Good stuff, looking forward to see how this turns out. Hope your daughter enjoys it!
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-Chris
'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
Very cool story and project.
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-Josh: 1998 S54 E36 M3/4/6 with most of the easy stuff and most of the hard stuff. At least twice. 271k miles. 1994 E32 740il with nothing but some MPars. 93k miles.
'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
The front bumper was a PITA to wrap! All new OEM BMW parts; still need to do some small filler strips before installing the fog lights and brake ducts.
Progress is progress - love the classic aesthetic of this car. While I loved my E46 M3, I’m already keeping my eyes out for another E36 that I can make stupid fast for my own use.
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'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
Finally got the back bumper wrapped - had to make a small seam in the area where the diffuser bolts to the car.
Loaded the seats up and dropped off at the shop with new upholstery. While I’ve replaced seat covers before, it’s been 15+ years. I’d rather pay someone a few dollars that does it all the time with the proper tools to ensure that those Vaders look great when they’re done.
Wrapping the roof tonight!
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'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
It's really awesome to see you and the entire family working together on a project like this. I think it might inspire me to get off my but and finish redoing the interior on my car!
The matte white on the car is killer looking. Makes me want my car that color.
Skirts are on...
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'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
The white wrap looks awesome!
Sexy. The dark ARC-8's look great on the white.
1999 M3/2/5 - Titanium Silver - Track/Weekend Toy
love it!
wrapping mirrors?
'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
Status update on the seats. I purchased a front and rear replacement kit from AutoBerry and am coming to regret the decision.
The new Vader front leather was so loose the installer had to pad things out with foam so that they were tight. I asked if it was foam deterioration, he pointed out (correctly) that if it were, the stock upholstery wouldn't be as tight as it was.
The back seats are the problem. The bottom portion fits ok - it's missing a strip to tie down the recess in the center, so it just looks strangely baggy in that spot, whereas the OEM seat was snug.
The seat backs were missing attachment hardware - a plastic strip used to attach to the frame. The decision was made to transfer the hardware from the stock upholstery to the new one; hopefully that'll resolve it.
The side cushions are a joke. The upholstery pattern doesn't follow the stock one, it's got no hardware to attach and I'm being told will require a combination of glue and zip ties to make it work.
The rear headrests are definitely wrong as well - the new ones look like they'd fit the non-Vader front seats, not the small rear headrests.
The worst part - the customer service. It's terrible. I've sent dozens of detailed pictures explaining the problem. At first, AutoBerry tried throwing the installer under the bus claiming that he was installing the wrong headrests... nope. The latest email from them states that someone must have swapped my seats out at some point, and they needed me to send both their upholstery as well as my stock upholstery so they could figure out which seats I had.
There's only one type of rear seat for the car; everything matches the parts diagrams and photos of other E36 M3 coupes.
Waiting on another slow reply from them - they won't talk on the phone, won't talk to the installer and take a day to reply to emails. So frustrating - so much for their 100% guaranteed fitment.
Ryan
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'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
Whoa - that doesn't even look close.
Man, that sucks. Hopefully they respond enough to get your installer something that they can get to look nice.
-Josh: 1998 S54 E36 M3/4/6 with most of the easy stuff and most of the hard stuff. At least twice. 271k miles. 1994 E32 740il with nothing but some MPars. 93k miles.
Yeah that's disappointing to hear. I had heard good things about Autoberry and planned to use them at some point in the future to re-cover my front seats. Please let us know how it ends up going and post pictures of the results.
1999 M3/2/5 - Titanium Silver - Track/Weekend Toy
Never have had seats restored and not saying what you have IS correct but they will be oversized I'm guessing a "LITTLE" how much that is your guy probably knows if he's a professional, but oversized I guess for the leather to shrink onto it. Seats get hot, they tighten up after a little bit. Good luck OP, for the price of that stuff it better be perfect...
Last edited by Ryan86; 06-22-2018 at 07:44 AM.
'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
Lol wow, is that for a different car! That's miles out... GL let us know how they treat you.
Subscribed, love the progress. I just picked up a 97 M3 sedan as a fun weekend/project. I love that steering wheel and the silver rings look great, ordered a set. Where did you get the steering wheel? Also does that head unit use the factory harness? Plug and Play? How is the color match to the climate control and OBC?
The steering wheel was sourced on eBay; there's a seller in Germany that does them - the craftsmanship is fantastic.
The head unit connects via an ISO harness to the stock one, so no factory wires were cut or spliced. It's a bit brighter and more yellow than the stock OBC/climate control, but reasonable close and looks period-correct.
As an aside, I reinstalled the front seats and took the car for a drive - it was glorious. I'm going to have to lift it even further; I replaced the H&R Race springs with H&R Sport springs, but it's still rubbing. I just picked up a set of H&R OE Sport springs that I'll install next weekend - can't have the kiddo getting stuck on speed bumps!
In other news, I picked up another 1999 E36 M3 an Estoril Blue convertible from Indiana. I'm going to clean it up, drive it for the summer with a for sale sign and try to make a few dollars. Hoping it arrives next week!
Ryan
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'99 Titanium Silver ///M3 Convertible
'02 Imola Red ///M5
I found the Sports a bit too short, too, but I got the 25mm spring pads to alleviate it.
I've thought about getting race springs - they're close in the back and shorter in front if I recall, which is what I'd like, in addition to being stiffer (which I think would benefit the car).
Did you ever drive the car with the race springs? Are they enough stiffer they make a difference?
Seats look pretty good. If you don't mind my asking, how much did it cost you to get the covers fitted and finished? Or did you do it yourself? Did Autoberry end up replacing any of the stuff they initially sent you?
As for ride height, you can probably shim it with a spacer or something, but the cleanest solution is getting height adjusters. For the rear they should just bolt right in (as opposed to the front where they're part of the coilover/strut). Are you running wider wheels/tires than stock? What's your rear camber at?
1999 M3/2/5 - Titanium Silver - Track/Weekend Toy
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