chit chat thread

[jc43089]

HipMF said:

Nice color too. Plans? I know a guy who might be interested...

I think he told his wife he would try to sell it because he wanted to buy a Pontiac G8.  However he doesn't actually want to if I read between the lines.  He is retiring in less than 2 years and I think he would like to drive it.  It has a cool history, All of the modifications were done directly after leaving the dealer by Miller Norbern which i think was the only Alpina authorized place east of the Rocky Mountains at that time.  They desmogged it at that time and installed Alpina suspension, adjustable sway bars, and the wheels.  They also put on SuperSprint headers and Primaflow exhaust.  It has what I assume was a dealer installed BMW CB radio. 

Gary the owner is the second owner, he bought it in '93.  He did sell it to his neighbor for a few years and then bought it back.  The head was cracked, the early M30 heads are very weak from large water jacket ports.  It has been parked since the fall of '04 because he didn't know what to do with it.  I met him and got him motivated to work on it again.  We pulled the engine to refresh everything.  We installed a head from I think an '85 euro M30, it needs the L-Jet distributor so a late motronic head wouldn't work, or maybe just the L-Jet cam is needed to drive the distributor.  I'm not totally sure.

Every coolant hose and rubber fuel line is new.  The engine was rebuilt besides taking out the rotating assembly, there was no point to taking it out, everything looked perfect.  The head was cleaned up and got a modern 3 angle valve job.  It should be ready for driving anywhere.  I think he would be looking for 20-25k.  It isn't your average craigslist e24.  It has been stored in a dry garage always and has NO rust anywhere.  There are a few door dings on the passenger side is about the only flaw.  Is the price crazy?  What do you think?

Earl said:

At least it is still clean even though it hasn't seen the road. I want those wheels badly=)

It had a cover over it except when we were working on it.  He is very anal about everything being clean.  The wheels are really cool, I highly doubt he would separate them.  What is a set like that worth?  They are staggered 16".

[Jdesign]

Super cool car. Price is a little steep, as I assume he could reasonably get $15-20k for it to the right guy. 

Wheels are worth anywhere from $1500-3000. They look like they are in stunning shape so I would assume closer to $3k

I wish mine still had the CB in it. I had all the wiring for the factory phone and CB but it was all hacked up and incomplete

[jc43089]

Jdesign said:

Super cool car. Price is a little steep, as I assume he could reasonably get $15-20k for it to the right guy. 

Wheels are worth anywhere from $1500-3000. They look like they are in stunning shape so I would assume closer to $3k

I wish mine still had the CB in it. I had all the wiring for the factory phone and CB but it was all hacked up and incomplete

The wheels are almost perfect, should they have center caps though?  There is no curb damage, just a few chips or marks in the black paint around the lug holes.  I appreciate the feedback, here are a few more pictures.  We went on the maiden voyage last night.  it drives nice.  A few electrical problems I think due to the ground strap from battery negative to the body near the fuse box is not in great shape.

Also the cold start valve was only getting .6V which is not enough to open it.  I powered it with 12V and it sprayed nice into a pop bottle so we put it back in and I powered it with 12V to get it started.  Once it was started and warmed a little it ran good.

Sorry for the poor quality, 2009ish Canon Powershot.

[Earl]

They have center caps in them from what I can see. All of the older Alpina wheels have exposed lugs with a cap popped in the center.

[jc43089]

Earl said:

They have center caps in them from what I can see. All of the older Alpina wheels have visible lugs with a cap popped in the center.

Yes they have the Alpina center caps, I thought it was odd that they didn't have the bigger smooth covers over the whole black area.  That must have just been later ones.  I am no wheel expert for sure.

[Jdesign]

Earl said:

They have center caps in them from what I can see. All of the older Alpina wheels have exposed lugs with a cap popped in the center.

This. Earl is correct.

That engine bay is guuudumb amazing. These cars can be electrical nightmares. If you have any questions feel free to ask me or @YoungCR as we have both delt with these electrical systems quite a bit.

I solved all of my electrical gremlins with this awesome guide: http://www.hiperformancestore.com/motronic.htm

(Step 14 talks about the cold start valve)

And Bigcoupe.com is a really good source too!

[straight6pwr]

Jdesign said:

I solved all of my electrical gremlins with this awesome guide: http://www.hiperformancestore.com/motronic.htm

that is a tremendous resource, thanks for sharing!

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

that is a tremendous resource, thanks for sharing!

No shit!!

Think about the guy that took the time to put that whole thing together!!

[jc43089]

Yea I found that and it was helpful to confirm the cold start valve is supposed to receive 12V.  This old beast is L-Jetronic, not Motronic, so the spark is timed by turning the distributor and the injectors batch fire triggered by a pulse every 180 degrees inside the distributor, so every 360 of the crankshaft.  Quite crude, there is no O2 sensor so it is a totally open loop system based on only the AFM and throttle position switch.  I've never worked on an L-Jet car before so it was a learning experience.

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

Yea I found that and it was helpful to confirm the cold start valve is supposed to receive 12V.  This old beast is L-Jetronic, not Motronic, so the spark is timed by turning the distributor and the injectors batch fire triggered by a pulse every 180 degrees inside the distributor, so every 360 of the crankshaft.  Quite crude, there is no O2 sensor so it is a totally open loop system based on only the AFM and throttle position switch.  I've never worked on an L-Jet car before so it was a learning experience.

Oh dang. So is it an E12 based car?

[wasnt m3]

Sometimes you have to stop(mowing) and smell the flowers. Also, need to think about buying a camera. Any suggestions? 

[jc43089]

Jdesign said:

Oh dang. So is it an E12 based car?

Yes it is.  I think the L-Jet was only used for a few years ending about '81.

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

Yes it is.  I think the L-Jet was only used for a few years ending about '81.

So what year is it then? 80-82?

wasnt m3 said:

Sometimes you have to stop(mowing) and smell the flowers. Also, need to think about buying a camera. Any suggestions? 

Im a big fan of Canon Rebels. But it really comes down to how much you want to spend.

[jc43089]

Jdesign said:

So what year is it then? 80-82?

It's a '79

[HipMF]

wasnt m3 said:

Sometimes you have to stop(mowing) and smell the flowers. Also, need to think about buying a camera. Any suggestions? 

I hardly spent any time shopping around so I'm not a great resource. The only thing I miss about my old point-and-shoot is the huge zoom range that it had (24-300mm). My DSLR came with a 18-55mm lens, which I think is pretty standard. You'll need a longer lens if you want to get a close-up of anything that's more that 20 or 30 feet away.

For reference 50mm is considered the "standard" length where the perspective is most natural. Below that things start to have a wide-angle or fish-eye look, and above that things start to look overly "flat".

Edit: This example shows the perspective difference more clearly because the size of the frame is kept the same. Everything in photography seems to be a trade-off... You can't seem to change anything without changing something else.

[patsbimmer1]

I bought a new house and i'm moving this weekend.  We'll be in North Prairie now right by 83 and 59.  I'll get more pictures up tomorrow but this is all we really care about.  The garages.  Two 2.5 car garages.

[patsbimmer1]

It's been a long day and a big shout to @i_love_cars for stopping by to help!  We're almost completely moved in now!

[B C]

Plot twist: you rent the garage and live in the pop-up trailer.

[YoungCR]

Don't be wasting the precious garage space on the camper!

[patsbimmer1]

YoungCR said:

Don't be wasting the precious garage space on the camper!

In time... in time...