Alpine White Zender Kit E24 633CSI

[Jdesign]

Snap said:

You have all the fun tools!

I just bought the steam cleaner to do the job. $50 new @ dealer cost. Apparently it can purify the water so you dont need to get distilled water like most steam cleaners. (I used distilled anyways not knowing this till I read the directions)  Blew my mind that it only takes 15seconds to heat the water and make steam.

[m42b32]

That job is the worst!! If you still have adhesive all over the windows, ammonia worked super well getting mine cleaned up

[Jdesign]

m42b32 said:

That job is the worst!! If you still have adhesive all over the windows, ammonia worked super well getting mine cleaned up

I have "tint adhesive remover" but last time I used that it was still a huge pain in the @#$. I will try ammonia.

[suspenceful]

Nice! I didn't want to make a comment about the tint before, glad you removed it. I tried doing this on my old E36 and failed miserably.

[Jdesign]

suspenceful said:

Nice! I didn't want to make a comment about the tint before, glad you removed it. I tried doing this on my old E36 and failed miserably.

I have removed tint on a few cars. THIS car was the absolutely worst one I have dealt with. The worst part is I got sick and felt like I was going to die and haven't finished. I actually fear finishing the job now. I did open the windows to let the car fumigate and added an air neutralizer, so hopefully that helps.

[Jdesign]

Put this on the lift last night. I got new V-belts on all the accessories, the tint adhesive off of two of the 5 windows, and started on the shift bushings. Slow progress is better than no progress! 

I tried to take better pictures with the tint removed but the glare and lighting was so bad I gave up. I will post more pictures soon!

[Jdesign]

Picture fail, shifter success. 

I machined some new shifter bushings out of delrin and installed them. I swear I remember taking pictures before and after and how nice my new bushings were before I installed them. Now looking through my pictures they are no where to be found. All I have is a picture of the metal sleeves from the ones that were in the car.(that's all that was left) I got it all back together and it feels AMAZING now. Before it was so vague it felt fragile to shift in every gear. 

[Jdesign]

Another update!!

HUGE LANGUAGE BARRIER -but-  I finally found a front valance. I saw an ad for a guy selling an E24 that was in rough shape, but it ran and drove and was located in Milwaukee. I contacted him and he said someone was coming to buy his E24 that day. So I asked about the front valance and convinced him to remove it prior to the sale.

Long story short I have a valance and the brackets finally. This means I can properly mount the Zender lip!!! 

I will be ordering all of the steering components today that the car still needs to be 100% road worthy. Once they come in, I will follow up with some nice install pictures!

[B C]

sharky mc sharkface!

what steering parts do you need?

[Jdesign]

Parts to order / find

• Front springs
• Tie rods
• Steering Arm
• Trailing Arms
• Suspension Control Arm and Ball Joint 
• Ball joints
• Right rear window switch (in the rear of the car)
• Battery tie down
• Front valance
• Speakers (4 minimum)
• Shift Bushing
• Wipers
• Tail light surrounds (might need to make my own)
• Interior dash blanks
• fog lights
• Door light switch

Labor

• Remove tint
• Muffler/ rear exhaust
• Install v belts
• Adjust steering box
• Extreme interior detail/ buffing session
• New brake pads / Rebuild caliper
• Turn signal Relay needs to be cleaned or replaced

[Jdesign]

snap said:

sharky mc sharkface!

what steering parts do you need?

Most importantly tie rods and the main steering arm, but I think I might as well do control arms while im down there.

[YoungCR]

I for sure have a window switch and some black blanks.

[Jdesign]

YoungCR said:

I for sure have a window switch and some black blanks.

When ever you will be around this week, I would love to grab those from you! 

So more updates with pictures!

I got the valance installed and I mocked up the Zender front lip. I will need to do some body work to make it look as it if flows properly. Originally its meant to mount to the euro front bumpers and not the ugly US ones. So someone just ran a bunch of screws through it and into the bumper side panels   I plan on getting hardware and fastening it in a more sensible fashion and fixing the edges/ holes, and painting it.

In the meantime, I also need to figure out what to do about the side panels for the bumpers. I will probably gut them, and make a new metal structure underneath, and reuse the old foam rubber. Or I will make fiberglass versions using the old ones at templates for the molds, Im open for ideas if you guys have any. 

I wish I could finds a set of world bumpers but I don't think that's going to happen. I did find an L6 for sale with euro bumpers but its about 6 hours away and I will need to trailer it. 

I also removed the rear cargo covers for the seats, and plan on using construction adhesive or some type of glue to help reattach the foam from peeling back off of the metal. 

[Earl]

Could use silicone...

[Jdesign]

EARLLLLLLL.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

[P_Roloff]

I guess I'm not gonna be much help with the bumper issue, other than saying that going to a junkyard/finding someone parting one of these cars out and buying the surrounds would probably be easier than trying to fix them yourself. Maybe I'm crazy, but I also like the idea of going to body color instead of the black. Just my two cents. And maybe I missed it, but did you ever post interior pics? I love the red interior on white combo.

Also, on an unrelated note, didn't you originally post that you weren't going to be able to keep the RS's?

[Jdesign]

P_Roloff said:

I guess I'm not gonna be much help with the bumper issue, other than saying that going to a junkyard/finding someone parting one of these cars out and buying the surrounds would probably be easier than trying to fix them yourself. Maybe I'm crazy, but I also like the idea of going to body color instead of the black. Just my two cents. And maybe I missed it, but did you ever post interior pics? I love the red interior on white combo.

Also, on an unrelated note, didn't you originally post that you weren't going to be able to keep the RS's?

- (****IF****) you find one of these in the junk yard, I suggest you strip everything because its worth money

-Yeah I would like to go body color on the bumper surrounds. The world bumpers are body color and I was trying to keep an eye out for some, but 90% of the ones I have found are all rotted out just as bad as mine if not worse.

-I dont know if I have any interior pics. But I will share some soon enough just for you.

- And yes the RS's were not going to be a part of the deal, but Paul changed his mind and agreed to just sell them to me because he doesnt have a use for them and he already has too many wheels.

[P_Roloff]

Jdesign said:

- (****IF****) you find one of these in the junk yard, I suggest you strip everything because its worth money

-Yeah I would like to go body color on the bumper surrounds. The world bumpers are body color and I was trying to keep an eye out for some, but 90% of the ones I have found are all rotted out just as bad as mine if not worse.

-I dont know if I have any interior pics. But I will share some soon enough just for you.

- And yes the RS's were not going to be a part of the deal, but Paul changed his mind and agreed to just sell them to me because he doesnt have a use for them and he already has too many wheels. 

Yeah, I'll definitely keep an eye out. And that's pretty sweet, you planning on refinishing them or just running as-is?

[Jdesign]

P_Roloff said:

Yeah, I'll definitely keep an eye out. And that's pretty sweet, you planning on refinishing them or just running as-is?

They are in dire need of refinishing. Im not sure if they will stay with the car or not at this point. I plan on running some style 5's while they get a makeover.

[Jdesign]

A little construction adhesive goes a long way. Section by section, I glued and clamped around the perimeter of the covers getting the foamed rubber to reattach to the metal base. What a terrible and odd combination. I feel like a lot of the elements and construction methods on this car were examples of trying to use new materials with very little long term testing.