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Let me introduce myself. My name is Steven, and I am a very active member of R3Vlimited, and hope to become one here. My car has always been stanced, and I thought you guys would probably enjoy my build thread a bit more than the traditional sat R3V.
All of this is copied and pasted, so there may be some things that contradict. This will be long, so sit back, relax, and read.
This is the story of my 1991 318 Cabrio. She was born in February of 1991 and lived a fairly normal life going from owner to owner and was used as a normal daily driven car.
But before we get to her, we should start with the back story.
A couple years ago, I was searching for my first car. A family friend came over and said their neighbor had a BMW for sale that was a steal of a price. I couldn't resist, so I hopped in the car with my dad and drover over there to find a single owner immaculate 1993 325i in Alpine White. I had to have it.
I threw on some budget coils and redid the entire suspension along with some nice 16" style 5s.
Before she got sold.
That's where I started my love for BMWs. Everyone always told me that they were expensive and a pain to work on, and while I would soon come to learn they are sort of both, I cannot contain my love for them, e30s and e36s alike.
After I sold the e36, I decided I had to have an e30. After searching for over a month (not having a car that entire time), I got a pm on here from a user called Herb. I went and looked at the car and fell in love with the car. We agreed on a price after much back and forth and a few days later I went and picked it up.
These first set of picture will be crappy phone pictures--sorry I didn't know one day I'd document this build.
The first day i got her:
Not soon after I got her, my mom backed up into her. :hitler: I was pissed to say the least but she was extremely apologetic and we got everything sorted out.
The damage:
Even my car was mad. ;D
1:
With money sorted out, I decided that my bouncy suspension was more important than a little body damage. So I ordered a Jom coilover kit. (No pictures of this sorry. Installation was easy and took me around an hour. (After having them for almost a year, I'd recommend them to anyone who dailies their car and wants to be low. Although they are a tad too bouncy for me.
The next step was to get rid of those ugly bottle caps. Vivek had a set of weaves and since we are good friends he sold me them for $100. Not bad. They had decent tires.
Definitely gave the car a whole new look. Much better.
I decided that my paint needed a buff, so i cut and buff the entire car. (took daysssssss)
And after that I ticked over the 154k mark
I never really liked the tan interior in the car, and always preferred a black interior over tan anyways. So i picked up a set of these early on knowing my future plans.
Some time had passed and I had not done any work on my car recently, so I was itching for a project. It couldn't have been a better time, because I scored a full black interior at Pick n Pull for only $100. So I started my mission to convert my interior to black. (Took 2 days~8 hours)
After one coat don't worry more were to come.
I don't have pictures of the finished carpet but here's my interior finished.
After that I got some cluster rings, an Alipina strip, and did some red needles.
Then I tackled some all red tail lights:
Luke was in the area, so I purchased a luke box from him.
At some point I also shadow lined my trim (no pictures, but you'll see it later)
This is the end of the old story.. (The little things I did)
This is also close to the end of the shitty blurry pictures... oops.
At this point I longed for more power. I had always looked to m50 and s50 swaps, but they were never realistic goals. Until I saw a post on NorCal chat with an s50 for $1000. Granted, it was in pieces and needing to be reassembled, but it came from a trustworthy member of the forums and I had and have full faith in the engine. I took a trip up to San Francisco one day to take a look. Just as the ad stated, it was in pieces. haha. This was my first look of the inside of an s50 in person, and let me tell you, it wouldn't be my last. This would be my second engine rebuild, but I had help from my mechanic of a dad.
I offered $800 for the engine under the condition that he deliver it to me because he had a truck. He accepted and took a $100 deposit. The next day, this showed up:
Was rebuilt about 5k ago
I found somewhere to stash everything for the night until the next day when I could set up my work station. The next day everything was put away in it's own place, and parts were already ordered. (Through my favorite part supplier Blunttech). Also ordered an e34 oil pan, dipstick and pickup. This came in a few days which means I could start work on my engine.
After this, I worked on it here and there between going to school and making consoles.
Then an add showed up stating that the guy had two sets of style 5s for sale (one 16" and the other 17") both fill and drill. Me and my friend decided to pick them both up for a discount and scored both sets for only $800. Mine were powder coated black and after test fitting I decided I did not like the idea of having a black hole for a wheel so I went and picked up some paint to have some unique colored wheels.
Almond. I absolutely adore it.
The next morning:
And then I had a chance to capture some pictures with my DSLR
That was that, and now it was time to continue on with the engine. I cleaned the pistons although I only have a before picture:
They were shiny when I was done.
I got the cams installed on the head. Holding my breath the entire time...
Then started the ordering process. Parts started tricking in while my bank account was being depleted.
I started cleaning and painting everything from there so I could start to reassemble.
Oh and I lowered my car a bit more.
Then a deal of a life time popped up. The same guy that I had bought my wheels from knew that I was doing an S50 swap and had crashed his S50 swapped car months before. Not having time to part it out, it was headed to Pick n Pull. So he offered me the car at what they were going to give me and I picked up the car that weekend. I scored the car for $350!!
The car was full of goodies like H&R Race and Bilsteins, and s50, stainless steel brake lines, a custom turner turn for 21.5# injectors and 3.5" maf, zf tranny, LSD, etc. Ill get pictures of all the parts I have ready to go in may car tomorrow. For now I just have one.
