FuturisticConcept Art BMW E36 with a V8 on a bottom dollar budget

[Jdesign]

Well I fell short on making a seat bracket. I am having a hard time because I wanted to use scrap material, and I dont have any in the gauge or length that would be appropriate for the strength and weight of the seat. I went to look at buying some new material from the hardware store and it would have been close to half the price of a new bracket online. So any suggestions on a cheap seat bracket here would be helpful. 

What I did manage to do was pull the headlights apart and install the red LED halos I got for $8. They turned out better than I expected, and are extremetly bright. I have an extra pair they shipped me on accident as well that I have yet to come up with an interesting place to put them. I also removed the high beam from the passenger side and put soem mesh wire in  there for an air inlet. to top that off, I added just one HID to the drivers side to mix up the look. 

I also made brackets for mounting the V6 ford power steering pump and spent a good 6-7 trips to the parts store to get the right belt because of various reasons I care not to talk about. 

While all this was happening, I decided to remove one of the fenders because I wanted to see what it looked like underneath and I plan on making my own widened fenders up front. This is what it looks like underneath:

I also added a little patina to the licences plate because it looked "too nice" for the car. 

[B C]

Hardware store metal stock is highway buttrape. Try speedymetals.com, you can pick up what you need in New Berlin. Fwiw, if you know someone with a corporate account there, the price is half of what is shown on the website.

[Daggerty]

Just jb weld the seat in.

Check out Alro steel I think they have a store in mad town.

[Jdesign]

Snap said:

Hardware store metal stock is highway buttrape. Try speedymetals.com, you can pick up what you need in New Berlin. Fwiw, if you know someone with a corporate account there, the price is half of what is shown on the website.

Yes very much rapey butt. I have bought material from Speedy metals many many times before. I also have a few friends that work there, so material is fairly cheap for me. I just want all the things for free.

Daggerty said:

Just jb weld the seat in.

Check out Alro steel I think they have a store in mad town.

That's a lot of JB Weld, but don't think I won't do it if it's free. I haven't heard of Alro before, I will have to look into that. THANKS!

[Bassboy3313]

what size, gauge, material, etc are you looking for? I can always ask my brother to check around the shop he works at for scrap pieces.

[Jdesign]

Bassboy3313 said:

what size, gauge, material, etc are you looking for? I can always ask my brother to check around the shop he works at for scrap pieces.

This is the kind of response I like to see. You are speaking my language. I need (X2) 20" long 2" wide 3/16th flat stock steel, and (x2) 18" long x 2" wide 3/16ths flat stock steel. 

I also talked to the shop director at my work, and he suggested I go to a place called Dicks Metals. Its a mom and pop shop that sells small cuts for cheap. I am going to give them a jingle tomorrow. and see what they have laying around. They might even have material to make a harness bar while I'm at it!

[Jdesign]

Worked on the car again last night. @suspenceful posted in the WTB section looking for a set of rear coilover adjusters so I kindly offered him mine since I need to be closer to the ground anyhow. The sits alot lower, and I am glad i actually removed them because the shock housing were adjusted to two completely different heights. Ughhh. One was at 27mm the other was at 19mm. How do you even do that?!

I also FINALLY got a serpentine belt on and working. I might need to remake one of the brackets so that I capture a 4th bolt on the one of the heads to help support it from vibrating, but for now I am going to leave that headache alone until it causes a problem. What I do need to do next is make a high pressure PS line and figure out what I need to use for fittings on the pump side. The pump I used came with the car and there was two of them, so I figured it was the best solution. They are from a 2000 Ford Exploder v6 but based on the way this car is built, I am assuming that was a bad decision on my part to go with this pump. With that said I do have a OEM BMW PS reservoir that I removed from my E30 because I already have an aftermarket chrome one for that car. 

After I got as far as I could there, I changed my focus over to the aesthetics of the car for a bit, and reinstalled the rear quarter window. I did this, because I knew that if I did, randomly the missing package of red window tint would show up in the mail today. guess what just showed up in the mail today......

The other thing I did aesthetically was test my theory on using a clear red paint over some worn edges of the existing paint on the car where I exposed bare metal. This got me so excited because it worked out better than I expected. I was all giddy like a Little school girl. I plan on driving the whole car to my work so I can use my DA sander and go over the entire car without making my shop a mess. BUT man oh man its tempting to just continue sanding on it because it looks so awesome. Its really hard to capture in pictures, So I attached a good example of what I have in mind. I did something similar on the hood of my civic, so if you guys have seen that, you know what I am talking about.

