I want to preface this to say that NONE of this would be possible without the help of my good friend, who owns Healdsburg Collision Center, the shop in which the work was done. About 80% of the work in the thread was done by me, which meant learning bodywork, block sanding techniques, welding, and how to kill a lot of lagunitas. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with the way it's turning out.
So back in August of 2012, I picked up a 4-door ETA off CL for $300. PO said his mechanic would have to "Take the tire off, the wheel off, the brake off, most the front end, and the engine out" to fix a power steering leak, thus forcing a sale. He urged me not to drive it, because it could be dangerous without power steering; I nodded and said that I would take my chances because I had AAA, and then drove it home.
Royalblau, baby. Sorta.
My previous E30 was a 318iS, so going to the M20B27 was interesting. I ascended hills in 5th gear that I would've never dared with the M42, buuut I missed revving over 4k. I thought about just doing a stroker, but ended up getting a line on a "$500" S50.
I drove the car non-stop from August 2012 to December 2013, beating the shit out of the M20b27 the entire time, and enjoying 30MPG. I even ran up to Seattle with my little 300 dollar beater. The car grew on me, which necessitated some love:
H&R Sport and Bilsteins, as well as a 2.93 LSD for the suspension, black vinyl sport seats for the interior:
Crater Lake (and Seattle) roadtrip!
Then Nor-Cal got some snow, which called for some hoonage:
Then I decided to throw my XXR521s on the car, so I picked up some new 225/45-16 Star Spec 2s:
By this point, the car and I were pretty good buddies, so I finally decided to give it some real lovin':
Started by pulling it into the shop and sandin' away.
Then got really brave and decided it was time to scrap my old shell, which meant putting it on the lift to get all of the expensive goodies off
Like the rear subframe, which has full powerflex bushings, brand new wheel bearings, a 3-disc 3.73 LSD, GC/Konis, and secondary e-brake calipers...
And the front subframe, which has the Z3 2.7turn rack on it, as well as new wheel bearings, control arms/CABs, and tie rods.
Which left my very sentimentally loved E30-318iS looking like this:
But, Victoria was looking better already:
Except for the sunroof:
Then some exhaust parts showed up (dual 2.5" to 3" out. big mistake. no ground clearance. big waste of money for how I did it)
and I went back to sanding. I hate sanding.
Took a break and ran and picked up my S50, as well as a bunch of other parts:
then sanded more, putty, sand, "feel", sand, repeat.
welded in a plate for the antenna hole:
Stuck it in the booth:
;D
and said goodnight.Came back in the morning and my buddy had it in primer:
And I creamed myself a bit.
The calluses and scars I'd acquired started to feel earned
Spent a bunch more money:
And put the car on the lift to start the fun shit:
Like taking... pretty much everything off
</3
And finding some lame shit (which I fixed, but forgot to take photos of. go me.)
Started putting some cool shit back on:
Hey look, a Pantera!
and an S50 in!
While waiting on parts to show up, and making stupid amounts of pick n pull runs for shit that was "supposed" to be there, I started test fitting/installing my Hydro e-brake:
Took a break and went crabbin'
And painted my seat mounts, which were made by a friend out of 7075Alum:
Drove to SF to meet a R3v member...
to get these:
Workin' on the exhaust, which was my "I'll figure out how to weld" project... and that I hate exhausts:
GCs on and everything good, I stuck it on the ground.
At this point I had really done most of the work I could, but I was plagued with the awesome no-start issue, even though my silver label ECU had an EWS delete chip. I went through the ETM a buncha times, spent two weeks making sure the wiring was correct, and finally got a red label... which meant this!
That was a big moment, because the "$500" S50 was a random CL grab my friend made, it was a super low 46,000 mile S50 already swapped in an E30, but the guys were idiots and used an impact gun to put the crank pulley on after removing the A/C pulley, and they used way too long of bolts, so they said it was seized and broken. In actuality, the timing cover was chewed up and yeah, it obviously couldn't rotate. A bunch of the parts they gave my buddy were wrong; OBD2 intake manifold, OBD2 injector rail, wrong valve cover, etc etc.
I bought the engine for $500 from my friend, he put new rod bearings in, I had the head machined and pressure checked, new headgasket, all new timing parts, the usual things.
Then this:
Gogo heatercore.
So while I was waiting around for the o-rings to get here to put it all back together, I redid the e-brake
And the stereo
And the carpet
Gross:
Goofed off:
And then started blocking it out
Went crazy, decided I'd do the jambs too...
So, back in the booth!
Yeah... That's not royalblau. :rofl:
#selfieyo
Pulled (it) out and got to work!
Again, all by myself.
Got really hot out...
Threw the glass in and took it for the first test drive because I am impatient
Which... lead to it overheating because the brand new OE thermostat was stupid.
So I pulled the front trim off and sprayed it:
Fixed the thermostat and took it for its first actual drive (And went home to take a break!),
and I ran into another E30!
But, still had a bunch of things to do on the car, so I went back to stay with my bud and work on the car:
Woops:
Had to redo it again to actually get some ground clearance, and fix my shit welds.
And that's pretty much how the car sits. I've been busy with life, so I haven't devoted my attention to her, unfortunately. I'm waiting on some interior guys to come give me quotes for the headliner, so the glass is all back out and I got new windshield rubbers for when it goes back in. :)
I did realize that it's pretty much (completely unintentionally) the same color as the hotwheels M3.
So yeah.
Still have to put the ACS rear valance on, get the headliner in, fog lights, rear bumper trim, and probably a million little things. It's a project, but it's also a labor of love.
The last 3 digits of the vin on this car are actually my birthday (5/15), so it's special to me.
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