This true story will make you weep... E30 M3 3.2 Conversion

[johnono]

all gone mental mfree, dont get so wound up (knowin u want to respond so bad to this right now) reading the past thread through and being unbiased in all this id say, free, u did have a pop about the posts on this thread (without judgement) and mbates, u were shall we say "heated" in you responses.

point being, you defending yourself in such a determined way only fuels the fire.

probably end up loosing mfree as a member over this, and its not why we come here (to fight). some may say mfree going may be a good idea as it will cull this recent spell of bickary, only to leave it open for the next sorry sod to cop it from mbates...

the "journal" serves its purpose as just that, and as others should limit (by request) thier comments on subject other than "thread intended" so should the complaints over past expeiriences

i would much prefer to read / see the new additions / ideas planned for the car, mabey a vote, or a rally of opinion on colour or wheel type for example.

enough of the bickering because its gettin old, and then no-one will care how the car turns out in the end anyway

(my 2 bobs worth)

[MFree]

EXACTLY - as i just said, I am happiest here when posting photos of colours and videos of the car running etc. Mate you are SPOT ON and mirroring what i just wrote - i.e lets PLEASE keep this on topic from now on ok?

Also, I am not going to leave over something so petty mate, donna worry

Later

[MasterBates]

I'm sorry if I embarrased you, wasn't interntional. I knew who you are vaguely through Pete - he told me when you bought the white 6 Series 3 or 4 years ago. I remembered the name and wondered if your Dad was who I thought he was - and he is!
I doubt anyone else here knew that. And I didn't actually say what your last name was - you'll notice that I had the good manners to delete most of it.

Anyway, I can't be arsed to argue. lets see some pics, good luck with Zoom and there's a pint with your name on it!

Respect to your Dad anyway. He must know all the heroes like Tony Pond (RIP) and Brian Culcheth, and I'd love to know why John Davenport went to prison - fingers in the till I gather.

[MasterBates]

Double post.....

[johnono]

yeah baby

[johnono]

[Simon]

He must know all the heroes like Tony Pond (RIP)

When? I didn't realise he had passed away.

I always remember the time when he slid his 'little' Rover 3500 into a tree sideways! Who decided to take that car rallying!

[MFree]

I vaguely remember Brian Culcheth taking me for a drive in the TR7 'launch' Rally car - I still have some of those BL Motorsport Helmet stickers and cards somewhere that I Saved years ago - I remember being at test days with Andy Rouse and Derek Bell driving the Jaguar XJC V12 Coupe where it just kept on breakign drive shafts. The British car industry just COULD NOT produce driveshafts that were balanced and did not have imperfections in them - increadible! You can see why the car industry fell apart! Nothing beats going with my Dad to Brentford where Fiat used to be back in 1978 when he was their PR man and collecting the works 131 Abarth on a trailer and Estate towcar to take to my school fete! It was the one after the Alitalia one that was done in dark blue, light blue and white...

Not alot of people know this but Tony Pond was offered a full World Championship works drive by Fiat in the 131 Abarth, but he turned it down because he refused to drive a left-hooker! They even offered to re-train him over weeks of intensive testing but nope - typical Brit again! "The steering wheel's on the wrong side so career or not, I aint driving it!" - hence he stuck with BL and ended up doing things like treeing uncompetitive Rover SD1's on the RAC! Knob - but a very funny and charismatic guy - I have a Barry Hinchcliffe Castrol Promo video from 1984/5 of the Audi Quattro and Nissan 240RS teams (pond was driving the Nissan) on the Tour de Corse Rally - man, now THOSE guys were hero's! Forget active diffs and power steering etc - imagine hustling a 400BHP A2 Quattro or Lancia 037 Rally round those Mountain roads with no stage notes or anything! Pond hit a cow but finished 6th!

