Project: Demo Car (e36 content)

[Majend]

This should look great! I really like those wheels and considered them for my car.

I'm almost certain those seats are fake Recaros. I have real Recaro Speeds in my wife's car and I'm seeing quite a few differences. On the real Recaros, every piece of plastic (from seat release to side cover) has "Recaro" stamped in it.

If this is a demo car, I would chuck the fake recaros and racelands.

Looks like a good start, I hope to see more of it!

Thats the plan but the focus of the car is the wheels and the refinishing work at the moment. and since the car came with the ultimos (with about 2k miles on them) i am going to keep them for the rest of the season but i have plans to change them for next year.

as for the seats i know they are fake, not a huge deal at the moment another thing to change over the winter, at least the mounts are quality

[Majend]

got the tires off this morning and now it is time to get to work


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

[forloveandglory]

I start to like E36 coupés.

[feppel]

I like the choice of wheel/color, but they look pretty thrashed.

[hinrichs]

looks like a solid car to start with, i agree with whoever said a black interrior would look better with those seats, if they are comfortable id keep them for a while, who cares if they are fake or not, cant wait to see the wheels mounted up

[Majend]

I like the choice of wheel/color, but they look pretty thrashed.

they are actually really clean but the clear coat (which is getting stripped anyway) is a little meh and is giving them the thrashed look

looks like a solid car to start with, i agree with whoever said a black interrior would look better with those seats, if they are comfortable id keep them for a while, who cares if they are fake or not, cant wait to see the wheels mounted up

thats the plan, i don't want t sell the seats till i get the rest of the interior the way i want so i can see if i like them still.

hoping to have the wheels on by the 14th, spacers for test fitting should be here this friday

[Majend]

Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

[Majend]

went to test fit the ZR1s and they just are not going to work right now. stacked 25mm, 5mm, and 3mm spacers on top of each other and they still hit the coilovers up front. i am going to hold on to them for the time being and maybe try again let with some massive spacers.

anywho... after the ZR1s didn't fit i was going to just run the DS2s till the end of the year but someone decided to slash one of my rear tires... since my spare is a front and since the DS2s need some work i picked up a set of style 32s. they are the 17x7.5,8.5 et41 variety but i got them for super cheap so i'm not complaining, they will be on for the rest of the season then they will be used just as something when i am in between sets next year. they should be on the car by the end of the week

[Majend]

local deal on spacers fell through so i had to order a set online hopefully they will be here on friday.

going over to my buddy's place and sorting out the new wheels on friday. we are going to be filming the whole afternoon (that bavaria video made me want to run out to the garage lol) but photos shoud be up that night.

[Majend]

yesterday i picked up a set of wheels from a friend for the bmw, today i had samaritan tire (seriously the ONLY tire shop i will go to) dismount the tires and i started to work on them tonight. they are going on the car on friday and i am REALLY excited.

what they looked like when i got them home this afternoon


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

there was a lot of oxidation on the "lips"


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

spent a few hours sanding them down and getting them ready for paint then sprayed some primer


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr


Untitled by Majend, on Flickr

they are coming out really nicely so far, got two wheels in primer tonight, and i'm going to hit them again tomorrow and wednesday.

[MommysLittleMonster]

I feel like this is going downhill, fast...

You started with a clean, simple 328 with nice M3 wheels and nice tint, but now you're putting on meh wheels (and you thought about Corvette wheels), removed all of the tint instead of just the damaged tint, and threw on a bunch of tacky stickers...

You have a good platform to start, just remember- less is more, especially on a demo car.

[Majend]

I feel like this is going downhill, fast...

You started with a clean, simple 328 with nice M3 wheels and nice tint, but now you're putting on meh wheels (and you thought about Corvette wheels), removed all of the tint instead of just the damaged tint, and threw on a bunch of tacky stickers...

You have a good platform to start, just remember- less is more, especially on a demo car.

totally understand where you are coming from but i felt like i should explain myself a bit.

