Alpine White Zender Kit E24 633CSI

[Jdesign]

Earl said:

Honestly with the grilles painted trim black and the front end put on, this thing would still look great as is=)

I need to get the grills off so I can paint them. They have studs molded onto the back side and they are spinning inside of the grills because the nuts are rusted to them. On top of that there is no room to cut them off without destroying the grills. So I keep putting this off, but I want to do it soooo bad.

[YoungCR]

You should be able to just drill out the screws. IF its the same style as the e28 grills those Phillips just screw into a plastic tab that goes into the core support. That or the screws themselves are plastic too. Double check the parts diagram haha.

[B C]

So no rack and pinion steering?! If so, today I learned something new

V8 E39s dont have it either

[Earl]

Snap said:

So no rack and pinion steering?! If so, today I learned something new

V8 E39s dont have it either

steering box ftw. E34's don't have a rack and pinion either.

[Jdesign]

Snap said:

So no rack and pinion steering?! If so, today I learned something new

V8 E39s dont have it either

Looks like you learned something and so did I!! I had no idea about E39 v8's. E24's use a gearbox and linkage system.

YoungCR said:

You should be able to just drill out the screws. IF its the same style as the e28 grills those Phillips just screw into a plastic tab that goes into the core support. That or the screws themselves are plastic too. Double check the parts diagram haha.

Well...... My e30 is like your describing, and so is this. BUT it also has ONE stud on the backside along with the screws. Here you can see someone also had the same issue highlighted in red...

[Jdesign]

Well I was wrong. There are two studs on the backside that attach to the corner light buckets, not the grills. I removed them with impact driver, spinning them really fast, heating the studs up to the point plastic would giveaway and I could pull out the corner lights.

I then removed the grills and the kidneys, which unfortunately will have to be replaced instead of repainted for two reasons. One is that the kidneys are dented and I rather save time and replace them vs. sanding and using filler to fix them. The other reason is that there is polished trim on the grills that has been painted over, and the amount of work to successfully strip that paint isn't worth it. Bigcoupe has a bunch of ppl parting out 6er's so I don't think I will have a hard time finding cheap replacements.

Besides that, I also buffed the bumper and cleaned all of the trim that goes with it and remounted it to the car. To buff it I screwed it to a wooden table off of the car and went to town with some polish. I really wanted to tuck the bumpers on this thing, but now I am thinking Im just going to leave them because they are so ridiculous its kind of awesome.

Mounting the bumper I also found that I'm missing brackets, and/or the entire lower valance that the Zender lip bolts to. Also the brakets I have, someone used the shittiest hardware ever, so they are all rusted so bad they are just rust blobs.So if anyone know of an E24 sitting in a salvage yard, or getting parted, let me know. 

[Jdesign]

I Also started clay baring and buffing the paint, but I need a lot harsher compound that what I was using.

This picture is kind of bad, but half is buffed and half isn't. It shows you what a difference even a light buff can do though.

And some over all pics as it sits.

[Earl]

The valence is definitely gone lol oops

[m42b32]

Starting to look even better!

[e92boost]

It's coming along great! I'm wanna come with my 6er to see this thing one day.

[B C]

[Earl]

You need an early valence for that lip

[Jdesign]

Early valance and Euro bumper.  thats another $250.

[P_Roloff]

Was the bumper oxidized, or just scuffed/scratched?

[Jdesign]

m42b32 said:

Starting to look even better! 

Thank you! there is alot of work ahead of me though

e92boost said:

It's coming along great! I'm wanna come with my 6er to see this thing one day. 

You should!! It would be great to have the two together for a photo!

P_Roloff said:

Was the bumper oxidized, or just scuffed/scratched? 

Oxidized mostly, with a lot of spotting. I still left the clear anodizing on it, just polished it up.

[P_Roloff]

Jdesign said:

Oxidized mostly, with a lot of spotting. I still left the clear anodizing on it, just polished it up. 

Interesting. Any specific product/method you recommend for getting the oxidation off? The rear bumper on my e30 could definitely use some love.

[Jdesign]

P_Roloff said:

Interesting. Any specific product/method you recommend for getting the oxidation off? The rear bumper on my e30 could definitely use some love. 

I just used buffing compound. If its really bad, you will need to sand through the anodizing and polish them. Its an extremely long and time consuming process.

More progress. I pulled the valve cover off to replace the gasket, paint the cover, paint the air box and AFS, replace the breather hose, and do the oil tube update @YoungCRmentioned earlier.  

I used the Evapor-rust to clean the clips and bolts holding stuff together while I strip and paint stuff and bake it on the oven with VHT.

Before the modified oil squirter looked like this( when I finally got it out)

And after I compressed the center. This is a common fix to help add oil pressure to lubricate the front rocker arms during low RPM driving. 

[e92boost]

Jdesign said:

I just used buffing compound. If its really bad, you will need to sand through the anodizing and polish them. Its an extremely long and time consuming process.

More progress. I pulled the valve cover off to replace the gasket, paint the cover, paint the air box and AFS, replace the breather hose, and do the oil tube update @YoungCRmentioned earlier.  

I used the Evapor-rust to clean the clips and bolts holding stuff together while I strip and paint stuff and bake it on the oven with VHT.

Before the modified oil squirter looked like this( when I finally got it out)

And after I compressed the center. This is a common fix to help add oil pressure to lubricate the front rocker arms during low RPM driving. 

I want to do this mod to mine!

[e92boost]

Do you know if the e30 lights fit the e24? I want to get some new headlights. Maybe euro ellipsoid's

[Jdesign]

e92boost said:

Do you know if the e30 lights fit the e24? I want to get some new headlights. Maybe euro ellipsoid's

I would say yes, but it would take some modification. Here is a e24 trim ring over my e30 lights. They are the same diameter, but the spacing between the lights isn't the same. *note the light holes seem larger in the e24 grills because of the chrome trim rings.