Well since it's on jackstands.....

[alpinaclone]

....I guess I should start a project car thread.
I posted some pics last night in another thread, but I think that the pics of my car are diluting the majesty of my original post. So, I am starting this mini project thread. I also figure that this might keep me motivated to get the fucker done.

These are not really in order, as far as time is concerned, but close enough.

I started with this;

a little scruffy,but not too bad

I drove it like that for a few months, fixing what needed to be fixed. Along the way, all of the bushings were replaced with urethane and the sways were replaced with a cabby front and a m3 rear along with spherical end links. Some more boring maintainence stuff happened, and then this;

During a "spirited" drive, the friction disk in the clutch exploded. So the car went up on stands. I pulled the tranny out and found an alarming amount of loose and missing hardware.

Then, my new son decided he wanted to be born early, so the car sat, trannyless on the stands, waiting.

In the meantime I went back home to NY. While I was there I stripped the old alpinaclone of everything useful and loaded into the wifeys odyssey.

Upon my return, the first job I started on was the interior. I looked like this;


starting the remodel

The interior is 95% done now, I still need to track down some tweeter pods, straighten out the funky rear speaker install, and of coarse, clean it. I'll snap some more pics tonight.

[alpinaclone]

Last night, I finally started the fun jobs ( I hate interior work).

I got the old blown Boges and squishy KYB sprigs out of there and replaced with my Billy sports and magic mystery springs.


and a sneky peek of the new wheels



I should have a decent update tonight, I plan on finishing the rear brakes and hopefully starting on the front suspension install.

[Nicademus]

I love the Project Forum.

[cactusjacks1]

Color looks like "regency red" - 89 jag color - am I close?

[alpinaclone]

Color looks like "regency red" - 89 jag color - am I close?

It's close colorwise, but the car is actually calypsorot. It is a BMW color.

[cactusjacks1]

It's close colorwise, but the car is actually calypsorot. It is a BMW color.

Must be the flash - looks different than OEM - are the side skirts OEM?

[kronus]

iS skirts

[alpinaclone]

Must be the flash - looks different than OEM - are the side skirts OEM?

Kronus is right about the skirts.

Yeah, the color is a bit weird, it has had a cheap respray at one time in it's life. Certain times it looks like the stock cranberryish color, and other times it has kind of a weird burnt red color about it.

The paint is tired and will be redone sometime in the short longterm.

[alpinaclone]

Didn't get too much accomplished tonight. The rear brakes and suspension are buttoned up and my new diff is painted and ready to go in. After that I started to pull my old struts apart to get the inserts and springs ready to go into the car. The first one came apart ok, but then the fail boat pulled into port. Nothing on the second one would budge, it's all rusted to shit and frozen solid. Being that I have neighbors in very close proximity and it's their bed times I couldn't really make any noise, so I busted out the wd-40, soaked everything down and moved on.

I prepped the one spring that I was able to remove for paint. I have been using battleship gray for most of the under car components because it is tidy, easily shows fluid leaks, and I had a shit load of it. But by this time I had hit my last can. I dug around in my shed and found what I thought was another can of the gray. I started spraying the spring and noticed that it was a can of that ugly ass chrome spray paint. Needless to say by that point I had had enough, and packed it in.

I did manage to shoot a few pics of the "new" interior. It's filthy yet, but it's a huge improvement, as the old interior really let the car down.



The too short e-brake boot from redline leather


Are those crank handles?...In a '91???

I also dug up my euro plate stash, I'm not sure which one I'm gonna go with.

The Birkenwald (I think) one is in like new condition, but I'm still not sure.

The flash on the camera makes everything in the interior look different shades, but it is really not noticeable in person.

[motorsports_3]

Nice Progress. I love that color.

[alpinaclone]

Thanks, it should be pretty much done aesthetically after this round of mods.

[Lucas.B]

where did you get that steering wheel, its amazing, i think i need one

oh and awesome project

[alpinaclone]

where did you get that steering wheel, its amazing, i think i need one

oh and awesome project

Thanks.

I picked that up in a junkyard in Germany, Baumholder I think it was. Well my buddy Wayneio Andretti found it there, he knew one of the workers, so he got it for free. He gave it to me as a late birthday gift.

[alpinaclone]

Wednesday, I installed the new LSD and finished dissembling the donor front struts.

I have figured out that those rusty ass springs were made by Spax. Does anyone happen to know the spring rates for the 60/40 kit? I think they are 60/40 anyway, They lower the car a ton more than even the old lowering springs.

[alpinaclone]

I started on the front suspension tonight. On the drivers side the control arm needed to be replaced due to bad ball joints. The nut for the center ball joint is a dirty whore to get to without the proper tools, so I figured, as I would have to do it anyway, I would pull the rack out and give myself a little more clearance. The reasons I was swapping racks was because the one in he car had a massive leak, and because I like the feel of my euro non power rack. I knew that this would not be a straight bolt in affair. It turns out the input splines on the two racks are very different sizes. Me being the dumb ass that I am, forgot to get the steering coupler out of the old car. At least if I had that I could probably have thrown something together that would have worked. Now I am just going to have to get creative. I am also very open to suggestions.

The two racks


You can see the difference in size in this pic


and the general state of affairs in my garage, it looks like a grease bomb has exploded,