My turbo 24v alpine coupe

[TeXJ]

what did you use to paint it with?

[mitchlevy7]

got a little bit done last week. Painted the lower window trim on one side, but messed up a little.

Masked off

IMG_0978 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

painted

IMG_0979 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

and done

IMG_0981 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

but some of the paint came up when I took the tape off. Not sure if the acetone wasnt dry or because i was lazy and didnt sand the surface underneath, or the tape job was bad.

IMG_0982 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

and a front end pic for fun

IMG_0900 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

wish i had some more time for her

[mitchlevy7]

Paint looks beautiful!

Thanks!


Sanded down the window trim at lunch, might paint after work. dreading doing the lower window trim

[econti]

Paint looks beautiful!

[mitchlevy7]

Update, nothing big.

Yesterday at lunch I decided to start tackling all the overspray on the roof.

IMG_0844 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

2500>3000 wetsand to get most of the overspray off.

IMG_0845 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

Optimum intensive polish on wool cut n shine pad, M205 polish, and then this sealant i have (wolfgang i think?)

IMG_0846 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

IMG_0847 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

Forgive the holy mess of a shop. Right now were in the process of installing networking and phones, 2 lifts, and the dyno as well as leaks in the roof so its a total mess.

Right now im also debating rear pads, I am between EBC yellowstuff and hawk HP+ or HPS. I may run yellowstuff in the main brake and then something cheap in the hydro brake. Also have black caliper paint on the way.

I've been playing around with hardlines for the lifts at work, now that I have the hang of it im tempted to change everything to hardlines, or at least start with the turbo oil feed and work my way from there. Figured out a neat trick to make the line out of tig filler rod and then copy it in stainless line.

IMG_0848 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

[mitchlevy7]

Been a while since I've posted updates. Been pretty busy at work.

Got a few things done.
Buffed out the trunk. Tried out optimum polish which worked pretty well. You spray it on the pad instead of a polish you put on the panel, makes it alot cleaner with a rotary im using (Dewalt 949)

IMG_0813 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

Installed the fire extinguisher with the garagistic mount. I wish I could have stepped up to one that won't destroy the car if it gets used, maybe one day. This one was like 40 bucks vs 200 for the good kind. If my life is in danger from fire id rather have this than nothing.

IMG_0788 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

I also found 2 nearly new roundels in my toolbox that I snagged off the white coupe before I got rid of it. That got me really excited. The ones on there were trash.

A bunch of parts came in:
-blower motor resistor
-rear wheel bearings
-secondary caliper mount
-trailing arm reinforcements
-cover for the fuel tank vent line that goes in the wheel well (little piece of stamped metal was $100!)
-hydro e-brake and line kit from chase bays
-aluminum coolant res from RS Engineering (in black but shown below)
-2 sets of rear caliper guide bushing upgrades from FCP euro (the brass kind)
-Used rear calipers (already disassembled and cleaned)
-2 sets of caliper rebuild kits for the rear

This is the late model coolant res

IMG_0824 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

I found myself a sucker for buying parts from small US made companies. Between companies like garagistic, Condor, RS Engineering, Chase bays and many others all stepping up and making great e30 parts, its a great time to be building an e30.

Next:
More Fender rolling/pulling
Drop the rear end for secondary calipers, reinforcements ect
more tuning(dyno is almost operational)

[mitchlevy7]

instead of eating lunch today I played around with my buffer. There is so much overspray on the car and I wanted to figure out a way to salvage it until I can do something with it.

what the hood looked like

IMG_0668 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

a few passes of 105 and then 1 pass of 205

IMG_0667 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

then i went to the other side of the hood and tried wet sanding with 2000 grit and it did a pretty good job of getting overspray off

after 2000 wet

IMG_0669 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

you can tell where I wetsanded by the change in color

and then 1 pass of 105 and 1 pass of 205, its actually swirl free.

