Thrifty S50’s 92’ 318i vert build

[Thrifty S50]

Hi Guys,

Ive owned my E30 for about 6 months now and I’m truly digging being back in the chassis again. As I keep things moving for the E30 I thought I might as well get a thread going to document it since it is shortly moving away from all of its original glory.

Starting off I picked up a 11/91 318i Convertible (first vert I’ve owned at that), Brilliant-rot over black. Manual Sport seats with heating, and manual top. Also has option code S131A for “weapon mount” although I cannot find one. Car has 122k on a working ODO with clean title, and wildly everything else works too.







Crackless dash





Came with all the original literature and a little surprise





Stock signature from first delivery in 92’ tucked away in the service booklet as well as the original plate sticker for the front plate.



This is a big step up from my original 87’ 325e I had 10 years ago

[KangstaE30]

Beautiful! May she rest in peace.

[Thrifty S50]

Beautiful! May she rest in peace.

Thank you! And lol I do feel guilty tearing into something so original, but I can assure it is in good hands

The car came with OEM hella ellipsoids so I installed those and have been putting some miles on it



Shortly after purchase I replaced the ODO gears with some from garagistic



Had the A/C converted to R134



Put some Floor mats in from an E46 wagon (OEM junkyard set scored for 15$, fit great!)



Little time with the pressure washer annd...



Also installed some Pioneer 5.25” speakers in the fronts and rear, weren’t my first choice but legit the only set I could find to fit in the rear and they sound actually pretty good youd have to go wide body to fit anything deeper in the rear lmao



Gave the car a good wax and clay, came out great but made me realize how faded the plastic bumpers were lol



Have been taking it to a few local meets and driving with the top down as much as possible



But Ive quickly realized that there is a optimum temp range to run with the top down. Too hot and your boiling between lights, anything 77 ish and below is prime. Sorry for the photo dump but I have really enjoyed this car in stock form. It definitely has a few issues, some oil is leaking off the power steering and somewhere on the lower passenger side motor, and the front windows seem to catch on the top when fully up (not sure what that’s about) and most of all the rubber bushings are shot, but even as is I’ve been completely captivated

[superj]

you sure its not zinnoberrot? was it repainted because that looks just like zinno

[Thrifty S50]

you sure its not zinnoberrot? was it repainted because that looks just like zinno

Naw it hasnt been repainted Zinno, car still has all the original VIN tags on each panel and is Still Brilliant 308. Car has obvious age wear on the typical places,that im sure the camera is hiding.

After putting about a thousand miles on the ol' gal I started to tinker with some wheel ideas on photoshop



First I went with some Klutch SL1 wheels, with the classic kind of mesh design, liked the overall look and how they would fit as a 16" x 9" et15, plus they were already 4x100



Then I did the Classic 2pc Style 5 in silver and Gold, But these are obviously 17" and E39 fitment so although they look great, its just a bit of work to fit them





Then I went for something a bit different, BMW Style 29. I like these wheels and with caps they can be really unique. They can even be 2 pc'd and look great. But also E39 fitment, but 16" at least.



After a few of these, I was searching Facebook market place and a set of E38 / E39 16" Style 5's came up for sale for fairly cheap (under 200$!). I did a bit of googling and kind of fell in love with them. I mean a 16" BBS OEM BMW Wheel with "almost" perfect E30 Fitment. Whats not to love. It was a bonus that they came with all the center caps as well. I went and picked them up immediately



Not in 100% the best shape, but cleaner than many i found when looking for alternatives ( I fit the center caps off a few points so it looks a bit funky but everything lines up when im not being a complete idiot)



The idea is to get them sandblasted and Powder coated and throw them on for a simple clean OEM look.

[superj]

Those will look great

[ZeroDarkE30]

My power steering is leaking from the banjo so im gonna pop it out and put some new sealing washers, might be a simple fix for you too. Where is the oil on the passenger side of the motor? Very possible that the valve cover gasket is leaking and dripping down the back or side of the block and coating things. My Valve cover gasket was leaking and coated a lot of stuff, i need to deep clean the bottom side of the motor and re-evaluate to see if anything else is leaking or not because its so hard to tell with everything covered right now. I think the Oil pan might be leaking so i plan on keeping an eye out there after i clean up.

[323i E30]

That’s a good looking car!

[cavemangeorge]

That thing looks mint. Ive got the same car, but black and not is as good of shape. Funny thing is that I picked up some style 5s last weekend too.

