1.8l of Cockiness & LA-mobile.

[thedguy]

I didn't feel like I fit in well enough when driving through South Orange County. At least now I can be a badge whore with the rest of 'em

1991 BMW 318i, 5speed with the DOHC motor... the very motor I bitched about before when my brothers timing chain decided it wanted freedom via the oil pump.

140hp, 138lb-ft of torque (when new). Around 2700lbs. The motor runs like a champ, the previous owner was a mechanic and took real good care of the driveline. No chain rattle, and the clutch is still good for the original unit and 173k+ on it.

As you can see the body could use some serious paint work, I may see how well a rattle can job will work after I burn through the paint trying to get the pealing clear coat off.









Factory header! The few engine builders that tweak these motors haven't seen a need to change it out even when going for over 100hp/liter.



An excellent shot of how fucked the paint is, thank you San Diego sun and salty air.



Other than fixing the few mechanical things that need addressing, I think about the only mods going on this car are sway bars, wheels, stainless brake lines, better brake pads, and Hella H1/h4 headlights with e-code (euro) lenses.

[Punisher Bass]

So, what happened to that Taurus wagon you never mentioned to anyone else on here?

[prizrak]

Dude you should have totally gotten the 318ti

[thedguy]

Originally Posted by Punisher Bass

So, what happened to that Taurus wagon you never mentioned to anyone else on here?

It's currently up for sale, I've mentioned it to others, infact I think I've brought it up on the forum once.

Originally Posted by prizrak

Dude you should have totally gotten the 318ti

Why? Granted a hatch would have been nice, but they are ugly (especially compared to the e30), are heavier, and significantly more expensive.


edit: It has dawned on me that I currently own a cars engineered on 3 continents... now I just need a damn GTO for a few days

[MadCow809]

great choice : )

congrats on the new car.

now go get some new exhaust, intake, headers, rims, and aftermarket suspension : )

[thedguy]

Originally Posted by MadCow809

great choice : )

congrats on the new car.

now go get some new exhaust, intake, headers, rims, and aftermarket suspension : )

Thanks.

It's got an 318 with an m42, it uses 1 header and the factory one is beyond adequate.

Rims, sway bars, and brakes are about all it's getting. The lowest part of these cars are the fragile aluminum oil pans. Last thing I need to do is cruise through LA with that thing sitting 1/2 from the ground.

[MadCow809]

Originally Posted by thedguy

Thanks.

It's got an 318 with an m42, it uses 1 header and the factory one is beyond adequate.

Rims, sway bars, and brakes are about all it's getting. The lowest part of these cars are the fragile aluminum oil pans. Last thing I need to do is cruise through LA with that thing sitting 1/2 from the ground.

yeah.. it was a typo I made. Thanks for correcting it.

Regarding the aftermarket suspension, you don't need to drop it by a lot. Just lower it slightly to make the apperance, handling & drivig experience better.

Looks like you are loving the RWD platform : p I'm stuck here with a GTI, not like it's a bad car, but I'm missing rwd awfully lot.

Btw, did you go to the crest this morning? It was drizzling and really foggy, made the trip quite scary : p I was properly scared when taking some of the corners in 3rd gear with the T/C off.

[JipJopJones]

Nice car, I was looking at getting one of these when I bought my civic, unfortunatley they were all super high mileage.

Definetly need some new rims on that, those ones are kind of horrid.

[public]

E30's are great. Are you going to be getting rid of the purple tints?

[vRS]

Thats a cool BMW. Not a cock one. Bit work and it'll be looking very nice.

Any interior pictures?

[thedguy]

Originally Posted by MadCow809

Crest

Haven't been on the crest in a few weeks now I might get a chance next weekend.

The correction was only screwing with you, I probably should have put some kind of smiley in there

Originally Posted by JipJopJones

Nice car, I was looking at getting one of these when I bought my civic, unfortunatley they were all super high mileage.

Definetly need some new rims on that, those ones are kind of horrid.

These cars actually take high mileage fairly well, at least the motors do. I picked this one up specifically because the owner was a mechanic and this was his 3rd one and as I said before, the expensive bits are well taken care of.

If I were you I'd keep an eye out. I only had my Ford so I wouldn't get antsy for a car and by something I would regret.

Originally Posted by public

E30's are great. Are you going to be getting rid of the purple tints?

Yes. Oh god yes I will be getting rid of it.

[Der Stig]

Great car! I lurve E30's and even though it's fairly high mileage, I'm sure it's got many more to come. Can't wait to see it with new paint and proper rims

[prizrak]

Originally Posted by thedguy

It's currently up for sale, I've mentioned it to others, infact I think I've brought it up on the forum once.



Why? Granted a hatch would have been nice, but they are ugly (especially compared to the e30), are heavier, and significantly more expensive.


edit: It has dawned on me that I currently own a cars engineered on 3 continents... now I just need a damn GTO for a few days

No reason really I just like its quirky looks

[tigger]

Looks like a fun little car, E30s are probably my favorite BMWs. After seeing a couple at the last autocross I went to I really want one. Are you going to take it to the track, or just save the punishment for your Miata?

[thedguy]

Miata is my track abuser, this is my daily driver. There is the odd chance it'll see track abuse, but not till I get better with the miata.

I wanted this so I had something entertaining when I'm driving home from Malibu and want to enjoy my drive

Looks like I may have a line on getting it resprayed for under $1k. I need to figure out how to pull the extra body trim off before I do that though.

[prizrak]

Originally Posted by thedguy

Miata is my track abuser, this is my daily driver. There is the odd chance it'll see track abuse, but not till I get better with the miata.

I wanted this so I had something entertaining when I'm driving home from Malibu and want to enjoy my drive

Looks like I may have a line on getting it resprayed for under $1k. I need to figure out how to pull the extra body trim off before I do that though.

If you can find a place that is willing to work with you, you can save money by doing all the prep work yourself. Like sanding it all down and stuff and they will just charge you for the paint. A friend of mine is doing that with a local place, his going to do all the prep work then hauling the car (he wants painted engine bay so engine is getting pulled out) over to the paint place and they are going to charge him under 1K for a fully custom paintjob on a 240SX. Otherwise it would have been something like 3K.

[thedguy]

That's what I've heard. I've got a friend that can get it done for me, no engine bay or door jambs, for under $1k. But I'll have to take off any trim I don't want sprayed.

As I hate doing much of the stuff related to paint, I may go that route. I'm also currently considering getting a flat even surface and going rattle can black on it.

[hansvonaxion]

Have you ever checked into panel-beating schools near you to see if they need cars? There's a tech college where I'm from that just charges for paint. It needs to be in reasonable nick (ie no rust) but they prep and paint.

I've also looked at MX-5's and old 3ers when searching for used cars.
I think you have outstanding taste.

[thedguy]

Originally Posted by hansvonaxion

Have you ever checked into panel-beating schools near you to see if they need cars? There's a tech college where I'm from that just charges for paint. It needs to be in reasonable nick (ie no rust) but they prep and paint.

You know I keep forgetting about that option. I'll have to ask around see what I can find out.

Right now I'm seriously considering a $50 paint roller job with rustoleum when I have a couple of days off to work on the paint.

I've also looked at MX-5's and old 3ers when searching for used cars.
I think you have outstanding taste.

Thanks

[tigger]

Originally Posted by thedguy

You know I keep forgetting about that option. I'll have to ask around see what I can find out.

Hopefully it's better out there, but around here vo-techs take forever to turn a car around. As in months.

But hey, I've seen some Rustoleum/roller jobs that looked surprisingly good. If you want to be really cheap, a thorough rattle can job will hold up for a year or so.