The start of my Ti purchase was a rough one. It was the first car I bought with my own money and the first car that was titled to me. I planned to drive it to school in St. Louis for a year, and then start the repairs. Much to my dismay, the 1 hour drive back home showed many problems and I deemed it unsafe to drive 2000 miles away from home. I parked it and decided to fix a little bit of it every break I have from school.
I'm one of the contributors to the YouTube channel E39Source. I used to have an E39 M5 which I miss dearly. I sold it for the 318ti and will continue to make DIY videos for the channel.
Now the fun begins.
What it looked like after sitting under a car cover for 3 months. The interior is clean besides a destroyed drivers door panel.
The first thing I did when I came home was a valve cover gasket. I also did the oil supply seal, spark plugs, micro filters, air filter, and an oil change with 0W-40 while I was in there. I also made a video on the valve cover gasket DIY for E39Source.
The plugs and engine was clean even though the car seems to have been neglected.
My version of the valve cover DIY video. The better edited E39Source video will come later.
http://youtu.be/nLJ5G7HAZDE Due to it being Thanksgiving, I also made a large haul of parts. I'll have photos of the online orders when I'm back for winter break, but in the meantime, here are two things I was able to pick up.
Yes, I managed to get 8 Star Specs and a BavAuto suspension kit with Bilstein Sport shocks for less than 4 bills. #winning
My car is so oily underneath that I can't tell if it is residual oil dripping or if there is still a leak. I was under my car for a long time today and think my power steering lines need to be replaced too. Whatever it is, it is just weeping as I get a few drops over the span of a couple hours.
I put on Meyle HD control arms, Powerflex FCABs and Bilstein Sport stuts with BavAuto springs today. Also put on my reinforcement plates; my strut towers were mushroomed and it was very noticeable with the plates as they didn't sit flush. A little persuasion with the sledge and a block of wood, the plates fit like a charm.
Let's start it off. I let the techs at my summer job torque the lug bolts last summer. Check out the cheater bar I used to get them off!
New stuff on the left vs. old stuff on the right.
And it's all installed!
I also shimmed my steering knuckle to gain some camber. I'll do some geometry tomorrow to find how much I actually got.
It was a very rainy day today when I took the car out. It drizzled on my way to the store and poured while I was in there. I came out and the car barely started. I assumed my DME was getting wet so I decided to clear out my drains and clean everything up.
An in progress shot.
I will update later on with a video on how to take the windshield cowl off and how to access the DME.
coming along nicely so far had the same oil filter housing leak on mine got the car cheap as they thought it was major! bits cost me less than £20 and 2 hours to fix where abouts are the micro filters on the compacts? assume they are same kinda place on a rhd
Decided I needed an alignment badly. My before shot was embarrassing. Nearly 1/4" toe out in front. I have attached my after sheet. I'll take 1/8" total toe in.
I blame my camber issues on the right side due to my broken right rear coil. It sits about 1/4" lower and also makes the right from droop down too. Little changes like these really throw off your numbers. For instance, 1/16" error when I measured my camber gave me a 0.2° change.
I paid for the lifetime alignment service at Firestone so I will monitor what helps out and fixes my problems. Will install my rear shocks and springs first before I splurge for bushings back there.
I still have the template so I could easily make another for the passenger side. Each panel costs me about $5 in plastic, a can of Plasti-dip, and $3 in hardware. Really cheap and looks pretty cool. With my leftover material, I'm going to make a underpanel like you did.
Anyway, the wheels are Plasti-dip, so don't worry. They will come off ASAP since the finish is horrible. I'm just going to get some DSLR pictures with them in some nice weather first.
I finished up my damper overhaul. I heard clunking in the rear so I figured it was time to do the rear suspension after doing my front. I still need to do subframe and RTAB bushings. The rears were 100% shot as they didn't rebound after I compressed them. No more rake at least!
Look up my videos on E39Source. Here is a dump of a few videos I've done while catching up on maintenance. I'm most proud of my rear shock DIY, but the others aren't bad.
And now some worthy photos. No cool wheels, shiny paint or hot girls here!
It's been a week and no big updates. I put on a perforated leather steering wheel wrap and new (used) door seal.
The extreme cold has made it unbearable in my garage with everything being below freezing. There is a whistle from the engine, and oil leaks are back again; I'm attributing this to a frozen PCV. The power steering fluid is also black and weeping. I bought new hoses to replace my vacuum lines and fluid leaks but I'm not going to replace anything now. I also need to clean the PCV...but not in this freezing weather.
I also have a small collection of body trim pieces to install. I have fender liners, brake ducts and fog light wiring to fix what the previous owner destroyed. I want to do new undercoating and to get rid of some surface rust, but the weather is way too cold for that too. Eventually, I'll buy some spray paint and 2K clear to rattle can the front bumper back to body color.
The list just keeps on growing with this car. I'm a little burnt out right now working on the car, and really disappointed I can't work on it more due to the frigid weather. I'm currently battling a cold that I got from working on this car so often...
It's been a hot minute since I've gotten to work on the car. I am back for a short Easter break and got straight to work on the car. Planning an autocross on Easter Sunday, 4/20.
In two days, I've completed:
3-button alarm programming
radio head unit wiring
PCV and hose replacement
engine mounts
transmission mounts
alignment
front bumper bar installation
Here are some pictures of the aftermath. Of course, I also documented an update video on my progress.
Another update. Spent today putting in some sound deadening to reduce cabin noise. Found a dead speaker too so they're getting replaced.
Then I decided to do some rust repair/prevention with an array of Eastwood products. Here it is waiting for the treatment to cure before I shoot it with a rust encapsulator coat. The X5 was also in for a coolant flush, so it was a busy day.
And can you say headlight retrofit? I found a passenger side ZKW light at the PnP with a busted lens. Haven't decided if I want to keep or sell it. I also bought a spare driver's side headlight to play around with it. I eventually got the lens of it and may just retrofit it instead of the ZKW headlights.
My '96 318ti - The wrong car for STX 
had the same oil filter housing leak on mine got the car cheap as they thought it was major! bits cost me less than £20 and 2 hours to fix 
Linear Mode