And of course the mental runs to go fishing with my dad who had access to the fleet of press cars, ripping along in Inca Yellow Dolly Sprints outrunning local police cars in their 1.3 Escort MkII's and in later years Fiat 131 Sports and Strada 105TC's - A funnier memory was having all the Panda regalia in the house for the Fiat Panda launch, which was a full-on panda suit! We had the first ever Panda and before that metallic green X19 ever on the roads - they didnt last long in those days!

My dad was also the man who had to tell Henry Toivenan's dad of his son''s death as they were both in England on a national rally here watching someone else drive. The most memorable though as i was older was Le Mans in 1986 where all the Japanese 'stars' like Hoshino and Suzuki were outqualified by James Weaver in the year old March-Nissan, as the Japs were all bricking it down the Mulsanne and backing-off, it was such a loss of face though to them (in those days all japanese car companies held the view, which alot still do, that it was only the engine that mattered, a car was just a housing for the engine so March built the cars) that a British driver had outdone their drivers that they speed limited his car on revs so in final qualifying he couldnt show their star drivers up! There was a huge row and Weaver packed his bag to leave the circuit only for some lesser Nissan man to be made to fall on his sword and have the management apologise to stop him leaving! I have that alkl on 8mm Cine film somewhere!!!

That's what got me in love with Le Mans and why one of my best friends Simon got into Le Mans when i took him in 1994, unlike me as the driver when we began racing though, he made it and I didn't - hence why he is running a full-on LMP2 car Team now in the LMES and I'm tossing about with botched-up M3's!!!

Happy days!

///MFree

[MFree]

Or that's the theory!

No news on the car itself, it is still being stripped down to go to the painter now apparantly. Zoom having confirmed that everything is working mechanically. My lush Carbon Fiber DTM rear wing, front splitter and DTM vented side mirrors are on their way to Zoom from Markus Glaum (www.s14.de) in Germany.

I wish my digital camera hadn't been knicked ages ago or I could post a photo of the Angel eye lights Im maiking - removing the glass on the outer 'smiley' (siade/main beam) lights wasnt easy as the casing is plastic and quite alot of the rim and edge broke off where I was levering the glass off, but as long as I achieve a seal with enough clear silicon sealant it should be ok i think. What I'm doing is sticking the Glow/Neon wire stuff onto the inside of the glass (the only logical place where it can be uniformly attached) and then the coonection wire out through a hole in the housing in the case of the Full-Beam (metal) lights and a channel from the outside of the rim down to underneath the level of the glass rim on the side/main beam lights as the plastic housing can be cut away more easily. The wire is only 2.5mm in diameter but it does slightly prevent the glass sitting back in the housing fully on the outer 'smiley' lights as the reflective concave panel inside sits pretty much flush against the glass cover (well not now!). But as I said, as long as i can get a seal all round with enough silicon, it shouldnt make any difference. You cant see the side of the lamps when in place anyway as they are recessed into the grilles so it doesnt matter how rough the backside/seal looks!

Anyway, they should look smart when working, this 2.5mm glow-wire is the brightest that the company make (it comes in 1.3mm and 5mm as well), amazing stuff, it just looks like speaker wire with a clear plastic coating, totally flexible, but apparantly it lights up so bright that you can see it clearly at distance in the daytime! Mine is white but you can get it in 10 different colours (I thought anything but white or yellow would look too 'Fast and Furious' Naff - one small step from that to underlighting eh?!). If this works, I might make some more as I wanted to have a thick white ring with the VERY thin 1.3mm wide ring outside it in yellow or blue, as that would look amazing with the narrower outer ring making the halo look kind of 'soft' in appearance! I will post pics next week when ive borrowed a camera and test them hooking them up to a car battery - you can change the brightness on the inverter unit they come with - but for just Ԛ£40 for all 4 rings made up for me with all the wiring etc done, its not expensive really, when you consider people are asking Ԛ£200 for ready made units which frankly look rubbish! I haven't seen any which use this glow wire so it should be interesting to see how they look...

