Project Daily Driver; from wrecked to...

Its for sale!

2011-02-15T18:11:00.000-08:00

- '91 BMW 318is

- Full car painted Antique White (Matte) looks great.

- 195,000 +/- miles (odo broken)

- Manual Transmission replaced in 07 along with clutch and pressure plate.

- New brakes, lines & rotors, brake and clutch master cylinder in 08

Modifications:

- wheels are 15x8 sportmaxx, 0 offset painted green. Tires are a year old.

- E36 rack with powersteeringdeletes.com delete plate

- Bilstein sport shocks/strut inserts were installed 1 month ago all 4 corners, NEW

- new strut tops front and back

- Custom adjustable coilover suspension with modified strut tubes

- Newer control arms replaced 2 years ago

- K&N Cone Filter

- Twin tip muffler, no cats or resonator.

- Tan interior vinyl sport seats

- replaced headliner, no rips

- Replaced Dash, No cracks

- 3 spoke steering wheel

-stainless steel brake lines

-front sway bar from a vert

- Volvo lip

- lazy eyebrows

- yellow high beam & Fog light lenses

[B]Maintenance:[/B]

- Of course, regular oil and filter changes (synthetic)

- New timing chain tensioner - June 2008

- New NGK titanium spark plugs - August 2009

- Replaced rear wheel bearings Aug 2009

-fan clutch replaced recently

[B]Negatives[/B]

- NO AC

- nickel sized dent on top corner of pass fender

- Polished wheels in pics not included in sale

- Carpet needs to be replaced or cleaned

- Driver's seat bolster a bit worn.

- only 1 speaker works

Car is a stunner and runs great. Its a blast to drive. I get thumbs up all the time. Must see

Asking $3,200. obo

Text me for details(seven zero three - three three eight - four five five two), or feel free to email me at c.joaquin.mendez at gmail.com.

Made a new fairing for my roofrack

2010-06-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, last Tuesday i went over to John's shop to borrow his sandblaster. I had a unique idea for a wind fairing for my home built roof rack. I wanted to take some old license plates, sand blast them and rivet them together to create a solid single piece. I'm planning on painting it black once its finished.

After I sandblasted the plates, they came out with a really cool distressed texture, which I'm thinking of leaving as-is... we'll see.

John had some scrap stainless that we cut & bent to fit. We both strained quite a bit trying to get the holes drilled.

it took a few tries to get everything to fit correctly.

The finished product!

cool bus.

2010-05-30T16:05:00.001-07:00

Random pics from random meets

2010-05-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

I thought i'd post some random pics from the past meets i've hosted at the shop.

This one was taken in my driveway after washing the car.

quick lunch break pics.

2010-03-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

Lunch

2010-03-08T20:11:00.001-08:00

IMG_0618
Originally uploaded by CondorSpeedShop

Grabbing lunch in Clearwater before the 270 mile drive home.

Waitin'

2010-03-07T19:43:00.001-08:00

IMG_0716, originally uploaded by CondorSpeedShop.

I shot this today at my shop with my new iphone app... you going to see a lot more pics like this one.

Suspension update #2

2010-02-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

I haven't been happy with the front ride height of my car for a while now. It's set at its lowest setting, and still had about an inch of wheel gap in the front. I took this weekend to rebuild the front suspension. Basically I wanted to give the front another inch of ride height adjustability. I took everything off the car and disassembled front the struts.

I ground down the current spring perch.

I then sanded off all the paint in preparation for the tig welding

I cut some small 1/2" sections off a piece of 2" pipe john had in his scrap bin.

After measuring, I lined everything up and using john's TIG welder I welded the new spring perches on.

In process.(thanks to my buddy chris for all the action shots. you can visit his photo stream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocell/)

Finished and ready to install.

I'll be driving up to Clearwater Beach on Tuesday, so I wanted to make sure the car was tip top. I cleaned the engine bay, drained the coolant and replaced a cracked plastic coolant hose buried deep in the engine bay below the intake manifold.

It took a couple hours, but it's all ready to go.

Fresh pics*

2010-01-17T19:53:00.000-08:00

My buddy Chris is one hell of a photographer. We went out on Saturday and he took these pics of my 318is. I've spent less than $1500 on the car, including the purchase price. I bought it wrecked. You can check out my build at [URL]http://www.rede30.blogspot.com[/URL]. Check out Chris' Flickr photostream at [URL]http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocell/[/URL] and his site [URL="http://www.ocell.net/"]www.ocell.net[/URL]

From rat to rad!