[Thrifty S50]

Those will look great

Im thinking so as well! Hoping to fit these with adapters on stock body with some suspension tuning and a tiiiny stretch on the tires. Nothing to crazy but I want to get as close a fitment as possible w/out rolling fenders.

My power steering is leaking from the banjo so im gonna pop it out and put some new sealing washers, might be a simple fix for you too. Where is the oil on the passenger side of the motor? Very possible that the valve cover gasket is leaking and dripping down the back or side of the block and coating things. My Valve cover gasket was leaking and coated a lot of stuff, i need to deep clean the bottom side of the motor and re-evaluate to see if anything else is leaking or not because its so hard to tell with everything covered right now. I think the Oil pan might be leaking so i plan on keeping an eye out there after i clean up.

Yeah that is a common site of leaks. Mine seems to be seeping from the supply hose from the reservoir, as well as the return hose back, on the reservoir end, and at the pump on the banjo. I will most likely try and replace all crush washers and clamps first, and then hoses if needed. Motor wise i think its leaking from the timing chain tensioner seal, it starts about midway and valve cover is dry. Wanting to hit the engine here soon with some degreaser and hopefully get it clean so i can pin point where exactly.

That’s a good looking car!

Thank you !! Now starts the hard part of actually keeping it clean!

That thing looks mint. Ive got the same car, but black and not is as good of shape. Funny thing is that I picked up some style 5s last weekend too.

Thats awesome and thank you! I am happy to have a 318i like ours with the M42. so far I am really enjoying it for putting around town, has a surprising amount of pick up being a 4 banger but that just might be the 4.27 diff lol! Im thinking the wheels should compliment both of our cars nicely

The brakes on the E30 had started to squeak pretty badly on my way to my morning classes, its primarily an up hill down hill deal so heavy on the brakes. I decided to change them out Front and rear with some Akebono Ceramic pads and Zimmerman Drilled rotors. Same set up as my E36 which performs great. Plus these will basically end brake dust all together



This was almost a painless procedure except I Eff'd up big time when putting the rear rotors on. When dong so i remember It was a bit difficult to put the rotors onto the rear hubs, but not enough to make me think twice. I bolted everything up and that was that. Go to drive the car after wards and car isnt moving with the usual amount of power to get going from a still. I turn it off, put it in neutral and get out and try to push it. Car wont budge. Put the car back on jacks and rear wheels are locked. dammit.

I remember the rear rotors being a tight fit and figure i jacked something up and would go back in and just adjust the rear shoes with the star gear adjuster. Nope rear wheels are locked like nothing was moving them and I had NO line of sight on the gear. Fack. Decided I would just roll the dice and put the car on the ground, forcefully move it under its own power until I had access to the adjuster. Now I am not a lucky person so I should have not chanced it but wouldnt you know it I move the car and adjust the gear but rear wheels still locked. At this point I am looking around at what it could be (everything unbolted again caliper off and everything) and see what I had done. I freaking did it. The worse possible thing. I freaking tore the E brake Shoe Mounting Pins straight through the Dust shield. The E brake was essentially LOCKED into my rear rotor. Feel free to put me in one of those medieval head locks and throw rotton tomatoes at me now...

About a week later, after ordering some parts and through some very effective one on one time I was able to get the Rotor off (Passenger side) and guess what falls out onto the floor



E brake shoes are just flopping around



And viola, the Crime scene



You can see how the pin bent and pulled right through the metal. LUCKILY the car doesnt have rust and it didn't completely tear the metal around it. I had essentially a full rebuild kit ordered with new Dust shields, But really no easy way of replacing those



Looking at everything in front of me, I realized i couldn't get the car together If i wanted to replace the shields. The Shoes already on the car have almost as much material as the new shoes, and the rest of the hardware appeared to be ok. I decided I would try to salvage the OG shields and would torch the metal and attempt to re shape the brake shoe pin opening. After a few careful taps with a mallet and screw driver, I saved it!



Had to do this for both holes on the Passenger side, the Driver side was unscathed somehow in all the madness. I replaced the Shoe Pins with the new ones from the Kit and saved the rest of the items for a rainy day. Then kept my fingers crossed as I put everything together. Take it from me dont forget to adjust your e brake shoes before putting rotors on







Somehow I was able to recover everything and the (and E brake) are performing great! I also put a OEM Wooden shift knob in the car and Dash mat + an amazon door card cup holder.
Best 7$ i ever spent.



