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Levi's E24 / A Canadian Adventure!

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  • Levi's E24 / A Canadian Adventure!

    Yo.

    I'm an irresponsible 21 year old living in his parents basement (like a real man) from Edmonton Alberta Canada, which I'm guessing the vast majority of you haven't even heard of. The city is actually the most northern city in the world with over a million people, which fucking sucks because it's winter here most of the time so you spend most of your time in your winter/daily beater.


    That being said the car culture here is good and strong. Not a lot of people are into the "stance" thing as the roads get so wrecked here during winter it's hard to go low. Most of the cars in the car scene here are JDM imports, R32s, 180's, R34's, Supra's, GC8's you know the sort of car. Since you can basically get any JDM car you want in Canada for pennies so that's what most people drive.



    There's really nothing wrong with all that I guess it just gets kinda boring to me, People in the scene here really don't know anything outside of Jap cars here so the fact that I drive an old euro car confuses the hell out of them. I certainly stand out.

    My pirate ship is a 1978 BMW 635CSi that was imported from Germany a couple of years ago. I bought it with just under 140,000kms which is damn spiffy for being 34 years old! It has the euro spec M30 engine with a 4 speed manual that is stupid and dumb and stupif. I bought it off of a family friend who collects old cars. I've owned it for just over a year now and have unfortunately done mostly maintenance on it and not much for modding, because it likes to toy with my emotions like a dick. This will change.

    This is just after I picked up the car, it came with the front euro plate.


    Beside my daily Vobro




    The chrome arch trim was on the car when I bought it, it looks a bit too bling-blang for my tastes. I took the front trim off and thankfully the arches were clean. But when I took the rear ones off I found rust, so I need to save up to get those repaired before I can take the arch trim off and roll fenders. Until that happens I will rock the ballerific chrome arches so I don't have to rock the awesome rust under them.

    The interior is in okay shape, it's black/blue and came with an old RAID steering wheel which was pretty cool.


    One thing I love is the German words in the cabin, I had my mum translate so I know what stuff does now.




    As soon as I got the car I got it registered and insured and it immediately started having cooling issues. Considering the car had spent quite a lot of it's life just sitting there (going by the low mileage) it's not really that surprising that it had problems. One by one the cooling hoses in the engine began to crack and leak and ruin my commutes to places. But not all at the same time, oh no, they waited until the last one was fixed and I had started to gain back confidence in the car. THEN they broke.
    What would make sense to do would be to just buy all the coolant hoses for the engine and replace everything, so of course I didn't do that and was inconvenienced further when cooling parts continued to break. Which would be fine if the car was new enough for parts stores to carry stuff for it, but of course it's an old E12 based 6er so finding anything for it is damn near impossible.

    Eventually after months of running around to different parts supplier stores trying to find these old E12 parts I just ended up converting the entire cooling system to E28 based spec. I retrofitted a new rad and hoses made for an '84 6er and now it works just fine. I even got a working temperature sensor so I know how hot the car is running, which is new and exciting and somewhat spooky.

    This is the clearance I have in between the new rad and the craptastic clutch fan. Believe it or not this is more room than I had with the old rad.


    I took the car on a huge roadtrip to BC last year with some friends so I might as well throw up some shots of that.




    Driving the car all the way out to Tofino on Vancouver island with friends was probably the most fun I've had in my entire life. Being able to experience a car that drives as well as this one on the smooth, twisty roads of BC is amazing.

    Also before the trip the car got some 3M yellow tint on the foglights. Because DTM.

    I also did a muffler delete out back as the old one had a hole in it. The car pre-dates catalytic converters so it's just a super long resonator and a straight pipe to the back now. It sounds awesome! I'll put some sound clips up when I'm not lazy (never)

    This is what the muffler delete looks like under the car. I just had the shop weld the stock tips back on. I should have had them do some shiney angle cut tips but I was dumb.


    Last year I specced out and ordered this super baller Nardi wheel, which I got in January and it sat in my room all winter until spring when I went to go put it on and found out that the hub adapter for the RAID wheel was totally different pattern. Thankfully some members on here helped me out and I was able to track down the hub adapter I needed.

