Panici's '87 325is E30 - Boosted In Bronze

[Panici]

That looks great! Houndstooth Sport seats are so hard to find nowadays. Nice work

Absolutely true! It took me 2+ years to find any houndstooth at all. When it rains, it pours; I lucked out by finding an entire houndstooth interior.

That is so much better.
I would love a complete houndstooth in my next interior. So pretty.

Love the car! And interior 8-)

Love the houndstooth. Very nice build so far!

Thank you! I agree the Houndstooth really sets it off nicely.
You don't really find heavily patterned cloth in new vehicles today.


----------------------------------------

----------------------------------------


May 2017 - Life happens, E30 stored early

• Enjoyed my E30 without issue for all of May 2017.
• Proposed to my lovely girlfriend Emily.
• Moved the M52B28 into my parents driveway and covered with a tarp.
  • The plan is still to eventually build and turbo this motor!
• Helped my (soon to be) sister-in-law pick out and purchase a first gen (NA) Miata.
  • Also taught her to drive a manual transmission, as the Miata is a 5-speed.
  • Discovered a massive water leak on the way back from viewing the Miata. Driving in the rain filled the (uncarpeted) passenger side rear footwell with water. Still have not determined the source.
• Parked the E30 on May 31st. Spent 6-months down in the USA training for my new job.

[TFJR]

Love the houndstooth. Very nice build so far!

[JRYE30]

Love the car! And interior 8-)

[MR E30 325is]

That is so much better.

I would love a complete houndstooth in my next interior. So pretty.

[2mAn]

That looks great! Houndstooth Sport seats are so hard to find nowadays. Nice work

[Panici]

May 2017 - Houndstooth Sport Seat Repair

I used a few guides found online to take apart my spare passenger seat, and my damaged driver's seat.

The idea is to use the (typically less worn) inside bolsters from the passenger seat as the outside bolsters on the driver's seat. The only modification needed was a few extra holes punched in the leather.

The seat still isn't perfect; there is a slight water stain on the bottom cushion. Although this is barely noticeable in person.

[Panici]

That garage is bigger than the amount of garage envy I have for you. Stoked for build progress

Congrats on graduating, what will the E30 receive as a graduation gift? I plan on getting mine repainted to the OEM Cirrusblau when I graduate next year

What a garage! Congrats on graduating as well.

Looking forward to updates

Thanks gentleman!

This garage is literally a dream come true for me. I can store the E30 safely inside during the winter, and work on it year long.
My biggest requirement when looking for a house to rent was a big garage, I was hoping for a two-car. My fiancee did a fantastic job finding this place!

[MR E30 325is]

What a garage! Congrats on graduating as well.

Looking forward to updates

[2mAn]

-

Believe it or not, I've been working on this build thread for the past 5 months (or so) restoring all of the photos. Photobucket changed their terms of service and wanted to charge me $400/year.

It was a painstaking process to find and re-upload all 731 photos in this thread, but it's finally done!

Its a major pain in the ass, I did the same thing on some of my older threads but luckily new two newest builds have all used flickr... if flickr goes down, Im done.

Congrats on graduating, what will the E30 receive as a graduation gift? I plan on getting mine repainted to the OEM Cirrusblau when I graduate next year

[wworm]

That garage is bigger than the amount of garage envy I have for you. Stoked for build progress

[Panici]

-
Time warp! It's been more then a year since my last post.

Believe it or not, I've been working on this build thread for the past 5 months (or so) restoring all of the photos. Photobucket changed their terms of service and wanted to charge me $400/year.

It was a painstaking process to find and re-upload all 731 photos in this thread, but it's finally done!

-----------

As for the E30, progress has been slow. I finally graduated in 2017 and was down in the USA for 6 months receiving job training.
I'm currently renting a lovely hose with my Fiancee, and it has A THREE CAR GARAGE!

I made a special trip up from the USA on the first weekend of December, just to move my E30 to the new house (before the roads were salted).
I've been setting up shop and have done a little work to the E30 in the last few months.

Stay tuned for updates in the next few weeks!

[Panici]

Welcome to 2017!

I got a few E30 related Christmas presents this year.
Two coffee mugs with pictures of my E30 on them, a set of brand new 15" centercaps for my Euroweaves, a 5lb Purple-K fire extinguisher, and two sets of hog-ring pliers + a box of hog rings.

I've moved my houndstooth driver's seat indoors. Hoping to take apart and swap parts with my extra passenger seat some time this month.


As a sidenote, a Purple-K extinguisher is the most effective dry chemical in fighting Class B (flammable liquid) fires.

[Panici]

throw the bottlecaps on the honda

It's funny you mention that, I had the same thought! ;)
I have 3 sets of bottlecaps sitting in the basement. I think a set painted white would look especially good with the red.

I'm just not sure that I want to spend the money to have the 1-year old tires transferred over from the Honda steelies. (And to buy the correct lug nuts)

It also may look funny with stock ride height (I have no plans to lower it)
If I end up keeping the car long-term, I might let my curiosity get the best of me and put the bottlecaps on.

[2mAn]

throw the bottlecaps on the honda

[Panici]

Not much to update E30 wise.

I did attempt to clean my Houndstooth driver's seat bottom again, and I used "oxygen booster" this time as well.
I don't think it came out any cleaner. I don't remember the condition of my spare seat bottom, obviously I'll use the better of the two when I rebuild the seat.

I asked my parents for a set of new 15" 'weave centercaps for Christmas, so I potentially will have the Euroweaves on next year (if I buy new tires).

-

In unrelated news, I picked up a 1999 Honda Civic Hatchback for $500 a few weeks ago. I've been having fun fixing it up, and making videos in the process. I've always liked this bodystyle (EK hatchback), which is strange as I am normally drawn to square vehicles with sharp lines.

It's definitely an economy car. Driving it makes me miss the E30's comfortable sport seats!

Here's a couple shots (of surprisingly poor image quality? Maybe the lighting was bad?) from last weekend, when I drove the honda to visit my parents (and the sleeping E30!)
It's actually shorter then the E30, which was surprising.





-

And a shot of the day I towed it home.
I'm a sucker for bright colors if you couldn't tell!

I'm still torn as to what color to paint my E30 eventually. I'm going to try out multiple colors over a few years using plastidip, so I can get an idea of what I like on the E30's shape.