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


Earl

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Friday I had a half day at work so I headed straight to the shop. 

 

I took pics of the calipers installed

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Grabbed my ECS Tuning outer stainless lines

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Then installed them

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After that I got to installing the rivet nuts for mounting the lower fender. The areas has a good bit of surface rust so I grabbed some wire wheels for my dremel and went about cleaning them up and drilling out the old threads

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I then threw some self etching primer on each side to stop any future rust. 

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Then the rivet nuts were installed

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I also got some news on Friday. My friend who was doing my welding and shaving has decided to pursue other projects. Luckily I have a good chunk of people who are willing to finish it for me. I just need to decide which one to go with. Right now I am steering towards the ones who are going to be doing the paint work but we will see dependent on the quote I am given within the next week or two.

 

This is where it is currently at

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I also got a better shot of how the Downstar hardware retrofit looks with the headlights

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Other than that, I sold my m42 radiator to Collin since it will not work with the euro m3 radiator cover. Now I just need to find a radiator and find an overflow that is pretty discreet. 

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Looks awesome!  Good work, I will probably use alot of rivet nuts as well, did you use aluminum, steel, or SS?  Look around at Summitracing or similar suppliers for universal pressurized coolant bottles, this will give you the self bleeding feature as well.  Have you seen the Euro e36 setup I am doing?  May not be clean enough but it uses all OEM parts.  The difficult part is that you need the bottle to be high in the system.

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Didn't see this at Scooters - we're you parking in the back lot?!?

Those wheel end assemblies are looking great, sucks about your welder falling out.

Thanks again for remembering that rad, can't wait to start that install!!!

If you had snapchat you would have seen my #scootersprep2014 picture=) Thank you. I think they look a little better than what I started with=P 

 

And you're welcome. I have no use for it so I am glad it went to a great home. I can't wait to see it installed. 

 

Looks awesome!  Good work, I will probably use alot of rivet nuts as well, did you use aluminum, steel, or SS?  Look around at Summitracing or similar suppliers for universal pressurized coolant bottles, this will give you the self bleeding feature as well.  Have you seen the Euro e36 setup I am doing?  May not be clean enough but it uses all OEM parts.  The difficult part is that you need the bottle to be high in the system.

 

I used zinc coated steel ones. I am thinking of adding a filler neck in the upper rad hose and making sure it sits higher than the radiator. That seems to me like the cleanest option, unless I can find a discreet overflow

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I used zinc coated steel ones. I am thinking of adding a filler neck in the upper rad hose and making sure it sits higher than the radiator. That seems to me like the cleanest option, unless I can find a discreet overflow

 

So are you saying no/non pressurized overflow?  You may be ok to run with no overflow if you use Evans NPG, it is awesome stuff, and now is the time to do it while your whole cooling system is empty and dry.  It does not pressurize like normal coolant, boiling point of 375 degrees F at atmospheric pressure.  I swapped an e36 to Evans after a head replacement and it is pretty cool to be able to take the cap off at operating temps.  Also it has much better corrosion protection than standard coolant.

 

You would be able to fill/bleed your system once and as long as there are no leaks it should be no problem, if there was a tiny bit of air it would just sit at the top of the radiator waiting to be bled out.

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I did not get as much done as I wanted to Saturday but progress is progress.

 

I bought some plastic tarping so that I could take out my seats and cover them to keep them from getting dusty/dirty. This will make it easier for me to work inside the car each time without having to pull them out over and over. It will also let me recover them while the car is off for paint/bodywork.

 

Speaking of the seats, I found a really nice set of interior in the motherland and am in the process of having it picked up and sent over here=) It is a much better idea to get these than to recover mine. The main reason is that the seats are almost immaculate and they are a very rare pattern/colorway that I never knew existed. The price is also a huge plus. I will stop teasing soon once I send the payment for said interior.

 

I also removed the door cards in anticipation of the new interior (also to remove the exterior door handles soon)

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Throughout the day I worked on prepping and priming my front....not even sure what to refer to them as. haha

 

I didn't take many pictures but got this one before spraying the primer

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I then took two terrible pictures after the primer was all applied and dried

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I will be prepping, priming, and possibly undercoating some other things this coming Saturday=)

 

I also touched up any chips on my front calipers and carriers and got them all assembled.

