My mini build thread for the 98iL

[dburt86]

Hey whats up fellas, i thought i would share some info on my 98. Its come pretty far since i originally bought 8 months ago.

Little back story:

I have had my E30 as a project car for a while (build thread here, check it out: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...2#post27393802 ) and was going from daily driver to daily driver, never reaally finding one i liked.

I drive ALOT, like 100 miles a day. My days are very long as i work a normal 7-330, and then also have my own shop that takes up my nights, and its about 40 mins from my home. We typically build fast cars, of any make. It doesnt make much money after we pay our bills but it allows us to build our cars at a great facility, but it takes alot of time and hard work to keep running and it takes alot of time manamgent between customer cars and personal cars.

So with so much driving, i wanted a comfortable car


So one day im in the junkyard looking for an E34 oil pan and pick up for my E30 when i saw from what i remember was a 735 E32. I instantly fell in love and really liked the idea of a big daily.

So long story short, and after a little research, E38 would be a way better choice. So the hunt began, i traveled from Boston to Spingfield, to Norwalk CT looking at e38's. They were all junk. Then i found mine, 1998 dark blue 740IL with some recent maintenance and a good price.

This is at the sellers house


So as you would expect, the car needed work. On my way home from the buyer, the check engine light and DSC light come on. Awesome. At this point, im pretty nervous about the purchase. Turns out the lights were on for a bad o2 sensor, and a center link with so much play, the DSC would come on.

So i start doing the imediate maintence. Replacing the 02's, doing an entire suspension rebuild, tune up, expansion tank, radiator, trans fluid, serp belt, ect.

Here it is after a cleaning when i first get her home.


Soon after, i get the windows tinted


This is the point that it went from a comfortable daily, to another one of my "projects" lol.

So i added a nice set of subs, not modifing the stock stereo in any way. I used a LOC to tap the rear speaker signals and convert them to RCA's. Theres are a set of alpine type R with a alpine amp.



So then, i couldnt deal with the monster truck ride height. A set of used NEX coils came my way for cheap, so i splurged.








Got align it after the coil swap



So then i got a deal on a set of style 101's. They were painted the UGLIEST of blues LOL


So i decided that i would plasti-dip them



Heres some pics of the wheels mocked up. Tires have no air, as they are being replaced. This was just a test fit. The front has a 12mm spacer, the rear has none. The wheels are 9inch wide in the front and 10 inch in the rear.






So this last week was abig one for me. Sometime during this whole deal, and building the e30, i mangaged to buy a parts car.


My car has the ugliest tan interior. Besides being tan, it was in bad shape.




The silver parts car had a very nice black interior. So i spent some time over the next couple weeks prepping the black interior for my car. I started by replacing the sagging grey headliner with black. All the pillars got recovered in black. So basically rather then the stock balck/grey combo, i went with black on black.

I also covered all the wood in carbon wrap


I thought i had photos of the interior parts wrapped in black, but i cant find them

Heres some photos of the swap over






So heres the new interior, all swapped over. It cam out really good. Its like drivng a new car.







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Ill be updating this as i go. Ill be putting the wheels and alpina lip on this week, and ill take some pics

[daytonatrbo]

Looking good.

Those (mid-job) pictures are a good reminder of why I'm not doing a color swap on my interior, even tho I hate the beige. The outcome is absolutely stunning. I like the carbon/black/black look.

[dburt86]

Thanks man. Your thread actually gave me the knowledge to check the sunroof drains and the grounding points that are below the carpet. Fortunately my car was dry

[Mayers]

Love it!

[boxjelly]

Looking good...every time I see that shop you and your friends' share....I get p3ssed and think I need to find better friends!

[dburt86]

Looking good...every time I see that shop you and your friends' share....I get p3ssed and think I need to find better friends!

Haha, yea it's hard to find good friends

[burninator]

That interior is fantastic. Makes me want a black headliner that much more. What did you do for the visors? Are those the factory anthracite ones or did you wrap the tan or gray ones?

[MJ DOOM]

Nice. The carbon vinyl wrap on the wood pieces look slick.

[dburt86]

That interior is fantastic. Makes me want a black headliner that much more. What did you do for the visors? Are those the factory anthracite ones or did you wrap the tan or gray ones?

