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Thread: Project Lessmeister: 91 318iS Restomod w/ MTech2 and modern drivetrain

  1. #1
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    Project Lessmeister: 91 318iS Restomod w/ MTech2 and modern drivetrain

    A couple weeks ago I found a 91 318iS on Craigslist in a sad state of affairs. The owner had stripped it down to fix it up and or make a race car. After he was nearly done with the tear down he became overwhelmed and ended up shelving the project for while. As it happens the winds of work changed and he had to move out of state and could not take this car with him.

    Here were the pictures from the Craigslist ad:






    It obviously looked pretty damn rough, but the price was right... $250.... and it looks reasonably straight body wise. I emailed the seller and ended up reaching an informal agreement to buy the car pending his return to Houston in a few weeks.

    Knowing what a huge undertaking this car would be to do right I had to enlist the help of some friends. I made a few contacts and I'm pleased to announce that I have several sponsors onboard to help with what I anticipate will be a monumental build. BMW of Houston North & Guten Parts have stepped up to provide all of the brand new OE and hard to find euro parts needed for the build. Imperial Collision will be providing a most excellent respray in BMW Imolarot II. Dsylva-Tech.ca will be providing the software expertise to crack the EWS and provide the tune for my chosen drivetrain. Last but not least Lonestar Imports Auto Salvage has provided the hand picked drive train package from their extensive inventory of European cars for salvage.


    This past Weds he finally made it into town and I hurried across town after work to have a look.

    The car was more or less as advertised, some surface rust here and there where the car has road scars but nothing major. While I was there I looked at the nearly complete (missing wing) MTechnic II kit the seller also had. We negotiated back and forth and settled on $1500 for the kit & car under the stipulation I get it all out of the way ASAP as he was trying to move. No problem! Can do!

    I returned the following night to pay the seller in full, take the title and load up my E39 Touring with the most valuable loose parts to bring home.




    Among the loose parts are a nearly brand new pair of US Elipsoids, complete untarnished tool kit, euro battery tray w/ hazard triangle, complete MTechnic II kit less the rear wing w/ brand new front fascia, euro grills, euro clock, several tubs of bagged & tagged hardware, and one small tub full of dealer bagged all brand new MTechnic II hardware to install the kit that the owner had already ordered. Score!

    The car came with all of the original VIN matching body panels except the plastic bumpers and the front valance. Although both front fenders were included they are simply too rough to repair between the dents and the corrosion damage from someone jacking on them at the bottom.

    Also included with the car was a rather unique MTechnic II steering wheel, reupholstered in thicker rimmed leather with the OE style tri color M stitching.


    The car also came with the original owners manual and service booklet, showing that the car was purchased at Auto-Lessmeister in Frankfurt Germany on Feb 21, 1991.




    Pretty cool bit of paper to have, apparently it was purchased by a US service member there and brought back home. First US registration shows to have been in Feb of 1996.


    Build sheet under the rear seat still intact:




    Fast forward this morning... I rode back over there with a friend with his truck/trailer to pick up the car. We got it loaded up and tied down with no problem and brought her home.



    Note the Lessmeister badge still on the trunk 24 years later!



    Deposited in my driveway so work can begin:





    I spent the next 8 hours completely removing just about everything that isn't going to get painted, and wet scrubbing the chassis inside & out to clean the panels in preparation for bodywork.





    The orange crap around the sunroof is headliner contact cement, not rust.


    That's it for now. The car is in the garage and drying itself off. Repair of dings, dents and surface rust begins tomorrow.
    Tenured Automotive Service Professional - Avid BMW Enthusiast

  2. #2
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    Awesome. Excited to see where this goes. Keep us updated!
    -Nick

  3. #3
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    Nice project.
    2003 Ferrari Red M3 3.5L wagon // 2011 Montego Blue tri-turbo 335d wagon
    2012 Deep Sea Blue X5d // 2003 Orient Blue 330i wagon
    In progress/For Sale: 2003 Alpine White M3/ZHP wagon // 2003 Japan Red M3/ZHP wagon

  4. #4
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    Not a whole lot of visual progress today so I didn't take many pictures. I got both doors completely gutted and rehung on the car, and started to repair the damage to the passenger side rocker panel.

    It looks like someone had a curbing incident and it was pushed in a bit. I used a stainless rod and tapped it out from the back side until it was as close to flush as the metal would allow for.





    It will be flushed with filler from here after I finish dressing the metal for rust.



    After that I started drilling the spot welds out on brackets in the engine bay I'm not going to need, and sanded down some places along with cosmoline removal.

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  5. #5
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    Nice! Will be checking this thread.



