Totoro's 1991 BMW 318is

2006-03-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

THE BMW E30 M42 CLUB IS ALIVE!!
(eg, you own a 1991 BMW 318i or 318is)

M42Club.com

WORLD DOMINATION, 16 VALVES AT A TIME

2006-02-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

QUICK NOTES ABOUT THE CAR

I'm doing okay. Actually, pretty good. Although I misplaced the new timing chain tensioner I ordered and I have no idea what the fu*k I did with it. Arrrrgh. I got the smiley headlights in, got the HID's wired up... I really need to clean up the install however, which I will fiddle with tomorrow. God I wish I could find that tensioner.

Anway... I need to fix up the friggin iS lip, as well as install the 'Ryan G' splitter when I get it. I still have all the big shit left to do --shocks springs, the various rubber bits. And new wheels. Yup, new friggin wheels. I'm in no hurry. I think I'll lower the car first, then do the wheels.

I need to fix the review mirror mount, and put in that friggin maplight mirror, fix the instrument cluster wiring-tie thing, put the instrument cluster back in, wire the oil temperature sender plug thing... and... what else? Oh yeah, fix the mounting thing for the radio and get ready for my audio install.

For audio, I went with the C43 cassette player. I love it. So, the next step is (re) doing the front speakers, the tweeter pods, new wiring, with an amp in the trunk and new rears with the premium speaker mounts... and a new package shelf. It's taking time, but it's really getting there.

What's hard is that it takes me friggin a minimium of three tries to actually fix something RIGHT. I'm learning I guess. Oh man... what a project. Anyway... more info soon. It's coming together. Some of the mods are working out really well... M-tech II wheel, C43 radio, M3 cluster, 13 button OBC, reconditioned console trip, new dashboard, new glovebox... I've been a busy boy.

2006-02-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

WHY THE STEELERS WILL BEAT THE SEACHICKENS

GO STEELERS! Obviously, as a kid growing up in Shadyside during the 1970s, this is an awfully big weekend. All I can say is hopefully they will win and it's a big, big up for the 'burgh.

I think the Steelers will win, primarily because of the relative strength of the AFC vs. the NFC ...the Steelers played the Bears in a must-win game for both teams, and they DISMANTLED the bears, seriously. The bears had won like 8 straight games and won the Central. The NFC West is worse than the Central, all in all. The Steelers were the friggin' 6th seed in their conference!

They were a tough 6th seed, but think about it like this. New England, Denver, Indianapolis and (probably) Cincinnati would have been favored over the Seachickens in the super bowl. I really think so. And, the team that didn't really have it this year, Jacksonville beat the Seahawks!

Bottom line, stats, etc... it's who you play. The Seahawks strength of schedule just isn't there. Remember when the AFC lost all those super bowls? This Seahawks team reminds me of those AFC teams.

Anyway, or so I hope. I really really hope the steelers win this one. They're the better team.

I really like living in Pittsburgh way back when. I wish I had stayed there. Oh well. I'm making city chicken for sunday's party... kind of a tribute to my mom and dad I guess. Here's to the good times; here's to the 1979 Pirates and Steelers... here's to me jumping up and down when Terry Bradshaw threw that long pass to John Stallworth against the Rams... and a cat sneaking in and eating my dinner during the hysterics. Good times, Good times.

GO STEELERS!

2006-01-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

NON UPDATE UPDATE

So, I dealt with all the dash panel lights, except oddly enough the buttons (hazard, defroster, and A/C buttons have stopped illuminating, so I need to learn how to read a wiring diagram and trace that around.

I also replaced the glovebox (works very smoothly now, thank you), reinforced the busted corner of my center console thing with some fiberglass and two-part epoxy... painted the glovebox, center consule, e-brake thing and front/rear ashtrays with the eastwood plastic vinyl paint. That is the greatest stuff evah!

