New from Buffalo, couple e30's

[coldaccord]

Just joined, some of you may remember me from blown euros last year. Figured I'd post a couple of my old cars. euro 325i, euros50b30, 3.25 lsd, e36 m3 front suspension and brakes, m coupe rear. 500/600 tc kline coilovers, koni double adjustables, ireland engineering camber plates, treehouse racing lollipops, thr bushings throughout. Wheels pictured are black m contours, staggered, 235/40/17 f1's around


(dad's 240z in the background, restored and modded


shop pic



318 we did for a customer. Got the chassis in VA. s52 converted to obdI, s50 intake manifold, zf trans, header, e36 m3 exhaust. h&r sports and bilstein sports





I've had a bunch of cars, those two are the most interesting to me though

sold all my cars to start a business. Moved to Norfolk, VA but back one year later. Currently 90% done setting up an alternative energy automobile dealership.

picking up a black 95 525it w/89k for a daily, hopefully replaced by a 2.7t allroad soon enough.

Still have this guy to restore, 72 with ~45k miles. I'd like to put an rb26 in it, but it's going to have to wait until this shop is killing it. Also, there's a spare s62 in the shop that I may have to get an e30m3 chassis for first...

[89is]

Im so jealous of the touring, beautiful e30s man, and welcome to stanceworks

[Rírá]

I love the shop pic man, and that E30 saloon is an absolute gem, please more on that if you could

[jasonklee]

Nice E30 Touring.

Welcome to StanceWorks

[coldaccord]

Ah, nice to have a reminder. A good friend of mine recently texted me that another old car of mine surfaced on this forum. I impatiently searched for the thread and found it buried beneath a few other pages of enticing builds, http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=40945. I had to wait to view it until my work for the day was done, as I knew it would evoke a longing in my heart. And it did. I was happy to see it again, though it was a severe case of "seeing your ex-girlfriend with a new man." Anyway, I must admit I have been paging through SW in my free time ever since.

My old touring received a healthy s14 courtesy of Levent and Guten Parts & Service in NJ. His brother originally purchased the unicorn e30 touring from me prior to GPS, I was glad to see it in good hands. That was the car for me. The one that got away. The one that still had the crisp feel 25 years later: the firm hinge of the door handle, the sprung pull of the hood release, where the front of the "backwards" hood leaps to its tolerance with a feather touch. I can't imagine the improvement with an s14 growling under the hood, giving the family hauler the pinnacle of BMW Motorsport in its era.



While I'm here, I figured I should update this thread. A lot has happened in the past few years. I sold my touring in the original post to Vlad, who did an e30m3 widebody on it



and later returned it to 4 lug. I let this wagon go as I had to fund the next chapter in my life- a good friend and I started an automotive business, and building your future is no easy task. Luckily my business partner is a good friend that I grew up skateboarding with, I'm immensely thankful I have a business partner I can trust. I'm also very glad he was a Master Technician at BMW for 4 years before we began our project! It crushes me to see the vladcar, both for things I would have done differently and the longing to have it back.

After 6 agonizing months of driving whatever we had in stock, (sometimes an e46, sometimes an autotragic Civic) I was able to spoil myself again somewhat. While not the individualistic-expression-of-my-vintage-aesthetic-preference-paired-with-modern-modifications I found in cars past, I was still able to wrangle up a gem. I found a rust free 5-speed e36m3 in Southern PA on bf.c/ebay. It was very well maintained but needed just enough work to bring it to my price-range. I excitedly snapped it up, using Auction Stealer and still bidding live on my phone (iphone hidden in my hands, head tilted to hide my straying gaze at the meeting I was in at the time lol).



As soon as I unloaded it from my trailer work began. The car was well set up but I still had my work cut out for me. I've now had it for almost a year of enjoyment. The car carried me reliably to Philadelphia to party with my boy T3rd, through a wonderful back-road cruise to NJ for GutenFest 2012, and back home without a hiccup. It also planted itself firmly while traversing the northern section of a mountain range during a beautiful 3.5 hour backroads cruise to Watkins Glen. With a trunk full of camping gear and my dad's 240z roaring behind it, the m3 made it clear how well it balanced performance and luxury. However it is now for sale, because this recently "fell in my lap."



2000 Imola Red m5 with 95 clicks on the clock. Extended leather package, beautiful interior, exterior, and s62. It almost met its fate as the previous owner likely throttle-lift-oversteered himself into an over-the-shoulder view of a curb. The rear subframe is decimated, right rear LCA must have flown south for winter as well. However, again, it has a ton of potential and just enough damage to bring it into my price-range. I have an account with IAAI, for whom I'm currently watching Harry Potter movies in hopes of picking up spells to cast against, (I bought an e60m5 from their Long Island branch on December 24th and still haven't received the title)! I plan to use that chip on my shoulder account to buy a front impacted m5, which I can strip for its rear suspension bits and bring my new acquisition to life this spring.

