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A Tale of 2 Sedans M42/S52

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    dropped the S52 back off for paint and got word that my seats are done.

    I think I may sell the SRDs or go with L Seat covers in brown some day for the toad/green car

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      well, I am back from my long trip overseas and things are moving along...


      paint shop is moving on the S52 car, and I guess I may have a color theme going on....

      looking forward to wrapping that up, getting the seats and new carpet installed.

      On the other Rad car, the CRX had really beat seats that I got reupholstered, hopefully picking those up soon


      And the last bit of news, currently waiting on this guy to get on a ship so I can fly down to MD and pick it up from the port (anyone insured a car in transit or do we all just roll the dice??)

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        Looks like exciting things on the horizon! Those seats look amazing! That wagon is gorgeous.

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          Vermont green! I like the combo. Where in VT are you?

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            Originally posted by MasukBMW View Post
            Vermont green! I like the combo. Where in VT are you?
            thanks! I am in Chittenden County by Mount Mansfield. I am still trying to get the car finished.... The painter painted the shell and 90% of the car, and has since closed the business and is very difficult to get ahold of. It's a bit of a nightmare situation, not sure whether or not I am going to have to get legal involved, i pray not.



            But on the positive side, was able to pick up the wagon and road trip it home


            The Pros:
            • Ran great, made the 10hr drive mostly trouble free (see below)
            • paint looks fantastic and no rust on tail gate, undercarriage or other common areas
            • crack free dash, new headliner, and Alpina cloth interior
            • body is straight, straight enough the mason engineering strut brace fits right up
            Cons:
            • Radio doesn't work, not sure why, and when checking fuses I discovered a cobra alarm and other aftermarket wiring i need to dig into and undo
            • Although low km/mileage, it has an M20B20 and auto box, it's a dog in terms of go....
            • the last 1hr of the drive it developed a drivetrain noise, rubbing or something loose, hoping just CSB or guibo
            • The Alpina valve cover is a cheap knock-off, making me assume the wheels are as well

            The Plan:
            right now, just go over all the wiring, try to get the wiring done, eventually replace all bushings with OEM, going to keep this as OEM+ as possible, no poly on this build. Very torn on what to do with drivetrain, would love a K swap, but that doesn't feel right for the Alpina tribute. I do have a G240 and driveshaft, I may just manual swap it for now and continue to mull over the motor situation...

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              Great thread. And the touring --- oh hell yes. Love the way it looks as is - silver is one of my faves on them.

              I get the want for more go. I have dreams of k swapping my touring (m42/5speed) but not until I really want to go down that rabbit hole and have more garage space.

              Project Thread | Instagram | Phoenix, Arizona Events Thread

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                Originally posted by DEV0 E30 View Post
                Great thread. And the touring --- oh hell yes. Love the way it looks as is - silver is one of my faves on them.

                I get the want for more go. I have dreams of k swapping my touring (m42/5speed) but not until I really want to go down that rabbit hole and have more garage space.
                Thanks! I agree, the silver just works so well... And I feel you, the K swap will take a lot more time than the S52 swap, and I do not have the space for it. Especially with the S52 car being half painted.... Long story short, I will be picking up the car and MANY bins of parts and taking them home. With my garage so tight, i will likely be filling up the office/project room in the house with parts. The paint looks great, but the business closed and internal drama means I have to find a painter to finish the doors, trim and spoiler. On the positive side, it means i can take my time reassembling, undercoating bits and doing everything exactly as i wanted it, but needless to say, I wont be tackling the touring in the near future



                Tomorrow i head out with a Uhaul van and my father to organize and pack up all the parts and take them home. With no doors or sunroof, my garage will be dominated for awhile.

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                  Originally posted by eternal24k View Post
                  But on the positive side, was able to pick up the wagon and road trip it home



                  The Plan:
                  right now, just go over all the wiring, try to get the wiring done, eventually replace all bushings with OEM, going to keep this as OEM+ as possible, no poly on this build. Very torn on what to do with drivetrain, would love a K swap, but that doesn't feel right for the Alpina tribute. I do have a G240 and driveshaft, I may just manual swap it for now and continue to mull over the motor situation...
                  The cars are looking great! With the touring, having driven my 320i for a few years prior to swapping it, you can wake up the 2.0L with a manual swap and 4.10 diff ratio. This will make it much more entertaining to drive.

                  For swapping, given the Alpina tribute themes going on I’d lean to one of the period correct engines - a built stroked M20 or an M30 swap

                  I’d lean to the M30 (of course) but I’m sure the result will be great whichever way you go.
                  My e30: OEM+ with M30B35

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                    Originally posted by lukeADE335i View Post

                    The cars are looking great! With the touring, having driven my 320i for a few years prior to swapping it, you can wake up the 2.0L with a manual swap and 4.10 diff ratio. This will make it much more entertaining to drive.

                    For swapping, given the Alpina tribute themes going on I’d lean to one of the period correct engines - a built stroked M20 or an M30 swap

                    I’d lean to the M30 (of course) but I’m sure the result will be great whichever way you go.
                    Yeah, I think a manual swap will hold me over for awhile. Due to the tribute, keeping it Bavarian makes the most sense.... But damn do I want a Kswap. Maybe I will pull the S52 and throw it in there

                    In other news, I now have possession of the Brewster green car, MANY boxes/bins of parts, I will have to learn even more as i put it back together. Shame being that the doors and spoiler and small trim need to be painted, praying I can find someone to match to the body well. I was given the remaining paint, but it's water based and those I have spoken with are hesitant about that.

                    I'll be wet sanding, sorting through boxes, cleaning the dust and tackling this over the next couple months.... For those who have reassembled a car, any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. Right now i plan on getting some cosmoline/wax undercoating for the interiors, greasing all moving parts in doors, and replacing seals. But any specifics or other suggestions will be gladly received.



