Bassboy3313

Bump on this. Dave is my go-to Vinyl guy. Goes above and beyond the call of duty when my vinyl needs need to be met. 
Including and not limited to : Remaking a really hard sticker because my dumbass put it on upside down. (Dont ask) 

Just a reminder that if anyone is looking for decal work, don't hesitate to hit me up. Always happy to help the group out with good prices.

I know, I know, I know, I moved and abandoned everyone, but the car and truck both have WI plates so it kinda counts, right?
The real reason is to keep track of things, and this forum format is pretty slicks.

So, I bought another E30. Like any logical man I made sure to buy one that was thousands of miles away, and too low for any sanely priced shipping company to touch. 
Took my truck to WI to say hi to a few people, fly out to CA for work, then fly back to WI so I could load up the car on the trailer and head home with it. Nothing like a 4,000 mile round trip to grab a car!


So the real question here is; why?

This is a car that has been mentioned from time to time, a handful of you know it, but never had much presence on the internet or in person. This is the car that a friend purchased shortly after he saw me rebuilding my first E30 and thought it looked cool. I've been working with this car since day one, and know the details on all of it, so minimal surprises.
He's owned the car for around 10 years, and it has seen an M10, M10 turbo (shortly), M50, and the current setup. It has been the bastard child of many projects, but what I really wanted was the current drive-line. 

Car Details:
1984 318i
Rear euro bumper on, front in the car to be put on
full late model brake swap
houndstooth / black leather interior
Koni adjustable suspension, poly throughout the whole car for bushings
M3 steering rack

Engine Details:
S52 OBD1 Swapped
11.5:1 Pistons (bored over)
MLS Head gasket (.01" taller than stock to compensate for block and head decking) 
Shrick Cams
Bavarian CNC port and polished head
Upgraded valve springs
Solid lifters (?)
M50 Intake manifold
Riot Racing big bore throttle body
3.5" Euro MAF
24lb injectors
Turner Underdrive pulleys 
ARP hardware throughout 
Ceramic coated headers, full stainless exhaust from Mr. Asparagus's NA setup

Needless to say, the car can really get out of its own way. 
We rolled the car across a scale a year or so ago which was very similar to how it sits now, and the scale showed 2,400 lbs. Lightweight NA power is a whole different ball game from what I've known. 

The car needs plenty of clean up work as it has been "neglected" for many years, a lot of the finer details are not in a way that I appreciate. 
I'm excited to be back behind the wheel of an E30 that will actually be enjoyable to drive (the diesel noises were cool before, but the rest was strongly mediocre).

Until next time!

 

Ode to the old e21 back in action.

Haha it was not easy thats for sure! 😅 Previous owners left some paint in basement. Hopefully one of them is the right color and a quick touch up will take care of it.
Let me know if you want the decals for your hood projects. I love doing stuff like this. I thought about buying up some hoods to do livery designs and selling them. 

the minute i get my hands on another e30 hood, youll be gettin a call from me
the question is: tictac, bastos, or fina 

Bought another BMW last week, plan to keep this one pretty stock and just daily and enjoy. Say hello to my 2005 330i ZHP! There were only 36 made in Alpine/black leather/6speed! This car is truly incredible. I think the ZHP might be one of the best all around daily’s bmw ever made? I love it. I picked it all the way up in Atlanta and took a proper detour to the tail of the dragon for a break in. It needs some small stuff here and there cosmetically, but the chassis and drive terrain are in fantastic shape! 
 
already polished the headlights, PPF’d the black pillars, and new knob. (Ignore the giant bug under the kidneys lol)

Haha it was not easy thats for sure! 😅 Previous owners left some paint in basement. Hopefully one of them is the right color and a quick touch up will take care of it.
Let me know if you want the decals for your hood projects. I love doing stuff like this. I thought about buying up some hoods to do livery designs and selling them. 

Ode to the old e21 back in action.

Ode to the old e21 back in action.

Ode to the old e21 back in action.

Ode to the old e21 back in action.

Ode to the old e21 back in action.

Changed out the halogen headlight bulbs with some Morimoto 2stroke 2.0 LED bulbs. Love these! I first put them in my previous Dodge Magnum. The cutoff, color temp and brightness far exceed anything else I've used/seen. They are engineered to work in halogen housings or projector housings, so the pattern/cutoff is exactly how it should be. No stray light blinding oncoming traffic. Need to get a good picture of the cutoff against garage door one of these evenings.

Halogens

LEDs

Next up is switching out the interior lights for LED replacements. I also ordered a footwell light kit from leatherz.com which allows a plug-n-play install of OEM style footwell lights that dim with the rest of interior lights when turning on/off. Pics of that coming when they arrive. 

Changed out the halogen headlight bulbs with some Morimoto 2stroke 2.0 LED bulbs. Love these! I first put them in my previous Dodge Magnum. The cutoff, color temp and brightness far exceed anything else I've used/seen. They are engineered to work in halogen housings or projector housings, so the pattern/cutoff is exactly how it should be. No stray light blinding oncoming traffic. Need to get a good picture of the cutoff against garage door one of these evenings.

