Alpine e30 progress/build thread
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156.8k
I was hoping to get another few weeks of driving in with this car, but the weather had other ideas so it is parked for the season and will get prepped for the winter this weekend. Boo.
With snow on the way it is officially entering build season and I'm excited to announce that I'm not participating in anything significant. The goal for this winter is to keep it very near running condition so that there is no "picnic or bust", only "picnic" in the spring. I do, however, have a hit list of things I'd like to accomplish:
- Complete the e36/Mclaren F1 window switch retrofit
- Re-do exhaust mid section
- Finish horn relay/wiring
- Diagnose/fix driver's front running light (currently no power)
- Re-do water temperature sensor ground
- Once the weather warms up in the spring, repaint all the faded trim and a few other things
- Maybe some other stuff
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- Complete the e36/Mclaren F1 window switch retrofit
lol
With snow on the way
stop. the snow storm tomorrow is now your fault
Dan
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Finally got a chance to winterize the car over the weekend and I just realized that I forgot to fold the mirrors, so looks like I can't count that as done yet.
I also had an itchy trigger finger on Black Friday and got a pair of Condor speed shop door handles. They look neat and I figure my car is modified enough to have silly "lightweight" door handles not look wildly out of place.
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i like the style of those and as a bonus you can cable lock your car to the parking meter for extra security
Dan
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i like the style of those and as a bonus you can cable lock your car to the parking meter for extra security
I never thought of that... brilliant!!
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Here's what I got done on my winter to-do list:
- Complete the e36/Mclaren F1 window switch retrofit - nope
- Re-do exhaust mid section - nope
- Finish horn relay/wiring - nope
- Diagnose/fix driver's front running light (currently no power) - nope
- Re-do water temperature sensor ground - nope
- Once the weather warms up in the spring, repaint all the faded trim and a few other things - nope
- Maybe some other stuff - nope
I did stop by the garage yesterday and cranked it over with the fuel pump relay pulled to build oil pressure, then popped the relay back in and it fired right up! Can't wait for driving season!
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Finally re-worked the exhaust mid section. I got rid of the crappy glass-pack and replaced it with a pair of more substantial mufflers
Before (old pic):
After:
I promise the welds are less boogery than they look in the picture. I'm going to re-paint it sometime this summer, so for now I reinstalled everything and took it for a test drive (also first drive of the year, this car is so fun). Its not necessarily much quieter, but the awful rasp is significantly better and it finally sounds half decent. The ground clearance is a little worse but I'm overall really happy with how it came out.
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156.8k
Back in the daily driver rotation!
I never thought i'd see the day you beat me to DD rotation.
paint that damn front lip already. just flat black for now or something lol
Dan
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I never thought i'd see the day you beat me to DD rotation.
paint that damn front lip already. just flat black for now or something lol
This is new for me, usually I am either scrambling to get it done or realizing next spring is probably what I should be aiming for haha.
Yeah yeah yeah, the plan is to paint it white eventually. Maybe I'll order one of those cheap ebay plastic ones to hold me over till then.
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157.7k
Did some playing around with the ECU last night. On a stock e46 (ms43), there are two functions called 'driver wish input correction' and 'throttle request correction'. My understanding of them is that they limit the change rate of the throttle body depending on various inputs including engine load and RPM, vehicle speed (allows the ecu to calculate which gear you are in), clutch and brake switch, etc. It basically functions like a software based CDV by damping driver inputs. On the the ms43 wiki, they break down the parameters that control these functions and which ones to modify to disable them both completely. I made the updates and flashed the new file to the spare ECU, swapped it into the car and took it for a spin.
All I have to say is: Ho. Lee. Sh!t.
Since day 1 this car has been a little difficult to drive smoothly from a shifting/starting off perspective and I pretty much attributed it to a stiff clutch and not being Ayrton Senna. It has also been somewhat slow to rev considering the lightweight flywheel. Rev-matching took a huge throttle input compared to my old e36 with the stock dual-mass. This has been completely resolved. It is way more responsive, revs very quickly, shifting and general driving is way smoother. It's like a whole different car!! I am thinking that because my ECU is missing the speed sensor input, clutch/brake switch, and anything else that comes in through the CAN bus, that it has been defaulting to the most conservative settings. Disabling both systems completely allows it to function similar to a cable throttle. I did accidentally re-set some of the DTC suppression so I get a check engine light again, so I'll have to go back and re-do that.
And because walls of text are less fun than pictures, here is a 'meh' phone photo from my drive last night. My phone really struggles with low light. Maybe someday I'll get a nice camera.
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that's great news!
want to go back the museum for better pictures? Ill bring my camera.
Dan
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That is so cool about the throttle mapping change! Is there a limited number of times you can write a file to the DME? For the MSS54 you are limited to 30 I believe. Once you hit the limit the ecu is locked and has to be “virginized”. Just mentioning it in case MS43 is similar so you can plan your DME writes wisely.
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that's great news!
want to go back the museum for better pictures? Ill bring my camera.
I would love to sometime! I'd have to clean it up a bit before that haha
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that's great news!
want to go back the museum for better pictures? Ill bring my camera.
If I didn't have a small oil drip, and the car wasn't as low to maneuver Milwaukee roads, I'd also like to bring mine down for some Milwaukee back drop pictures.
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