m42b32

Got the car out a few weeks ago! The steering rack seal leaks have reached a point of being a real problem, but if you ignore that and keep the reservoir full its still a blast to drive! Went to the Pegasus cars and coffee and had a great time last weekend, was great seeing some of you there.

Yup!!

I've been delinquent, sorry Chris! Chris hand delivered my gift the day before Christmas (in the dense fog no less), very appreciated and the gift is awesome!! Super excited to get this hanging up in the house and the stickers will go very nicely on the workbench cabinets I'm putting up in the garage!

I have an ozone machine if you want to borrow it. My brother used it to get cigarette smoke smell out of his XJ and it worked amazingly, haven't had a whiff of it since. You could put it in the car with the air running. I did replace the cabin air filter sometime in 2022 with an oem one but worth a check anyway.

I have always thought the BMW Motorsport 'golfball' shift knob would be a cool OEM addition to my e30, but they were NLA from BMW for a while and very hard to find. They apparently made another run of them a few years ago and ECS (https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-motorsport-parts/bmw-motorsport-golf-ball-shift-knob/25118277905~geb/) has them available for like $120 a piece, which is ridiculous for pretty much a little rubber ball. They also list this incorrect part number, 25118277905, which if you search for it comes up as an error on real-oem. They are pretty commonly found in BMW race cars, including the WTCC cars: I did some digging and found that BMW actually issued a new part number for the new run of golfball knobs: 25008322191. The actual part number of the old knob, according to real-oem is 25112483255, which was ended in 2008. I called BMW of Milwaukee North to order something else, and figured I'd check to see if it was even possible to order this part number and what it costs. Turns out you can! And, its only about $65 after the CCA discount. ECS is making a pretty nice profit off these things... There was one left in Florida (dibs), but they can still be ordered from Germany. I googled the part number I found to make sure I didn't end up with some random part before I ordered it, and this part number is indeed the golfball knob (not my photo): Just figured I'd pass this info along to anyone who would be interested or wanted one. I'm a sucker for less common OEM parts, and being able to order one for less than the price of a ZHP knob is just a bonus.

So I was perusing the interwebs and I came across this build This started life as a 318ti, and they have converted it to AWD with the engine/drivetrain from a 330xi and the rear end from an e39 m5. The engine is turbocharged and the car has a fiberglass wide body to fit massive tires. This thing is absolutely nuts Here is the build thread: http://rejsa.nu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=90943&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 ^^It isn't in English so google translate helps a lot I found it in reddit, where they are photo-documenting the whole build more-so than the build thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/BMW/comments/23amdy/weedspeed_bmw_race_compact_update_5/ ^^The most recent pictures are on the top link and the first four sets of pictures are listed in the comments below the link on that page

I figured I'd start a progress/build thread for my e30 like I did for the e36! I posted about the car before but for the sake of completeness: It's a 1991 318is slicktop in Alpine white with an Indigo cloth interior. It was built on April 26th, 1991 which I believe is the very end of production for the e30 coupe so thats pretty cool. It spent most of it's life in Florida so it is basically rust free but like most old southern cars a lot of the plastics are very faded and brittle. I am planning on doing an OEM+ build and just bringing it back to its former glory. On to the pics! I tried to get the color of the door panels but the camera didnt pick it up too well, I have never seen this color before but I think it looks pretty cool After a nice cleaning The seats have definitely seen better days (the rear seat is trashed) and the carpet is mostly torn out, other than that and a few other little things the interior is actually in pretty good shape. The dash is 99% crack free with only a tiny one in the tray above the glove box. I am planning on removing those white face gauge stickers (hard to see here) as soon as I can as they are impossible to see at night, hopefully they come off easily... I originally thought it had the standard IS lip in the front as I never looked at it too closely but I highly doubt its OEM, does anyone know what kind of lip this is?? There are no markings and it appears to be made of fiberglass. I kinda like it actually, its subtle and a little different. In terms of mechanicals, the engine is in excellent shape with a recent head gasket and timing chain replacement as well as all the related hoses and gaskets, taking care of all of the m42's serious problems for the time being. Everything else is in good shape but the suspension is definitely tired and it rattles over bumps, especially from the rear. On top of the normal new car maintenance where I plan on changing every fluid, The brakes suck and are past it so I have a full brake rebuild on the way with rotors, pads, sensors, and fluid for all four corners as well as a fan clutch (the temp climbs at stoplights), and a lower oil pan gasket as it leaks...a lot. The drivers side tie rod is shot so I have two new ones coming to fix that. Hopefully I can get all this stuff done in the next week and a half because I will be returning to school then and the car will be going into storage when I return in October.