IMG_0670 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

now to do the whole car....

so far all my condor and racegerman stuff has come in. Waiting on garagistic and chase bays. Makes me feel alot better having proper length studs with the spacers in the front. there were about 10 turns to tight on the fronts with the spacers on the 54mm studs, its enough but not enough for me to feel great about it. I think the new ones are 67mm bulletnose. I went a little big so that I can run up to 20mm all around if I ever put my RD wheels on.

[mitchlevy7]

whens it hitting the dyno? or did I miss that?

Things are moving pretty slowly in our new shop and im waiting to dyno it until our dyno is up and running. Hard justifying paying for dyno time when I can do it for free. Right now looking like Feb or March.

[2mAn]

whens it hitting the dyno? or did I miss that?

[mitchlevy7]

hell yea black friday!

IMG_0661 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

Got a headlight duct for my missing headlight, as well as a OBC phone mount. All 3D printed. Pretty nifty.

Also got everything on my list in the last post plus:

-Chase bays hydro e-brake with e30 specific lines for second caliper.

I dont think im really going to be drifting this thing, but having a separate brake system, even if its just for the rear, makes me feel a little safer.

Now I need:
-Second set of rear calipers and pads, most likely going to do new rotors and pads for the primary rears too.

I had a little epiphany, maybe before I spend the money on a new blower motor, I should at least open it up and see what is making the noise. Could just be something simple like a broken bracket. Going to order a new resistor pack for it and do that.

VEMS bluetooth works now too. Pretty nice having gauges on my tablet and it automatically logs. The cold weather was causing some overboost issues when I drove it and my boost fuel cut was set at 21 psi. I think the motor can handle it, but the fuel system cant. Fueling was on target and I was at 82% duty cycle at like 4300 rpm at 18psi... thats 550hp of fuel.... huh?

[mitchlevy7]

took a week off to go back to MD so ive been slacking

finally had a nice day to take it out last weekend

here it is next to the daily

IMG_0628 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

and a quick video

.recorded-1932726699515 by mitchlevy7, on Flickr

click it and it starts. screamer pipe is a little much

without a lift or dyno not much is happening. its been too cold to drive.

I have my VEMS bluetooth adapter on the way so i can log using my tablet.

Most likely going to order:
-secondary driff mount
-rear trailing arm reinforcement
-secondary caliper mount
-fire extinguisher mount
-steering coupler upgrade
-longer wheel studs (running 52mm wheel studs on 12mm spacer, not cool)

New rotors fixed the pulsing pedal. New record, only like 25 miles on a pair of rotors (they warped because of the brake sticking issue i had earlier)

[mitchlevy7]

put the new wilwood rotors on saturday, didnt test drive it but hoping it fixes my warped rotor issue. Nice having rotors for $35each on amazon prime.

Looking to fix my rubbing issue. Ive gone back and forth on flares or odp overfenders on this car for such a long time. I have a set of KA motors flares but i don't really like how they look on these cars. Right now im looking at some clinched universal flares because they are ABS and they have a nice variation of shapes to choose from.

Other options:
-Rebuild the rears- take a half inch off the lip and put a half inch back on the barrel. That should put me around et 26. Parts are like $1k and then powdercoating.
-Roll and pull some more
-Go down a tire size all around. Switch the 225 to the rear and go 215 or 205 in the front, which will be a stretch.

Most likely going to mess around with the fender roller some more before I buy anything. Also trying to decide on tire size on my racing dynamics. They are 16x7.5 et 20. I am thinking 215/45/16 or maybe 225/50/16.

[mitchlevy7]

I've used the Optimum cleaner before, it's good stuff.

im thinking of trying their opti eraser and their spray on compounds and polishes. so much overspray on the car. Want to get it looking decent while i save up for paint.

Read your whole thread by the way. Awesome stuff. Almost convincing me I can paint the car myself.

[Melon]

I've used the Optimum cleaner before, it's good stuff.

[TeXJ]

^Thanks!
Sounds great!