Found an old photo

I managed to dig up one of the few shots of my old 318i (E30) I had back in 1994. Wow! That's 15 years ago! I pulled this baby out of a barn near Ellicot, NY (south of Buffalo, NY) and towed it nearly 80 miles to a shop in Lockport to have the "idle control module" replaced. Anyone who owns the E30 knows about the IDM issues. When I had to replace it again 2-3 years later, I sold it. I figured it was just the restart of everything I replaced on it.

It was lapisblau and I see so many similarities between that E30 and my 323i. I don't miss the diving board bumpers and plastic bumper trim! I also don't miss the 4 cylinder engine, although the 3i8i did provide for some very spirited driving. I especially remember when moving from Lockport, NY to Long Island and having the front right caliper lock up! I stoped on the I-380 in PA with it glowing!!! I banged it free and drove 270 miles not using the break pedal ONCE!!! Just downshifting and the emergency brake (for just the back brakes) to stop the car, even in NYC driving! Try that with another car. Ah, youth and exhuberance... My mother-in-law hated that car and was glad to see it sold. I guess on some level I have the 323i as in-law repellant.

I used to enjoy driving on the north shore of LI back and forth to work in Locust Valley. Taking 25A and the back roads was such fun with all the winding two-lane roads and avoiding the parking lot that is the Long Island Expressway. I used to park right near the Locust Valley train station on a high spot and push start the car in second by just rolling out of the spot in back of the office and down into the train lot. There was a great shop (still there!) called Locust Valley Coach & Motor that did work on my E30.

Well, that was what seems like a lifetime ago. Having the 323i is like reliving a bit of the best parts of owning the 318i.

The Bimmer has left the building....

It's finally happened. One call to the local salvage yard and the two 320i's are gone. I called and in 15 minutes the driver showed up. I tried to finish up the work on pulling the LSD, but the driveshaft bolts wouldn't budge. I let them take it and negotiated that for the price of what they were giving me for salvage that they would safely retrieve the LSD (that's the limited slip differential for any NSA monitors out there!). The driver showed up and cabled the white one right off the blocks and onto the flatbed, the red one rode behind on the dolly. I got the wheels back and I will be returning to get the LSD tomorrow am. It's strange not having all these E21's around, but better for my wife.

I spent today weeding through the remaining parts I have in bins and in the garage attic. It's strange having all this new room.

Out with the old, in with the old

Here's a shot of the 323i at the lake. The last days of summer are finally rewarding us with some good driving weather. I've been selling off the parts from the two 320i 's and am getting down to body parts, engine and transmission. The white 320i is in hillbilly storage in the backyard for now.

The entire underbody "crunched" when I jacked it up. Not a good sign for it's integrity! I'll be stripping off anything that will come off and then it's the cutting tool for the rest of it.

I also contacted BMWCCA and am getting my old member # reinstated, it's not a big deal but it is pretty cool that they offer this up to rejoining members. I had a lapisblau E30 318i back then that I pulled out of a barn and redid completely before selling it at 240K miles. I saw that car 2 years later driving around in Long Island with the same mods I performed on it.

Valve Adjustment Road Trip and the Great White Ghost

On our 14 wedding anniversary I travelled with the family up to Exsten Auto works in Rochester, NY to get some knowledgeable repairwork done on the 323i. They performed a valve adjustment, performed the State inspection (passed! Ha! Ha! Look Ma, no catylictic converter!) and replaced the driver side mirror. THANK YOU! The car sounds much better now.

They don' t have a website but here is their contact info:
Exsten Autoworks
Phone : (585) 621-8200
78 Bennington Drive
Rochester, NY 14616

They are the best in the area for classic BMW work. The Genesee Valley BMWCCA members rave about them. I was very happy with thier service and would drive the 40 minutes out of the way to deal with them. They also have a measley 750 HP Chassis Dynomometer to test your mods. Now that's a serious shop.

The 323i behaved quite well on the highway and it is always a pleasure driving a car that can actually accelerate in 5th gear. That custom exhaust has to go. It's all you can hear at speed and I'm a "sleeper" fan, so the loud exhaust goes against my values in working on a car.

My two oldest travelled with me and the younger two went with Mommy. All were sick and the trip for Mommy was not so nice with crying baby and the tobbler (yes, that's an older toddler who doesn't toddle anymore...). We tried to spend time at the Science Museum, but had to skip out once #3 melted down.

This past weekend had me Ebaying the white E21's cross spoke wheel set for $40.00 plus shipping! Man, did that guy get the deal! I also started striping the car down and put the entire thing up on blocks. The whole underbody just crunched when I jacked it up. That's proof that the car was not worth working on: the entire unibody was shot. I'll be stripping out all the mechanicals from the car and that will be good practice for me when I retrieve the LSD from the red 320is. I'll post pics of the hillbilly'd 320i.