kevvve's e30 BUILDTHREAD

[kevvve]

YES. I know its another buildthread. I enjoy keeping track of the cars I work on. And why not share with people that appreciate a decent build.



About a week ago I picked up this 1987 325e. I picked this up from a good friend of mine, Misha aka "rat4life". Those of you that are active on VWvortex or know about bagging cars then you'll probably be familiar with his name. The guy is pretty much a legend when it comes to bagging cars. He had a 325is that was sold before I had the money to buy it off him http://www.drivenmotive.com/the-american-dream/. Knowing how bad I wanted that car he kept an eye for another unmolested e30 and found this car in Tennessee which he drove down and bought from the original owner who bought the car in '87. The car is in great shape in my opinion and is a perfect start for an awesome project. Misha took car of much of maintenance and handed me over the keys once everything was done. Since then I have been dailying this car to and from work and enjoying every minute of it.

The plans for this car goes as follows:
Respray: the original paint is faded and doesn't look good
Nardi steering wheel
Euro smileys
Euro grilles
Bag it
new emblems
find window trim and shadowline it
tuck bumpers
mono wiper
wheels...not sure what exactly yet
and replace the old aftermarker blaunkput radio for something a little more updated

The other car buildthread on golfmkv.
Kev's Mk5 for PVW Magazine by MisterBarry, on FlickrUr

http://golfmkv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144831

Small preview of whats to come in the next couple of weeks.


8/1/12


My Nardi wheel and hub came in today. I have to say this thing is beautiful and so classy. I've seen nardi wheels in person but never a wooden one. The spokes sparkle and the wood is just flawless. By far my favorite steering wheel. Now to find a DIY to install this badboy... Anyone have any leads?? If I can't come up with one I'll have to whip out my Bentley manual and figure it out on my own.

UPDATE 8/2/12: got home from watching The Dark Knight Rises. with my grandfather. SICK MOVIE. Decided to hang with buddies Mike Barry and Furby and decided to go ahead and tackle this install. Install is very very straight forward. Took half hour tops. Pop off the emblem, loosen the center bolt, remove wheel, put adapter on, attach wheel, and push in horn button. I wasn't able to figure out the horn button. I might do a train horn with the air install or something "fun" like that.

Impression? I FUCKING LOVE THIS WHEEL. I went with a 330mm wheel and its tiny but not by much. It feels great and man I don't know what else to say. I LOVE IT. Onto some pictures shot with my iphone.






8/4/12
Update




Euro clock and euro smileys arrived today. The passenger side smiley arrived damaged so have to go back, be inspected and exchanged. Kinda a buzzkill but NBD since I havent ordered the euro grilles or hid kit yet. I want to take care of it all in one shot.

Pics of the damage.


UPDATE 8/13/12: Vagfair was this past weekend soo I had to get the e30 "ready" for another show. Nothing serious yet just installed the euroclock which I absolutely love. Adds a nice touch of refinement to the interior. and upgraded the headunit. The old blaupunkt was outdated and wouldnt pick up many stations. New headunit with usb port FTW. Thanks to my buddies Furby and Claudio for helping me out. Some pics for your viewing pleasure.





Not air'd out at the pump. will change this week;)


8/22/12 Update: while roaming the interwebz I came across these mk2 power recaros for a decent price. Unfortunately I am away on vacation and couldnt pick them up until Tuesday but after a few phone calls and a little planning my buddy Brian was able to pick them up for me. They are good shape. Diaphragm look good no tears or burn holes. Driver side thigh bolster is a little soft/flat and needs to be replaced. I plan on having these rewrapped not exactly sure in what kind of material or color yet. I was thinking a shade of brown/tan like peanut butter. I been in touch with Ron at JJCUSTOMS to figure the details out. For now I'll leave you with some photos.








Read somewhere that mk2 rear bench fits in an e30? Can anyone clarify? I was thinking about selling the rear bench alone and finding a sport rear bench.

8/23/12 Update: It's bagged. I'll post up more pics this weekend.



8/28/12:




Drivenmotive.com feature: http://www.drivenmotive.com/welcome-...ily/#more-1075

AIRRIDE INFO:

IMG_4080 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

The car has been bagged. This post will cover most of the details regarding the install. If anyone has any questions I'll try my best to answer them if not they will be passed onto Misha, the mastermind behind this install.


IMG_4013 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

It started off with this. A very simple set up. A basic analog set up with 4 valves 2 switches setup and one gauge monitoring front and rear air pressure, a 3gal tank, and viair 400 compressor to take care of managment. The suspension itself is comprised of aerosports bags over shortened strut housings with passat B3 inserts and mk5 top bearings/mounts fronts and airhouse1 rears with stock shocks in the back.

The management:

IMG_4024 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4025 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4027 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4022 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4023 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

Fabricating began with the rear. It would be less work then the front and since finding another mk5 front strut mount was near impossible with tons of VW friends it seemed like our only choice to get the ball rolling.


