Trunk Impaired

[Trunky]

I like where this is heading, especially when you mentioned the SR swap.

Well I'm stil considering all my options. To keep the weight (and position of that weight) manageable an SR is the best choice, however it's pretty difficult to find any kind of guide for that swap and I'd sure as hell need all the instruction I can get From what I've seen there are some potential pitfalls with the steering shaft and shifter especially, which have scared me away from the idea for the time being.

I'm pretty new too, so I don't think I'm allowed to welcome people yet hahaha.
pretty slick car tho, just gotta lower it to the point of no return now.

She's gettin there. Gotta find a local garage I can trust my baby with first though, then she's going down another inch and half in the rear. I think that'll be as far as I can go before I have to either order a fender roller or pay someone to roll them for me. After that will come 4" springs which I'd imagine will be the limitation before the car is beached on its sideskirts

[Earl]

I hope we can get the asses down even with the front without having our barrels rolling the ground from massive camber=) I've been contemplating the weld in toe/camber adjusters and it seems like a good idea if we get 4" springs. That way we can dial in the toe and still have massive camber without eating tires up so fast. I have to for sure roll my fenders=P

Does your car have any rust? I don't remeber if I saw you mention anything about any. I don't have anything you would call rust. Just chipped paint at the fronts of my sideskirts that it starting to oxidize on the surface. One dot on the body right below the hatch which is the norm on TI's. And then my passenger rear fender has bubbling paint which looks like the paint just cracked and is starting to oxidize on the inside and push the paint off.

[Trunky]

I hope we can get the asses down even with the front without having our barrels rolling the ground from massive camber=) I've been contemplating the weld in toe/camber adjusters and it seems like a good idea if we get 4" springs. That way we can dial in the toe and still have massive camber without eating tires up so fast. I have to for sure roll my fenders=P

Does your car have any rust? I don't remeber if I saw you mention anything about any. I don't have anything you would call rust. Just chipped paint at the fronts of my sideskirts that it starting to oxidize on the surface. One dot on the body right below the hatch which is the norm on TI's. And then my passenger rear fender has bubbling paint which looks like the paint just cracked and is starting to oxidize on the inside and push the paint off.

There's no rust yet (knock on wood). Car was bought new in Cincinnati then immediately transplanted to Georgia where it lived up until I bought it in '09. I have almost no paint on the inner fenders thanks to a stupid decision I made when I knew a lot less about what tire widths do and do not work on ET13 wheels (turns out 245s are a no no ) thankfully we've had some weird whether here and it only snowed once, no salt. I figure I'll get the paint done when I have the fenders rolled and pulled the way I want them. Other than that (and a few other little blemishes) she's immaculate. A camber kit for the rear might not be a bad idea, but the front wheels (more specifically steering) are my biggest immediate concern as far as needing camber.

[Earl]

You can get any e36 camber plates for there=) Just **** the whole trailing arm setup in the rear. lol Can't adjust anything unless you use a weld in kit. Any updates at the moment?

[Trunky]

You can get any e36 camber plates for there=) Just **** the whole trailing arm setup in the rear. lol Can't adjust anything unless you use a weld in kit. Any updates at the moment?

Oh I've already got GC camber plates on the front, I just have them set for neutral (or whatever the plate says is neutral) so I don't burn through tires. Nothing to report yet, unfortunately I'm pretty well stuck until I can get the car into a shop to change the mounts. Then I'm stuck until classes end in late April/early May and I can start trying to get a real job.

[Earl]

You don't have a place to replace the mounts yourself?

[Trunky]

You don't have a place to replace the mounts yourself?

Well even if I had the correct tools (I just have your standard socket set and a few other things at the moment) I don't have a garage or driveway or anything. I basically have a parking lot. I'm not too sure about how doing DIY car repair in the parking lot is covered in my lease agreement, but I'd imagine that my landlord wouldn't be terribly pleased if he knew that I was clawing up under my car without jackstands on his property. Seems like there is the potential for some liability there. I'm sure that I COULD do it myself, but this is more a matter of convenience.

