A Non-Intersting College Budget '91 Calypso Coupe

[613EDRTY]

You have a nice car sir.

[Zreberlcoe]

Do you like that color on the needles? I tried painting mine that color and didn't like it, they were too candy so I went orange.

Looks like you did well on the tails.

Get your electrics all figured out?

Yeah I love the needles! I used a testors brand from a hobby store at home and brush painted the needles as well I could. I actually wet sanded the tails and re-painted because they came out heavy and the clear was coming off for some reason. Yeah I did, faulty f***ing starter part. Got it fixed though!





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[ST1G]

Do you like that color on the needles? I tried painting mine that color and didn't like it, they were too candy so I went orange.

Looks like you did well on the tails.

Get your electrics all figured out?

[Zreberlcoe]

This weekend I leave back for school so no pictures were taken of our adventures with the car. We put in all new locks so I have a matching key; Ignition, doors, glovebox, trunk. I also went to the junkyard and stole a almost rust free cat section for $16!!!!! I was pretty hyped about that and got it on in no time.

Now onto another issue, my damn knocking up front. It seems no matter how much work and money I put into the car something else arises. Here's a video of my issues. https://flic.kr/p/qyuQnP

[Zreberlcoe]

Looking good man. Those needles came out great.

That's crazy that the light switch went out while you did all of that.

Thanks! Also that's all I can find the problem to be. I'm going to hold off on the light switch and try other troubleshooting unless I can get a used light switch for cheap on here or craigs.

[Codym42]

Looking good man. Those needles came out great.

That's crazy that the light switch went out while you did all of that.

[Zreberlcoe]

Alright, finally an update!

I received my motor mounts, taillight paint, euro clock, and ignition switch this week.

Thanks to Max399 for the clock


Disassembling Euro clock to paint needles so they can match my cluster. I thought while I had most the dash apart, might as well take out the cluster and paint the vacuum needle I forgot to do a long time ago





Prepped the taillights also



started tearing into the interior Friday night as well



For the Euro clock I didn't receive a pigtail so I clipped off one of the door chime plugs to be used.


Soo I also got the ignition switch installed, kinda. I broke the tab on the steering wheel side putting it in so I wrapped wire around the column very tightly and lathered on epoxy to dry all night. I think it should hold


I practiced my soldering wires skill since my last jobs sucked ass and looked fire worthy. They got better than this, but not too bad.



Saturday started off with soldering the door chime wires in with the previous 6 button wires
[img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7576/16072905037_39996671b8_b.jpg[/img

Next was motor mounts, f*** did I need to replace these. The damn motor was resting on the steering rack :(



Passenger side was peeling like an orange :ohsnap:


Between doing the mounts and what ever else, I laid on the paint for the tail lights. Here's first coat


Here's my McGeyver extensions for the top nut on the passenger side mounts. I didn't snap too many pictures throughout the process because it was quite tedious of a job.


Not sure if this was the best spot being the break between the motor and trans


Got it off:up:


Both mounts out, passenger side is on the right.


Brackets cleaned up! It's not like they'll stay clean for long.


thinking of spacing the motor this high for lows :dot:


Intermission, second coat on taillights. I think I should have stopped here but later pictures looks fine.



Back to the motor mounts, got them both in place. The motor doesn't sit on the steering rack now!



Such a scary difference


Yeahhhh I think I went one coat too many, it doesn't look so dense in person or from a difference



Since the motor was shifted to the drivers side about 1" or more, the guibo took a beating, definitely up for replacing as well as trans mounts


Artsy Wish we had more garage space for air tools, oh and money.



This is where I left the car Saturday night after I couldn't figure out why my instrument lights wouldn't come on i.e: HVAC bulbs, Cluster bulbs, Ashtray bulbs, Hazard switch, defogger switch, etc. Eventually tracked it down to the 58k terminal on the lights switch. Pretty irritating that the light switch just decides to quit when I'm fixing/replacing other parts.



Picked up the next day with making sure the light switch is the culprit, turns out it is! So I decided I'll need a replacement but for now I'll have the car back together and drive with no instrument lights.





Winter has turned this car into a turd cake, but



That's all for now! It's much smoother without the vibration of the engine going throughout the cabin. Also there's not so much transmission whine. Follow me on instagram, it's easier to post progress. @zrec_e30

[Zreberlcoe]

The Popped Cherry - Updated 12/29/2014

I've been posting a lot, I don't know whats gotten to me.

