WIBIMMERS

Car had a full paint correction done on by Auto Trim Design in Neenah. After getting the car to my parents garage, spent the next couple of days costing the car in Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light and then topped with EXO V3. This should last me probably over 2 years with proper washing and no winter driving. I also coated the wheels.

 Paint correction and the coating have made it very red. Pictures really don’t do it justice how good it looks. If you’re still using waxes on your cars, make the switch. It’s very easy to apply.

At Road America for Indy Car this weekend:

UUC Evo 3 SSK installed. Unfortunately, the DSSR could not be installed as the shift knuckle off the back of the trans was the wrong one, thought my car had the right one, but guess not. Poly bushings where the bitch clips inserts and Turner poly carrier bushing were also installed. Shifter feels super tight, notchy, directional. Was worried the throw was going to be too short for my liking, but this is the perfect amount for my driving style.
 

Only issues are that the shifter in neutral sits at maybe a 10-15 degree tilt towards the passenger side, not a huge deal, but a little annoying. Another thing, and maybe this is me only used to driving cars with factory shifters, is the 1-2 throw feels a little more difficult. If I had to rate the 1-2 throw, it would be maybe 4.5-5 out of 10 in terms of effort needed. Where as the others are more like a 3-3.5, compared to stock which I would say was like a 2-2.5. Only other thing, is that the ZHP weighted knob must not fit the profile of the shifter itself as it has maybe 5 degrees of rotational play in it. It doesn’t feel like it would come off, but it’s a little annoying that it rotates a little, and makes a little bit of clacking when going through the gears.

UUC did not include the six Allen head bolts that connect the collar to the carrier arm, so I bought some Phillips screws of the same pitch. They were a little longer than the ones that would have been included, so they had to be shimmed with some washers so the screws wouldn’t contact the ball the shifter pivots on. My only thought as to why the couple of things might be out of whack.

Overall, very pleased with it, even without the DSSR, it feels extremely tight and directional. For me, this car exceeds at the warm summer evening, back road, sunset country cruise with the radio(Bluetooth speaker in my case) playing some good tunes. Really hard to beat.

This was one of those opportunities that I just couldn't pass up. Long time buddy reached out to me about his girlfriends mom wanting to sell her "old BMW". Asked for pics and was greeted by this 325is in incredible shape. Got the owners number and started talking about setting up a time to see the car. She had to ponder what the price would be as she had been back and forth about selling the car before. When she sent me over the price, I knew I was going to be buying it. Set up a time to see the car and came with cash even though I was only about 20 minutes from her house. Went out with my brother and drove it home that night. The previous owner really loved the car and was passionate about it.

Never drove in winter, always kept in one of their buildings on their property, and pretty infrequently driven. Came with all the service records from Auto Clinic where it has been serviced for the majority of its life. Has all the original manuals, radio ID cards, and even a complete tool kit. Crack free dash and a working odometer. Car hit a deer at some point, so the front clip is much more shiny than the rest, but the work was done by Dave Treichel at Zero to 60 so I know it was done to the highest level and it looks it.

Things to take care of: half the cluster does not work. Tach, fuel mileage, and temp gauge do not work. The other half works completely, so I don't know if that means it's an SI battery or if just all the gears on that side broke. Only other thing is that the driver window does not work, assuming it's just a regulator or maybe there is connection under the switch not connected.

My plan is to start cleaning it this weekend and get it up on stands to take a look under it. Want to rent a carpet cleaner that has a hand operated unit so I can pull the seats out and really clean it, looks like it might have some mildew or mold on it(probably from sitting in a barn for a while). Then start buffing and polishing the faded parts.

Plans: maintenance and minor mods including coilovers, wheels, strut braces, short shifter, and exhaust. I'll pick a couple bits off my other car like the euro grilles, euro clock, and euro plate filler. I plan to do the brakes this year as they are a bit squeaky. Depending on the condition under the car, I would like to do a full suspension and brake refresh this winter.

The car drives and rides great, been really enjoying the M20.

straight6pwr said:

the same reason you don't buy a Corvette or a Hummer: people will think you're a douche, even if you are in fact, a non-douche.

Took some pics with @suspenceful today. 

Jake also rolled the front fenders, seems to have taken care of the majority of the issue. Will have to see with some more steep inclines.

@suspenceful as always with the fire behind the lens.

Some pictures from this weekend. Site compressed the quality, click the images for full resolution.

YoungCR said:

I was gonna say if the paint hasn’t been damaged around the mounts then it’s always been that way or moved slightly.

Doesn't look like it has. I'll have to give it a try.

*Edit; I do not have slots. I have like a pirate hook looking deal on the lower bolt.

Pic from tonight.

Some photos from the weekend. Rented a 70-200 2.8L III. Was fun to use some nice glass. Definitely going to be doing this for all the major events. The gulley washer made for interesting track conditions, also some great pictures.

You know the drill, click for higher resolution.

Polished the insert and hit the rubber part with a coat of paint. Cleaned up pretty well. Needs to fix a couple spots on the insert before it’s complete.

Drilled holes in the trunk lid for the studs. It was hard to gauge how the spoiler would fit without being able to lay it flat on the trunk lid. Came out well, still need to drill or cut a hole on the underside of the trunk lid to access the far outside screws. I think I might use a combination of some double sided tape and foam tape(not exactly foam tape, but something of that nature) to close the gap at the ends. Guess will see how much the far studs will suck it closer to the lid with nuts on them. You can see how I tried to get the gap that ran the length of the trunk tighter. As a result of this, the radius of the spoiler leaves somewhat of a gap at the ends.

Some pictures from last night. Not completely satisfied with these, need to do some more playing around with night shooting, car angle, camera angle, etc. Going to be doing a lot more experimenting in this location though. Ton of different lighting levels and background options to work with, just didn't have a ton of time.