    I took some pictures today that show some of the other stuff I've done over the past little while.

    This is the new wheel. It's a 350mm Nardi Deep Corn Classic for those interested.



    This is what my interior looks like now. It's progressing.



    I love the E24 rear bucket seats


    The pull handle on the driver side door has been broken in two since I got the car, and of course trying to source a new handle piece or new door card is impossible. So until I can find one I duck taped the shit out of it and wrapped a bandana around it. I think it actually looks kinda rad. Just hope no Bloods see me mobbin.


    Since the car is a euro import the plate reccess at the back doesn't work for our ugly tall Canadian plates. So since it's illegal to cut number plates to fit I got around the problem by folding it. Take that government!


    Also check out this fucking spoiler bro, it's made out of this rubbery foamy material that is all squishy! I always sit on it at car meets and it's comfy as fuck!


    The car also came with a rear valence and side skirts I've never seen before. Not sure what they are but I'm assuming they are rare as this is the only set I've seen.



    So onto the stance side of things, the car came with 3 piece ACT wheels from a euro spec M635. I believe the specs are 16x8.5 all round. I like the mesh look and they are rebuild-able to more aggressive specs but I think I'll just save them for potential future projects and get some new rollers eventually. Here's how it sits now (stock ride height is dumb)



    Yes I know it's a monster truck. Observe the terribleness of my wheel fitment!

    Front


    Rear


    When I get some time I'm going to cut some springs and bring it down a bit. I can't go too low right now though as I can't roll the rear fenders until the rust issue is taken care of. Which unfortunately is very expensive and seeing how I'm currently unemployed it will probably take awhile to fix.

    Ultimately I want to get it sitting nice and low on a set of stupid wide 17's. I have many ideas floating around that will hopefully come about, don't expect quick progress on this. I'll update it as shit gets done yo!
    Last edited by VanDamage; 07-31-2013, 03:47 AM.
    BMW E34 V8 - Daily
    Merc 190E - Sold
    BMW 635CSi - Project
    Mercedes 190e Build Thread
    Euro BMW E24 Build Thread /Style is personal, fun is universal._____IG: @levonvandamage

  • #2
    Nice . Just need s to be lowered.. Are you leaving those chrome fender things?

    hi

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by JE BMW View Post
      Nice . Just need s to be lowered.. Are you leaving those chrome fender things?
      I'm leaving the rear ones until I can afford to get the rust under them fixed. Chrome arches are better than rust for now. Most people don't even notice they're there unless I point them out anyways.
      BMW E34 V8 - Daily
      Merc 190E - Sold
      BMW 635CSi - Project
      Mercedes 190e Build Thread
      Euro BMW E24 Build Thread /Style is personal, fun is universal._____IG: @levonvandamage

      Comment


      • #4
        oh see, yea, chrome is better than rust..lol

        hi

        Comment


        • #5
          I decided I was bored with having the car at stock height, so I drove out to Leduc so me and my friend Justin could cut some springs at his work shop.

          This was my first time taking the suspension out of the car so I learned a few things.
          I apparently have MK Motorsport suspension all around. Who knew (i didn't fucking know)


          So we cut the MK Motorsport springs down by a coil front and back. I don't know if those are rare springs or something but whatever. The rear sits better now, no I don't have pictures yet. The front stayed pretty much the same though, which was weird.

          This is a picture of Justin cutting the spring on a front strut. Something weird we noticed was the spacer thing on top of the strut. You can see it in the picture, now I don't know if that's necessary or not so hopefully someone on here knows. If it's not it's coming off and I should get another inch or so on the front.
          BMW E34 V8 - Daily
          Merc 190E - Sold
          BMW 635CSi - Project
          Mercedes 190e Build Thread
          Euro BMW E24 Build Thread /Style is personal, fun is universal._____IG: @levonvandamage

          Comment


          • #6
            So this is the car after we hacked the springs into bits. We cut a coil off all around.


            Didn't really seem to effect the front to much, which is weird cos the spring is hecka short now. But the rear dropped a nice amount.

