My Brilliant Red S50 24v Weekend Car!! [PIC HEAVY]

[Mike_z]

Someone mentioned earlier that Brilliantrot had clear coat and that the paint could not be saved. I have a 1990 325is and it is certainly not clear coat, and it certainly looked just like yours when I bought it (actually, nearly the entire car was faded to pink like your door/rear quarter). That paint is savable, no doubt. Hell, if you can't find anyone down in the city to help you fix it, I would be willing to help you out. It just needs a good compound/polish with a good orbital. The fact that there is clear peeling on your hood doesn't mean the rest of the car is clear coated either.

Anyways, looks like a good base to work with, jealous of the s50!

Haha thank you! That power plant is just pure fun! As for the paint, I was going to try and save it. But with all the small issues in the body including the bad quarter panel.. I don't know if its worth it. I want to get the car resprayed with nice fresh paint and get rid of all the imperfections all in one go, rather than fix one by one. What do you think?

you need stiffer rear springs, I had the same issue with mine hitting the tyres like that running +15 offset 17's on 225s.. Swapped out the shitty stock springs and put lowered rear springs from a Holden Monaro (pontiac GTO) in and it solved the issue. Same locators on the spring. You would need to roll the lips on the rear too.

Yeah it appears so. I'm surprised though, because when I spoke with Ground Control, we went for one of the stiffer set ups at 440lb up front and 650lb out back. The ride feels firm but its the inner of that fucked up fender thats rubbing bad because its dented in and towards the tire. The other side would be perfect with just a roll. so idk, I might just wait until all the fender is fixed, if it still rubs then might as well either go with a lower spacer or simply get a stiffer spring

[bangn]

you need stiffer rear springs, I had the same issue with mine hitting the tyres like that running +15 offset 17's on 225s.. Swapped out the shitty stock springs and put lowered rear springs from a Holden Monaro (pontiac GTO) in and it solved the issue. Same locators on the spring. You would need to roll the lips on the rear too.

[Aikmanson]

Someone mentioned earlier that Brilliantrot had clear coat and that the paint could not be saved. I have a 1990 325is and it is certainly not clear coat, and it certainly looked just like yours when I bought it (actually, nearly the entire car was faded to pink like your door/rear quarter). That paint is savable, no doubt. Hell, if you can't find anyone down in the city to help you fix it, I would be willing to help you out. It just needs a good compound/polish with a good orbital. The fact that there is clear peeling on your hood doesn't mean the rest of the car is clear coated either.

Anyways, looks like a good base to work with, jealous of the s50!

[Mike_z]

Your single adjustable Konis only effects the rebound, not the compression, so setting it to the firmest setting won't give the result you want. You will need a stiffer spring to take care of the compression so your tires won't get chopped up.

So take out the spacers to save your tires.

Yeah I guess you're right. I was just hoping I could keep them on as I just really really like the look, but I suppose taking them off and waiting for the car to be fixed and painted is the best option at this point.
Thanks for the input!

[Mike_z]

Looks good. Keep up the good work.

The work is good and the look is also good.

You are doing some solid work. What camber are you running up front?

Thank you guys, really appreciate the kind words!

As for the camber, i'm not sure what degrees of camber I am running. However I can tell you that I'm running the Ground Control camber plates and they're currently maxed out until I have my alignment done at least, although I really like the look. So whatever those are max out at, thats what I have them set on

[MC Hammered]

They are chopping this tire alive.
The other side is fine and both sides are completely at the highest setting.
What I plan on doing is adjusting the koni shock to its firmest setting in the nearby future to see if it stiffens up and prevents from rubbing this bad. If it continues they'll have to come off.

Your single adjustable Konis only effects the rebound, not the compression, so setting it to the firmest setting won't give the result you want. You will need a stiffer spring to take care of the compression so your tires won't get chopped up.

So take out the spacers to save your tires.

[kingston]

You are doing some solid work. What camber are you running up front?

[Kershaw]

The work is good and the look is also good.

[efficient]

Looks good. Keep up the good work.

[Mike_z]

Hey guys, a little overdue on the update.
I installed the spacers but it rained after so I had to wait a few days to get a few decent pictures.
Here is a little before picture of the drivers side without any spacer


Putting them on





I wanted to lower them much more however my rear drivers side quarter panel is both dented in and damage and in effect is much lower than the passenger side. So whatever I do to the passenger side, its worse in the drivers, and the tires are already heavily rubbing. I'm considering removing the spacers for the time being because





They are chopping this tire alive.
The other side is fine and both sides are completely at the highest setting.
What I plan on doing is adjusting the koni shock to its firmest setting in the nearby future to see if it stiffens up and prevents from rubbing this bad. If it continues they'll have to come off.