This lighting really tells all in terms of your paint quality. This thing needs a paint correction badly.

After selling my F30, I bought an F150.  Drove my parents for a little bit and loved it, so I bought my own. Well after 8 months, I decided to move on from the truck and sell it. Loved the vehicle, just didn't love paying for it(economic crisis on the door step as well). MPG wasn't actually too bad, averaged like 17ish even with the bigger tires. On top of that, I wasn't doing anything to justify having a truck and just felt wasteful. 

Day before it sold.

2 weeks before the truck sold, I made a trip down to Chicago to pick up my brothers 2011 328xi. The car was having starting issues and he was unsure what to do with the vehicle. We figured it would be best if we brought it back to the Appleton area for further diagnosis and repair. Car made the 3 hour straight drive back to Wisconsin with out a hitch. It was around this time that I was looking for other vehicle options. I wanted to reduce my payment significantly or not have one at all, so I was looking at E46's, E70 X5's and E90s. My brother decided he wanted to find something newer so would be selling the E90. So I bought it.

2011 328xi Titanium Silver, Black Dakota leather, and Burlwood with 99,863 miles. No iDrive.

Car was running lean on both banks. After some research found it likely to be the valve cover with the built in CCV. VCG was leaking anyway so it was time for it to come off regardless. I also had the OFHG replaced along with the power steering fluid reservoir to address any immediate concern areas. Next will be cabin and intake filter, along with wiper blades.

The car is in very good condition minus a few minor things. Was a 1 owner vehicle up to 72k miles when my family bought it. Has always been garaged kept. 

Silver wasn't my first choice, but the color has really grown on me. I also can't say enough about how much I am enjoying the E90 platform.

Only two things this doesn't have which I want; Xenon projectors and comfort access. Comfort access is nightmare to add, so passing on that dream. I have been reading about being able to use the Euro Bi Xenon projectors and having to make only a few modifications to the harness for them to work as opposed to US which have leveling units.

My brother hit a construction barrel. I am going to do my best to get this looking presentable, but I plan to replace the bumper next year with an M Tech/M Sport one.

(Ignore my dinner)

If it's not going to be the weekend car, it has to look good and be enjoyable to be in. I have a fair number of things on the way to address both of those. But will remain largely stock( I say that now).

To start, the steering wheel. The stock one is fine, but we can do better.

Purchased this heated Sport wheel that I have some plans for. But first to clean it. I used Griot's leather 3 in 1 and leather conditioner in conjunction with a Colourlock leather brush, short hair detail brush, and a tooth brush.

You can see how much dirt is caked into the grain.

This was after one pass with the first brush.

This was after the whole wheel. Clean your steering wheels.

Grain clean, nice semi gloss matte finish.

More updates to follow.

GunMetalGrey said:

Pretty low. 
I gotta do another shakedown run soon before feeling 100% confident in my above statement. 

What is this thing like to drive on the highway? I'll probably just take the fields instead.

Rekpoint said:

 If it wasn't dakar Id be all over it.  

SteelBlue said:

Get the M50 in and running. Need a 260 and a few other bits, but have the majority of it.

Replace suspension. Fix other things that might kill me while driving.

Drive it.

Wish it had an S50.

What a trip this was.

After taking some inventory, getting pricing from @patsbimmer1, and talking with @GunMetalGrey, came to the conclusion that buying @ChrisO S52 would be a better value for only a few hundred more than buying everything to get the M50 that came with the car running. Initially I wanted to only purchase the drivetrain from the car, but after some deliberating figured out that it probably wouldn't be plausible.

So I got a storage unit so I could put the M3 somewhere while I tore it down and pulled the drivetrain.

We were trying to figure out the best way to get it from Green Bay to Appleton. Considered driving it, but its gutted, on shitty tires, and no seat. Ended up getting it flatbeded from his to the storage unit. Chris said they had to gas up the truck before heading out so he left a bit after they left to get gas and went to meet me at the storage unit. We got there at the same time, but the car was not there. It had started raining pretty good at this point so were both just sitting in our cars and waiting. 20 minutes go by and it's still not there and now its been like an hour since they left his place. Because he used AAA we didn't have the towing company info. Figured out that the picture he took of the car on the flatbed had the phone number on it, but the number was a disconnected line or was not accepting calls. Waited longer, still raining. Chris has been on hold with AAA for like 20 mins so decided to just drive back down 41 to see if they were stuck on the side of the road. He called me and told me the car would be there soon and it showed up as he was calling me, almost 2 hours after leaving Green Bay.

But hey, it stopped raining by then, which was nice.

But yeah, time to start doing some work. Very excited about potentially having an S52 E30.

Rekpoint said:

Okay, who's username is "ProtectThisHaus" and found my smellyass on Reddit?

Was it you? @SteelBlue?

Hey dude, I'm parting out an E36 M3, let me know if you need anything.

Our Road America group seemed to enjoy this, figured I'd post it here.

Grandfather completed the Skip Barber school in 91. As a huge racing fan and a high level craftsman, this is the result:

I'll post the other cars later. This was one of the first ones, the later ones were a significant improvement over these ones(I think he would agree). You can actually see parts of one of the others in the corner of these pictures. Free internet points if you can tell me which one it is based off.

Not E30 content, but super stoked about this.

1984 Yamaha QT50.

After talking with @MPW3RLee, he had suggested just having their wheel touch up guy at the shop take care of them after he got the tires mounted on the new wheels.

They came out great, look brand new. Saved me a ton of time and sanding working as well.

 

 

I’m really happy with the result. These feel much more appropriate on the car. I think I’ll even be able to run the center waffles if I want to.

I am still waiting on the rear set. But seeing as I’m going to be up north for a week, figured I’d get these now.