Alpine e30 progress/build thread
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Edit: I also figured it was more-so for the cost. Snap has a z3 rack and could tell you how it feels. I know finding a second hand one isn't all that easy but you can get them for $150-$250.
Didn't think of looking for a used one since I never see them come up for sale on r3v or anywhere, everyone just says go to rackdoctor. I did a quick search on ebay and after some digging, I ended up finding a rack from an '02 non-m z3 with only 60k on it for a really fair price! Looks like i'm going the z3 rack route after all
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IIRC I am running e36 inners and outers. They are a few mm beefier
Edit: I have a random e36 rack
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IIRC I am running e36 inners and outers. They are a few mm beefier
Edit: I have a random e36 rack
I had bought all the parts (inner and outer tie rods, boots, clamps, etc) to do tie rods before I went down the "change everything" path. I have heard the e36 setup is stronger but since I already have the parts I'll just run with the e30 bits.
Anyone know if the e30 locking plates work on a z3 rack? I looked on realoem and there doesn't seem to be any locking system for the inner tie rods.
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Anyone know if the e30 locking plates work on a z3 rack? I looked on realoem and there doesn't seem to be any locking system for the inner tie rods.
I ran into a similar issue using E90 stuff on an E30 rack, as no lock plate is large enough to fit the E90 end. I started looking into it and lock plates are no longer used. I went with the locktite route.
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After a month of waiting for my new steering wheel to show up, it finally arrived! It is a vintage RAID wheel freshly re-wrapped in leather. It's a 360mm so it will be an improvement over the 385mm mtech1 wheel it is replacing. I have more room for my knees and its still large enough that it doesn't cut off my view of the gauges entirely.
Got it installed in the car this afternoon, already loving how it looks. The horn button doesn't fit right (looks like it was modified, I wish the seller would've told me), so I am going to have to rig something up or get a different button.
Z3 rack also showed up today, the tie rod ends look to be in great shape (no play and the boots are all good) so I will probably just run it as is. I can always swap to the e30 ones if there are issues.
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After buying dans old wheel from him, it's amazing how much better the driving position feels. Looks good too
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Modified the momo horn button retainer to mount between the steering wheel and adapter, and then shortened the ring that holds the horn button to keep it flush with the wheel. Since the original raid horn button had already been modified I didn't feel too bad shaving down the mount points to fit into the momo retainer. Made a little harness to connect the ground of the raid button to the momo ground point. 4 hours of work later...the horn button fits and stays in place:
I cleaned all the grease and grime off the front subframe and started welding in the reinforcement plates:
Welded the motor mount plates to the top of the subframe to raise the engine and gain a tad more clearance for the bottom of the oil pan. Also welded in the lower motor mount reinforcements:
The welds aren't super pretty but the penetration is good, not bad for the first beads with the new welder. Did everything in 1/2" segments spaced around the plates with some time to cool in-between to minimize warping. The Garagistic sway bar tabs have the holes about 1/8" off from where they should be so I wasn't able to get those on unfortunately, going to have to slot the holes or something.
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Dumb question, did you try flipping them? Or changing from side to side? This probably won't make a difference...but I remember I had to mark mine with "drivers side" and "pass side" because they only seemed to fit one way. IIRC, one of the two "stems" is cut at an angle??
***will try and find what I mean, one sec off to the internets
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The internet pulled through for me, the hole looks to be not centered. I'm sure you checked, but there's just a part of me deep down inside that doesn't want to believe that garagistic would F up drilling a hole.....
Although ask John how nicely his pedal box fit that he got from them 0__0
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^ These are my plates and thats not an optical illusion...the hole on the left plate is really that far from a circle. I tried them every possible way, and I cant get the holes to line up without the plate being really offset or crooked.
Mini rant: I know these get welded on and it doesn't matter how nicely the edges are cut, but these just look awful. I have some e36 rtab pocket reinforcement plates from AKG sitting on my shelf and they are laser cut and look great. These look like they were cut out by a drunk man with a plasma torch. These are the nice sides, the backs have half-ground-off slag on half of the edges and the taper of the cuts is 10 degrees or more in some places.
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Garagistic has done nothing but annoy me lately, as well as many other people from the looks of it.
I ordered my RTAB's with new hardware, as they had it as an option. It was $35 for the hardware. I also ordered a shifter bushing.
I received my package and it didn't have the hardware in it. Cool. I needed to get the car together so I used the old hardware, not too big of a deal.
I emailed and facebook messaged them saying that I would like a refund for the hardware as I no longer needed it and they never sent it. The email came back first saying that they were sending out the hardware and gave me a tracking number. I specifically stated in my email to them that I did not wish to receive the hardware any longer as they had missed their opportunity on that. I emailed back saying that this was not okay and to issue a refund for the hardware, to which I was told it would be taken care of. That was 5 business days ago... I opened a PayPal claim this morning.
All of that ignored the fact that the metal sleeve for the RTAB had far too large of an ID, and even a full beer can shim made it a bit more loose than the OEM bushings. I guess I won't be buying from them again, which is a shame because their price is very competitive, but clearly their products are crap.I haven't been hearing good things about them lately.
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This picture makes me very sad, as those look like complete crap. Not to mention that the one on the left probably can't fit a bolt through it.
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I have been hearing bad things lately as well. Its a shame, and I wonder whats happening over there internally that they are having so many issues.
https://www.instagram.com/_jdesigner_/ http://nevertoolow.tumblr.com/
🥳SOLD BMW E24 633CSI - BMW M30B32 🧪SOLD HCH ES9 - 1.3 LDA
👽BMW E30 325IC - Toyota 1JZ-GTE ⏰ HONDA EF9 CIVIC SI - JDM B18C5
☠️BMW E36 318i - Ford 5.0 FE302 🚴♂️ GT-Labomba - 26x2.75 Freeride
🤹♀️SOLD BMW E36/7 Z3 - BMW M54B25 🧓SOLD BMW E10 2002 - BMW M10M05 -
This picture makes me very sad, as those look like complete crap. Not to mention that the one on the left probably can't fit a bolt through it.
All of the reinforcement plates I bought from them look like that, thankfully they get welded and painted black.... I can make them all work with some grinding and filing, but I spent the money to buy plates so that I didn't have to do that, as it really isn't hard to make them yourself.
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I'm glad I bought "non vital" parts from them that basically just got welded and painted. But to mess up flatsteel is a bit ridiculous....
I did buy bushings from them which were fine. I'm sure they don't manufacture them and most of the companies that sell them probably use the same Chinese supplier
I also got dicked around last winter with waiting for stuff/having some stuff show up not complete. It was a PITA.
Side note: how do you drill a hole that poorly
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Just because I posted it in here,
Garagistic refunded my full purchase price, then called saying they refunded it all and are going to send me an invoice for the purchase less the hardware. I asked for the hardware refund, and even put that amount in my paypal claim.
I find that they are making this all overly complicated. -
Agree
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All I have heard is complaints about garagistic from everyone on here who buys stuff from them. Why does everyone continue to buy their stuff? Serious question.
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