Also during this time I scored this bad boy.


I read up on the forums that Sunrise Red Rustoleum spray paint is the closest match for brilliant rot. So for the time being just so its not in primer, i rattled canned 5 layers of paint and 3 layers of clear



Here's the result. I absolutely love the new face it gave it.



and one more glamour shot



Give me some feedback guys! It's kind of demotivating when your thread has a decent amount of views but no comments hahah! :P Any fellow New Yorkers also give me a shout, i'm looking for some BMW friends as I have NONE!

[Mike_z]

Got these in the mail today along with some extended bolts from Turner Motorsport



They're 15mm for the rear. I have 5mm upfront and they I want a small poke in the back. Hopefully they do the job. Will install them tomorrow if all goes well. Will provide before and after pics!

[Mike_z]

So my wipers went out out of nowhere and completely stopped working. After researching endlessly on the forums I haven't found any good answers for my symptoms. So expecting the worst, I dove in.



Like everyone says, its not a very pleasant job at all. Space is limited, and especially with a 24v, its very tough to get your hand in there.



I started by taking out the motor. 3 screws underneath, as well as the nut that connects the motor arm to the wiper linkage. And Voulah!



Quick inspection led to this finding. The notches/teeth on the motor arm were pretty much completely stripped. So that's in the mail.



I took the little grill covers and sprayed them with a few coats of black.




Also one more thing, and this will be a question to guys. I had my car towed after my rear diff exploded a few weeks back. The guy hitched it to the tow hook and put it on the bed of the truck but while doing so I heard a loud sound and ever since then I've had something like this.


I forgot to take more pictures, but I took everything apart today and found out that both the little bumper shock is bent outwards as well as the bolt holes in the beam are bent outwards as if something of course pulled them. I don't have pictures and I really didn't want to go and take everything off again, but do you guys think its fixable? I'll buy a new bumper shock, but can the holes inside of the beam be straightened back out by the body shop when the car goes in for paint? I surely hope so :/

I have a bunch of stuff coming in the mail so stay tuned for updates!

[Mike_z]

You should spray paint the front valance. Will clean it up a lot

You know, that spot bothers me ALOT, but I'm fighting against fixing each piece one by one, and just get it taken care of once the car goes in for paint. Previous owner got an extremely shitty respray.

[Mike_z]

Great start man. The car looks good. Quick question, I am usually good at finding stuff after researching but for whatever reason, can't find any info on that GC kit. Is it installed in those pics? I thought the whole point was to leave the strut housing the way they were but looked for pics everywhere to see if someone had a shot of the coilovers springs sitting on the stock perches. Is it as simple as putting the front strut in the tube and then business As usual and install the springs on top of the huge stock spring perch and camber plates and thats all?
Keep the updates coming otherwise!

I get where you're coming from man, I researched a shit ton before buying my setup and still bought them without knowing half the things I wanted to hahah. Everyone told me I need to hack the front struts and I just didn't want to. Don't know where you live but massive low in New York with a low oil pan is plain stupid, so this is perfect height. NOW let me stop rambling and get to the real stuff.

The street kit is completely weld-free. Almost.
You install it exactly how you would any lowering springs, GC provide you with a weld kit which I didn't pay attention to, which is basically 2 small metal plates.
You install them and quickly find out that the lowest ride you can get is about halfway on the adjuster. That is because the perch is in the way. If you don't mind that, here is how it looks with the adjuster as far as it can go with the stock perch.



I wasn't happy with it. I ended up finding a welder who works with many spec E30s around here, gave them to him. He cuts the stock perch, and welds those two plates on. It looks like this



And you end up with basically something like this



Word of advice though. If you buy this kit with the Konis, they have a 22mm top nut on them. If you want to use your stock shock mounts, make sure you have a really really thin walled socket. I had a regular craftsman 22mm and it wouldn't fit for shit. my shock mount was crap so I decided to just buy the camber plates and everything fit tits but just telling you so you keep that in mind.
I'm really happy with mine, Plus the oil pan sits a good amount away from the street so I have peace of mind. If you want lower than 2 inches though, I'd go for shortened struts.

[MrSlacker]

You should spray paint the front valance. Will clean it up a lot