I got the OBC control stalk working... pretty exciting, although I actually ordered a new one from the dealer (don't ask how much) because this one was fine, but just a tad loose for my taste.

I also got the M3 tach/oil temp gauge in, but managed to mangle another 'instrument cluster dashboard support' thing. SUCKS! But, this weekend I will try to pull the wire for the oil temp thing, and deal with some other shit like...

- M-tech II steering wheel;
- Straigtening out the wiring behind the instrument cluster (friggin dash wire-tie broke);
- Wire the new C43 radio!!

Stuff that's waiting, pending parts:

- Mirror review light install (pita)
- bosch smiley headlights with HID kit
- friggin carpet cleaning

anyway... more more soon...

2005-12-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS?

Well, I've been super busy at my alleged work. So busy in fact... I barely have a spare second to browse ebay auctions and troll BMW message boards. not. I am going to post some pictures soon and then the world can see what an idiot I am for dumping so much time and money into a 15-yo car.

Having said that, I still love the car. I'm basically whipped.

So, what's what? I got an assload of stuff done, including the new dashboard, which is a really big friggin deal. So I'm psyched. Here are the nagging items right now.

IS lip - I drove over it after like, three days and the paint is already chipping. Sucks. I need to figure something out to deal with this thing.
Gauges - The friggin gauges are not really in 'perfectly' ...I need to tie the wiring up to the top of the dashboard. God help me if I put a screw through the top of my new dashboard by mistake.
Bulb - I'm missing a lightbulb for the right hand side of the temperature control panel. I also need interior lamps (blue LEDs!)
OBC Stalk - I really should install the OBC turn stalk thing... I need to figure out how to get the steering column stalk off
I disconnected the SRS check panel... that will be nice later on during my inspection
I bought a non srs steering wheel - M-Tech I baby!
I bought a new (to me) center console, so I need to recondition and install it, to replace my slightly cracked one
Carbon Fiber roundel (now, I need one for the trunk) ... tres gay, but real carbon fiber! What was I thinking. Actually, it looks pretty hot. oh god what happened to me?
GLOVE BOX - friggin glove box, don't get me started. I have the parts

Bigger deals (eg, stuff I'm replacing that I didn't actually break myself):

New Euro Ellipsoid Smiley lights with city light and a McCollouch 5000k HID kit - This has me totally stoked. I would really like to get a set of euro plug connectors...
K&N Cone filter kit - laugh it up... I'll do RAM AIR through the, uh, carbon fiber roundel.
Bilstein HD shocks, H&R OE springs, and like... bushing mania
BMW C43 Radio ...

Bushing mania is going to be a total complete pain in the ass. Also, considering the box of crap I ordered from JC Whitney is still stuck at FedEX...

The radio swap is going to be a little tricky... I need to dremel off some of the A/C control console plate thing. No biggie... famous last words.

2005-11-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

FRIGGIN THANKSGIVING

Actually, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year. I love to eat. Anyhoo... I promise I will take photos of the car this weekend... I don't have the time/inclination to do a mega detailing clay bar caranuba session but I will rinse the car off and take some pictures. I've been working hard and I think it's ready for some preliminary shots.

So, what's up next? Well, next up I have to sell a shitload of parts on ebay or the various E30 boards. Here's a rough sample of ITEMS FOR SALE:

OBC equipped turn signal stalk for ABS. I bagged on the install because I had like, zero inclination to take the steering column apart. I may reconsider this, however;
Alarm horn and CODE control box for OBC. The last thing I want to do is have some friggin thing attached to my car that I can inadvertently lock myself out and freeze to death;
Spare 13 button OBC with busted screw ears -- I gotta remember to save the light bar;
That Pioneer KZE-83 radio... works great, didn't pan out for me;
Perfectly good Motometer instrument panel, with 7000 rpm tach trim piece and good ears;
Couple of good Instrument Panel SI boards; coding plug too!
Set of condition US-DOT Ellipsoidal Projector Headlamps with GE HIR halogen bulbs... more on this later;
Various and sundry Taillamps ...more on this later;
US License plate filler panel.