And just like that the car goes back up on jack-stands for the next project

[superj]

I would have just tapped that back into place, also

[Thrifty S50]

I would have just tapped that back into place, also

Yeah after a bit of scratching my head I figured this was my best option. The Dust shields had to be special ordered from Germany so I guess its not bad having a new set laying around.

Anyways, I had the wheels powder coat and although the color on the wheel turned out great, the caps dont match 100%



I guess the powder coater couldnt match them because being plastic they couldn't go into the oven, so they had to eyeball a paint match. In the right light they dont look too off but in any amount of shade you can pretty easily.



This kind of leaves me two options, Either spend the time and try to find the closest possible match, or perhaps spray paint the face of the wheel and the caps the same color. For obvious reasons I dont want to do this but the more I think about it the Powder coating will act more as a protective layer than a finish, while still giving me the opportunity to paint over and have it all match. idk. I will run the them in powder coat form without caps for now but these wheels are made by the centers being complete imo.

Oh yeah I also ordered some BC coils for the car. Had some time to review the stock suspension while doing the brakes and they are probably original from 1992. Although the car rode great, the suspension was obviously tired. I run the BC DS system on my E36 and they put up with alot so I figured BC 's BR would suit the E30 well since they will be babied in comparison.



Before



After



crazy size difference



Made sure to put in some rear mount reinforcement plates, these are from from Ireland Engineering

[Thrifty S50]

The Front end kind went fairly smoothly considering all that is involved for front end coilover conversion for E30's , The bump stop crumbled when pulling the original assembly out



NOTHING i had would work to get the collar nut off for the strut cartridge, so i was forced to cut it off. The jagged marks you see are from a plumbing wrench!



No goin back from here



BC reccomends leaving 50mm of the original strut housing when cutting for the coilovers, and then welding at the bottom joint





The rest of the front suspension was pretty weathered. Again my money is original 1992 equipment



Figured this was my best itme to go ahead and replace those as well. Turned into one big "while youre in there" . Didnt feel right putting the car back together with everything else shredded like that





Realized my bushing tool looks like the ray gun from COD Zombies when in its FCAB configuration lol





Pulled the bushings from the lollipops, cleaned them and hit them with some of rustoleoms finest, and pressed Turner Motorsport centered FCAB's in



New OEM Tie Rods. The tape was to eyeball the measurement for the new ones



New OEM Control arms



Got everything wrapped up and started to test fit the wheels. Im mounting the wheels with a 4x100 to 5x120 stud conversion adapter (18mm) .



Its going to be tight but I know offset and wheel wise it should work with the right tire and suspension tweaks.

[Thrifty S50]

Friday I picked up some tires and had them mounted. Some Federal 595's ,195 x 45 's



Went and had the car aligned, rear camber is about maxed out for the wheel and tire set up. Fronts I have not adjusted Camber so there is plenty of adjustment left, however I do not think the car needs any the way it is sitting now. Had to of course do some minor tweaking to ride height. First go around and the car was so low I couldnt get the jack out



Went up about 3/4" and it has so far been just about perfect. I can get in and out of my driveway w/out going diagonal, and pulling diagonal into driveways I seem to clear the front fenders. These pictures are taken with about "2 fingers space" between the front wheels and the fender, then just barely a pointer finger fitting in the rear



So far some minor rubbing on major highway dips at speed in the rear, but only with 2 people in the back so I upped the dampening a few click in the rear and that will be that. I know I need to be concerned about the Oil pan, and I seem to clear speed bumps, I'll still most likely be getting a skid plate. Other wise the height and ride is very functional and Im quiet happy with the how it looks after settling. There is about a half inch rake from front to back (Font being half inch lower).



Really pleased with its overall drivability and my build timeline seemed to fall perfectly in line with being able to go out to the so~cal "BMW E30 Dock Weiler meet" . Threw the center caps on the wheels, plus It was a perfect day to run with the top down.

[Thrifty S50]

Mostly just a picture update! Been cruising the car as much as possible.









Planning on adding some creature comfort mods here shortly, but otherwise car is performing great. Also hoping to start piecing together the bushings for the rear to finish the suspension, as well as start compiling a cooling overhaul.

[Thrifty S50]

Had sometime here lately ( lmao ) and decided to tackle the oil filter housing gasket. Glad I did, thing was a mess!





