My name is Earl, and I have a Stainless Steel bolt fetish =)

[Brian.]

I didn't post Mexican's E36, I posted Jaycee's WRX lol, unless you're talking about a further back post?

[Earl]

Brian, on 17 May 2013 - 12:17, said:

I didn't post Mexican's E36, I posted Jaycee's WRX lol, unless you're talking about a further back post?

Ope sorry. I forgot Mexican had red bbs caps. I didn't look at the front bumper in the picture. I'm not a fan at all of how that WRX looks. It doesn't look feature worthy to me.

I did like Mexicans car still though=)

[Brian.]

Mexicans car pulls off the slants, I will give it that. The WRX doesn't look right, I agree though.

[Earl]

There is a dakar yellow e36 compact that used to be on RS with slant lips and I hated how it looked. I'll try to find it.

 

Found it:

 

[REKIII]

I agree with you on your reasons for likeing stepped lipes, and your clain that flat lips look blah and cheap.  However I still choose flat lips as they make the wheel look bigger and deeper.  Seems like you're just cheating the sidewall with stepped lips.  I used to have real BBS LM's and the stepped lipe was the one thing I didn't like about them.

[Earl]

Cheating the sidewall?

[REKIII]

Meaning the stepped lip allows the same center that would have been used on an 18" rim  with flat lip, to be used on a 19" rim with a stepped lip.  Mostely semantics, I just like the largest lip and largest center I can get in my wheel size

 

Cool (to me):

 

Uncool:

[Brian.]

I think you're misinterpreting something. Or I'm just retarded. Either or are quite viable.

[Earl]

I get what you're saying oe Robert. I agree up until a certain width lip. 1" to 2" stepped lips don't look at good as 1" to 2" stepped lips to me. 2.5" stepped lips on up look good to me because they have depth, and it evens out the amount of lip to face size. With my 3.5" lips, there is at least 2" of flat lip before the step. They then have a 1" step to another 1" flat:) To me that looks better than 4" of flat lip.

[Earl]

Small updates from Saturday. I had the barrels bead blasted on Thursday so I figured I would paint them. I used Tractor and Implement paint from Fleet Farm. It lays really nice and is pretty durable.

I missed a few spots and ran out of paint. I'll be touching that up tonight. I also noticed that two barrels have a few flat spots in the lips=( Looks like I'll be going wider out back this coming winter.

After that I decided to reinstall my RTAB's properly. I had the sleeves bored out correctly at work since Silver Project accidentally missed an operation on them. The funny thing is that the machinist at work didn't bore them all the way through=( Today I will be running a 15/32 bit all the way through so that I can bolt the trailing arms up. I decided I will do the wheel bearing while they're mounted on the car because the car really needs to roll to get the bay welded up at my friends shop. The bushing went in smooth as butter this time though=D

I then decided that since I got the euro glovebox in, why not tackle the driverside cubby. Of course there was yet another stupid metal pad.

Then of course a bracket had to be welded to the frame to keep me from a straight bolt on install. (That polkadotted rusty bracket)

I decided that a dremel was smarter than an angle grinder this time.

After that was off the piece fit well=)

I did notice that you can see through the opening below the column. I believe that is because the metal pad covered that a little before. I'm going to make a little plate to sit there to pretty it up.

Tonight I will be out at the shop painting the barrels more, installing the trailing arms, and possibly painting the CV axle shafts. I will also be doing a little fiberglass repair and shaving on some parts. I'll show you what I mean tomorrow=)

[B C]

Why didnt you make some nice bundt cakes with those wheels before painting them, sheesh. what the hell, those are huge. You're gonna be front and center on StanceWorks in no time 

O_____________O

[Earl]

Why didnt you make some nice bundt cakes with those wheels before painting them, sheesh. what the hell, those are huge. You're gonna be front and center on StanceWorks in no time 

O_____________O

 

You are a silly man=D

[Brian.]

You're gonna be front and center on StanceWorks in no time 

O_____________O

 

 

That takes a brand new 2013 BMW laying frame to make it to their front page, or a fanboi'd out car. Stanceworks got too mainstream, and I'm starting to dislike it.

 

 

Starting to look good though earl!

[Earl]

Thank you sir=)

[Earl]

I got a tiny bit done yesterday.

