tires and wheels New Shoes.....for the AlpinA car

[markmac]

Yesterday, I bolted up to Roger Kraus's place so didn't have to deal with driving in the rain today. What a saga. First, expensive lesson learned - you can not get the rubber off of a flat base wheel unless the wheel is assembled. I thought I would save some labore ($$) by disassembleing them myself. Wrong. Had to pay to have them re-assmbled to get the rubber off. BBS updated their O-Rings from what I had so I had to chip in $200 for a new set of those. Two new Avon 9.1 x 23.5 x 15 racing slicks (don't ask). After eveything was all put back together, one of the wheels wasn't holding air. Turns out one of the inner rims had a teeny tiny split in the metal and was leaking air. This is an o-sh*t because last I checked BBS didn't have these rims in stock (which means you buy second hand (good luck with that) or wait til they make more.....whenever that might be). Roger got one from them - beautiful, fully polished. I was thinking I should see about getting three more since the others are machine polished. Before I could ask about getting three more, he tells me ..... we were lucky, that was the last one. It was a big check (sheeeeiiiit). This weekend they go back on the car and it gets dropped back down on the ground to confirm everything fits (which it will - I can tell by the fitment I see now the will fit). Honestly the smaller fronts and smaller rears seem more proportional to the car now. Some pics this weekend.

www.alpinabmw2002.com

[jrkoupe]

.....cool!

[markmac]

Tx, it is something of a milestone (or will be). Unfortunately my body guy (Chris Springer) has no room at the inn currently or it would be off for the body work to be fitted (a MAJOR milestone). I have to say it looks pretty cool, it was painful though penning that check out. And, to add injury to insult I am basically abandoning two of the big rear tires (12.5) that cost me $900 and some change - the fit fine under the old flares, but under the AlpinA's it was going to be a really tight squeeze. Roger Kraus is going to try and sell them to somone second hand - If they sell I might get ten bucks for them....Going to build some small platforms for each corner so I don't have to hassle so much with the jack. When its down on the ground the car is so low even the lowest of low rise jacks aren't low enough.

www.alpinabmw2002.com

[winstontj]

What do you do now? Drive it up on ramps? (like 1x6 or 2x6 planks stacked into a small wedge)

[markmac]

Paint Cans! (Jack Stands). Wheels and tires are off nearly all the time due to doing so much dirty work. However, when they have gone on to put the car on the ground it is a serious pain in the @ss. I basically do what you suggested, drop it down on blocks then push it off. I will be using PT 4x4 and plywood to build the little mini-ramps - having it +5" will make it significantly easier to deal with. Going to do some measuring when it is down this time - I am going to guess 2-1/2 to 3" top from ground to lowest point.

www.alpinabmw2002.com

[markmac]

So, I finished off making the little wooden stands and I have to say the work perfect. They are about 5" high so they allow me to jack the car up and down with out having to do shady (non-safe) things to get it up and down (and off the jack). Bottom line, everything fits. I have 25mm spacers on front and back left side wheels - plenty of room in the rear so I may put a slightly larger spacer back there to fill up a little more of the wheel well. As soon as my body guy can take the car it will be gone for that phase of the work.

[jrkoupe]

...looks evil...beautiful.

Im sure I missed it......but what are your plans w/ the car?...

I would hope race vintage events, but as w/ all costly builds Id be scared to death to nick/ruin it...lol....I would end up being a moving chicane...lol

[markmac]

...looks evil...beautiful.

Im sure I missed it......but what are your plans w/ the car?...

I would hope race vintage events, but as w/ all costly builds Id be scared to death to nick/ruin it...lol....I would end up being a moving chicane...lol

It is (both evil and beautiful I think). Honestly, I can't believe I own the damn thing-the simple fact that that car would find its way to my garage in Northern California is ...... miraculous. There are so many neat little fabricated / special parts that comprise the car. I will be photographing and posting some of those up over the next couple of months. The plan is to finish it, and then run it in selective vintage events where contact with other like vehicles is verboten. That said, it can still happen (and does happen). The plan is to definitely have it a Monterey in 2016 when BmW allegedly will be the featured marque (unless someone offers me more money for it than I can reasonably turn down...you never know). This is the 3d paper model with the car in black which I think looks really (really) cool....available soon in kit form.

www.alpinabmw2002.com

[jrkoupe]

I would bet putting it up in Europe for sale/feeler will bring some decent offers....once its done....

or FS signs at Monterey could not hurt...

geez, after all this it would be hard to sell!

[markmac]

Its kind of like remodeling your house - you get everything (most) done that you want then you sell and move. Since it is one of a kind and essentially a prototype car it makes it even more rare. Have had a few try and sniff around buying it over the years (all European) but haven't been interested in selling it. I will drive it (at least once) before it ever gets sold. My plan is on keeping it, but things change - you never know.

www.alpinabmw2002.com