///MFree

(hopefully this is a posting which no-one can have a problem with or have a go at me about!! Other than my inability to be brief!! LOL)

[MFree]

I know MB has said my car is rotten, John at Zoom doesnt know quite now he formed this opinion, anyway, totally fixable and anyway out of sight rust aside, the panels are apparantly not bad at all, i know the most important ones, the rear 3/4 panels and around the rear wheelarch, are good and not rusty or fileld/dented, but what does a Ԛ£2-Ԛ£2.5k paintjob get you these days?

Here's what I'm aiming for in terms of finish



I know that's asking alot but you gotta have dreams right?

I mean that one there is *SICK* it's so mint... Also you see so many M3's that somehow though all being the same basic car, can all look very different in terms of their 'poise' you know? It's all to do with ride-height and pitch and wheel size etc, but to my mind although i would have SLIGHTLY more pitch on the car (the rear slightly higher by about 10mm) i think the car pictured above is near-perfect! What think you?

I was thinking, with the flat dark grey paint would it be a nice touch to leave the wing mirrors in plain carbon as the rear Gurney flap and front splitter will be? Its just that plain carbon is gonna be pretty close in terms of its shade to my grey anyway i think, another option might be to have the painter mix up a 50/50 laquer/grey paint and just give them one coat so the carbon is visible through a kind of see-thru version of the grey!?

What do you all think ? (and dont be rude about my car and hopeless / hapless dream-on-mate type stuff yet ok! )

///MFree[/img]

[BenE30]

another option might be to have the painter mix up a 50/50 laquer/grey paint and just give them one coat so the carbon is visible through a kind of see-thru version of the grey!?

Like on the Ferrari F40 paint so thin you can still see the weave!!
would opt for BBS 3 peice split rims polished now thats perfect!! i listened to you clip of the engine! and i have high admiration for what you are aiming to achieve mate!! i hope you do it so that one day (i can buy your car) i mean do one myself!!

good luck mate, looking forward to the end result!

[MFree]

BBS 3 piece splitties were always my dream, there are 3 sets for sale in 17 and 18" at the German M3E30 site but their offset is 15 which is too low for my car, my calipers are bulky at the front so i need about 30 offset or more so i can space out myself with spacers...

Im gonna buy the Kerscher KCS that i showed on my original version of this thread - im getting kinda tired of the BBS mesh look now as i see it all the time and no-one has used these wheels on an E30 M3 that ive seen and ive seen ALOT! They look wicked and are not expensive either for 3 piece wheels...

here:



also - Ben, when I do decide to sell it you are first on the list , I rekon i will want about Ԛ£12k for it... who knows! I'm hoping i never want or need to as im planning a LONG involved love affair after waiting so long! Absence makes the heart grow fonder etc

[Geeman]

Nice choice in wheels. Just needs some different centre caps... Mind you, the read caps would look good with the Grey of the body... who knows?

Thin paint on the carbon bits sounds like a good way to go. Kinda show them off, but not.

I agree with you comment about how M3's can all look so different. Daryls M3 looks sweet with the Rondells on... but the rear looks to be a little low, and the idea of raising it a little to increase the 'pitch' might make it look more agressive (not that it doesn't already!)

Looking forward to seeing the end result.

Giles.

[snap of Daryls M3]

[johnono]

lovley mota

[M3Compact]

He must know all the heroes like Tony Pond (RIP)

When? I didn't realise he had passed away.

I always remember the time when he slid his 'little' Rover 3500 into a tree sideways! Who decided to take that car rallying!

Tony Pond was a great bloke, I met him several times. He was heroic in the Rover on tarmac, this was only a group A car and he regularly beat the group B machines with it. I was at Knowesley Safari Park in 1984 the day of the 'tree' incident.

Not alot of people know this but Tony Pond was offered a full World Championship works drive by Fiat in the 131 Abarth, but he turned it down because he refused to drive a left-hooker!

Tony turned down the Fiat drive after testing LHD cars, one being Billy Coleman's Porsche 911.

I vaguely remember Brian Culcheth taking me for a drive in the TR7 'launch' Rally car - I still have some of those BL Motorsport Helmet stickers and cards somewhere that I Saved years ago

Scarey beasts. This one that I have driven has approx 350 BHP, it feels like 350 BHP at tickover!


