Smackley's Alpine vert grocery getter

[mrpenny]

Can't believe I haven't seen your thread until now - really nice work! You've covered a lot of the mods I've been considering on my vert.

Looking forward to seeing more!

[smackley]

Tanks

Can't believe I haven't seen your thread until now - really nice work! You've covered a lot of the mods I've been considering on my vert.

Looking forward to seeing more!

Many thanks mrpenny! I see you are in Raleigh too. If you run into any e30 issues, let me know. I've torn apart 3 of these things at this point, and have a parts bin that is growing if you ever need help.

[mrpenny]

backlit emblem

Also made my first eBay cheapy mod (if you neglect the JOMs)...NC requires a 3rd brake light for all cars, so with the deck lid exchange I picked up one of those LED backlit emblem things...

Looks pretty clean and not too cheapy. I'm not entirely sure this will pass inspection but I have 9 months to worry about that. I painted my own rear decklid, however, and it turned out pretty nice. Single stage Alpine II paint and a bunch of wet sanding/polishing. Matches well.

Do you have a link for the emblem? I'm tryng to decide if I want to buy one or try to make one myself. Thanks.

[smackley]

Do you have a link for the emblem? I'm tryng to decide if I want to buy one or try to make one myself. Thanks.

It was an ebay special. I ended up removing it as it didn't conform to the trunk's curves very well. I'm sure it could have been heat molded, but the OE emblem just looked more flush.

It was something like the link below, but I removed the adhesive and drilled two holes for emblem studs to fit through. I then wired it to the left brake light, so it lit up when the other brake lights were on.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-LED-Badge-Emblem-DECAL-LOGO-Background-Light-Luxury-Sticker-Lamp-For-BMW-/321950350681?hash=item4af5bc7d59:g:APQAAOSwZ1lWcBm~&vxp=mtr

[smackley]

Update for June:

Car has been running great with the new suspension, though I'm getting tired of not having power steering. I'll have to sort a new steering rack and clean up my old PS pump assembly soon.

I also got a little nostalgic and picked up an old OEM tape deck for the car. I even go to go grab some classic 80's cassettes to listen to. Oddly enough, the OEM tape deck sounds better than that craptastic Jensen stereo the previous owner hacked into the old wiring. I think the OEM amp is actually working, and I'm not picking up random buzzing/pops any longer.




I also decided to build a cupholder center console. This car seriously needed a place to put my morning coffee!

[M-technik-3]

Nice work with the cup holder. Are you planning to add a cover to prevent spills on the carpet?

[smackley]

Nice work with the cup holder. Are you planning to add a cover to prevent spills on the carpet?

Thanks. Probably just going to leave it as is. I have a second console I'm putting together with a tape storage insert and armrest, so this may not stay.


On another note, I put a chrome grill back on. I also swapped the mirrors out for a matte black set'm not sure how I feel about those.