But in hopes to find a key code in my Manual, my dad and I perused through the different booklets in my glove box and stumbled across something cool. There is a sticker on the front of my service manual that isn't on his E30's service manual.



Its a note about this car being delivered under the "European Delivery Program". We knew the first owner was a mechanic for the US air force but that's all we were told.

Then flipping down some pages are some stamps from the dealer:



The top one is the pre-delivery inspection, but the bottom one is a 1200 mile inspection stamp. That means this car spent some time in Germany, which we were certainly not aware of. The second stamp is by a dealer in Munich called Peter Bach. Curious as to the past of this car, sure as shit, we flip the page to the Oil Service and there's 4 stamps by Peter Bach:


Up until 14,677 miles that I can barely read, the car was serviced at Peter Bach in Munich. This car after all has kind of a cool history, apparently the car lived 2 years of it's life in Munich! The car must have been shipped to the U.S by the original owner, and the other two stamps are from Winslow BMW down in Colorado Springs where we were told the original owner was a mechanic for the Air Force base in the springs. Although the records stop and I believe that's when he gave the car to his son. In which his son treated the car like trash and that's most likely where all my problems have developed. I was told mostly of the first owners history by the third owner in which I bought the car from, and he had only had the car for 8 months and I e-mailed him to see if I can get any way to contact the original owner. Thought this was kind of a cool piece of information about the car!

[Zreberlcoe]

I went to the dealer a couple of days ago to get a ignition switch, which soon led to getting a lock cylinder and key matched to the VIN. I don't know if I had said before but when I had bought this car the previous-previous owner had snapped off the key in the ignition. Upon replacement that owner must not have gotten the ignition and key matched to the VIN, therefore I am now left with a key for the ignition and no key to the doors. I don't know where else down that road that the trunk lock had been replaced, but it had, and I have a mismatched key for that as well.

So I'm rolling the dice with matching the key and ignition lock cylinder to the VIN in hopes that it will match the doors and glove box. It's going to be a week or two before I hear about these parts because the dealer has to call BMW Engineering to get the secret key code that matches my VIN and then track down which lock cylinder to buy, as well as special order a ignition switch.

So parts I have coming in this upcoming week:
-Engine Mounts (Taking forever, BavAuto :hitler:)
-Euro Clock (Need a pigtail)
-Ignition Switch and Lock Cylinder/with Key
-Paint for all red tails ;D

[Zreberlcoe]

Except that it's super lame.

Except that this is super true.

[lambo]

OMFG!!!!!!!! I'm speechless, I literally love everything about this car!

Except that it's super lame.

[stonea]

OMFG!!!!!!!! I'm speechless, I literally love everything about this car!

[Zreberlcoe]

Sooooo I'm looking for a couple of things to buy.

1. A KNOWN WORKING, late model (airbag cars) ignition switch.

2. 4"-5", Progressive or barrel, 600lb/in-680lb/in, 2.25" or 2.5" Inside Diameter, Rear springs.

3. And a euroclock pigtail if very cheap.

[Zreberlcoe]

So I went out to the car today and poked around for the "G200" ground. I found it just above the brake pedal mounting point.



I wasn't sure what I was looking for other than a loose ground or what not but they all seemed to be in there quite tightly.



Deeming this to not be the problem and checking that off, I got my next mission from ADOPEWITASCOPE and jeepster666. In the bottom right is the diagram of the ignition switch.



A hypothesis I went on was the ignition switch was leaking power through terminal 15l (labeled on the diagram). 15l is the only terminal that will flow power in the "on" position, and the windows and blower fan will only work while in the "on" position. So if this terminal was to be staying open at all times I could test it and verify that. So I took out my handy dandy tester light and grounded it to the knee bolster mounts, pulled the key out of the ignition, and poked into the 2.5mm Violet wired coming out of terminal 15l, and what do you know:


Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! The violet wire is coming out of the switch, looks about 2.5mm's thick, and is violet! Unless I'm mistaken this is obviously a problem in itself and needs to be fixed.

[Zreberlcoe]

But winter mode has commenced:( By the way, working in the dorm parking lot really makes you appreciate having a garage


ugh I'm already feeling this. my family is moving and having a garage was nice.

The feels. It makes you realize what a covered space, 4 walls, benches, and plenty of tools, will do for you.