Mostly-calypso: A $600 learning experience [Now S52 swapped]

[TimeMachinE30]

No doubt you are total hipsters.



Nice car. Cool looking home. A very typical design for efficiency yes?

[Kershaw]

That's a really cool looking house!

[NJBiddle]

No doubt you are total hipsters.



Nice car. Cool looking home. A very typical design for efficiency yes?

Yeah, yeah... everybody's a hipster now :roll:

It's a custom design built by the original owners in the early 90's. Husband was a mason, hence all the stone work. Gonna need to add a third bay in that garage though ;)

[Sirotto]

No doubt you are total hipsters.



Nice car. Cool looking home. A very typical design for efficiency yes?

Yeah, yeah... everybody's a hipster now :roll:

There are all kinds of reasons why hipsters might see outsiders as the same and people inside our circle as different. There's self-protection. Nobody likes to see themselves as a copy of the people around them.

[NJBiddle]

There are all kinds of reasons why hipsters might see outsiders as the same and people inside our circle as different. There's self-protection. Nobody likes to see themselves as a copy of the people around them.

I was mostly implying the term is essentially dead. Anyone who has a niche interest, is passionate about anything straying from the norm, or wears plaid is considered as such now.

ANYWAYS moving on - back to E30 content great super awesome.

Installed a new head unit. The old one was past it's prime. Doesn't look great, but having bluetooth is a welcome upgrade. Plug and play changing from one pioneer deck to another.



Also converted to a set of ellipsoids. Being able to see at night is dope.



And then the bad news - I'm back on bottlecaps for the time being. Went to get my RSs balanced, and found pretty significant bends in three of them (would explain my vibration at speed ). Tentatively have decided to add wider lips and have the barrels repaired/replaced at the same time. They need new tires anyway, so it seems like a pretty good time for a rebuild.

That's all for now, and probably until after the move.

[DJNikonn]

Any chance you can explain what you did to get your e46 center console? I'm looking to take this on at some point, but I've never heard it was a fun job...

[stonea]

Any chance you can explain what you did to get your e46 center console? I'm looking to take this on at some point, but I've never heard it was a fun job...

Its going to be one of those jobs thats hard to explain. You just have to get in there and do it. I tired it before but I could never get it to where I wanted it and eventually just gave up.

[Yeltsew7]

Wow that looks amazing. I love seeing cars like this brought back to life.
Aside from the dings here and there, what condition is the body in? Rust free?

[MrBurgundy]

Yeah, yeah... everybody's a hipster now :roll:

Oh no! Hide all the PBR and IPAs!!!!


Car looks good! love the house too.

[Sirotto]

I was mostly implying the term is essentially dead. Anyone who has a niche interest, is passionate about anything straying from the norm, or wears plaid is considered as such now.

Just bustin your balls, car look good man.

[NJBiddle]

Any chance you can explain what you did to get your e46 center console?

It's really tough to explain. The console basically comes apart in three pieces - the console itself, cupholder/ash tray inserts, and the arm rest. I pretty much just hacked off the bottom of the arm rest base until it sat level with the rest of the console on the trans tunnel. I also trimmed the back of the console to match the tunnel curve. Here's an old pic during the cutting:



From there it was just 'guess and checking' until it fit well enough. It's secured with zip ties and a small metal plate with some holes drilled in it It's... secure enough.



Eventually I'll re-do it and mold it into the existing e30 console.

Wow that looks amazing. I love seeing cars like this brought back to life.
Aside from the dings here and there, what condition is the body in? Rust free?

Rust-free aside from a small spot in the passenger floor board. I'll get to it at some point.

[NJBiddle]

Dang been a while since I updated this thread. A whooooole bunch has happened so lemme give you the tl:dr

1. Got all moved into our new house. The garage is... smaller than I'm used to



2. Went and got married. Arrived/left the ceremony in style, of course


by Ryan Green Photography


by Ryan Green Photography

3. Traveled to Italy for a couple weeks



4. Adopted a real cute puppy named Pickle



Basically just spent the next six months recovering.

Unfortunately after that, had a few things go south with the car. Had a little driveway fender bender between my X5 (unscathed) and the coupe



Had a local body shop pull out the damage and bang it out the best they could. Also had them repair the lower skirt hole that's been bothering me for the last few years. Results are not 100% perfect, but they did a damn good job (Calpley's Collision in Nashville, TN if anyone's interested).



No paintwork necessary, so re-wrapped the panel and called it a day



Figured while I had the car down for body work, I should also go ahead and finish up the remaining bushings and suspension work I had planned.

- Swapped the Bilstein sports out for Koni adjustables
- Installed a fully adjustable Garagistic rear subframe
- Ground Control camber plates
- Had all four of my RSs repaired/unbent and balanced at Rod's Wheel Repair in Nashville





First time on the ground in months. After an alignment, it feels like a new car.



Then we realized we only had a couple weeks to prep for The Vintage.

- Repainted/replaced a bunch of trim and installed a new stock front lip
- Had two of my RSs re-sealed after failures
- Painted rockers/rear skirt
- Wrapped some remaining trim I hadn't done the first round
- Valve adjustment and oil chage

Done!





Gave it a shakedown day, and packed about every tool/spare part I own up for The Vintage.



Turns out almost none of that was necessary - made it to Asheville with zero issues aside from being pretty sweaty without working AC.





Went to the CCA Museum's ICON event the day before the show. Saw some incredible cars, and reaffirmed that we'll have to own a 2002 sooner rather than later











At the hotel for checkin



And finally made it to the show. Saw some amazing cars and had a wonderful time.













That's about it for now! Have some more things in the works (potential M54 swap...), but am planning on just driving it and enjoying it this summer.

[TimKninja]

Great progress dude ! the wrap looks great! proper build thread.

[Stanley Rockafella]

great progress dude ! The wrap looks great! Proper build thread.

+1

[Eric Giles]

You've done a great job saving this car, and making it look awesome! The wrap looks better than I expected also...and definitely saved some money when it was time for the rear quarter repair I bet. Now work on getting the A/C going so that you can really enjoy it this summer.