Chump Car Update

I promised that I would update the status of the Chump Car if I got home before 8. I got home at 7 tonight and am a man of my word. The team got together last Saturday for the first day of work on the car and set to the task of stripping the interior to prep it for the installation of the roll cage. The car the team has acquired is a 1984 318i. It screams speed doesn't it. The 318 is from Arizona and is thus free of rust although it is severely sunbaked. It also has a curious Dept. Of Defense sticker on the windshield.


Unfortunately the day did not get off to a good start as the car's owner and team organizer may have mailed the key to the 318 to New Hampshire where his 2002 is being restored. Once we cleared the snow of the car we then had to maneuver it to go into the garage and push it up the icy hill. Once we got the car in the garage I decided it was about time for a beer and a donut. Thus I am not pictured here. We then set to the task of removing the seats


Removing the seats was a little trickier than expected as there was all sorts of interesting detritus that had gathered around the seats in its 25 years of service. Found some interesting things between those seats...Eventually we got them out and then began removing the rear seats and the other interior bits. We also had to remove the awesome 80s CD changer that even had a wired, yes wired, remote.


The team worked amazingly well considering that you can only fit so many people in an E30 BMW. One set was stripping the doors, another pulled seats, another pulled stuff from the trunk, and another would be organizing the stuff so we could keep track of everything. We eventually got all the seats and trim out of the main cabin and then removed the carpeting. Big props to Colin for his work getting the carpet out.


Once the carpet was out we discovered that there was very little sound deadening under the carpet. In fact, the only insulation was under where the rear seat was and a little bit on the rear parcel shelf. The insulation under the rear seat was like concrete so I had some fun with a chisel getting it off. Was making progress before we had to wrap things up and head out for to tackle project #2.


Here is what the interior looked like at the end of phase 1. We had to put the driver seat back in so that it can be driven once we get/locate the key. We were then off to complete project #2. Project #2 was pulling the engine out of a 1991 318is for a fellow BMW club member(sorry no pics as my hands were both busy and filthy). We hope to grab a few spares off of the 318is to use on the race car.

Well, that's all for now. Stay tuned for the next update which I think will include more quality time with the chisel removing the sound deadening and hopefully the installation of the rollcage. Also, Go VIKES!