So, what do I have in the next round of car projects? Well... here's goes:

MHW smoked taillamps; they are on their way...

I really struggled with this one... I actually liked the idea of the all red taillamps, because a lot of people have the smoked ones, but in the end, I chose to go with the flow.

Diamantschwarz E30s need a monochromatic look to really look good. Have you ever seen a Diamond black E30 M3? They have like, half the various trim doodles the regular E30 cars have, and they look fantastic. Just nice smooth crisp planes of diamond black paint and clearcoat.

I think with E30s, it's a battle between the monochromatic colors (black, diamondblack) and the high contrast cars (white, red) ...I think that's why bronzit isn't so popular, kind of in between. I like bronzit, more or less. The silver cars can go either way: look great with chrome accents, look great with shadowline.

Euro plate filler.

It accentuates the horizontal flow of the back of the car, which is, in my opinion the greatest 'ass'-et of european car designs. Europeans know how to make a car look wide.

Euro Ellipsoidal Smiley Headlights, with city lights

I upgraded from sealed beams to US ellipsoids and HIR lamps... I'm not loving it, and at my advanced age (and sorry ass night vision) it's becoming an issue. So, I went balls out and paid (too much) for a set on ebay.de. I'm going to pull the front sidemarker wires and run them to the city lights. Yay!

And, to top it off:

5000k Xenon HID lamps, ballasts and ignitors. Oddly enough, these will be installed in a warehouse full of, you guessed it, HID lamps, ballasts and ignitors (my old job where I sold lightbulbs);

What else is coming around? Well... let's see... I still need to take the seats out, clean and paint the rails, try to fix the bolsters and that fix flap that's loose on the passenger side, and install the new seat belt holders I picked up. And, lest we not forget:

Bilstein HD shocks, H&R OE springs, trailing arm bushings, and various strut mounts, doodles etc.

I bought these from a guy in New York who posted on Mwerks.com -- all new in box stuff. Looking back, I should have bargained with him because the shit is heavy and he would have had to ship them to anyone else who bought them. Who else in manhattan would buy them. Anyway, it was a decent deal, although he didn't have rear shock mounts as part of his kit (it included everything else). Why? Why? Why? It would have been a great deal with the rear shock mounts. Ugh. So, I had to lug them home and up 5 flights of stairs... friggin heavy!

So, I also ordered jack stands, a better (but still wimpy) hydraulic jack, a pickle fork, and some other crap to change out the shocks and springs. I will also do the trailing arm bushings I guess. The package included rear subframe bushings, but it looks like the biggest ass pain in the entire world to do. I dunno. I need to get under the car and check them out. If I need to do them, so be it. I think I'm going to opt for the sawzall/blowtorch removal method.

So, why OE springs? Well, I really struggled with this one too. First off, I'm a fuddy duddy (you may have guessed already, haha). I don't really love a lowered car. I love lowriders... but like, I don't really dig a lowered street car. I've driven race cars; I've driven go-karts; I used to skateboard. I dunno, it's an aesthetic thing. Like I said, fuddy duddy.

Plus, I live in the pothole capital of the universe... I didn't see war of the worlds, but I can imagine some alien visitor flying over the Cross Bronx Expressway, seeing some giant pothole and saying, "wow, that must have been some asteroid." I've already driven my IS lip off the front valence pulling into a ghetto gas station. So, to make a long story short, OE springs fit the bill.

From a technical driving perspective, obviously a lower car means a lower center of gravity and better handling... but kids, here's a tip: The real trick to getting your car to turn better is to use the accelerator to 'set' the car, meaning, to get the car off the control arms and onto the springs... a lowered car still won't do that alone (the springs are shorter, but yer still not always set on them in the turns).

I actually think that's why the 318is feels like it's handling better: we have to accelerate harder through the turn outs to catch up!

