As green as the mountains.

[anassa]

Originally Posted by MINIz guy

Very nice wheels! I didn't know they made TRM C1's in a 5x120 bolt pattern. What are the dimensions of the wheels?

Picked them up from a guy who had a e30 m3 I think, I couldn't find 5x120 either so I jumped on these - $300 for all four of them.

They are 15x8 et 25

[anassa]

Okay quick and dirty update, not much to say though.


I wasn't planning on going back to a m3 front bumper but when I found one for $50 I had a hard time saying no:




My real goal for looks wise is to go with a Alpina stype front lip on a non-M front bumper:




But sadly the only replica lip I can find is $145 through DTM not including 40 for shipping, so needless to say I will be using my $50 m3 bumper.

Since its blue, and trim has been painted too, I decided to go homedepot and buy some cheap plastic dark green paint and black trim paint - All this keeping with my budget of course

I also got a set of seats to replace my ripped ones, exactly same as the ones I had but just in a lot better condition - pics will come later with a comparison.

Lastly continuing on my ricerboy/paint binge I bought copper and black plasti dip to finally change my wheel colors.

That also will be coming up once done - I am looking forward to adding some of that personality to my bland ti lol. I should be able to update all that later this week or early next week, the ti should look good!

[anassa]

With Home depot plastic (lawn chair - not even automotive!) spray and some random trim spray I set to work:



And the result - just did two coats and let it dry for like a hour



2


At first I had to laugh when I saw it on, the shade of green is completely different and it looks like I did try to make it work and that makes it even worse when you see how off it really is.

But - it doesn't look bad at night - the pictures show it better then it really is, and you know... I think I am okay with it, considering it only cost me a few bucks, I think it can stay for a while.

[angelicmisskitty]

The bumper looks almost like British Racing Green... and somehow I REALLY start to dig this color on a Compact...

[anassa]

Originally Posted by angelicmisskitty

The bumper looks almost like British Racing Green... and somehow I REALLY start to dig this color on a Compact...

Thanks kitty!

I really do love British Racing Green, and that is hopefully going to be the eventual color of the car if I ever manage to get it a full on good paint job.

BUT! First decent quality picture! My cell phone camera absolutely sucks as the previous pictures have shown so here is a better quality one taken from my friends new phone.

[lwebb12]

I love a green BMW.

[anassa]

Originally Posted by lwebb12

I love a green BMW.

Thanks

So I just happened to have a old friends get together and one of them had a "real" camera and I asked he could take a few shots of my car since all I have are camera phone shots.

This is the result:









As you can see I plasti diped the panasports black (got bored lol) it cost $5 and i figured I can see how it looks in case I want it permanently. I also have copper metallic at home so that will be next!

[frink84]

love the mudflaps!

[anassa]

Wow... so I am probably not going to do that again!!
Sometimes I get bored and decide to check craigslist locations that are further away from my typical search radius. Well one thing led to another and I found the picture below on craigslist.


The car was being sold complete for like 1600, it was auto and it would not pass smog and interior was messed up. I looked at that front bumper, side skirts, and thought those look familiar!! The owner said it had a "m3 kit". Well needless to say I asked him about it and asked if he was willing to part with the side skirts and front bumper.
He said "Yes - all 3 pieces for 220".



My next question was. "when do you have time Friday?" (Just so happened to have a day off - Lucky!)

Now I will say that it is a replica and made of crappy fiberglass, but still even replica's are impossible to find. The problem was he lived in Sacramento and well I live in the L.A. area - 6hour drive anyone (one way)?

I will spare you all the details but needless to say it was a 920 mile round trip - Since I was "in the area" I also stopped by in San Francisco to pick up a set of e36 sparco brackets and sliders too. I left home around 9:30am and was home around 2:45am that night. That was one long day.

Now for the results:





If you notice in the first picture the headlights are not stock either, I was able to $60+trade my stock USDM headlights for these beauties:




Now the question - what are the side skirt and front bumper a replica of? Why am I so excited, and willing to drive all that way just for that?

[anassa]

Before this little adventure I also picked up a no name bucket seat:



Now that I have the brakets/sliders I can finally install it!