Off topic, sorry. Good luck with your conversion, I have heard many good reports about Zoom.

[MFree]

Hi all

Sorry it's been a while - not much has happened with the car in terms of it actually being finished yet - th car was stripped down totally over a month ago and the shell sent to the bodyshop, but Zoom are going through alot of changes right now and progress slowed down alot which isn't the greatest news but my car just happened to be the last one on the line before this happened... anyway, the shell has had all the welding and prep done i am assured by Jon and is now sitting in primer waiting for the desired shade of grey to be chosen (its taken a crazy amount of time for me to receive the colour charts) but this should happen tomorrow, then it will be painted finally next week and return to be assembled at Zoom following that...

That really should be 'it' - the only issues to resolve are the fitting of a decent carpet and my angel eye conversion that i made...

I will post some more news when i have it (I should have a photo of the car painted in a week or two)

Cheers

MFree

[Geeman]

Was beginning to wonder what was happening.

Always seems to take ages to get something you REALLY want done!

Looking forward to some pics!

All the best...

Giles.

[jmc330i]

Yeah would be good to see some pics. I cant wait to see how the colour turns out.

Good luck with it

[glenn]

fingers crossed for you mfree,
sounds like you can see some light at the end of the tunnel,
good luck

[MFree]

It's getting really annoying actually, the paint colour samples must have gotten lost in the post as its been 2 days now and nothings arrived...

It's such a seemingly insignificant issue to be holding this project up!

I guess I'm especially sore because my current transport is a clunky old transit van which is about as much fun to drive as a nail into my foot!

Sigh...

MFree

[MFree]

Hi all

Well the 'curse' of this car over the past 5 years and 5 specialists has struck again - the project is already way behind Zoom's estimates from last december (which was end of March) but I just found out that very alarmingly John from Zoom is in hospital having had it seems, a huge accident in his M5, luckily he's gotten away with broken ribs and a punctured lung it seems, but will be out of the game for a good few weeks, thankfully John was driving a big well built MCar, one shudders to think how he would be now had he been driving a Ford Focus or something!

ANyway, due to this now likely added delay to the project, the extra time ive had while my car has been sitting waiting for a grey paint colour to be chosen, has allowed me to think more about it and tho i came up with the flat grey idea for the paint, i think i would ultimately be dissapointed with it looking too boring - now I had always wanted to find a deep wine red/maroon metallic colour having once seen an Alpina B10 replica on Ebay yonks ago in that kind of colour but could never find out what the colour was, ive seen too many E30 M3's in techno violet too so couldnt choose that, but I just saw this M5 on Ebay in Rosso Red Metallic which i must confess have never seen before as a BMW colour, its code is 490 apparantly and i just love how it looks, really deep and classy looking. So ive decided to opt for that colour as ive certainly never seen an M3 in that colour so it will be pretty unique and has the added bonus of meaning my Red Sparco Corse seats wont look so out of place either!

HEre's what it looks like... personally i love the colour! Means the bodyshop can paint it and get the car back to Zoom for when John gets out of hospital in 2 weeks as well! I'm also bidding on this beautiful set of 4 AC Schnitzer 17x9" 3-piece wheels which even with an ET15 offset should just fit my car and look great on it, ive always loved their 3-piece splitties, just hope i can get them for sensible money in the end!

[MFree]

Here's a photo of the wheels i mentioned im bidding on... will look great on the car i think, slight shame the rears arent wider than the fronts but i can live with that if their price ends up right! They cost a small fortune do genuine AC schnitzer rims so im hoping i can afford the final price whatever it is!

[BenE30]

Nice choice of colour mate think it will really suit the E30! my dad has got an E34 535 in the same colour when its clean and polished WOW does it look smart!


Good luck mate, looking forward to seeing the finished article!

[Geeman]

How about the latest Imola Red that BMW are putting on the E46...? If I were to do a 'money's no object' E30 project, then this would be the colour I would go for I think. It's almost in the same style as the flat dove grey you were having before...