Anyway... I'm psyched to do shocks and springs.

On the horizon? Ronal LS wheels, pirelli, goodyear, or BF Goodrich tires. The skip barber plug worked I guess.

2005-11-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

NEW DASHBOARD

Yes, I finally did it... oh man. Loooong boring story. When I bought my car, it had several cracks, it was one of the worst E30 dashboards I have seen since. Let's just say it could have been used as supporting evidence for more than a few seismology dissertations.

And the cracks were driving me NUTS. I have no idea why, but it's a bummer. I think the horizontal flow of a dash really contributes to a car's interior. I know in that earlier Mercedes Benz cars, the strong dash really gave me a lot of confidence... like, "wow what a solid car".

So, the cracked dash kind of did the opposite... I thought about getting a dash cap, but sort of thought, oh man, you'd hate yourself later, and a crack free used dash is pretty cheap. How hard could it possibly be to install?

Naturally, the next thoughts were like this: as long as I am taking out the dash, there's probably some stuff I should do while it's out. After all, it's a big deal, etc. So, I had this list:

New instrument cluster (my first instrument cluster had a busted gears, my second motometer cluster had bad lights and a balky SI board) so I finally got two 3.3v NiMh batteries, two 3-watt bulbs, and a lower mileage VDO cluster.
I soldered the batteries in, dealt with what bulbs I could, and contemplated colored gauge/dial faces. Lame, but I like them. I would have either gotten silver or yellow dials. Someday I'm going to have these guys do custom MPH only dials in that really hot 911 style type.
13 button OBC computer. My car, like all US 318is cars, shipped with the very lame 6 button OBC. I longed for the 13 button OBC. Call me nuts, but whatever. Unfortunately, its more complicated than just plugging in a new OBC unit. I had to buy the whole frigging kit, including the 13 button panel, new wiring harness and the coding plug for the 318is, a special order item from europe. Ugh.
Dash vents. My cracked dash had the world's laziest dash vents. E30 owners will know what I speak of.
Heater panel; my heater panel had a cracks and minor imperfections, plus the bulbs were out on both the left and the right side.
Front speakers... taking the left hand side speaker cover off is a minor pain, related to removing the various bolster covers etc. I bought low profile blaupunkt 5.25" speakers, thinking they would be better, but I think the cheaper pioneers in the back sound better... although it may be my head unit too (amp is puking).
Foglight wiring. My car didn't (still doesn't) have foglights, so I needed to install the foglight switch, replace the bulb behind the headlight switch, and find the wiring plug for the switch, which was conveniently taped to the wiring behind the SRS controller.

Doing the dashboard is, well, lets just say it is the biggest friggin pain in the ass in the entire world. That's probably not true, but I hope that I'm never proven wrong via personal experience. If someone knows of a bigger ass-pain, please tell me about it and I will retract my statement.

Well, anyway, I also want to send a shout out to three extremely courageous individuals who did very detailed writeups on the dash swap:

E30325i on Mwerks.com

StrictlyETA.com

Chris Deegan (very studly)

I actually got the replacement dashboard in August from the Euro Depot, and I tried installing it in august, outdoors, with no Bentley and no internet writeup. I didn't get very far. I got a little farther along, because I did some work on the instrument cluster and installed the ebay ECU chip. So, basically, all that needed to figure out was the HVAC panel and the center console bits.

I also bid on another dashboard on ebay, which the seller claimed was 'brand new BMW, never installed' but it turned out to either be a scam, or an extremely crappy seller. The dash never arrived and well, here we are.

Pulling the dash out takes time, and it's a little weird to see the entire cockpit disassembled. It actually looks a little worse in the picture... the wiring tends to take care of itself after you get going.

Anyway... we'll see how everything turned out in Part II.

