Ok, so some of you remember my old 325i sport which I sold 2 days before the annual national BMW festival!! I had a space reserved on the E30 30th year anniversary stand and everything!!
Anyway, I vowed to be back in an E30 for the next show, and promised myself my next E30 would be the one i've always lusted after........here it is, and of course it is an ALPINA!
I was hoping to finish it before posting pics but as with these cars nothing is ever finished...
So, when I found the car, it was sitting in a garage forgotten, and had not been driven for 7 years. The bodywork was decent enough for an old E30 bar being caked in dust, filth knocks and scratches. The engine was in pretty good nick and sounded nice. Good points were, engine stamped correctly, big history file, fully stamped service book as well as the morsels of staggered alpinas, recaro LS seats, aircon (although dealer fit scrap that didn't work), 4 spoke alpina steering wheel (shabby so ebay'd) and the gearknob was looking distictly under par (refurbed – thanks joe), cruise control. This car was not exactly a peach now but with a bit of TLC could be!
I handed the car over to a genius named Barry to do the more serious work so I could do the details later....I wanted this car to be better than my sport, so saved up my money and went for the best options. Here's what followed....
Bodywork
replacement bootlid
repaired bonnet (old one was dented in a few places)
New side mouldings
New bumper mouldings
Suspension
B12 Bilstein/eibach suspension
Eibach adjustable ARB
New bushes all around including M3 eccentric wishbone bushes
new rear top mounts (E46 CABRIO PLUS Z3 REINFORCEMENT PLATES)
Tracking
All new drop links
All new discs pads and brake hoses
Cosmetic/Detail
3 spoke alpina steering wheel (NEW (ouch!!))
Lepsons refurbished wheels & caps
New wheel locks/caps...etc
Replaced worn carpet
shadowline trim
new rear seats
premium rear speakers and tweeters
black headlining
New ALPINA boot badges
New C2 2.7 grille/boot badge
SE bootliner
replacement of cracked dash
newly painted inlet/rocker (cheers trev (B7))
new bonnet sound foam
new dealer plates, tax disc holder, keyring, rear window sticker
new alpina wheel badges (pukar designs versions!)
Other work
replacement aircon (factory fit style) including R134a conversion, new condenser and drier
The car is now really amazing to drive, so much better than I expected (although I have been driving a Rover 200d hatchback 4 door for the past few months). The road holding is really sharp and handles like a new car. The suspensions setup is firm without being “crashy”.....really nice. The engine sound is great!!! Needless to say as mentioned before, it has been an expensive journey, but totally worth it!....its good to be back!!
just iphone pics for now, hope you like it!
Anyway, I vowed to be back in an E30 for the next show, and promised myself my next E30 would be the one i've always lusted after........here it is, and of course it is an ALPINA!
I was hoping to finish it before posting pics but as with these cars nothing is ever finished...
So, when I found the car, it was sitting in a garage forgotten, and had not been driven for 7 years. The bodywork was decent enough for an old E30 bar being caked in dust, filth knocks and scratches. The engine was in pretty good nick and sounded nice. Good points were, engine stamped correctly, big history file, fully stamped service book as well as the morsels of staggered alpinas, recaro LS seats, aircon (although dealer fit scrap that didn't work), 4 spoke alpina steering wheel (shabby so ebay'd) and the gearknob was looking distictly under par (refurbed – thanks joe), cruise control. This car was not exactly a peach now but with a bit of TLC could be!
I handed the car over to a genius named Barry to do the more serious work so I could do the details later....I wanted this car to be better than my sport, so saved up my money and went for the best options. Here's what followed....
Bodywork
replacement bootlid
repaired bonnet (old one was dented in a few places)
New side mouldings
New bumper mouldings
Suspension
B12 Bilstein/eibach suspension
Eibach adjustable ARB
New bushes all around including M3 eccentric wishbone bushes
new rear top mounts (E46 CABRIO PLUS Z3 REINFORCEMENT PLATES)
Tracking
All new drop links
All new discs pads and brake hoses
Cosmetic/Detail
3 spoke alpina steering wheel (NEW (ouch!!))
Lepsons refurbished wheels & caps
New wheel locks/caps...etc
Replaced worn carpet
shadowline trim
new rear seats
premium rear speakers and tweeters
black headlining
New ALPINA boot badges
New C2 2.7 grille/boot badge
SE bootliner
replacement of cracked dash
newly painted inlet/rocker (cheers trev (B7))
new bonnet sound foam
new dealer plates, tax disc holder, keyring, rear window sticker
new alpina wheel badges (pukar designs versions!)
Other work
replacement aircon (factory fit style) including R134a conversion, new condenser and drier
The car is now really amazing to drive, so much better than I expected (although I have been driving a Rover 200d hatchback 4 door for the past few months). The road holding is really sharp and handles like a new car. The suspensions setup is firm without being “crashy”.....really nice. The engine sound is great!!! Needless to say as mentioned before, it has been an expensive journey, but totally worth it!....its good to be back!!
just iphone pics for now, hope you like it!
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