Love your Wine Red metallic, looks lovely, but I'm not sure it would suit the E30 M3 bodyshape... especially if you've got a stripped out 'race' interior... the two styles would clash I think - Classy exterior & stripped race interior... not sure how that would look.

Nothing to do with me, I know, but just sharing my thoughts. I'd be at my wits end by now if I was you!

Giles.

[MFree]

Hey Giles

Yes mate i *AM* at my damn wits end!!! Like TODALLY!!!

Also, the car isnt going to be stripped out anymore, i figured for the extra 20 kilos or so its worth having a carpet and some comforts!!!

The car is an Evo II shell so has aluminium boot, lightened glass etc anyway so i figured its light enough as it is!!!

So that hopefully answers that, I also think the Imola red is just too, well, same old same old... i think the Rosso Red Metallic is classier thats all!

Cheers

MFree

[Geeman]

Aaaaah, ok. If you're having a full interior now, then go for the Wine Red dude! Lovely. I take it you're off for full leather and the works inside...

[MFree]

Giles

No mate - I bought a pair of brand new red Sparco Corse seats way back in the early days of the project as well as nice sparco harnesses, well Foster sold the harnesses and didnt manage to flog the seats for some reason so i still have them, need new harnesses tho, but John at zoom is trying to sort out a mint 2nd hand dark grey carpet and other than that I still have to sort a back seat and some nice door cards (again probably dark grey if poss) I was thinking of buying the Carbon fiber door card set from Markus who sold me the carbon front and rear aero parts and wing mirrors (i was also gonna have the center console made in carbon as well by CA Automotive but that too is about Ԛ£500!!!), but the budget cant really stretch to them as they are about Ԛ£600 for the set of 4 i think and tho really nice, that seems a bit OTT just for something purely cosmetic so if you know of anyone who has F/R doorcards for the a 2-door E30 that are in good nic and a back seat too i would be interested in buying them... I should probably put a posting in the wanted section here i guess...

Ive got a nice carbon steering wheel and dash trim, other than the back seat and door cards i just need a gearlever surround i guess to finish things off nicely...

///MFree

[MFree]

Well, John from Zoom is apparantly 'nearly on my deathbed' - according to him! I think he exaggerates slightly but he doesnt sound too well for sure! I'm wishing him a full and speedy recovery and coz of all this i cant put too much pressure on him about the car! I'm hoping though that the decision on the paint colour gets relayed to Jason the painter tomorrow so that the car will at least be ready and returned for when John makes it out of hospital...

The wheels im bidding on have 11 hours to go in their auction with my current high bid standing at Ԛ£540, just hope i get them for sensible money as they are really just the ticket for my car!

If anyone reading this has a spare set of dark grey or black door cards fior a 2-door E30 (M3 is best) then i will purchase them as until i can afford a carbon fiber set at like Ԛ£600 i need some to use on the car. I have red SParco seats and apparantly WILL have a dark grey carpet so i guess dark grey cards would suit best, the car originally had light grey half leather interior but that would look poo i think with the other colours and anyway i sold them on when i thought the car would be all stripped out inside... I thought the interiors only came in black and light grey but if not, dark grey is 1st choice then black after that... oh yeah and i also need a rear seat to match as well if anyone has one of them too!

Cheers

///MFree

[CaesarBob]

Do you ever get the feeling you should give up on a project MFree? Can't believe how much bad luck you've had with the car. Hope it gets sorted soon.

I'm a bit disappointed your not going for the grey anymore, was really looking forward to see how it turned out. Not sure i'd choose the metallic red which your now opting for. Looks to old man, pipe and slippers to me. Hope i'm wrong.

Good luck.

[johnono]

GET WELL SOON JOHN!

and hope heԚ´s alwright

[Karan]

GET WELL SOON JOHN!

and hope heԚ´s alwright

yeh get well soon John....

boy can that fella drift that ///Mcoupe!!!!