2005-10-12T00:25:00.000-07:00

STILL NO NEW DASHBOARD

But the totoromobile is getting some fresh paint. Dash install weekend of the 21st. I have pretty much all the parts I need, including the deluxxe OBC, wiper stalk, Pioneer KE-83ZBM radio, new speakers, A/C panel, bulbs, ICV with new batteries.

In other big news... I'm on the waiting list for 15" Ronal LS wheels... the people's choice, if a little 'typical' for the E30 thing.

I also got US ellips, HIR bulbs, wiring kit, crappy euro grille that may not make it, trim paint, OEM side skirts, iS lip, new rear spoiler lip... it's all coming together.... slowly.

Last bit of news... at some point fairly soon... I'm going to get the engine built. More about this later. But I have big plans for this friggin car... mark my words.

2005-09-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

BIG DAY COMING

So, I've been amassing parts etc. for the next round of work on the car. Here's where we are at:

- Euro bumper trim

Purchased european OEM bumper trim from Abrahams Motor Sport. Essentially, this new trim will delete the front and rear sidemarkers for an overall cleaner look. I also ordered and installed the clear turn signals (I need the amber/silver shielded bulbs too).

A clean install will require removing the plastic bumpers, popping (and breaking) the plastic clips holding the old trim, and resetting the bumpers. I bought a t-55 torx socket, a breaker bar, and a torque wrench to help out.

- New dashboard

Big yikes. Removing my friggin Georgia-sun cracked dashboard is going to be a major pain in the butt... totally excellent how-to here --the dude is a god among men. I bought a crack-free replacement dash from the Euro Depot for $140.

Naturally, while the dash is out, that's an excellent time to take care of a ton of little sh#t. Such as:

- Instrument Panel work

My new (used) instrument panel has a working odometer and trip meter, but has the service light coming on, plus a bad light over the tachometer; also, I'm going to solder in new lithium batteries into the control board. Ugh.

- Foglight wiring and switch

I'm going to dig out the foglight wire and hook up the foglight switch. Double ugh.

- New front speakers

Last week I put in new Pioneer 5 1/4" speakers in the rear package shelf... when I have the dash removed, I'm going to put in new Blaupunkt 5 1/4" speakers in the front. I'm not an audio nut (see below) but I figure, hey, why not... ("why? because it won't make much difference with your crappy 15 yo factory cassette radio").

- New lower instrument panel trim

I broke the current trim in half a fit of 'wage' (rage, clumsy Elmer-Fudd style) a few weeks ago. Man that thing is a pain to get out and back in!

- New factory head unit

I have the alpine 'slider' unit, which is bugging the crap out of me. I ordered a replacement same vintage pioneer unit that will hopefully work... stay tuned (get it, stay 'tuned' --sorry).

Quick note; I'm a fuddy duddy, plus I've already donated two aftermarket head units to the local economy in past cars (my amazing sounding eclipse unit was stolen before it showed up on my credit card statement). So, I wanna go factory; this is what happens when you're 34 years old I guess.

I looked at a couple of other options, including getting a radio out of an e36 BMW (doesn't fit flush and requires a BMW CD changer if I want one eventually), plus vintage Nakamichi's and a Blaupunkt Denver CD02 (a great looking unit, btw).

At some point in the future I'll figure all this crap out and prolly do a new system, or an appropriate older head unit with a power amp. In general though, I *detest* the look of new headunits and love my late 80's factory styling.

- Realign glove box

It doesn't close smoothly... ugh.

- New Performance Chip

Bought from someone bootlegging the AC Schnitzer chip. I'm a bad person; I feel guilty already. I'll feel worse if it doesn't work or make the car run crappy.

- 12 button OBC retrofit

Well... this is my madness at it's peak; 12 button obc, euro only coding plug for the 318is, Wiper stalk control (for cars with SRS), new backlight. I'm insane, and yet so excited.

Well, for now, that's about it dash-wise (obviously I'm forgetting something, so please clue me in if there is something that I should really do while the dash it out.

I'm considering doing a heater blow fan too... need to check that out.