2010-01-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

I painted the rear of the car first, over my Thanksgiving vacation. I didn't have time to prep and paint the front end until Christmas vaca. The good thing was, I was able to remove all the panels that needed to be painted and paint them off of the car, fortunately I had a spare hood off an old parts car that kept my motor dry while I deove it like this.... A pic of my shop as I wait for a painted fender to dry some before placing it i the sunlight. Almost everything is painted and curing under the warm Florida sun. I let everything dry overnight before I assembled it the next day. I think it turned out really nice. All i have left to do is paint the rocker panels black, and finish installing my interior. I have a buddy whos a photographer and were going to do a photoshoot of the finished car in the near future.

Shaving the antenna hole

2010-01-05T20:24:00.000-08:00

The first thing I did was remove the antenna and all its internals. I spliced a short cable from the antenna to the rear window defogger. I then found a piece of scrap metal... and cut it to fit over the hole. I used my grinder to clean the paint off the metal, and I then welded the patch panel on. The next step was to cover the area with a paper thin coat of bondo, and sand it smooth. I took advantage of repairing all of the other small nicks and dents on the entire panel while i was at it. Once the panel was ready I sprayed a generous coat of primer. Stay tuned to see how the car turned out.

November e30 meet

2009-11-10T10:39:00.000-08:00

A few pics of the meet and the cars...

3 in 1

2009-11-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

Ive been putting off a few things because all my time has been spent on the challenge car. www.dirte30.blogspot.com Now that the challenge is over with, I had a few things I needed to get done on my daily driver. Priority 1 was to replace my tie-rods. They were making a lot of noise over bumps, and giving a sloppy steering feel to my e36 steering rack. I quickly replaced them, did a much needed oil change and alignment. As you can see I had quite a bit of toe-out that needed to be corrected. Once that was done I moved on to my exhaust. Since my car is a 318IS which comes with a single tip exhaust, I had to cut out my rear valence a bit when i installed my twin tip muffler. It was fine for a while, but lately it was rattling. I decided to trim it out some more, and fold the steel inwards like it is on a stock 325. After some paint, it came out really nice, and It never rattles anymore. Last but not least, I picked up a used roof-rack off craigslist for $20. It was way too big, so I cut it down and made it fit a bit better. I have plans to make the cross bars out of Teak. Stay tuned for more on the rack.

Headache of the century!

2009-07-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

I had a terrible vibration that kept getting worse and worse. It felt like it was coming from the rear, so i jacked the car up and my driver's side wheel has a LOT of play in it... It was time to pull the bearings and install new ones. Little did I know how much of a pain in the ass it was going to be. When i pulled out the bearing it fell apart and looked like this. Using a bit of heat and a home-made bearing puller, I was able to get the rest if it out. Installation was way simpler than the removal. I put the wheel bearing in the freezer and it pretty much slid right into place with minimal pressure! After doing one side, I asked my dad to make me a more solid plate so I could push/pull the other bearing in and out more easily.

help me pick my paint scheme!

2009-05-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Should I go with the tan/creme color or keep the red with the white number plate(i don't know what number to use yet). Leave a comment below.

Photoshoot

2009-05-08T10:54:00.000-07:00

I got a great deal on some lightly used tires at the local swap meet, so I mounted them on a new set of wheels that have been sitting in the garage for the past couple months. We found an empty parking deck where we could shoot some pics.

BMW meet.

2009-05-06T12:40:00.000-07:00

I have a few pics of a large BMW meet that we went to this past Saturday. It was ok. There were a ton of newer bimmers, and a handful of older e30 chassis cars.

The workday blues welcome the arrival of a road trip

2009-04-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Cristy and I woke up early Saturday morning in search of some adventure. We jumped on A1A in Ft. Lauderdale and took it all the way up the windy coast to J.D. MacArthur Beach State Park, in North Palm Beach. It took us a good part of the day, because we stopped along the way, but we had had one hell of a lazy Saturday and saw some really beautiful scenery.

Starting the bodywork

2009-04-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

Grassroots Motorsports FTW! So i decide d to start on some of the bodywork this past monday. My cousin lent me his compressor and DA sander. I went to the local hardware store, picked up some sandpaper and primer, and got to it THis is actually my 2nd day of sanding. On the first day all I was able to do was the driver's side of the hood. Its a junkyard hood, so it had some funky ripples, and had already been re-painted once. Good Times , after sitting in an office staring at a computer all day! Well after having a close call with a curb and putting a huge lump on one of my tires, I thought it was time to get some shiny new shoes for this piece. I picked them up for super cheap. They are 15x8 with a +15 offset. I'm planning on running a 12mm spacer in the back and prolly going to stretch the tires a bit so they won't rub. I'm still unsure about the color... but i think im going to paint them.

