A new member of the family

[Platanos]

My daughter has had her permit for almost a year now. She has been practicing in our Honda Odyssey and has come a long way since the first day I took her out for a spin. I wanted to get her a small car for easier parallel parking, had to be a four cylinder and automatic. Sounds like a 318ti to me...

Of course my wife was like "you and your fricking ti's!" haha. I started looking around and I had a budget of around $1500. I found one after about a month of looking and decided to buy it. It was also getting close to Christmas so I was running out of time.

She is a 1995 alpine with 120k miles. Has a rough idle and needs a new ignition barrel. Of course, I'll need to update all the maintenance as time and money allows.

My goal is to have a safe and care free car for her to take to college next year. I want to overhaul the cooling system, suspension before she leaves. I have the ignition already and I'm ordering all new hoses and such (hopefully will fix the rough idle).

So here are some pics. She had no idea what was coming and was genuinely surprised and very happy.

We had the car parked a few streets away and actually had the cops call me about the car (whole other story, haha)

On a side note, my son just got his permit last Wednesday!!! I can literally feel the grey hairs growing







She was confused and didn't know what the keys were for....it took a few moments hahaha

[3.2TI]

Nice ti, awesome color... Welcome

[teetime4one]

that's awesome!
i'm certain you'll have it fixed up and running smoothly in no time. well done!

P.S. Ms. Platanos...welcome to the 318ti sickness...you've officially contracted the bug. lol

[bmwconnect]

Welcome!

You might just be the coolest father on 318ti LOL

[318_mzk2]

Congrats bro

[slow_ti]

Nice. Should've got her a manual though!

[1996 328ti]

I like her whimsical look at the keys?
Like WTF?

Need to send you a .org decal for that extra .5hp.

[cooljess76]

Hahaha That's awesome Fernando! I love the decoration on the car. She looks so happy!

[Platanos]

Originally Posted by 3.2TI

Nice ti, awesome color... Welcome

Thanks bro!!

Originally Posted by teetime4one

that's awesome!
i'm certain you'll have it fixed up and running smoothly in no time. well done!

P.S. Ms. Platanos...welcome to the 318ti sickness...you've officially contracted the bug. lol

I was messing around with the ignition barrel and couln't get it out after a 2 hours I gave up and now the car won't start. I'm gonna have to order the housing and replace it all. That's going to suck. I recall having trouble getting the two shear bolts backed out

Originally Posted by bmwconnect

Welcome!

You might just be the coolest father on 318ti LOL

haha, I'm sure there are some way cooler fathers out there

Originally Posted by 318_mzk2

Congrats bro

Thanks Chris, I still need the drivers m molding if you have one. text me bro!

Originally Posted by slow_ti

Nice. Should've got her a manual though!

I tried teaching her manual but she didn't like it at all. She said it was to much to think about....hahaha...oh well...

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

I like her whimsical look at the keys?
Like WTF?

Need to send you a .org decal for that extra .5hp.

Yeah Steve, she was so surprised. It was great. I'm surprised her brother didn't tell her.

Pm me about the decals. I need a set for my car too. Thanks!

Originally Posted by cooljess76

Hahaha That's awesome Fernando! I love the decoration on the car. She looks so happy!

Thanks Jess, I tried to find a huge bow like in the Lexus commercials but Walmart was kind of slim pickings on Christmas eve, lol

[tiFreak]

congrats to your daughter, I know from experience that ti's make great first cars

[slow_ti]

It does make a great first car

[wolferj-RIP]

Awesome! (Hope you get the ignition fixed soon so she can actually drive it!)

Here's to cool dads!

[Philly]

pics are dead already but what a good Dad! Looking forward to the pics getting fixed and seeing her WTF face.. lol

[roadrash]

Originally Posted by Philly

pics are dead already but what a good Dad! Looking forward to the pics getting fixed and seeing her WTF face.. lol

Might be just you, Philly, because they're showing up fine for me.

[Platanos]

Thanks for the kind words guys!! And thanks Steve!!! I'll be putting them on both ti's.

So I was working on the ignition system today. I am a little frustrated because I figured that the previous owner has messed with the system and things are not as they seem. Here's the scoop...

I have 2 keys for the car. They are NOT the same key. I mean, they are from separate cars. One unlocks the doors. The other had to be placed near the ews ring in order for the car to start. It never dawned on me. I don't know why...I feel like a dummy.

Anyway, as I was replacing the tumbler housing, it was very evident that someone as messed with this. The shear bolts were replaced for regular bolts (which made it easier to remove). I also noticed they had swapped out the ignition switch because it had an extra wire. So, I ended up replacing the housing, ignition switch and tumbler. So, that is all good now.

I am lead to believe that someone swapped out the entire housing (tumbler, ignition switch, ews ring) from another car and installed it in this ti.

My problem now is that the real car key will not start the car. It unlocks the doors, and spins the new tumbler. I need to know if I should order a new ews ring for the car? Or what if they also swapped out ews computers and such? Are ews rings made specifically for each car? I doubt it, as its just a coiled up wire...right? Any help would be appreciated.