» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | | | | | | | | 02-21-2013, 10:39 AM | #1 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | 1995 318ti Corboda Red Making a thread for my car finally Just updated my local forum thread so this is copy and paste, usernames, places, etc. may not apply here, as well as end few posts might be really irrelevant but I'm posting it anyways it has a few details, anyways deal with it. Lots of pictures I'll try to explain most of them. Not with too much detail I don't wanna bore you guys to death. Mostly cell phone pics, no real quality shots. Car is slowly coming along needs the front bumper, nose panel, hood and mirrors all repainted from a bad spray, but it'll get done for free when I have time. Mechanical issues come first in my books, still have a rough idle that I may be able to solve tomorrow, along with only having "semi boosted" brakes as I think a vacuum leak is the issue. Also need to find bolts for the ac compressor as I seemed to have lost them all or at least 2 of the 3 (don't have any idea how but they're gone and its rattling/dangling from the lines) Real oem diagrams are wrong lets see what the dealership tells me tomorrow when I ask haha. Anyways on with the pictures... If you don't read anything else read this: I did some digging and found all my pictures, my car was not in a recent accident, I'm a great driver I'll let you all know that, at least I think so, I'm going to start from when I purchased the car. It was in an accident from the PO, I bought it cheap, dad's friend owns a body shop and did the work labor for labor trade, all I paid for was paint and parts. Damage when I bought it, all i have is 4 pictures, this is all damage to the the drivers side in case you're wondering: Under side of the rocker Side of rocker Where rocker meets the fender Quarter panel, back of door sill and rocker The night I bought it and got it back to my dads shop, as you can see there was also front end damage, I'll explain the accident how I assume it happened. Yes we slapped a permit on and drove it from Surrey to Abbotsford door roped shut and window closed up with vapor barrier and tuck tape (never use that **** it doesn't come off without good solvents) Follow by my mom in her E39 540i, a mini bimmer convoy if you wanna call it that. No we didn't take the highway, we're not that reckless, I couldn't drive stick at the time so my dad drove, after almost missing our turn and the road having a large 4 way stop my dad figured he would see what the little m42's got power sliding through some gravel on the edge of the road we made it home without a second accident although you really couldn't damage it any worse at that point. Now for any who care my short summary of what I assumed happened was this, I know he was on his way home in the snow (freak snow storm of jan 2011, I'm sure we all remember it) and he said going around a corner he spun out, hitting a light pole, he then drove home "because he was only a few blocks away." A block from his house we noticed a light pole with missing caps on the bolts facing the street and missing white paint on the fire hydrant, which was roughly a couple feet away. Car spun and hit the pole, front end lightly touched the hydrant. Reason the rocker is all ripped to shreds is because he drove it off the pole, the bolts/caps of the bolts, sunk into the rocker and peel it back like a soup can as he tried to be a hero. His loss my gain. Started taking it all apart to save the body shop extra labor Rocker section cut out waiting fro new one to be welded in. Dave from bimmerparts helped me out by cutting a rocker section from a ti he had in the yard and shipping that with a door and some other bits to the body shop. Door and rocker being fitted Rear bumper removed Bumper awaiting prep for paint Then came the paint! Lots of parts were painted but not the entire car, here what was done, both bumpers, rear to color match and lose the two tone, front bumper was an m3 ebay special (probably why the paint didn't bond well), nose panel, hood, entire drivers side, both mirrors (i think unless the paint guy got lazy, and if I remember correctly now I think he did just do one my passenger side is really scuffed), rockers were rock guarded, as in the textured coating and then sprayed body color instead of black (its a 95 no plastic skirts just the sheet metal rockers) to understand the look of the rockers being sprayed with a textured coating you'll have to see them in person, I was unaware it was being done but I actually liked the end result, some of you may not like them, but to each their own. Paint time! That's not me, its the owner of the body shop checking out his guys work and showing it to me. More paint Back at my dad's shop, first time outside after being reassembled Other side, the non fresh painted side Lm's as they sat at the time, photo makes them look better than they were, more on that later Fresh back at home after the work was done __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 02-21-2013, 10:42 AM | #2 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | Still needs a wet sand and polish (it still hasn't been done) Rainy day at home within the first month of having it back, still stock headlights at that point, ebay special carbon fiber badge set went on after all the work was done Then i scooped these from craiglist for $50, Zkw projectors, a little hacked inside after the guy tried to install fiber optic angel eyes, those are now gone. Not sure if i want to put angels in but for now the lights are in the car. Back side hack job These were seriously terrible without the right box/ light for them I ghetto wired them until I bought HID's from Darren (dt30), not wired properly (well almost highs are still ghetto'd I haven't made a new harness yet.. yeah yeah I know fire hazard or possibility of a short) The install Around rolled summer and I pieced together a Thule roof rack (fit kit is the hardest part on a ti, it's discontinued and no thule dealers can get a hold of it and if someone has one they aren't selling. So you get crafty and use google, now in case anyone needs this I'll post it. This is a list of every fit kit made AND the bracket and pad numbers in each kit. Find your kit, find out what other cars use the same brackets and buy their kits! HA! http://pauloang.com/thule_fit_kits/ So I found an acura kit on craigslist and an E36 kit on ebay and bought them, at the time I had no passport and the ebay seller would only ship to the states, So I got Avee (agrewel) to order the $50ish kit and gave him $100 total for it to cover his cost of going across the line. Thanks again for that huge time saver for me. Bought the rest of the pieces locally and threw it on the morning I left for a cousins wedding in Kamloops. Of course the reason I needed it was to hit sunpeaks that weekend More of the bike for those who like them Earlier that week I had changed a bad injector after having Tom (wuffer) help me diagnose it with a mechanical stethoscope (new to me but wow those things are great!) Should've replaced the short fuel lines between the rail and hard lines running down the firewall, somewhere past Larson hill on the Coquihalla I split the pressure side line, could smell fuel and couldn't pull hills to save my life. Limped in into Merrit straight to the Lordco, had few tools but new what the problem was. Also new what I needed down to socket sizes and extension lengths to fix it, went inside told them what I needed, used nick's (Goose) generous discount to save me some $$$ and I fixed it in the parking lot. For those of you who don't know there are a lot of rednecks in Merrit. They looked at me funny pulling me car apart in their lordco parking lot, also in 30+ weather (end of july), on a car that had just gone from Abbotsford to Merrit with little stops, weather was hot and the car was like touching a frying pan. But I did it anyways otherwise I'd be stranded, family members at the wedding were a little impressed by the story too! In the parking lot Then later in the winter I order some goodies to fix some of my oil leaks and freshen some things up, filters, gaskets, bushings, motor mounts, tranny mounts, *bent control arm.....*, etc. Oil pan gasket begins, over winter might I add in an unheated shop, very cold!! __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 02-21-2013, 10:45 AM | #3 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | Supporting the engine for motor mounts Dirty sub frame and cross brace Old gasket stuck on More gasket and flywheel/underside of car Before the clean (no after shot I forgot) Steering rack hanging while I scrap and clean the pan, block and sub frame Control arms with the correct bushings, order some bushings from ebay (NEVER DO THIS) and the were A) centered not offset, 18's will rub without the offsets and B) they were sooooo poorly made that the would clunk every time I turned. Ordered Ireland Engineering offset delrin bushings and pressed them on, control arm were already on the car from when I changed them hence the reason they're dirty, this was control arms round 2! New IE delrin bushings Took me a couple days to do after work in the evenings, my dad had to quickly rip something on the table saw and decided to fire it up along with his dust collector, I forgot to put a bucket under my car over night with no pan on and it drained oil on the floor, I pulled the bag from the top half of the dust collector and left the bottom bag full.. I forgot to tell him! After I buttoned all that up I tried to drive to work one morning when it snowed, live in a cul-de-sac, only way out is up the hill, I gave up with my open diff and absolutely no weight in the trunk (hatch sorry I don't have a trunk) And yes I have snow tires, hence the "donk" rims you all hate After backing out of the driveway making the turn and attempting to get up I quit and backed right back into the driveway and parked it! Sometime in the summer, can't remember when, I stripped the clear and polished the Lm lips. This is a little out of order but oh well. Before and during the process: __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 02-21-2013, 10:46 AM | #4 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | Couple missed spots and starting the polish I think Getting there One down After the lip polish and a wash Got bored and cleaned behind the tail lights and hatch seal as everything drains behind them Change over from winter to summer or vise versa not really sure which this way Current shots, out at pick a part Most recent, Feb. 13, 2013, new Abby walmart parking lot, After a wash might I add Most recent package of parts from the states, getting ready to