-US Ellipsoids with HIR bulbs

This one is a no-brainer. The sealed beam headlights friggin' stink. Seriously. My 1973 SAAB had better headlights.

I had considered euro smiley lights, the Hella H4 conversion package, and crappy Depot/Inpro 'angel eyes' (stop laughing). I went US Ellipsoids because I like the look the best (euro smiley's are a little... I dunno... fussy looking, that's just me, plus the US Ellipsoids were a little cheaper, and have the stupid DOT thing.

Bulbwise, I couldn't do any worse than what I've got, but I found a place selling 9011 and 9012 HIR bulbs. Trim a bit of plastic away and whoomp... (I'll stop).

Anyway, they look really bright and me and my deteriorating night vision will appreciate the help. I ordered two sets of plug ends (new, plug only, and new, with pigtails).

Finally, I ordered two sets of lamin-x (yellow, for my highbeams, and smoke for the fog lamps). Ahh to be a slave to fashion.

- Fog light install

So, the last bits I need for the foglight install are 8 bolts and expanding plugs/plastic anchors to hold the things in place... hello BMW of Bayside. oh, and a foglight relay.

- Paint, body issues

The faded paint on the roof is driving me bananas. It just bugs me. Plus, I have a half dozen small dings... and, I need to get the rear spoiler and my new 'IS' front spoiler painted. I'm considering getting the IS side skirts too. Madness.

Longer term stuff

- H&R Sport Springs, Bilsteins, New Shock Mounts, Stress Bar
- Shifter bushings and a Z3 short shift kit; new Flex Disk too.

- 16" BBS-RX wheels, or 15" Basketweaves. More fashion victimization.
- Smoked tailights (MKZ)... yes, they cost a quarter of what I paid for the car... we're at the bottom of the list people.

Finally...

- I've been thinking (down the road) about an engine rebuild

Basically like, "Do I want to someday have a really nice example of the car...?" Do I hear the concourse calling out? Yikes.

I talked to Mr. Metric Mechanic himself, Jim Rowe (for a long time, holy cow, what a nice guy) about the engine. My options for dramatic results are pretty slim and none, but he suggested something along the lines of shorter diesel forged cranks, his custom pistons, porting, polishing, and, naturally, a shitloat of cash. Basically, he could build me an M42 engine that would put out about 170hp.

Throw in a lightened flywheel, speedier LSD, and, oh hell... a carbon fiber hood (kidding, but it's 30 lbs savings). Plus, I've recently put myself on a diet... so the sky's the limit here people!

My 1997 GTI had 172hp (w/enough torque to like, uh, tow an elephant) but the car weighed over 2800lbs (400 pounds more). So, if I could get to 170hp, the car might even more of a hoot to drive.

My other options are Korman or Bavarian Engine. Anyone have any brighter ideas? Speak up. I'm not going to do a swap though... nope, not gonna do it.

2005-09-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Spending as fast as I can go.

I had tried to check out various BMWCCA boards, message boards, the list of independent BMW service shops (http://www.iaibmwsp.org/MemberShops.htm), and various other boards, and picked three Atlanta area shops. I emailed three, and got an excellent, on-point reply from Vince at Harrison Motor Works.

So, the car gets delivered (thanks again!) to the BMW shop in Alpharetta, GA. The immediate prognosis? Not so hot. The car was really worn out, and in Vince's estimation worth a lot less than I paid (eg: "People offer to give us cars in this condition"). Naturally, I was undeterred and waited for his official estimate of what needed to be done to get the car back to New York under it's own power.

I want to remind (myself?) at this point, I had three things working against me.

- No place to work on the car in Atlanta (and quite frankly, no time);
- No place to work on the car in New York;
- Car was in worse shape than I had anticipated.

When I say 'worse shape' it's not that it didn't match the ebay description etc. It's just that it was a tired car. This car was sitting for awhile, and sometimes that's the worst thing that can happen to a car. The rubber parts tend to dry out (hoses, tires, etc.), the fluids suffer, the paint gets sunburnt. Oi.

