Techno Violet Restore and Upgrade Project

**truekid** · 05-03-2020, 12:39 AM

Ive been on the hunt for a Techno Violet coupe for some time since I sold my last one almost 10 years ago. Ive owned over 5 e36 M3s and my favorite color has always been the TV.

Finally, I found a good enough deal that I couldn't resist. I decided to go all out, and replace as much of everything that I can, and bring this car back to original condition.

1998 Techno Violet Coupe. Prepped for Track-day with some very obnoxious decals.

Partial Dove interior (No rear seats, door panels cards, or front seats)
4 Owners on Car fax, with all vin tags intact. 132k Miles.
Rear Cage welded, and trunk gutted
Yellow wing, and lip. Not sure why.

Initial thoughts:

Car drove great. Suspension has been upgraded with coilovers and race pads installed.
Motor runs perfectly, but no cats, causes a CEL.
Random bulbs in cluster, OBC, Interior out.
Seals around doors, and trim at the rear windows poor.
Owner spray painted the rear interior section of the car since it was gutted, and caused some over spare on certain items like rear window opening handle.
Terrible radio and speaker set up.

Plan:

Replace door seals, and rear window seals
Replace Rear window seals, and trim on the bottom
Replace door handle seals (exterior)
Since all of my insulation inside the car was removed, Ill be dyno-matting the entire inside of the car and doing a complete audio upgrade
LTW High Rise, and repaint lip, diffuser, and all trim.
Front and rear suspension will be refreshed.
Engine:
- Refresh head, and go with a Bottom mount turbo
- New clutch, and hydraulics.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I want to keep track of my progress and parts as I go thru the car replacing and repairing everything I can.

Day I bought the car!

QSFE8585 by ninja124, on Flickr

MZED8804 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3372 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3371 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3369 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3388 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3387 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3389 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3393 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3381 by ninja124, on Flickr

First thing that had to go was the decals. I have a over-sized heater in my garage, so I cranked it up and used my wifes cloth steamer.

OXEG9683 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3403 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3407 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3406 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3404 by ninja124, on Flickr

Next is to remove cage, seats.
I hate dove, so ill be converting to black!

**DrftKingIII** · 05-03-2020, 10:06 AM

Pictures aren't working for me. Sounds like a good project.

**truekid** · 05-03-2020, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by DrftKingIII

Pictures aren't working for me. Sounds like a good project.

Ahh, Hmm. What are you guys using to host your pictures?

**DrftKingIII** · 05-03-2020, 05:41 PM

They are working now. That was quite the colorful combination on the car.

**gsanvi** · 05-03-2020, 06:07 PM

Good job on the decals, they were quite obnoxious. I would also let those wheels go if I were you. Looking forward to seeing progress with this project!

**mlytle** · 05-03-2020, 06:16 PM

roll bar should be easy to remove...looks like it is just made of duct tape. lots and lots of duct tape....

i don't recall ever seeing that car at track days around here.

TV FTW!

**pbonsalb** · 05-03-2020, 10:08 PM

I like the turbo plan. These cars are awesome with a turbo. When you do the head, use a spacer to drop compression for the turbo. It does not affect off boost performance much and the extra boost it allows makes a huge difference.

**GG///M3** · 05-03-2020, 10:22 PM

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I like the turbo plan. These cars are awesome with a turbo. When you do the head, use a spacer to drop compression for the turbo. It does not affect off boost performance much and the extra boost it allows makes a huge difference.

Ehhh. Yes, and no.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**truekid** · 05-03-2020, 10:29 PM

Some more Progress.
Removed Interior
Removed Cage.

Got a black carpet, and Cleaned it while it was out!

IMG_3424 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3431 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3509 by ninja124, on Fl

Found a decent black interior for a decent price, will be restoring the leather. One early model vader, and one late. Fill find a another late one later down the road. Found a mint set of black from door cards.

Untitled by ninja124, on Flickr

Untitled by ninja124, on Flickr

Next up is the cracked old rubber and trim under the rear window:

IMG_3537 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3535 by ninja124, on Flickr

Got my high rise in excuse the mess.

Untitled by ninja124, on Flickr

**truekid** · 05-03-2020, 10:43 PM

Originally Posted by pbonsalb

I like the turbo plan. These cars are awesome with a turbo. When you do the head, use a spacer to drop compression for the turbo. It does not affect off boost performance much and the extra boost it allows makes a huge difference.

YEAP! CES Cutring and Spacer with ARP 2000 Studs. Im thinking a Borg s257

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Originally Posted by mlytle

roll bar should be easy to remove...looks like it is just made of duct tape. lots and lots of duct tape....

i don't recall ever seeing that car at track days around here.