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I wanted to clean my new carpet and get a start on dying any spots that need it but I didn't have a chance. Hopefully this next weekend I will be able to get that out of the way=)

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I have gotten a little done since the last update=)

 

The second most exciting update is that my paint/finishing shave/bodywork quote is scheduled for this afternoon. If it is in my budget I will have to scramble to get the car back to a somewhat rolling state so that it can get to their facility. I will put my most exciting update at the end of this update=)

 

Friday I started refinishing my rear axles for a second time. I did a half ass job the first time because I just wanted to get the car back together. I am very happy that my mindset has changed. 

 

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I then tapped up the boots and splines and did some media blasting to get as much off as I could without damaging the boot ends. 

 

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Once I got to the shop I sprayed them with self etching primer

 

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I let that cure over night and then I sprayed them with gloss black on Saturday.

 

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Now I just want to refresh the boot clamps and then they are done.

 

On Friday I also started taking out my door handles. I got the outer trim off and decided to leave the handles in for now until it gets to the bodyshop so that the doors can latch shut while it is transported there.

 

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The seals around them were super cracked. I bought a new set a little over a year ago and will be swapping them in upon reinstallation.

 

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I also started cleaning up the ends of the frame rails Friday.

 

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There was a little surface rust that I brushed off. After that I was out of self etching primer but sprayed them Saturday as well. 

 

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Saturday I pressure washed my carpet since it was pretty dirty and I wanted to get it really clean before dying it.

 

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It came out pretty clean but wasn't anywhere near dry when I left.

 

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I also pressure washed my transmission. I should source another one since first will pop out if you do not put it in first before coming to a stop. Third gear would also grind on very rare occasions. 

 

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I spent a majority of the day under the front of the car removing surface rust and seam sealer so I can get some primer, paint, and undercoat down before I put the refreshed front subframe on. 

 

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I just need to pick up a paint/rust removal disc for my grinder and will try and get it primed this weekend. 

 

The last thing I did was remove my rear seat cards in preparation for my new interior=)

 

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That brings me to my favorite update. My friend Kitty and I sourced a full interior for me to import. They just got it delivered to them on Saturday.

 

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I won't go into crazy detail but we have found a good chunk of information out about them. They are called "Looping II Anthracite" and were a Dakar Yellow 323ti only option. They weren't really advertised so they were more of an "Individual" option. They were only made from March to December in 1997. Kitty doesn't think any more than 100 sets were made. Mine are labelled as set 52 and were built on June 14th of 1997. Kitty has only ever seen two sets in pictures, including this set. This is the only set she has ever seen for sale so I just had to get them. I was planning on recovering my interior anyways but these seats are immaculate. The rear seats and door cards look brand new. The passenger seat looks to be in excellent shape with no wear. The only wear on anything is a thumbnail hole in  the Alcantara thigh bolster of the drivers seat. I will be getting that repaired once they get here. The huge plus is that I got these for incredibly less than it would be to redo my interior. I can't wait for them to arrive=)

 

Since my interior is out of the bag I might as well show my new steering wheel that I have been keeping a secret too. Kitty helped me source this as well and it will be on its way over with the seats.

 

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Hopefully after today things will start falling into place again=)

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Those are some sweet mk3 golf seats!!1!1

Can't wait to see more pics once they're here in the US and installed. Hope the shave/smooth quote is better then I'm expecting as well!

 

haha on the MK3 seat comment

 

I am in the position that regardless of the quote, they're really my only good option. The decision will be that if it is more than I am expecting, I will take out a personal loan to build credit and to avoid draining my bank. I have no doubt I could pay for it out of pocket but if it is more than $6000, I would rather pay it off slowly and keep my bank account full. 

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I like the steering wheel!  It fits well with the rest of the interior.

 

It fits with everything much better than the wooden Grip Royal that I had. I wanted something that was the same size (350mm) but looked more OEM and fit with the rest of the interior. I think I found a perfect match=) I was afraid I would eventually get the car done and have an interior with wore out seats, but now I am super happy to have things covered on all fronts. 

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It is an Italvolanti. It is in awesome shape for the age=)

I was never a huge fan of alcantara because I could never find it in nice shape. I have a feeling it will be super soft and comfy. I can't believe how cheap I got them and that they showed up right when I was looking =)

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The Lime rock park edition E92 M3 has alcantara interior and steering wheel along with most E60 M5's, thats where I got my inspiration from. The problem is the fabric does eventually wear out, like an old fleece blanket but rewraping with new material isn't too big of a deal.

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