325ic Calypso Euro Conversion - Houndstooth & dbilas now, MT1 & MM 3.2 stroker coming

[bradnic]

Where did you get the houndstooth material? Im looking all over for it

Yeah I spent a year looking for it too. I bought this roll from Justin @ Eurointeriors in NY. He did my interior. It was the last 7 meters his supplier had so I bought the whole thing.


Kevin Chinn had a few meters left of a lighter beige houndstooth a few months ago. You should also hit up Levent at Gutenparts. Last I knew he and Justin had access to blue and grey houndstooth.. you should definitely hit them up. PM me for contact info if you need it.

the E30s only came with houndstooth for a couple of years - 84-85 I think. 90-91 plaids are awesome too. Winston (MC Hammered) had a sweet interior in Levent's Nina (these are his pics):



and here's the same seats in tan plaid

keep looking!

UPDATE: Check out this post I found a German cloth supplier.

[bradnic]

should I do the euro side markers when I spray the car next year? neither of those e30.de M30 verts had them...

Levent put these on

[JasonBates]

If I were to ever build a vert, I have a feeling it would look extreamly similar to this.
Needless to say I think it's awesome.

[bradnic]

Thanks for the kind words Jason!

[bradnic]

Well the 772 euro valance I ordered early August is now on backorder. Looks like there aren't any available from BMW.

[N2MYE30]

I wouldnt put side markers on euro or not. It will ruin your aerodynamics! haha! But seriously, to me it takes away from the clean lines.

[bradnic]

Plans..

Picked up new trunk shocks as the trunk lid liner overwhelmed the old ones.

Levent sent these over - euro taillight backs with an interior lens so the park lamps can illuminate the trunk... also has the wiring for the rear fog setup. cool part!



Some additional headlamp washer/intensive cleaning bits came in too, including a new tank - can't believe you can still order this stuff!. She's going into storage in the next day or so though, so I'll take this back up in the spring.

I may put off the body/paint work another year, as the car looks pretty good right now anyway and I'm stoked to get the IX coupe de-rusted.

Also planned for next spring, this showed up a few days ago.


Yeah it's the same one from gforce323i's 2.8 stroker build with the Hartge bits. Fair deal in the end, but if you're really set on one of these you can get a new one from dbilas for a lot less now - plus you don't need to pay 19% VAT if you're outside of the EU.

Been reading up quite a bit on stroker tuning. Nando and digger have been real influences. While I'm really impressed by what a good MS3 can do the OEM+ vibe in me just won't let me go that route.

UPDATE: reality sets in. Probably gonna go MS, but I will try to use my Ostrich first.

So right now I'm leaning towards a motronic / ostrich setup. As to airflow I thought about an M30 AFM conversion but it seems like there's some issues with tuning going that route that almost force you to go standalone. I'll let the M30 gurus straighten me out there if I'm wrong. So right now I'm thinking a motronic/ostrich/MAF conversion is the most promising approach for me. I'm no expert tuner though so we'll see.

Already have an ostrich from my messing around with an M42 turbo on the 318is. Will eventually stroke out the motor with an ETA crank S52 rods and MM pistons. I assume headers would be appropriate as well, but I refuse to give up A/C, and I'm not planning to upgrade the exhaust beyond the stock front section and strömung cat back that's already on there.

[bradnic]

I wouldnt put side markers on euro or not. It will ruin your aerodynamics! haha! But seriously, to me it takes away from the clean lines.

yeah came to my senses there thank gawd. seems like only the UK cars had them. I suppose putting them on is like voluntarily retrofitting diving boards ;D

[bradnic]

Proof of color fade on the door pull

Finally have a decent pic that captures the faded color on the door pulls. if you look at the edge of the part it is still natur and closely matches the plastic cover.



will try reaching George at Leatherique again and see about spray application of his natur dye. i have a cheapie harbor freight paint gun so will need to figure out how to use that. Hopefully I can get the carpet painted that way too

[bradnic]

Fall pics - off to storage

One last batch of pics of the car as-is. She's getting stored tomorrow. Hope you like them - appreciate your comments. Still stuck with that front DB valance unfortunately. New ship date for the 772 is Dec 2. We'll see.