do the timing cover gasket and all surrounding gaskets as well as paint the valve cover, timing cover, and upper intake in black wrinkle paint, couple new pulleys and rad hoses, currently fighting with pelican over my crank pulley tool to try to get it as the "breaker bar and crank the engine" or "fifth gear and someone hold the brakes" is not my idea of an ideal method to remove the crank bolt or to replace it to an adequate 230ft/lbs without the clutch slipping and hoping its close enough. I'm sure someone will comment and say they did it and it's fine but my theory is do it right or don't do it at all. Now for random shots, starting with interior for those not familiar with the ti, its not and e36 interior and not e30 but a sort of a mix. The deck has since been replace with another Alpine but it's all black has better features and just looks way better, previous shown somewhere in this thread when i bought it. __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 02-21-2013, 10:48 AM | #5 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | New deck before install Door panel 5 speed for those of you who didn't already know Cluster no mpg like other e36's Dash and hvac controls/deck Worn out shift knob and console Passenger side, cloth seats apparently a material most were curious about at the one meet I came to, I thought it was common, guess not. More of the passengers side Full shot Goes boom boom in the back. New setup bought just need to modify and install it. New setup, sitting on the ferry after buying them from Mike (Kroegs) Pushed 250,000km Took the exhaust off and polished the magnaflow muffler (had the number but can't find it, oh well) after the winter weather beat on it Ebay emblem set, yellowed after a while, contacted him with pics, sent a new set out right away, been fine ever since Random shots I thought were cool __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 02-21-2013, 10:50 AM | #6 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 02-21-2013, 11:04 PM | #7 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Riverside ,So-Cal Posts: 725 | Awesome __________________ EURO FRESH | | | 02-21-2013, 11:52 PM | #8 | Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 1,364 | Craftsmanship of the highest level...kudos! | | | 02-22-2013, 12:18 AM | #9 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: SW Florida Posts: 4,275 | Well done. You should be proud to own this car...it's beautiful. __________________ Sean 1995 Active | | | 02-22-2013, 05:44 AM | #10 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | Quote: Originally Posted by BlackBMWs Nice work, I'm glad you saved this ti. | Quote: Originally Posted by Ralliart10 Awesome | Quote: Originally Posted by jca Craftsmanship of the highest level...kudos! | Quote: Originally Posted by teetime4one Well done. You should be proud to own this car...it's beautiful. | Thanks guys! I appreciate it, I've worked pretty hard on it and hopefully I'll get the idle issues fixed soon and I put the money towards upgrades instead of fixing it all the time! __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 02-22-2013, 05:54 AM | #11 | Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: South Central, MN Posts: 1,065 | Rockin' __________________ | | | 02-22-2013, 09:02 AM | #12 | Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Santa Rosa, CA Posts: 407 | Wow, that's an impressive transformation. Keep it up! __________________ 1997 318ti 5-speed Moreagrün 1996 318ti auto Hellrot (retired) | | | 04-04-2013, 07:11 AM | #13 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | Started my tear down today to replace a bunch of gaskets that are leaking, do a coolant flush, fresh oil for the spring/summer season and just install a bunch of parts I've neglected to get on the car/finish up projects I've got half way through. Lots of pictures and updates in the next couple of days! How I left it sitting at the end of the day today, lots more to do And I had planned to do a time lapse but my camera's memory card got an error after about 12 shots and none of them are usable.. __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 04-05-2013, 06:07 AM | #14 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 131 | Update, tore farther into it, took the low intake, alternator, oil filter, starter, knock sensors and all the brackets off. In the process I broke the plastic coolant pipe going into the block, I should have ordered it with all my other parts and I didn't, now I'm screwed for the time being. Going to go on a mad hunt to find one tomorrow. Anyways, here's some pictures for how it sits tonight. Yes this is all black from oil, part of the reason for doing the tear down __________________ -Alex 1995 Bmw 318ti - Cordoba rot | | | 04-05-2013, 04:11 PM | #15 | Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: New York Posts: 133 | Work It must be great to have a garage and dedicated work space! The tool cabinet is also way cool. It sure as hell beats working on the street in front of my apartment and have random doofuses walking up and looking over my shoulder and asking questions about the motor and and "what does that do"? Anyway, good luck with your project! Paul | | | | | Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | | Posting Rules | You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | |