It will be easier to stay up with the thread if I do it frequently, right?
I forgot to post this last time. Quarantine has brought out my OCD (read: need for control), so I've been keeping the shop/warehouse more clean and organized than I usually do. It's my place of zen. Along those lines, I have been meaning to upgrade the tunes for quite a while. I've only ever had a small bluetooth speaker out there, and the bay is over 1,000sq/ft. If you were more than 12ft or so away from it, it would be too quiet. If you were close to it, especially using the computer, it was way too loud.
After doing a little bit of research, I went with a popular but budget/entry level setup of a Yamaha R-S202 receiver and ELAC B6.2 bookshelf speakers. I placed the speakers about 20ft apart from each other upstairs in the loft, above the work area. It sounds FANTASTIC. The volume levels throughout the entire bay are much more consistent now. You never feel that it's too quiet or too loud no matter where you're working. It was well worth it and I wish I had done it sooner.
With the E36 running and driving, I turned my attention back to the E30 this week. I've had an aluminum rear firewall/seat delete from Condor sitting around for a few months. Since I have my battery and fuel surge tank in the trunk, I've wanted for a long time to seal off the rear firewall better. Particularly the rear parcel shelf (directly above the surge tank) has a ton of large holes in it. At first I wanted to retain the 3rd brake light on the parcel shelf (you can never have enough brake light visibility), but I quickly realized that it would compromise the whole purpose of a sealed off firewall since there is a big hole under it for easy bulb replacement.
The top portion of the shelf was pretty easy to install. I used 2 of the stock threaded holes, and then added M6 rivnuts for the rest of the holes. On the outer edges (places I couldn't get a drill or the rivet tool into), I lined the metal with some weather stripping so hopefully it does not rattle at all.
The seat-back portion was a bit harder to setup, since you have to modify it as needed to clear your bar/cage. Since my cage builder did a good job of making patch panels that fit well around the down bars, I just cut the corners by the down bars out completely.
It's fairly hard to get the parcel shelf portion in, but it was a really bar navigating the seat back portion in around the bar. The higher you get up in the car, the narrower it gets. I scratched the shit out of my passenger side rear quarter window glass the first time I put it in the car. Later on I figured out a good method to do it, but I definitely put a bunch of scratches on the roll bar and interior regardless.
I did finally remove the last of the sound deadening in the car, which is just the portion that was above the fuel tank, where the seat bottom was. The entirety of that sound deadening weighs a whopping... 5lbs. My floor pans really need a new coat of paint, so I will paint the rear seat and the floor pans at the same time, probably this weekend.
Everything fitted up, holes drilled for the rivnuts. Panels are set to be painted flat black, then final installation.
I forgot to post this last time. Quarantine has brought out my OCD (read: need for control), so I've been keeping the shop/warehouse more clean and organized than I usually do. It's my place of zen. Along those lines, I have been meaning to upgrade the tunes for quite a while. I've only ever had a small bluetooth speaker out there, and the bay is over 1,000sq/ft. If you were more than 12ft or so away from it, it would be too quiet. If you were close to it, especially using the computer, it was way too loud.
After doing a little bit of research, I went with a popular but budget/entry level setup of a Yamaha R-S202 receiver and ELAC B6.2 bookshelf speakers. I placed the speakers about 20ft apart from each other upstairs in the loft, above the work area. It sounds FANTASTIC. The volume levels throughout the entire bay are much more consistent now. You never feel that it's too quiet or too loud no matter where you're working. It was well worth it and I wish I had done it sooner.
With the E36 running and driving, I turned my attention back to the E30 this week. I've had an aluminum rear firewall/seat delete from Condor sitting around for a few months. Since I have my battery and fuel surge tank in the trunk, I've wanted for a long time to seal off the rear firewall better. Particularly the rear parcel shelf (directly above the surge tank) has a ton of large holes in it. At first I wanted to retain the 3rd brake light on the parcel shelf (you can never have enough brake light visibility), but I quickly realized that it would compromise the whole purpose of a sealed off firewall since there is a big hole under it for easy bulb replacement.
The top portion of the shelf was pretty easy to install. I used 2 of the stock threaded holes, and then added M6 rivnuts for the rest of the holes. On the outer edges (places I couldn't get a drill or the rivet tool into), I lined the metal with some weather stripping so hopefully it does not rattle at all.
The seat-back portion was a bit harder to setup, since you have to modify it as needed to clear your bar/cage. Since my cage builder did a good job of making patch panels that fit well around the down bars, I just cut the corners by the down bars out completely.
It's fairly hard to get the parcel shelf portion in, but it was a really bar navigating the seat back portion in around the bar. The higher you get up in the car, the narrower it gets. I scratched the shit out of my passenger side rear quarter window glass the first time I put it in the car. Later on I figured out a good method to do it, but I definitely put a bunch of scratches on the roll bar and interior regardless.
I did finally remove the last of the sound deadening in the car, which is just the portion that was above the fuel tank, where the seat bottom was. The entirety of that sound deadening weighs a whopping... 5lbs. My floor pans really need a new coat of paint, so I will paint the rear seat and the floor pans at the same time, probably this weekend.
Everything fitted up, holes drilled for the rivnuts. Panels are set to be painted flat black, then final installation.
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