the "I finally have a net positive income" project thread

[kronus]

Yup! I have a job! This means that I can finally afford to do all that maintenance I have been skimping on. To that effect, a project log is a good idea.

My car (in 2007):


Then, I got some wheels, some euro bumpers and a valence, some IE3 springs, and some e90 drop hats. This was all over the course of several years and a ton of little changes.

My car (in spring 2010)


Since then, I've taken it to RyanGMW for rear subframe bushings and TABs (Ryan rocks), and he installed a subframe with rear toe and camber adjustments, as well as SS brake lines all around. He also took a welder to most of my exhaust and eliminated all sorts of weird rattles.

<photos of the newly not-crap rear camber tonight>

I also bought a set of UUC camber plates. Installing them this weekend.

<photos of camber plates tonight>


I've started to accumulate parts for the inevitable M30B35 swap.

Currently in hand:
Getrag 260/6 transmission (needs seals and the entirety of the shifter assembly)
Funkmasta position II M30 mounts

Still looking:
E28 radiator
tubular exhaust manifolds (the e28 ones may be adaptable, need to research)
an actual M30B35 with harness and ECU
MarkD chip for the M30B35 (I will go NA megasquirt eventually, but stick to Motronic 1.3 initially)

There are also some other little projects I am making headway on. Pictures of those will come tonight. (writing this at work while I have a bit of time)

[ck_taft325is]

That's a really big change in appearance. The four door with Euro bumpers is A+.

Any idea's for that valance? I just can't tell if it does it for me or not. Anyone else on the fence about it?

Nice all in all.

[Danny]

Let's swap that bitch asap

[kronus]

Let's swap that bitch asap

need to find a bitch before we swap it.

Currently considering a 735 with a blown auto trans, but it has 200K miles :(

[jackbenny]

Not to add fuel to the fire but...

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=181985

not affiliated but came across it and thought it might be relevant to your interests.

ps, I like this car, even the front valence.

[Farbin Kaiber]

I wub your car.

[kronus]

Not to add fuel to the fire but...

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=181985

not affiliated but came across it and thought it might be relevant to your interests.

ps, I like this car, even the front valence.

I've talked to Chachi about just buying the tarbo kit, but we both agreed that it would be a pain to ship over to norcal. Maybe the next time I go to visit my parents...

[Motorsports]

Car looks great. I like where your taking it also. Hope you swap it soon. I wouldnt mind daily driving a 4dr with a M30.

[Danny]

There are deals all the time on craiglist for manual 535 cars. And 200k is nothin. Buy it and reseal the motor, maybe do a head refreshening and call it bueno.

[IRON-E]

I don't think I said it before but I always liked your car. Its very cleanly modded. ;)

[kronus]

There are deals all the time on craiglist for manual 535 cars. And 200k is nothin. Buy it and reseal the motor, maybe do a head refreshening and call it bueno.

I know 200k is nothing, but I'd at least like sort of the same # of miles as on the car. Also, I'm looking for an auto, because I have a trans already, and people charge more for manual 535s (because zomg rare). And they're not as common as you say, unless you mean the e28, which has the wrong generation M30 for my mounts and is generally worse.

Edwin, thanks! (and Farbin, Taft, and Motorsports :D)


Another thing I've been considering is what I want to do with the body. It's currently in pretty bad shape, needs some dimples and creases lifted out, and the paint is not salvageable (below-belt passenger-side repaint -> inconsistent results with buffing -> crap).

The options I'm considering between for whenever I get to bodywork (after motor, probably):

Repaint Alpine, Zender foam spoiler
+easy
+less work, don't have to repaint door jambs and have obviously different colors if you look more than skin-deep
-remains looking more or less the way it currently does

Repaint Delphin, Zender foam spoiler, Alpina front lip, paint-match bumpers, flat black vinyl Alpina-pattern stripes down the sides
+looks fuckin' great
-lots of work
-need to find correct Alpina valence
-the chrome on my bumpers is in good shape, it would be a shame to waste them

Repaint Alpine, get Mtech I
+looks fuckin' great
-Criv beat me to it by several years
-I like my Zender spoiler :(

[325ix]

I vote for option two. I love Alpina stripes!

[E30Nova]

Not a fan of the lip but clean car brah.

[Farbin Kaiber]

#2 but I'd pick a unique silver/gray.

[kronus]

Well, I now have exactly one bolt holding my driver side motor mount arm to the block. 3 was just fine, then two was allright but sort of sketchy, but now with only one, I'm not really happy with it.

In other news, I fixed the amp alternator whine by moving the positive power cable and speaker wires away from each other and the amplifier.

Here are my camber plates:



And here's how the car stands, with better rear camber, in my office building parking lot: