E30 Euro Frankenstein Semaj4712 Progress Thread

[semaj4712]

Thought Id share how my living room looks at the moment...


Contemplating new wheels, I am thinking about selling the RSs or trading them and going with something like Diamond Steelies or something...want something bigger in the 16 inch range or 17

[semaj4712]

Quickshifter came in mail today from AKG

[semaj4712]

Today was the first day since I bought the car where I feel that it is starting to become me...I spent the day installing the AKG DTM Quickshifter Stage II in and replaceing the front center console, (also did a ton of cleaning in the car too for the first time since I bought it)

If you go back a page youll see what the old center console and shifter looked like...shit, the shift knob was god knows what brand, and there was an walmart voltmeter drilled into the dash that wasnt even hooked up, just had speaker wire attached to it on the reverse side, all of that had to go...


You can see the PO with their einstein engineering skills drilled that damn hole with it still in the car...what a mess, anyway

Old center console vs new


Trey (Yert315) came by and helped me out, (I couldnt get the bitch clip off a few nights ago) and we got the bitch in...Will say this, while it is a great quickshifter, all the threads were super freakin tight and are nearly imposible with a crescent wrench to tighten, and the seated bolts made it difficult to work with because the notches on the plate were larger than the seated bolt square, but we made it work...


Quickshifter in, and cleaned up the interior to install the new center console...


Whilst I was trying to put my old shift boot on it ripped and crumbled to pieces, so I decided to take an old crown royal bag I had sitting around and use that for temp, I had seen this done before but dont really like it...its just temp as I want to find and try to retrofit an accordian style shift boot



Ill end up getting a different shift knob at some point, but want to finish the interior before I decide what will look the best

[xxla81xx]

Nice , lol at your shift boot

[semaj4712]

Nice , lol at your shift boot

Thanks lol, like I said its very temp, just waiting for a few people to send me dimensions of random accordian...but anways

So about a week ago I got both the Momo Steering Wheel Hub in and the Grant 6 bolt to 5 bolt adapter...


Yesterday I finally got the steering wheel I ordered nearly 2 weeks ago in, I am still waiting on the horn button which is also backordered...but in about 5 min I had the steering wheel assembly bolted on and I totally fogot to even take pics, oh well, here it is in all its glory, Steering wheel is an exact replica of the steering wheel from a 1967 Porsche 911R, they only made 20 911Rs so finding an original isnt gonna happen, but this is an exact replica down to the same manufacturer, Monza...



Here is what it would have looked like in the 60s and the an example of the horn button that is on its way...


Very happy with the way it looks and feels...everything is exact down to its 5 bolt pattern, (hense the need for the grant adapter plate)

Also decided to throw this on, no idea what its called but I had it on my Previous car and the guy who bought it decided he didn't want it, I finally put it on this morning and still needs to be cleaned up but you get the idea... (after further investigation and looking at the bottom it is a Reiger Roof Spoiler, many people seem to hate the look but I like it

[airkhin]

nice progress. looks like its heading an interesting way....

[Bimmerguy91]

I really like the GLI seats they look great. I agree with just getting some carpet and covering that extra area

[semaj4712]

I really like the GLI seats they look great. I agree with just getting some carpet and covering that extra area

I am not going to have to worry about that, aside from the carpet there were way larger issues trying to get it to bolt in and clear the random bar on the passenger side, I opted to recover the old bottom half with the GLI material, just pull off the foam and put on the e30 foam...Was supposed to have it back a week ago, goddamn guy wont answer his phone, maybe my seat is being used as a flotation device in cuba

[semaj4712]

So a little bit of progress, I am so happy this worked that I cannot contain my excitement...or wait till I actually get it in the car...

Anyway so, when I bought the car it came with a e36 center console but it was spray painted to match and missing the actual center console, So I bought a full setup from a guy on Bimmerforums, and got it in the mail last week.

You can see the difference between the two consoles...


I prematurely cut off the leather from the center console but you can see the foam and center console here...


Since I had foolishly (or quite genius) bought the GLI back seat that was notched and not the right size, I had an extra arm rest to cut up.


I wanted to attempt to do this on my own so I borrowed a sewing machine from a lady friend of mine, but spend several hours swearing and didn't get very far, so she helped me out and mainly did the whole thing, but either way it came out great...

Here I am glueing the edges back onto the armrest....


And the finished product...



And I now have an e36 armrest that matches the new interior

Now since I have no idea how to put the armrest in since it was never actually in before, I need to do some research but eventually I will figure it out...

Until then I just get to look at it, still cannot believe I (and my lady friend) were able to make it work...

Tomorrow my seat brackets come in so I will have new front seats, cannot wait to update with that tomorrow night

[semaj4712]

So I am still thinking about how to do the center console, prolly wont really sit down and look at it until sunday at the earliest but I need to do some other shit, so Idk when, but I made major progress today, after 2 weeks of talking about it I finally finished my seats, well 95% back seat still needs to be bolted in but it looks good for now, and functions...

So the e30 to recaro seat brackets came in today from massive, great buy, great brackets...and I went and picked up my rear lower bench from my upholsterer
Snapped right in, and allows the 2.5 inch drop that the upper piece will need in order to bolt in


And then I got the brackets in the mail today from Massive Brakes, and rushed home to put them on the seats and get everything bolted together...

Seats out...


Brackets on Recaros...the Metal cable that goes across between the lift and right slider is a bitch, for some reason the PO had jerry rigged the thing on and it barely worked, it was a big issue when trying to bolt the seat in as it wouldnt slide right etc, got it to work but it was a pain in the ass, ordered a replacement from Pelican


And without too much fight, but a little bit of swearing on the passenger side, I got them in...they sit a lot lower than the comfy seats, which I like, but the seat belts stick up quite a bit, may try and see if the seatbelts on the sport seats are any smaller...but either way I am very happy with them, seats are firm and feel great


Will take better pictures this weekend at Socal Euro

[Bimmerguy91]

Looks great! Glad you got it worked out.

[semaj4712]

So nothing really new on the car besides a few small things, like euro clock and maplight mirror...I did take some pretty nice shots of my car at the Big Socal Euro meet...

[semaj4712]

Earlier this week I got in a package from an old VW friend...

Passat B3 Duck Bill front valence...

I really like the look of the IS lip and IS lip with splitter, but also I am still very partial to the old VW Duck bills...and saw this and thought it would be a nice idea to try it since I could get one for a steal

Here it is unmolested


Side by side with the modified one...the side was shaved by about an inch and a half...the front had to be shaved 4 inches (2 on each side) all the forward tabs shaved off, and then holes drilled for bolts and zip ties...


Truthfully ended up going on pretty easy and pretty happy with the way it works...



I mean for essentially costing me 10 bucks, it looks really good...but I am not very happy with this, part of this I did, hense the hole and too much shaving of tabs...but it sticks out a little bit, which doesnt bother me, but being able to see what I shaved does...open to ideas on how to fill this back in, Plastic filler??

[xxla81xx]

looks good on your car man
Knew it

[325ix]

Hmm, I think that lip could look pretty cool with a little work. You don't happen to know where you can pick one up do you?