*!Build of the year candidate!* Strange PNW Build: E30+Volvo

[adam.nonis]

At first I saw everyone in here talking about white and thought to myself "nooo, white would be so boring" - then I saw the renderings and instantly changed my mind. White would suit it well.

Still gonna go out on a limb here though...

Grigio Medio!

I love grey. My daily is grey.



But, the car I’m really trying to not to be mistaken for looks like 1000 different colors depending on light. Including grey.



So, I’ll probably pass on grey. As much as I like it.



Here’s my top twelve choices for a white. Six of those are the variants of two colors.

[AWDBOB]

x2 on a nice, warm white being the perfect color. I don't think an Alpine variant would suit it right.

[adam.nonis]

My least favorite part about wrapping a headliner

[adam.nonis]

Who makes the best set of coilovers for an E30 that sits low?

[adam.nonis]

First you need to peel the old cloth



Then you need to strip the foam remnants. The easiest way is to use a cupped wire brush in a drill on slow. That way you run the least risk of damaging the fiberglass layer underneath



Next I used panelboard to extend the rear sides and fill the handle holes



A skim of filler



I usually lay the cloth on the headliner card and fold it back. Gluing half at a time (pro-tip, a good upholsterer will lay the suede in a “waterfall” with smooth going forward and down), stick it then glue the other half



The tape is for where you don’t want adhesive. It’s ok to float small areas where there’s defects



The trick is to be really light on the glue. Glue both halves, let it COMPLETELY dry and then spray a little bit on one half (usually the card). If you put too much adhesive on when you’re installing you can compress the foam and it’ll look “cottage cheesey”





Installing

[adam.nonis]

Promo photo shoot for PNW Wagonfest 2019. Made sure they only got the good side [emoji23]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvH4mBCDqlN/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=n8x0u1zgm9hh

[LowR3V'in]

what in tarnation is that red widebody thing?

[adam.nonis]

what in tarnation is that red widebody thing?

Nissan Stagea

[LateFan]

Nissan "Strange-a"

Oh, and ho hum, just a Ferrari shooting brake dropping by.

[adam.nonis]

Well, the adjuster is here right now, looked at the car, loves it, (he’s a BMW guy) and is out writing the repair estimate. He said he’s not even going to run comparables for valuation. He said, “it’s gotta be worth at least $50k like this. You’ve done so much work I wouldn’t even know where to start” (I just kept my mouth shut). He took extra pictures of the outside and the interior to show his team. I popped the hood and he took a bunch of pics under there too. Fingers crossed.

[e30RS]

That is awesome on the valuation. All that hard work paid off.

[Staszek]

Well, the adjuster is here right now, looked at the car, loves it, (he’s a BMW guy) and is out writing the repair estimate. He said he’s not even going to run comparables for valuation. He said, “it’s gotta be worth at least $50k like this. You’ve done so much work I wouldn’t even know where to start” (I just kept my mouth shut). He took extra pictures of the outside and the interior to show his team. I popped the hood and he took a bunch of pics under there too. Fingers crossed.

That's awesome!!

[IRON-E]

I'm rooting for you bro, hopefully the insurance company will take care of a fallen soldier this time.

[Jokester]

Who makes the best set of coilovers for an E30 that sits low?

Ground control doesn’t go that low but they are “the best” for many.
BC’s get you low, KW’s get you low but are expensive.
TCKline and Fortune autos are also great.

Those are the only 5 I would recommend.

[adam.nonis]

Well, as expected the current issue is the adjuster came back with a fairly low repair estimate (as compared to the shop I stopped by the day this all happened). The plus is he wasn’t interested in totaling it at all. The negative is that he booked it low expecting a body shop to submit supplemental invoices. If I repair it, I can’t submit for supplementals, so I’m reevaluating the path forward.