Alpine White Zender Kit E24 633CSI

Jdesign

Rear end is all buttoned up. I am waiting on the front caliper still and the front spring clips which should arrive today.

I also test fit the wheels and realized I will need a spacer in the front for the center cap to clear the hub cover. This is fine because I needed to make a hub centric ring for them anyways. Tonight I will mount the tires and hopefully get it on the ground!

Jdesign

And.... Items have arrived. I cant wait to install them tonight and finish up all the suspension and brakes!

Jdesign

Items have been installed.

Sorry for the shitty pics. I got an adapter lens for my phone and was messing with it.

I love how you can see the zinc clips through the wheels with the red calipers. It matches so perfectly.

Also a picture of the test fit without tires.

I had my friend Connor come last night and take a look at the paint. He runs his own detailing business and does really high end cars (Ferrari's and such). I was curious as to getting the pin stripe off, getting the car resprayed, wet sanding it, or having him detail it. I was looking for a professional opinion.

Upon inspection, as I have already noticed, the car was resprayed at one point, and they just went over the factory color. So there is a thin layer of white on the outside, then the OEM alpine under that. Its hard to determine if its actually the correct Alpine but as you can see, the wheels were matched to the paint code, yet they are MUCH brighter than the car. Why it was completely resprayed is unknown, but when it was painted, the pin stripe was done immediately after too, so when its removed, you can see the red pigment from the stripe has leached into the white. So it will need to have a pin stripe or a respray no matter what. In the end, we decided that I will personally continue to polish the paint out, but he is going to set me up with some supplies that will make my life easier. He told me what I was using was basically garbage lol.

straight6pwr

35 y.o. sun faded paint tends to be slightly different than new paint. however, the first gen alpinweiss paints were not very "bright" white, are you sure the color match on that wheel was done correctly? the car looks alpinweiss I to me.

when I had my front valance painted, i had the shop match a side mirror instead of relying on the code.

Jdesign

straight6pwr said:

35 y.o. sun faded paint tends to be slightly different than new paint. however, the first gen alpinweiss paints were not very "bright" white, are you sure the color match on that wheel was done correctly? the car looks alpinweiss I to me.

when I had my front valance painted, i had the shop match a side mirror instead of relying on the code.

Yes. I took the code from the label on the strut tower. I wiped a section of the hood clean when we were looking at it yesterday. The paint is a lot brighter when its not covered in years of grime and dirt. There is a section in the cowl that hasn't been exposed, and looks to be a perfect match. The other thing I am worried about is the front valance needs a respray, and if I use the same code with will be obvious that its not the same if I cant get the car to come back to the correct shade because its so close to the wheels and its a large part of the body. you can see teh edge of it here, as it is very stained and has paint missing.

Jdesign

Extra excited.

I mounted the tires to the style 5's last night and got the car back on the ground. I must say, even though the suspension is still unsettled, I am very happy with how it sits. I will likely add a good 10mm spacer to the rears, as they are not as flush as the fronts.

Parts to order / find

Speakers (4 minimum)
door switch?

Labor

Paint and properly Install the lip
Install the bumper side covers (I need to post how I repaired them)
Figure out the Parasitic power drain
Finish buffing the entire car
Finish removing the rear window tint
Fix the rear seat pod covers again, as they are pealing back again
Refinish the pin stripe
Installed the side skirts with stainless hardware and plug the OEM trim holes
Alignment

So it looks like I have MOSTLY a lot of cleaning to do, install some speakers, hunt down the power gremlin (likely a door switch) and get an alignment!

Its getting closer!

Jdesign

Spacers and new lugs came in; 15MM and 20MM. Nothing fancy, but it will help with the fitment slightly and I will have a full set of matching lugs LOL. Since the OEM BBS locking lugs are really annoying to use.

Jdesign

Got the spacers and wheels mounted. I must say, the fitment is highly improved and it sits perfect now. Sorry, I don't have pictures.

I was going to drive it this weekend, but I still haven't balanced the wheels. Besides that I want to get the valance, bumper moldings, and side skirts installed as they are only temporarily mounted on the car (zipties and tape). I had to order a new M6 rivnut tool as the kit I have doesn't have an M6 spindle.

straight6pwr

those look fantastic. curious to see them with the spacers.

Jdesign

Spacers installed with pics.

The front valance also needs paint yet, I know.

I also decided to fix a section of the rocker panel that was rusted from someone installing the side skirts with non-stainless fasteners. I cut out the old metal and am welding in new material. One side is done, the other is in process. The new hardware consists of metric rivnuts and stainless socket heads.

Labor

Paint and properly Install the lip
Install the bumper side covers (I need to post how I repaired them)
Figure out the Parasitic power drain
Finish buffing the entire car
Finish removing the rear window tint
Fix the rear seat pod covers again, as they are pealing back again
Refinish the pin stripe
Installed the side skirts with stainless hardware and plug the OEM trim holes
Install speakers
Alignment

straight6pwr

looks meaty, very nice! i like it without the skirts too!

Jdesign

straight6pwr said:

looks meaty, very nice! i like it without the skirts too!

Thank you, I think the skirts are just a little addition that make it a touch better. I wish I had a rear valance for it.

Jdesign

So.. I drove this to work yesterday. I would like to think of as a maiden voyage as I have not driven the car since last year, and since then it has all new suspension, steering arms, balljoints, wheels, tires, brakes, bleh bleh bleh. You get the point.

The Good:

It handles sooo much better with the new springs, shocks and struts
Ride quality just cruising is greatly improved and not harsh
Braking is worlds better, I can actually feel the pedal that the cars stops like it should
The exhaust sounds great, I never drove it far after the muffler delete, and I was concerned it would be loud and droning, but its not

The Bad:

The turn signals are staying on and not flashing again. I assume the switch or corner lights are the culprits again
The radio antenna signal failed about 20 mins into my drive. I think the plug on the back of the radio is loose. Easy fix.
I lost a center cap. This bums me out, and to make matters worse, I can't find a replacement that won't take at least a 1 month to ship here. Either way I ordered a set.

Overall Im happy that I can drive it and iron out some of the kinks. After addressing some of the minor things, I really need to start polishing and stop procrastinating.

B C

Congrats on achieving a significant milestone in your project!

Jdesign

B C said:

Congrats on achieving a significant milestone in your project!

Thanks! I see the light at the end of the tunnel!

P_Roloff

Dang, bummer on the center cap. Congrats on getting it driving though!

Jdesign

I plan on driving this to Georgia in two weeks with a few friends for Alpine Vag Fair.

Mechanically, I feel like I have very little left besides flushing the coolant, flushing the diff fluid, and recharging the AC.

I have started to Clay, Buff, polish the entire car. It took two full days to just do the roof, trunk, and hood. It is an astounding amount of work.

Before that I also attacked the interior, installing new speakers and amplifier and finally removing the remaining tint glue from the rear window. While I was doing this, my girlfriend shampooed all of the carpets, interior panels, trunk, and cleaned and moisturised all of the leather which was in dire need.

A little compare and contrast to the clean and dirty body panels.