Although i hate dealing with grease and oil, its very satisfying getting things all cleaned up





yukkkkk







I always try and make an effort to clean things before they go back in. Probably why the little things take me so long.. So i cleaned the rest of the crap that came out





My alternator ground was TOAST, snagged some ground wire from a Saturn in the junkyard which was a perfect fit. Wasn't going to wait a week to have one ordered and ship out...



Then finally started to put things back together







replaced the intake filter



Replaced the intake boot



The boots have 2 ports for a vac line connection, my car only used one and was going crazy on what i was going to do. Dug the old boot out of the trash and just pulled the plug from that one and stuck it in the new one.



Before



After



Still have to finish changing the oil and have new spark plugs to throw in. Also while doing this ive realized I need to address the "mess under the intake". Not sure if im going to replace as OEM or do some sort of delete or silicone replacement. Thoughts on this?

Cant wait to get this thing back out on the road. Took these pics before all the craziness started a few weeks ago

[Thrifty S50]

Howdy Yall!

Ive been hoarding up parts for the last few months, and am finally getting around to making some progress on the E30.

First I picked up some new wheels for the E30, Some Style 5's. Nothing special but this is my first set and have always wanted a set. Since the 16"ers looked so good on the car, I figured I'd finally give the 17's a shot



One of them ended up having a bend in the barrel, so I turned it into my garden hose stand, and grabbed a replacement



The wheels themselves werent the cleanest, but they could definitely be salvaged, and the faces were fairly well kept



I ordered some new center caps for them, which I will modify to receive a true BBS 3D center cap, and also had to get one of the OEM BBS Center cap wrenches



After alot elbow grease, like A LOT of elbow grease, and with the help of a friend on the final polish, I was able to get the sort of polished lip I was hoping for!



I cant wait to mount them, but I still need to order my center caps and order new hardware. Any guesses on what color combo / finish ill be going with? haha I have to admit though, the 16's honestly fit this car very well. Not sure if im going to part ways with them, or just keep them for a rainy day, But even for a basic 16" stock "single piece" wheel they are right at home.

[Thrifty S50]

Next, I got kinda of sucked into the world of detailing and paint restoration, by a sort of "trial by fire". I was at my friends shop and he had his detailer buff my trunk. We were going back and forth on my paint and what I was going to do with the cars exterior. He was making the case that if I just buffed the car it would really pop, and well I thought the paint actually looked pretty good at the time. Like definitely not bad... Or so i thought.. He had his detailer buff my trunk, and that was it. The difference was incredible. The whole drive home all i could think about was how BAD the car now looked (comparative to the trunk). Well it turned out my neighbor had just purchased a orbital buffer and let me borrow it so i could get the rest of the car done.

Heres kind of where I started:



It looks horrendous now, but prior I hadnt really even noticed. In day light the car actually looked very presentable! My first night with the orbital I made some progress I was happy with, here you could see the drastic color depth difference between the faded paint (bottom) and the freshly buffed paint (top)



I spent the rest of the night finishing the rest of the hood and I was so excited for how the rest of the car was going to turn out. I was also extremely impressed on how well this 28 year old paint bounced back!





But by the end of this night, I realized just how much of an uphill battle FINISHING the car was going to be. This was my first time doing ANY type of paint correction type of work, and I significantly underestimated the level of work a full car job would be, given the fact it was single stage paint. I could only get so far before the pad I was using was completely clogged with paint debris, this had a big effect on how quickly, and how much square foot, Iw as able to cover in any given session. Also, I started to get extremely meticulous with how it was coming out, once I got the hand of things, so needless to say it was taking forever. I have a new found respect for detailers after this job. I did all the side panels, hood and trunk, but lagg'd it on the hard to reach areas. Finally put some good time into them and they came back to life!



After finding the right weekend, I just bit the bullet and completed the car. While I NEVER want to do tis sort of job again, the results were well worth it. This is definitely a labor of love. Heres a quick video I threw up on instagram once I finished, really shows the fluidity of the paint. The paints depth increased 10 fold as well. (beware there is music in the video, so make sure you speakers are cranked to 11. It was an IG video afterall...) Also yes, i know, I shot it vertical, deal with it.



I took it out to my local Subie meet, and stuck out like a sore thumb... Oh well.



Also, my wife picked me up an M-tech "covid" mask, which matches my key tag for the E30. I thought that was super cool



Next up Im tackling the cooling system + the infamous "mess under the intake". I probably wont have the wheels finished until after the holidays, sadly.