My friend couldn't make it out, so fiberglass repair or shaving was done. Hopefully later this week, or sometime next week that can happen.

I did touch up the barrels and now they are finished=) Now I just need the faces and my wheels can be assembled.

I got the sleeves pressed into my RTAB's finally. The bad thing is that no matter how hard I tried, I always pushed part of the bushing out of the arm. I used a c clamp and applied even pressure to get them in. All would look great until I took the clamp off. The bushing would then return to shape but be pushed out about 1/16"-1/8". I didn't want to mess with them anymore and it shouldn't cause any issues. I then threw the trailing arms onto the subframe and placed the bolts in without tightening them. The ends were somewhat of a pain to get in due to the bushings being pressed out a little. Only one of them didn't go in all that great, but it will perform fine. I also attached the diff to feel accomplished=)

I think I might clean the bolts up when I put them in for good. While I was at it, I repainted the CV axles. The paint on the shafts was half gone and there was a good amount of surface rust. I cleaned all that up, sprayed on some primer, and then finished with black. They don't look half bad for as little time as I spent on them. They'll look good under the car=)

I believe I will be going back to the shop on Wednesday. My order from ECS tuning is delayed right now due to a few parts. Hopefully that ships soon.

[B C]

What's the status of the engine bay shaving? Make sure you have a helper and 2 jacks for re-installing the subframe. Or do like I did and lick some undercoating from under the car, mutate into some sort of beast, and install it by yourself (not recommended)

[Earl]

What's the status of the engine bay shaving? Make sure you have a helper and 2 jacks for re-installing the subframe. Or do like I did and lick some undercoating from under the car, mutate into some sort of beast, and install it by yourself (not recommended)

 

I just remembered that I would like to redo the undercoating in the back before I put the subframe in....I can do that right quick hopefully. The bay is ready to be welded up, so I need the subframe in so this sucker can roll to a different location to be welded=)

[Brian.]

A rear diff swap is a 2 person job, I couldn't imagine trying to bolt up the entire rear subframe solo.

[Earl]

I made a little progress yesterday.

I started off at work by slimming up the headlight harness to make it easier and nicer to tuck around the back to hide them.

Before:

After:

I am going to bend the connections to go at a 90 and then make a cap that covers the connection. I ended up breaking a connector from bending it too much, so I need to find a replacement.

When I got to the shop I started installing the CV axles. It took me a bit to figure out how to get them in with the trailing arms bolted down, but I got it.

You can see that the diff cover is missing. I was sick of how nasty it looked and I didn't want to take the time to polish it.

 

 

Trololololo

 

Sorry Brian, I had to=P

 

 

It is the same color as the trailing arms and subframe main support. I also pressed in the diff mount while the cover was off.

Then I reinstalled it on the diff. (two pictures that are at almost the same angle)

Then I figured I might aswell finish it off with two of the final pieces.

I need to loctite all of the bolts and torque everything down before it can go on. I am also adding a fresh coat of undercoat today after work.

I brought the barrels home with me and decided to set them around my livingroom with the lips on top of them. Some crappy pictures to get the idea:

Fronts (17x9.5 et14)

Rears (17x10 et8)

That is all for now=)

[Earl]

I figured a before and after of the subframe would be a good idea (except I don't have the brake lines or calipers on yet)

[B C]

Looks fantastic! 

are you some sort of bat man?  bro, do you even sleep? 

[Earl]

Thank you sir. It look better in pictures, but it is way better than what it was.

 

Also, I awake at 2:40am to start my day. I take a shower, eat breakfast, drive to a coworkers house to carpool, and then get to work to work at 5am=) However, this week I have not been driving with the coworker, hence why I have been at the shop more than usual. I will be going there again tonight and maybe even Friday=D

[StewCrew]

So much time for activities!   I love how that rear end looks with the bags bolted down too.  This thread is awesome.

[KaiserRolls]

wow. awesome progress Earl. 

[Earl]

So much time for activities!   I love how that rear end looks with the bags bolted down too.  This thread is awesome.

 

I like how it looks too. Just need to make my brakelines now. I also need to paint my calipers, but am unsure of what paint to use. Thank you for complimenting on the awesomness=D

 

wow. awesome progress Earl. 

 

Thank you sir. I am starting to feel motivated again=)