EDIT: Here's the "build thread" for this car, once the build gets going!
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/mein-e30-mein-sammlungkreuz-baugewinde-my-318i-ral/40440/page1/
Ok, it will be excellent when I'm done with it at least :) Very slow, but even worn-out it was a pleasure to drive home. How have I never owned an e30 before????? This is the future RallyCross car!
1985 BMW 318i
cliffs:
under $1k for everything
....drove it home 70 miles with no issues except a badly balanced tire that got bumpy over 50mph....no worries.
almost everything works except the tach and a window motor
virtually no rust at all, and I did an extensive check. No body fillter that I could find (magnets!)
paint in good shape for the most part
totally stock except a 3.91 (I think) LSD and what look to be Bilsteins (need to confirm, could be some other yellow-colored shocks, but have firm valving, so probably Bils)
filled up the entire 4Runner with spare parts - 5 speed tranny, spare M10, boxes of other stuff, set of BBSs, set of bottlecaps...
only issues I know of currently:
1 window motor/switch bad
tach doesn't work
high idle
possible right rear wheel bearing needs replacing (need to check, could be a dragging rear brake or something making the noise)
interior carpet kind of ratty (car will be carpet-less anyhow), dash cracks, well-worn vinyl seats.
1 small rust spot on one of the rocker seams
dent at front of the hood from P/O hitting a small deer. Minor damage, will get a new hood.
all the bushings are probably original, so they'll all be replaced.
This will be the RallyCross car. Slow, but it's already fun to drive even with lousy tires and worn-out bushings and a whopping 100hp, so this should be interesting :) May get an M42 at some point.....or maybe not. I kind of like the slowness, it makes rowing through gears and trying to drive it fast more of a challenge. And the M10 does purr so nicely...
my new best friends:
i thought i was the only one that ran out for groceries and came home with more vehicles.
this was a busy day. Drove 50 miles north to autocross the WRX in the cold rain this morning. Drove home by 1pm. Unloaded months worth of baby stuff from my wife's 4runner, recruited a buddy to accompany. Drove 70 miles south to check out this car. Bought it, loaded all the stuff, and then we took country roads all the way back (I wanted to avoid highways until I could thoroughly check the car out), so it took like 2 hours.
All in all, 12 straight hours of car-related stuff today. I'm exhausted 
a bit more:
Alternator is brand new, and battery is a few months old (found receipts!) Just went through some of the many boxes of parts and found that there are TONS of brand-new parts still in OEM or aftermarket packaging. I'll have to sit down one day and figure out what half this stuff is. Some pics, and if anyone can ID some of the wierder parts, go for it!
clutch/flywheel used stuff
belts and three new sunroof seals (and the one on the car is new too, lol)
I think this is a driveshaft isolator or something
fuel rail and ???
bags of stuff
full set of headlights
no idea what this is
lights, door handle trim, etc
collection of old roundels, lol
Your "driveshaft isolator" is a Guibo.
A very Teutonic answer to problems properly solved by universal joints.
Shawn
In reply to Trans_Maro:
thanks, I should have known. It looks a helluvalot like the Rotoflex donut on my Triumph GT6, lol....which was the even less reliable British answer to u-joints.
The box it was in said driveshaft something or other, so just figured that's what it was....
at double the stock power output, that guibo will still last a long time.
I had an identical car in bronze. A great beater. I liked the noises an m10 makes much better than the m42 I got later.
this is my first truly "grassroots motorsports" car......where I will build it on the cheap, do alot of junkyard diving, and do alot of swap-meet stuff with other guys I know with e30s.
The WRX and the Maxima before it, and the GT6, all were mostly built up with new, pricey go-fast parts. Spending all that money isn't fun, so this one I'll be planning on doing things exactly the opposite way, GRM-style!
The thought has entered my mind to keep it legal for GRM challenge....probably by selling off some wheels and the spare motor and other stuff for whatever I can get, and then look for a cheap M42 or M20 at least :)
Well bought! I'll be watching this one...
Want a good project? Come get the healthy '92 Supra motor out of my garage and stuff it in that car. Now that would be fun!
But seriously, looks like fun. I dig 4 door E30s. Maybe I'll see you out at an event next year.
you definitely will. It took me 1 winter to take my GT6 from a bare frame to a street car. This one is alot further along already :)
irish44j wrote:
you definitely will.
Well, that depends on me showing up :). I sold my rally-xable car earlier this year. I'm tempted to get back into it, hopefully I'll get a co-drive with my roommate for a few events.
The "no idea" part is a cruise control unit.
Sonic
Dork
10/1/11 9:48 p.m.
The copper nuts are for the downpipe to exhaust manifold studs.
E30's are a nice chassis. Make sure to update all of the bushings and the car will be transformed. In the front, use E30 M3 bushings for the lower control arms. For the upper strut bushings, BMW makes an alternate part that gives an extra degree of negative camber. In the rear, make sure to replace the subframe mount bushings and LCA bushings, and use Z3 upper shock mounts. I bought most of my bushings from Ireland Engineering (all of the rear suspension stuff), and I used OEM front stuff.
Great buy sir, I have much love for the trusty M10. Keep it, cam it, love it.
you know m10's do okay with boost right?
nice score and if nothing else there is one cure for the under power.....boostttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.......and then more booooooooooooooooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssssssssssssttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt......
So... ya gonna rally that thing in Mexico?
that car was transformed with the M42 engine.. and they like boost too :)
And no, the Guibo is NOT the answer to U-Joints. It is simply an isolator. IT does not do much in the way of flexing.. that's while they generally last 100,000 miles
M10 + Boost . . . I approve of this!!
:)
hard rain last night and I'm happy to report there is no sign of any leaks anywhere.
a few other things I noticed:
found small pieces of shattered safety glass in the trunk and in the defroster vents on the dash. This explains why the windshield and rear glass are all new-looking PPG pieces. Would be an interesting story to know how both were shattered, since there is no apparent damage anywhere else......jealous ex-wife?
in the engine bay, next to the intake snorkus, there is this collar with a sensor/wires attached (IAT sensor?)....going to have to find out where this goes and why it isn't attached to anything (I'm guessing it goes on the snorkus hose someplace)
full-engine shot. Looks like alot of hoses and stuff has been replaced in the last 5 years or so
yeah, will be needing some new bushings for sure
lack of rust in the spare tire well is encouraging
