visian

Well this is fucking awesome. 

Hey guys, it's Dan Frodl 
Most of you know me some don't , so here's the basic run down, I'm a bmwcca board member , bmwcca instructor I also instruct for other clubs and HPDE events in the Midwest, Mueller motorwerks uses my old e36 m3 as there car on all the billboards Kyle is the current owner of that car anyways here are few of my toys over the last couple years 
current car is a slick top 95 AW supercharged m3 setup for track on 10psi making 358 whp
and I also do Chump car racing with a few good friends in a 2001 Hyundai Accent aka ME car 
 

Had some free time today so I did a quick rendering of the front of the car. (Sorry @Earl I promise I will get to yours!) 
Give me some feedback, I am always open for more ideas, but for now, this is what I am shooting for. IDK about the Lightbar, but yeah.

 

I was down in Arkansas for work, browsing craigslist when I found something I had to have haha. 12.5hrs on the uhaul later and it's looking pretty in my garage! Will add more details when I get the chance.

I know of a mechanic/shop that's just a bit south of the airport tunnel on Howell. He is my dad's coworker's friend. He did the clutch on my saabaru and will be doing more work on it in a couple weeks. Last time I was there he showed me an e36 that they did a custom SS exhaust on. He does the work after hours for cash only. 

No problem, and thanks!
Another great weather weekend (whats up with that?)

 
Finished another all red taillight DIY.
Previous e30s i've painted with the Testors model paint, but the e34 I used lamin-x with great results, so I'm doing that again with the e30.
It takes just 2x universal sheets 7"x8"

start at the inside and work around the corner, pushing out bubbles and making sure to leave no creases. some water and a credit card works well to push in edges

the lamin-x works around the edges really well. just keep forming it with the credit card

you have to work it between the groves on e30 taillights

then just trim all the excess around the edges

and done. the lamin-x has a great shine, just like the original taillight finish.


 
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then I replaced the sunroof crank.  it was broke and the return spring was long dead. pretty much falling off the car:

yup, broken frame

new parts. also, I love this thing. way more fun than pushing a button.

 
 
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3rd project: passenger side front seat was borked. it basically was leaning back against the rear bench and could not be reclined out of that position.  I found a guy in illinois who had a "fully working, just needs cleaning" set of black vinyl seats. well, like most people on Craigslist these days, he was either an idiot or just lied. drove all the way to some god-forsaken suburb (homer glen??) including $12 in tolls each way to find that the passenger seat was good, but the drivers seat was completely borked...well i needed the passenger seat, and he wouldn't sell it alone so I ended up with both seats plus another extra drivers seat bottom frame and mechanism. swapped the passenger seat in and decided to learn how to take apart e30 standard seats and see what was causing them all to be borked.
found mice nests in both seats...

mechanisms all seem fine, even on the non-functioning seats...

ahhh, jackpot. the seat bottom frame where the main pivot point of the mechanism is bolted is torn. not cracked, completely torn off.

so out of the 5 seats that i now have in my position, 3 (probably 4) are in the same state of broken. design flaw? i think so. at least I can save all the seat material which was in really good shape on all of these.

 
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Project D: Front lights.  when I bought the car only the low beams were working.  highs, turn signals, euro 'city' lights, and fogs are all inop.
Turn signals were just not plugged in. only good news of the day.
High beam bulbs were dead. easy fix with a run to NAPA KNOW HOW
City lights were never hooked up or even bulbs put in, so I made some harnesses which connect the city light holder to the e30 stock side marker plugs.
Top: harness that comes with Depo euro headlights for the 'city' light.  Bottom: bulb holder for stock e30 side marker

merged together for an eternity of happiness.

 
All lights now working! I do need to get better HIDs, these are generic crap 1,000,000k ebay ones that are very dim. Also seen in this picture - new BMW center grill and Abraham Motorports 'Kopi' euro grills and smoked turn signal lenses.

 
#5: i also wore down my rear tires a bit driving around today  
 

freaking great weather today. I putzed with the car and met a new local BMW guy - nice to meet you Mike! he is mkoepp here on the forums and has an awesome 535i that he is fixing up and a sweet alpine e39 touring daily.
joe was awesome and lent me a 4x100 spacer so I could test fit my new rollers before ordering adapters and tires. the front wheels are 16x7 et33 currently with a 205 tire, and with a 15mm spacer here is the clearance I got at the strut. i'm very pleased with this, I should be able to fit 225s with a final et18 offset. it will be almost an identical tire placement in the fender as a 16x8 et20/225 tire, which is common e30 setup.

rear will be no problem at all. 16x8 et38 with 15mm adapters with put me at et23, which is very close to the best e30 setup of 16x8 et25

here are the wheels in question. drove all the way to Minneapolis to get them. Seller was a nice guy who does automotive photography and daily drives a porsche cayman and a mini cooper.

 
and I think Earl must have accidentally ordered some parts for me. who doesn't love a bag full of new hardware?

I managed to get the coolant tank on (and flushed the system), got the washer tank and fuse cover on, installed a new trunk emblem and placed some of missing hardware bits around the car as well today.

the guys at kummrow automotive did a great job installing my skid plate this week.
for those unfamiliar, these are 'severe duty' skid plates for e30s made by HIK fabrication, and I highly recommend them.  http://hikfabrication.com/arvixe/Home.html

the 'hoop' bar gets welded to the frame to support the plate instead of relying on the core support.



