Hello! White late model coupe from the bay

[sonomabimmers]

just read this whole thing. love your car I'm right ion sonoma good to see a great 707 bimmer! what intake is that coming out of the headlight. and do you have a hook on any wheels?

[Toodaloo]

I'm with Ian, I gotta see your alpine and meet you too. I've been wanting to snap photos of your car for a while now haha. What's the date for that cars and coffee?

Ian, we all should roll out together to that meet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah we still have to meet! January 9th I believe!

just read this whole thing. love your car I'm right ion sonoma good to see a great 707 bimmer! what intake is that coming out of the headlight. and do you have a hook on any wheels?

Thanks man! It's a 6" OD 3" ID turbo velocity stack. As far as wheels, I'm not sure really. I was actually thinking about selling these ones with or without tires if you're interested.

Pm me if you have any questions or anything, glad to help a fellow north bay-er out!

[destroyer]

Just read through this whole thread. Quite an addicting read! The Alpine looks great! Keep up the good work!

[Toodaloo]

Hello Everyone!

I'm back!

I have sort of been neglecting the car the past few months. Being busy with school and not having much time on the weekends has prevented me from doing any upgrades or fixing small issues. I have continued to maintain the car, but only the bare minimum. I should have more time this year for the car and have some big plans!

I finally fixed the Odometer!

I went ahead and ordered the Garagistic motometer gear replacement kit, silver cluster rings, and alpina tach strip on Black Friday. I figured, hey, I didn't buy anything so I might as well take advantage of the discounts!

Taking apart the cluster was super easy, the whole process took maybe an hour at most (not including painting/drying time)

I replaced all the gears and transferred some of the original lubricant onto the new ones. Then, I applied the tac strip. I ended up having to apply each piece individually since the alignment was pretty horrible. on the vinyl relief sheet. It came out pretty well! Following the tac strip, I painted the needles red in the M3 theme. After assembling the cluster, I replaced the burnt out bulbs with new ones and reinstalled the cluster.

I think it came out well, and now the ODO works :D



Then, I decided to repaint my front valance. It had always bothered me as it seemed like the only part of my car that had absolutely an HORRIBLE finish. Years of rock chips and neglect provided me a hideous front end.

Close up shot:



I stripped off the chip guard with a chisel. (I tried a few different techniques and found that the chisel worked the best, and a dremel with a wire wheel attachment for those tight crevices)



Afterwards, I removed any leftover adhesive from the chip guard, cleaned out all the dirt and grime, then applied primer.



While I was at it, my buddy Carl hooked me up with some fog delete blanks. I figured, if I'm repainting the valance I might as well paint a set of fog deletes at the same time.



I picked up some PPG alpine white 2 (custom mixed spray cans) from my local automotive paint/finishing shop and went to town! The process was the same as my rear bumper/valance. The paint goes on super wet and globby so even/ constant coverage is important. It came out pretty well!

I have since went against my golden rule of not using plasti-dip and dipped the lip back to black. The black lip just looks so much better on my car, keeping with the black/white theme and keeping the lines on the car consistent. However, I wanted to leave it color matched so that I can go back if I ever decide to add color matched "is" sideskirts.



I'll go shoot a few photos soon to show off the final product!

In other news: My water pump started to leak, so I'll be replacing the pump, timing belt, accessory belts, and fully cleaning the engine bay next week once my parts arrive!

A few more things planned to happen in the next month or so, I'll update with photos soon ;)

[KrautnotRice]

Wow outstanding!
The car is just super sexy. I love what you did with the cluster, it turned out perfect.

[Toodaloo]

Wow outstanding!
The car is just super sexy. I love what you did with the cluster, it turned out perfect.

Thank you Sir!:D

[Toodaloo]

As promised, an updated photo I took an hour ago Today, 12-30-15!!! So you'll have to excuse the dirty/wet car, haha

I'm trying out the Frenchie's, kind of indecisive about them...

It's Laminex film that I cut circles around the actual ellipsoid projectors so that light output is unaffected, and so that the po-po wouldn't hassle me

I got the rack as a christmas gift from my father! Great fitment and super cheap! $60 or so brand new for the crossbars and bases from proline racks!

I'm planning on mounting a light bar underneath the front rack...
Come at me, purists!
Then maybe also building wooden "deck like" longitudinal beams.
I'm currently waiting on a chrome grill!

More updates coming soon!

[daniely]

Don't have a E30 as of yet but now i have goals... great build so far!

[Toodaloo]

Hello! White late model coupe from the bay

Don't have a E30 as of yet but now i have goals... great build so far!

Thank you!!!

Man, I do so much to the car that I don't actually post here...
The other day I wasted the car and started to clay bar it, when I found that the clay was just sticking even with heavy lubrication. On closer inspection, I found that there were white streaks where the clay stuck. Turns out there was a thin layer of haze over the paint that I never before noticed. I decided to polish the car, using meguiars show car glaze. I went as far as to pull off all the door/fender/quarter panel trim and the AC vents above the hood. I removed all the little nasty unclensed paint at the edge of those pieces and polished it all up! While I was at it, I took care of the nail marks under the door handles and gunk buildup around the windshield and rear window trim. Afterwards I followed with a dish soap wash and full wax. The paint literally looks a shade lighter than before! Why didn't I do this earlier? Haha... The paint is now the freshest it's been in my ownership!

While the trim and AC vents are off, I'm in the process of repainting them. Primed them a few hours ago, but with the sun going down early, and clouds setting in, I have to wait till tomorrow for the trim paint.

Sadly I didn't have any SEM trim paint, but had a can of duplicolor trim and bumper. I love SEM products, especially the trim paint! It has awesome, even coverage, and is virtually idiot proof.

We'll see how the duplicolor goes on. If anything, I can always repaint them again.

[dpmit94]

Frenchies on white = love

keep 'em.

[Toodaloo]

Hello! White late model coupe from the bay

Timing belt, water pump, camshaft seal/ o ring, accessory belts, and coolant flush complete!!!



Not sure if I mentioned this, but I also did a full hand polish on the car cleaning up the hard to get to spots, followed up by a wax. While I was at it, I repainted the side trim, and AC vents as well!



Then, I removed all the trunk tar! (Dry ice/ heat gun technique) after I finished, I cleaned the trunk with mineral spirits, masked, and sprayed the floor with SEM rubberized undercoating that I had left over from my rocker panels and rear valance. Dropped 50lbs!

There's a lot of arguments for and against this process. Some say it messes with the balance of the car, while others just try and shed as much weight possible. I decided to do it because well, I like the way the car feels on an empty tank VS a full tank, plus my amp and sub compensate with an added 20lbs or so. I like to hit the mountain roads with a full tank just incase I decide go further and explore new roads, so this DIY mod made sense to me. This job was a Bitch and a half... Seriously. Some of it came off in sheets with the dry ice, meanwhile the rest had to be scraped off with a heat gun and chisel. Not doing that again! Don't worry, that's not rust in the battery compartment and spare wheel well, just dirt. I'll have to clean that...









Also, a little hint hint ;)

[efficient]

Very nice car.

[jpod999]

Nice car, I hope to meet you someday at one of the Cars and Coffee events.

[Toodaloo]

Very nice car.

Thank you!

Nice car, I hope to meet you someday at one of the Cars and Coffee events.

Thanks! I try and make it out every month, but sometimes life gets in the way. I'd love to check out your car as well!

[325ix]

I think this is one of my favorite builds right now.