S99's inka orange 2002!!!

[s99]

GIANT TEXT WALL BEWARE! I am just telling my story of how I got the car/ etc...!

So where to start.I bought this car back in July of 09'. I had had (not a typo) saved up my money until I founded the car I wanted! I am 16 years old right now. I was 15 when I bought the car and didn't even have my license. I have been working at a grocery store since i was 14, and have save up most of my money since then. I bought the car for $2000. Good deal if you ask me. My friend and I drove up to check out the car, and it was at my house within a week. I didnt even know how to drive stickshift when I bought the car, so that was quite the journey. I had my friend drive it home while I was in the passenger seat enjoying every minute of it. Here comes the bad news. While we were on the freeway, the engione started sputtering and kicking back as what seemed like a misfire. Luckily we were close enough to home that it was alright. Since we were on the freeway driving home, we took the off ramp closest to my house so we could get home. As we pull up to a red light and let the car idle, it dies. Oh great. So we turn it back on...dies again... shit. So now the car wont stay on unless its revving past 2K or so. Finally, we make it home. Im twitching out ans freaking out, and was pretty down at the time. Luckily a Euro auto shop is just a few blocks away. We bring it to im, get a tune up, and SHWING! Everything is fine. So the first day I have the car, I go through a small nightmare. I could tell this was the car for me!

Here is the seller pictures of the car (Trust me, the paint isnt that shiny, and there are plenty of little dings everywhere)

So now it was time to learn stick.

I first practiced going up and down my driveway, Took me about two hours to get that down. Then i got it around the block a few times. From then on out, I was good to go!

License time!

So I finally get my license in December. (Yeah, not long ago) and I can finally take the car anywhere. My mother let me drive the car around town before I had my license regardless. But it was just that much more freedom.

FIRST CAR SHOW!

So back in January? Maybe it wasn't January, I forget which month, me and a friend went to the Berkeley marina meet. AWESOME! Saw soo many cool car. I guess thats what inspired me to get the car away from stock!

Hereare some pics from the meet:

I have more, just cant find em'. This meet was a huge ego boost for me. Here I am bringing my two grand ancient BMW to a massive car meet filled with monster M3's, etc... I got alot of nice feedback, and met a bunch of cool people.

So the first thing I did was an early bumper conversion. Those God-awful diving board bumpers were hideous.

Old bumper off:

New bumper on:

Sweeeeeeet.

AIRDAM time!

So I got an airdam that I was trying to get for ages. Drove 2 hours to get it, got Subway and Starbucks, two hours back! Got it home, sanded and primed, was going to order so paint to match the original orange.

Airdam on. As well as m,y first "photoshoot"

SWEEEEET!

So I let the girlfriend use my car to go out with her friend about 3 days after I put the airdam on. I get a phone call...."Scott, Im pretty sure I broke the thing you put on the front of your car.." Great. Now I can only imagine what happened. So she brings the car home. Turns out she was pulling into a parking spot and pulled up to far, crunching my precious 3 day old fiberglass airdam. It wasnt THAT bad, but bad enough to do some damage. Fiberglass cracked all over, the metal of my car bent where it was screwed in....Ugh. So i scrashed the whole "paint it inka orange to match the rest of the car" idea, because if that happened again, itd be much more costly than it being primed.... Didnt get any pictures of the damage...Sorry..

Airdam re-do and fog lights.

So since my airdam was broken and battered, I decided on my one choice...FLAT BLACK! ahh yes, can to wrong with that! So ignoring everything that happened to it, I spraybombed it flat black. And boy it looked sweet. I also picked up a [air of mediocre foglights from autozone, and decided what the hell. Bolted everything in, drilled and wire4 the fog lights..GOOD TO GO!

Foglights still need adjusting to make them perfectly level to each other, but they are awesome. I have the behind the grill, and they are practically invisible when not turned on!

Ignore my neighbor, he came over to see what I had done!

So thats all for now. I hope I didnt type all this for nobody to read!

P.S.: Every dime spent on this car is mine. Not my parents. Mine. I am very proud of that!

Thanks!

-Scott

[Anschauer]

Good job and keep at it.

I don't know if your folks have given you the whole "driving safety" lecture but as an old fart myself I only ask you to remember a few things which I have told my son (20) and daughter (23):

Visibility : Well you sure picked the right color for sure on that account - don't change it!

Our cars have no center brake light and when that was introduced years ago it was for a very good reason and has probably reduced rear end collisions a good deal. Go buy the strongest brightest LED array (cheap) you can find and put it in pronto. By now you know the '74/5/6 cars got the larger taillights and that was the reason - even so you need to get the attention of all the cellphone zombies out there before they smack you in the rear.

Drive with your lights on for more visibility, just remember they are not switched to the ignition circuit so you have to turn them off when you shut down.

Before you spend another nickel on appearance items check the brakes, and that means everything, reservoir, lines, pads and the rear e-brake and drums & shoes. The rears are important and do not auto or self-adjust. See the FAQ articles on how to adjust (simple) and make sure your e-brake wires are in good condition. If you don't know how long the brake fluid has been in, flush it with new and bleed the system. It is is cloudy or muddy looking it has to be renewed since the seals in the MC, Slaves and the clutch rely on clean fluid to stay in good condition. Brake fluid is cheap.

This car has very nice understeer characteristics designed in - which means the car is very resistant to breaking it's rear end loose - but check your tires carefully and make sure to be careful in light rain or drizzle where the nose could break loose and skid in a tight turn that would otherwise be OK.

Remember, this is a small car - strong and very safe by '70's standards, but now that half the passenger cars are SUV's and people have a lot of distractions you have to be very very aware all the time. You're a young person and you have a lot to live for so be careful.

Lastly - save your money up and check with the local BMWCCA chapter or with others here on the FAQ as to where you could take a good driving/handling course.

A good course will not only make you a better driver, but may save your life because while you have quick reflexes and reactions, all you need is experience.