Welcome! You have a great story so far! Thank you for sharing and like the common forum meme: "This thread is worthless without pictures"! When you have a chance post some pictures and share the progress!
Seems like you have gotten a good start with working on your 318ti yourself, my 318ti gave me a lot of firsts too
hahahah - anyways -first for replacing brakes myself, cooling system like you, suspension etc etc.
You have yourself a fun platform to start with cars, one that can also grow a long ways with you. Good luck!