Halogens

LEDs

Next up is switching out the interior lights for LED replacements. I also ordered a footwell light kit from leatherz.com which allows a plug-n-play install of OEM style footwell lights that dim with the rest of interior lights when turning on/off. Pics of that coming when they arrive. 

Changed out the halogen headlight bulbs with some Morimoto 2stroke 2.0 LED bulbs. Love these! I first put them in my previous Dodge Magnum. The cutoff, color temp and brightness far exceed anything else I've used/seen. They are engineered to work in halogen housings or projector housings, so the pattern/cutoff is exactly how it should be. No stray light blinding oncoming traffic. Need to get a good picture of the cutoff against garage door one of these evenings.

Halogens

LEDs

Next up is switching out the interior lights for LED replacements. I also ordered a footwell light kit from leatherz.com which allows a plug-n-play install of OEM style footwell lights that dim with the rest of interior lights when turning on/off. Pics of that coming when they arrive. 

Changed out the halogen headlight bulbs with some Morimoto 2stroke 2.0 LED bulbs. Love these! I first put them in my previous Dodge Magnum. The cutoff, color temp and brightness far exceed anything else I've used/seen. They are engineered to work in halogen housings or projector housings, so the pattern/cutoff is exactly how it should be. No stray light blinding oncoming traffic. Need to get a good picture of the cutoff against garage door one of these evenings.

Halogens

LEDs

Next up is switching out the interior lights for LED replacements. I also ordered a footwell light kit from leatherz.com which allows a plug-n-play install of OEM style footwell lights that dim with the rest of interior lights when turning on/off. Pics of that coming when they arrive. 

Changed out the halogen headlight bulbs with some Morimoto 2stroke 2.0 LED bulbs. Love these! I first put them in my previous Dodge Magnum. The cutoff, color temp and brightness far exceed anything else I've used/seen. They are engineered to work in halogen housings or projector housings, so the pattern/cutoff is exactly how it should be. No stray light blinding oncoming traffic. Need to get a good picture of the cutoff against garage door one of these evenings.

Halogens

LEDs

Next up is switching out the interior lights for LED replacements. I also ordered a footwell light kit from leatherz.com which allows a plug-n-play install of OEM style footwell lights that dim with the rest of interior lights when turning on/off. Pics of that coming when they arrive. 

Thanks For Looking 

I checked out a cars & coffee style event in Thiensville yesterday morning. It was put on by fuelfed car club out of Chicago, but was open to the public (for pre-1995 cars) so I popped over in the Volvo. Probably 25 cars total, but every one of them was interesting and all of the owners I chatted with were very nice, welcoming and surprisingly knowledgeable compared to the average car enthusiast. This was by far my favorite event I’ve been to in a while. 
Of the BMW variety, I spotted a e31 850, 2002, e9 3.0cs, and an amazing older BMW 700 that I’ve never seen or heard of before. Probably the coolest BMW I've seen in a while. Oozing with character.

I decided I would probably get a better price on Ebay VS BAT due to miles.
People look for creampuffs on BAT vs Drivers on Ebay.
Just my opinion but I asked a couple people and they seemed to agree with me.

Is this not Bring-A-Trailer worthy?

Yesterday I showed up with just below 3/4 tank of gas, assuming thats where the level will be more likely than not. With the lack of factory adjustments in rear and having no camber plates up front, this appointment was more so to get the sway links and coilovers adjusted correctly than a true alignment. My arbitrary settings that I had everything set at was actually just about spot on for corner balance besides the sway links. I was surprised. 
Here are my results. 


I will for sure need to weld in some camber/caster adjusters on the rear subframe as that is the only "really need inprovement" outcome. That will be a winter project most likely.
After all said and done, the car feels great! It tracks straight, feels more balanced and flatness in turns is fantastic. Even with the minimal alignment adjustments, it was worth the trip in my mind. 

Yesterday I showed up with just below 3/4 tank of gas, assuming thats where the level will be more likely than not. With the lack of factory adjustments in rear and having no camber plates up front, this appointment was more so to get the sway links and coilovers adjusted correctly than a true alignment. My arbitrary settings that I had everything set at was actually just about spot on for corner balance besides the sway links. I was surprised. 
Here are my results. 


I will for sure need to weld in some camber/caster adjusters on the rear subframe as that is the only "really need inprovement" outcome. That will be a winter project most likely.
After all said and done, the car feels great! It tracks straight, feels more balanced and flatness in turns is fantastic. Even with the minimal alignment adjustments, it was worth the trip in my mind. 

Yesterday I showed up with just below 3/4 tank of gas, assuming thats where the level will be more likely than not. With the lack of factory adjustments in rear and having no camber plates up front, this appointment was more so to get the sway links and coilovers adjusted correctly than a true alignment. My arbitrary settings that I had everything set at was actually just about spot on for corner balance besides the sway links. I was surprised. 
Here are my results. 


I will for sure need to weld in some camber/caster adjusters on the rear subframe as that is the only "really need inprovement" outcome. That will be a winter project most likely.
After all said and done, the car feels great! It tracks straight, feels more balanced and flatness in turns is fantastic. Even with the minimal alignment adjustments, it was worth the trip in my mind.