AlpineAde's 325i (Update NOV '11)

[spikuzi]

i stay at work 24/7 during the week in campellfield, not far from carshine. and the weekend in frankston.

you are welcome anytime

[RRRR]

Hi AlpineAde

I am in Melbourne till 5 dec - I have the same alpine white e30 but a 316i

any E30 shops (detailed address and tel plse) which I shd check out in melbourne these few days I have got...

cheers

what sort of parts you looking for ??

i dont think you will find much in melbourne

Hi Mate

aftermkt steering wheel (momo etc), gear knob (mtech/momo), smoked lights - stuff that can be carried back with me.

Thanks in advance

[spikuzi]

this might help u

http://carshine.com.au/

[RRRR]

Thanks Mate

Will try to check them out

cheers!

[Beavy_OZ]

Another Melbourne lad here, had to order schrick cams from america as there were no local stockists. $140USD postage hurts Good luck with your car OP! Are you stripping anything for weight or just taking it to track days as is?

[AlpineAde]

Revolution Racegear deal in Momo wheels.

Pricey though.

http://www.revolutionracegear.com.au/?f ... F7DADCEDAA

I'd check Carshine first.

For Sparco wheels and gear knobs call Meridian Motorsort:

http://www.mmsport.com.au/SP_Steering_Wheels.php

I've dealt with these guys and they're pretty cool. If you call in check out the roll cages they do ~ works of art! They have loads of performance parts (including an oil cooler I'm trying MOT to buy at the moment LOL!)

[AlpineAde]

Another Melbourne lad here, had to order schrick cams from america as there were no local stockists. $140USD postage hurts Good luck with your car OP! Are you stripping anything for weight or just taking it to track days as is?

Hey, Beavy!

I was lucky. I've just scored a Schrick cam, big bore throttle body and a nicely worked over inlet manifold for just over a grand.

The cam has sweet bugger all miles on it. It's a 272 degree job ~ more than enough for me.

If I hadn't put my hand up for that I, too, would have had to pay the price of getting one in. Not good.

The Supersprint cat-back saved me about 10 odd pounds I think. The driver's seat (in leather) weighed 42 pounds, so I saved just under 25 pounds swapping in the Recaro shell (including mounts/frame/runners). I was looking at a 12 pound bonnet from MA Shaw:

http://www.mashaw.com/html/product_info_BMW.html

But I don't think they're ADR compliant here.

The carpets will be coming out over Christmas and I'll decide then if I start removing some of the dead weight.

Originally I was going to strip the car, aiming for this sort of thing:



But it was actually in a condition that almost too nice to strip, if you know what I mean, so I will probably end up keeping it quite stock looking and aim for about 50kgs out of it at the most. I'll happily track it like that.

I was going to loose the steering rack for an E36 manual one, lose the electric windows, the air con, the sunroof, all sound proofing, door cards, rear seats, etc., etc., but now I think I'll end up with a car that has 2 race shells in it and on track days I'll just loose the rear seat, spare wheel, miscellaneous junk and be happy with that.

My home track is Sandown, btw. I'm hoping to get the car out there for a test run early next year.

[crazy1]

Your car is really coming on nicely, love the seats and the exhaust is just brill your doing a great job, keep us posted

[AlpineAde]

Will do, man.

Thanks for the interest.

[savvi]

Another Melbourne lad here, had to order schrick cams from america as there were no local stockists. $140USD postage hurts Good luck with your car OP! Are you stripping anything for weight or just taking it to track days as is?

Hey, Beavy!

I was lucky. I've just scored a Schrick cam, big bore throttle body and a nicely worked over inlet manifold for just over a grand.

The cam has sweet bugger all miles on it. It's a 272 degree job ~ more than enough for me.

If I hadn't put my hand up for that I, too, would have had to pay the price of getting one in. Not good.

The Supersprint cat-back saved me about 10 odd pounds I think. The driver's seat (in leather) weighed 42 pounds, so I saved just under 25 pounds swapping in the Recaro shell (including mounts/frame/runners). I was looking at a 12 pound bonnet from MA Shaw:

http://www.mashaw.com/html/product_info_BMW.html

But I don't think they're ADR compliant here.

The carpets will be coming out over Christmas and I'll decide then if I start removing some of the dead weight.

