Convertible pics people PM'd me for (No 56k)

[talltorontoguy]

Hey all, I've been getting a lot of PM's about my convertible...

I bought this car 3 years ago at a gas station parking lot where it was parked for quite awhile waiting for a new tranny. Auto transmission was completely inoperative, interior was full of mildew, console had cigarette burns, brakes were seized, suspension shot, car was full of tree sap and road grime. Headlights were broken, oem fogs bent back and rusted, lower front valence was held on with a bungee cord. The good news was it had maintenance records, the engine ran well, and the roof had been replaced only 1 year earlier. It was literally owned by an old german lady, and I bought it from her son who didn't have the time to do much with it.

The pictures below show the progression (after the 5 speed swap to today).

Enjoy! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Rod
VertNation!

Original:
I cannot find the pictures of it the day I bought it, but it looked and smelled rough.

Phase I: (didn't put it on the road)
- 5 speed swap
- Complete Suspension rebuild, H&R / Bilstein




Phase II:
- stripped the leather and redyed it.
- removed carpet and restored it
- replaced center console
- added 16" wheels
- removed pin stripes, cut & polish paint
- replaced headlights, removed fogs




Phase III:
- added 17" wheels






Phase IV:
- plastic bumper conversion
- euro moldings (sidemarker deletes)
- mtech II rear apron and skirts (eurostyle replicas)
- shadowline kidneys
- Reiger front lip
- HID installed
- white gauge faces











Phase V:
- plate filler
- m5 style trunk lip
- painted calipers







Phase VI: (coming up)
- M30 swap
- 5 bolt conversion
- Real rubber
- Style 5's (if they will fit)

*** coming soon ***

[Teaguer]

Nice . Those plastics do your car justice .
And that rear MT2 valance is money .

Too bad your wheel selection went from bad to worse . :(

[e30polak]

lookin nice man...good work, just don't like the black trim on the skirts and those god awful wheels

[DarkWing6]

lookin nice man...good work, just don't like the black trim on the skirts and those god awful wheels

pretty much my thoughts and feelings....

i don't know if i would go with the pukey guy cause the car looks outstanding. the wheels and black skirt trim just aren't my preferance.

[talltorontoguy]

Re: wheels - see phase VI.
Re: black strip - see my other post on the topic. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=98074

I'm interested to see other peoples' convertibles for comparative purposes on side skirt and wheel selection. Please post.

[ColdAccord]

can someone pchop the rockers to white?

i have the same skirts, haven't put em on yet. hope they dont look like that, hope its just the fact that your rockers are still black (mine are alpine).

car looks good besides that and the wheels

[talltorontoguy]

Read the other post... the black is not the rocker it is a molding. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=98074

The full explanation of why it's that way is there, along with a diagram to show why you cannot fit hardtop skirts on a vert without mods. There's also a photoshop of the skirts with the molding in white. If you have a touring I don't think you will have the same problem.

Rod

[Teaguer]

Read the other post... the black is not the rocker it is a molding. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=98074

Haha , I can't believe people are still asking about the rocker & molding . :D

I do agree however that the black molding on the rocker is too much of a distraction on a light colored car .

I remember there was a guy a few years ago that I gave a lot of crap to because of his black molding with painted rockers . :rofl:
Can't remember his name though .

[Mastrcruse]

Looks good other than the wheels. I don't think they are terrible but could be better. What wheels does the black vert have on it? Try those on, don't look bad on the black.

[talltorontoguy]

I'm doing my car in stages as time and budget allows. I picked up those wheels for a steal, and while they aren't optimal, they are better than bottlecaps - in fact, I quite like them. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on wheels because I knew I was doing a 5 bolt conversion in the next phase.

I have a set of staggered style 5's that used to be on my E34. When I do the 5 bolt conversion I plan to mount them - I'm sure it will require mods / rolling at a minimum, and it's possible they won't fit at all.

Here's the wheels on my E34

[Teaguer]

You shold have kept the style-5's on the e34 , they look better than whats on there now . :D
(everyones a wheel critic :rofl:)

If you use E30 M3 suspension then they will fit but if you opt for E36 suspension they will be far outside the fenders .

[talltorontoguy]

I can't win with you guys! Freakin wheel nazis :hitler: lol

The E34 is going to make way for an E38 740 soon. So the m-parallel style wheels will go with the E34 while my Style 5's stay with me and the vert.

Offsets are different on the E36 swap than M3? Any writeups?

[egk2]

Nice work but the tuner wheels and black stripe kill it.

[talltorontoguy]

sigh... does nobody read anymore??

[PiercedE30]

If you end up not being able to get M3 suspension bits for your 5-lug, I will GLADLY take your Style 5's off your hands for you.
I've been trying to get my hands on a set of Style 5's to refinish with gold centers/bolts with a highly polished lips.
Car looks good too.