Hanne, my Burgundrot M-Tech 1 build - M-Tech 1 parts are all here!

[iXguido]

Your welcome dude

*You're

:devil:

[kingston]

A little bit of an update...

My mechanic buddy Bob and I had a chance to ditch the BavAuto springs that came on the car when I bought it, and pop the set of Ireland Engineering springs on the car instead. It made a great difference in the handling of the car, plus it got rid of the crazy rake the car had.

Before:


After:


At some point in my ownership, someone had done a little hit & run on the car in a parking lot. It dented in the driver's side fender, which was the reason I had been rocking a white fender in it's place (and the fender was from a Vert, no less).


Fug.

I ran the fender down to my buddy Bob's house so he could take a stab at knocking it back into shape. Using bodywork hammers, Bob was able to knock out the dent pretty well. He then popped a little skim of filler on it and sanded it back down. Then we hit it with a quick coat of primer. It could use a little more work to be perfect, but it looks pretty flippin' good right now! I have a line on a good clean fender, so I may run that instead, but at the very least I am enjoying learning how to do body work


Much improved!

I also sold the old Bilstein shocks & strut inserts that were in the car (installed in 2008) and purchased a set of Koni single adjustables for the car. They should be here in a couple of days. I also bought a set of Turner Motorsports RSMs from UnloadedAK, so those will go on the Konis when they arrive.



Lastly, the PO sent me a pic of the car as she was when he first bought her in 2001

Neat!

More soon!

[HersheySquirts]

Awesome! Keep up the good work👍

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Awesome kingston.

[Petebee]

Looking good. I have the IE 3 springs on my Burg and I love the way it looks and rides.

[roznic]

Nice, Mtech I and II e30s are hot, looking forward to completion. Good luck with the build.

[pandaboo911]

Hanne, my Burgundrot M-Tech 1 build

Did you get your Konis from TH motor sports?
Are they the mustang shocks?

Btw I got all that hardware in a box waiting to ship :)

[kingston]

Pandaboo,

I did get them from TH. I just got the standard Koni yellow single-adjustables for this car.

I sent you a PM with my address and a proposal for an amount on the hardware. Please let me know if I am off-base, since I couldn't even figure out where to LOOK for those parts! Thanks gain, man! :D

The new Konis are scheduled to be here tomorrow, and I should be able to get them installed with the new RSMs this weekend.

Still no update on the arrival of either M-Tech 1 front valance. The replica has shipped from Latvia and is I assume somewhere across the ocean. Don't yet have a tracking number on the OEM piece...which only sorta makes my nervous...

[kingston]

Konis are here!

These will go on the car Friday :D

And I don't think I'd posted it here yet, but I found (through my friend David Yunt) a rear headrest seat with the fold-down armrest as well. It will be dyed black, and I will re-dye the black seat bottom in the car now, as it looks a little tired. Can't wait to get that done and get the seat in the car!


More soon!

[pandaboo911]

Haha I have the armrest seat as well with headrests. Our cars are becoming more and more alike :)

Looking forward to seeing what you think about those Konis before I pull the trigger

[kingston]

Haha I have the armrest seat as well with headrests. Our cars are becoming more and more alike :)

Looking forward to seeing what you think about those Konis before I pull the trigger

LOL! Too funny! The seat is really different from the one I had before (which was a non-headrest/armrest seat). This one has straw, whereas the old one was just foam. Is yours the same?

I have the Konis on my Track car, and was really happy to replace my Bilstiens with them. I consider the Konis a big improvement :D If you get a set, I would recommend setting them mostly to the soft end of the range of adjustment, even if you track the car.

My OEM M-Tech 1 front valance finally shipped from the UK today. I wonder if it, or the replica part, will show up first!

The Konis, RSMs and new front spring mounting hats go on tomorrow. Wheeeeeee!