            Just need to figure out what in the blazing fuck those weird spacer things are on top of the front struts. If they aren't needed then good things will happen bros. Good things.
            BMW E34 V8 - Daily
            Merc 190E - Sold
            BMW 635CSi - Project
            Mercedes 190e Build Thread
            Euro BMW E24 Build Thread /Style is personal, fun is universal._____IG: @levonvandamage

            Comment


            • #7
              Okay so we finished up the front springs yesterday. I figured out those things on top of front struts were just pointless spacers. Not sure why they were there, previous owner too afraid of the low methinks.

              Anyways here's how it sat before.



              And here it is now.



              Apparently 1 coil and taking the spacer out was the perfect amount for the front end to drop. (for now)





              And my favourite shot of it with it's new low



              It's a bit bouncier than before and doesn't handle as well. But it looks the kitties titties so whatever.

              I will legit miss throwing the car around in the corners though. More motivation to save up and get coilovers I guess.
              BMW E34 V8 - Daily
              Merc 190E - Sold
              BMW 635CSi - Project
              Mercedes 190e Build Thread
              Euro BMW E24 Build Thread /Style is personal, fun is universal._____IG: @levonvandamage

              Comment


              • #8
                Cutting one coil negatively affected the handling? It really shouldn't. Car looks great at the current height, and euro import e24s are awesome just get ride of the rear wheel opening molding.

                insta:yungwymo

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Wyatt Lay View Post
                  Cutting one coil negatively affected the handling? It really shouldn't. Car looks great at the current height, and euro import e24s are awesome just get ride of the rear wheel opening molding.
                  It seems to roll and bounce a bit more now. I don't know, I haven't driven it really hard yet since I cut coils. And I would love to remove that trim there, but there is rust lurking underneath so it will stay on until I can afford to get it repaired.
                  BMW E34 V8 - Daily
                  Merc 190E - Sold
                  BMW 635CSi - Project
                  Mercedes 190e Build Thread
                  Euro BMW E24 Build Thread /Style is personal, fun is universal._____IG: @levonvandamage

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Your shocks are probably shot if it's bouncing around after cutting coils.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      looks so gangster!

                      always been a massive fan of 6ers!



                      Comment


                      • #12
                        love this e24, good start bro!

                        and even all the way from the UK i have heard of edmonton haha! when i was like 8 my best mate moved to Okatoks just south of calgary and we went to edmonton one day when we went to visit him for a few weeks, isnt there like a museum on dinosaurs or something near edmonton? LOL we went there hahaha!
                        Instagram: @ask83n

                        Originally posted by DragginWagon
                        Always build your car for yourself. and dont tell me you cant afford to.
                        This thread is a perfect example of taking lemons and making fucking jager bombs!

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                        • #13
                          Thanks for putting the info for how many coils you cut. I need to do the same on my e23 but wasnt sure!
                          1984 BMW 745i - 1949 Plymouth Business Coupe
                          I always know when im hitting boost because i can start to feel the springs of the seat in my back

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                          • #14
                            Sweet ride man, wish I knew someone who collected old cars
                            Flickr

                            Projects :

                            1984 W123 300D (Sold)

                            1999 C43 AMG (no thread..yet)

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                            • #15
                              No progress yet dummy

                              Thanks for the love guys! No updates for awhile as income has been sporadic, so here are some pictures.







                              The increased rear camber since the spring chop







                              Really just looking for a place to store the car for the winter, it's really cooling off up here right now and I don't even have a winter beater yet haha. Hopefully I can get a place with heat so I can work on it over winter. Yes I can't stand the cold, I'm a pretty lame Canadian I know blahblahblah it sucks


                              Also I have instagram now so if you want to see slight updates on things falling apart on the car and me not doing anything about them make sure to follow me!

                              @levonvandamage
                              BMW E34 V8 - Daily
                              Merc 190E - Sold
                              BMW 635CSi - Project
                              Mercedes 190e Build Thread
                              Euro BMW E24 Build Thread /Style is personal, fun is universal._____IG: @levonvandamage

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