  6. #6
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    On board for this build!
    2003 DINAN 5 | M54B30 | Titanium Gray Metallic | Stage 3 Engine Software | High Flow Throttle Body | Cold Air Intake | Free Flow Exhaust | Performance Automatic Transmission Software | Front Strut Brace | OE 18x9 BBS RS745 Style 42 on 265/35-18 MY BUILD THREAD: [Click]


  7. #7
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    Awesome I'm hoping my service travels take me to Germany I'd have to take a few home myself

  8. #8
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    Is this your first sponsored build? The modern drivetrain.... Hmmm sounds exciting. S65??

  9. #9
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    323i E30 is offline ⅂!ʈө !ƨ l!ʞө ɐ ʇөlөbµouө
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    Excellent.
    In!
    ^ true story



    D̶i̶b̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶E̶2̶1̶

  10. #10
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    Some bodywork going on this week, cleaning up various door dings in the body and wrapping up the removal of excess brackets etc in the engine bay.



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  11. #11
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    Another night, more progress. Passenger door, rocker panel, and quarter panel are straight. Now working on hood and trunk.



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  12. #12
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    Hey I saw this car on Craigslist myself! Where are you from? Sorry if that's a bad question.

  13. #13
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    You got that grille free from those people or how much was all those extra parts? I really like the euro grille. And awesome steering wheel! I need to get me those myself. Hmm...I currently have 2 e30s which I'm thinking of building into 1. Since neither are at their 100% and together they don't make 100% either lol I'm going to put the best I can..sandblasting it and all is what I want to do first though...what color are you going to give the car??
    Last edited by Loser Shane; 09-04-2015 at 03:54 PM.

  14. #14
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    How do you follow? I want to know how it goes since I'm in the same shoes. I want to redo the interior aswell

  15. #15
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    I'm in Houston, all the e30 parts in the garage came with the car at the $1500 price that was negotiated. The car itself was $250.

    I'm going to paint the car Imolarot II.
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  16. #16
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    That's a nice color.

    I currently have a solid red and white e30 325is.

    Going to start a project with the white one.

    Take out the engine and transmission and repaint it all but I currently don't know what color yet.
    The transmission is automatic.

    After the project I'll be selling the red e30 to get some money back. I'm not that wealthy sadly but I love e30s.

    I also love American muscle cars. So I'll be putting that into my e30.. (I'll get hate for that but oh well) I just want to drive a 350 engine again. My Chevy nova got wrecked while it was parked outside

  17. #17
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    If you need a motor I have one running. And cold a/c I'm sure you'll want a manual transmission though.

  18. #18
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    Thanks but I have a complete drivetrain front water pump to diff cover already set aside for this car.
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  19. #19
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    I went and picked up a replacement hood from a friend today as after I started sanding on the original hood I found it had a lot of filler, and substandardly applied filler at that. I just didn't want to use it like that even if I could make it "right"

    I also went by BMW of Houston North to pickup my first parts order, which includes new front fenders, front valance, plastic undertrays, fender liners, mtech brake ducts, foglamps, door glass wipers, glass locking strips, grills, seals, and a staggering amount of shiny new nuts, bolts, screws, clips, clamps etc.

    I want as little used/original hardware as possible going back on the car. Every fastener will be clean, new and correct.



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  20. #20
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    Looking good so far.

    What kind of modern drivetrain did you have in mind?
    PM me for info on properly working AC and CEL for your S54 or M54 swapped car.

  21. #21
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    I have a M54b30 with a 5spd ZF320z and a 3.46 Z3 torsen diff set aside for the car.
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  22. #22
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    I like stuck threads. Lots of pictures

  23. #23
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    Tons of progress on the E30 today. Finished blocking out the trunk, replacement hood, drivers quarter panel, drivers door and the roof. My arms, hands and fingers are feeling the paaaiiiinnn.






    I've made such rapid forward progress I'm nearly on a parts hold. I'm waiting on the MTechnic sideskirt mounting clips to come from Germany so I can mock up the sideskirts and drill the mounting holes. Unfortunately for whatever reason BMW AG has them blocked in the US system as a EURO/BAD/USNOHAVE part number. Odd that every other part came in those aside.

    The passenger fender and the front valance should be in Tuesday and then I can start fitting the hood, fenders, and setting the door gaps etc.
    Tenured Automotive Service Professional - Avid BMW Enthusiast

  24. #24
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stück View Post
    I have a M54b30 with a 5spd ZF320z and a 3.46 Z3 torsen diff set aside for the car.
    Nice. The M54 is a very fun engine to have in an e30. I'm surprised there are not more people doing this swap.
    PM me for info on properly working AC and CEL for your S54 or M54 swapped car.

  25. #25
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    Looking good Jordon. You're definitely not slowing down on this project at all. It's like as if you just finished one-third already and already onto the second phase. It won't be too long before you're done it seems.



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