IronJoe's back in an e30... 1989 Zinno M3!

[IronJoe]

wow where did you find the Startecs new?

they're being made again. I've seen a couple ads in IG - I think Garagistic is a dealer?

Correct, these are brand new made from Startec, not New Old Stock. A few retailers are gouging insane prices for these but I bought mine from Schmiedmann for a very reasonable price. In the end I got a brand new set of lights for cheaper than many of the used cracked ones I see going up for sale. Are they as pink as I'd like them? No. But I'm still considering it a win.

[IronJoe]

The next project I decided to tackle was the condition of the front end. The bumper had been repainted in the past, along with the Evo II chin spoiler. The paint had cracked in several spots and it looked like a corner of the chin spoiler had been bumped at one point, leaving some nasty spiderweb cracks.

I pulled the front bumper and disassembled everything:

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

I don't have a lot of photos for this part, but I sanded and primed the bumper, lip, and what they call the "carrier" (it isn't a carrier, it's the little strip of metal between the bumper and grills. This appeared to be original paint on the carrier and it was badly pitted from 35 years of road use.

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr


I then applied three coats of Zinnoberrot base coat, then 4 coats of 2k clear via my HVLP gun.

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr


At this time I decided to add smoked crosshair smileys:
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr


I reassembled the bumper, bolted the lip back on, and it was ready to reinstall:
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr


Back on, with bumper tape installed.
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

Yes, I also added cheap matte black kidneys. Not sure how we feel about it yet :)
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr



And one last shot, with a teaser of the NEW new wheels!
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr


I did a lot of work to get the 16" style 5s where I wanted them, but at the end of the day they just weren't aggressive enough for my vision of the car. I decided I needed to step up to 17s. I agonized over what to put on the car as it seems the BBS RS has been done to death. Yes it looks great, but also I felt the need to stand out a bit more. I ended up building 17x8.5 front, 17x9.5 rear custom wheels. I'm not quite ready to reveal them just yet as the car is currently undergoing another modification that fits with the "theme" and they go together.


Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

[av8drvr]

Looks excellent, well done. Do you mind sharing the specs on your compressor/gun
(Iwata?)/paint choices? Thanks.

[IronJoe]

Looks excellent, well done. Do you mind sharing the specs on your compressor/gun
(Iwata?)/paint choices? Thanks.

Hey sure thing. I use an Iwata Kiwami 4 HVLP gun, 1.3mm tip. It works great for both base and clear, just different settings for each. I also use a dedicated primer gun, a cheap Harbor Freight hvlp with a 2.0mm tip for shooting high solids 2k primer. My current compressor currently is a cheaper Harbor Freight unit that I replaced my old reliable with when it died. It sucks and spews more moisture into the lines than I've every experienced before. Bottom line, don't cheap out on an air compressor or else you will be sorry like I am!