Also found some adjustable sport Koni's with 7.5k miles on them - non-M e36. Decided to then also buy some z3m koni rear shocks (NEW!) The fronts should still last me 50k miles and the new rear ones at least the same amount so I hope my suspension ADHD will stop. It should ride well and perform well too.




And my Toyo R888 are just sitting in the corner waiting to be used - but the time is coming soon! My friend also has some film equiptment so we plan on making a mini movie with the 318ti as the focus - that will be done once I deem the car canyon ready and even then, it will take a while to shoot and edit the footage, so that will still take a few months.

[anassa]

Now that I have most of the parts that I need I will be completing the "style" I was going for 3!! years ago.

Having the other ZKW headlights on hand, the current ones will get the "French" headlight treatment.

I have bronze plasti Dip waiting for the wheels:



With the new front bumper and side skirts, the Frenched headlights, bronze wheels, bucket seat and my suspension work I should have close to the image I had in mind when I bought the car.

The image is taken after the Japanese drift/canyon car style in which: uniqueness is important - making the car yours + Function>Form and lastly for me the ability to drive it from point A to B reliably and then be able to also just swap wheels for canyon time. I should have all the parts installed half way through next month and will post pictures when done and ready for some good Canyon time fun.

[anassa]

Since I just did that little road trip i also have some numbers for what my MPG was like.

This was at the beginning in which I was cruising around 70-75mph and not realizing that my left rear tire was leaking air. (Most Fwy)

-245miles
-8.4Gallons
~29.2MPG

For this tank I was tired of driving and just wanted to get there so I was close to 4k RPM with 78-85mph but this time the tires were all round 36psi (All Fwy)

-297Miles
-9.6Gallons
~30.9MPG

This thank I was on my way home and same thing wanted to get home, but there was a larger variance in speed from 65mph- 105mph and the leaky tire was almost flat by the end. (All Fwy)

-263Miles
-9.56Gallons
~27.5MPG

Some other results (regular freeway commute, 80%ishfwy 15%ishcity and the lower MPG's had a 30+mile canyon run, so mostly high revs):

-275miles
-9.96Gallons
~27.6MPG

-316Miles
-11.2Gallons
~28.2MPG

-318miles
-10.93Gallons
~29.2MPG

-297miles
-11.51Gallons
~25.8MPG

-287miles
-11.76Gallons
~24.4MPG

It should be noted that untill my Sacramento/SanFran trip I did not realize how bad my air leak in my rear tire was, I luckily check my tires once in a while because I kept on finding it at 20psi or close to 0psi when I was on the trip and drove 250ish miles without checking the air. Other - always 91oct, BBTB, Stock intake box, Supersprint Catback, 91oct tune from Midnight, my 205/50/16 tires on the panasports, and bavauto sport springs suspension.

I also think I have a stuck open thermostat, because it always takes forever to warm up and on downhills the temp drops pretty quickly if I am just cruising. That means that it runs rich and not as gas efficient for the first couple miles while its warming up, wasting gas and same with downhills, the engine is not sufficiently warm to run as effectively. Once the thermostat is replaced I should see a increase in my city/first starting mile MPG's.

[roadrash]

Originally Posted by anassa

I also think I have a stuck open thermostat, because it always takes forever to warm up and on downhills the temp drops pretty quickly if I am just cruising. That means that it runs rich and not as gas efficient for the first couple miles while its warming up, wasting gas and same with downhills, the engine is not sufficiently warm to run as effectively.

The symptoms you describe sound just like what my car was doing when I first got it, and a new thermostat fixed it.

[anassa]

Originally Posted by roadrash

The symptoms you describe sound just like what my car was doing when I first got it, and a new thermostat fixed it.

Thanks for the confirmation! Just got on ECS tuning and bought some oem replacement parts, should be good to go then!

[MINIz guy]

Looks like your car is doing well. Mine is similar to yours in the way that function>>>form. I am jealous of your Koni struts, exhaust, tune and wheel setups. Your Panasports with 205/50's look just right on your car. However, my Team Dynamics wheels and 205/50's look like I'm riding on donuts whenever I autocross my car.

Your gas mileage doesn't look that bad, but your symptoms do sound like a bad thermostat. I would get 32mpg when I drove highway on 205/50s. Now that I'm back to stock 225/50's and doing 100% city, I'm getting 24mpg. No matter what, you can't really complain about the gas mileage.