quintessential backyard mechanic he was, and we agreed on the price of $950.

Here's a photo the day I bought it.

Power windows and locks, power brakes, power steering, 5 speed manual, 1.8L DOHC 8 valve inline four. Rear drums. "Comfort" vinyl interior. Two way crank sunroof. Lots of warped rubber.

A few rust spots here and there, but the story goes that it was in Kansas until a few years ago. It makes sense, because 99.9% of the car is still there.

When I got it, it had a few problems.

yet to be fixed

• odometer not working
• rear pass window motor not working
• front pass window motor grinding when pushed past the up position
• rear subframe bushings old and weary
• rear trailing arm bushings old and weary
• rear brakes old and weary
• oil pan is leaking
• rear diff is leaking
• brake master cylinder is starting to bypass internally a little
• rubber brake hoses are shot

fixed

• AC compressor is just hanging in the engine bay
• passenger outer ball joint is essentially gone- oil pressure switch was deleted because it was 'leaking'
• air intake boot torn
• front struts blown
• front control arm bushings old and weary
• idle speed incredibly high
• warped front rotors, although not so bad
• coolant temp gauge didn't work
• speedometer intermittently worked
• mpg gauge came in and out
• loud clunking in the back
• cruise control not working
• various lights not working
• battery mostly toast
• tires on the way out
• rear struts blown

Last night I went on RockAuto and PelicanParts and did some shopping. Ended up spending $250 total on these items:

• exhaust hangers
• new oil drain plug and washers
• oil filter
• oil pressure switch
• upper and lower oil pan gaskets
• M3 front control arm bushings
• air intake boot
• some special idle control valve hose
• new front rotors
• axxis metal masters for the front
• two new Boge front strut cartridges
• A fram air filter

Anyway that's enough lists for me, I'll post up the new progress as it goes

it isn't a DOHC

belteshazzar wrote: it isn't a DOHC

"D" and "S" are right next to each other on the keyboard. It's not like he said it has a 16 valve. I'd say it was a simple typo

i like correcting typos

My engine is

OHC

don't forget to grab ahold of that distributor and crank it around a few degrees. woke mine up noticeably.

belteshazzar wrote: don't forget to grab ahold of that distributor and crank it around a few degrees. woke mine up noticeably.

I have that on the list of things to do. Do you remember what your timing was at idle? Or did you just do it by feel.

Just got almost the exactly same car last week (in significantly worse shape). Still planning what I want to do with it!

E30 <3 for you...

Just got almost the exactly same car last week (in significantly worse shape). Still planning what I want to do with it!

E30 <3 for you...

Taiden wrote:

belteshazzar wrote: don't forget to grab ahold of that distributor and crank it around a few degrees. woke mine up noticeably.

I have that on the list of things to do. Do you remember what your timing was at idle? Or did you just do it by feel.

just a little at a time 'till it pinged.

Put in my Boge front struts, M3 control arm bushings, rear exhaust hanger, intake boot, oil pressure switch, and air filter. Oh yeah, and front rotors and pads.

First of all, let me say, this car was a total bitch to work on. It's a combination of rusty fasteners, strut gland nuts that had never been removed, tight place for the rearmost exhaust hanger, no shop press, etc etc. It's a good time.

Anyway, while I was in there i found out that my front brake lines are extremely cracked. I have ordered some replacements and they will be installed soon. I really want to do the rear's also, but as per typical BMW fashion, there are 4 hoses total in back and 2 of them are anecdotally impossible to get to without dropping the subframe.

I also found that one of the ball joints is gone. Now I have to decide if I want to replace the entire control arm, or both entire control arms. They are only about $55 a pop on RockAuto (Üro parts).

The tie rods are still solid, but the boots are getting dry. When it's time to replace them I will just do an e36 rack.

The car feels excellent now, except I can actually feel the balljoint now. Before it was too squishy up front to even notice.

FWIW, I've heard nothing but bad things about Üro parts. Personally, I wouldn't gamble on something as important as a ball joint/control arm.

02Pilot wrote: FWIW, I've heard nothing but bad things about Üro parts. Personally, I wouldn't gamble on something as important as a ball joint/control arm.

Good to know! I'll avoid them and step up the price for a lemforder or something similar.

Mevotech
Beck Arnley
First Line

Are all cheaper than the Lemforder's by a significant margin. Any of those worth snagging?

Don't know anything about the first and last; Beck Arnley are almost always someone else's parts in a BA box. Lemforder are the gold standard; TRW and Moog have decent reputations in the BMW world as well.

looks good, keep it up.

dammit I want those mudflaps. If you have all four, I have a couple working window motors that would be willing to swap you for them

btw, have you pulled up the carpets yet to check the floors? It's impossible to see the rust from underneath due to the heat/noise insulation material so that's worth a check. Turned out I had a several-square-inch rust-through right at the base of the gas pedal, though I never would have known about it/noticed it without pulling the carpet.

Cool project!

Personally I don't like Mevotech stuff at all, but it's pretty common and that's in comparison with OEM parts that I'm used to.

I'm pretty jealous. I'd love to pick up a 5speed 318i sedan around that price point/condition.

Decided to pick up a Lemfoerder arm for the side that had really heinous ball joint play. The other side is not great, but it's not yet alarming. $100 shipped for an OEM replacement arm is still very cheap. The half price Uro arms were tempting but after seeing images of cheap e30 control arms split in half, I figured I'd go for the Lemfoerder.

Also snagged a set of 6 stainless brake lines brand new for $60 shipped. I was going to replace all the rubber ones and the stainless lines ended up being cheaper. Go figure.

Taiden wrote: Decided to pick up a Lemfoerder arm for the side that had really heinous ball joint play. The other side is not great, but it's not yet alarming. $100 shipped for an OEM replacement arm is still very cheap. The half price Uro arms were tempting but after seeing images of cheap e30 control arms split in half, I figured I'd go for the Lemfoerder. Also snagged a set of 6 stainless brake lines brand new for $60 shipped. I was going to replace all the rubber ones and the stainless lines ended up being cheaper. Go figure.

Thank goodness...for stock-type control arms on these- Lemfoerder...ALWAYS Lemfoerder.

Just replaced the control arm today with a lemfoerder. The offending ball joint had a measured 3/8" of play up and down. My god!

Needless to say, the car feels incredibly tight. There is no wandering or ???????? feeling up front. The only thing I feel that needs to change is body roll. I'm going to try to figure out the cheapest way to properly reduce roll up front.

The right front of the car is now very very tight. The left front has a little play which I believe I have tracked down to slight inner tie rod slop. It is very miniscule and I will keep an eye on it as time goes by.

I also got a rear differential cover gasket in the mail along with the control arm. The gasket is totally laughable. It's paper thin. Had I known, I would have just used RTV. I still may.

Taiden wrote: The gasket is totally laughable. It's paper thin. Had I known, I would have just used RTV. I still may.

I know for a fact brown paper grocery bags like the ones you might get if you shopped at Whole Foods work perfectly adequately when gasketing many things, including the rear in an MGB. I still use a thin bead of RTV though.

MG_Bryan wrote:

Taiden wrote: The gasket is totally laughable. It's paper thin. Had I known, I would have just used RTV. I still may.

I know for a fact brown paper grocery bags like the ones you might get if you shopped at Whole Foods work perfectly adequately when gasketing many things, including the rear in an MGB. I still use a thin bead of RTV though.

Pair that with light taps from a small nylon mallet and you can easily make a gasket to fit anything! I like it

permatex makes a great rtv specifically for gear lube/diff's. It's good.