1991 BMW 318is, E30, Custom Air Ride, 3 Piece HRE Wheels

1991 BMW 3-Series 318is Description

This is my 1991 BMW 318is E30. It is alpine white with black factory leather interior and sunroof. Front seats currently are black Sparco Torino 2 seats. Very very clean! Original paint. NEVER been driven here in the Midwest in any rain or snow. It's a 5 speed, M knob with a Z4 shifter, super short throw and solid feel! It is the stock M42 engine that has close to 30,000 on a rebuild, it runs great! Has a Mark D chip, and Flowmaster exhaust, done by previous owner. A/C blows cold. I would feel very confident driving this thing anywhere. The car shows 164,000 miles and was rebuilt at 134,000. I bought the car in 2011 from an E30 enthusiasts in Dallas Fort Worth. I probably haven't put 500 miles on it since then. I'll tell you why. I brought it home and was planning on building a road course/auto-cross car out of it. In the process of figuring out what suspension options to use I came across the HRE wheels this car now runs with! They were built for a 1979 Porsche 911 a friend of mine had. They are 16x7.5 up front and 16x9 out back. He decided to go back to the stock Fuchs and put them up for sale. Even though I didn't have a Porsche for them to go on, I had to have them! After spending a small fortune on them, probably could have bought another E30 for what they cost. I was looking at them and the style was perfect for the E30's look.So began the journey. I bough a pair of Adaptec adapters to test fit them. Needless to say, way too much poke! I looked into hub swaps and five lug E36 set ups but nothing seemed to make a lot of sense. So here's what I did. I pulled the rear hubs off and bought E30 M3 rear hubs with 5x120 bolt pattern. I had them machined down to the exact same length as the stock E30 4x100 hubs. Then clocked, drilled and studded them out to the Porsche bolt pattern (5x130, see picture). The rear brake disc was drilled as well. So you still retain the stock brake setup. They of course we're replaced with new parts, including new axels, but still stock sizes. The rear suspension is simple, air bags replace the stock springs. Very straight forward and simple. NOT hacked up and could always be put back to stock if you ever wanted.Now for the front. In order to do the air ride setup in the front in did have to cut the stock strut housings. You can see in the pictures the I left a 2" portion of the stock strut tube for the new air bag equipment. The double bellow strut style setup acts like a progressive rate spring, a bit stiffer. That being said the ride is very comfortable. It feels like an expensive coil-over setup, not harsh. As far as the five lug setup in the front, I still couldn't figure out how to do a 5x130 setup without buying E30 M3 strut housing and if you've ever looked they are hard to come by and if you do find some they cost a small fortune, so I used the two Adaptec adapters. I know it doesn't seem right but while doing the air ride system setup I had to raise and lower the car more times then I can remember, so I put the adapters on to see what I was going to need to make the front setup work and well I liked the way it looked...as it sits now. In my opinion pretty good. I think the tuck it has now is perfect. As long as the wheel is straight the car drops on the tires, not one wheel rubs body. The rear wheel lips are rolled (with a roller and no cracks) but not pulled. Everything clears very nicely. With stock 4 lug strut housings everything could be put back to stock if you ever wanted.The air ride system is a "V2" system (everything was bought from "bag riders"). There is an 8 setting programmable control unit that I custom mounted in the center console in front of the shifter. I sectioned the ashtray to mount the controller and the ashtray lid now opens to reveal an iPhone plug that will allow the iPhone to charge and play music through the head unit along with Bluetooth hands free. The tank, control computer and compressor are mounted to a tray that I built (kind of like a strut tower brace) that mounts to the shock towers and was powder coated a maroon hammer coat (see pictures of trunk). Air ride system is all one line setup. All lines are grommeted from the trunk, run along the body rails. Not making contact with any moving parts. Very simple and very clean.As I mentioned the wheels are HRE 3 piece wheels and are almost perfect. As I said earlier they are 16x7.5 up front and 16x9 in the back, nice dish! Once I got my hands on them I had them completely cleaned and re-polished. They have been on the car for a couple hundred miles. Tires are also brand new BFG KDW2's. 225/45/16 on the back and 205/45/16's on the front. I LOVE THESE WHEELS!The body has some minor nicks, as would a 25 year old car with original paint. Any of the door dings have all been fixed via paintless dent repair. This car is very clean! The previous owner also lined most of the car's inside, including the trunk with Dynomat. I had to trim some off of the doors when I first got it, as it was coming out from behind the door panels in plain site.(The second photo still has the stock grills and blue bulbs) Now-Outer headlights are hella lens' with HIDs. High beams are stock. The front grills are the euro grills. They cover the top of the headlights, subtle but look good. Same with the front spoiler, it's factory and wrapped in 3M carbon fiber material. It was pitted up a bit when I brought the car home. I had just started using the 3M material and though I'd give it a try (my company offers this as a service). I think it looks pretty good. The splitter under said spoiler, I also made from aluminum and polished to look how you see it, this is not a bought item. There's also a euro tag black panel out back (between tail lights).Inside the car is very clean! No rips in the seats, but the "stock" drivers seat has some wear on the side bolster but no rips, no cracks in the dash or holes in carpet. The only issue I see is the headliner around the mirror mount has shrunk back away from the top of the headliner over the years (pictured). You really can't see it with the blue factory sun strip. The windshield has two stars in it, in front of the passenger. I had a glass guy fix them when I bought the car but one is still visable. This doesn't bother me, but I could have a new windshield put in at buyers expense. My glass guy quoted me around $200.Most of the parts pictures that you see are during the build. This is my whole problem with this car, I don't have time to drive it. I have a wife, two young boys (more sports than I can handle) and a couple of other projects going on as well. I don't drive this car and hate to have it just sit in my garage under a cover. My youngest son is not happy with this decision but it has to go.It is fun to drive, but the only thing this car is missing beside you behind the wheel is a bigger power plant (BMW V8, V10 etc.). I promise this car won't disappoint.I have the stock front leather sport seats, they are sitting in my basement. They will go with the car, providing the agreed upon price, otherwise I'm willing to work out a deal without the Sparcos if interested?Sorry for the book, just trying to be thorough.I love this car for the fact that it's original! I think the factory paint is is in great condition and I'm not afraid to drive it. This is a great car that you can just get in it and drive. Just warning you though...it will draw attention!Please feel free to ask me any questions about the car. I am wanting to be as upfront and honest about this car, as I don't like being scammed either. So ask me anything. I understand it's not easy buying something you can't see, feel or touch in person. If you want to come see it or have someone check it over I am completely okay with that.One note:I am sorry if I have offended any purists with this build, that was not my intent. I want everyone to rest easy and know that this car can be completely returned back to stock form if you ever wanted. Even though it was my build, I think it's done tastefully. Don't expect a discount because I didn't ask your opinion during my build. If you don't like it, I'm sorry, keep the negativity to yourself. Thanks!
Please look over the pictures and ask any questions. Please feel free to email me for additional pictures! If you are truly interested I will get them as soon as I can!
Please don't ask me the reserve, I don't think it's fair to fellow eBay buyers.
Please respect my time as I will respect yours.
Please line up your shipping. I will assist with shipping company but not paying for shipping.Thank you for looking!