I used fabric paint on the grey ones. It matches real nice and actually came
out better then expected.

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Does anyone have an idea why my steering wheel won't automatically move up or down anymore?

[RSharma]

I used fabric paint on the grey ones. It matches real nice and actually came
out better then expected.

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Does anyone have an idea why my steering wheel won't automatically move up or down anymore?

Can you let us know what type of fabric paint you used?

The 101's look right for the car. Also great job on the interior swap. It is a tedious and time consuming job at the very least.
I have the same carbon fiber vinyl wrap which is nice but I think for your all black interior, a brushed steel would have made it really stand out (Just personal preference and a suggestion). Sorta like this:

IMG_6094-1024x764.jpg

[M I C H A E L]

nice work on the swapping of the interior, it came out awesome. Amazing what putting some effort will do!

as far as wrapping your interior bits, how much did you need to wrap? Im thinking of getting this stuff to wrap mine, but not sure how much i would need.

http://www.metrorestyling.com/mobile...e=3M1080-BR201

[Sobek]

You know, I'm not usually a big fan of the black on black on black on black look, but this actually comes across really nice. I think it'll look twice as good with some shiny leather treatment, maybe even a nice wrapped steering wheel (not the fatty sports wheel, eugh). Keep it up!

[Binjammin]

Burt, I didn't know you were a VW guy too. I'm parting a MKIV tdi BEW. Need any parts?

I still need to make that trip down to you soon.

[sigtwenty]

a brushed steel would have made it really stand out (Just personal preference and a suggestion). Sorta like this:

IMG_6094-1024x764.jpg

Another example....lighter.

[Chief Jimbo]

To get your steering wheel to move up and down again when you turn off the car you need to swap your seat switches out from the drivers side seat panel. It will be the biggest one. The old one that was in your car needs to go back in your car again. It is from a later model car.

[dburt86]

Can you let us know what type of fabric paint you used?

The 101's look right for the car. Also great job on the interior swap. It is a tedious and time consuming job at the very least.
I have the same carbon fiber vinyl wrap which is nice but I think for your all black interior, a brushed steel would have made it really stand out (Just personal preference and a suggestion). Sorta like this:

IMG_6094-1024x764.jpg

Ill grab the exact brand name tomorow when I get back to the shop but it wasn't anything special, as I bought it from napa and advanced auto.

i had a friend suggest the brushed metal look, and I agree it would look a lot better, but the carbon wrap was cheap as hell so I rolled with it. I do like the darker look of the carbon tho

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nice work on the swapping of the interior, it came out awesome. Amazing what putting some effort will do!

as far as wrapping your interior bits, how much did you need to wrap? Im thinking of getting this stuff to wrap mine, but not sure how much i would need.

http://www.metrorestyling.com/mobile...e=3M1080-BR201

Ill the eBay listing when I get home Michael, but it was 4d carbon fiber vinyl and was like 8$ per iirc. I needed 2 rolls with plenty left

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You know, I'm not usually a big fan of the black on black on black on black look, but this actually comes across really nice. I think it'll look twice as good with some shiny leather treatment, maybe even a nice wrapped steering wheel (not the fatty sports wheel, eugh). Keep it up!

Thanks man, I cleaned and conditioned it today, I'll take
some updated pics, it
cleaned up real
Nice

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Burt, I didn't know you were a VW guy too. I'm parting a MKIV tdi BEW. Need any parts?

I still need to make that trip down to you soon.

hondas, VW/Audi, BMW, diesels, if it's fast or cool, we build it.

ypu gotta come by some time and check the place out, and buy my parts lol

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To get your steering wheel to move up and down again when you turn off the car you need to swap your seat switches out from the drivers side seat panel. It will be the biggest one. The old one that was in your car needs to go back in your car again. It is from a later model car.

Ah great, thank you. We get spoiled by the little things in life.

