'88 Alpine Coupe build v3.0- Spec e30

[vitiokas95]

Nice work man

[dude8383]

Damn. Every version rocked. Definitely understand the perspective on the S54 being too much as a track car. The S52 for me is a handful at autox but great fun at DE events.

The cage came out mint!

[Jb325is]

Thanks! I'm sure the s54 would have been fine, but I kind of just decided to stop making it a halfway practical, halfway safe, track car. I knew I wanted to go wheel to wheel racing, and it was kind of now or never. The s54 stuff is worth more now than it will be in a few years, so what the hell?

Got the head back today from a friend of mine who's family owns an engine shop. Head got cleaned, decked, valve job, steam seals and it came out really nicely. Can't wait to start putting it back together. Also pulled the rod bearings, which aren't bad, but I'll replace them anyways. My plan is to build the head, I already have brand new cam/rockers/hardware/etc, and just run the bottom end as is until I deserve to build myself a bottom end.

DSC_0827 by Jonathan braswell, on Flickr

I also cleaned the sound deadening adhesive from the interior (3M general adhesive removal worked great!) and bought some Alpine white Nason single stage. Hoping to get the interior sprayed next weekend, but I still need to weld in window net mounts and cut out a few more interior studs/brackets.

[pputkowski]

Dude... Awesome!

[kensol20]

What kind of motor are using for this build

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[Jb325is]

Bone stock, fresh rebuilt m20, as per Spec e30 rules

[serdar255]

bump?

[Jb325is]

Yeah I haven't done many cool things lately, but I will post some pics tonight or tomorrow. Car is back home and I'm slowly working on getting it back together. Interior is painted now and I've thrown away a lot of unnecessary wiring

[kingston]

I love ditching all the superfluous wiring from track cars!!

[FredK]

Nice! That cage looks really tight to the body which is awesome.

What are you doing to do for defrosting? I'm always curious to see people's solutions for clearing the windshield.

[Jb325is]

Thanks!

I hate the e30 heater core and the size of the HVAC box, so I'm running an aftermarket defrost grid. We use them on the Conti ST cars with great success.

[FredK]

Oh, something like

http://www.frostfighter.com/index.htm

Looks like kits are around $75 or so, which is pretty impressive. Some aftermarket heater cores seem like they might work too, like a Flex-a-Lite Mojave. But, an electric grid seems like a great way to remove a potential failure point of an in-car heater core.

[PogiMonster]

Looking forward to see your progress. Your build has always been one of my inspirations!

[Jb325is]

Oh, something like

http://www.frostfighter.com/index.htm

Looks like kits are around $75 or so, which is pretty impressive. Some aftermarket heater cores seem like they might work too, like a Flex-a-Lite Mojave. But, an electric grid seems like a great way to remove a potential failure point of an in-car heater core.

Yep, that's the one! If I get good at swapping e30 windshields I think I'm just going to have two windshields and run one without the grid if there is no chance of rain. That said, visual obstruction really isn't much of an issue with these, you kind of forget they are there.

Looking forward to see your progress. Your build has always been one of my inspirations!

Thanks! I'll try to post more updates soon, just haven't had a camera around while I've been working on it.

[JGee]

Awesome Cage. Digging the "A" pillar bar roof fit up.