TV FTW!

Where are you in NOVA? Yea the guy stopped driving it a few years ago, had issues driving a manual. I actually love VIR, but i high sided my SV650 Last year at VIR north.

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Originally Posted by gsanvi

Good job on the decals, they were quite obnoxious. I would also let those wheels go if I were you. Looking forward to seeing progress with this project!

Id like to find a set of LTWs or Apex Arc 8. But I may just paint the yellow on the wheels black for now.

**JasonGM3** · 05-04-2020, 11:59 AM

SOOO MANY COLORSSS!!! HAHAH
Thank you for rescuing such a pretty (underneath) car

**Braymond141** · 05-04-2020, 05:01 PM

Yikes. That's quite the project you have taken on.

Good work so far.

**mlytle** · 05-04-2020, 06:03 PM

yup. in NOVA. have a 97 M3/4 in TV.

**JitteryJoe** · 05-05-2020, 06:34 PM

Now that is a project! Happy you are trying to breathe new life into a Techno Violet car. My favorite color.

**truekid** · 08-06-2020, 11:18 PM

Well just an update. Ended up getting a lot done. Car is now on the road, and have been enjoying it.

Got the trim under the window done.

Untitled by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

Next up was the seats. Works wonders

NYVZ9959 by ninja124, on Flickr

MQHK7549 by ninja124, on Flickr

IMG_3525 by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

I restored the color on these too!!

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

I ended up Dynomatting the entire car and trunk. I installed a subwoofer and amp.

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

Interior Coming back up together.

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

Next up were wheels and trim!

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

Finally on to painting the faded rear bumper top, and detailing the car with a friend. Worked wonders. Walmart sells paint matched spray paint for 32$ a can and wow. I was impressed.

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

After wet sand and polish

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

Full shots

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

Upnext is to make it faster.
Turbo parts are slowly coming in!

bmw by ninja124, on Flickr

**pbonsalb** · 08-07-2020, 06:38 AM

Very good, thorough job! Looks great. Turbo is incredibly fun.

**GG///M3** · 08-07-2020, 07:51 AM

Looks great

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**sirhodjibob** · 08-07-2020, 11:07 AM

Much better. Nice work

**E85STI** · 08-07-2020, 01:05 PM

What a transformation!

**JitteryJoe** · 08-07-2020, 01:36 PM

Certainly a lot better than the original pictures. Kudos for taking on a big project. Technos are worth saving!

**das borgen** · 08-07-2020, 01:58 PM

You can just buy a brand new black headrest from BMW. I think they're under $250 last I heard. Honestly, that might be the best move since finding a single vader is not only tough, but it's also gonna incur shipping costs most likely unless you're luck like with your current set you got within driving distance again.

Are you gonna replace the dashboard too? Or you can just repaint it using SEM Trim Paint Satin Black. I've had great success painting my rear parcel shelf and some other interior trim pieces on my E36 with already-black interior and it matches extremely well

https://www.amazon.com/SEM-39143-Tri...6822922&sr=8-4

**frbz** · 08-08-2020, 06:51 PM

Tell me what you used to colour your seat belt receptacles

**truekid** · 08-09-2020, 12:38 AM

Originally Posted by das borgen

You can just buy a brand new black headrest from BMW. I think they're under $250 last I heard. Honestly, that might be the best move since finding a single vader is not only tough, but it's also gonna incur shipping costs most likely unless you're luck like with your current set you got within driving distance again.

Are you gonna replace the dashboard too? Or you can just repaint it using SEM Trim Paint Satin Black. I've had great success painting my rear parcel shelf and some other interior trim pieces on my E36 with already-black interior and it matches extremely well

https://www.amazon.com/SEM-39143-Tri...6822922&sr=8-4

I am good with the current set I have, they have headrests too. I think Im going stick with the gray dashboard for now. Unless i find a pristine black one.

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Originally Posted by frbz

Tell me what you used to colour your seat belt receptacles

I used WD40 at first, and also tried Ceramic coating.

I followed this
https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...ation?t=311641

Have had good results. I used 3M rubbing compound.

**frbz** · 08-09-2020, 11:24 AM

thank you

**das borgen** · 08-10-2020, 01:30 PM

Originally Posted by truekid

I am good with the current set I have, they have headrests too. I think Im going stick with the gray dashboard for now. Unless i find a pristine black one.

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Oh yeah, I thought maybe you wanted the headrests to be matching seeing as you have a early-95 headrest on the one seat and a late-95 to 99 headrest on the other seat