2017 New Year's Resolution 6er (Story as well)

[AlexTheBeaner]

Hey everybody!

I've been sick the last couple of days and been home all day, so I'm deciding to write a little (or a lot) about my plans with my car or hope to do so for 2017, so here we go!

Since, probably early November, I've been wrapping my head around what's the "next thing" I should do to my 6er. For those that you don't know, I like to call her "Teresa". Name comes from a Mexican TV novel named "Teresa" which involves a gold digger, and practically, she has the looks, the style and everything, but she drains your money and leaves you with nothing. (I mean, which project car doesn't do that?) as well it could be potentially my fault for not maintaining her properly, yet again, Im just a college student who got this car my senior year in high school and struggles in life.
Many ask how did you got this car during high school? Well, for some that are from California, must know that almost every Mexican family has the tradition that you must work your ass off to get what you want (especially a car). Therefore, you have to find a job during summer and pretty much work the entire vacation. For me, I found a job in the fields, picking up melons and onions.

I remember my cousin owning a 2004 3 series, four door automatic. He wanted to sell me the car and I loved that car. I think it had probably 105k miles at that time, but I wanted something manual at the time and I don't look back making that choice. So, I began searching through craigslist and found a 1989 Supra manual that had been stored for maybe 4-5 years, can't remember that well and my 1985 635CSi. I remember calling the guy and asking him what was his lowest, he said 1800 (The car had been posted for $2,000). The pictures of Teresa were super blurry so it was hard to see the details or the body of the car. I told my parents to drive me first to see Teresa and then go see the Supra and ultimately make my choice between those two. It took us probably almost two hours to get to that place, it was in the middle of nowhere in a small ranch. The owner was pretty cool and he said he needed to get rid of the car, because he was moving to Utah in the next week. My dad and I went to test drive the car and I just said to myself "Yep, this one is it, not even going to check out the Supra". I negotiated with the guy and ended up buying it for $1,400 bucks. 1985 5 speed manual with approximately 130k miles. The car wasn't in it's perfect conditions. Front seats weren't ripped (yet) and back seats were in fairly good condition, dash had some cracks but not bad, AC and heater in working condition. Maybe the only big con I found in this car was that it needed new wheels, since it had the old TRX ones. I drove the car back home with a big smile. I didn't even knew this car existed until I found it in craigslist, I always knew about the 3,5,7 series but never the 6 series from the 80's. I took it on a trip to Sacramento, a three hour drive and the car was flawless. I was doing 75-80mph on the freeway and the car felt healthy and strong. Everyone was worried that it would break down on the way, I wasn't even concerned, I had faith in it. Unfortunately, the car stopped working early 2016 maybe in March, o-rings began going out, my ECU fried and well, the car has been sitting since then.

The last two months I've been struggling with money (family issues), I feel like I can save up money now to get things done towards the end of summer and early winter. My plans are actually quite big. I'm 19 right now, so I'm taking advantage of my freedom before I hit a midlife crisis. I know some of you guys would have different opinions about my car and what I'm going to do with it, but ultimately, I want it to be unique and put my own persona to this car. First off, I want to drop and LS engine, if possible and LS2. Not because it's a trend or because everyone is doing that to their car. It's because my friend that influenced me with automobile racing (like IMSA, Rally ect) has a 06 GTO and I always been a fan of muscle cars. It will also help me economically for parts and find them easier, I live in the middle of no where and the closest e24 that I know of is 55 miles away from where I live.

Practically rebuilt the front and back suspension and steering of the car. Moving the gas tank to the trunk. By this time, I'm actually realizing I'm going to have to work my butt off to get this done. That means, cup of noodles and cancelling going out, buying stuff that I don't need as well as clothes, and I'm actually okay with that.

Maybe strip the interior and new dash (I'll probably built that, I'm glad I took welding courses). And last but not least a body kit. Not those funky-looking ones that I've seen in the previous threads, I actually found a really cool one and it sort of resembles what the e24 could of possibly looked if it was kept as the same look as the CSL batmobile. I've actually got the change to meet Brian Redman last August at the Laguna Seca Rolex Reunion, he drove the #25 CSL BMW. I think it would make a good tribute to the car. I also had the chance to go to Munich, Germany and visit the BMW museum. I will post some pictures below. It's crazy seeing the car the same year in two different places across the world.

I'm guessing this are my plans with the car, now cross my fingers, work hard and hopefully see results with my car. I will post pictures later on so you guys see how Teresa is looking at the moment and the progress.

Here are some links (non affiliated of course) of where I'll mostly will get my parts from. If you guys happen to know someone or know a place who would considerable have cheaper parts, please let me know, I would really appreciate it!

Cheers!

Alex A.


http://www.grubier.com/en/p/3525
http://www.iemotorsport.com/bmw/E28-E24-parts.html

[AlexTheBeaner]

Pictures from how I got the car, to how it is right now.

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[AlexTheBeaner]

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[AlexTheBeaner]

My daily driver for now. 09 Jetta 05 manual with 125k miles on the clock.

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Museum Pictures

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[AlexTheBeaner]

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Hanging out with Brian Redman

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