The M3 Wheels: they were rashed pretty bad by the previous owner and the tires were basically shot, i have some cool ideas for them but the work involved requires that the tires are off of the wheels so i got the style 32s only as a place holder. In addition someone decided to slash one of the rear tires on the M3 wheels and since my spare is a front (17x7.5 front, 17x8.5 rear) i didn't want to drive asymmetrically for longer than i had to. I figured this was the best option given how much longer i am going to be driving the car this year. The corvette wheels were purchased for the same reason. I don't buy wheels unless i can get them cheap enough to at least break even when i go to sell them, so $200 cash for a set of rash free 1990 ZR1s or rash free style 32s, why not? I have so many sets of wheels that i want to run next year and i have already put a few sets in the basement which i will be showing when they are ready.

The Tint: the pictures did not do the condition of the tint justice. it was truly horrible in person, plus i am a big fan of no tint on black cars, or really any color (maybe red...)

The Stickers: Beyond the "Illest" everything i put on the back window i have a personal relationship with. I am normally not a fan of stickers on the back which is why i at least went with a single color and style. I end up around photographers enough that i wanted to be able to give a shout to the local companies and communities that have helped me with this and other cars in the past. Will they stay on forever? probably not. Do i like how the look now? i certainly do.

I tend to be of the more is less mentality and i like to draw focus to one aspect of a particular car and then be subtle with everything else. One thing to remember is that i have had the car for about a month and i haven't really done much yet and that is by design. Sure i could have thrown a bunch of parts at it right away but i do live in Minnesota and i have maybe a month and a half of driving time left before it gets put away for the winter. I would much rather stockpile parts over the winter and put them on in the spring when i can enjoy them fresh. Plans right now for the direction of the build are to refresh the interior and change it to black with some very mild suede accents, get some OEM seats (I don't like having "fake" parts), fix the dents and since there is some light scuffs in the paint i am probably going to wrap the car in satin black (i have sprayed a car satin black before and as anyone else who has done it will tell you it is next to impossible to get an even finish so a wrap in this case given the base color of the car i think is the best option), very light motor and under the hood cosmetic upgrades (m50 intake, silicone piping, opened up OEM air box, software), and then finish sorting out the suspension.

Thats it really, the wheel refinishing is just a side thing for me to make some extra cash doing something that i enjoy. It isn't something i put a lot of stock in since the demand for work is so varied it would be irresponsible to put myself in a position when i was dependent on the income it provides.

I hope this wasn't too long winded hehe, i got to work (real job, audio software) early today and finished pretty much everything that needed to be done by about 9am and i got a little bored. I also hope this clarifies a few points about the car and its purpose. I don't want to come off as trying to build a sema quality car, I just happen to love driving e36s and i wanted a non-winter daily that i could enjoy and use to showcase the refinishing work that i love doing.

I really appreciate constructive criticism so please feel free to let me know how you feel about what i'm doing.

[MommysLittleMonster]

Your clarification does wonders for what I was thinking. If the tint was that bad, I can understand why you'd take them off.

I was under the assumption that you were going to use the Style 32's as a permanent solution- a lot of people just settle for sub-par and think that just because something isn't "stock", means it's better.

I guess I can understand where you're coming from with the stickers- I just really, really don't like them anymore I guess.

Keep up the good work, I'm interested to see where this goes.

[Majend]

Your clarification does wonders for what I was thinking. If the tint was that bad, I can understand why you'd take them off.

I was under the assumption that you were going to use the Style 32's as a permanent solution- a lot of people just settle for sub-par and think that just because something isn't "stock", means it's better.

I guess I can understand where you're coming from with the stickers- I just really, really don't like them anymore I guess.

Keep up the good work, I'm interested to see where this goes.

yeah i am not the type to settle, you do not want to know how much time and money went into those art wheels lol I have thought about running style 32s as something other than a temp wheel but this set is the high offset version (for those unfamiliar there are two versions of 32s, one set is 17x8,9 et20 and the other is 17x7.5,8.5 et41 the set i have currently is the latter) so while with spacers they will look alright they are nowhere near aggressive enough to run long term.

and i totally understand where you are coming from on the stickers they are a real love it or **** it type of thing hehe

[Majend]

finished up the wheels, can't wait till after work tomorrow for tires and then mounting them on the car!!!!


All done!! by Majend, on Flickr

i am not really looking forward to keeping these clean since i did the inside of the barrels white as well lol