[superj]

Awesome. That red will fade to pink if you ever have to park it outside for more than a few days in the sun.

I gave up trying to wax my 89 enough to keep it red. I didn't have garage though so it sucked that it faded to pink so quickly

[hotdish]

Awesome. That red will fade to pink if you ever have to park it outside for more than a few days in the sun.

I gave up trying to wax my 89 enough to keep it red. I didn't have garage though so it sucked that it faded to pink so quickly

I was talking to a zinno or hellrot m tech owner at a show last year and it sounded like ceramic coating was pretty effective at keeping the red red.

[Thrifty S50]

Awesome. That red will fade to pink if you ever have to park it outside for more than a few days in the sun.

I gave up trying to wax my 89 enough to keep it red. I didn't have garage though so it sucked that it faded to pink so quickly

I was talking to a zinno or hellrot m tech owner at a show last year and it sounded like ceramic coating was pretty effective at keeping the red red.

yeah I am hoping it lasts longer than a day! Haha I ended up clay barring, buffing, waxing AND ceramic coating the whole car (trim included) So HOPEFULLY I get some decent time out of the color. I am surprised at how much the paint oxidizes compared to photos of when I just bought it, I’ve only owned it for about a year too. However the car had no paint protection at all the first year I owned it, and was parked outside, which like SuperJ said, I’m sure doesn’t help. Wife and I bought our first home this year however so now the E30 is lucky enough to sleep in the garage. I’m going to keep on eye on the clarity and depth however, fingers crossed the paint doesn’t fade too quickly. It has technically been about 2 weeks since I finished detailing her, and so far so good

[superj]

Hopefully that stuff works. It's popular on the other forums too.

That car is still beautiful

[323i E30]

Beautiful indeed..!!

[hotdish]

Hopefully that stuff works. It's popular on the other forums too.

That car is still beautiful

I forgot the name of the video, but someone on youtube posed periodic updates on water repelling ability of various waxes, polishes, and ceramics on a hood he left outside for multiple years. CQuartz ceramic seemed pretty effective for the money, but the surprising thing to me was how long Nu Finish lasted.

[Thrifty S50]

Hopefully that stuff works. It's popular on the other forums too.

That car is still beautiful

Beautiful indeed..!!

Thank you Gents! Have to give BMW credit for that one

I forgot the name of the video, but someone on youtube posed periodic updates on water repelling ability of various waxes, polishes, and ceramics on a hood he left outside for multiple years. CQuartz ceramic seemed pretty effective for the money, but the surprising thing to me was how long Nu Finish lasted.

For reference I used the Griots Garage compound for most of the Buff, Mothers carnuba for the Wax, and Chemical Guys "Hydroslick" for the ceramic coating. Kind of a hodge podge of brands but worked well! I guess we'll have to see how long it lasts.

So i dove into the mess under the intake, its something that has been on my mind since I put eyes on most of the hoses under there after replacing my intake boot not too long ago. With the intake manifold and throttle body moved to the side, its a pretty nasty spaghetti assortment of vacuum / coolant hoses running every which way



If you dont know, some of these hoses actually conjoin vacuum AND coolant hoses, into the same piece. Some of the coolant lines also run up through the throttle body into a heating spacer plate, which just adds to the mess of hoses. Im going to clean everything up and just delete the throttle body coolant lines, by re routing the coolant hose from the plastic coolant pipe, directly into the block. Ill also be splitting the conjoined coolant/Vac lines into two separate vac and coolant lines. Taking all the old hoses out really clears this area up



Ill be replacing all the coolant and vac lines with silicone hose, effectively removing all rubber tubing from the bay, minus a few heater core hoses.



Anyways, as I was removing the throttle body and intake manifold there was a little grime built up in the runners, nothing crazy, but then I got one good look at the intake valves. Yuk!



I ended up taking the rest of the day and cleaned all the intake valves out by hand. Was a pain , and they didnt end up perfect, but Im glad with how they came out



With the nasty intake valves in mind, I ripped the valve cover off and was pleasantly surprised by the shape of the top end. Everything seemed proper from what I could tell, looks like PO kept up on oil changes at least



Valve cover and intake mani are off to be powder coated. Will be a nice cherry on top once everything is put back together



Once the valve cover / manifold is back I have some intense cleaning to do on the face of the motor. Lots of grime has built up near the water pump / T - stat and lower timing cover. I'd like to have that all clean before replacing any more of cooling system , etc.