Originally I was going to strip the car, aiming for this sort of thing:



But it was actually in a condition that almost too nice to strip, if you know what I mean, so I will probably end up keeping it quite stock looking and aim for about 50kgs out of it at the most. I'll happily track it like that.

I was going to loose the steering rack for an E36 manual one, lose the electric windows, the air con, the sunroof, all sound proofing, door cards, rear seats, etc., etc., but now I think I'll end up with a car that has 2 race shells in it and on track days I'll just loose the rear seat, spare wheel, miscellaneous junk and be happy with that.

My home track is Sandown, btw. I'm hoping to get the car out there for a test run early next year.

hey man cars looking good , just wondering wat u used to do the gauges in the vents in the centre they look good always planned on doing it that way , cheers shane

[AlpineAde]

Hey, Shane!

The car with the stripped out interior above is not mine.

As I wrote:

Originally I was going to strip the car, aiming for this sort of thing:

I WAS going to use that image as a template on what mine would look like when I stripped it.

I still haven't decided how far to go and won't do until I rip the carpets out over Christmas.

All I know at the moment is that mine will get another Recaro shell in it (as above) and I will probably lose the console (as above) and some sound proofing.

I do like the "minimalist carpet" in the above one, though.

If I do it ~ go all out ~ my interior will resemble the one above with as much exactitude as possible. I like the look of it and the guy who does on the car has done a very clean job.

[AlpineAde]

Last year was a year for rebuilding suspension and doing brakes, whacking on a new exhaust, getting some tyres, fitting a Recaro shell and going over the car for a general tidy up.

This year is more an engine year. I plan to get some decent extractors, fit a camshaft, have the inlet manihold worked over, go a BBTB, and have the cylinder head worked over.

So, I started the ball rolling.....

BBTB









Inlet Manifold









Schrick 272 degree camshaft (at least, the box ~ the cam is oiled and wrapped for protection ~ I;ll leave it boxed until it gets installed).







Of course, second hand stuff...the cam has around 30 000-40 000 kms on it.

I think I paid a fair price so I'm pretty happy with it.

At least things are underway but there are more things to get....new rocker arms, rocker arm shafts, head bolt kit, VRS kit, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, and a water pump.

We'll see how it goes.

[AlpineAde]

Interesting....

I just ran the code on the box.

I might have got myself a 284/272 degree cam instead of what I thought was a 272/272 degree one.

Best find out for sure.

[oze30]

Why isn't the carbon bonnet adr? It would be the same as for kit cars. Both are FRP of sorts. ???

[drifty325i]

Looking sharp mate!

[AlpineAde]

Why isn't the carbon bonnet adr? It would be the same as for kit cars. Both are FRP of sorts. ???

Rules about bonnets sharding pedestrians I believe, oze30. They don't crumple; they splinter. At least that's my understanding of it.

Still looking into it, though, as losing weight in that particular spot would be absolutely perfect.

[AlpineAde]

Looking sharp mate!

Thanks, drifty! Appreciate the comment.

[AlpineAde]

Did a bit of a clean up in the engine bay.

Oil, oil everywhere.

Now it's a bit better.

[toby]

Lovely looking car and it's so clean. Are you going for a remap or new chip to go with the new profile cam?

[AlpineAde]

Thanks, toby!

It's touch and go whether the standard chip will handle all the new bits and pieces and the worked head. I suspect that at the end of the day I will be going for an aftermarket chip. What that will be is yet to be decided. I'm looking at the middle of the year to have all the work done.

[iDreamBeemer]

Looks like a nice project. I've been in Melbourne for a few months and all I've seen are a whole bunch of 318 4 door shit boxes so looks like you did ok to find a nice example.

I really miss my iS (Sold it before coming over) but from what I've seen over here I seriously think I would be better off buying one in the UK and importing it over here! Thats assuming you lovely lot let me stay in the country!

[AlpineAde]

E30 sixes are getting harder and harder to find now in Australia (especially in Victoria, where I am). There a few auto examples but manuals are getting scarcer on the ground.

There are, as you've noticed, still plenty of M10 powered E30s around and they are generally riced beyond belief, dying from neglect or have had transplants performed on them. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is finding a 325iS. Very rare out here. When I was looking for a car there were only 3 manual 325i examples for sale in the entire state. Amazes you to think about it when you consider how common such cars are in Europe/GB.

Importing cars from the UK presents it own problems. Best look on the VicRoads site and check their fact sheets.