[pandaboo911]

Mine is foam, I got mainly to improve the sound of the lukebox I have. I'm missing the lower bench though. The headrests are off a pair of leather sport seats.

My rear springs are 650# and the bilstein sports I have are getting bouncy. I'm eyeing the ones meant for the mustang though since they are shorter and better for a lowered car.

git r donee

[kingston]

My rear springs are 650# and the bilstein sports I have are getting bouncy. I'm eyeing the ones meant for the mustang though since they are shorter and better for a lowered car.

git r donee

Well, the Konis are a little shorter than the Bilsteins to begin with, so that's good. I have had other people ask why I didn't go the Mustang route but I wanted to make sure the valving was right for my application. For all I know, it would have been just fine...but since I didn't know for sure, I went with the tried & true.

The Konis are on my car now; my mechanic buddy Bob finished it up for me today, since we were waiting on new gland nuts (that hold the strut inserts into the strut housings). I hadn't realized that the ones for the Bilsteins we just removed are ONLY for Bislteins, so I had to get a new set. Overnight. With Saturday delivery. $57 for 2-$11 parts :/ I also got new front top suspension mounts, since one of mine had notchy bearings. Figured I should replace both.


mid-front suspension swap

I also need to order new RSMs, as it turned out the ones I bought were 12mm, not 10mm, which wouldn't work on the Konis. I sold them yesterday for what I paid for them, and I will be ordering a new set of AKGs from Levent at Guten Parts on Monday...


Bilsteins vs Konis

I was set to go back down there today to wrap things up, but my `01 Audi A6 Avant decided that a freezing, snowy day was the perfect day for her alternator to sh*t the bed. And after looking at what that is going to take to swap out...well, let's just say I appreciate my little E30s all the more!!

17 days since my replica M-Tech 1 front valance left Latvia...and no further tracking updates. At this point I really am starting to think that the OEM M-Tech front valance I bought from the UK after I bought the replica one will show up first!

More (hopefully!) soon!

[kingston]

Just had my day brightened a bit thanks to Pandaboo911...


He sent me a nice little CARE package with M-Tech 1 mounting hardware. Thanks man!!!!!!!!

[kingston]

Just a quick update today...

My mechanic buddy Bob finished up my Koni install on Saturday. I was supposed to go help, but my Audi's alternator decided to die on me, leaving me stranded on the side of the highway in a snowstorm. Can't wait to pull the entire front clip of the car to replace the alternator, har-dee-har. Lord, I love my E30s...

I had told Bob I wanted the Konis set pretty soft, since this is a daily. BIG mistake! The shocks and strut inserts were set about 3/8 from full soft...and I was getting bounced out of the seat! Every time I hit a bump, it took about 3 bounces for the suspension to settle! No bueno!

I took her back down to Bob's (nice having a heated garage to work in!) and we popped the rears back off. They come with a black rubber ring that has to be removed to make adjustments on the rear shocks...and the shocks have to come off the car to remove the rubber ring! We have left them off the car now, so future adjustments to the rears will only necessitate removing the 1 19mm bolt that attaches the shock to the rear hub to make adjustments. Should be OK with the Ireland Engineering springs.

BTW, the IEs have the same spring rate as H&R Race springs (315F/570R), but ride SOOOOOO much better than the H&Rs!

We dialed in about another 1/2 turn up front and another full turn in the rear and she feels pretty darn good now. A little fine-tuning to do now, but at least my head isn't hitting the roof of the car over bumps anymore!!

I got the first of my M52 rebuild parts in today. The M52 came from a friend who pulled it from a 328is, so he could pop an S52 in the car. The head on the M52 was cracked so I have another one to go on the block. I will be sending it to really good local shop called Noland Head to get tested.


Bottom end gasket set, head bolts and 2 new knock sensors (going OBD1, and the M50NV currently in the car doesn't use knock sensors).

And STILL no d*mn update on either the replica or the OEM front valances. How long does it take to get here from Europe??

More (hopefully) soon!