But I was undeterred! Wanting to get as much basic stuff done at once seemed like a good idea, and after all, it's all (and I mean, all) getting done at some point anyway. I approved the following work:

- air hoses, belts, throttle body gaskets;
- brakes (rotors, pads, brake sensor);
- fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel lines;
- radiator, thermostat, clutch fan, hoses;
- tie rods, control arms, control arm bushings;
- fluids, oil filter;
- motor mounts;
- muffler;
- couple of relays;
- 4 new Yokohama Avid H4S tired;
- Wheel balancing, front-end alignment.

Whew! Well, let me first say that Vince did a great job on the car. Actually, he forgot to put the A/C belt back on, but that's okay. The grand total, after my BMWCCA discount came to a little south of [edited!]. I know, right? Holy shit: I now had a [edited! a lot more than I had planned]BMW 318is.

Regrets? Well, I've had a few. The brakes, air hoses and radiator I definitely could have done myself, and that was a huge chunk of change. On the flip side, would I have wanted to do the radiator on the side of interstate 80 east? I don't think so. But I did one on my SAAB ....and I can still taste that sweet, sweet antifreeze. Anyway, that's the big regret.

On the plus side... they covered a lot of stuff I know I would not have caught until it caught me. The fuel system, front end stuff, and especially the motor mounts --they make a huge difference on this car.

But, what's done is done, and the car took a big step forward in terms of getting sorted out.

2005-08-30T08:16:00.000-07:00

I LOVE MY CAR, DON'T GET ME WRONG,

but I would do a lot of things differently next time. My top priority was finding a straight, rust free car. In retrospect, I should have set the bar a little higher.

The first car I made an offer on was a white 318is in Virginia. The seller was a BMW nut ('enthusiast') who had picked up his 318is from his mechanic. The car had a complete top-end rebuild, profile gasket, new clutch, new heater core and fan, and all the other odds and ends (hoses, etc.) taken care of. It looked great.

Moreover, the interior was in good shape (seats taken from a later model convertible) and it had 16" BBS RX rims, a euro front grill and ellipsoids. Plus, I dig the 'stormtrooper' look: white with shadowline trim.

Basically, the car was owned by somebody like me, who knew a lot about the car and had exhausted his savings getting in good shape (I know where this is headed). He also had a swanky, big engined e28 that was almost ready for the road. Imagine, two money pits.

He sold the 318is, apparently, to a woman who had $5000.00+ from her insurance company to cover her totalled Civic. A friend of hers had a 318is and she loved it, and there she was.

The only knocks on the car: a slightly weird idle, and a racing dynamics sideskirt set that was not exactly my thing. But anyway. I missed out on a nice car.

So, I hit the car classifieds and started looking. I think the biggest thing to avoid when buying a 318is are sellers who know nothing about the specific car they are selling. No service records, multiple owners, etc. Used car dealers or brokers can make the process tough, especially if they have sent the car out to be detailed and the engine cleaned.

The next group are the kids with their crappy aftermarket mods (whereas, I aspire to be a geezer with crappy aftermarket mods). For example, I suspected the above mentioned white 318is had those side skirts put on to cover damage, or maybe rust. Who knows. Anyway, trying to talk someone *out* of including their set of 17" 5-spoke Ronal alloy rims gets old.

I'll leave out the BMWCCA guys who have waaay overestimated the value of their cars, and the dudes with the engine swaps that didn't quite work out. I guess that will be me in a few years, anyway.

So, I kept looking. Finally I found my car on Ebay: a Georgia car with reasonable mileage (157k), straght, no rust, clean carfax, kept in one family with basic dealer service records. The final price was $2200.00, which was a little less than a white, rusty, vermont 318is had sold for the week before.