More parts were coming in, and I was getting closer to finishing the rebuild.
Just a mock up.... lol
All of this is copied and pasted, so there may be some things that contradict. This will be long, so sit back, relax, and read.
This is the story of my 1991 318 Cabrio. She was born in February of 1991 and lived a fairly normal life going from owner to owner and was used as a normal daily driven car.
But before we get to her, we should start with the back story.
A couple years ago, I was searching for my first car. A family friend came over and said their neighbor had a BMW for sale that was a steal of a price. I couldn't resist, so I hopped in the car with my dad and drover over there to find a single owner immaculate 1993 325i in Alpine White. I had to have it.
I threw on some budget coils and redid the entire suspension along with some nice 16" style 5s.
Before she got sold.
That's where I started my love for BMWs. Everyone always told me that they were expensive and a pain to work on, and while I would soon come to learn they are sort of both, I cannot contain my love for them, e30s and e36s alike.
After I sold the e36, I decided I had to have an e30. After searching for over a month (not having a car that entire time), I got a pm on here from a user called Herb. I went and looked at the car and fell in love with the car. We agreed on a price after much back and forth and a few days later I went and picked it up.
These first set of picture will be crappy phone pictures--sorry I didn't know one day I'd document this build.
The first day i got her:
Not soon after I got her, my mom backed up into her. :hitler: I was pissed to say the least but she was extremely apologetic and we got everything sorted out.
The damage:
Even my car was mad. ;D
1:With money sorted out, I decided that my bouncy suspension was more important than a little body damage. So I ordered a Jom coilover kit. (No pictures of this sorry. Installation was easy and took me around an hour. (After having them for almost a year, I'd recommend them to anyone who dailies their car and wants to be low. Although they are a tad too bouncy for me.
The next step was to get rid of those ugly bottle caps. Vivek had a set of weaves and since we are good friends he sold me them for $100. Not bad. They had decent tires.
Definitely gave the car a whole new look. Much better.
I decided that my paint needed a buff, so i cut and buff the entire car. (took daysssssss)
And after that I ticked over the 154k mark
I never really liked the tan interior in the car, and always preferred a black interior over tan anyways. So i picked up a set of these early on knowing my future plans.
Some time had passed and I had not done any work on my car recently, so I was itching for a project. It couldn't have been a better time, because I scored a full black interior at Pick n Pull for only $100. So I started my mission to convert my interior to black. (Took 2 days~8 hours)
After one coat don't worry more were to come.
I don't have pictures of the finished carpet but here's my interior finished.
After that I got some cluster rings, an Alipina strip, and did some red needles.
Then I tackled some all red tail lights:
Luke was in the area, so I purchased a luke box from him.
At some point I also shadow lined my trim (no pictures, but you'll see it later)
This is the end of the old story.. (The little things I did)
This is also close to the end of the shitty blurry pictures... oops.
At this point I longed for more power. I had always looked to m50 and s50 swaps, but they were never realistic goals. Until I saw a post on NorCal chat with an s50 for $1000. Granted, it was in pieces and needing to be reassembled, but it came from a trustworthy member of the forums and I had and have full faith in the engine. I took a trip up to San Francisco one day to take a look. Just as the ad stated, it was in pieces. haha. This was my first look of the inside of an s50 in person, and let me tell you, it wouldn't be my last. This would be my second engine rebuild, but I had help from my mechanic of a dad.
I offered $800 for the engine under the condition that he deliver it to me because he had a truck. He accepted and took a $100 deposit. The next day, this showed up:
Was rebuilt about 5k ago
I found somewhere to stash everything for the night until the next day when I could set up my work station. The next day everything was put away in it's own place, and parts were already ordered. (Through my favorite part supplier Blunttech). Also ordered an e34 oil pan, dipstick and pickup. This came in a few days which means I could start work on my engine.
After this, I worked on it here and there between going to school and making consoles.
Then an add showed up stating that the guy had two sets of style 5s for sale (one 16" and the other 17") both fill and drill. Me and my friend decided to pick them both up for a discount and scored both sets for only $800. Mine were powder coated black and after test fitting I decided I did not like the idea of having a black hole for a wheel so I went and picked up some paint to have some unique colored wheels.
Almond. I absolutely adore it.
The next morning:
And then I had a chance to capture some pictures with my DSLR
That was that, and now it was time to continue on with the engine. I cleaned the pistons although I only have a before picture:
They were shiny when I was done.
I got the cams installed on the head. Holding my breath the entire time...
Then started the ordering process. Parts started tricking in while my bank account was being depleted.
I started cleaning and painting everything from there so I could start to reassemble.
Oh and I lowered my car a bit more.
Then a deal of a life time popped up. The same guy that I had bought my wheels from knew that I was doing an S50 swap and had crashed his S50 swapped car months before. Not having time to part it out, it was headed to Pick n Pull. So he offered me the car at what they were going to give me and I picked up the car that weekend. I scored the car for $350!!
The car was full of goodies like H&R Race and Bilsteins, and s50, stainless steel brake lines, a custom turner turn for 21.5# injectors and 3.5" maf, zf tranny, LSD, etc. Ill get pictures of all the parts I have ready to go in may car tomorrow. For now I just have one.
More parts were coming in, and I was getting closer to finishing the rebuild.
Just a mock up.... lol
keep it up!
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