[Earl]

I hope the shop doesn't charge you too much I could nevrr let anyone touch my car but me, unless they're helping me out:P lol what interior do you have? I'm too lazy to try and find a pic:P

[Trunky]

I hope the shop doesn't charge you too much I could nevrr let anyone touch my car but me, unless they're helping me out:P lol what interior do you have? I'm too lazy to try and find a pic:P

Well because BMW refuses to sell the black numbered door panel clips separately from the door panel itself, (and the guy designing/engineering/building the alternative is a bit behind schedule) I'm currently running what I like to call a 318Ti Superleggera (meaning a base interior with only one door panel ) But it's black vinyl pleather seats, black plastics, with tan pillars and headliner. Don't have the funds yet but the plan is a full black Alcantara interior (some parts quilted) with a few little splashes of VW plaid. (I've always been a massive fan of plaid) Both the Alcantara and plaid will be expensive and require a lot of upholstery work so that's currently way down on my to-do list. I'll also go either race buckets or Vaders in the front. (recovered to match the rest of the interior of course)

[Earl]

You talking about the standoffs glued on the backside of the panel? There is 10 per door and yiu have to get them from another panel. It's stupid. Lol I was gonna get vaders but they aren't comfy really. They hold you good, but are hard. I'm thinking mk2 Volkswagen recaros and im having my door and rear inserts recovered with something. Idk what I want to get yet though:P lol I did take all of my seats out and clean my carpet in the past few days....let me say I don't think she was ever cleaned since 94-95. Want me to put up a before and after? Or just pm it to you?

[Trunky]

You talking about the standoffs glued on the backside of the panel? There is 10 per door and yiu have to get them from another panel. It's stupid. Lol I was gonna get vaders but they aren't comfy really. They hold you good, but are hard. I'm thinking mk2 Volkswagen recaros and im having my door and rear inserts recovered with something. Idk what I want to get yet though:P lol I did take all of my seats out and clean my carpet in the past few days....let me say I don't think she was ever cleaned since 94-95. Want me to put up a before and after? Or just pm it to you?

PM. I'm sure I'll find the same 14 some years worth of nastiness whenever I finally dig into mine. There's a guy that's supposedly making an alternative door clip that you can buy separately, but apparently he has been having a few problems with the design so he's back to the drawing board. I've actually fallen asleep in a set of Vaders before, it's never happened to me in any other bucket seat. Not sure if I just fit into them really well or what but they're the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in. (apart from the leather, which is why Alcantara/cloth would be perfect)

[TeeTime4One]

nice car...great thread.

[Earl]

Yeah I mean they're comfy, but I guess I used to be used to super soft buick bench seats=) lol Alcantra ones would be great=P I just want the MK2 Recaro's because I like how they look and I've never seen them in a Ti. And PM sent kind sir.

[Earl]

Updates updates updates?

[Trunky]

Updates updates updates?

Not any good ones. I almost ripped my front bumper off this morning on a concrete parking barrier apparently I wasn't quite in reverse and rolled forward. The entire right side of the bumper was knocked out of place and the license plate fell off. A couple well-placed fist bangs and 87 cents worth of zipties and she's back to normal I guess. When I have time I'll have to look under the trim to see if the cover has actually pulled away from the support.

I'm living pretty lean right now, when I get my refund I'll be heading to a shop to get the RSMs done. (shouldn't cost more than $30 or so but I don't want to take any chances if things come right down to the wire. Haven't called mom and dad for money in 3 years and I don't plan on breaking that now )

I'm also not much closer on making an engine decision. I've pretty much narrowed it down to four options:

1) 1JZ GTE VVTi - I'd prefer this but there's not a lot of information out there about this swap.

2) Nissan RB - Second most desirable. Cheap, plentiful, good aftermarket support, mounts and sump exist along with people who can theoretically talk me through the swap.

3) SBF 5.0L - Out of everything this would be the easiest and cheapest. 302s can be had for about 50 cents and there's an entire website dedicated specifically to this swap along with apparently a very good, comprehensive guide.

4) Built M44 - This is (all said and done) going to be the most expensive option with probably the lowest ceiling in terms of power gain. The forged crank alone would run me about the cost of an RB20DET. The advantage is that I already have an additional M44 block which I could either use or sell if I choose a different route.

It's weird talking about basically eating ramen noodles every night until school lets out and engine swaps in the same post. I believe this has now far outgrown a mere Intro thread so I'll be making a build thread here fairly soon to document my various endeavors. Then we can converse freely without me feeling guilty about continuously bumping my Intro.