It was also a lot less than the private party and dealer listings I had seen. Obviously, those are asking prices, and the problem with ebay is that unless yer able to go and check the car out in person (which I should have done), talking the price down is hard.

But I rationalized! The cost to fly down, check out the car, talk the seller down, what, $500?, $750?, $1,000? Plus, what's the cost relative to buying a rusty car up here and dealing with that? After all, I reasoned, I'll be fixing all this crap anyway. The bottom line, I was itchy to pull the trigger and get started.

And pull the trigger I did.

My experience with used cars has been just okay. Used cars need a lot of love and attention, and tiny, annoying things sometimes get to me as much as, well, big annoying things. But I figured, heck, I'm into it and want a long expensive project. After all, used toyotas and hondas are selling for more than my total budget, and what's there when I'm done? A high mileage toyota or honda. I'm not knocking those cars in and of themselves, but well, I had/have sold myself for BMW love.

So, thanks to a gracious seller, I paid, got the title back in the mail, picked up my plates at the NY DMV downtown, and booked a flight down to Atlanta. The seller dropped the car off at a nearby independant BMW shop in the area, Harrison Motor Sports (more later) and I was officially on my way, all for less than I paid for my previous laptop computer. A lot less, actually, but that's a separate blog.

2005-08-29T07:38:00.000-07:00

MY CAR BEFORE IT WAS MY CAR

Well, this is a long story, but after 6 years of having no car, I finally gave into temptation / idiocy and decided I would get a mobile money pit... not that I don't still take the catbus every day too.

Following the principle that "Classic cars are the cars geezers wanted when they were in high school" I began looking for a 1991 BMW 318is (note: I was out of high school in 1991, but you get the idea).

I have previously owned both an extremely elderly 1973 SAAB 99 LE, a later model SAAB 900, and a 1997 Volkswagen GTI VR6. The VW was a phenomenal car and loads of fun. The SAABs were great, and the 1973 99 model is probably the most interesting contrast with the BMW.

The final candidates went something like this: 1974 BMW 2002tii, Mk I Golf GTI, later model Volvo 240 sedan, Mercedes-Benz C220, some more recent editions of the Honda Civic Si, Scion, Toyota Corolla, Dodge Neon.

Anyway, having already driven a GTI, I scratched that off the list. It's a great car and I had fun driving with my friend Hooper in his GTI during high school... but I was ready for something else. The Honda, Scion and Toyota, while interesting, didn't have enough appeal. Plus, they aren't cheap. I think at some point in the future I might do a Toyota Tacoma truck.

The Dodge Neon is a neat car that I got to drive on the autocross course at Lime Rock during a Skip Barber course. What can I say? I liked it and it's very reasonably priced, both for the car, maintainance, and various add ons. Still...

The Mercedes was appealing in that they are *so* solid on the highway and they are engineering marvels. The downside? The weighty chassis, automatic transmission, and 4 cylinder, non 'kompressed' engine would have me reaching for the Geritol. Still, fun to cruise on the highway.

The Volvo 240? I have no idea what I was thinking. And, the 2002 tii is really in vogue right now, but I'm not really feeling it. They are great cars, but I saw a beautiful silver one used as a prop in some mail-order fashion catalog and I was like... um, I dunno about this. My stubborn semi-contrarian streak I guess. Or maybe just an urge to 'drive' rather than 'preserve' (please take it easy on the comments, yes, I'm an idiot).

Anyway, I always really liked the e30 body style and I can vaguely remember the television spots for the 'return' of the 318is. Plus, I wanted to try a rear-wheel drive car. Almost everyone has had great things to say about the 318is, and having already driven a very torquey VR6 GTI, I was ready to keep the water boiling and get a high-revving 4-cyl engined car.

Of course, complicating matters is that I'm on something of a budget, and I live and work in New York City. So, in addition to having nowhere to park, it's tough finding places to work on the car, etc. For those of you thinking, "You're Insane!" I can't disagree.