When I was towing it back along its 7 hour drive I stopped to toss a few gallons of 93 in as I emptied my wallet in diesel to fill Big Whitey. That's our 97 f250 tow vehicle with the stout 7.3 powerstroke turbo diesel v8, and there's an unwritten rule we have to smoke a corn cob pipe when driving it. This truck is America let me tell you. While at the station I checked the fluids in the m5, ducked carefully between the narrow opening of the driver's side door pressed almost to the trailer's fender, and felt that rush as I sat in my new car for the first time. A smile from ear to ear crept across my face as I turned the key in the ignition. As I did, a subtle but stern grumble erupted from the rear of the luxuriously adorned cabin. My ear to ear smile may have actually engulfed my face as I hopped out to peek under the rear bumper, discovering straight pipes already in place.

[coldaccord]

While I've been fiddling around with bimmers I also changed up the 240z's in the stable. The guy who usually does our bodywork bought the 45k mile '72, as another car "fell in my lap." My grandmother had taken sick, we knew her future was grim and the 90+ years she graced the earth would be coming to their natural end. As emotionally draining as it was, we were faced with a tall order as she passed. Arrangements were made, services were had, tears were shed. We were then left with the task of cleaning and selling her house. As she stopped driving many years ago, my father (who is as bad if not worse than I in his love for vintage automobiles, apple didn't fall far from the tree and all that) had turned her garage into his stable.

Splitting his free time between a freelance carpentry business, starting a very small record label with friends, and getting inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame this year (gotta give my dad props when I can) he knew his 240z habits were destined for change. Where he once would buy any s30 he heard rumored in a 50 mile radius, (luckily there are very few) he now had no storage options and was faced with liquidation.

This is a project that showed up as a shell 5 doors down from my parent's house in the city of Buffalo. Like a salmon swimming upstream, this 240z beat the current of manifest destiny and made its way from Arizona to Buffalo for a neighbors drag project. Prepping the car for a v8, they bailed on the project for reasons unknown. My dad picked up the chassis for a song, a supposedly built L28 from the Rochester Z Club swap meet, and my uncle tossed in his spare 280z 5-speed. Soon after, the project went to the wayside. My uncle needed room in his garage upon obtaining locally a '75 vette to restore. As they both already had well sorted 240z's, and my uncle finally reached his boyhood dream of a corvette, "to grandmothers house" this 240z project went.

Uncle's garage: not pictured- Fiat Bianchina


With nowhere to store it, my dad remembered the last trackday I did in his 240z at Watkins Glen. "It has practically no brakes" I griped, even though I spent my nights a week prior doing pads, rotors, shoes, hats, ATE Super Blue and brake master cylinders in addition to fluid changes. All so we could share the time honored father-son tradition of trackdays. I rode my motorcycle home when warm days turned to cold nights, after hours in the garage while my dad sat in the house with his feet up. I guess that's why we have kids right? Fruit of our loins, fruits of our labor. I swear when I got back in my white e30 touring after that 240z weekend I almost went through the windshield as my foot barely grazed the brake pedal. Anyway, he told me if I finished the project Z, put the brakes and suspension I desired on, and still gave him partial custody, the car could be mine.

I'll admit the project has been on the backburner until the funds are ready. To run it only needs the electronic ignition wired up and a few odds and ends. However it also needs new floors, (Zedd Findings to the rescue) dash repair, carpets, tie rods, all bushings, weather stripping, the list goes on and on. At least it has a new exhaust, new brakes, new clutch hydraulics, upgraded clutch and flywheel, and of course the built L28.



Mine is the red one in the background, the foreground is the '71 my dad stripped and restored from '79-81. I thought for years about an rb26 240z project, but every time I hear that distinctive exhaust note from my dad's L24 it brings me right back to childhood. He built a back seat between the shock towers of the gunmetal Z so my sister and I could both join him at the Vintage Race Weekend at Watkins Glen. I am now 27 and I haven't missed a year since I started going at age 5! Definitely the reason for my automotive addiction, who doesn't love rolling into town on a Friday afternoon and seeing nothing but incredible vintage race and street machines from the evolution of motorsports!





I hope to have the m5 going for spring, the z at least moving on its own accord this summer, and a couple techs on the payroll by fall. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed my synopsis and happy motoring!

[cruuz]

techs on payroll eh? too bad i'm 6 hrs away from buffalo...

[coldaccord]

Heh, yes looking to go big with this alternative energy dealership. Finalizing our Cash Projections tomorrow, hoping to get a loan and maybe some environmental grants!