[MFree]

Ceasar - i decided against the grey in the end because i thought that when i come to sell the car, it might limit heavily who like the colour, i think its a really aquired taste - also I think the red with the lovely 3-pece schnitzer wheels i got at a steal off Ebay (Ԛ£590 for 4 with tyres and they cost i dunno, over Ԛ£500 each just the wheels new!) will look just really subtle and classy - it was that or some metallic blue but this colour ive never seen on an E30 M3 before as its a very rare BMW colour, it looked really good on an E34 M5 so i figured it would too on an E30 M3!

Im confident and anyway its done now i think! Im hoping that the shell will be viewable this week sometime, but given Johns condition still and the fact that he still has alot of ongoing work to organise getting done and cant work himself physically, he is very up against it and his communications are somewhat erratic! But im hoping to hear from him soon!

I hope!

I will post some photos when i do see the car, i have to see the paint job before the car is reassembled, i mean would any of you pay Ԛ£2k for a paintjob and be happy for the car to be finished if youve not actually seen it or seen the car since well before it was completed mechanically let alone stripped and painted!

...and yes i have considered MANY MANY times giving up on this project, but ive sunk Ԛ£17k or more (ive given up counting) on it so have to get some kind of return!

Later

///MFree

[MFree]

I went up to see John at Zoom Motorsport on friday - for anyone who's innerested, he's recovering well, walking around, just quite sore in the ribs still but recovering (if you saw the photo of his 'late' M5 that he lost his arguement with the tree in you'd think him lucky to be how he is to be frank!). My shell (so i am told) is nearly finished being painted, the guy doing it is busier than Zoom usually are a he's had it over 2 months and its taken this long to get done! Will be with Zoom next week some time (again, so I am told and thought the same 3 weeks ago but time will tell!)

I tried the new Schnitzer wheels i got off ebay on Craigs M3 and though they JUST stick out a bit at the front, with the 235's replaced by 215's on the front they will just sneak into the arches! JUST!

However they WONT for sure fit over my nice new Brambo calipers, so anyone out there who runs 17" or 18" wheels that ARE NOT dished like the Schnitzer ones and wants AWESOME braking power, PM me and make me an offer for the whole assembly (Calipers, mounting brackets, discs and pads), its all unused and all in, cost me over Ԛ£1000 to put together (the 4-pot calipers are HUGE! and use 330mm discs). I know it seems a bit vain to choose to substitute brakes because they wont fit with my wheels rather than the other way around, but as you all know as im always on about it, I just have to have dished 3-piece rims, they just suit my taste... they do look amazing on the car too!!! here's how a set look on another M3 i found...



I will send photos of the painted shell once i get some! Im HOPING the car is done in time for my birthday in the first week in June (John promised me it would be 2 weeks max from when the shell returns to re-assemble it but given he's had the car for 6 months now Im not counting any chickens...) BTW what does that MEAN? Not counting any chickens = not prepared to be certain... who comes up with this nonsense huh?? Its like 'dont look a gift horse in the mouth' - why not? What will it do if you do? What is a feckin gift horse anyway???

Im drifting off topic now so had better scoot...

Later all

///MFree

[/img]

[MFree]

I went to see John at Zoom a week ago and all seems to be well though i didnt get to see my shell at all - the AC Schnitzer wheels do fit though, but having agreed a completion date for the car of no later than the 3rd of June with John and expecting the shell to be back with him this week sometime, I have not heard anything on that, which is odd as John saw the shell's panels being painted 2 weeks ago! Its unusual for a painter to half-do a job and leave it 2 weeks before completion! So i am again at a loss to know whats happening, however, I trust all will be well as John is a top bloke and his work second to none - its just that Zoom are scaling up their operation at the moment and with his accident and all, this isnt the best time for them!

I will post something tangible when i have it though - im desparate to see SOMETHING soon i swear, this project gives me the sweats man i tell you!

Cheers

///MFree

[M5pilot]

When its finished make sure you get agreed value insurance and for fuk sake drive carefully! No drifting, its already cursed as it is!