Lapis Rescue - '83 633csi - euro conversion

[GRNSHRK]

Dmitry, that strut brace looks like a dead ringer of the former BMP Design version, especially with that urethane eccentric adjuster

I'll have to dig up some photos for you

And nice job on the shifter gator

I bet you could sell those

[GRNSHRK]

Found it

Looks like you have type "D" with the E.P.L. eccentric adjustment feature

[kronus]

nice! thank you for digging that up. FYI the eccentric adjuster is aluminum.

[kronus]

I've finally gotten all four Hayashis to seal. Along the way, I rebuilt them fully a total of eight times. I'm not sure if this means that I'm good at it now, or bad at it in general.

Along the way, I've found the easiest way to apply RTV - use the tire balancer and just spin the wheel!



All sealed up and mounted -



(I also installed a set of H4 lows as an upgrade to the original sealed beams)

Next up, I figure out how to use a HVLP gun. Have taken delivery of a quart of Paintscratch single-stage, and snagged some plastic and a box fan to make a basic spray booth in my garage.

[kronus]

Not dead yet. Getting the rear world bumper pods sanded and ready for paint and fitup.

[kronus]

sanded completely and primed. These will need to be lightly blocked out before I put some paint on them. Plan is to prep them, the rear spoiler, and the front spoiler all together, then find a paint shop to shoot them.





What's the latest on where to find rear markers for these pods?

In more mechanical news, I replaced the leaking coolant bottle with a new one, and the heater valve with an E46 unit (cheaper and popular mod for E28s). I found that this E30 heater hose allows you to install the E46 valve in nearly the original position/location, albeit with zip ties instead of screws. It'll work.

[GRNSHRK]

What's the latest on where to find rear markers for these pods?

Dmitry, you should hit up Ralph in SoCal for the rear/side markers, he'll probably have what you need

Lookin' good, nice work fitting the world bumper parts

[kronus]

Good idea, will check there.

Minor updates - got the front valence cleaned up and primed in flexible primer. Everything is off at a body shop now getting finalized and painted.









I also Plasti-Dipped the fiberglass rear spoiler, but it didn't come out well. This will be getting replaced with the fat 1980 spoiler once I find an appropriate roundel for it, anyway, so not too worried about it.

[kronus]

gotta love a speedy body shop.







hoping to have everything on this weekend!

[GRNSHRK]

Dang, nice

Well, we know that "somebody" is gonna have fun this coming weekend

[kronus]

Bob was right. I had a fun weekend

Back went on. This required cutting into the pre-world-bumper foam a little for clearance. I don't mind, as I'm on the hunt for a world rear bumper anyway.



Front went on too. No surprises here.





One interesting thing to note here - the correct passenger side bumper trim is NLA. I got L&R trim pieces for the non-valence version of the bumper, and mounted them up. There is a 1/4" gap between the metal part of the bumper and the trim, but it's not very noticeable at more than a few feet away. I have some closed-cell foam welting on the way to fill the gaps in and make it flush.







Gave it a quick rinse and met up with a friend who brought his Lapis F20-swapped E30 around.





Aside from some rear markers to fill the holes, the outside is good enough for now, and I'll be daily driving it.

Next up - sorting out the seats and electrical issues.

[kronus]

no major updates, but a film camera enthusiast randomly snapped a photo of the car out on the street recently and it got some exposure on the 'gram :)



https://www.instagram.com/p/CsWy3fwRgiY/

[slfan]

Very nice. Great job!

[kronus]

thanks! and thanks for the reminder to post updates :)

medium-size update: I did a motor swap.

before:


after:


To explain a little bit more - the B32 in the car was starting to smoke and leaked pretty badly. I got a mostly-disassembled M90 with the euro parts car I picked up, so I figured to kill a whole bunch of birds with one stone and put the M90 in to match with the dogleg it was delivered with, which was already in the car.

My friends at the Studio did a refresh and light build on the motor - S38 crank, lightweight rods, reconditioned pistons and bores, all new bottom end bearings, B35 cam and a valve job. We tossed it in and it happily fired with no issues on the stock B32 electronics. I put in a squashed FPR to bump up the pressure a bit, but will need to get deeper into tuning it to get the motor to a truly happy place.

At the same time as this swap, I put in a B&B Tri-flow exhaust, which is in my opinion the best match to an M30, sound-wise. I also pulled a set of Fikse Profil 10's out of storage, and was pleasantly surprised to find that an E24 will swallow square 255s with no issue. They're definitely too wide for the car to truly benefit from, but it looks great.