That Bastard Compact

[FunfGang]

Looks good!

[indiejack]

The wheels looks great on there... I really like this ti

Thanks, right now I'm rocking that OEM+ look but hope to upgrade early next year, my ideal rollers would be in this order:

1. Schmidt TH Lines
2. AC Schnitzer Type-II
3. BBS RS w/ Slant Lips

And then of course I'd keep the DS2's as my winter wheels, they do fit the car quite well.

[Bystrov]

very nice job mate.

[244Brick]

The wheels looks great on there... I really like this ti

[indiejack]

My apologies everybody, been a heck of a few weeks with work and haven't really gotten around to posting anything.

I had planned on this for a while but planning the system, fabrication on the rear end and a few other things took some time and planning. I'm not done with the setup yet, in fact my components are bolted to a bit of wood in the hatch and I've yet to start building out an ideal enclosure for them, but you know it's all in stages.

Here is the result of "Damn, the car is just not low enough for my tastes".

Here we have a little side profile shot


Here's the result of 20mm spacers up front (to clear the bags) and 25mm in the rear


Ideally I would have some better photos by now, but my wife tried to rush in getting my camera out of my bag to snap a shot of the kids and dropped it, destroying my 50mm and a communication pin from the body to the lens, now I wait 6-8 weeks for it to come back from Canon

I'll be working a little here and there between now and spring on finishing up the interior, relocating (and upgrading) the battery, building a nice hatch setup for the tank and goodies, who knows, I'm now leaning towards painting in spring too.

[Dansinclair11]

Will be following this closely! Really like the door inserts. I might have to have a look into doing that myself

[IGOR989]

Keep on!

I like it so far. Don't let anyone never again to touch your engines!

[indiejack]

OEM Wheel Roulette

If you'll recall from my first post I had some Monster Truck stance and 15x7 Style 27's (which are for sale btw, make offer, 16lb wheels). The tires were shot at this point and I bought a cheap set of coilovers so I picked up a set of Style 45's with just about new rubber on them for $200, it would have cost around that or more just to get new tires on the 27's so I figured, meh, not my style but bigger and new tires! I hadn't really wrenched down the coilovers just yet but here's what I was working with.



Those worked for a few months and I came across a slight trade + cash deal on a near Mint set of DS2's (a square set) with new'ish rubber on them, they seemed to suit the car much better. So I cranked down the coils a bit and in fact until the rear had no more adjustment, this is due to using an E36 coupe suspension on a compact (which is said to have an E30 rear end) I was limited by the shocks basically.



Also updated the headlights with Depo Glass Euro Ellipsoids, huge difference in look and lighting.

As far as the wheel game goes, I'm still seeking that "just right" set, and by just right I mean, I can justify them despite being a cheap bastard

[indiejack]

I love the plaid, but if i was you i would switch from the adhesive you're using to 3M super 77, cause that stuff you have sux when it get's hot in the car!. I used it in my accord wagon and they gave way only like a month in a half after. JS

I'll look into that for sure, hopefully I don't run into any issues because of how I wrapped the panel bit and glued from inside but you never know. I'll see if I can snag some for sure for the headliner as I'll be buggered if I have to do that more than once.

[244Brick]

During the engine swap I also got to work on the ever common E36 window regulator issue (for a long while my windows were stuck shut because they weren't tracked right and the clips were broken).

I pulled the panels a half dozen times I'm certain and during that mess I pushed out the inner panels and broke a ton of things, during that phase I decided I'd try my hand at refinishing them. So I sourced around 6 yards of materials and figured I'd get to work on the front doors first, if they were simple enough I'd tackle the rear inserts and eventually the headliner.

This is where I've ended up so far:






Now that I'm confident that I'm an interior "Expert" I'll be working on the rear panels and then begrudgingly doing the headliner (it's sagging anyway so I have no real excuse NOT to).

All and all I dig it, it may be a little bit "VW" type of thing but I'm a plaid sort of a guy so I'm not going to let that phase me.

More to come...

I love the plaid, but if i was you i would switch from the adhesive you're using to 3M super 77, cause that stuff you have sux when it get's hot in the car!. I used it in my accord wagon and they gave way only like a month in a half after. JS

[DinanDave]

Interesting Im in to see more!

[indiejack]

During the engine swap I also got to work on the ever common E36 window regulator issue (for a long while my windows were stuck shut because they weren't tracked right and the clips were broken).

I pulled the panels a half dozen times I'm certain and during that mess I pushed out the inner panels and broke a ton of things, during that phase I decided I'd try my hand at refinishing them. So I sourced around 6 yards of materials and figured I'd get to work on the front doors first, if they were simple enough I'd tackle the rear inserts and eventually the headliner.

This is where I've ended up so far:






Now that I'm confident that I'm an interior "Expert" I'll be working on the rear panels and then begrudgingly doing the headliner (it's sagging anyway so I have no real excuse NOT to).

All and all I dig it, it may be a little bit "VW" type of thing but I'm a plaid sort of a guy so I'm not going to let that phase me.

More to come...

[FluidMotorUnion]

Ti's are always a sweet little platform. In for more for sure.

[244Brick]

looks promising

[indiejack]

Please overlook the dirty engine bay, lol, no time to devote to that just yet. Planning a light shave and full tuck.

After a long and drawn out ordeal we're now running on Six Cylinders. I speak of ordeal and will get a little more in depth on that. The original plan was to go the V8 route (Ford 5.0 or GM 5.7) and I was on my way to pick up a cheap daily to drive while all of that was planned and executed. A "mechanic" at that used car lot/auto shop peaked my interest in just swapping in the m50 from a 325. His logic was "it's a straightforward swap and will get you a lot of bang for a relatively small buck" I thought about it for an evening and opted to work out his deal. He was going to do the whole thing parts and labor for $1500, my thoughts at the time were, okay, a little high for the engine but not bad considering I'd have to do nothing but pick it up and be "happy" right?

That process was around 6 weeks of begging and pleading that he just get the f#ck to work on it, negating the money saved for added frustration I decided that this was the first and last time I'd have someone swap an engine in any car for me. To date I've done 4 swaps in less than a week each in previous cars and I should just stick with that for the future.

There were some "issues" along the way but they'll be run down and resolved as I get the time and parts.