IMG_4028 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4029 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4032 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4037 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4040 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

Onto the fronts. we used b3 passat struts because 3 simple reasons: they work, they sit lower, and they are cheap.

IMG_4044 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4046 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4047 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4050 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4056 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

stock wheels werent going to work without spacers.

IMG_4060 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

solution to that find better fitting wheels.

IMG_4055 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

IMG_4058 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

the results.

IMG_4076 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

air'd all the way up

IMG_4066 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

and down.

IMG_4068 by misha/rat4life, on Flickr

9/27/12 update:

tucked the bumpers




smoked turn signals/eyebrows and removed the foglights:


then went and bought a monowiper kit from vac motorsports. tackled this install but what a bitch. never again lol but it was totally worth it in my opinion.


how i ended up having it.


finally replaced the faded and dated emblems.


enjoy.

[kevvve]

Reserve

[kevvve]

.

[Link]

Always love air!

[euronotworthy]

I thought the screen name sounded familiar...

Nice BMP. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the e30.

[Butler]

Im interested to see more details on the air setup.

[kevvve]

Always love air!

;)

I thought the screen name sounded familiar...

Nice BMP. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the e30.

thanks buddy. Im really excited to start working on this thing.

Im interested to see more details on the air setup.

Its going to be a very simple set up: 1 440 compressor, 3 gallon tank, 4 valves, 2 switches that will be neatly tucked away in a great spot, and one gauge. we'll be using passat strut inserts for the front bags and raceland rear struts. I'll be sure to get more details and pictures when Misha starts fabricating the struts and starts the install, hopefully next week or the week after the bagging process will start.

UPDATE:Nardi wooden steering wheel, euro smileys, euro clock and new radio. NOW JUST NEED TIME OFF OF WORK TO START DOING WORK.

[RawToast]

;)



thanks buddy. Im really excited to start working on this thing.



Its going to be a very simple set up: 1 440 compressor, 3 gallon tank, 4 valves, 2 switches that will be neatly tucked away in a great spot, and one gauge. we'll be using passat strut inserts for the front bags and raceland rear struts. I'll be sure to get more details and pictures when Misha starts fabricating the struts and starts the install, hopefully next week or the week after the bagging process will start.

UPDATE:Nardi wooden steering wheel, euro smileys, euro clock and new radio. NOW JUST NEED TIME OFF OF WORK TO START DOING WORK.

Please keep us updated, don't let this turn into a one day post build thread I'm very excited to see where this goes. Why passat strut inserts though?

[jaywood]

Interested to see the air setup as well. Looks cool.

[kevvve]

Please keep us updated, don't let this turn into a one day post build thread I'm very excited to see where this goes. Why passat strut inserts though?

Absolutely no doubt man. I plan on keeping and working on this car for quite a while keeping this thread updated. As I said before I like keeping up with my build threads and sharing them with people that enjoy a decent build. And personally, for me i enjoy going through my build threads reminiscing on the build process.

As for the Passat, struts they were cheap first of all so it won't hurt to chop them up and weld back together, ride nice, go low and work for e30s. Its kind of funny how mark5 parts work on e30s. Raceland rear struts...are meant for a mkv.

Interested to see the air setup as well. Looks cool.

:up:

[poopin04]

sub'd

[mitchlevy7]

Why not just the airlift front?
What are your plans for getting the back done? I just went crazy with the angle grinder.

Thumbs up for another bagged e30.

[kevvve]

Why not just the airlift front?
What are your plans for getting the back done? I just went crazy with the angle grinder.

Thumbs up for another bagged e30.

To my knowledge, Airlift do not have front struts for e30s. Bagyard do but those are money: $2400 for front and rear bags give or take. They would be awesome to have but a bag over cool over set up will get the car on the ground.

As far of the back we have a universal air house 1(not exactly sure) that we will probably be able to bolt in if not Misha will fab some sort of bracket/mount for it.

What did you go angle grinder crazy on??

EDIT: if you're talking about universal airlift struts... I'm meh on them. Not exactly sure how long they go and from my experience on the mkv platform, airlift rears blow pretty easy. Not to mention also that price is a little steep for something that's just universal.

[ohthejosh]

I dont wanna be nosy and pry into your wallet, but how much would this setup cost in parts and labor?

[kevvve]

I dont wanna be nosy and pry into your wallet, but how much would this setup cost in parts and labor?

Dude ask away! I hate when people keep price and whatnot a secret!

Misha's standard rate for air installs is $600 provided you have everything you need. He takes care of everything notching the frame, false floor all wiring and gaurantees his work for as long as you own the car. Price on parts can vary. I could have gone with a better compressor like air zenith ob2, gotten fancier switches, manifolds, and gauges. But we are keeping this simple. For this particular set up I can't honestly say how much I'm spending I bought the car for $3200 bagged. Parts were acquired from Bagriders for a reasonable price due to the fact that Misha is an authorized dealer for them. When we take care of the install I'll ask him how much he would charge if he were to do it again.