The final thing I messed with was one of the front fenders. I started to lay out a pattern for the trapezoidal holes I plan on cutting into the top half. Just a quick sharpie sketch to try and figure out what I want to do. I also have to figure out how I am going to section the back half of the fender so that I can widen them.

And the final thing I did was today I ordered material from Dicks Metals. Crazyyy cheap. $20 for everything I need to make seat brackets, and Dick himself seemed like quite the metal worker. His shop was filled with handmade metal work, from the ducting for his welding table all the way to his chair that the base was made from the generator of a B-52 bomber. Pretty cool stuff IMO.

[straight6pwr]

i see red dots...be careful #baldessari

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

i see red dots...be careful #baldessari

Yeah, that was me spraying Transparent red over the black fender first to see what would happen. Both of the front fenders are plasti-dipped over white, and it sucks soooooo bad. I hate that shit with a passion. So once I cut the fenders all to hell, I have to soak them in vinegar to get all the plastidip off and decide what to do from there.

[Jdesign]

Not much has happened in the last few days, work and an exhausting weekend left me very little time to mess with the car. I did manage to find some images with the red halos installed. I also added an HID to the drivers side headlight. I need to wire the halos into a separate switch as well, currently they are just part of the running / parking lights.

[visian]

Might I suggest footwear of choice for this vehicle?

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[Jdesign]

HAHAHAHA, I was thinking more like this @visian

 

[straight6pwr]

Air Mags!

[Jdesign]

@straight6pwr You win.

[Jdesign]

Spent some time working on this pile over the holiday weekend. I managed to get the seat bracket made, and mig welded it together using the old seat rail bases. I also found some matte black vinyl I had laying around and made a window banner which I managed to destroy applying it myself. I will make another when I have an extra set of hands. I also ran wiring for the red halos to the factory fog light switch instead of a toggle. 

After all of that and I had the seat bolted into place, I started looking at the Hydro lever and where I planned to mount it wasn't going to work. I have since ripped out all of the center console and Im thinking I might have to weld a plate next to the shifter on the trans tunnel to make a nice spot for it.  I thought mounting this thing was going to be easy.

Le sigh 

I also noticed now that the car is back on the ground that is seems to be leaning or lower on one side...... Thinking back to adjusting the coilovers, one side was off about 20mm or so compared to the other side. I think there is something funky going on here......  It could also be Im just seeing things as its really really hard to tell exactly with the bashed to complete shit arches.

My E30 was slightly lower on one side too. 

Wait, just did some research, Its lower on one side from the factory for "balance" with a driver and no passenger. Neat.

I added this power switch when I first got the car because of the crazy, stupid, hack wiring and components that would stay on with the ignition off, and I cant remember if I mentioned it or not. I have since fixed 94.7% of the wiring issues, but an external power switch still seems like a nice safety feature.

[m42b32]

Jdesign said:

but an external power switch still seems like a nice safety feature.

That's awesome haha, nice security feature. Only thing I'd worry about is some punk turning it while you're sitting at a red light...

[Bassboy3313]

m42b32 said:

Jdesign said:

but an external power switch still seems like a nice safety feature.

That's awesome haha, nice security feature. Only thing I'd worry about is some punk turning it while you're sitting at a red light... 

Thought the exact same thing

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[Jdesign]

Honestly I'm more worried about the red key falling out, even though it locks into place when "powered"

In other news, I mounted a PS reservoir from my e30 in this car last night, and am going on my lunch break to have the high pressure line custom made. Pics will come once that's complete.

[GunMetalGrey]

Jdesign said:

This picture makes me happy. 
It looks so beat and worn, but not like it wasn't taken care of while doing so. 
That was a confusing sentence

[straight6pwr]

Jdesign said:

. I also found some matte black vinyl I had laying around and made a window banner which I managed to destroy applying it myself. I will make another when I have an extra set of hands.

wrinkly old man balls window banner.

Dave - school him on applying the vinyl wet.  you blew my mind when you told me it could be done, and I'm sure it will solve the problem here.