Hello. My name is Dan, and today I doomsday prepped
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I lied I didn't check today
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well, i was unsuccessful at pulling the shift knob off. i soaked it in acetone overnight but it didn't help. I wrenched on it a little until the point when I was starting to damage it, then gave up. until next season, i'll just leave it be. for now, i mounted the shift boot with the lever off, then reinstalled the whole thing at once. This is 'M Rain' fabric for those unfamiliar. Matt-B on r3vlimited makes and sell the sets.
and all mounted in. i also had an e34 leather ebrake handle from the parts car that I threw on.
I test fit my wheels today. full specs on the wheels I picked up are:
BBS RS243 16x7 et33 (Fronts)
BBS RS310 16x8 et38 (Rears)
All original finish (very happy about this) is in pretty good shape, maybe a 8.5/10. some pitting around the bolts, and the inner barrels obviously look 20 years old. I'm glad they aren't perfect so I don't have to worry about them.
4x114.3 with 66.1 centerbore
Got some Adaptec adapters made up with the 4x100 to 4x114.3 pattern. 15mm all around (thinness available)
my maths were correct. et23 rear and et18 front. i got no rubbing anywhere on my test drive, which is awesome. however the adapter bolts are a little too long so hopefully they will send me some shorter ones. front strut clearance:
and had to get a good picture before taking off the whole setup after the test. i'm happy with how far I've gotten the car, and I think I'm done working on it for the season with the weather swing finally here.
Dan
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Great work. The car is looking fantastic.
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Lookin' good. I'm having the opposite problem with my ZHP knob. On a hard 1-2 shift, I'll throw it right into the back seat.
+54213 on Altimax Arctics. I wish I didn't receive a set of Blizzaks with the purchase of my 325xiT, but can't bring myself to switch perfectly good tires out.
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Lookin' good. I'm having the opposite problem with my ZHP knob. On a hard 1-2 shift, I'll throw it right into the back seat.
I don't understand people like you, why are you pulling up and back so hard?!
I had a shift knob that didn't stay on too well in one of my e30's, and I never noticed until other people were throwing it into the back seat. -
I don't understand people like you, why are you pulling up and back so hard?!
I had a shift knob that didn't stay on too well in one of my e30's, and I never noticed until other people were throwing it into the back seat.Lol, I don't pull up. It's just loose after like 200 super hard 1-2 shifts during 1/4 and 1/2 mile passes.
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thanks, dudes.
i'd like a video of said 'throwing it into the back seat'. i can't imagine how that would happen, even with a loose knob.
and yes, TJ I have the BBS centercaps. no point in mounting them for the test run.
Dan
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Lol, I don't pull up. It's just loose after like 200 super hard 1-2 shifts during 1/4 and 1/2 mile passes.
I've done it before. Not in my current car but in customers cars or in friends cars. As soon as you go to shift on a 1-2 or 3-4 it pops off. You don't have to shift hard for it to happen but with the right momentum the knob just comes off in your hand... (there's a joke in there somewhere)
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Typical stock e30 shift knob has a plastic piece that fits into the groove on the top of the lever. If the knob was not installed correctly the fit is not tight. But if someone tried to twist rather than pull the knob this piece breaks off and then the whole knob can come off with a hard pull. Unless of course the PO has decided to cover up the issue by supergluing the knob to the shaft.
For me it was at a DE event years ago just after T3 at Road America and heading strong towards T4. Shifted into 4th and the knob did fly off into the back of the car. A little exciting with T5 coming up.
After the session when I asked Mary Medo the chief DE instructor about how to avoid this type of problem from happening she just shook her head, smiled and her sage advice was to be gentle and smooth in shifting rather than yanking on the knob.
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Dan I checked today, it is basically in the same spot as yours. I must've never even bothered to make a mental note of it x_x
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Dan I checked today, it is basically in the same spot as yours. I must've never even bothered to make a mental note of it x_x
with the shift boot installed, its not super obvious. its not like something is wrong, that's just how it ends up if all e36 parts are used. what I plan to do is cut the carrier in half and lengthen it, moving the position backwards towards the center. i don't care if its slightly to the right. then I can fit the stock rubber boot to keep noise/heat out of the console and not slam the cloth boot and wear it out every time i shift into 5th.
her sage advice was to be gentle and smooth in shifting rather than yanking on the knob.
car advise or personal advise?