Stuff like this is what you would be after:

http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Reg ... ration.htm

Have you had a look at the BMW Car Club of Victoria or web based clubs like ECCA?

http://bmwccv.bmwclubs.asn.au/

http://www.eurocca.net/forums/cmps_index.php

Those places would be a good source to look for cars/advice on importing.

Hope our "lovely lot" let you stay, man, and good luck in the car hunt.

[AUS325IS]

hey alpineade i'm from s.e. melbourne myself i gotta 325is i know what you mean about the sixes getting harder to find i was after a manual but could only find an auto for the right price evryone wants an arm and a leg for a manual 325i and that was even bog stock executive sedans let us know of the parts suppliers you are using as i'm a bout to start doing up the suspension and other items on my car.

[AlpineAde]

Hey, AUS!

Gambold Engineering (speak to Ashley) are the guys who do the servicing on my car.

They sourced all suspension components at a very good rate and did the work.

I've also sourced parts from BM Autowerks (speak to John) and Southern BM (speak to Andrew).

I have also used Carshine and can highly recommend them.

Are you on ECCA by any chance?

[AUS325IS]

you mean eurcca yeah i'm on there i really wanna do the front end on my car it feels sloppy i've used ganbold before great guys i wanna do all the ball joints and bushes on my car gonna do it myself cash is a bit tight just need to source parts where abouts is southern bm i've never heard of them before are they a service place or parts place

[AlpineAde]

Southern BM is an independent BMW service agent. They will also get parts in no problem. I grabbed my ATE Powerdiscs off them for sweet bugger all.

Southern BM:

Address: 34 Bignell Road, Moorabbin
Phone: 03 9555 4049

http://www.southernbm.com.au/

Give 'em a bell.


BM Autowerks:

http://www.bmautowerks.com.au/

Also these guys are pretty good:

http://bmspares.com.au/

[AUS325IS]

yeah i know about bmspares in dandy used them heaps of times not bad guys to deal with anyway better get back on topic don't wanna hijack your thread

[E30_droptop]

ya flamin mangral hahaha u should of got a cab u live in australia isent it sunny there everyday of the year !

[AlpineAde]

yeah i know about bmspares in dandy used them heaps of times not bad guys to deal with anyway better get back on topic don't wanna hijack your thread

No problem, man. Give us a wave if you see a white 4 door in your travels.

ya flamin mangral hahaha u should of got a cab u live in australia isent it sunny there everyday of the year !

LOL!

Sunny? Not every day.

I'm not really the cabriolet type. I prefer hard tops.

At any rate it'd be a bit wasted in me as I generally don't see much daylight. All my work is done at night so I tend to keep "night hours"...have done for many years now.

Saw you the pics of your car, though. Loved the colour! Very nice looking vehicle. Nice bodykit, too. Sits well on it.

[Beavy_OZ]

Nice thread progress! Great to see all these links I haven't been to yet.

AUS325is, you're right about manuals being rare, my workmate is eyeing off the Getrag 260 I pulled out of my spare 323i, he's even offered a lowered king/bilstein sports combo as a trade

Any more info on your BBTB ANdy? Did you get it machined out, or purchased seperately? nice clea bay you have there

[AlpineAde]

Yep, the engine bay came up OK. The BBTB was part of a deal I did, along with the inlet manifold and Schrick cam. It has had the crap machined out of it! And a nice job they did, too. All of this stuff will go in /on when I get the head worked in the middle of the year.

I'm also looking at the UUC short shift kit as the sloppiness in the gear shift is now driving me nuts.

It looks as though John, from BM Autowerks, will be carrying them so I'll score a kit from him.

[AlpineAde]

Picked up one of these today:







Go Pro Motorsport camera.

http://www.goprocamera.com/index5.htm

Nice little unit.

Wish the Porsche came with it!

[AlpineAde]

[AlpineAde]

From another forum I post on....

This is a quick test I did.

120 megabytes of video compressed to 12 in Windows Movie Maker and then compressed again to a little inder 9 megabytes when uploaded and encoded as a .flv file.

The Audio sucks because I had the audio set incoorrectly and you really have to fiddle with positioning on the car to get the best sound. I gather that using the supplied mounting plates would be better than using the sticky pod supplied.

As far as image quality goes...I think it looks pretty good (especially given the brutal compression).

[oakey]

quality is really good considering. Now all you need is a second e30 to drive behind you
Or get in a police chase