                    I'm still obsessed with this color. Can't wait to complete the dream



                    SO FILTHY... but dash still crack free :)

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                      Worked on the M42 car, or "Tilly the Toad" as my wife calls it.
                      Finally dug into the AC. When i swapped the motor I put a new dryer and oil in the system, so I pulled a vacuum, things looked good, and filled it up with Redtek 12A.


                      It was blowing cool as i filled it, but I am not sure if Redtek's info is correct in terms of pressure, or I have another issue. But at the end of it, the compressor would kick on for a split second, and stop. I do not know if the system is over pressure or it's got something wrong. I plan on bleeding off some pressure and trying again.

                      shortly after, I sprayed the engine bay down to get rid of all the pollen, and then it wouldn't start (cranking no start)

                      Long story short, I spent days drying it out, I check every plug, sprayed every connection with electronics cleaner, pulled the plugs, tested many things. Then I noticed the cam positions sensor was damaged, had a fray in the wire. So I pulled it out, soldered a connector, but still nothing. I then went through my M42 parts, tried another Cam sensor I had, but it wouldn't start. Swapped a DMW I had, and while looking at the DME, noticed it was opened, so I peaked inside and found a Dinan chip (sweet)

                      but still nothing...

                      Reading up, I learned that the car starts via wasted spark, until the cam sensor picks up a signal, but can run wasted spark without the sensor. So I unplugged the cam sensor, and it fired right up! Been driving it for a few hundred miles fine while I wait for a new sensor. I had previously tried Facet, didn't work, purchased an NTK that is supposed to be for a '91, but the plug was for an E36 (despite the photos showing a 3 tab, not 4 tab plug). So I am still working to find a solution... Either way, glad to have it running again, hopefully can square away the AC soon...

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                        And for the S52 swappie....
                        I was finally able to find a painter to finish the doors, sunroof, spoiler, and trim. Bonus is that he works with the same water based paint that I provided, so I am optimistic the parts will match and hopefully will have everything back in a couple weeks. But I still have many boxes and bins, and bags of small parts, some without labels that I will need to figure out.

                        I started with the trunk, I was able to mount the trunk, figure out the lock mechanism and reinstall all of that, and while I was in there, clean up some wiring for the double trunk lights.

                        The other things I am doing is spraying all interior panels and such with a cosmoline like rust preventative from CRC (being from the north east, I am paranoid about rust, even if this will never see snow). it goes on wet, and dries in a mat wax that is not messy or sticky. I started with a small test bit on the bumper



                        I am so happy with how this stuff comes out, I am painting the inside of the new OEM valance and coating those along with the new fenders



                        and of course, SEM Ultra on small plastics



                        and I scored this guy (part of me is motivated to add more weight so the MT2 springs don't launch the trunk open so fast

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                          The biggest thing I struggle with is the amount of things I have to put together, and worrying about the proper, or best order to do them. But for my own planning, below is a list of things I know I have left (in no real order):

                          BODY
                          • install valance
                          • install fenders
                          • Install hood
                          • Bumpers, trim, and roundels
                          • reassemble doors and sunroof and wiring
                          • figure out the fender liners
                          • wet sand and polish paint
                          • replace door seals
                          • Install HIK skid plate
                          INTERIOR
                          • Install new carpet
                          • figure out how to wire heated seats for new recaros
                          • finish oil pressure gauge
                          • dig into sound system (i need a sub, hate the head unit)
                          • install billet handles

                          It doesn't look so bad in a short list like this

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                            Some of the small plastics are available still new. Buy while you can.

                            AWDBOB May have all the factory heated seat wiring while the carpet is out. There are heated seat “carbon” mats kits you can get from Jegs or Summit.

                            I have a perfect head unit and nice smaller sub in my car that work quite well, better yet, like factory. It’s somewhere in build threadz.

                            Glad too see you found a painter, that’s a tough one.


                            I was up above it, Now I'm down in it ~ Entropy - A Build thread.
                            @Zakspeed_US

                            Comment


                              Originally posted by moatilliatta View Post
                              Some of the small plastics are available still new. Buy while you can.

                              AWDBOB May have all the factory heated seat wiring while the carpet is out. There are heated seat “carbon” mats kits you can get from Jegs or Summit.

                              I have a perfect head unit and nice smaller sub in my car that work quite well, better yet, like factory. It’s somewhere in build threadz.

                              Glad too see you found a painter, that’s a tough one.
                              right now I am trying to sort through parts before I buy more. I have things like all new bumper trim, but I also have bags of clips and things I bought two years ago for this job, trying to get a handle on it as I have recently found myself buying things I forgot I already had....

                              The seats have the carbon heat elements added, I want to look to see if my car has the box under the dash for adding the factory wiring, adapting those to plug into my seats would be ideal, but what I've been reading it seems like the jury is out whether or not cars without heated seats have the setup to add them.

                              I have a Clarion FZ102E, I think they are perfect for E30-E36, but my speaker wiring is all large plugs (not sure the proper name) into the back of the head unit, probably ideal for an audiophile, but makes other units much harder, I am not sure how i would tackle that. I'll take a look at your box for inspiration :D


                              Your build thread is amazing! I will be making a pot of coffee and combing through that today...

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                                As always, things have been slow, but making progress...
                                First up, I installed the HIK skid plate and matched the weld area with Wurth texture prior, don't mind the antiseize thumb prints, it's actually clean ;)




                                And while my wife has been out, I have been cleaning up the hood for new foam (fun fact, a twin sheet makes a perfect hood protector)



                                And i started prepping tail lights, a bit unnerving to do on a brand new set, but I had the old pair to practice on, and to be honest, they look just as good....




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