Junkyard Steering wheel FTW!

2009-03-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

So, I found an old steering wheel at the Junkyard. I really liked the retro look of it, so i bought it for less than $6! I brought it home and began looking for a hub that would work. Everything i found was $$, and I really didn't feel like paying $60 for a new MOMO hub. I grabbed the stock steering wheel, and decided to cut it up into a custom hub/adapter. I began by separating the wheel from the stock aluminum hub. I had to cut and grind a lot of parts off including the airbag wiring and horn wiring. After about 30 mins of cutting, I spent some time sanding the surface smooth on my belt sander. I then drilled 3 holes on the hub and 3 matching holes on the steering wheel. THis is the finished product. Here is a side shot of the clearance i have between the wheel and the column. I'm really happy with the final product and the way it makes the car feel even more responsive. I used some stainless nuts and bolts to install the wheel. I am still planning on refinishing it, and wiring up the horn.

A New look & New fuel filter

2009-02-26T08:35:00.000-08:00

So I bought some clear yellow vinyl on ebay for like $7 shipped. I Really like the look. I'm considering placing it on the fog lights as well. I finally got around to changing the fuel filter, The original filter looked like it had been on the car for all 200k miles!!!! While I was at it, I also had to replace some of the fuel hoses. In order for the tank not to drain all its fuel on me, I had to clamp them shut while swapping filters... They were so dry that they cracked, and I had to run to Autzone to get a foot of new hose for under $2.

Junkyard Volvo front lip

2009-02-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, i was lucky enough to find a lip of of a 90's volvo. When omunted on an e30 upside down, it looks pretty damn good. I cut off al off the extra tabs, and by drilling a dozen holes, and using the same mounting hardware as the volvo, I was able to mount it with great results. Nice! A shot of the car as is today. I have the adjustable coilover sleeves in the front at their lowest setting with 450lb springs. The rears currently have some ebay springs. I have bilstein HDs all the way around. THis setup cost me less than $200.

New Exhaust!

2009-02-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

So I woke up early Friday morning, and wen to my local u-pull-it. I was looking for 1 thing. 2.5" exhaust tubing. I got lucky and found an Econoline van with a full exhaust just the right diameter. I got it for $8. The pic below already has a 2' piece of straight section cut off(those bends might come in handy in the future.) My first problem was the connection between my new muffler and the stock piping, i needed to mate 2.5" junkyard tubing to the stock 2.25" pipe. This is what i did. I cut V's into the 2.5" tubing, and with my body hammer I shrunk the diameter. After welding. ANd here you see the piece installed. In this pic you see my new muffler. It's a high dollar, lightweight stainless steel race muffler that i was lucky enough to acquire for free. It looks good, barely poking out of the rear, and boy is it loud as all Hell!

Coolant Leak!

2009-02-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately on my way to work last week, i started to notice the coolant temperatures going up. When I got to work, there was a small puddle of coolant under the car. I did my thing, and at 5, I topped off the coolant before heading home. Temps were over half way, but I was able to keep it out of the red by turning the car off at the stop lights. Once i got home I looked under the hood, and there was coolant on the block below the intake manifold. My guess was that the mess of hoses under there were probably leaking somewhere, so i ripped into it. I found the leak, and repaired it. While I was in there I ended up removing the throttle body heating plate, and all the extra hoses at the same time.

Install time!

2009-01-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

This weekend I blocked off some time for my major suspension overhaul. I had a set of Bilstein HDs, a sway bar from a convertible e30, an e36 steering rack, and a set of brand new control arms I found at the junkyard!In this shot you can see that i've removed the entire front sub-frame including the control arms and steering rack. A shot of my work space. This is a power steering delete I designed, and my father made for me. You remove the stock hoses, and bolt this in place with the stock banjo bolts and copper washers. It allows the fluid to travel from one chamber to the other without any pressure buildup. In this shot i've assembled the subframe with the new-used control-arms and swaybar. once i Had that installed, I moved on to the suspension. I bought some universal ebay coilover sleeves meant to fit a honda civic. In order for them to fit the bilsteins correctly I had to enlarge the center hole and carve in a concave shape. I also cut the stock spring perches off of the strut housing. I had to cut the aluminum sleeves by about 1.5 inches in order for them to clear the threaded shock cap. THis is what i thought was an assembles shock until I realized i was missing the upper spring perch. If i had kept it like this, the car would have a very difficult time turning because the upper spring support would be rubbing the shock tower mount. Here is a pic of them correctly assembled. And installed! FOr the time bieng i installed the rear shocks wit the stock springs. Here are a couple pics of how the car currently sits. The front coilovers are set on their lowest setting. I have a nother set of 550lb springs that are 1" shorter than these. I'll install them as soon as i get motivated to take everythig apart again!

