New Member, Duluth MN

[MN-318ti]

Hello one and all on the interwebs. I just picked up a ti from my buddy, really couldn't pass up the deal on it. As of now I'm a second year mechanical engineering student at the University of Minnesota Duluth. I got into cars when I was early teens and wanted to learn as much as I could. One of my childhood idols was Finnish rally driver Tommi Makinen, and since his discovery I've been super into rally. I pushed my previous car (1998 Honda civic with 240,000 miles) harder than anyone should push a civic and had lots of fun in it blitzing back roads.

I've been exposed to a few BMWs (like my buddies red M50 turbo ti) and bought this one from my buddy who has a mint e36 Z3 Coupe.

This will be a learning experience for me and am planning on having lots of fun with it. Any corrections or advice is greatly appreciated!

Now to my car: 1998 BMW 318ti Ascot Green 5spd
152,000 miles
H&R Race Springs w/ Bilstein HD Shocks
Welded Diff

I've got lots of plans for it in the future starting with doing a few cosmetic things, and deep deep clean, and getting it back into mint shape. Then M52 swap and eventually M52 turbo.

Picking up a set of used blizzaks and will start driving it soon. Time spent driving sideways is an estimated 50%

Kippis!

[MN-318ti]

Firstly I'm not quite sure where to post general info about progress on cars without making a specific build thread somewhere (don't feel like basic mods/ maintance earn that right haha)

So I'm living out of state for school and haven't been able to travel back on a weekday to title and register the Ti until last Friday (spring break). Left early in the morning and drove to the closest SOS office in Michigan, did all the paperwork, and drove back in time for work at 4:00 lol.

Then I got my first speeding ticket on Sunday... Not the greatest record for the new car lol: 3 days of it being on the road, pulled over twice, one ticket. After 15 times being pulled over they finally gave me one, lesson learned.

Anyways I deep cleaned the interior and exterior and man did that make a difference! Its lookin pretty decent. Lots of stuff to do still but I'll keep throwing up a few pics on here.

[MN-318ti]

Just a few more pics

[handballallday]

welcome brother. Love that color and the interior as well.

[MN-318ti]

Thanks man, plenty of things still to do but I love a good project. First up will be refinishing those style 30's

[handballallday]

btw, how does the ride feel with H&R Race springs and Bilstein HD's? Can you explain in detail in your own words? I have the H&R Sport springs and Koni STR.T's waiting to be installed in mine. Can't wait.

[jca]

Wecome to the org. My advice is to change out all fluids and filters, and change out any cooling system component which looks suspect. John

[BlackBMWs]

welcome! It cleaned up real nice! Looking forward to seeing how your Turbo S50 turns out. Beast...

[MN-318ti]

handballallday: the ride is stiff but feel really nice and planted! only harsh part is city driving with bad pot holes (but that's expected from a set of race springs). Unfortunately I haven't really had the chance to really push the car in some serious corners yet but I'm sure it'd feel great on your setup. Mine might have some understeer issues on dry pavement due to the welded diff but we'll have to see lol.

jca: thanks for the advice. quite a few fluid/ filters have been changed already, I'm planning on doing a power steering flush tomorrow with a new filter/ reservoir. I don't think I'm going to do any preventative maintenance for the cooling system purely because if I blow the M44 I'll just use it as an excuse to M52 swap it lol.

BlackBMWs: we'll have to see how far down the road the M52 turbo happens, but its definitely something I'd like to do!

Today I installed the rear H&R springs (only had the fronts installed when I bought it) and fixed the driver's window regulator. Was wanting to replace the cam position sensor (its been occasionally acting up; rough idle on cold starts and random 5k redline limp mode) and do a power steering flush and new filter/ reservoir but that'll be for another day.

Pics are: H&R springs installed, car up in the air, and my buddies M50 turbo Ti

[MN-318ti]

btw: when one doesn't have a spring compressor, a fat man and zipties works about the same lol