Builds / BMW

BMW 318iS Restoration

BMW 318iS (E30), posted September 2010

BMW 318iS Restoration, finished — Drag to compare the car as it arrived with the finished build.

BMW 318iS Restoration, before the build — Drag to compare the car as it arrived with the finished build.

After quick search we found clean 318iS. It had few dings and usual trouble spots.

as soon as the car got to my shop we ripped it appart. I wish we took more pics of how it looked before we started this restoration

Levent did his usual magic on the cluster: rings, painted needles and Alpina tach strip

then he pretended to work on the Alpina front airdam (note the missing airhose)

usual battery tray cancer and minor damage on the back valence

took the interior out, already replaced the steering wheel

smoked the tails

started with the bodywork, getting rid of all the minor dings, chips and imprefections

Rolled the fenders

primered

decided to clean the engine bay a little - valve cover getting prepped

painted the engine bay

before

after

before

next was suspension and brakes

rebuilt and painted the calipers, all new stainless steel lines, new rotors, new pads

new shocks, springs, control arms, tire rods, bushings, etc..etc...

new tranny mounts, guibo, short shifter

$600 worth of just maintainence parts: hoses, filters, spark plugs, water pump, gaskets, etc..etc...

after the complete tune-up we replaced the windshield wiper and relay that were frozen and installed single wiper conversion

waiting to do more prep work before the paint job on Monday !

Mark D chip installation

cleaning the old dirt out

applying the heat reflective sheets

looks nice and clean (the inside of the hood was already repainted)

car is getting ready to get painted on Monday !

in the meantime, guys came in and ripped the parts car like a bunch of hungry lions

more pics to come

as promised - paint work already started on Monday

going into the spray booth for masking and paint jobnote the Single wiper conversion

it will be white in 2 hours !

P-A-I-N-T-E-D and C-L-E-A-R-E-D !

One car dies and goes to heaven while donating the parts for future e30 restorations

Few more pics before we start putting it together

This is the first out of 3 sets of rims that I have for this car

dyed the rear parcel shelf black

my friend Levent came in and did the usual magic dyeing the headliner black, it looks awesome

Turner Motorsports exhaust

I am thinking about light bronze tint for this car...

slowly but surely it's getting there

UPDATE:almost finished re-doing the carpet ! Another coat or 2 and it will be black !

before

after (not 100% done)

and this is a little teaser

UPDATES: replaced the engine oil yesterday (Mobil1 15x50 synthetic), also replaced the 18 year old radiator, cleaned the condenser, etc..

continued to wetsand, buff and polish this baby today

other little bits and pieces got painted today

I re-wired everything to put the Euro tinted lights in and Turk came in and hooked up the HIDs, all new Euro grills and black kidney grill

Love the HIDs

will start assembling Monday

update: Put the trunk and the hood on teh car today, installed all new seals, aligned them to fit with the rest of the car, friend wired a second light into the trunk (pretty cool) and we will install euro trunk liner tomorrow.
Also did some touch up inside the engine bay, installed new power antena, painted bunch of misc parts

right now waiting for my painter to wetsand and buff the trunk and the hood so that I can put on the bumpers and the moldings, also waiting for the new seats that should be here on Wed.

update:front end is mostly done, didn't put the roundels or the evo hood seals because the hood needs to be wet sanded and polished, the car will be buffed tomorrow and then I'll put the skirts and the side moldings and the rest of the pieces