NOR-CAL General Chat.

[2mAn]

East bay/Oakland area guys ...

can anyone recommend a really good alignment shop?

MUST be in the vicinity of Oakland.

is this for the "after steering rack swap?"

If the alignment is good now, you can get it almost perfect if you carefully measure and mark your tie rods when you pull them off the old rack. When I replaced my tie rods I was very attentive here and havent really needed to do an alignment, but I will probably get one done when I finally swap to a better rack.

When are you getting it done?

[JinormusJ]

You can use the shoestring method to align granted you have good bushings in the rear suspension

Me and a friend did the alignment ourselves after the Z3 rack swap and got it pretty dead on. Pulls to the right just barely, but good enough and no premature wear in my front tires

[Cabriolet]

Which one? Surely not the blue one..

yup the blue one. it's the only one i got.

[mr2peak]

Damn, that car is beautiful. If I had the money...

What are you building next? I'll be in line to buy it when you're done.

[tAngo.]

Bay View/HP is a sorta rough neighborhood. I'd venture out to the Mission and SoMA (South of Market) area for TONS of good food and drinks.

The Mish, SoMa, Divisadero, North Beach, Chinatown, Inner Sunset, I'd go to with an empty stomach.

For sure dude. Thanks for the heads up
I'll deff check those places out :thankyou:

[freeride53]

gawd damn, i really hope that I can do a FULL rebuild on my M42 engine.

[Cabriolet]

gawd damn, i really hope that I can do a FULL rebuild on my M42 engine.

dude. M52 aluminum swap it and be wowed. rebuilding an m42 only goes well 50% of the time.

What are you building next? I'll be in line to buy it when you're done.

e46m3 or a VW cabriolet and a down payment on a house.

[freeride53]

I'm dreaming of a Metric Mechanic 2.1 M42 Full rebuild.

Maybe when I come back to California in 2-5 years..

[Cabriolet]

Sina where are you now?

srsly skip the m42. F22C1 swap it if you have to have 4cyl.

[MR 325]

srsly skip the m42.

x2

[mr2peak]

Do a K20 franken swap and stomp M50 guys

[danix]

East bay/Oakland area guys ...

can anyone recommend a really good alignment shop?

MUST be in the vicinity of Oakland.

Yes, Alignment Services in Walnut Creek.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/alignment-services-walnut-creek

[danix]

I'd strongly consider that you give it a try yourself. I put a new top on my friend's convertible and it took me a day, and I'm not an upholstery guy. You'll want to buy a new front seal ($200), and new tension straps ($200). I'd suggest buying a quality canvas top over an ebay one as the ebay tops have a plastic sheen that looks a little tacky, but functionally they're ok. After a couple of years the top and the plastic rear window are still holding up just fine.

Here's the DVD I used and it was very clear and easy to follow:
http://www.amazon.com/BMW-E30-Conver.../dp/B009XIUYYM

All said and done you can do this project for under a $1,000, which is probably what an upholstery shop is going to charge in just labor alone, unless you get a good deal. Just my

Thanks for the feedback guys.
Prices I've checked are roughly: $449 for german cloth. $139 tension straps. $29 side cables.

Installed top is around $1200-1400.

[ohthejosh]

yay :D

[Steven]

Ya'll better come to my meet.

https://www.facebook.com/events/830295893693742/