After a year of searching, an Alpineweiß story

[iwantspeed]

long over due updates

after driving for around a year with no carpet lining and not using the trunk at at all, I got some carpet panels.

I was at the junkyard and found an early model that had just been dropped off in the yard, its carpet panels were in mint shape.
I snagged them up.
When I installed them, 1 I wasn't happy with how i cut the holes to clearance my shock tower brace.
and 2 it didn't fit the lower parts of my valence at all.

My friend David was about to sell his car so I snagged late model e30 carpet panels and made the holes a little better this time around.
started like this
rongineer shock tower brace
turner motorsports heavy duty rear shock mounts
lower carpet section


trading my early model trunk panels for his late model un cut trunk panels


measure twice cut once


much better


i later got the trim that goes behind the seats

[iwantspeed]

misc interior things done recently
my buddy bob(blackout)
hooked me up with seat belt rail bolt covers.

but they were 2 different sizes,

stock pedals

I tried this out,
no pedal covers
skateboard griptape
adjustable clutch stop has been there for a while

I picked up a set of dome lights at the junk yard to trouble shoot why mine didn't work,

stock bulbs

I finally got them to work
so then i installed some led's

http://garagistic.com/index.php?page=l-e-d-interior-and-trunk-lighting

the same buddy david who was selling his e30 gave me one of the tools I was missing in my large tool kit,
missing the reflector and 2 other ones.
david gave me the allen wrench

my buddy bob found this for me at the Wilmington junkyard

it cleaned up real nice in the sand blaster, I still need to paint it.


I ordered a vin cut key to replace my crappy aluminum AAA special key

with a new holder

i bought a bmw oil bag kit,

installed my favorite brand Castrol 20w50 conventional oil
fits perfect in the bag

and velcros onto the trunk carpet

i made a usb flush mount into hvac blank

hardwired it for positive and negative

then hook it up and install


credit goes to ken C for the original idea

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=207347

Robert (Roberz)
hooked me up with a e30 touring rear windshield wiper switch
one is on off toggle switch
and the other switch only works when you hold it in, as soon as you let go its deactivated
testing the new switch
and trying to figure out which tab is which


switched worked in both positions


i tested which termial got the unit to light up
pin 3 and 5


day time

night time

[iwantspeed]

I went to the junkyard with my buddy derek(Nebulous123)
and found this late model 325i VDO instrument cluster
ended up costing 25 bucks
I have been struggling with my engine temp gauge not working properly.
It would fluctuate from dead to a false reading to die again,
if you hit the dash it would come back to life.
I replaced the
dme coolant temp sender
cluster coolant temp sender
checked the wires for continuity
checked the circuit board on the instrument cluster for continuity on some of the paths that are traceable.
replaced the si board batteries with a external battery pack enclosure
replaced the coolant gauge in the cluster for a known working one.

NOTHING FIXED THE PROBLEM
i narrowed down to buying a new si board
or replacing the back board where the gauge plug into
or re-flowing each solder joint
jean on here was selling a known working si board for 50 so when i saw the price for a complete cluster i jumped on it.

on the way home from the junkyard, i carried my new cluster home,


then I compared it to the my cluster in the car originally.

i was shocked when i found out the part numbers matched.
original

new

original


the right 6 cylinder tach coding plug


only difference were in there assembly date,
my car was built December 1988

new cluster
October of 1988

only cosmetic flaw in the cluster
scratch on the cluster lens


When I installed it for the first time the gas gauge was dead and the speedo worked but wasnt operating smoothly, so i traded both of those with my original cluster as well as the lens
swapping gauges around

minty cluster cover
I used black rtv slicone sealant to glue the plastic housing on.
the trim piece that goes on around the cluster when you reinstall it will cover any glue residue.


now with everything working properly
i could reset the service indicator lights
before

reset by 7, 19

after, all fixed


a diy guide if you aren't sure how to do it.

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/repair_faqs/sil.html

[iwantspeed]

exterior changes
i got my is lip for free but it needed to be cleaned up.


after reading linbergs article on speed hunters on a 4 door e30,
i decided to do the same and try out aersol plasti dip.

it came out decent

my car came with clear turn signals,
in my accident one of them cracked
i made a smoked lens at work but didnt like it.

robert(roberz) hooked me up with a set of nice stock turn signal covers
and bob (blackout) hooked me up with a set of turn signal housing

I cleaned them up

old ones on top
new polished ones on the bottom

it came out nice


A new neighbor moved into that used to be into e30's and he had the entuwicklung dreiberg license plate frame that ..... used to sell.
I have wanted one for a while but could not ever find a mint one.
He bought this a few years ago and never used it.
20 dollars later
mine


I cleaned up my rockers and lower valance with some paint.
masked a majority of the car with plastic sheeting



kinda ocd but i wanted to make sure there was absolutely NO overspray on the new stromung exhaust so i wraped the whole thing in plastic

[iwantspeed]

rsvd

[iwantspeed]

coilover install
new bilstein sports and ge coilovers


fronts assembled

rears assembled
turner motorsports rear shock mounts
bilstein sport shocks

rear spring setup
spring pad
o ring
coilover sleeve
2 adjustment rings
spring
upper spring pad

inner diameter after machining it a bit.

I made a diy article for others interested.

http://garagistic.com/index.php?page=coilover-over-installation-guide

[iwantspeed]

engine update

[GDA]

Nice work and well executed.

Would like to see some new full interior and exterior shots after all this new work...

[Insomniac912]

Beautiful build. Love the documentation and pics. One of my favorite threads. Thank you for this.

[iwantspeed]

Nice work and well executed.

Would like to see some new full interior and exterior shots after all this new work...

will do

Beautiful build. Love the documentation and pics. One of my favorite threads. Thank you for this.

no problem
i have a couple of things to add to the build thread

here is a video

[iwantspeed]

turk setup me up with a german check panel
thanks guten parts

[Blackout]

The german check panel is pretty cool Alex.
Another unique mod. :-o
Why is the "TEST" button not in german? i.e "überprüfen" ?

[iwantspeed]

The german check panel is pretty cool Alex.
Another unique mod. :-o
Why is the "TEST" button not in german? i.e "überprüfen" ?

From what i have seen most german check panel still say test on them

[iwantspeed]

Teaser

[kts]

What kind/brand/color paint did you use for painting the lower parts of the car black? I'm going to need to do this after I repair a few rust spots on my car.

I've been enjoying your build thread, it's given me some good ideas for my car. Keep up the good work!