New soon to be 318ti owner
 

Hello everyone. I will be finalizing the purchase of my first 318ti this weekend. She a Black 1997 Sport w/ 94000 miles. I'm really excited to get her home and cleaned up. Needs a lot of work, but I really plan on bringing it back to life. I have been interested in a ti for about 20 years now

I have owned 7 BMWs over the last 23 years....soon to be 8. Two of which were E36s and three E30s. So I have a little experience in the BMW world. Glad to be a part of a small family and hope to get to know some of you. Will be posting more soon.

Thanks.

Welcome to the sandbox. Let the madness begin. Post some pics when you have her home.

Madness is right. This car I'm getting may have been better served as a parts car, but I hate seeing a decent car go to waste. I tend to spend way too much money on my cars just to end up selling them for way too little. The plans are to keep this car till the wheels fall off so wasn't worried about it not being perfect right now. Plus I still have a lot of parts from my E36 M3 I can put on it.

I've got one of my ti's like that in my garage right now. But when I get it back on the road it'll be worth the work.

:) Come on up and let's sort out the last of what you need. I'll help you get it back on the road. I'm done parting the TI and moved on to rebuilding the Z. I have some time. :cool:

Find me, I'll help you if I can. Cheers! :cool:

Thanks for the offer. I think I've got all the parts together, now it's the time that's needed to put them on the car and get her running. If you're bored and want to turn a wrench or two on the ti you're welcome to come down anytime.

Thanks again.

Post some pictures! Also I would be interested to see how you compare the ride, handling compared to the cars you have driven before, and continued impression as you work and change parts.

I should be able to get some pictures today or tomorrow. I picked it up Wednesday night and drove it 40 miles home. Obviously compared to my E36 M3 it lacks a lot of power, but it is surprisingly peppy and nimble as I would expect any BMW to be. The engine kind of surprised me with it's sound...I'm not sure if it's normal to sound kind of like a sewing machine. Needs a lot of work, but nothing I can't handle...yet. Will definitely keep everyone posted.

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Pictures! :tongue:

sewing machine?? Nope, mine never sounded like that! I do have to say I think the 318ti surprised me too when I first drove it, the gearing+diff is a good match for the m44 to make it feel "peppy".

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6e10fc169d.jpg

Here is a quick shot I took yesterday. Paint is done for, but interior is almost mint and body is straight. Runs well and passed CA smog this morning. I spent most of the day cleaning her up.
Planning on just rattle canning a flat black on her till I paint her to keep the paint uniform.

List of parts already have, that's on the way, or getting soon:
18 inch BBS RCJs
Factory Euro clear tail lights and side markers
KW v1 coilovers
DRL relay
ZKWs with Evo-X retrofit
Light smoked corners
Euro 3 spoke steering wheel
Windows tinted 35%



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I forgot I have M3 side mirrors too

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...92cd8b1990.jpg

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d6f7de3b48.jpg



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Looking good! Just wondering why the 18" wheels, I thought we just mentioned how slow the 318ti is, with those heavy wheels it will loose its "peppyness". Once you do get the parts on it will definitely look a lot better, keep us up to date!

The weight difference from the stock wheels to the BBSs shouldn't be that much different. The RCJs are very light wheels. I kept those wheels specifically to put on the ti after I sold my M3.

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Oh nice, sounds good! Looking forward to see it all together.

Welcome to the madness.

I did something similar with my ti a few years back. Here are some of the pictures. All new everything was the plan, upgrade where reasonable. 'Reasonable' is a very shifty word.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/BimmerBu...50527263233345

After driving the ti for 6 days total now, I am really enjoying it. I cant wait to start modding it. Haven't done anything other than clean it really well and spray some flat black on the hood and roof.

I think I may have found out what that "sewing machine" sound was. I was doing some research on alternator whine and listening to what they sound like online, sounds almost what my car sounds like. No problems with charging system though, so I will live with the sound for just a little longer.

Also found my thermostat may be stuck open as the car almost never comes out of the blue.

I love and hate working on cars so much.

So here she is after a little work.

Replaced the old alternator with a 90 amp Bosch unit and car is as quiet as it should be now. Rattle canned some flat black on her to get her uniform in color and painted the mouldings. Installed the M3 mirrors. Got the KW coilovers installed and adjusted. Dusted off my old wheels and put them on her too.

I must say...huge difference https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ef63d4640f.jpg

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Looks nice!!!

Thanks....always a work in progress

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Gotta ask, how many rattle cans did you go through? Looks like a very uniform job and looks good flat like that.

Thanks. It was 4-5 to do the car. Didn't take much, cause no color change. Just temporary till I either wrap or paint it.

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I've got a similar situation with an Alpine White and clear coat coming off. Want to grab a few cans and come to Tracy and help me spray? ;)

In all honesty, if I had a booth and the tools I could spray the normal way, but I suck with rattle cans for some reason.

Same with me. I have painted a couple of cars before. I thought about just doing it in my garage, but still would need to buy a spray gun and everything else, not sure if I want to go that way yet.

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