More Used Parts!

2009-01-26T16:04:00.001-08:00

I was able to scavenge some more used parts At my local junkyard. I found a set of locks to replace the ones currently on the car. The Ignition cylinder was destroyed by someone trying to steal the car from the previous owner. I wanted a full set so 1 key opens everything. I know its more work to replace everything, but it will be worth it in the long run.Here is what the old lock cylinder housing looked like. I also found a replacement at the junkyard for cheap. I also was able to pick up a set of used Bilstein HDs on e30tech.com for cheap! $120 for the full set! I found an e36 steering rack(pictured below) and a larger diameter front sway bar from a convertible e30. The rack is in great shape. While at the yard I was able to replace the tie-rods with some from an e30. The shocks pictured are some spares i picked up for $4 each! I love u-pull-it prices! A few months back I had picked up a set of Civic coil-over sleeves in the hopes of at some point installing them on the other project(www.dirte30.blogspot.com). I don't really kow how they will work, or what i will need to do to get them installed correctly, but they were only $40, and i can get 2.5" springs of different stiffness's easily on eBay.

On the road!

2009-01-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

I'm glad to say ive been driving the little bugger for about a week and a half now. I got it registered & insured last monday. I drove it for a day before realizing how necessary some new ball joints were. I went to the yard and picked up 2 Lower front controll arms for $36, and swapped them out. THe car is much more solid now. It does have completely blown suspension on it currently. I found 2 used struts at the yard and paid a littlle under $7 for both! Now i just need to find the fronts. I'm looking for a set of used springs on the forums. I already found a set of keys and cylinders to replace the missing ignition cylinder, and i'm waiting on the piece that goes on the end of the steering column to arrive.

It's getting there...

2008-12-09T06:44:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while, but I have been working on the car. THis is where i have picked up some of my parts, the local u-pull-it junkyard.I finally fixed the sunroof, after pulling 2 of them at the yard I was able to replacing the existing rusty track. The actual sunroof panel is a bit rusty, so i will need to replace that as soon as i find one. A pic of the repaired multi colored car. I installed a metal bumper from the www.dirte30.blogspot.com for the time being. I think it loooks pretty good. Another shot, I still need a new front valence, the current one is still a bit deformed.

Upper radiator support welding

2008-11-19T21:20:00.001-08:00

So i've spent the past 2 weeks gathering parts from the junkyard, and tonight i was finally able to get some work done on the car. I installed and welded the upper radiator support. THere was a bit of adjustment necessary to get things to fit, but i was rather surprised at how easily it all came together. I installed the drivers side fender. THe next step was to test fit the new headlights and grills. I had to re-use the front valence, and it was bent in some places. I straightened it as best as i could. You can see the areas where it is still not perfect, but i don't plan on keeping this piece forever. As soon as I find a plastic bumper and front valence at the junkyard I'm going to grab it, but for now, this should do. I found my fender for $40 on e30tech.com and i should have it by mid next week. I still need to re-wire the headlights, and install my temporary divingboard bumper. I'm hoping to be on the road a week from now.

Teardown

2008-11-12T11:41:00.000-08:00

Ok, so i made it to the junkyard this past Saturday morning, and after about 4hrs, i picked up some of the parts i needed. I found a hood, radiator support, pass headlight, all 3 grill pieces, a fan shroud, and an uncracked intake boot. Over the past 2-3 weeks i began tearing down the car, and i was able to remove all of the damaged parts. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get pictures of the damage before i began workin on the car other than the ones I posted earlier. I was able to drill out the spot welds in the upper radiator support and remove it, which gave me access to the other damaged areas. The fender apron was pushed back quite a bit. With some patience and about 6-8 hrs of work i was able to put everything back to its original shape. Here you see the new Radiator support in place ready to be welded on.

The new project begins.

2008-10-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

Lately my Alltrac has been giving me some trouble, so i have been looking on craigslist for a good daily driver project. I found a car that looked like it had some potential in little havanna. I went to look at it with Christy this past Wednesday, and decided that it would be a good buy. Saturday morninq Jimmy and I got up bright and early and we went to pick it up. Its a 1991 BMW 318 IS. It has had a lot of preventive maintenance done to it, but was recently in a bad fender bender. It has 197,xxx miles, New brakes, lines & rotors, new clutch, new used transmission, new brake and clutch master cylinder, and some other odds and ends. It was too good to pass up.