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Micheal, i bought 2 of these and had more then half of the 2nd roll left over

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1FT-x-5FT-4D-Professional-Grade-Carbon-Fiber-Vinyl-Wrap-Air-Realease-Bubble-Free-/231066219352?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &hash=item35cc9eb358

[M I C H A E L]

Ill grab the exact brand name tomorow when I get back to the shop but it wasn't anything special, as I bought it from napa and advanced auto.

i had a friend suggest the brushed metal look, and I agree it would look a lot better, but the carbon wrap was cheap as hell so I rolled with it. I do like the darker look of the carbon tho

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Ill the eBay listing when I get home Michael, but it was 4d carbon fiber vinyl and was like 8$ per iirc. I needed 2 rolls with plenty left

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks man, I cleaned and conditioned it today, I'll take
some updated pics, it
cleaned up real
Nice

- - - Updated - - -

hondas, VW/Audi, BMW, diesels, if it's fast or cool, we build it.

ypu gotta come by some time and check the place out, and buy my parts lol

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Ah great, thank you. We get spoiled by the little things in life.

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Micheal, i bought 2 of these and had more then half of the 2nd roll left over

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1FT-x-5FT-4D...item35cc9eb358

Oh perfect 40 bucks works for me! I do have a lot of cracks on the center console wood and most of the trim pieces will that be an issue with wrapping?
And what was the process of doing it? Never done something like this before but is best way to make it look presentable .. thanks again for checking for me.

[dburt86]

Heat. It gets very soft, very quickly with a little heat. I would get the flat done first and save the ends for last. Using heat, you can pull it so it wont wrinkle. Its a real PITA and its like you need 4 hands. lol

But if i did it, you can do it. That kind of stuff is not my forte'

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Can you let us know what type of fabric paint you used?

The 101's look right for the car. Also great job on the interior swap. It is a tedious and time consuming job at the very least.
I have the same carbon fiber vinyl wrap which is nice but I think for your all black interior, a brushed steel would have made it really stand out (Just personal preference and a suggestion). Sorta like this:

IMG_6094-1024x764.jpg

This is the paint i used, but the gloss version

http://www.carid.com/universal-paint/dupli-color-high-perfomance-product-4014559.html?CAWELAID=120020450001101541&%22cagpsp n=pla%22&gclid=COPThMyn9bwCFYhaMgodyFgAkA

[M I C H A E L]

Heat. It gets very soft, very quickly with a little heat. I would get the flat done first and save the ends for last. Using heat, you can pull it so it wont wrinkle. Its a real PITA and its like you need 4 hands. lol

But if i did it, you can do it. That kind of stuff is not my forte'

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This is the paint i used, but the gloss version

http://www.carid.com/universal-paint...FYhaMgodyFgAkA

Hairdryer works? Heat the wood trim first then apply and use heat on the wrap to stretch and apply?

[daytonatrbo]

Hairdryer works? Heat the wood trim first then apply and use heat on the wrap to stretch and apply?

You want to heat the vinyl, not the surface. It can handle quite a bit of pull force to get it to wrap around the rounded edges and stuff, but it will distort the pattern, so sneak up on it. Hair dryer should be sufficient. Depending on what you are doing, just cold pulling it can work too.

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Thanks man. Your thread actually gave me the knowledge to check the sunroof drains and the grounding points that are below the carpet. Fortunately my car was dry

Glad to help where I can. I figure my $600 POS can at least be an instructional aid

You are lucky to have a dry one. I hope you added some zip ties or clamps to the tubes before you put the headliner back in.

[M I C H A E L]

You want to heat the vinyl, not the surface. It can handle quite a bit of pull force to get it to wrap around the rounded edges and stuff, but it will distort the pattern, so sneak up on it. Hair dryer should be sufficient. Depending on what you are doing, just cold pulling it can work too.

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Glad to help where I can. I figure my $600 POS can at least be an instructional aid

You are lucky to have a dry one. I hope you added some zip ties or clamps to the tubes before you put the headliner back in.

Ok awesome I want to try this. I hope it will turn out good!!!

[dburt86]

Best part of the interior sqap

[Quarter Tank]

Good job, makes me miss my 750iL.

[Alpina7]

looks like we have matching cars. mine is a 98' as well. looks great bro. i love my black and blue suede interior waaaaaaaaaaaaay better than the tan that it came with. now change that steering wheel, tap deck and get you some sport seats!

check out my interior build thread if you need some ideas..

[purplecty]

Gorgeous! Great work! Working cupholders! Love the wheels! Black interior swap looks gteat with the carbon fiber wrapped wood... Beats old man tan any day...