Bought a 98 318ti 5 speed M Sport (GA)
 

I stumbled across this forum Monday night after looking for common issues with a 318ti that I was looking at buying. I bought the 318ti last night. I took it for a test drive and the radiator sprung a leak, bummer. It did give me a little more haggling room though. Needs an OFH gasket and most likely an oil pan gasket along with some basic maintenance. Long term plans are an M52 or S52. I was looking at 328is 5 speeds and this popped up. It's definitely different from every other BMW I've had. Most of those were E34's.

http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/Original/1.jpg
http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/Original/2.jpg
http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/Original/3.jpg
http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/Original/4.jpg
http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/Original/5.jpg

On the way home.
http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/...6/IMAG0241.jpg

Next to my E34 540i6 M Sport.
http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/...6/IMAG0247.jpg

Nice looking example! The weak link in ti's (and all E-36's, for that matter) is the cooling system. As long as you are replacing the radiator anyway, I would change out the water pump, thermostat, and the two plastic water pipes on the back of the engine next to the fire wall. You can ruin a head gasket or even the head in a few moments of overheating at speed. Pull over immediately, and determine the problem, if the heat gauge needle ever moves past 12 o'clock. The cooling system is essentially a time bomb unless components are replaced preventatively, based on mileage, 60 to 100k. Cheers, John

So I've been driving this car around consistently for a week now and really like it. I did a lot of work to it and it's been working out great since I finished. Just minor stuff now.

What I did do
Complete cooling system refresh
Intake reseal since I had to get to the lower coolant pipe
OFH gasket
Belts
ASC delete (10ohm resistor trick so the ABS still works)
SAP delete with the proper block off plate and simulator

I have some new rotors for it and have some brake pads on the way. Still some small things to do to it but it's been a solid runner for the past week. I bought some H&R Sport springs for it also.

http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/.../IMAG0430s.jpg

This one was about to go. The pipe on the rear of the head looked fine but was changed anyway.
http://www.gabimmers.com/pics/318ti/.../IMAG0375s.jpg

Your car looks nice...

What shocks are you going to use with H&R springs (where and how much on the springs).