 

Car has a skid plate as of yesterday so free rides between now and snow!
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I've also started a small project to remove the HAI (hot air filter) already installed on the car.  I have another, more fun, idea in the works, but just wanted to get something on the car in the mean time. Ben had an extra m20 air box lying around, and I have seen a picture of this on an s50 swap car before so it shouldnt be too hard.
Currently, the car has no heatshield and a disintegrating Autozone cone filter

 
the box doesn't quite fit, but there is room for it. It hits the alternator and the power steering fluid res on the bottom, the throttle cable on the inside, and is pushing against the coolant hose.

 
Before anything, gotta make a circle peg fit a square hole. Got a basic placement from the mock up on the car and marked it with tape.

The box has a reinforcing metal plate molded into the face fore the original afm to bolt to. I figured to just cut through it, but it is pretty thick, relatively hard steel so after looking how it was assembled I decided I should be able to separate it first.  Apply a heat gun to the backside and you can slowly pry the metal plate from the plastic

With the plate removed, dremeling out the opening is cake.

The MAF itself needs one mounting tab cut off to fit on top of the box.

Boom! Tough actin' Tenactin
Also shown in this picture are the other mods to the box for fitment. The lower mount needs to be cut (left), the rubber/mounting stud near the MAF needs to be cut shorter (middle), and the vertical plastic mount for the original AFM was removed (right)

Got a good basic fit of the upper part of the box

 
Also got a start on the lower box. Here you can see some holes cut for clearance of the alternator and power steering res. The holes are from some PO who did the 'want more sound from my airbox mod'

All that's left is to seal up the lower box openings, seal the upper box holes near the MAF opening, and get a small duct to run behind the headlight to draw cold air.
The big question is whether the m20 filter is big enough to support the induction needs of the 3.0. Anyone have a clue on that? I'd guess from photos that the m20 filter is probably 75% the size of an s50 filter.

got more done with another great weather weekend.
got some great deals on some parts from wibimmer's members

 
switched out euro check panel. 1) can't read german. 2)hate broken stuff

that's better.


when the swap was done, the glovebox trim panel was never put back.  1)unsightly 2)lets more noise into the cabin

the placement of the new ecu makes fitting the original panel impossible, so a quick trimming and all is well. (i forgot the after photo)

 
this montage is for Snap.  these cheap-ass autozone tuner lugs are the worst thing ever freaking made by man.





 
Installed a trunk spoiler. Here's a quick write-up.
 the BMW measurement doc is 100% awesome, use it.

goodbye perfect decklid

blue painters tape for drawing your measurements on

measurements in place. note: the two center-most holes are NOT equidistant from the centerline.


dun dun dun dun dun

the instructions call for 7.5mm holes but who the hell has metric drill bits?? 5/16" is the closest size in SAE

test fit before removing tape in case a correction is needed

boom, nailed it!

ready for the spoiler!

i will now have less drag on the freeway, and also the ladies can't resist a good decklid spoiler.

 
i also installed a euro analog clock, the front fender liners, and did a power steering fluid flush
i also DROVE THE CAR a bit, and many big, stupid grins were had. 
 

 

 
 

Sorry everyone, it's taken.

Sorry everyone, it's taken.

Congrats Dan! Looking forward to checking it out.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

she's home! (and so it begins.)
2000+ miles in 2.5 days.
the previous owner was a piece of work, and after seeing how poorly this car was taken care of, i'm a little surprised it made it all the way home without a hitch. (well... a hubcap, a side marker, and some window trim managed to jettison along the way.)
i know you are wondering, why the hell would he drive 2000 miles to bring home an e30? hint: along the way home when I received my room key at a Holiday Inn Express and it was room 330, i had a good chuckle.
more later, its been a long day.
 
here's the first picture of the car right before leaving west seattle.
http://i.imgur.com/VNAraED.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/WjGvw4t.jpg

 

E30 owners have lost their minds!
https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/cto/5824531422.html

i would donate many many times that to charity for a ride along. very cool!

http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/cto/5817118271.html
decently clean and priced

First of all buy her one. Make it better then yours, but one she picks out. I got her the E38 with the options she wanted, not what I wanted. So not a slammed, Stanced, blown M5 On airbags, with a gazillion watt stereo.  
It also helps to make a roadtrip out of it, Like a vacation to pick up her car. She didn't even mind driving it 8hrs back. If it didn't work out it was still a fun trip.
Once she is invested in your hobby, she will be much more receptive to future purchases. As long as it's not just about your toys 
Not buying money pits that will depreciate like a rock helps too. I have less in 5 Bimmers then most people spend on the family minivan.
And most of all don't abandon her for your hobby.
End of seminar.
 

Participation points.

Things happened

Stuff got powdercoated

Thanks for the reminder!
This is the best BMW shows I've ever been to in terms of awesome cars.
here are last years photos:
 

https://vimeo.com/176637537
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Lol well its nice to get replies, over there i didnt get many, i thought maybe it was cause i was a chick 

thanks guys.
like this?

 

New whip