Dan
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I'm not too concerned with the position of it either
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so there are just a couple of projects for the off-season. my car just sitting in my parking lot, so only inside tinkering can be done. do need garage!
anyways, first on the list was the bixenon retrofit.
i've posted DIYs on this before, but each time is a bit different, and my photo links like to die from old threads.
if you don't want to read the short book, or look at 30+ photos turn away now. sorry, not sorry!the setup:
morimoto mini DS2 4.0
morimoto 3800k bulbs (this is f*ing brilliant, really glad they added this as a color option)
50w ballasts
Depo euro smoked headlightshere's the back of the Depo lights with crap quality aftermarket HIDs
new parts ready to go
some cool new features that they've added to recent projectors retrofits. separate plug for high beam actuator and separate plug on the ballasts for the ignitors. both make retrofitting easier.
first step is to remove the stock projector and throw in the trash. its garbage. everything Depo makes is garbage, really.
these two photos show how the headlight will need to be cut to fit the new projector.
to remove the headlight from the bucket, you will have to cut the main adjuster.
the way Depo has assembled these you are forced to cut something to take them apart. dumb! i have a fix for this below.
here is what plastic had to be removed to fit these particular projectors.
i've also retained the stock vents (the narrow curved vent on the bottom right and the vent cut in half on the left side).
this helps with moisture escaping the housing.
next, the mini ds2 4.0 projectors have 3" glass and stock e30 lights are 2.5" so the trim ring has to be widened.
there is no room for a dremel cut off wheel in there, and it is impossible to get the lens off Depo lights, so hot knife it is!
its works slowly, but effectively and you don't risk damaging the glass
a little sanding to clean it up. you can't really see any of this from the front since its all smoked/black
now you can mount the projector. you just need 3 brackets, and definitely nothing fancy. i bent some sheet metal and used some computer frame parts for these.
important: make sure the projector is horizontally level with the original headlight alignment.
e30 headlights have no rotational adjustment (most cars dont)
a new feature that I caught wind of since my last retrofit was using FGLs, or foreground limiters.
it does exactly what the name implies, and reduces the amount of light output right in front of the car, thereby improving distance vision by reducing glare.
the little flap is to let heat escape the projector bowl.
i went pretty conservative for this go around, but it should still help. here is what they look like mounted to the top of the projector bowl.
so another fun feature I added is adding a glow to the projectors, turning them into my front 'marker' lights.
i bought some superflux LEDs, which are wide beam and prewired for 12v, which saves me some work.
simple brackets.
i just superglued the LEDs into place.
you need to point the LEDs at the cutoff shield/projector to illuminate them, NOT point the LEDs towards the glass.
test fire! looks pretty cool I think, we'll see how it looks on the car.
next, you NEED to test your headlights before sealing them all up.
every retrofit kit i've installed needed adjustments of how the bulbs sit in the mounts.
i also needed to test my FGLs. plug in your ballasts and high beam connector, you will need it.
i always quickly hack together a testing harness that I can clamp to the + terminal in the engine bay, very easy this way to aim the headlight at a wall or something.
the final version (not pictured) had two headlight plugs at the end so the bulb and high beam actuators could be used at the same time.
so here is the output from one light as an example.
the red oval shows where the 'hotspot' or brightest area of the light was without adjustments.
the green circle is where it needs to be for the best output.
you have to shim the bulb to move the filament to the correct centering in the projector bowl.
simply loosen the bulb holder and move the bulb around with your hand and suddenly it will be very clear what you have to do.
also, on the first attempt you can see my FGLs were far too aggressive. the green arch shows where they should be.
i didn't take a picture of shimming the bulb, but all I did was use aluminum tape on one side of the bulb mount to tilt the bulb into place.
next step is sealing the lights.
aluminum foil tape is your only choice.
its an amazing product if you've never used it.
just tape over all the openings. the better you seal it, the less moisture will get in on a rainy day.
now mount the headlight back into the bucket.
remember before with the mounting adjuster I cut in half?
just order a pair of stock adjusters to replace them. you need the black 'cup' parts, too.
the Depo lights actually have the stock mounting hole hidden behind the horseshit excuse of an adjuster they use.
drill or punch out the rivets to access it.
now that the headlight is back in the bucket, plug the ignitor into your bulb and seal the rest of it up with tape.
the bulb holder has no seal, and the ignitor is meant to be inside a housing, so it all needs to be buttoned up. looks ugly, works perfectly, and you can't see it anyways.
on the e30, you can mount the ballasts right to the back of the bucket, which is handy since you don't have to clutter up your engine bay with them.
threw some osram nightbreakers in the high beams for good measure (great bulbs!)
i have one crappy final test picture to show the output of just ONE headlight.
i'm impressed with the output of these, they match or best my full size FX-R projectors that i have on the e34.
very wide, and I love love love the 3800k. its more functional (yellow light is easier for your eyes) and looks more appropriate for an 80s car.
on-car pictures of the 'marker' light feature will have to wait till spring, but here's the table shot
congrats if you've made it this far. as a reward, i will tell you what the answer is to life, the universe, to everything. 42.
Dan
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Lighting stuff is always something that I have been curious about. But have no idea where to start
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Great writeup. I completely agree with the idea of 3800k bulbs. I hate the look of typical hid bulbs in older cars.
No you want the 100000000000000k aimed all the way to the left.
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The marker is going to look bad ass on the car!
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