RainierHooker's E30 M3 -The Pics + Progress Thread-

[IronJoe]

Looking great man! Is that with the drop hats or not? Any spring pads removed?

[Erik]

^ Lol, you're missing out! The weather is getting so NICE! I don't miss FL weather AT ALL!

You're car is SICK!! I can't wait to see it in a couple weeks! :D The Hartge wheels look a lot better with the drop! Keep up the good work!

[RainierHooker]

Thanks guys.

To answer the questions, first off the suspension is pretty sedate. H+R Race springs with both pads in back and only one pad in front. No drop hats, but I did go with Ground Control Touring Camber Plates in the front. According to GC, they are the equivelent of an 11mm drop-hat. I'm probably going to dial in just a hair more camber in the front when I get a little more time (and some better guages).

The tires ar Toyo R1R's in 225/45ZR16 on all corners. They are mounted on staggered wheels though; 16x7.5 ET13 front and 16x8.5 ET24 rear. I'm going to try and sneak a small spacer under the rears though to try and shore-up the stance and utilize the camber that resulted from the drop. If I were to ever again suggest a Street/Track tire these would be the ones. They have supurb grip, and handle very predictably. However the sidewalls are not so stiff as to jar your teeth out when coupled with the H+R Races.

All in all the car handles much more predictably, and all the slop in the front end is gone. I can't wait to get her on some twisty mountain roads and/or the track.

[StereoInstaller1]

Fuck all the chatter and bullshit, that right there is MONEY.

[UNHCLL]

Looks good.

Next time you are working on it, remove the bumper, remove the bumper core support, and then correct the installation of the front turn signals. They were mounted incorrectly when the bumper was disassembled at one point, which is why they are "sticking out".

Great tires, they wear quickly though.

[RainierHooker]

Thanks. I'm going to remove the bumper next time I get a chance for the turns and a couple other issues. The passenger side attachment (where it slides into the notches on the body) doesn't sit quite right, leaving a slight (but maddening) gap between the bumper and the fender. And I got new fog light lenses to replace the cracked originals.

And a piture from today for good measure...

[CleanAzzE30z]

Fuck all the chatter and bullshit, that right there is MONEY.

The mouth on you! You dirty girl!!

[cramer]

Looking forward to checking it out at the picnic :)

[MR 325]

Love the work so far, keep it comin!

[brutus87]

I love those meaty man tires.

[RainierHooker]

Well, last weekend at the E30 picnic was a great time. I have put nearly 1000 mile on the odometer since I have owned the car, most in the last couple of weeks. I can say that I am in love with the car completly now, and it is clearly a case that defies the "don't drive your heros" rule.

While I have pretty much decided on keeping the car as stock as possable from here on out, the raffle at the Picnic has convinced me to do otherwise. I wound up winning the M-Tech Front Seat Kits by Creative Options in the raffle, so que the donors...


I picked up a pair of decent sport seats on CL yesterday to serve as the base for the M-Tech kits. The original seats will get treated, wrapped-up and stored, just like any of the other stock parts that have come off the car to this point (with the exception of the very blown Boege Shocks). Now I just have to wait for the kits to get in and I can get to work...

[IronJoe]

Cool. But if you want to keep the m3 original, why not put the Mtech seats in the 325e?

[10Toes]

He already has Alpina cloth seats in it.

He's a seat whore.

[M-technik-3]

Cool. But if you want to keep the m3 original, why not put the Mtech seats in the 325e?

Could easily just swap them back and forth. I keep my grey leather M seats out of mine as the driver's side was starting to wear. I will have to get redone at some point as well.

I would like to get some sports done right in plain alacantra.

[RainierHooker]

Like nwvb_BMW said, I already have a full Alpina interior in my eta. I plan on doing something like M-technik-3 said, all the original interior bits will be kept, I will just be preserving them in storage. Its kind of a win-win. I get to appease my automotive ADD, and my very clean original interior gets to stay out of harms way. Seats aren't that hard to swap back and forth anyway.