Also I'm officially sick of the front eibachs. Car's too low and hits the bumpstops on rough pavement. I've scored some H&R OE Sport front springs which I'll have powder coated. That and some E90 drop hats should give me the front ride height I want. btw the eibachs are all freshly powder coated and look brand new. will put them up for sale in the spring.





As I mentioned earlier, was planning bodywork/respray in the spring. I'm gonna hold off though so I can focus on de-rusting the IX.

[JasonBates]

Also planned for next spring, this showed up a few days ago.



Yeah it's the same one from gforce323i's 2.8 stroker build with the Hartge bits. Fair deal in the end, but if you're really set on one of these you can get a new one from dbilas for a lot less now - plus you don't need to pay 19% VAT if you're outside of the EU.

Been reading up quite a bit on stroker tuning. Nando and digger have been real influences. While I'm really impressed by what a good MS3 can do the OEM+ vibe in me just won't let me go that route.

So right now I'm leaning towards a motronic / ostrich setup. As to airflow I thought about an M30 AFM conversion but it seems like there's some issues with tuning going that route that almost force you to go standalone. I'll let the M30 gurus straighten me out there if I'm wrong. So right now I'm thinking a motronic/ostrich/MAF conversion is the most promising approach for me. I'm no expert tuner though so we'll see.

Already have an ostrich from my messing around with an M42 turbo on the 318is. Will eventually stroke out the motor with an ETA crank S52 rods and MM pistons. I assume headers would be appropriate as well, but I refuse to give up A/C, and I'm not planning to upgrade the exhaust beyond the stock front section and strömung cat back that's already on there.

It keeps getting better.

Watching this closely now.

[bradnic]

getting this 88 IX coupe ready for my older son this winter. mechanical resto is almost done. de-rusting project starts next spring unless I decide to get the 318is back on the road this winter instead. build thread here.

[bradnic]

It keeps getting better.

Watching this closely now.

yeah me too Jason ;-)

digger's comments seem to be fairly negative about the dbilas ITB setup. fporro in hawaii also worked on some big carbon fiber airbox setup for it back in '11. I've dropped him a note but have not heard back. both have posted a bit in the m20 forum on e30tech.

EDIT: more M20 ITB info here

apparently dbilas had to make some compromises to get the plenum to fit without moving the brake booster. since my goals are modest it may not be a concern for me. we'll find out one way or the other! if I get in touch with either of these guys I'll post details.

here are a couple of fporro pics showing the booster clearance and comparing the bottoms of dbilas and modified cf plenums:

[JasonBates]

Interesting. I didn't know any of that.
If it's just the booster in the way, maybe you could do what the 24v guys do and move the booster down or run a ix booster and an e34 remote reservoir. Then have a plenum made like that carbon one.
That is if you really want to run are really good flowing one.
I was thinking of trying to get my hands on a dbilas set up and just running it.

[bradnic]

I was thinking of trying to get my hands on a dbilas set up and just running it.

That's the plan initially. It's supposed to be a bolt on kit right? That way I can focus on the piggyback, AFM alternative, etc. Will weld up an extra bung for a wideband O2 as well. After that I can decide then if I need to go with a bigger plenum or not. Will try to get the car dyno'd before and after for comparison.

Next I'll pull the motor and stroke it when I actually do the body and paint. That way I can restore the engine bay at the same time.

I also want to do something about the clutch and tranny. Maybe it's just the slave cylinder or a worn out clutch, but I about 2 weeks ago I started to get a little gear grind in third when the tranny's cold, and just today a very short grind happened once in 2nd. Since I have the Getrag 6 speed lying around that's an option too.

So lots to figure out!! Need to do a lot more research (paging fporro and digger). Plus I need to spend time with the other 2 E30s.. The IX de-rusting is a higher priority for me than a 'phase 2' stroker project.

If it's just the booster in the way, maybe you could do what the 24v guys do and move the booster down or run a ix booster and an e34 remote reservoir.

I already picked up an E34 booster setup for the M6X swap I was planning for another car. Tabled it for now though - too many projects. Definitely don't want to do major surgery to the firewall and engine bay on this car, so if a booster mod is necessary it will only be to a smaller one mounted in the same location. So we'll cross that bridge if needed in the phase 2 build.